A Change Of Scenery

We've got some lovely walks close to home but all of us, and I include Archie in this, are fed up of them now after taking the same routes day after day over the past year, so on Saturday afternoon we decided to head somewhere different.

Now you may not think that the photo above looks like a very good walk for Archie but looks can be deceptive. These motorway services opened last year, they're a short drive away from where we live, and there's more to them than meets the eye.

There's plenty of green space to the side of the services and lots of young trees have been planted.

We came to a track which was a safe distance from any roads so Archie was able to come off his lead.

A little further along was a huge lake.

The best part of the walk for Archie. He does love walking through woodland. Unfortunately, it got rather muddy and annoyingly I was wearing my trainers rather than my walking boots so we ended up turning round. If we'd continued on our journey we'd have reached the River Aire and the canal, which I'm sure would be a lovely walk, but that's something for another day.

Saturday was dull and rather chilly but the gorse is flowering which brightened things up.

Back to the lake.

I think this will be a great walk when the sun's shining, and Archie definitely enjoyed going somewhere different.

The Mother-In-Law

I read a review of The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth on a blog and decided to reserve it at my local library. I'm pleased I did as it's a book I really enjoyed.

"When they first met, Lucy's mother-in-law, Diana, never really approved of her.

That was five years ago.

Now, Diana has been found dead, a suicide note near her body claiming she no longer wanted to live because of a battle with cancer.

But the autopsy finds no cancer. The autopsy does find traces of poison and suffocation.

Why would Diana lie? Why was her will changed at the eleventh hour? And why do the police get the sense that everyone in this perfect family knows a little more than they are letting on?"

I enjoyed how the book was written, mixing what's happening in the present and going back in time to unravel the mystery, it keeps the suspense going right to the very end. The characters were interesting and I enjoyed getting to know them.

I haven't read anything by this author before but I shall look out for more of her books. I'd definitely recommend this one.

Jabbed

One jab down, one to go.

Both Mick and I received texts last week advising us that we were able to book coronavirus vaccinations. We went to our local surgery yesterday for the first of two jabs, the second one is in eleven weeks time.

It was so well organised, volunteers were taking us in through one door, showing us into the doctor and then afterwards, other volunteers showed us into a room where we had to wait for fifteen minutes as Mick was driving. It was all clearly marked and socially distanced, and as each person left the waiting room, a volunteer would sanitise the chair which had just been vacated. We left through a different door so it was all one way traffic.

We both went to bed feeling fine, though Mick felt a bit unwell during the night so he got up and took some paracetamol. This morning we both feel a little heavy headed and my arm aches a bit, but no other nasty side effects.

I'm very surprised at how quickly they're getting everyone vaccinated. We weren't expecting to have our jabs until the end of April so they're definitely ahead of schedule.

Let's hope there's light at the end of the tunnel now.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is a very different affair these days than it used to be. First of all, I don't have my mum with me any more so there's no card buying for me or trips to see my mum. Mother's Day falls on a different day each year, two years ago it was on the 31st of March and my mum had died just three days before, so this is the third Mother's Day that I've been without her, though the second anniversary of her death isn't yet here. I thought about my mum a lot on Sunday, though if truth be told, I think a lot about her every single day of the year, I don't need a special day to bring her to my thoughts. I miss her so very much.

I try to make Mother's Day about my relationship with my own children these days, though Daniel lives over two hundred miles away, but he always calls me on the day. He sent me a card and a big box of my favourite chocolates. This year, Eleanor is in her own house and the lockdown restrictions make things difficult as we can't see each other indoors, but she did pop round with a card and some beautiful yellow roses, my favourites.

Eleanor also made me my own individual afternoon tea with sandwiches, pork pie, mini Victoria sponges, scones, lemon drizzle cake and the biggest chocolate coated strawberries I've seen in my life. All presented on a little tray which clips to the chair arm. All that was missing was a cup of tea but she could hardly make that when she was only delivering to the doorstep so Mick obliged.

It would have been nice to have a bit of a get together but a phone call with Daniel and an outdoor chat with Eleanor will have to do for this year. It was a lovely way to start this week. Mick is on holiday now until next Monday and though we're unable to travel, we're spending some time each day getting out and about close to home. Fingers crossed that the weather holds up.

