Just about bordering on odd, I see things through different eyes.The heading says it all - I live, I love, I craft, I am me...

28/02/2016

Keep on taking the tablets. ...

Sitrep.
  1. Laptop still critically ill. 
  2. Still using the borrowed tablet. ..hence the blog title. 
  3. Been told that I should change my vocation. .. to tattoo artist. 


Hmmm not sure about that but if you were wondering what brought that up, see what you think.






This is just part one,  there more which I'll show you as I go along. 

As for tattoo artist - na, not for me,  I'll stick to scribbling with a black marker pen.

Well the weekend just evaporated in a blink of an eye. .. hey ho, Monday tomorrow,  bring it on!!!


21/02/2016

The irksome inconvenience of a non functioning laptop

The irksome inconvenience of a non functioning laptop ... sigh ... blogging from a borrowed tablet is not a pleasure.

However, I had the urge to say hi and see how you all are as I have missed you x

I was lucky enough to wangle some time off and had plans to spend time with my boys.  However a combination of foul weather and the need to complete two very essential power points for work kinda put paid to a complete break.

Now, on a wet and windy Sunday evening I am quietly sitting and knitting. I did manage to get some crafting done, it was almost like a release coz as soon as I'd handed over the power points I got busy. However, you'll just have to believe me coz I don't have the brain power to get my photos off the camera and on to the tablet. So you will just have to be content with a blurred, dark and poorly lit photo of the knitting on my lap snapped by the borrowed tablet.

Right, excuse me, got knitting calling loudly! Enjoy your Monday xxxx

14/02/2016

Valentine Dates - a day full of so much xx

 What a beAUTiFUL day it has been!

The sun shone (almost) from start to finish - isn't amazing how sunlight can lift the mood!

As soon as he opened his eyes this morning, Himself was ready for a walk up in the Dales so he chivvied Eldest and I with the tenacity of a terrier until we'd got ourselves ready, breakfast eaten, picnic packed and walking boots on.

(Youngest was staying at a friend's house so they could go and watch 'their' ice hockey team thrash the opponent team 10 : 3 - one happy teenager).

(But before I share our day with you - my laptop has given up or rather, the keyboard part of it has died so I am on Eldest's laptop so please excuse any deviation from my usual layout :) )

 We arrived late morning in Littondale - an extremely beautifully wild and isolated valley. A bitterly cold wind cut right through us, however the pull of the sun covered hills was enough to get us off and out.

I only took the one photograph, the rest were taken by Eldest. He loves using my camera and seeing how cold the air was, it seemed a good excuse to keep my hands snug in my gloves and he takes some really good pictures.
The first photo of the Pixie cup lichen is mine, the rest of the pictures are his.
 Despite the area being limestone, there was certainly a lot of water about so we resorted to our usual puddle hopping. It was all part of the enjoyment and pleasure after being cooped up for so long due to the rains.
 It was such a delight to see snowdrops - they seemed to coat the ground in a delicate spread of white and glaucous green - they made my heart sing.

Along they way we met the softest noses and the hairiest faces around. A couple of Shetland ponies greeted us and graciously allowed me to tickle their whiskery chins.  


The first half of our walk took us along the valley bottom alongside the river then, as we reached our furthest point we turned upwards onto the ridge.  High up on the slope and before we reached the more exposed tops, we stopped and sheltered against a limestone outcrop. We managed to keep out of the sharpest of the breeze as we bathed in the early springlike sunshine - oh it was so delicious - we all felt so 'sun-starved'.


We could not stay too long though, despite the sun we soon chilled down and had to set off again to keep warm. We followed a grassy path alongside an old fence.  Most of the posts had replacement ones alongside and the wire was rusty and red. 

 I loved the way the yo-yo top of the fence posts caught the light while the old roads gouged into the far slopes left dark scars.

 As we stood drinking in the view, we watched a snow shower drift down through the valley. It looked like a veil as the sunlight shone through.
With the area being so remote and wild, farming is difficult so fences and walls are repaired only if vitally essential.  Old gates with even older hinges and latches are commonplace.

I love the tactile nature of rusty metal worn smooth by the action of generations of farmer's hands as they have opened and closed latches, fasten gates, tightened hinges. 

And the title of my post ? Valentine Dates? Well, we love above all other outings - our walks together. They seem to bind us closer and make us stronger. We sit in the lea of the wind and drink tea in silence, alone, together. We listen to the birds, the wind, the river, the rustle of the trees. We breathe in the air, smell the grass, feel the sun, the ground beneath our feet. It is a good time to talk, a good time to listen. We are one... 

