A change is as good as a rest

Our half-term has been a lovely jumble of homeliness and special treats.

Although Woody and I have still had to work we've juggled our days about to fit in visits to grandparents, a trip on the bus into town and the library (very exciting for the five and unders!), an afternoon at the museum and time in the garden prettying things up a bit in the very welcome sunshine.

And best of all we've have a holiday away from home to look forward to all week. On Monday we're off here again for a few days. I can't quite believe we that we're going here again within a year and not having to pay a bean for either. My darling Woody can really pull rabbits out of hats and he purposefully booked this trip for the coldest, dreariest time of year to give us all a treat when we most need it.

I'm looking forward to it so much. I have a facial and massage booked (never had a facial before so that'll be interesting!), Woody and I get 3 hours in the spa one evening and the little men are going pony riding and meeting owls. The adored mother-in-law is coming too, it'll be just lovely for us all to relax together.

Most of all we enjoy the water park and just pootling about on bikes in the peace and quiet. We're not usually ones for organised holidays but they really know how to do it here and I'm definitely not one to look a gift horse in the mouth!

So yesterday I popped to town to get a few bits and pieces we'll need and came home with this - well I'm hopeless at resisting temptation. I am beginning to rather covet Cornishware and have had this bowl with the hyacinths in for years. It was my grandma's and is very precious. You can't have too many pretty jugs about the house in my opinion so when I saw this lovely stripey one I knew I had to have it.

But Cornishware can be pricey so lucky for me this has a couple of small chips (which I rather like, more character) and it was mine for £8. More than I'd usually pay but a bargain really. When we get back I shall fill it full of daffs to cheer the last dull days of winter while I wait for Spring to really arrive.

Have a lovely week.

Stephx

Prettiness

There's only one remedy that can bring a bit of cheer to these dark, dank, dreary days for me . Pretty things.

It's at this time of year I find I yearn the most for borders full of blooming beautifulness, pots of cheery daffodils, dainty floral brooches, jugs of flowers, pretty fabric, feminine dresses.

Oooh the list could go on and on so, after a ridiculously long and busy week at work, I escaped for some hard earned me-time on Friday to search out some of the above.

Oh and what a good time I had. Time and funds were short so I headed straight for our charming little town for the Friday market and some food shopping with the lovely stall holders.

I love the hustle and bustle of the busy weekend and Wednesday market days, the noise, the banter, the friendliness but it was nice for once to really have the place almost to myself and quietly browse.

The butcher had time to chat and helpfully suggested I bring a tupperware box along for my mince order to help with their cut down on plastic bags. But even better, one of the chaps from the greengrocers carried my hundred weight of fuit and veg all the way back to the car for me. Can't quite imagine that sort of service at the supermarket.

And then I discovered a whole new treasure - the Friday Indoor Trestle Market, full of beautiful vintageness! The Saturday morning Collector's Market is my most favourite start to the weekend but I had no idea that there was a smaller, indoor version on a Friday - what a treat.

There were several vintage book sellers with everything from 1st edition Blyton's to historic maps, some sellers with antique jewellery and fine china and some more crafty stalls selling cards and pretty things, but it was the retro clothing stall that caught my eye. I have bought a pretty necklace from this lady before so my hopes were high and I was so excited to see this beauty on her stall

And this is what I came home with. Terrible picture but hope you get the impression. I adore this bracelet, even though a few of the stones are missing it's still a beauty (and just a fiver!) It catches the light beautifully and I find myself transfixed by it - just like a magpie!

Woody and I are off to this super dance again in a few weeks time and I sHall wear my new piece of vintage jewellery with this floaty dress I found for £2.50 in my favourite junk shop. Do you think it'll look the part?

Cosy days

Well it was our turn for the deluge on Thursday. We woke, like almost the whole country at some point this week, to see a drifting, lacy curtain veil our view from the bedroom window.

School was closed, the roads into the city ungritted (although those between our village and the neighbouring ones had been cleared -!?) and a curious silence has settled over the countryside. It was my favourite type of snow day of heavy, grey skies promising more snowfall to come.

Luckily I can work from home and it was just heavenly to settle down at the computer upstairs in my floral flannel pyjama trousers and snuggly jumper, with plenty of steaming brews to keep me going and get cracking. My type of day in the office!

I do admit to spending a fair bit of time gazing out across the Christmas card scene outside, listening to children squeal and watching the sledgers race down the hillside.

