Colourful Achievements.

Last Monday N started walking on his own...
...we celebrated by buying him his first pair of shoes.

Most of the shoes available were a nice but rather boring brown and we rather liked the red pair best. They were also slightly cheaper than some of the others which suits my rather "frugal" nature!

I'd already treated myself to a new pair of red shoes earlier this year.

Other colourful things hereabouts...

Lovely autumn reds on this creeper draping itself over a garden wall.

Acorns collected from a walk to the shop.

Our second sunflower of the year.

These. (Ummm, I've forgotten what they're called...)

Our own viola, I've planted several of these in the top of the pots containing the tulip bulbs.

Tada! My first granny square, at last! Thanks to this tutorial on attic24 I finally figured out what to do. It's by no means perfect, I've since made two more and they get a little better each time. They're intended for a cushion cover...

And finally, a not terribly good photo of some of the sparrows warming their tummies on the shed roof, cute!

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

This morning a friend came along for the ride. We set off just after 7:30, the morning was dry though a little cloudy.

Along the cyclye path we find the stone circle. I've never seen this before as it's on a section of cycle path that I'd not been on, till today!

It's not actually very ancient - it was built along with the cycle path within the last couple of decades. The stone against which my bike is leaning has stylised ancient carvings on it.

Off then up the hills past autumn berries.

A at the top, chatting with the cows.

These fellows were across the road and came over to see what we were up to.

Shortly afterwards we pass this big beastie. Very impressive.

An upland view.

As we approch the reservoir my friend and I part company, she needs to head home whereas I carry on.

Beautiful autumn colours all around.

These are some particularly cute sheep!

The colours of the braken in the backgound match the details on this old trailer.

As I was taking the above photo of the leaf shadows on the wall I was aware of much clucking and sqwaking behind me...

... I looked over the fence to find these rather strange looking birds.

A view of Lochwinnoch, a pleasant little town to visit. We'll go there another day though, I turn back up the hill and head home.

Couldn't resist just this one last cow photo on the way!

Bits and Pieces

Some more random photos from recent days. First of all...

...I made this little roundel years ago. It's a copy of a design from a book and it is painted rather than leaded. However, what's more improtant is what is lurking in the background...

... yes, we have our "own" cows! They're little boy cows (whatever the correct term is for that - I'm showing my lack of cow expertise here!) and every September they appear in the field across the road from the front of our house. They're only there for about a month and I'm not sure where they head off to next, perhaps to market but let's not dwell on that...

By the way, I cleaned the bedroom window just to take these photographs - it's amazing what extremes my blog takes me to!

I therefore had the window right open and if you lean out a little round to the right you get this rather pleasant view. Normally the window doesn't open far due to the blinds getting in the way.

Some dust catchers on a mirror next to the window.

I hadn't realised Ikea sold their own version of hama beads. A has been enjoying making hearts with them. This one hangs at her window, she's made one for Mairi her nursery teacher, one for Granny and one for Aunty Sheena. I'm still waiting for mine as I keep reminding her!

After my last post I did manage to get all my tulip bulbs planted. One of the pots containing geraniums (or pelargoniums I should say - Elspeth Thomson is always very specific in her "Urban Gardener" and "Tale of Two Gardens" books that I've just been reading. I'm taking a break from the second actually as I'm not enjoying it as much as the first one - it requires a bit more plant knowledge than I posess to appreciate it I think. I've switched to Little House on the Prairie which I've never read before. But I digress...) had disintegrated so I was able to use the pieces for crocks at the bottom of my bulb tubs. I rescued one of the plants and have since brought it indoors though it'll need to be tough to withstand the level of care my houseplants receive. It looks fine at the moment...

And a little piece of stone carving from the village.

Off now for a quick bit of mirror leading before N wakes from his nap (I should have been doing that instead of blogging in the first place, but nevermind...)

Thistle Mirror

I like this mirror!

It's another commission, and one that I enjoyed working on.

I'll package it up tonight ready for posting tomorrow.



While I was taking the outdoor photographs the clouds were scudding across the sky with more and more blue sky becoming apparent in the mirror reflection.

I'm off now to enjoy the sunny(ish!) afternoon and plant some more of the bulbs I bought a week or so ago. I've a couple of big terracotta plant pots from Ikea earmarked for the tulips so it will be a nice pleasant job just popping them in the soft compost.

Saturday Morning Bike Ride.

A dry though cloudy start to the day, not as cold as I was expecting either. I set off about 7:40 this time.
The bike shot, this was towards the top of the first climb.

If you look over the hedge just above the saddle you can see the folly which featured so much in my last bike trip. We're on the opposite side of the valley this time, with no atmospheric mists today.

And a cow shot straight away too. What a poser.

We're off round the reservoir again. It has very grand entrances, above is a detail from one of the gates.

I get off the bike and have a brief wander through pine trees for a view of the reservoir.

The reservoir view turn out to be not particularly inspiring at this point, I prefer the pine cones on the forest floor.

Back on the bike, lovely autumn berries line the roads.

More cows, I liked the different colours of these ones but they didn't like me! Soon they were off, running along the edge of the field as fast as they could.

Looking back down hill. I think I'll try this route in reverse next time, a lot of the lovely views seem to lie behind me.

A rook posing on the top of a tree.

Sheeps.

The sun bursts through the clouds, a beautiful view of the reservoir (remember you can click for a larger image)

More gate details.

Heading back home, telegraph posts attract my attention.

A cycle through some gorgeous greeness just before the final descent back into the village.

Later I chopped up the crab apples ready for making into crab apple jelly.