Well, it's been a long time coming but Spring has arrived at last. Although the weather has still seemed a little undecided at times, the countryside around us here has been pressing ahead with new growth and everything is now transformed from dull, twiggy brown to bright acid green. I headed out to the orchard at Tewin earlier this week and there found beauty in many forms; blushed pink pear and apple blossoms; drifts of forget-me-knots shimmering in the breeze and ramsons (wild garlic) pungently carpeting the woodland all around the badger sett. Some of the ancient apple trees are covered in lichens and moss and look almost fossilised, creating an amazing contrast between the boughs and the delicate newly emerging leaves. The whole orchard was alive with birds and bees, everything busy with various stages of raising their next generation and it was the perfect tonic for the positivity problems I seem to have been struggling with lately.
It seems that many of us are feeling a little anxious and stressed so I know I'm not alone – the times we are living in seem to be full of peril, duplicity and deceit. For my own part I'm steering clear of the news for a while – and instead knitting, listening to music and reading more and just trying to appreciate some of the small and simple things. Recently the biggest mood improver for me has been a pair of robins choosing to nest in our garage. The nest has been built on top of some bottles of car wash and oil and we watched it grow, expertly crafted by the female alone while her mate provided her with food to keep up her strength. That was around a month ago and since then 5 or 6 eggs have been laid and at the beginning of last week they hatched. Because I'm a softy I ordered some live meal and wax worms and both the adults now fly down whenever I go out into the garden – they know that I have some tasty treats and it's such an incredible privilege to be so close to them. Hopefully the chicks will fledge in around a week and will be safe in the garage for the few days before they find their wings so to speak – robin chicks usually leave the nest a few days before they learn to actually fly. I'll let you know how they get on.
Sorry to be a bit down, I'll try and be a bit more upbeat when I come back next time. I've had some gorgeous new yarn recently and have lots of knitting plans, so that will help!
Hope your days are happy this week x
little cotton rabbits 
Oh how lucky you are that the robins chose your garage!
We have one regular robin visitor and sometimes there are two, I love seeing them.
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Stunning images, as always – so beautiful.
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You lift my day every time I see your photos and the one of going through a tunnel of trees with a bright light at the end is so lovely. I am going through breast cancer treatment and the light at the end has given me such positive hope, thank you.
I too am going to just do the knitting and listening to music and I am certainly reading more at the moment.
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So glad you are finally having a proper spring! It’s autumn here in South Africa. Lovely mild days, with beautiful nature colours.
Sometimes the thing to do, is to quietly carry on with life and disregard external influences for a while. A friend of mine calls it gathering oneself to oneself. This explains very well how I sometimes feel – as though the world pulls me into too many directions at once.
How lovely to have some new yarn, and robins to watch. Make the most of your precious time.
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We finally got our spring too in Michigan. Agree about the news, it’s either frightening, scandalous or just plain “I don’t want to know”…… beautiful pictures as ever, enjoy your yarn and your mini retreat from the world!
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your photos are breathtaking!!! what a lovely spring you are having. Ours, too, has been a tad late this year, but we’re catching up almost too fast….leaping towards far too fast for me. Can you believe we had to deal with temps nearing 90 degrees yesterday when just last week they were barely over freezing. Our hummingbirds have returned….and I’m finding joy in watching them out my window!! Wishing my knitting mojo would return with a vengance…but alas….not yet. Hoping when you share your new projects they will jump start mine!!! Hugs. And happy spring!
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Our emotions are the rollercoaster we call life. Spring has not arrived yet across the silvery sea (we had a light dusting of snow last Saturday night 😳) but the buds are starting to bulge, Maple sap is running & Spring is just around the corner 🤞. We do have Robins but they are different from your British species. We have a beautiful nest above our front door lamp. A good reminder of the miracles around us at the end of challenging days… that & knitting! Remember that even on your worst day you’re killing it & you have a record of surviving those low days of 100%. Be kind to yourself… you “owe” us nothing. You allow us to share the beauty in your life & I, for one, am very grateful. You have lifted me up on so many low days & given me knitting inspiration to help me along.
With great admiration,
Lori from Port Perry 🐝🕊🌸🌼🌞
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You are not alone in your angst.
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Your photos are stunning! Thank you for sharing!
