52 Weeks of Happy - Weeks Twenty Six and Twenty Seven

A double dose this week as I missed writing a post for week twenty six because we were in Wales. I didn't have access to the internet until later in the week and then only on my kindle which just about enabled me to quickly check on here and read a few of your posts.  If you've read my last post you will see lots of happy moments from the week including being back in Wales, meeting up with friends and sharing meals and outings together.  Visiting a couple of RSPB reserves we'd been wanting to see for ages and last but not least seeing the sea, walking along some of my favourite beaches and also walking along bits of the coastal path on the Llyn Peninsula. Even the heavy rain of Thursday and the torrent of water on the waterfall in the stream near our caravan was blissful.   Below are a few more happy moments  from week twenty six.

On to week twenty seven.  Lots of little happy moments this week!  Even though I love being away from home it is also great to get back again especially to see the cats  who had been looked after very well by our neighbour.  I much prefer them to be looked after in their own home than to go into a cattery.  As I said in my last post much had changed in the garden and it was great to see all the new flowers including.......

1.  The first red poppy - last year Lyn at Everyday Life and I had a poppy seed swap.  I sent her some of the seeds from the pale mauve poppies that grow in our garden and she sent me some seeds from her red ones.  I was happy to see the first flower from those seeds this week.

2.  Barfuss Bear - we found a new wooden sculpture at Trentham Gardens on Friday.  It was sited on a small pond which has been incorporated into the barfuss or barefoot walk and seems to have a fishing rod by its side so it's a fishing bear too.  The barfuss is great fun - I walked it a few years ago and it really does make your feet feel wonderful.  They seem to have updated it this year and added some new underfoot textures to experience.

3.  Summer Fruit - from the garden the first gooseberries and strawberries were picked when we got home.  There were loads of courgettes too and a few small tomatoes.  I love to be able to pick food straight from the garden and greenhouse.

4.  Living Outside - the last couple of days have been so warm that the gazebo, which has hardly been used for the last couple of years, came out of the shed and we've been sitting under it just enjoying being in the garden.  The word gazebo sounds quite 'glossy magaziney' but it's not at all!  Just a green, plastic 'poundland' type one which does the job. I took this photo as I was sitting in the shade of it  as I liked our umbrella with next door's just showing over the fence!  We've all been living outside this weekend.

Linking up with  Little Birdie  where  '52 weeks of Happy' started. Each week you find just four things that have made you happy to share.

Scenes from Wales

We spent last week in Wales.  We travelled into Powys, having collected our friend from Lincolnshire at Shrewsbury station and made our way via Clun and Knighton to visit another friend who lives in a small village near Llandrindod Wells.  We spent the first day in and around the Brecon Beacons National Park. On the morning of our second day we sat in the sunshine in her lovely garden drinking coffee and I took some photos of the poppies growing there. 

  Patty's Plum. Mrs Perry, Princess Victoria Louise and one whose name I can't remember.

After making sure our friend was safely on her train home to Lincolnshire we made our way up to our neighbours' caravan, which is on a site between Tremadog and Beddgelert,  via the RSPB nature reserve at Ynis-Hir which overlooks the River Dovey estuary not far from Machynlleth.

During our stay we walked some of the coastal path around Criccieth and also between Porth Dinllaen and Neffyn.

We also visited the RSPB nature  reserve at South Stack on Holy Island, Anglesey not far from Holyhead.

Close by were the fascinating ancient hut circles at Ty Mawr, Holy Island, Anglesey

We also spent some time at beautiful Porth Dinllaen, walking along the beach to the harbour and back before walking along the costal path.

The last full day we spent at Llanbedrog where again we walked along the beach before looking around the art gallery and sitting in the sheltered garden for afternoon tea.

On our way home we visited Erddig as it was ages since our last visit.  We had a lovely lunch, went inside to look at the house and then had a wander around the gardens before setting off for home.

I'll write more on some of these places in more detail later.  For now the lawn needs cutting, the weeds are sky high and there are piles of laundry to grapple with.  

52 Weeks of Happy - Week Twenty Five

Just four simple things from around the house and garden that have made me smile this week..........

1. Cut Flowers - A lovely bunch of Sweet William in a vase on the table in the conservatory.

2. Young Blue tits and their parents visiting the fat ball feeder in the tree near the conservatory window,  they have been such fun to watch! It started with the adults taking bits off the fat ball and feeding the young ones in the branches.  Now the young ones go and get their own snacks.  Apologies, the photos are a little fuzzy as I took them through the window being as careful as I could so as not to disturb the birds.

3. Yellow Flag Iris - flowering at last! They grow by the pond at the top of the garden and seemed very late flowering this year in our garden although I'd seen them around in other places over a week ago.  When we first came here there were just one or two plants in the pond but they have spread across the garden behind the pond as well as around the pond.  Last year we had to pull out the ones in the pond as they were getting too big.  We could do with digging some more out this year as they are taking over this side of the garden.

4.  Tea and Cake -  after the warm weather earlier this week we had to stay indoors today because we've had light rain interspersed with heavy showers and now we have really blustery winds which are swaying and swirling the tree branches and destroying the delicate flowers that have only just emerged in the garden.  At least it is warm and dry inside with a little comfort food to cheer us up.

