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!