Welcome February

Hello Lovelies, thank you so much for the welcome back 💓

Here's my third blog post of 2023! long may the inspiration continue. Compared to all the scrolling of Instagram it does feel like a return to gentler times. I have a huge nostalgia for my early blogging days, when the boys were all at primary school....and I wasn't so grey! 

At the beginning of the week my Amaryllis (a Christmas gift from my sister in law) really put on a spurt of growth. The lengthening days and milder temperatures must be working their magic. I was thrilled to see what looked like a second stem appearing too.

 I'm not sure why ( in a house with very few windowsills) I never thought to put plants in this landing window before. I love having my rescued orchids here and they seem very happy. This scene makes me smile. Even when the main lights are off, and the little battery sensor light illuminates the scene.

 On Wednesday we welcomed February (two words which are not spelled how you would presume!). The weather continued to be mild. As you can see on our weather monitor below, there's not much difference between the outside and inside temperatures here. That's because the sensor is in our conservatory. Gosh it's been a no go zone this winter! Every year it's pretty useless in very cold weather, but this year it's been worse as I turned down the underfloor heating due to the rising electricity costs. It faces north and at one point was so cold and damp mould was appearing everywhere. So depressing.  

It's still structurally sound and the rules around this sort of addition to houses has changed in the years since it was constructed.  We are now allowed to fit it with a well insulated solid roof ( previously it had to be glazed) ....so that's what we are organising for spring. In an ideal world I would prefer a completely new extension but funds are limited and this will hopefully be a good compromise.  It's also less wasteful and uses less resources,  so fits in with my simpler, sustainable goals. Well that's what I'm focusing on 😊.

I'm still enjoying noticing the beauty of bare branched trees like this magnificent oak.

But I'm also thankful for some green in the garden from these pots which have looked cheery all winter 👏

This is the first year I've removed the old leaves from my Hellebores and they do look better for it.

Even if you do still have to lift up the flowers to see their beauty fully.

In the little woodland there are Cyclamen and snowdrops appearing.

 

That wonky dolls house is a bug hotel 🥰

Tomorrow it's exactly a year since we welcomed this boy into our home. He's turned out to be a typical comfort seeking whippet and we indulge him....well he doesn't have much built in padding 

He's so funny, pulling all the sofa blankets and cushions into a big heap then flopping down in his homemade "nest". We then usually cover him up as well if it's chilly. I think he approves 💙

This week it's actually been mild enough for him to go out without a coat and today we noticed daffodil leaves beginning to appear.

While we were out walking (despite the grey) a load of washing pretty much dried on the line. Woohoo, I do love some clean bedding that smells of fresh air. A simple pleasure for sure.

 

Whilst I was out in the garden I noticed so many buds on my Daphne. 

And the first brave primulas beginning to flower.

I also noted the sad scene of my broken bird bath, a victim of those hard frosts. 

 

Never mind, I'll keep a look out for a second-hand one, or something else to be a feature here. Thinking about it, now my apple tree has grown I'm not sure anything is needed 🤔. We have a pond the birds use. I must remember my simplicity goal.

Ending on a happier note, today I noticed my Amaryllis has THREE stems. WOW! That's certainly a first for me 😍🌺  

I do hope your February has got off to a good start and you enjoyed my everyday seasonal moments. 

Jacquie x

Festive Beginnings

Hello lovelies, 

thank you for all your thoughtful comments on my previous post. It's nice to be able to share concerns as well as joys some times. Thankfully I'm still relaxed about taking local walks by myself..... it's one of the most important things I do for my wellbeing, physical and mental. I don't think that's overstating how much benefit I get from being outside just noticing the seasons and small details.

Obviously sometimes it's more photogenic and inviting than others.

 Oh my, we've  some beautiful weather since we last talked. On Monday morning I couldn't wait to get outside as we had the rare treat of a blanket of snow.

 A frozen wonderland.

I was certainly glad of these mittens I made last winter. Touching the cold metal with bare hands would not be pleasant . 

They have my own phone photography adaptation too. This is rather strange looking but means I can use my phone without removing my mitten. It's easy to draw my hand back inside the mitten too. It looks funny but works great.

