Convalescence and Sunshine.

The sun has shone all day today and there is no snow to be seen anywhere in my little corner of the world, so off the girls and I headed after a hasty lunch with Tom (eldest son) who popped in briefly. The need for fresh air and open spaces sent us to our favourite woods at the nearby village of Mylor Bridge. Along the field path...



over the stile...



Finding things for our nature table, though we decided this pretty sphagnum moss was better off where it lay.



Burnished leaves stuck to our wellies and made the muddy footpaths slippery underfoot.



Lucy has been very poorly for quite a long time now, spending most of her days sleeping as in the picture below and I could see her getting more down as the days wore on; I know I have grumbled on about this before, but I really believe the way we live now doesn't allow for the restorative powers of convalescing and that we feel we must keep children shut away while they are truly 'bad' and then send them post-haste back to school the very instant they recover, only to see them fall ill again because their immune systems haven't properly got back to normal. I am obviously not commenting here on the fact that many have to work and therefore feel no other choice is open to them - in fact, I have myself found the last year beyond challenging as one after the other of the clan needed looking after with work being very much fitted around them resulting in late nights for me, manic working to fulfill orders, etc.



No, I am talking about the way we almost fear being seen with them because the view seems to be that if they are well enough to go out then they are well enough to be at school. Today I said 'arse' to that and did what I felt my girlie needed: fresh air, a gentle amble outdoors and a reminder that there is life outside our four walls. It has worked and though she is tired out, her cough still hacking away, there is colour in those cheeks and a smile on her pretty face. Another day home should see her right I think.



These spikey aliens came home with us



The King Alfred's cakes didn't!



Back to the car and a quick look at the river



then home once more where Lucy is now fast asleep under her quilt again and Isabella is telling me her legs hurt thus requiring chocolate to mend them. Could do with some myself really, but as there is none to be found (!) I suppose I will have to bake a cake instead...sigh.



have a peaceful evening x

P.S. the gorgeous bird was indeed a redwing, so many thanks to all who helped (very similar to a fiedfare it seems).

P.P.S. Recent chat with Isabella: "Mummy, let's play ships. I'll be the Captain and you be The Lovely!"

How sweet is that? x

Sewing and Knitting and Mud.

I think I have been revelling so much in the festive feel racing through blogland that I had sort of missed the fact that the Big Day is actually also racing, ever closer, ever faster. Lucy has just informed me she has eight school days left. EIGHT SCHOOL DAYS!!!! How did I miss that? Of course, there are weekends in amongst it all, but even so. Ah well, I have thoroughly enjoyed my perusing of everyone's wonderful Christmas makes, decorations and feeling of good cheer, so thank you one and all. Now, on to my own little blog and here's today's Christmas Mug Shot




Now, I did promise some crafting. You may remember I had put myself firmly back in the world of sock knitting only to find I didn't like the wool I was using? Well, its garish tones are growing on me as the sock itself moves along. It certainly isn't something I would choose, but I guess it will be good to wear something different by the fireside as I snuggle down for the evenings. This change of mood was much helped along by Mr Davy who announced that he would be happy to wear them if I made a larger - much larger - pair. Lor', the very thought of knitting such long socks again made them seem beautiful to mine eyes. Not sure I could stomach the sight of them on his mannish feet either!



This wonderful piece of pink knitting is my dear Lucy's own. She has been knitting now for a couple of years and has moved on so much just lately in terms of progress. Her tension is becoming better than mine - afraid I am affected by mood and knit furiously when holding an imaginary conversation with someone or there is some action film playing in the background, particularly if we are watching a psychological thriller. The needles fly and although mistakes are fortunately rarely made it does mean the tension varies with the plot! Lucy is the image of calm and can now even work out how to correct some of the mistakes she makes. not bad for an eleven year old is it? (Dave take note, and stop asking me to pick up your dropped stitches please!).



Today's orders waiting for finishing and packaging include some of these Little House Notebooks



and a couple of these Butterfly Bags, one in each colourway which makes for a lovely bit of variety on this dullest of days.



So much rain is falling outside that a cheery boat picture is just not possible today, so I will settle for one of the nuddiness that is Mylor Creek; so beautiful when the tide is out, but Saturday wasn't playing fair with me and the rain, grey skies and gloopiness of the mud made me ever-thankful for the cosy house waiting for me.



Now I am off for a blog catch up with my mug of coffee before starting the real work of the day.



Have a happy Monday x

Still tired....yawn.

