Be as much as you can in the open air without fatigue

My blog today was inspired by two entirely separate things, firstly a walk we had last weekend and secondly reading Jane's great blog The life of an eccentric English booklady where she shared some wonderful 19th century advice on improving lowness of spirits.  One of the suggestions for improving mood was to 'Be as much as you can in the open air without fatigue'.    I must admit that even spending time in our garden in sunshine this afternoon, listening to the birds and seeing what is happening outside did make me very happy.  My hands are scratched by brambles and we barely scratched the surface of all the work there is to do, but just being outside was so lovely.

Last weekend we went for a walk which took in both farmland and woodland so I thought I'd share some of the pictures I took.

The ducks enjoying the new pond created by incessant rain

Sodden fields

Looking across a valley filled with beech and birch trees

Muddy banks of the river.  We saw a pair of dippers dancing in and out of the water

Beech trees and much lichen

Ferns growing out of moss and lichen on a tree

Ferns haven't really died back from last year.

The sheep were quite muddy in their field

Very free range chickens

Hedgerow not looking quite right for winter

The holly bush, a sober lump of green,
Shines through the leafless shrubs all brown and grey,
And smiles at winter be it eer so keen
With all the leafy luxury of May.
And O it is delicious, when the day
In winter's loaded garment keenly blows
And turns her back on sudden falling snows,
To go where gravel pathways creep between
Arches of evergreen that scarce let through
A single feather of the driving storm;
And in the bitterest day that ever blew
The walk will find some places still and warm
Where dead leaves rustle sweet and give alarm
To little birds that flirt and start away.
John Clare - Winter Walk

King Winter is now in the land

We are very lucky here and haven't suffered from any flooding.  It does feel however that we've had rain most days since before Christmas.  Until recently we haven't really had much of a winter, the odd warm weather has made it feel like a perennial autumn.  Then suddenly winter has arrived and we are getting frosts and sunny days.

 

So in order to make the best of the beautiful wintry weather, we set off early for a walk on the South Downs this morning.

 

 

The frost covered everything, and glittered and shone, even the grass was tinted with silver and white.

We walked through beech tree avenues, and across farmland where only recently deep ridges of mud would have made it difficult to walk through.  Now they are frozen hard with puddles now sheets of ice.

There was a lovely light through the trees, and we saw a number of robins, finches and blackbirds along the way and possibly a bird of prey far into the distance.  We also saw a yellow headed bird which I think was a siskin on the edge of the woodland.

The hedgerow was filled with plenty of berries, often seen to be a sign of a hard winter.  I read recently that it is more a sign of a warm autumn, so I'm not sure what is true now!

The walk has made me feel quite enthused about perhaps doing more painting although trying to recreate the frost and ice is somewhat beyond my talents...

 

‘King Winter is now in the land.

He reigns with cold and freezing hand.

He makes Jack Frost touch nose and toe,

and brings us bright and shiny snow.

M. Meyerkort

A New Year and a New Project!

It may be having all this time off, but I've been really very creative lately.  I started making a patchwork star the other day as it is almost Epiphany.  I had no real notion of what I would be doing with it...

I then started painting a very small acrylic picture of Charleston House in East Sussex.  I always sketch in first so I have an idea of what I'm doing.  It was based on a photo I took during the Autumn when we popped in on our way home from Rye.  It isn't perfect but I was happy with it as I haven't painted for a little while and the size of the canvas was rather small!

 

I was still keen to do something creative, and thought about Mr C saying to me about making a patchwork quilt.  So I got out a huge pile of materials, made a lot of mess then had an idea about using bits and pieces of unused material to make a patch with applique in the middle.

 

 

Above is the background, which I've used a zigzag stitch on the sewing machine.  I will then hand sew some embroidered flowers from badly stained old linen onto the top of that.  I can't embroider myself, but I like the idea of reusing something that was made years ago.

 

 

This will then make the second patch.  I expect the quilt will take about 25 years to complete, but I like the idea of doing a patch at a time and seeing where it takes me.  Wish me luck!

 

I can't quite believe it is January already and we only have three more days of the Christmas season.  Work is looming again on Monday, but I'm trying not to think about it too much.

 

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Mark Twain.

The Other days of Christmas...

Today is the day that everyone asks that annoying question.  'Did you have a good Christmas?' they enquire and my answer is always to state that it is still Christmas!  To a large number of people in this country, Christmas starts when the shops start advertising their wares (if you are lucky in November), and ends with Boxing Day.  Many people are busy taking down Christmas trees, stripping their house of all decoration, moaning about having too much food leftover.