We also love eating dates, as seeing that today is Valentine's day, seeing we ate dates whilst out on the hills, seeing Himself thought of putting the two together and seeing Eldest suggested the perfect photo-opportunity - it seemed just right. 'Valentine Dates - a day full of so much xx
 What a wonderful way to spend a sunny (if chilly) Sunday - happy happy happy :)


08/02/2016

Rediscovered hearts❤

A while ago, as I was tidying up, I came across a small bag of unfinished felt hearts.
Hearts I'd cut out over three years ago
and never completed.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I pulled out the few that were almost done
and with a stitch here and a stitch there and a little bit of stuffing ...
they have been added to my Pask-tree.
Job done :)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

My pompoms now share their space with daffodils -
initially tight green pencils with the tiniest hint of yellow tips,
Now joyously open and gloriously cheerful!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

When I posted these pictures, I remembered I'd been playing with my incense bowl. 
I love the play of light on the wall
while the room fills
with the heady scent of my favorite incense.  

 Think I might go and light it up again -
I love the magic it exudes :)
I usually post a hearty story a day, but work has been so busy that I come home, 
flop on the settee and morph into a cushion.
I can't muster the energy to do anything much more than stodgify!

I have even let my knitting sleep.
It goes to work with me every day,
 and then comes home again.
I don't disturb it,
so my knitting sleeps on ...

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

06/02/2016

Sweetie ♥♥ Graffiti

As we walk, we often spot trees adorned with various forms of declaration of love.
Most are fairly crude but to the point.

Some are at beauty spots,
others we have found in quite remote areas, 
miles and miles away from anywhere ... 


However, nature seems to make hearts too
In all weathers, these trees look so wonderfully heart-shaped.
And on a smaller scale, this tree wears it's heart ...

on the base of it's trunk :) 


Sweetie Graffiti = the name given to the carving of your sweetheart's name into a tree :)

05/02/2016

(k)not your average wooden heart❤



Thank you for all your lovely comments about my heart--thon,
sustainablemum - Kitty's Cafe is in New Galloway, Dumfries and Galloway - just follow this link,
Aril, thank you -  the silly thing is, I know I write a blog, I know people read it, but to hear that you have read it from the beginning - wow - thank you (you have great staying power!!) x

Today's heart is a little wooden.
I'll stake it out for you.
It is knot a normal one.
You have to see it from a different plane.
If you can't see it - you'll be barking up the wrong tree.
See it yet? If not, then I've felled.
Have I got you stumped?
Wood you believe it? ...
I think I've nailed it :)
As you open the gate, the supporting beam
has a cavity on the corner.
I stared at it.
Then raised to my tippy toes,
lined up the camera..
voila!
A hole is my wooden heart
Job done :)


03/02/2016

Sweet, sweet Kitty, my heart♥ belongs to you

We loe going to Dumfries and Galloway in southern Scotland for our holidays. It somehow has missed the hurly burly of modern life and breathes a different more gentle air. We have been lucky enough to have had some amazing times there, not spectacular for the shopping or the night life (although I suspect is we looked we'd find some) but the wide open skies, the salty tang to the air, the tussocky grass, the wild sea cliffs. the blue blue horizon and Kitty's Tea Rooms.

Where cakes have luscious names like 'Lady Chatterley's Lver' and 'Sophie's Sin' and the tea is served in vintage china and upcycled silver teapots. 
The waitresses wear almost Victorian style dresses and are charming as they bring scrumptious calorie laden morsels. We try to go at least once a year - it takes that long to recover from the epicurean delights! 
The cafe itself is a visual delight, reputedly decorated by shipwrights for a retired sea captain, with the ceiling displaying a variety of parque designs. Vintage tunes play quietly in the background while the display cabinets groan under the weight of ribbed glass storage jars filled with coffees and tea and a chiller is filled with such a selection of delights that it is often difficult to choose which one to have. 
Each table adorned with crisp broderie anglaise linen is beautifully laid out, complete with china bowls filled with sugar cubes and silver tongs. 
What's not to LVE about this little place?

I think it is time to plan another visit ... bring on the summer holidays - I need a little calorific loading (in the nicest possible way!)

Thank you for your loely harty comments - and if you have any harty pictures and stories - why don't you send them to me and I'll feature them here!

02/02/2016

A Heart♥ of duckweed (strange but true ...)

February 2nd - day two of my heart--thon takes us back to a chilly December walk where views and the air were clear and fresh.
 

We had set off in good light and good humour and walked up on to the moors where the ground alternated between crisp and frosty or boggy and damp! As the sun began to drop down the light breeze chilled to become sharp and biting.
Eldest strode on ahead, shoulders set and gait determined when he suddenly stopped. Turned sharply to the right. Fettled around for his camera. Snapped something, then turned back to me and put up his thumb, grinned and set off again.  Slightly confused and definitely cold, I continued walking towards where he'd stopped. 
And saw this - a small boggy puddle filled with duckweed in a very convenient heart shape! Good lad - I can always count on my boys to take photos for me - got to hand it to him, I would have given this photo opportunity a miss as it was too cold to take my hands out of their gloves. Yet, he did.  xxxx and if you were wondering who took the picture of him - it was Youngest - again saving my hands from the cold! xxxx

2nd February 2015 hearty happenings HERE