Diamond Wishes

It's so handy having a blog when you want to check back on dates. It was just the other day that I was thinking it must be coming up to Mick's auntie and uncle's diamond wedding anniversary soon. I knew I'd blogged about their golden anniversary as the blog post I wrote about the Golden Wedding Hamper we'd made for them at the time has been my most popular post ever and still gets hits on a daily basis. I was quite surprised to discover that the anniversary is just a couple of weeks away, thank goodness that it had come to mind when it did otherwise I might have missed it.

I rang his auntie to ask if anyone had arranged for them to receive an anniversary message from The Queen, a tradition which goes back to 1917 whereby messages on behalf of The Queen are sent to those celebrating their 100th and 105th birthdays and every year thereafter, and those celebrating their diamond wedding (60th), 65th, 70th wedding anniversaries and every year thereafter. I believe the cards containing a personalised message and which come in a special envelope are sent automatically for birthdays but an application needs to be made by a friend or relative in advance of the special day for anniversaries. They have two sons but neither had made the application so I told her to leave it to me and it's now all organised. It would be such a shame for them not to receive this special card.

We haven't visited a garden centre since before Christmas but I wanted to see if our local one had any appropriate rose bushes in stock which we could buy for them as a gift for their anniversary so we had a quick trip yesterday. I was really impressed with all the plants they had on offer, they seem to have stocked up for the new gardening season, but especially so with their roses, quite an extensive choice and I managed to find the perfect rose, a pretty pink patio rose suitable for borders, pots and tubs called Diamond Wishes.

I just need to find a nice card for them now, which is easier said than done with all the card shops being closed in lockdown.

Tulips

We're spoilt for choice at this time of year with all the gorgeous flowers that are in the shops. I always start the year off with Daffs but tulips are always close on their heels.

The flowers come in such a wide array of colours that I'm spoilt for choice and it's hard to make a decision when making my purchase. This time I opted for this gorgeous red and yellow variety and though I usually stick a pin through the stems just underneath the flowers, a tip I learnt which keeps the flowers standing upright, I didn't on this occasion and they're still standing tall. Often, tulips will go rather droopy, but I think that just adds to their charm.

Daffodils are still available in the shops, usually just 99p a bunch in the supermarkets, and these tulips were just £1.79. A small price to pay when they bring so much enjoyment and brighten up the living room.

Back To The Rotation

I started My Crafting Rotation back in August last year and it was working really well for me. I chose seven outstanding knitting, crochet and cross stitch projects and worked on each one for a minimum of an hour each week. Some of the projects got finished so I added in new ones, others were more long standing projects but I could see each of them getting some regular attention. In November, I put the rotation on hold whilst I got ready for Christmas, and if truth be told, I lost my crafting mojo from around that time right up to a couple of weeks ago. Now that I'm back in crafting mode I've decided to get back to the rotation.

English paper piecing is a new craft to me. I've never done any sewing before, or very little, either by machine or hand, but I just fancied giving this a go. I chose fabric from the Lewis & Irene Botanic Garden range. I've cut out some hexagons and glue basted them and I'm now at the point where I've just started sewing them together. I'm enjoying it so far but it's still early days.

The scrappy blanket I'm knitting from commercial sock yarn was put on the back burner last year as I'd run out of yarn to add to it. I've actually got plenty of commercial sock yarn but I'm only adding one square of each yarn. A lovely reader of the blog got in touch and sent me a huge parcel of yarn for this blanket so I've started knitting it in. There was so much yarn in the parcel that I won't be running out again any time soon.

I'm really enjoying my cross stitch again. This is the Twelve Days of Christmas which was a stitch along on Plum Street Samplers blog back in 2015. I really like the limited colour palette of this design, I prefer a good amount of straight stitching without having to keep changing colours.

I have lots of yarn waiting to be added to my scrappy blanket which is being knit from hand dyed yarn. As well as the mini skeins I received in last year's yarny advent calendars, I still have some to add from the advent calendars which I had the year before. This blanket seems to have grown quite a bit.

There's now 500 stitches on my Twinkle Twinkle baby blanket and it doesn't look anywhere near big enough to be finished yet. I wonder how many stitches I'll get up to before I have to cast off. This project is quite slow going now that there are so many stitches to knit in each round, it's a good job there's no babies on the horizon at the moment so I'm under no pressure to get this finished for a certain date.