Whilst I understand the need for businesses to start Christmas early, I don't understand the need to start Christmas celebrations a month in advance.  Before you think I am being rather humbug, it isn't that I don't love Christmas, I really do.  I love all the preparation, the making of the mincemeat, the hanging of the holly and ivy, the choosing and wrapping presents and writing cards.  What I don't like is this long pre Christmas hysteria followed by a cutting short of the Christmas season.  For it IS a season.  Christmas starts on Christmas Eve and runs until Twelfth Night.  In some traditions it even lasts as long as Candlemas on the 2nd of February.

I'm a great believer in Thoreau's saying that we should 'Live in each season as it passes'.  Enjoy the beginnings of Autumn and the leaves changing colour, then celebrate Halloween, Bonfire Night, Stir Up Sunday and so on.  If we rush onto the next thing too quickly, we do not savour what is happening at that moment.  Rather than spending the whole of the Autumn celebrating Christmas, leave Christmas to its proper time at the end of the year, at the darkest time of the year.

I do understand that a lot of people don't work in the same industry that means they can take time off between Christmas and New Year, but even those who have to return to work can have those days brightened by coming home to a lovely tree with its sparkling lights or a candle burning.

Thank you for your messages on my Christmas Day message, I do hope that you are able to enjoy the other days of Christmas too.  We are only on the third day of Christmas now, many days left to celebrate the light in the darkness.

 

“A good time occurs precisely when we lose track of what time it is.”  

Robert Farrar Capon

Christmas Wishes

 

We would like to wish all those reading our blog

a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

Marchpane Cake and Crochet Snowflakes

Since my last post we've been busy with Christmassy plans and trips.  We went to Devon to see the family and spent a lovely day at Buckland Abbey.  It is one of our very favourite places, the great barn was filled with a wonderful flower display based on the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Nine Ladies Dancing

Ten lords a'leaping

 We also spent a lot of time wandering around their beautiful kitchen.  This year the theme was a Tudor Christmas and I was enchanted with the spices and herbs and food displayed.

The open fire made it rather special and made us hope and yearn for cooler days so we can light our fire at home more often!  The next weekend we spent a day in Brighton, having a wonderful lunch in the Blackbird Tea Rooms which was beautifully decorated in 1930s and 40s décor.

 

 

We hadn't come to drink tea however, but to see Kate Rusby.  For those of you who aren't aware, she is a folk singer from Yorkshire and every December she does special Christmas concerts, singing Yorkshire Christmas carols - to the tunes that are sung in the pubs in South Yorkshire.  We just love her voice and I'm sure my description doesn't do her justice.  I also loved her huge crocheted stage decorations!

 

 

And to continue our busy weekends before Christmas, we also popped to Hinton Ampner in the north of Hampshire.  They had a lovely Victorian Christmas wedding theme to their decorations. 

 

Wedding breakfast

 

 

 

Now we are back home again and looking forward to the festivities.  We've even found time to put up our own tree.

 

As usual we've covered it in our motley collection of hand made, Germanic, Victorian and folksy decorations.

 

Tomorrow is the Candlelight Carol service at the church and then the last couple of days at work before Christmas begins.  We do really hope the weather will cool down soon, it's been rather warm for the time of year.

Living in the past

I live in a modern world filled with computers and fast cars and constant change. I appreciate modern medicine and technology and the huge choice that is available, I wouldn't be without any of that which makes life better for all of us. Without technology you wouldn't be reading this blog now!

However my heart and home belongs somewhere in the mid 1930s, where tea is made in a Beryl ware teapot served with homemade scones and jam.  Where every wooden tray has a cotton or lace doily on it, and there are always flowers on the table. A room where Al Bowlly is singing softly on the wireless, and mantel clock is ticking steadily.  Where the dresser has coronation cups with the King and Queen on them and and sofa has home made patchwork cushions and an antimacassar on the back. 

Where there is a larder stuffed with home made chutney and jam and marmalade and where the christmas pudding sits waiting on a shelf.  Where old jars are filled with rice, currants and sago, with pulses and lentils and flour.

A place where books are in every room, books old and new nestle side by side and the telephone rings with a bright 'bring-bring!'.  A place where candles are lit, the seasons are marked and the house is filled with things that bring back memories of trips taken or of people we love.

“Home, the spot of earth supremely blest. A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest”

Robert Montgomery