A Woodland Walk

Brrr, it's cool! Weatherwise May is normally one of the better months of the year for us. However, with the exception of the odd afternoon, it's been rather cold this year. There has been some sunshine and if you manage to find a sheltered sunny spot you get a hint of what May should be like. I'm still wearing woolly socks and cardigans and when I go out I'm grateful I've worn a warm jacket and cosy scarf.

Last weekend we decided to make use of our NTS passes again, but we couldn't find them! Instead we went for a woodland walk. We saw wild garlic (I picked some of the leaves which I later used when making herb butter), a few bluebells, carpets of wood anemones, lots of freshly unfurled beech leaves, lovely dappled sunshine through the leaves and at the top there were views of plump clouds scudding over the fields. It was grand.

I've a very busy weekend looming filled with three concerts and associated rehearsals - a local concert on Friday night, one in the big city on Saturday night, and one across the water on Sunday night (which we're assured will finish in time for us to get the last ferry back - there'll no encores that night!). I hurt my back last weekend and it got gradually worse till yesterday when it quite suddenly felt much better, phew! I'm being careful with it though. I'm so glad it's not a long term issue, aside from the discomfort it was just very frustrating being unable to do normal tasks. I do appreciate being fit and well again...

The Garish One.

It's done. My quickest blanket to date. I think I kept hoping if I added some more rows it would start to look better(!) It's for N (who is three and three quarters) and he chose the colours though I did remove a really bright orange he liked and also toned down the red. It's still pretty bright though...

...and he seems to like it very much, and now it's done I like it too. It's amazing the difference adding a border makes, even when it's just a simple one like I've done here. I started the blanket in March I think, so it's only taken a couple of months. It's just repeated rows of shell stitch (I'll add a link to the pattern I used) made using random dk acrylics I had in my stash.

Edit... the pattern link is here.

Now I have already started another blanket. This new one will be for myself & hubby and for the first time I have bought all new yarn specifically for a blanket project. It's a nice feeling to know I won't run out of certain colours and have no idea how to replace them, as happens with some of the charity shop and pound shop "bargain" yarns I've used in the past. I'm loving it so far. More details to follow...

Right, got lots to do. I'll finish with a few photos from the last week.

House sparrow egg?

Some lovely skies.

Probably the last tulip shot of the year, they're starting to look a little tatty now.

Have a lovely weekend.

The First Week Of May

We've got the rain now. It's a bit rubbish isn't it when you can't get the washing dry or go anywhere without getting wet. We've only had it for the afternoon too, I guess I've been getting used to having dry weather. Those in the UK who have had to put up with rain for the whole of April have my sympathy.

I'm supposed to be making use of the cool wet weather to tidy the computer/craft room. Apparently my craft stuff was taking over and needed controlling. So, I've bought and built up some new big shelving units from Ikea. I've moved a smaller bookcase into the living room, and another from the living room to the dining room. However, I've only managed to fill one black bag with rubbish and two carrier bags for the charity shop, and the room (and indeed the rest of the house now) is still not tidy. Must try harder...

Anyway, I took some sunny photos last week when the weather was much better...

MollyTheCat loves lying in patches of sunlight in the living room.

A lurking snail, spotted while walking through the village after school.

A posy picked on the walk...

...later "arranged" in a jam jar.

I had some more fun with the tulips and my camera...

... sticking the lens right inside while on macro mode gave some groovy results.

I love daisies!

Thursday was polling day and the school buildings were in use for the voting. It was so nice to be able to spend an afternoon with just A (N was at nursery). It was a hot afternoon, we took it easy. The deckchairs escaped from the shed and A make her first daisy chain.

The camelia flower heads were starting to fall, still loving the pink blossoms.

Early May garden view. The deckchairs are positioned under the dappled shade from the birch tree as we were finding it too hot in the full sun (such wimps!)

Lastly, a couple of sky photos for the flickr group.

The last one of criss-crossed plane vapour trails looks like a saltire :-

"According to legend, in 832 A.D. Óengus II led an army of Picts and Scots into battle against the Angles led by Æthelstan, near modern-day Athelstaneford, East Lothian. Whilst engaged in prayer on the eve of battle, Óengus vowed that if granted victory he would appoint Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland; Andrew then appeared to Óengus that night in a dream and assured him of victory. On the morning of battle white clouds, forming an X shape in the sky, were said to have appeared. Óengus and his combined force, emboldened by this apparent divine intervention, took to the field and despite being inferior in terms of numbers were victorious. Having interpreted the cloud phenomenon as representing the crux decussata upon which Saint Andrew was crucified, Óengus honoured his pre-battle pledge and duly appointed Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. The white saltire set against a celestial blue background is said to have been adopted as the design of the flag of Scotland on the basis of this legend."

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

Up bright and early this morning, I'm away just before 7am.

It's a frosty start to the day as seen here on the Lady's Mantle enroute to get the bike from the shed at the top of the garden...

...and here on some brambles on the cycle path once I'm on my way. I have to admit to taking rather a large number of photos of various frosty leaves this morning. Anyway, frost means...

...clear blue skies. It was a beautiful May morning.

Bike shot.

I notice the logs against which my bike is leaning have interesting knots and patches of moss.

Past the bike sculpture silhoutted by the sun.

Past the folly (and telegraph poles)

Lovely fresh new leaves on most trees now.

I leave the cyclepath now and head past the old 15th century chapel.

Stonework detail.

Peeking inside. It is possible to go inside too, which I do, but the contrast of sun and shade is too strong for any decent photos.

I'm still on the hunt for bluebells and still too early.

The bluebell woods round here are on quite a small scale, at the least the ones I've found so far are.

Out the woods, past a fields of ewes and lambs...

...and down to the loch.

Great sculling conditions today.

Away from the loch now and after climbing a big steep hill (and getting very puffed out), I reach decision time -whether to go for a much longer ride or not bother. I decide not to bother - I'm starting to feel hungry and my camera is showing low battery.

The view. The little patch of blue is the loch I've just left.

Pretty much the same view but with a different focus.

Up at the reservoir gorse bushes line the road.

The water sparkles in the sunshine.

Just on from here there's an old ruin that I usually am happy just to view form the road. I visited it once a few years ago but the ground round about was very wet and I got rather mucky. However, as the weather her has been mainly dry recently there are few puddles around so I decide to pop in for another look.

I'm so glad I do, the views here are fantastic.

The ruin from the south west.

More views, zoomed in to show the distant hills. The biggest one on the right is Ben Nevis.

The ruin from the east. Definitely worth further investigation, I'd like to come walk here for a proper walk over the fields round about.

At this point my camera battery fails and no amount of sticking it under my oxter brings it back to life. A good reason just to head straight home (mostly downhill from here too). Before leaving home earlier I'd taken some chocolate banana loaf out the freezer so I know that's waiting for me too, yum!

Anyway, I believe I mentioned we've had quite dry weather here recently. Often the way weather is percieved is skewed by how normal it is for that area. I like to see the raw data...

Here we have the rainfall anomaly chart for the UK for April 2012 as a percentage of the 1971 to 2000 average. The blue areas have been wetter than "normal", the darker the blue the more rain there has been compared to "normal". It does look very dramatic.
 

However, here we have the actual rainfall chart for the UK for April 2012. Much less dramatic.

The charts are from this site. Very interesting if you're interested in UK weather.