This granny stripe blanket has been on the go now for a long long time, in fact, a couple of years ago I nearly abandoned it and gave what I'd already crocheted to the charity shop. I'm glad I had second thoughts as I'm enjoying working on it and it's grown quite a bit since.

I started this cross stitch about forty years ago. Yes, you read that right. It was started in my early teens and then it got put away for about forty years. This is definitely my longest work in progress. I was in two minds about whether to finish it or not and to be honest, it's not the most enjoyable thing to work on. It's got so many half stitches and it's quite fiddly, but I'm managing an hour a week and it's certainly a lot nearer completion now than it was when I first picked it up again.

I'm glad I'm back into my crafting again. When I lost my mojo before Christmas I knew I shouldn't force it, I've just enjoyed doing other things until I felt the need to pick up a craft project again and now I'm enjoying reacquainting myself with all my projects. It's fun.

Potato Time

Now that Eleanor and Jacob have got their own house, I'm trying to get them involved in growing some of their own food. Eleanor's seen me growing my own and used to come to the allotment when we first took it on. She was quite young then and soon grew out of wanting to help. I'm not sure whether Jacob's family are gardeners or not. I thought the best way to get them interested is to start some things in containers for them to take over the care of once they start growing.

I'd seen that one of the discount stores were selling small packs of potato tubers so I asked Eleanor to call in and choose a variety she liked the sound of, she chose Charlotte, mainly because she fancied a salad potato, one with a waxy texture, and it turns out that I grew the same potatoes last year. I've grown them a few times but last year was the first time I'd grown them in containers. The yield wasn't all that good last year but we'll try them again and see what happens this year.

They're now set out for chitting and will be planted in their containers soon. There were supposed to be eight tubers in the packet but there were actually ten, I thought that a good deal for just £1.49.

Once they've started growing I shall pass them along for Eleanor and Jacob to take over the care of. Who knows, they might decide to grow their own from scratch next year.

Winter In The Woods

We've had some lovely sunny days this week and it's been nice to be able to get outdoors for some walks, unfortunately, the day I decided to take my camera with me wasn't quite so nice. It had been sunny on Tuesday morning but by the afternoon it had clouded over and by 3pm, when we drove to Lotherton to take Archie for a walk, it was threatening rain and was really quite breezy. Luckily, it stayed dry, but we were a bit windswept by the time we got home.

There's such a stark difference in the woods during the winter months to what it's like during summer, it actually looks quite barren when the trees are devoid of their leaves. It's still a nice place to walk though, and since last week, crushed stones have been added to the pathways to dry up some of the muddy puddles.

You can see so much more of the trees and their interesting features during this period. The leaves camouflage their shape and other interesting details but they're fully exposed at this time of year and you're free to see them in all their glory.

Everywhere looks dead at a first glance just now but there are signs of life if you look closely. Look amongst the leaf litter underneath the trees and you'll see the first signs of the wild garlic pushing through the earth. I'd wondered what the shoots were when I saw them last week, dismissing all thoughts of wild garlic as I thought it too early, but I then read Jules post on A Hidden Jem and she confirmed my suspicions of it being just that. It's grown since last week and already there's that tell tale garlic aroma. Another month or so and the woodland floor will be carpeted in large green leaves.

The snowdrops have been flowering for some time now. I do love to see them as it makes me think that spring can't be that far away, though I fear we haven't seen the end of winter quite yet.

Wildlife World is closed to the public at the moment because of lockdown but some of the animals can still be seen at various points around the estate. Here's a Visayan warty pig. He, for one, seems quite happy to see so much mud around.

Some birds seem stranger than others though, here's one we came across in the woods. I'm not sure about those goggly eyes.

I'm enjoying being able to get out for a walk again, I just hope this warmer weather holds, I don't like the cold.

Seed Order

I'm not growing very much this year, I think it will be down to just tomatoes and potatoes again, as it was last year. I missed growing tomatoes one year and regretted it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, nothing you can buy compares to the taste of home grown tomatoes, especially my favourite cherry tomato, Maskotka. 

When I started growing Maskotka tomatoes back in 2014 it wasn't such a popular or well known variety, it was quite hard to find the seed. I've usually ordered the seed from the internet as larger seed suppliers didn't offer it, however, I've noticed this year that companies such as Thompson & Morgan and Mr Fothergill's, amongst others, now sell Maskotka tomato seeds so it must be more popular now than it was back then.

