Spring

Oh my, it's been a tough old Winter with horrid, wet and dreary weather and I was delighted to get out for my first marathon of the year at Steyning in West Sussex. It's an old school type of trail marathon with minimal markings for the course so Mike helped me put the route into my Garmin watch which made it easy to follow. The weather was perfect, with a watery sun, and it was unusually dry which made it much nicer than the usual torrential rain and mud! I only took one photo as I was busy trying not to trip over!

Today I'm tackling my garden shed which is in need of a good clear-out!

Weather!

Well what a lot of rain we've had recently. The grass is sodden and only the weeds are enjoying the weather! I'm sitting with a curled-up kitty on my lap and typing with one hand so i keep having to go back and correct, so apologies if I miss anything. Watching the birds is one of our favourite pastimes:

The cages around the feeders are great 'cos the Rooks and Crows can't get at them easily, although they do keep trying!

I love the 3 Doves waiting patiently on the top of the barn!

Finally, and apropos nothing important, I liked the coffee dregs when I was pouring coffee from the percolator!!!

On the knitting front, not a lot to say really as I don't seem to be able to settle on one specific project and keep changing my mind! I think I need to de-stash more yarn to a Charity Shop as I have far too much stuff lying around.

February

Firstly I want to send my love and thoughts to everyone in the USA. Such shocking news footage and so many lives lost. My thoughts and prayers are with you at this very sad time. It's the 1st February today and I was going to name it "Fabulous February" but changed my mind as Mike is poorly, bless him. We seem to be getting old and cronky! Such is life.

Just checking my gauge for a new sweater pattern. The yarn has been sitting in my stash just waiting for the right pullover and hopefully this will be it. Having said that, I keep flitting from pattern to pattern and not making my mind up so who knows what I'll start next - it certainly isn't my best square!!!!

As the Seville oranges are about, I made a small batch of Marmalade and froze the rest of the oranges. It truly is the best marmalade and the kitchen smells divine. Shelley brought a present for me to play with her as she was bored of waiting for me to finish!

Preparing and planning

I'm trying to get myself organised in many ways atm. It started with Spring-cleaning the house - downstairs, Lounge, Dining room, Lobby, Kitchen and Utility room, then the Hall and the Bedrooms. I have no idea what brought on this housewifely fervour but everything looks and smells divine now so it was worth the effort. Shelley helped enormously and enjoyed a nice drink from the sink in her room; she's recently started to like drinking from the tap - I think she likes the stream of water rather than her bowl. I wondered about getting her one of those battery-operated drinking bowls but decided against it as we have fun water splashes together which is much less messy than on the floor!

Spring!

It's so warm here that the little flies are already starting to appear in the garden and in our ultility room! Global warming I'm afraid. Our resident fox is still visiting each day:

I've got my first marathon of the year coming up at the beginning of February and I'm really looking forward to it. I've been busy upping my mileage in anticpation. Not that I'm any faster, it's more about the endurance aspect as I've never been a speedy runner! On the knitting front, I've just done a swatch for a cardigan:

The yarn been lurking in my stash for agea and I'm looking forward to knitting a cardigan with it at last.

Brrrrrrr!

Oh my goodness it's cold this morning and everything is completely frozen solid so no running outdoors today. I could go on the treadmill but I'm not in the mood for that thank you very much so I just popped outside to open the gates and see if there's anything interesting to photograph.

I've just had a wander around the garden and took a few photos of plants and shrubs looking really pretty in their icy jackets:

This is what I do when it's really cold but I need nimble fingers. The blue gloves are just the sort you see in hospitals so my fingers are protected and then the fingerless gloves keep my hands really nice and warm.

Little Friends

I was just tidying up the back bedroom when I looked out of the window to see this:

I called Mike straightaway as we haven't seen them for several months so we spent a while just enjoying watching them. They do sometimes strip the bark/branches from our fruit trees but we forgive them as they're so beautiful and it's lovely to watch them in a safe environment, out of sight of hunters. In other news I've been making marmalade, which I always enjoy. I just love the smell of the seville oranges and the kitchen always smells divine while I'm preparing everything.

