Friday Happies

1. Sun after rain and the way it makes everything look, inside and out. Glittery.

2. A thrown together lunch which was surprisingly delicious: soup to use up a bag of on-the-turn spinach and some very stale bread, toasted.  Also, that pink and green look jolly nice together.

3. Playing hooky. Abandoning all WIPs for the lure of another chevron pattern. That soft pink with the dark grey...gorgeous.

4. Hot sauce. 

My local supermarket, despite being the size of Luxembourg, has always had the most rubbish range of "exotic" products. I remember a time when they didn't even stock coconut milk. Waitrose it is not. But now, they have a "World Foods" aisle and it's a treasure trove of interesting things with colourful labels and brands I've never heard of. I could browse it for hours, and do. Food shopping often makes me happy.

 

And the hot sauce was fantastic on my fish finger sandwich, and also on another lunch that used up some dubious looking veg and a opened packet of noodles I found in the cupboard which was annoying me because it kept falling over and scattering bits of dried noodle all over the place. So I ate them.

It occurs to me that one of the best things about being at home is the things I can make and eat for lunch. It is definitely my favourite meal of the day because I can please myself and I'm not in a hurry. Yes, lunch makes me happy too. Make that number five. 

On The Mantel: October

October. It's properly autumn now, and one of my favourite months of the year. The air is cooling, the leaves falling and the mornings are damp and chilly. Clocks go back and afternoons shorten, while gardens are tidied up for the winter and bonfires lit. It's a smoky, mellow, misty month, when the woods are heavy with the scent of decay and full of feathers, conkers and pine cones.

I'm continuing with my monthly mantel project, marking the seasons and rhythms of family life with a hotch-potch of things that were found outside and in, things that were given to me, things that are precious, the old and the new. On the mantel this month: lots of pine cones, collected from the school playground and strung into a garland. (You can read about how I made it further down.)

A vase full of rambling rose hip and a smaller one full of feathers. We've been collecting feathers for weeks, with the aim of doing something crafty and creative with them. So far, they are still sitting in this pot.

A beautiful handmade wooden spoon I bought last weekend. (I am also using it to eat with, I've not gone completely mad.)

A clay bowl Bella made in school, filled with berberis berries from the garden. I like their bright orange colour, a nod to Halloween at the end of the month.

Feel free to join in! I should mention that Karen at A Quiet Corner has been documenting her monthly mantel displays throughout this year since January, and her blog is full of simple, beautiful seasonal ideas. Blogland is, as always, an interesting and inspiring place.

*****

How to make a pine cone garland

I'm not ashamed to admit that this perplexed me for quite some time. I spent hours squinting at images of all kinds of pine cone craftiness, trying to work out how on earth people had attached the string to the cones. I gave up and found the answer in Bella's box of beads.

You will need pine cones, a glue gun, some small wooden beads, a needle and thread.

Glue the bead to the base of the cone. Let it dry. Drink your tea. That's it.

I am probably the last person in the world to figure this out so feel free to mock me. But I do love my glue gun.

Thread a needle and draw the thread (I used regular cotton thread in a colour to blend into our fireplace) through each bead, going around the bead twice. This stops the cones sliding around on the thread, but still gives you room to position them evenly. 

Then, since it's Autumn now, light that fire. 

Woods and Trees

This weekend we:

:: tidied up the garden.

:: lamented the lack of fruit on our (probably dying) apple tree.

:: visited a wonderful local environmental centre.

:: learnt how to cook bread and fish on an open fire.

:: walked in the woods.

:: gazed at big views.

:: climbed Faraway Trees.

:: ate well - spinach and ricotta cannelloni, beef chilli, chicken stew, sticky toffee pudding.

:: went to the leaving party of dear friends and sat outside around a fire pit drinking red wine until the wee small hours.

:: put blankets on beds and dug out woolly jumpers.

:: switched on the central heating.

Autumn is finally, definitely here and she is beautiful. 

Friday Happies

1. On Monday, something truly amazing happened. Something rarer than than an eclipse of the sun, less likely that the sighting of a unicorn. At about 2.30 pm, my washing and ironing basket were both completely empty. Yes. At the same time. We've had one but not the other before, but this, this wonderful and marvelous occurrence...wow. This has never happened before and probably never will again, but I had to keep walking past it and looking in, checking it was still empty. Yes, still empty. For about two hours I was a domestic goddess and in a state of bliss. Until John ruined it by putting his work shirt in, but still.