This year, I might have picked them up on a visit to a garden centre but given that we're still in lockdown it's a while since I've visited a garden centre so my seeds have once again been bought from the internet. I ordered from a company I haven't used before, Premier Seeds Direct, and I have to say I was very impressed with them and I wouldn't hesitate in ordering from them again in the future. They offer a good range of seed and their postage prices are very reasonable. I placed my order on Thursday the 4th of February and it was delivered on Monday the 8th of February. Given there was a weekend between these dates, this was quick. Take into account that we're currently in the middle of a global pandemic, this was super quick.

Of course, I couldn't let the Maskotka seeds travel alone. Another cherry tomato variety had caught my eye whilst browsing the site so I also ordered some Sweet Olive seeds, a baby plum looking cherry variety which, like Maskotka, has a bush habit so needs very little staking. I'm looking forward to tasting this one.

Now that Eleanor has her own house I shall be growing a couple of seedlings for her too which she can take over the care of once they've been potted on. She's not a lover of tomatoes but Jacob enjoys them so I'm trying to encourage them to grow their own right from the off. What tastes nicer than something you've grown yourself?

This isn't a sponsored post. I bought the seeds myself but was impressed with the service I received from Premier Seeds Direct so I thought they were worth a mention as I know some seed orders are being delayed at the moment so you may be looking for alternative suppliers.

Queen Of The Night

It's a bit of a tradition now that I put an amaryllis on my Christmas wish list. Many people grow these plants to flower in time for the festive season but I enjoy opening the potted-up bulb on Christmas morning and starting it on its journey to flower in the depths of winter. It's a little pick me up when that first bloom opens during these cold months so early on in the year.

Mick's the one who usually chooses to buy this gift from my wish list and this year he chose Queen of the Night variety. I've grown a red one in the past, Red Lion, but this one is a much deeper colour and it's a beauty.

I've been a bit unlucky in the past and had the odd amaryllis which has only produced one flower stem but on the whole they usually produce two. I'm being spoilt this time though, there's three flower stems on this plant, you can just see the third bud in the photo above. That means there'll be twelve flowers on this plant.

Amaryllises are fascinating plants to watch grow, they start from just a bulb and grow to huge proportions in just a matter of a few weeks. I certainly get a lot of enjoyment from this small Christmas gift.

First Time Buyers

Mick and I are now back to living on our own. Back in 2013 Daniel left home to go to university and he never came back. In 2016 he finished uni and moved into rented accommodation with Jasmine in York where they'd been studying, before moving to Surrey. They're now living in Essex.

As Daniel finished university, Eleanor was just beginning. We had the following three years living on our own, apart from holidays when Eleanor would grace us with her presence, and when she graduated in 2019 she came back home to live. After three years, we'd got used to it being just the two of us so it took a bit of getting used to her being at home full time again but we've always enjoyed having Eleanor here, she's such good company.

Eleanor and Jacob were looking for a house together last year but as with most things, coronavirus made things more complicated. There were large parts of last year when they were unable to see each other at all, but they managed to get together at the beginning of October when Jacob proposed and She Said Yes. It was only a couple of days later that a house came up for sale that they fell in love with and they put in an offer. It was around this time that the second lockdown came into force so they didn't see each other again after this time until Christmas. During this time, the house sale was going through, but it's been quite a stressful time. Buying a house can be trying at the best of times but when you're not able to see each other during this period, the stress is enhanced.

They were supposed to be completing on the house before Christmas, their buyers wanted a very quick sale as they were expecting a baby in January, so Eleanor and Jacob were all geared up for this. They instructed their solicitor to act swiftly but then the vendors started dragging their feet. Everything on Eleanor and Jacob's part was ready to go in the first part of December but the vendors dragged it out until after Christmas. I don't think anything ever goes to plan when buying or selling a house.

I'm pleased to say that they eventually got their keys and they've now moved in and are busy unpacking and arranging their new home. The house isn't very far away from here but it might as well be at the other side of the world as now they're a separate household we're not able to visit each other's houses. As things stand at the moment, one of us can meet one of them, socially distanced, for exercise so this is how I'm able to see Eleanor just now. Obviously, this could change at any time.