Our little chaps are just beginning to enjoy the white stuff. It's a fine line between fun and freezing your fingers off when you're teeny. I popped outside to enjoy my break in the garden with them and manned the snowman supply lines; raiding cupboards and baskets for carrots, scarves etc.

And then my most favourite part of a snow day - dusk. Work over, computer switched off, two little boys with rosy cheeks tucking into boiled eggs; I popped upstairs to catch the last of the day's light and watch the shadows stretching out across the show and look forward to an evening cosyed up under my eiderdown by the fire.

Days like this are treasures to be tucked away and hugged in your memory for when life is a bit wearing. Later, while I was pottering around the house tidying things away, the sight of two pairs of little gloves, socks and trousers drying on the radiator brought to mind memories of days building igloos, cresta runs in the garden and hot toast by the fire with mum, dad and my sisters quite a long time ago now.

It gives me such a cosy, heartening feeling to know that our own little family is making memories of our own.

Enjoy the winter wonderland and stay cosy.

P.S Thanks so much for the tags I've been included in recently. I will try and catch up and do them very soon!

Garden Love

It's ridiculously cold here today. A bitter, easterly gale is roaring down the valley and we're right in it's teeth. Our bedroom is in the roof and the wind has whistled and moaned around the eaves all night long. I'm yearning for spring and mild days. Oh I do miss my summer garden. Pottering, dead heading, bringing home a new treasure from the WI market and finding somewhere to squeeze it in. We've only been in the house for just over a year so last summer was the first for me in this garden and it was complete delight - ok very wet but I loved it, we all did. My garden is so precious, a sanctuary, the place I feel most relaxed and very peaceful. But it's fun too and a place to play. I feel a bit imprisoned in the house and find myself gazing out of the window, willing spring to come.

Earlier in the week it was mild enough to spend an hour tiding the borders and sorting out the shed but I long to be out there with frothing flowers for company. Time seems to go so slowly in February and I find it torturous so I'm getting out my summer pictures to cheer up a blustery, dreary day.

But there are good sides to this winter battering. The garden is full of birds. Not so many people in our road seem to feed them, apart from us and our neighbour, so we're mobbed especially on raw days like today.

I've been passionate about garden birds ever since one bitter winter when I was around eleven and my sister and cousins and I began a bird club. We fed our little feathered friends then watched them from the kitchen window and drew endless pictures.

I'm very appreciative of the wildlife education my parents gave me, a little too enthusiastically on occasion though it has to be said (I'll always remember mum getting me out of bed aged 15 to come and look at a woodpecker on the apple tree - you can imagine how unimpressed I was at that age!)

Today though I'm such an enthusiast and it's something that has become a special bond between my little chaps and I. Daddy is a master of junk modelling, train building etc, etc but bugs, birds, flowers etc are mummy's forte.

Our garden is very small, perhaps 30 ft square, but our position is just perfect for attracting birds. We're close to a river, the water meadows, farmland and a wood so we get all sorts of unusual visitors.

Reed buntings are as numerous as sparrows, although I'd never seen one at all before moving here. In the winter the birch tree is alive with siskins, red poll and long tailed tits and the ivy hedge is home to a family of wrens, as well as the more usual tits, finches and thrushes. We keep a list of everything in, or flying over, the garden that we see and already it includes sparrowhawk, barn owl, pink-footed goose and even cormorants.

I find it so relaxing to sit curled up with a brew, snuggled up from the cold and watch our visitors flit from feeder to bird table and back to the tree and hedges again. Miles more interesting than a fish tank in my opinion but it does the same job! Wish I had my own pictures to share but my camera really is useless for photographing anything more than six foot away.

Finally the bulbs are coming through. In the autumn we stuffed all the buckets and pots full with crocus, muscari and narcissi and before long the patio will be bursting with colour.

I can't wait, everything is so very bleak and it feels an eternity since my borders looked like this. But if I look very hard I can see clusters of forget-me-nots forming, primroses in bud and a beautiful, deep pink pulmonaria is actually in flower.
Well, think I'll pop back to the window now and see if the bullfinch or my favourite the robin is back. Batten down the hatches and stay cosy everyone.

5 Minutes Peace

Goodness we've been busy lately. My not so newish job is proving quite a huge challenge, which is great but exhausting and Woody is very busy too. So, we're reining back on all that domestic stuff and cramming our weekends with lots of lovely things we all enjoy.

