The Field of Sunshine

Every Saturday I get up early to start the house work before the rest of the family get under my feet (I am sure they think the elves and fairies do this on a Friday night!), and then the rest of the day is mine.  With Mr and Miss Teen doing their own thing nowadays and Hubs having his own jobs to do to get the house ship shape, me and Tia can pop down to the Fen for a quiet and refreshing walk.  With the week being fairly dry I knew that the tracks would be easier to walk on for me and Tia wouldn't be as muddy, so off we went with Tia in her favourite position in the car with her jowls flapping as she popped her head out of the window.  Once her seatbelt is released, she chooses where she wants to go, and luckily this time she wanted to head off on her favourite track.  It was dry in places so she went on ahead.

I was glad she chose this track today as I could see in the distance a yellow line.  There are lots of these around the villages at the moment and it is not the usual rape seed that tickles and angers the nose.  No, the yellow line was a field of gorgeous sunshiney daffodils.

We happily walked along the deep dyke getting closer and closer to the sunshine field with hints of what was to come at the side of the slippery banks.

Our only company apart from each other were some horses in their coats, this one was very inquisitive...

... above us the Crowland Gliders were taking advantage of the good weather ...

... and the farm machinery all primed and ready for the season ahead.

Before long we were at the field.  The wind making the little petals of sunshine dance in sequence and enjoying the snippets of the spring sun.

Line after line of these precious flowers all saying goodbye to the winter months and looking forward to the year ahead.

I'm so glad that Tia decided to take this walk today, her face says it all!

Back home and with a cup of tea for me, a Bonio and fresh water for Tia, it was time to refresh the bottles of springtime with the latest blooms.  A happy and content Saturday with an evening to relax and plan the weeks ahead and maybe a spot of crochet!

I hope you have a moment for you to enjoy this weekend.

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Sunlit Sunday

Five on Friday - Back to Work

 Well this week has been a shock to the system.  I've managed a whole week after the phased return to work, and I am mighty tired.  The week has been one huge blur of catching up, and trying to keep smiling through each day with throbbing ankles and a right toe that swears blind it can tell me when it's going to rain with a huge stab.  But smile I have, carried on I have, fallen into my favourite chair at the end of the day I have.  A satisfying week.

So my Five, are what I am seeing each day (apart from the last one.  Now that was an unexpected treat!

 1. You will have seen the magnolia at the top of this post.  This sits outside one of our office windows and goodness knows how old this is.  Each year it gives the most stunning of displays with all visitors remarking how beautiful it is. 

2. After the Painted Roses Blanket completion, I was hungry for another project and settled on the Lily Pond Blanket from Janie Crow.  This was a CAL project last year but I really loved the look of the design.  With the Wool Warehouse being quick on the delivery again (I do love them!), I was able to start in the knowledge that the next CAL is about to begin.  I need to get a move on!

3. Until I feel more stable with the clutch pedal, I am taking the bus instead to work and loving it.  Sitting down on a warm bus being able to answer emails and let someone else have the stress of driving is a real treat.  However, waiting at a bus stop with no shelter from the freezing cold Fen is quite simply something else!

 With the sun rising as I wait, my body warms up and I see the frost melting.

4. Getting off the bus and a short walk to work follows.  When I see this view as I walk down the drive, I can't help but smile.  Beautiful, exquisite Peterborough Cathedral looks down once more to start another day.

 5. Oh my goodness!  Cake!  One of my work colleagues bought us cake from Patisserie Valerie this morning.  So half each of these enormous sinful cakes had to be consumed!  Extremely decadent, extremely delicious... oh boy what a sugar rush!

Have a Happy Friday!

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Five on Friday at Love Made My Home

A Bottle of Springtime

Even though grey and dark outside today, there are little hints that spring is very much on its way for a stay.  The tell tale signs surround our Lincolnshire village, one being the vans parked up on muddy verges with hundreds of workers with their backs bent and moving across the fields, and the other is the swaying yellow daffodils shouting out pick me, ready for the Mother's Day bouquet for 6 March.   I would have taken some photos of this swaying sunshine but with the skies being grey the photos would have been quite depressing, so instead I went around the garden and collected some happy springtime for you.

But first, we had to go into a neighbouring town to get some essentials and a couple of things caught my eye.  Kilner bottles.  "I know", I thought to myself, "let's have a couple of bottles of springtime".  With two bottles purchased at a very reasonable price, I thoroughly enjoyed the lackadaisical way of just popping in the stems and letting springtime make its own display.

Cherry blossom blushed its way into my line of vision as I get out of the car and so that was the first sprigs to be cut.  So beautiful and dainty, freshly burst from the cold twigs and screaming spring.

The shy hellebores always give me a little surprise when I come across them.  I don't like cutting them so only a couple were going to join us in the house.

I was surprised at just how many spring flowers were saying hello and how it made my heart sing when I put them into the Kilner bottles.

Daffodils ready to unfurl, hyacinths that had been hidden away, cherry blossom and snowdrops.

I don't usually cut snowdrops, but I just had to see them at my leisure on the windowsill.  I love their clean colour and fine lines.  And, oh yes, in the background that is rain on the windowpane.  Here we go again!

My hyacinths in their pots have become very heavy so they were added too, well, a case of necessity as their stems broke as soon as I touched them.

My kitchen windowsill is looking more spring like now with the two bottles and my bay tree (a gift from my parents).  It won't be long before the kitchen window baskets outside will give me a show of blooming bulbs to enjoy from inside.