I'm so proud of them. They've only been working for a year since leaving university and they've managed to save enough money to buy their own house. They were hoping for a 90% mortgage but the banks and building societies withdrew these offers wanting a 15% deposit so they've had to put down a bigger deposit than they thought they would, but they've managed it.

We wish them many years of happiness in their new home. I suppose that's another milestone crossed off the list and wedding preparations will be the next thing on the agenda.

Daffs

It's daffodil time again. I'm always eager after Christmas to buy my first bunch but it didn't happen until the end of January this year.

Just a few hours after buying them, the first bud unfurled, it doesn't take long.

Twenty four hours later and they were just about all open.

They don't last long but they're such a cheap and cheery flower to brighten up the house in the depths of winter.

The Man In Black

My book review for this month isn't one which everyone will want to read, it's about Wales' worst serial killer, Peter Moore. I'd read about this book on Eileen's Deja Brew II blog and Eileen offered to send me the book after she'd finished reading it.

"The sensational true story of Peter Moore, mild-mannered business man and Wales' worst-ever serial killer. At his trial, the prosecution branded him "the man in black, with black thoughts and the blackest of deeds" and the judge called him "as dangerous a man as it is possible to find".

25 years after he was found guilty of four murders and confessed to more than 20 brutal assaults over two decades, Moore's defence lawyer Dylan Rhys Jones finally tells all. As his brief, they spent hours together, discussing Moore's compulsion for violent sexual assaults, his overwhelming urge to kill, his involvement with a circle of gay men who gained sexual gratification from domination and torture, his plans for further murders, and how it feels to end someone's life.

An in-depth, first-hand account of full and frank dealings with a particularly vicious and sadistic individual who gained pleasure from killing."

I'm fascinated by the minds of serial killers and what makes them commit such horrendous crimes. I'm also fascinated by the police procedure, how they catch these individuals and how they bring them to justice. This book looks at things from another angle, from the point of view of the lawyer who defended Peter Moore. It's an interesting read and though it won't be everyone's cup of tea, I couldn't put it down.

Eileen read this book as she'd known Peter Moore many years ago and thought he was a very nice man. Her post tells of how he was Not A Nice Man. It's funny how many serial killers come across as charming and charismatic and how most people can't see through their facade. I remember my sister had a friend who lived near Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, had chatted to him many times and even walked home from the chip shop with him. She said he was lovely. Hmmmm.

Thank you for sending the book to me, Eileen, it was a great read.

First Walk In A Month

I mentioned briefly in a previous post that I'd been having a few medical issues and hadn't been out of the house since before Christmas. It actually turned out that the last decent walk I had was on the 8th of December when we went Back To The Canal. I didn't go out walking again until Friday the 29th of January. Don't worry though, Mick made sure that Archie had some nice walks whilst I was somewhat incapacitated.

Mick's got quite a lot of holidays to take before the end of March. He didn't take many last year with things as they were, we didn't go away anywhere, so he decided to take Friday off. We decided to go to Temple Newsam. It was mild after days of heavy rain, so although it wasn't cold, it was very muddy.

As we're in our third lockdown at the moment, I thought it would be much busier than it was as we visited during the afternoon but it does seem as though many children are still in school. There's a primary school round the corner from us and it's still busy at drop off and pick up times.

It's unusual for me to get photos at Temple Newsam without people in them. This grassed area is usually very busy during the summer months, it's used for picnics, exercising dogs or family games. Even in winter there's usually many more dog walkers around than there was on this day.

Can you see the pathway through the trees? This is the path we use when we approach Temple Newsam from a different direction and walk through the woods. I wrote about this in my Holiday Week post back in 2019.

The formal gardens look quite desolate during the winter months. The arbours are covered in laburnum which look fabulous when they're flowering.

It's nice to see signs of spring around though, there were snowdrops flowering and daffodils poking their way through the earth which will be blooming before too long.

Archie enjoyed his walk. He's looking very woolly bearish again at the moment as his groomer isn't working during lockdown. I'm hoping he doesn't have to wait too much longer for a trim as it does seem to make him feel better when he's not carrying a fur coat around with him.

We found a painted stone. I know many people leave these in places to brighten people's day but it's the first one we've ever come across. We left it there so that it will bring a smile to someone else's face.

It was so good to get outdoors in the fresh air again. It's been quite hard over the last month or two, but I always find a walk or even a drive out can make me feel a little better.