I've just had another go at Macrame and I'm quite pleased with this little pendant. I'm not up to doing a massive project yet but I'm enjoying pottering around and trying to master some different stitches:

As I type, Shelley is enjoying a well-earned rest alongside the radiator!

Happy New Year - Belated!

Many apologies for not wishing everyone a very Happy and Healthy 2025. May life be kind to you and if anyone is struggling, here's a virtual hug with love from me to you. I mention this because I find the New Year challenging as I remember friends who who never lived to reach this year.I have a marathon to run tomorrow, weather permitting, as the temperature has dropped dramatically and the roads are a bit icy! We have a new visitor to the garden in the form of Mr Fox, and what a fine fellow he is with his beautiful bushy tale.

As you can see, I still can't get the formatting right, sorry!

The Year End

I'm having trouble with the formatting of my blog at the moment and the paragraphs keep merging into oneanother. Most likely my own fault so I apologise if it looks a bit weird! So tomorrow, in the UK, we'll be into another New Year, 2025. I wonder what it will hold for us all? Let's hope it's a good one, especially for those who are in war zones or struggling just to survive. Sorry to sound morbid but I often feel a bit odd, or rather out of kilter, around this time. I don't do New Years resolutions these days but I do try to be kind and patient to others. I'm now looking at my next knitting/crochet/gardening/running projects and I think I'm going to be rather busy!!! On the knitting front, I've just wound some lovely yarn to make myself a cardigan:

Of course it had to be inspected by Shelley!

She was very good when I was using the ball winder, which is unusual as she usually jumps up and tries to catch hold of the yarn! I'm hoping to get to run a marathon this weekend but I'm a bit unsure as the weather forecast is looking pretty dire and it's quite a way to drive. I"ll just have to decide on the day.

That's it!

I finally managed to finish off the strangely shaped little blanket and I'm quite happy with it's quirkiness! It certainly wouldn't win a prize at a Show, but it was fun to play around with and helped use up some of my stash!

My little crochet cushion makes me smile too:

The weather was kind to me this morning and I enjoyed my run. When I arrived home, the sun was peeping out and this small window in the Dining Room looked rather pretty:

I wish you all a very happy 2025, full of fun and adventures,

Nearly at the end of 2024

Crikey, where did 2024 go? I can hardly believe it will be 2025 very soon. I'll actually be glad to see the back of this year as it's been a challenge from start to finish - problems with the house, workmen who don't always turn up, Mike being poorly with yet another operation looming for 2025, an injury that put me out of action but thankfully not for too long and i only managed to run 6 marathons which is the lowest number for many years! I think that'll do thank you very much and I'm looking forward to a peaceful and uneventful 2025 - Hahaha, as if! I started taking lots of photos but then didn't upload them so I must try harder or my poor blog will just disappear. So I'll start with photos I've taken recently. I was tidying up my work space which was full of yarn, knitting and crochet and came across some leftover hexagons from another project and decided to make some sort of throw. I used Rowan Summer tweed as I still have a quite of lot of it in my stash and I do enjoy working with it. This obviously needed cat inspection and directions!!!

I thought it might be fun to make it into a roundish shape and I'm quite pleased with how it's come out - still needs blocking and ends sewn in but you get the idea. More to come soon and I'm going to try and update my blog each week.......especially as there are still a few days of 2024 left.

Rain, rain, please go away!

Oh my goodness the rain has been Biblical these last few weeks. I've been drenched on most of my runs and even decided not to do an ultra event I'd been looking to do for ages! Actually that turned out to be a good plan as people were complaining about the state ot the route which took them across sodden ploughed fields and they even had to get soaked feet trying to cross a river using stepping stones that were underwater! So I'm now trying to catch up on tidying up the garden. Our land is on heavy clay so I don't dig it in the Autumn, just tidy up the plants and bushes and leave lots of places for insects to make their nests.I alway save the stems of woody plants that have open stems which are perfect for creating an insect habitat.