The icy sunrise was beautiful.

and the world looked like Narnia.

Of course I had bird seed in my pocket to leave on suitable fence posts. I always put these picnics where there is tree cover so the small birds will hopefully be safe from birds of prey....though I appreciate they have to eat too.

Here I followed the footpath through the remnants of the horse paddocks. They have now moved a bit further on.

 

This huge field can be a boggy mess in winter but on Monday it was a crunchy glory. A space to breath, feel small, and wonder at the "mother of pearl" sky.

Snow clung to every surface.

and I do love this sort of scene.

Snow in the trees but not on the roads, ideal.

It was just a light dusting and warmer temperatures soon saw it disappear completely. This was Tuesday. The garden is looking more open again as I had to remove all my sad Cosmos which the snow has finished off. 

I've been moving the more tender of my plants to sheltered positions. This cordyline looked pretty sad after spending last winter outside so I had put it in my arbour.

Just look at this amazing firework of a plant. I love it's colour and form.

It's looking really healthy at the moment and I'm not sure the arbour would be enough protection so I moved it into the potting shed on Tuesday. There's a growing collection of things I don't want to succumb to the winter weather in there. It's not heated but I hope they will be happier than outside at least.

Most of my pelargoniums are in the conservatory, which does have some underfloor heating to keep the chill off. 

They flower happily all winter in here and brighten the darkest months. I just love going in here on a mildish afternoon and removing the dead flowers and brown leaves. It smells a little like summer and is the gentlest of winter gardening.

Midweek it was time to turn the calendars over on to the final month of 2021. I love this Robin on my recycled  Carolyn Carter calendar so much.

On Thursday the colour of the berries caught my eye and I picked a few to look at them more closely. Rosehips, hawthorn berries and sloes from the blackthorn.

So much colour compared to Monday.

Indoors the colour is growing too. We have a mix of Christmas and birthday vibe going on at the moment as youngest turned nineteen this week....Nineteen! 

We always used to leave the tree until a week after his birthday but he was keen for it to go up this weekend so it has.

This weekend I've been busy trying to straighten up the house again, as well as  making a start on the Christmas decorating. I have had my first mince pie though. I saw somebody online making little puff pastry mincemeat parcels with ready made pastry and though it looked worth a try.

Super easy and they looked good. Eldest said he likes my mincemeat better than the bought stuff. Bless him. 

I liked it too, which was a relief as you may recall I experimented by omitting the suet this year. I will made some proper shortcrust pastry mince pies next time but these were nice for a change.

And a little treat after my Covid booster vaccination today....for which I am very grateful.

Wishing you a healthy and happy week ahead lovelies, chat soon.

Jacquie x

Newstead in November

Hello Lovelies,

 for the first time in too long we had a trip to Newstead Abbey today. 

There's lots of different areas to explore. We started by walking through the woodland, until we came across this strange building.
 

It's a mock fort and you can read about it HERE

There were gorgeous views across the lake and I loved the autumn colours in the trees.

Up close there's still a lot of green in the leaves, unusual for November.

The large lake flows out over this pretty cascade.

And into a lower lake, populated by a good number of ducks and swans.

Lower still you come to the Japanese garden, this was my main reason for visiting today. I've never seen it in autumn and was hoping for good foliage colour.

Ooooh, I don't think I will be disappointed!

Oh my, this tree was out of this world!

Just look at these leaves. So stunning!

The amount of water in this garden is wonderful too. There's so many little bridges linking the paths.

Lets stand back and admire this wonderful Acer from a distance. The shape is outstanding I think.

I loved all the stepping stones too.

They gave a great view back towards the star tree.

This Japanese garden didn't have any gravel areas, but I preferred the water garden feel anyway. I loved these stone ornaments too.

A weeping cherry looking gorgeous framed another.

Beauty at every turn.

Just look at the amount of different ponds.

Truly magical in November. No mean feat.

There's so much more to Newstead Abbey, including beautiful Topiary.

But I'll stop there. The overcast weather didn't make of the best photos and the Japanese garden was truly the highlight on this occasion. I'm so glad I got to see it.

Jacquie x