The one just past was wonderful and everyday since I've sat back for just a few moments to remember some special, peaceful and relaxing moments I've really enjoyed, including:

• Dear, dear, far-away friends to stay for a too-short, flying visit on Friday night. Mr F is Woody's greatest pal, was his best man and when his wife and I share notes we're convinced that they're two halves of the same person. We miss them and their two adorable little people so much now they live 300 miles away. Sharing a curry, favourite toys, lots of laughs and the latest news was bliss.
  
  


• My little furry friend being slightly on the mend. Poor girl has been eating us out house and home but losing wieght like water. A bit of help from the vet has seen her calm down a little and rest and I think put a bit more weight back on. Fingers crossed.


• The discovery of a new hairdresser in town! My visits to the shearer are few and far between, time is precious and this new little place has vintage chandeliers, white plasterwork mirrors and interiors magazines and not just trashy mags to while away the time. Oh and the haircut was the best I've had in ages too - hurrah!


• A surprise Sunday lunch at a cosy country inn for for my cousin's birthday. Delicious food, lovely family time and a sunny afternoon.


• Watching our little chaps dance and dance at their friend's birthday party. Hilarious and ever so heart-warming all at once.
  
  

• Bubbles at bathtime - fun, fun, fun!
  
  
  Oh it was so, so nice. Sometimes our weekends fizzle out or end up fraught and a bit angsty which I loathe. This was a corker though and we've promised ourselves lots more.
  
  So back to normal this week but tonight I caught five minutes at my favourite winter spot, cosy in the kitchen at my old table with a cuppa, delightful white hyacinths and a chance to quickly flick through some pretty pictures.

It might be busy but it's not a bad life!

P.S. Thanks for all the lovely comments on my last post, especially those about my rug.

I picked it up at the Collector's Market from a favourite stall that sells all sorts of old junk where I occassionally find a bargain. I've been on the hunt for a rug similar to this for months and I almost shrieked with glee when I found it - then nearly fainted when the chap only asked for £2.50! Can't quite believe my luck.

Is it or isn't it?

Could this be a lemony version of this Cath Kidston print? I bought it a little while ago in a charity shop; one single duvet cover and a matching Oxford pillowcase.

The springy floral fabric is so cheery I thought it would be just the thing to brighten up our bedroom in those chilly, early weeks of spring that promise a lot but still feel like winter.

My plan is to open up the cover and join it to a huge candy striped sheet I've got to make a big duvet cover. The pillowcase will be just for me, on top of a pretty, vintage cotton pillowcase with a crochet lace trim. Woody's quite happy with plain white cotton thanks very much he says.

It's very well made but with no labels so I imagine it might be handmade. Bit of a mystery - very cheery though. A few more things have been cheering me up this week too.

Shoes that make me feel happy - rediscovered at the back of my wardrobe.

First spring flowers inside

A cheery new rug for my side of the bed

Lots to make me smile during a busy, hard week.

Spot the difference

Anyone who reads my blog will know that I do my best to shop as little in supermarkets as I can. Most of what fills our fridge, veg cupboard and fruit bowl comes from the amazing market in town that we're really lucky to have on the doorstep.

I love my weekly chats with the chaps at the greengrocers, who throw in the occasional freebie or offer tastings of seasonal fruits fresh off the stall. The butcher is a wonder, offering cooking tips and suggestions for recipes. I can get pretty much anything we need from polish to bird food and everything in between and just have to pop into the huge tin shed by the petrol station for tins, packets and the odd treat.

But the one thing I can't seem to strike lucky with are clothes and shoes, especially for the boys, and that's where the big orange supermarket close to work comes in very handy. The charity shops have some great finds but its a bit hit and miss so if I really need something I head there.

And look what I found!

Aren't these the most fantastic wellies! Now I confess to getting a bit seasick over some of the really gaudy festival wellies around (those skull ones really aren't my thing). Mum bought me a floral pair a couple of years ago but now they're leaking so a replacement needed to be found and spots were on my mind.

The search has been high low and numerous pairs rejected for being too expensive, too flashy, too childish, too grim etc, etc and then I chanced on these delicious pair. Milk chocolate brown with eau de nil spots (oh go on light turquoise!). Perfect. Spots make so very happy. They're nice and high too, just the thing for dam building and stream jumping with the boys. I am in love with them and find myself just popping into the hall to have a sneaky look at them.

Oh what joy, spots before the eyes and just waiting for a few puddles to splash in. Fanwellytastic.

P.S Thanks for the lovely get well wishes, they've cheered me up so much. I'm feeling lots better and went to see a lovely osteopath tonight who's getting me up and about again. You're all so kind and I really appreciate your thoughts. Much love Sx