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Such beautiful photos Julie, it’s a pleasure to see a post from you no matter whether you’re feeling up or down. Sometimes just saying it out loud helps. The world can seem such a negative place these days and everyone is so extreme in their views if they disagree with someone. Your robin photos are stunning – enjoy them whilst they are nesting with you – what a privilege.
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You are such an amazing knitter, photographer – and most importantly – mum! Thank you for sharing your honest feelings and your incredible talents. Almost Spring here in, Maine – USA. Looking forward to lovely blossoms on our trees – AND a new pattern – from you. Fondly, Christie
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Beautiful photos!
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Thank you so much for sharing your part of the world with us. I love the robin pictures. Someday maybe I’ll get a chance to see one in person. They sound like lovely feathered friends. Spring has been slow to come in New England as well. Our American robins are nesting and I loved watching them.
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Your photos are absolutely beautiful! I hope taking such beautiful photos help ease your restlessness, I know they helped me stop and admire the beauty that is Spring.
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I would buy a book with nothing but your pictures in them. they are so beautiful and peaceful, I love looking at them.
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Sorry to hear you’ve been feeling a little low Julie…hopefully you’ll feel much better soon! Those beautiful little robins will surely help as will lovely new yarn and knitting.
Thank you for sharing such amazing images!
Take care lovely lady,
V xxx
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Thank you for sharing pictures of the beautiful place where you live and also a small part of your personal life, I think the feeling about the news is much more common than we realize, I too gave up the news for tea and yarn! A so much nicer trade.
Take care and enjoy your robins.
PS: I can almost smell those apple blossoms 💖
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Even when you are down you lift me up. Thank you for the loveliness you post!
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I know how you feel about the news and how it gets you down. I live in the US and was grappling with some difficult family problems when Trump was elected. It was more than I could deal with. I stopped watching the news on tv and listening to it on the radio. I limited myself to quickly reading the headlines on the internet, avoiding anything about Trump. It helped. I missed nothing of import. I focused on things that made me happy, dealt with my problems and moved on. I’ve slowly worked my way out of the funk I was in, and I hope you can pull yourself out of the blues too. One thing that really helped was looking at blogs that made me happy, yours being one. I dearly love your animals, and your photos, and I’m glad you’re sharing both with us all. One crazy thing I did to make myself happier involved falling in love again with a long forgotten favorite song, and making up a dance for it. I memorized the lyrics and sang and danced to it again and again (when no one was around!). There’s an artist who blogs in the US, Salley Mavor, who took out her fury over Trump’s election by embarking on a year-long art project that resulted in a movie. She just finished it. It’s brilliant (worth watching), and now she’s back to working on her regular line of artistry. Most of all, know that you have a lot of fans that look forward to Little Cotton Rabbits and certainly need to know how the robins fare. Best wishes.
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Your photos really capture the lushness of Spring. The lichens in particular are fantastic. Everything is so fresh and green. Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend
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I’m also feeding my robins mealworms. And within twelve foot of garden fence, we have blue tits, dunnocks and blackbirds nesting, along with a second pair of robins, which I believe is unusual because they are so territorial. I guess the boundary line between their patches is very well defined! But my robin babies will turn out to be timid, since they’ve not been brought up braving the noise of a motorbike!! (Winking).xx
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How lucky I am to subscribe your blog ! For me, that live now in the city, it warmed my heart when first thing when I checked my e-mail I decided to open this post! And the robins… I cannot wait to see the little ones!
Although I have my family and some of my dear friends near by, it’s very difficult not to have a view, and such pollution and such noise ( two buildings are being built close to the wall of my apartment! But I try to forget that. Midday I’m going to have lunch with a friend, and when I get home, they’ll have stop and then I have some silence. And then it’s weekend. Saturday I’ll be going, in the morning, to a park in the city to draw with other people. Late afternoon I’ll go fetch a friend that is coming to stay the weekend! And Sunday, both of us, we are going to a Watercolour workshop with a moroccan painter.
These troubled times, as you say, we have to hold with all our being the simple and beautiful we still have around us. Everyday!
Have a nice weekend and thanks for sharing.
Teresa
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Your Robin photographs are beautiful! They really are photogenic little birds.
(Thank you for sharing your feelings, if we didn’t, then each of us would feel alone thinking we were the only ones feeling down. I am terribly frustrated with the news tellers right now as they seem to report in a way that only incites bad feeling. I just want the facts told in an unbiased way, I will form my own opinion, I don’t need one forced on me.)
Happy spring days to you!
