A Bit of Blue Sky Thinking

Today we saw the first signs of a blue sky.  It seemed so strange first thing in the morning looking out of the window as the sun shone on the snowy rooftops.  It made me realise just how monochrome the world had been for the last couple of weeks.  It had snowed again in the night leaving a lighter dusting on top of what remained of last week's pounding, but thankfully this didn't last too long.

The lanes around here are never gritted so to get to my parents, we took the long way round onto the main roads, however we did have to go past Moulton Mill as it's sails were turning.  We couldn't miss that!

The fields were still white, but again the blue sky was peeping through.

After a lovely visit to my parents, we headed down to Baytree (the local garden centre).  Now, one of my projects this year is to revamp my kitchen window baskets.  They are bare...I mean REALLY bare!  The birds last year used all my coir lining for nests and subsequently everything fell out, plants died and with the one day of summer we had, I thought better than to waste time trying to do anything with them.  Don't they look awful?

So, with my order for coco fibre lining arriving I just needed some compost.  Well, am I glad we went!  They had a bulb sale, and not just a little bit off...a whole load off!  Bags of bulbs for 40p, and £1.00!!  Just look at my bargains...£4.20 for the lot!

I know that I won't see their cheery faces until next year, but I am determined to be totally prepared this year.

Also, I have a Ta Dah moment!!  The baby girl pram blanket has been finished.  I'm ok with it, I just think it may be a little too pink.  What do you think?  The brighter shots were taken outside (remember I said there was blue sky?!).

I've now put away the pink and bought some gorgeous stony toned wool to make a more 'grown up' blanket which I'll post on my progress when it really gets going.

But, I will leave you with a couple of photos I took in the garden today with my new camera (I was at last able to play a little with it).  It was nice to see the snow melting, but also lovely to see the last bits of ice that had settled on the trees.

And as winter starts to turn a corner to head into spring it was beautiful to see that Mother Nature was still in control with the bulb shoots peeking out through the snow.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and thank you so much to my new followers and lovely people that leave me comments.  You all brighten my day.

Take care.

Today I'm linking up with:

Sunny Simple Sunday Linky Party
Sunlit Sunday
Market Yourself Monday

Charcoal Trees and Beautiful Ice

I'm sorry for another monochrome post but I just couldn't resist.  The long difficult journey into work, the sense of achievement I felt when driving under the Cathedral barrier...I was here, I had arrived, I hadn't had any scrapes along the way.  Yes because I love my job, but also because of the visual delights that awaited me.  I knew the Cathedral and grounds were going to be spectacular and they didn't disappoint.  I promise this will the last of these majestic building photos for a while, but I just had to share the winter wonderland with you.

The trees were so magical, it felt as though an artist had made a charcoal drawing with the trunks and branches and nature had done the rest.

My walk continued around, along with other people taking advantage of the fresh snow and untouched look to take as many images as possible.  All commenting on how beautiful it all looked.

Narnia was well and truly here!

I took so many photos until my fingers couldn't feel the shutter anymore.  They were frozen through!

When I got home that afternoon, Mr Teenager was really excited about something he had found in the waterbutt in the garden.  Now, I was a bit trepidacious (is that a word?) following him outside, he does like to shock me with spiders and such like but this time I was very impressed.  Look at what had formed inside the edge...

Aren't they amazing!

Now then, no more monochrome, let's have some colour starting with my gorgeous Coco by day and by night.  During the day she has been surveying the garden, eating bits and pieces left out for the birds (really annoying!) and getting suitably mudded up!  By night, well, butter wouldn't melt would it (I can you hear you...'ahhhh') as she cosies up in her bed and snores  sleeps to her hearts content.

My wrist warmers are now finished!!  Ta Dah! So warm, so cosy, so practical...so don't want to take them off!  The pattern is here.  Have a go...they took me a couple of days and I am a novice at crochet.

The pink baby ripple blanket is almost there.  In fact I think tonight is the night of the bobble stitch around the outside and it will be another 'Ta Dah' moment.

Did you catch it?  Yes, a shot of pink in this very plain post!  Here's another pink moment for you.  Whilst composing this post there is a heavy scent in the air from one of my hyacinths.  I leave this beauty with you and I hope the rest of your week goes well.

Take care.