Moving on

Well that's that and SVN running events are no more. The end of an era and it will seem very strange without Rachel and Tills. It was a sad day when we all said our goodbyes to them but I know Rachel will come back to share some miles with us in Long distance walking events (LDWA). As I started typing this update I realised that I hadn't shown my lovely medals from the 10 marathons in 10 days event I took part in last year, so here they are:

I also agained a new 'milestone' tee shirt which I love:

It was somewhat eventful in that on day 7 of the 10 days I was tripped up by a dog on one of those long leads. Unfortunately, the owner was not responsible or in conmtrol of the dog and he failed to stop the dog from chasing me and it pushed me to the ground, flat on my face - OUCH! As I picked myself up he was just wandering off in a different direction, completely unaware of the trouble he'd caused. 2 of my friends chased after him and remonstrated with him but he didn't seem fully 'with-it'. As I picked myself up I knew my jaw hurt and sadly I lost 4 teeth which cost a lot of time, money and effort to be corrected - oh my goodness that was an expensive experience and involved many, many visits to a Specialist each month!

Rainy days

Sometimes I don't mind rainy days, but today I do cos I have 101 chores to do outside and it is gloomy and not at all inviting! I did a short run this morning just to loosen up my legs and here's what I saw en-route:

It really makes me angry when people just dump rubbish in the countryside! I've reported it to the appropriate authority but I suspect it will sit there for ages as the Council is over-stretched atm. What made me happy though was seeing my neighbours Soay sheep out in her field:

Aren't they cute! Sadly though they aren't bred for their fleece but for their meat.

Saxons, Vikings and Normans

What's she going on about history for, I hear you say! Well Saxons Vikings and Normans is the name of the Race Director with whom I have been running for many years now. So over the next 3 days I will be running 3 marathons with my favourite Race Director, before he and his lovely wife retire and their lovely, friendly and inclusive events will disappear. There will undoubtedly be tears all round as they have played such an important part in my running journey. Without Tills and Rachel I never would have attempted 236 marathons/ultra marathons including a 100 mile event. As a leaving gift I'm giving them this plaque that hung on the dining room wall of my childhood home. It was issued in 1966 to commemorate the Battle of Hastings in 1066 so it seemed perfect!

Now I'm hoping this works so I can start blogging again on a more regular basis!

A bit of this, a bit of that!

Oh my goodness I've had a nightmare trying to get into my blog to edit it, so this is just a test........and thank goodness it seems to have worked! Now I can start updating it soon!

More Nature

There's so much going on atm that it's rather overwhelming! We're busy repainting all the outside windows and doors and it take a lot of work and good weather to stay on top of everything. We've been lucky for the first couple of weeks but now we seem to be entering a rainy season. I've got a nice LDWA event coming up this weekend. It's a 30 miler and it's a lovely route I've done before. In the garden there are still lots of births - ducks, rooks, crows and a badger with another duck sitting on a nest somewhere but coming for breakfast here each morning.

This cute little squirrel has a best somewhere bearby and pops along for some grain each day:

I snapped this photo of 2 Rooks this morning 'cos it made me smile - it was as if they were just waiting for me to put the food out for them!!!

Nature

Following on from 2 seemingly successful hatchings for our resident ducks, there is just one duckling left. It's so sad as the poor little mite has had a sore foot for several days but the good news is that he's still managing to walk and his mummy is being extra cautious. He's been coming up for some grain each morning and evening and I really hope he survives.

The other rather exciting thing was a balloon flying right over our fields and house in the early morning last week! The weather was perfect and I managed to take a few snaps to share:

We're rather busy trying to repair our outdoor windowframes at the moment, which is tedious but necessary. Mike does the prep work and I follow on with undercoats x 2 and top coats x 2. I'd much rather be out running or gardening but sometimes the practical and less exciting tssk just have to be done, don't they!