Yep, still sooo very tired. Trying to motivate myself, but looking around and noticing does leave you open to noticing that your beautiful, gorgeous daughter newly returned from Uni has turned at least one of your rooms into a bombsite and as she is off to the outer reaches of Europe again tonight for a fortnight you are thus left with the bombsite to contemplate. If you are reading this Lauren, dear child of my heart, PLEASE stop being so messy cos I am truly too busy! Oh, and Sam, sweet 19 year son of mine, please stop leaving me to clear up after your food efforts and DON'T EVER leave a block of cheese on the worktop for the cat to eat! We don't call him Fatty for nothing...the cat, not Sam that is. There, moan over and still no motivation. No car today either, so no chance of looking for inspiration along a pretty creek like the one at Cowlands.



No chance of searching for more elderflowers by the banks of Mylor Creek either, so beautiful whether shrouded in mist



or basking in sun.



Golly, what a whinger I am! Instead of moaning I could.... pick these scarlet globes and make something with them. Redcurrant jelly or wine perhaps? Maybe I could make cordial or use them to lie atop a fluffy pavlova?



I could make pea and borage soup for lunch using leaves from these plants (yes, cheating today with pictures from last time's blog!).



I could work on these sort of designs because I have already had aquite a few shops requesting my Christmas wholesale list.. I know, I know



I will definitely be working on an order I have received to supply a shop in the grounds of a beautful local garden called Trebah Gardens. If you ever visit this way you really must go as the views are amazing through enormous tree ferns to the coast beyond and with footpaths winding their way down to a little beach. Truly stunning and the visitor centre has a lovely shop which will very soon be selling my very own pipany range. I am very excited about this.



As it is, I think I had better begin by clearing away the debris from the weekend and then maybe I will feel more like...having a snooze most probably.



Hah, nice idea! promise to be a bit livelier next time...yawn.



Have a good Monday x

P.S. Much love to my dear Davey who starts his new job today in a school only 20 mins away instead of over an hour! Hurray and I love you! x

Elderfower magic.

Yesterday afternoon I decided I had finally had enough of feeling like rubbish - great grammar there. Sick of feeling that I was on a merry-go-round of problems and worries with no control; in other words, I felt I had become someone life happens to rather than someone who makes life happen and it doesn't suit me. Maybe I am a bit of a control freak, but I find this a scary way to live, always wondering what the next 'thing' will be or dreading collecting the post/ answering the phone for fear of more bad news. This is not living as I know it and yesterday I had enough.





I collected Sam and Lucy from school and drove to pretty Mylor Bridge (yes, I have mentioned it a before as I love it so). This pretty creek village has a post office right on the water and I needed to collect car tax, so a trip seemed worth the short drive. I think with hindsight - that wonderous thing - that I probably felt the need to be soothed and feel a bit safe, for want of a better word, and Mylor has always been that place for me. Anyway, the children sat in the car watching the boats bob on the high tide and the kids playing football in the field on the opposite bank until I returned and then it hit me: we go on a harvesting fest! Nothing better than a spot of gathering when you feel a bit blue, so we drove home, collected Mr Dave (who was miraculously early for once) and headed back to the lanes of Mylor.





It was such fun, more so because I expected Sam to say he would stay at home as he is 18 now and has done this for most of his life, but he practically leapt into the car and brought a smile to his mamma's face with his eagerness to participate - bless him. Jolly handy too as his 6ft plus height could reach far higher than either me or Dave.





We walked, we drove, stopping the car whenever we spotted another cluster of bushes (and I am talking lanes that probably see a tractor a few times a year not busy side lanes here). It was such fun watching everybody clutching their bags of the gorgeous creamy flowers with that magical perfume you either love or loathe rather like Marmite. Finally we headed for home where dinner was eaten, baby bathed and put to bed and the elderflowers counted - 110 flower umbels in all! Good grief! And just in case anyone is worried here, we made sure we left plenty on each plant and there were still plenty to come (hurray, elderberry wine/cordial/jelly...).





So here's what we made - two vats of elderflower cordial and one huge batch of elderflower champagne which unfortunately doesn't keep too long and will have to be drunk rather quickly to avoid wastage...oh dear! In all we made gallons of the stuff, but more importantly we had such a grat time doing it.





And do I feel more like me? Yes I do. Will it last? Probably not but
it's a start, and there's always the champagne when the going gets tough! So my thought for all those feeling blue today is to get thee out into some countryside if at all possible and pick these beautiful flowers. Cordial can also be made with dried flowers so town dwellers can still join in and if the bushes in your area aren't flowering yet then you can still go out to earmark the ones you will be using.





P.S. Thank you all so much for the good wishes; it means a lot x

PPS. We've also been making ginger beer, but I'll save that for another day! xx