And my mantelpiece has the glorious hyacinths and hellebores to look at and enjoy their scent during the evenings.

The living room is now beginning to get its touch of spring with the brighter colours going in, especially from the newly finished blanket.  Tia decided to make an appearance in this photo!

While pruning the hydrangeas, I came across ladybirds who are beginning to wake up and escape from their winter hideaway.  I plan on planting quite a few hydrangeas this year, I enjoy their different stages throughout the seasons and the colour changes - a new favourite shrub!

Springtime in a bottle.  Isn't it glorious?!

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Sunlit Sunday
Roses of Inspiration at The Enchanted Rose

Five on Friday - A Finished Blanket and Starting in the Greenhouse

1. Yay! I've finished.  I have thoroughly enjoyed making the Painted Roses Blanket (pattern is with the fantastic Cherry Heart here).  Even though the colours are brighter than I would normally use it felt as though I was painting my own roses for a narrow boat.  It was fantastic to see the painted roses come to life and imagine the blanket being on my lap as I travel down canals... one day!  Those who follow me on Instagram would have seen my progress, so I am so happy that this is now finished.  My fingers are itching now for another project, maybe some scrap usage will have to be in order before I go back to the Wool Warehouse for more.

2. Last year I didn't have time to work in the greenhouse and so I really missed disappearing into this little corner with a salt cellar and picking and eating tomatoes straight from the vine - my little indulgence.  So, once again when I went in to see what seeds I had left over, I had to battle my way through tools, recycling bags and well, generally everything not associated with a greenhouse.  Yes, again the men of the house had decided that this was a see through shed and the subsequent shouting under my breath ensued!  With calm restored I set about visiting garden centres to get my imaginative juices flowing and trying to remember companion planting so that sprays weren't needed so much during the insect season (ooo I hate that part!).  It's a start, along with some outside vegetables such as runner beans, french beans, beetroot, and a lettuce garden.  Now, where's the sun??!!

3. Trips for the year.  I have been looking at places to visit this year and share with you as I go, so hopefully the list for 2016 will be the following (feet permitting)...

4.  Tia.  Oh how she is enjoying her walks back on the Fens again.  No complaints that she has to trudge through muddy fields and then promptly gets thrown into the sink to get the mud off her gorgeous paws.  She sticks with my slow walk and then gives me a knowing look before trotting off, but not too far ahead.  A clever and caring little pooch who's face says it all.  I keep imagining what her life was like this time last year before she was rescued and how she looks and is treated now.  Don't forget she has her own Facebook page.  If you want to follow her she's here.

Of course, when she comes home she is straight onto her chair and soaks up the rays!

5.  A special birthday for Mr Teen who is now an adult.  Yes, he is now 18 and can now go out into the world and do anything he pleases (he was pretty much doing that anyway!).  We celebrated with a family lunch in a local pub and he had his first official drink - it had to be Guinness!!  and then his day was his own. Where on earth did that 18 years go?

And so that's my Five this week.  Thanks so much to Amy at Love Made My Home for the link up each week and congratulations on your Five on Friday Anniversary!

Also, thank you all so much for your comments yesterday on my rather depressing post.  Your comments really do mean so much to me and I am sure this is just a February blues moment.  I'm getting there!  My London fix is hopefully not too far away and I will be able to see everything from the top of the Shard!  Happy Days!  Until then, let's see that Painted Roses Blanket again blowing in the wind...

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Five on Friday at Love Made My Home

The Tree is Trying to Stand Tall

The tree stands firm providing shelter, shade, light throughout the seasons.  How I feel for that tree.  The branches reaching up for the sky, is it in despair or wanting to get away?

I have to say that I've been feeling restless, looking around my house and trying to be on top of getting it ready for staging and becoming a show home to potential buyers.  The trouble is, when you don't like a house, and in fact, never have, it becomes one huge chore.  No matter how many times I decorate or clean, it still isn't home and my inspiration has become dry and fragile.

The quirkiness of old Sweetbriar Cottage compared to the modern unimaginative rooms of our current house is depressing, especially when I realised the other day that it is coming up to 14 years!  We came here to bring up the kids and that's exactly what we have done, but they as well as me have disliked the village and house for many years.  Gradually the old neighbours are moving out for the same reason and the new are moving in, once again with very young children to start primary school and go through their schooling years.  It's time to go and find a place with views, fields, a large garden (like Sweetbriar's), quirky rooms and of course a room I can convert into a book lined study for me!  Maybe this is why I have been feeling very down lately and want to escape.  

The London fix is still unattainable at the moment and I feel trapped in every way.  Isn't it hard when you feel like this?  Nothing feels right and, in my case, you realise that what ever you do is for someone else.  I found when I had the foot surgery that no matter how much I have helped others in the past, hardly anyone helped or contacted me.  In fact I was still the agony aunt and having to smile through the pain while I dealt with their problems!  And so, during January there was a lot of deleting going on, old friends and family were blocked from my phone and deleted from the awful Facebook - and yes, I feel so much better doing it and saying "no, I didn't know" (I would like to say "and I don't care!"). This is very not me and can only say it must be my age and the fact that I am tired and exhausted by doing things for others ALL the time in an environment that I feel trapped in.  I would love to just pack my bags and just go.  Jump in my little car and stop when the tank is dry and start again - making sure the battery for the camera and the laptop were with me!

I am just rambling and licking wounds today, things are very grey in the Sweetbriar Dreams corner right now and I hope to kick this into touch soon.  Maybe with the new shoots appearing things won't seem so bleak and my heart won't be on my sleeve.