I'm linking up with Weekly Top Shot

Icy Fingers and Frozen Toes

It has been cold, cold, cold this week.  Each morning as I go to drive my car for the dark, icy commute to work, I slip, slide and hold on to the garage door before I slip backwards while negotiating the handle.  The advantage is that my car is already free from snow and ice and I'm ready to go.  However we don't get gritted in our village so the first lot of commuters have to negotiate the fresh ice...not fun!  But, the views from my car window always amaze me.  So much sky!  Lincolnshire is certainly spectacular for this.    I especially love the fens in the snow, they look so fresh, clean and amazing.  You can see for miles and miles in all directions.

Once in work, the kettle goes straight on, doors are shut to keep heat in and the work begins whilst holding our warm cups.  Even my wooden tulips, which were a gift from my previous boss, have had to have their hats on!!

However, it is now the weekend.  I have stocked up with bits and pieces to keep me and my kids amused and hopefully there will be the annual snow ball fight that myself and my neighbours partake in...it gets very strategic and serious!  The house is warm and cosy and it has been a very good house cleaning day.  Fresh flowers were the order of the morning...

...along with a happy moment of finding the perfect orchid in Butters factory shop (two for £8.00, well it would have been rude not to buy!).

On the way home along the sliding roads, myself and Mr Teenager decided to have a little walk along one of the obscure public footpaths between Spalding and Crowland.  So boots on, we trod gingerly along the tracks.  Mr Teenager went on ahead as I negotiated a bit of a hill...yes, a small hill in the fens, who'd have thought it!

We then stepped across an old wooden bridge which covered a frozen part of the river below.

Looking the other way, it seemed that two rats or other critters had attempted dancing on ice!

Our walk continued, the icy wind was now blowing through our ear drums and whistling through the grasses.

Our faces were extremely numb with the cold, but we persevered discovering all sorts of wildlife tracks, such as deer, fox, rat etc.

We finally reached a bridge that goes over the River Welland.  By now we were absolutely frozen!

The river was flowing easily through, and so was the wind!

So with icy fingers and my rather fetching red boots, we set to have a very brisk walk back to the car.

It was so lovely and warm in there!  We had to sit for a moment while our faces came back to life (who needs botox when a good icy blast does exactly the same thing!!)

So, want to see what I have been working on?  Busy busy!

• The wrist warmers are for my daughter.  She wanted plain ones, so black was decided, with a bobble cuff and I couldn't resist at least two buttons.  Just plain double crochet lines and bobble stitching for the cuffs.  Very easy.
• The start of some wrist warmers which you can find on Cherry Heart's blog.  These are beautiful! and I love the yarn.
• The blankets in progress are coming along.  I'll soon be finished with the pink ripple, and the granny square is one of those projects that you can do in between others.
• AND, knitting!  Hmmmm, my first square of blanket stitching eventually came together.  I think I did well...but it's not going to be a cushion.  No, instead I created one of Attic 24's Triple Layer flowers, placed this in the middle, folded down the top of the knitted square, sewed up the back and created a nice cosy mobile phone holder.  So a bit of crochet and knitting joining forces.

So all in all, I WANTED a very busy weekend!  Last weekend was a bit of a washout in the end due to my continuing migraines, but hey ho!  Here I go....

Have a wonderful weekend with whatever you are doing...and keep warm if you are in a freezing cold winter!...and if you are basking in a heatwave, I hope the pictures are cooling!!

Take care.

The Cathedral Grounds in the Snow

The snow finally arrived today, as promised by the Met Office!  It was so lovely to look out on my garden and my road to see the fresh, clean and white snow.  The drive to work was a little cautious and looking out over the fens it soon became apparent that there was more snow to come.

The photos have been taken around Peterborough Cathedral's precincts.  It looks so wonderful in the snow.  You forget you are in the 21st Century at times as you are surrounded by the medieval buildings.  My favourite photo has to be this one which was taken just as I got into my car to go home this evening (transported to Narnia!).

 This was the view of the majestic Cathedral from my office this morning...

 and then my walk around...

This was taken just before lunchtime...

and this was taken a couple of hours later...very large flakes that settled everywhere.  I had about 3 inches of snow on the top of my car when I left.

I can't wait to see it all tomorrow!

Take care out there.