I'm going to take a break from blogging for a short while.  Take care everyone.  I'll see you in July.

Link to  Little Birdie's blog  where  '52 weeks of Happy' started. Each week you find just four things that have made you happy to share.

Rain-drenched flowers and a quiet churchyard

It was very warm in the car yesterday afternoon on our way back from Chesterfield so, as Bakewell was quite busy and crowded,  we stopped at Monyash for a break.  We parked in front of the church and the churchyard looked cool and inviting under the trees so we had a wander around.

St Leonard's Church is in the centre of the village and was built c1200 with  the tower, south and north transepts being added in the 14th century.  The whole church was restored towards the end of the 19th century. 

We walked to the top of the churchyard to look at the views of the fields over the stone wall

This squeeze stile was the entrance to the churchyard from the east side not far from where the mere, the  only one remaining of the four that were in the village, is situated.

We could see the water, known locally as the mere, from the lane we were in but couldn't walk any further as the lane down to it was overgrown with cow parsley and nettles.

 What a wonderful season it has been for cow parsley it is just everywhere at the moment and so gorgeous!

I was intrigued by the name of the lane though!

Our drive home through Hartington was spectacular with not only the cow parsley on the verges but also field after field of buttercups too.

Meanwhile back home after a downpour of rain this morning the garden was looking lush and green again and the flowers looked refreshed.  The garden is rather pink at the moment with the sweet peas,

lupins and valerian all in flower and attracting the bees.

52 Weeks of Happy - Week Twenty Four

I'm feeling slightly fragile and insecure at the moment !  Something has happened recently that I can't fathom, nothing serious I hasten to add, just something a bit unsettling.  I expect things happen in life that you just don't understand and probably never will but it doesn't stop me pondering on things and waking up between three and four in the morning with a heavy heart. There have still been some happy moments recently! From earlier this week not least the visit to the Dorothy Clive garden which I wrote about in my last post and the safe fledging of the young wrens mentioned in my 'happies'  for week twenty three (for photos of the wrens see Paul's blog and his last two posts - here.)   Now for my four simple happy moments.............

 1. Stocks and lemons -  I saw this little article about making a zesty room freshener in the current Landscape magazine and decided to have a go myself.  The cream stocks and lemons were cheap and cheerful from Aldi and the smell of both have mingled to give a lovely fresh scent in the conservatory.  So bright and cheerful too.

2.  Wisteria -  I always look for this flowering at Trentham Gardens - it grows on what remains of the old sculpture gallery which is almost all that is left from the hey day of Trentham Hall before it was demolished a hundred years ago. The ageing of the walls and flaking paint somehow add to the ephemeral beauty of the wisteria. 

3.  Apricots -  I love to see apricots as they remind me of the warm summers we've spent over the years in France and the strong, sweet smell of them in the early morning on the colourful market stalls in the pretty little towns of St James and Ducey which were the nearest towns to where we used to stay.

4.  New Fairies -  There are six new fairies around the lakeside and gardens at Trentham - I think we've found them all now but you never know there may be more lurking somewhere, they always make me smile.

Link to  Little Birdie  where  '52 weeks of Happy' started. Each week you find just four things that have made you happy to share.

Scenes from a Garden

Every year we try to visit the Dorothy Clive Garden which is just a few miles away from here on the Shropshire/Cheshire border.  We visited in the warmth of the sun earlier this week and were greeted by some of the most beautiful scenes.  Are you ready?  Let's go into the garden........

First we see the white borders

and  the mauve ones

but this is the part of the garden we are headed for because at this time of year it is nothing short of spectacular

Just a riot of colour

as far as the eye can see

The views up here over the surrounding countryside are wonderful too

 Can anything be more spectacular than the quarry garden?  Well, perhaps it can!

 The laburnum walk is pretty breathtaking too

Round to the tea rooms

 down to the pond

and we are back near the start again. 

52 Weeks of Happy - Week Twenty Three

It has been hard to choose just four happy things this week as there have been  lots of little things that have made me smile anyway,  here goes.........

1.  Young Wrens - Mum and Dad are working so hard fetching food like grubs and long-legged crane flies and taking away fecal sacs and they sometimes seem quite fraught and twittery especially when cats are around,  although they seem to tolerate us enough to allow Paul to take some great photos of the feeding process.  Just one beak here but we've seen three and there may be more.  We are watching closely because a couple of local cats (not ours) have started sitting underneath the bird house and if the little ones don't make it to the nearby shrub and drop to the floor they may be snapped up.  I wish they would fledge soon so that we can see them safely on their way.

2.  New blind in the bathroom -  not much more to say really. We've needed one for ages.  I just love the seaside theme which reminds me that in a few weeks time I'll be seeing the sea. Hurrah!

3. Nature - in all its glory.  It's just such a wonderful time of year.  I love the road sides and verges full of cow parsley under the heavy candle like blooms of  horse chestnut trees.  Fields full of buttercups - it just makes your heart sing.

4.  Reading in the Garden - dozing in the sunshine, flicking through the pages of a magazine, getting immersed in a good book, watching the birds flitting around betweeen the trees and shrubs, cold drink at my side, cat on my lap - lovely.

Link to  Little Birdie  where  '52 weeks of Happy' started. Each week you find just four things that have made you happy to share.