Little Cotton Rabbits

In the bluebell woods

Hello again, hope you're well. Sorry that I've not been around much lately. The children have had a lot of time off school recently because of an odd arrangement of the Easter holidays and although they went back on Monday I've spent most of this week deep in pattern writing mode. It's going well but they're not quite ready so I'll post more about them when they're finished.

Spending a week mostly at the computer has left me feeling a bit cabin-feverish so earlier today I packed myself a little picnic and took myself off for a walk in the woods. It was the perfect antidote to staring at a screen and I thought you might like to accompany me. I had walked there 2 weeks ago when the bluebells were just breaking bud but today they were really at their best, I just wish I could have shared the wonderful scent with you because the whole wood was perfumed ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This little oak apple (oak gall) fascinates me. It's caused by a gall wasp laying an egg in the developing leaf bud and so changing how it develops. I'll be paying it a visit throughout the year to see how it grows. It's already changed a fair bit since I first saw it 2 weeks ago ...

 

 

Well that's it from me for today. I got home just in time as it's raining heavily now so I'm going to go put my PJs on and snuggle with some knitting until dinner. Thanks for dropping by, I hope to be around here a little more once these patterns are finished and if you've emailed me recently and are still waiting for a reply I'm sorry, I hope to catch up with emails next week.

 

frosty morning

There are a hundred things that I really should be getting on with today, I've really not got into the swing of things yet this year and am behind with all of my plans and aims. But this morning was a perfect winter morning and much too beautiful to stay inside. So I bundled up in my hat, gloves, scarf, thickest coat, cosy socks and trusty walking boots and set off for a walk.

The countryside is so beautiful after a full frost but it really was cold, the temperature was showing as -4 as I set off (which is pretty cold for these parts). I just walked a few miles, wandering down lanes, across fields, along bridleways and footpaths, past beautiful houses and around the churchyard, but there was much to see. Lots of frosty leaves and berries and a surprising amount of wildlife - robins, jays and blackbirds; a fallow deer (which was too quick for my camera); rabbits and squirrels and a couple of ponies. Here's what a I recorded from my walk, a little snapshot of a frosty winter day in a Hertfordshire village, when the 'earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone'*.

 * From 'In the Bleak Midwinter' Christina Rossetti

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I'm home again and warming up with a cup of tea and a toasted cheese scone and although I'll not be able to tick many things off my to do list today I do feel much restored by my quiet walk with it's small delights. Tomorrow I will begin to get organised, see you soon x

 

Autumny things :: out & about

 

 

The woods in Autumn are one of my most favourite places to be. It's such a sensory experience - a wonderful rich smell of damp earth; a rustling sigh as hundreds of leaves part company with the trees at the slightest breeze and a sparkling quality to the light as the low-angled sunlight is shimmered through all of the leaves still clinging fast. There are good things to eat too. I'm not confident enough to gather mushrooms but a handful of sweet chestnuts or blackberries instantly evokes childhood memories of autumn Sunday afternoons spent foraging in the woods with my Mum, Dad and brother. I do love being out in the woods on a bright autumn day.

Sadly though Toby seems to have gone off wood walks at the moment. He's been getting rather agitated when I've shown him the PECs card for the woods and biting his hand a lot (you can see it's badly calloused in the picture below). I did manage to coax him out with custard cream biscuits for one rather short stroll over this half term break but he was keen to get back to the car.

Amy walked with me on wednesday afternoon, both of us with our cameras in hand as she's preparing her coursework for her photography GCSE. We took a lot of pictures because there's lots going on in the autumn woods. We saw mini beasts; snails, butterflies and beetles, tiny fairy-tale porcelain fungus and toadstools and out on an open stretch a muntjac deer was crossing an autumn-sown field and stopping every now and then for a quick nibble of the fresh, green shoots. There was a fair bit of good-natured elbow barging between us over the best position to photograph from and lots of her shots came out better than mine. It was a memorable afternoon out with my lovely girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at home the late afternoon skies have been crossed with migrating flocks of birds. I love watching them heading south to keep ahead of the colder weather and wonder how far they are journeying.

 

 

 

Autumn is in full flow here and I hope to make it out to the woods lots more before the leaves are all on the ground. Hopefully I'll be able to keep tempting Toby to come out with me and he'll re-discover his woodland mojo.

 

Pictures taken at:

Amwell nature reserve, Hollywell Lake with the dragonfly meadows and Amwell walkway, September 26th

Bencroft wood, Hertfordshire, October 26th

Panshanger Park and Osprey lake, October 28th

 

Autumny things :: garden

 

 

 

'Ode to Autumn' by Keats sums up the arrival of Autumn here...

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless, With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells, With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells...

 

It's all mellow fruitfulness here and my gourds have swelled nicely ;)  as you can see above. Although I don't think they are actually as big as the ones I grew last year. Every year I vow to nurture the plants with regular watering and plant feed but my good intentions slip as the weeks fly past. Next year I'll strive to be a better gardener.

The carrots have done quite well though and we've been enjoying them mixed with herbs and shop-bought sweet potatoes, fennel, onions and parsnips and roasted in the oven.

 

 

We've also had some wonderful cooking apples thanks to having generous and kind neighbours with very productive Bramley trees and so we've been enjoying a lot of apple cake, apple crumble and my current favourite 'apple brown betty' made with left-over homemade bread, butter and brown sugar.

The chickens are laying well and being rewarded with regular jaunts in the garden for a spot of free-range foraging.

 

 

 

Though I've not told them of the recent visitor that has been coming regularly to our front garden, as I think they'd be alarmed!

 

 

 

 

Seeing this beautiful fox has delighted me though. Last week I was really lucky to have a great view and took these pictures through my bedroom window just after dawn. I watched him for 20 minutes or so as he rooted round in the ruins of our front garden - we've had a lot of leylandii conifers taken out as they'd got too big and scraggy so the front garden is a complete mess at the moment but it is obviously the perfect playground for a curious and bold fox. I'd dumped the contents of the compost bin out there ready to be dug in and he was enjoying picking through and finding the egg shells. He didn't even budge when a car drove by, just pricked up his ears and bristled with caution, ready to run should the need arise. I hope he sticks around because he's a very handsome chap and is wonderful to watch but I also hope that the run keeps my fluffy ladies safe from becoming his dinner!

That's all my news from the garden but I'll pop back soon, hope you have a good week.

 

 

 

snippets from the last week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Gathering up the fallen plums from our tree to make jam and enjoying eating it on toast for breakfast.

• Crocheting little supports for the squash which are getting heavy now.

• Waving to the Dakota plane which flew directly over our house on it's way to the VJ day commemorations in central London and thinking about everything faced by a generation we've come to view as the bravest and most selfless in our history.
• Re-homing hydrangea heads bent by the heavy rain.
• Rainy days wet enough to make a frog frolic and balmy August afternoons perfect for basking butterflies.

 

Summer is passing quickly and we're trying to make the most of the long days. Hope the days are enjoyable with you too.