Saturday Morning Bike Ride and Some Purple Crochet Additions.

The long settled spell of fine weather has ended here and we're back to our more typical overcast conditions. Still, Saturday morning wasn't bad - it wasn't raining and it was surprisingly warm. I wasn't especially keen to go cycling but I'd eaten a huge number of fairy cakes the previous day and knew I needed the exercise.

Once up and out I enjoyed the cycling as usual. A look back at the little row of houses as I leave the village, I'm heading off to join the cycle path.

The view of The Tree from the cycle path - one of several trees I like to photograph regularly. If you look very closely (click the pic to make it bigger) you can see a rook or jackdaw perched in the branches of the tree.

A few miles on and I'm heading out to more open countryside, still on the cycle path. I like this view of misty hills with the fleece coated fence encircling the pond/bog in the foreground.

Past the roman soldiers.

Attention!

Beautiful blossom, probably a crab apple tree.

Into a neighbouring village and I head off down a woodland track which welcomes walkers but not cyclists (I ignore the sign, the track is suitable even for cars so a bike's not going to any harm). I'm on the lookout for more bluebells still.

And I eventually find some. They're intermingled with small pink starry flowers (a quick internet search and I think they are pink purslane).

The overall effect is very pretty though not as blue as I'd hoped.

I peek out from the woods over the surrounding fields. A lovely little white cottage acts as a focal point in this picture.

Just a little further on and I come across this little fishing loch. Fishing folk are already in action so I didn't explore too far, I'll come back another day.

Highland cattle taking it easy.

A lovely beech hedge surrounds the field.

More beech trees line the road further on.

Cow parsley starting to bloom, gorgeous!

Then home...
...to be greeted by one of the few fairy cakes left, I eat it.

Now to the crochet.

Everyone else is out of the house so I have a chance to see how things look.

I've added a few motifs with a dark purple and a light purple. I'll do the same number of each as I did for the red and gold, then it will be back to blues and greens for the rest. I think it'll be OK.

I'd recently put the purple throw on the armchair which is what made me realise I wanted some purple in the blanket too.

No space on my shelf for jugs of flowers now.

And lastly, a picture of my mosaic, just because it was there!

It was raining most of the morning today, I just notice the sun is now out - time to get out for some fresh air. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Some Progress

The new blanket so far...

Forty circles. I've been good at sticking to my planned colour scheme (blues and greens with the occasional accent of red and gold), but now I really want to add some purple! What do you think - purple or no purple? I'll try a couple of purple circles and make my own mind up but I'm just curious to know what the general opinion is at this stage.

Anyway, such order doesn't last for long in this house...

...and it'll be even more fun once I've made more, I'm thinking 8 x 12 so just another 56 to go. As to the background - I'm completely undecided about that, I had thought beige but we'll see.

Despite the mess he made of my crochet circles N is actually quite a tidy and orderly little boy. Here he has lined up his Buzz Lightyear collection. Of the four big ones two are from charity shops, one is a bubble bath bottle (from skinfint me), and one is the most recent version from ebay (from his more generous daddy). I think we'll probably give one of the charity shop ones back as we've enough now and it'll mean another little Buzz fan can add to his collection.

Thanks to Tess at Driftwood and Marylin for helping me to identify this flower (centauria or cornflower).

It looks its best at this time of year . These photos are from Wednesday. Rain was forecast (and it has indeed arrived) so I took a couple more photos of the garden while the sun was still shining.

The cornflowers are just at the top left of our path.

The path is made of lots of flat round stones, it was one of the things I liked about the house & garden when we first viewed it. These are two balls of German sock wool I was given as a present for the little bit of cat-sitting I did recently.

The big hedge coming to life.

Pots of pansies.

As Wednesday was to be the last day of the good weather and I also had use of the car, I dragged two rather reluctant children off for a walk beside the loch and to see how the bluebell woods were looking after A had finished school.

Looking up underneath a bridge.

The loch.

The bluebells.

Once we reached the woods A & N were quite happy to play and run along the paths.

And I was quite happy too.

We returned to the car by the path along the shore of the loch, this allowed for more stone throwing so took a while. Then home.

Time to pick some more rhubarb...

...with which I made rhubarb shortbread using this recipe from Nimble Fingers and Steady Eyebrows. Mine is quite gooey on top but still delicious though very sweet. Mmmm.