But, remarkable as this may be, it makes for a boring photo, so here's a picture of this morning's sunrise taken from the landing window.

2. Another exciting thing to celebrate: I crocheted my 200th square for my blanket. This blanket has felt at times like it will never, ever be finished, so this milestone was welcome for my mental health as much as anything. 200 down, 25 to go. Then I just have the, ahem, minor task of sewing it together and crocheting a border.

I think I'm going to feel like I've practically given birth to this crochet project by the end. It's a crocheted gestation. I'm not sure if I'm cut out for blanket making. By the end of this I will have darned in 1800 ends. I feel a bit sick now I've typed that. 

3. A new shopping bag. 

4. My parents are staying and we spent a lot of today gardening in the sun which was pretty lovely, I have to say. I found this huge pine cone and am honestly baffled by it's appearance as there are no pine trees anywhere nearby. A mystery. And also, spending time with my parents make me happy. Ever since I moved to Leeds, and especially since we had the children, they have made time in their lives to visit us as often as they can. (They live on the South Coast.) There is never more than a couple of months between them coming here or us going to see them. My mum recently retired and my Dad still works so they are busy people, but determined that their relationship with their long distance grandchildren would never be lesser than the one they have with their four other grandchildren who live ten minutes away. I appreciate it, hugely. Also they are really good at gardening. 

I feel tonight that life is sweet and good. I am content and have a lot to be thankful for. I wish you all a happy, restful weekend. I think this unseasonably warm weather will break tomorrow and it will feel cooler, more like autumn. More like it should do at this time of year. 

Autumn Morning

What a perfect autumn morning. We woke to pink skies and opened the curtains to bright sun. There was a nip in the air on the walk to school and I found myself reaching for a wool scarf for the first time in ages. Deep blue skies and golden leaves everywhere you look, with the sun reflecting off windows, making me squint and creating sharp shadows. I walked home slowly, ran some errands, did some chores. Opened all the doors and windows, had lunch in the garden just because I could. It might not be warm enough tomorrow. Ah, autumn. I think I love you. 

Yorkshire - A Walk Along the Canal

The River Wharfe in Appletreewick

The River Calder in Wakefield

Near How Stean Gorge in Nidderdale

The River Wharfe in Kettlewell

The River Aire in Saltaire

The Leeds Canal in Rodley

I've lived in Yorkshire for fourteen years now and, while I didn't grow up here, I regularly count my blessings that I'm lucky enough to live in this beautiful place. I'm afraid Yorkshire residents do constantly bang on about how special their county is, and that's because it's true, it is special. We have a seriously stunning coastline. We have the Dales, an area I love to visit as often as I can. We have hills, rivers, moors, beaches and any number of beautiful places to visit. We have a rich heritage, an interesting history and an awful lot of sheep. 

So when a few weeks ago Yorkshire Water got in touch to ask if I'd like to support their campaign Blueprint For Yorkshire, I was very keen to get involved. It is dedicated to improving water quality, the environment, creating cleaner rivers and beaches, and just generally making Yorkshire better for residents and visitors. It's a long term plan with big aims for a big county.

I thought about driving over to the coast. Or up into the Dales, maybe to our beloved Bolton Abbey and the River Wharfe. But those destinations all involve at least an hour long drive, planning, picnics, and a full day out. I wanted to remind myself of what we had closer to home and so we spent Sunday morning walking along a short stretch of the Leeds to Liverpool Canal. It's years since we came here and I'd forgotten how peaceful it is, how slow the pace. 

I love to visit these pockets of calm within the city of Leeds. Those spaces where you can't hear the hum of traffic anymore (well, barely), where you can see open spaces and greenery.  The canal is hugely popular with walkers, runners and cyclists as it's wide, flat and there is no traffic. 

It's also very popular with five year old boys and their scooters. 

It was such a mild, hazy September morning and so still, not a breath of wind. The only thing to disturb the water was the odd passing canal boat. 

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