Along the shores of Loch Lubnaig.

On the Bank Holiday Monday at the beginning of the week we packed the bikes, tag-along, trailer and picnic into the car and headed off to Callander to cycle along the cycle path from Callander to Strathyre and back. The weather was just too good not to go anywhere (rain is now forecast for tomorrow and the rest of the week), and this was an easy route suitable for taking the children along with fantastic scenery and great picnic spots along the way.

We were a little late in leaving the house so it was pretty much time for lunch soon after we arrived at Callander and set off on the bikes. After about 4 miles we arrived at this beach on the shores of Loch Lubnaig which formed a little peninsula out into the loch and looked an excellent spot for a picnic. Above is the view to the north.

The view south.

To the west. Some members of the picnicking team are enjoying the exciting pastime of throwing stones in the water.

Further on we pass fields of highland cattle, some with calves.

There is a short section with a steep zigzag climb (we walked up it), here are the bikes at the top.

Looking back down over the loch.

Through some woodland, not a bluebell in sight!

Shortly after this we arrived in Strathyre where we took refreshments at one of the pubs. Then back towards Callander again.

A last view of the loch, I like how the sun is lighting the trees in the foreground.

Nearly back at Callander where, after loading up the car, we had...

...fish suppers. It's the first time I've managed to photograph one, usually I've started scoffing it before I even think of such a thing. As it turn out it wasn't the most enjoyable fish supper, N got a fish bone stuck in his throat and by the time we'd dealtwith it (fortunately a chip dislodged it) the suppers were cold and the thought of more bones made us rather wary.

Still, we had a nice view. Though this is as much of Callender as we saw, next time we'll be more organised and make time to visit the town too as it is quite an attractive little place.

Sunday Morning Bike Ride

Yesterday morning I escaped early for my weekly bike ride, I could tell from the brightness of the sun shining through the bedroom blind that it was a gorgeous morning and I was keen to get going.

Straight away we have the first cow line-up of the year, and a pretty good one too!

An interesting little building. I liked the little window and the contrast of the white against the blue sky. This was at the beginning of a little road I hadn't cycled along till today.

It was just another unclassified road (we are lucky to have so many round here - they are excellent for cycling as they are only really used by farm traffic, cyclists and walkers), but the views from it were lovely.

Nice weathered gate post.

Little white cottage nestling amongst trees in the distance, brambles in the foreground.

Green fields, horses and hills.

A new tree to photograph, perfectly positioned on the horizon. Ferns unfurl along the roadside in front.

Baby leaves on the trees and patches of gorse amongst the green grass. This would make a lovely picnic spot.

At the end of this little road I decide to deviate from my planned route so that I can revisit the woods I went to last week and see how the bluebells are doing.

It means I get to cycle down this lovely little road. Sheep on the left, cottages on the right.

I like the pattern the dykes make here. There was a little lamb with the sheep but it was hiding round the other side of its mother.

A view of the little tree mound in the distance.

More patchwork fields and tree topped hills.

Then downhill to the loch where the National Model Boat Championships are being held. Not too many signs of acticity as yet, perhaps it livens up later on.

And here are the bluebells. Hmm, still not looking terribly spectacular, especially compared with woodland photos from more southern bloggers - this post from One Pink Goose contains the best photos I've seen this year.

They are still pretty though. I'll probably be back here again during the week for another look, I hope the bluebells won't be swamped by the bracken before then.

Then off onto a farm track which links the woods to the roads. I like the greens of the rolled field here with the farm building perched on top, and also the tree on the left.

Ignore the fence posts! This is supposed to be a picture of daisies, sheep, and a distant farmhouse. If I ever get round to using my photos for painting inspiration then the pesky fence can be magically removed!

More green fields, little tree topped hills and a white farmhouse. And of course the wonderful blue sky that we have seen such a lot of recently.

The twisty road towards home.

One last little bit of woodland to cycle through.

Beatiful new beech leaves, I love the light, bright green colour they are when they first appear.

We all went for another bike ride today (got to make the most of the weather while it lasts!). It was a little bit further afield so quite a different type of scenery to admire. I'll post the photos soon. I hope the bank holiday was good for you all too. It looks like the good weather should last here at least till Wed, then there are conflicting forecasts for the remainder of the week so we'll just need to see what happens then...