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Julie, many of us share in your feelings right now. We all need to take the time to reflect, regroup, and refocus, in order to keep ourselves centered. Thank you for sharing your life with us and especially the photos… and you are right…knitting helps 🙂
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Hi Julie, hope you feel better soon. Enjoy those robins and your new yarn!
Love, Sue x
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I do so love your photos and narratives, Julie. I’ve had California Blue Jay nests in my backyard from time to time. Sometimes the hatchlings make it and sometimes they don’t. Last time the nest was too low and exposed. A cat found the nest and the babies. I stayed up half the night chasing the cat away and was told not to move the eggs or nest or the parent birds would not return to them. Eventually I got so tired and I had to go to work the next day. When I got up the next morning, the nest was missing and I saw evidence that the cat won. So sad, but it’s nature’s way I guess… Yes, the world can be a pretty depressing place, but there’s also so much beauty and good. I see you’ve captured a lot of the latter in your beautiful photos. Hugs, Kimmy
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What lovely spring photographs. I love the pink forget me nots. Everything planted in our garden goes white, the violets and blue forget me nots have reverted to white, quite strange to go out and find a purple violet or blue forget me not. We had a bronzewing cuckoo dove nest in a doll cradle suspended from the roof in our farm shed for several years, raising skittish chicks, she was bomb proof. We always kept the door open as it regularly got up to 50C inside. When we sold our home we removed her last nest, felt terrible but didn’t trust the new owners to care for her welfare and I thought of her dying locked inside. It was sad but one egg sacrificed was better that Penny as we called her, she was such a brilliant mother. So do you need to leave your garage open or is there a window? It all looks so beautiful and I think avoiding the news is a good thing, after 30 years in television news I haven’t watched it in over four years, and now the worse for it, I still know what is going on in the world but am not immersed in it.
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Your robin photos are stunning and I love the rabbit. I hope your feeling less down very soon. I think spending some time in nature will help. You have such an amazing eye for seeing a photographing beauty. Stay away from the TV until the royal wedding. The wedding seems like it will be such a happy occasion – there’s nothing like a happy bride and groom on a glorious sunny day to lift one’s spirits.
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Julie, thank you for reminding us all to take time to drink in beautiful things and quiet our minds. Your photographs are stunning, and I am inspired.
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Such beautiful pictures! I have had baby bluebirds here and I also feed the parents meal worms, just loving watching them💓it does your heart good to watch them😍
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Beautiful pictures as always. Our robins look different than yours. Not so colorful. I love feeding our birds. The hummingbirds have returned and now summer is here!!!! Be happy.
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Your pics made me smile. So lovely.
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They are such beautiful little birds aren’t they Maggie. I do count us blessed indeed that they chose our garage.
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Thanks so much Amanda, I had the perfect subjects so couldn’t go wrong!
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All the very best to you Cynthia. I can’t imagine how tough it must be and I hope that bright light at the end of the dark tunnel you’re in comes closer each day and that it’s not long before you’re standing in the full sun and feeling good. Much love and good wishes x
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Your friend is wise – that’s a very good description and you are absolutely right. Hope you’re feeling gathered in and enjoying your week Megan, J x
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Thanks so much Gillie, hope you’re having a good week too x
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Thanks so much Steph, there’s so much beauty around at the moment now that spring has burst upon us – you’re right it does feel fast now it’s here. Enjoy your hummingbirds – what an amazing sight that must be and hopefully you’ll find your knitting mojo soon – probably when you least expect it, J x
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It certainly is a rollercoaster at times Lori and I know you’ll know that more than most! Thank you so much for your very kind words, they mean a great deal, xxx
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Thanks Stephanie, I wish that we didn’t all have cause to feel this way, J x
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thanks so much Wanda x
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You’re absolutely right Ann, saying it out loud does help, as do such kind comments as yours. Thanks so much, J x
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Thanks so much Christie, you’re very kind. I hope spring is there with you now and you’re enjoying the blossoming, J xx
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Thanks Pauline x
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They are such little characters Lynn, so bold and engaging – I hope you do get the chance to meet one some day. Thanks so much for your lovely compliments x
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Thanks Cheryl, I do love taking photos and coming back to download them and see what I’ve got. I count myself very lucky to live in a part of the world that is son full of natural beauty x
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That is such a wonderfully kind thing to say Abby, thank you so very much. Taking photos helps me to really look at what is around me and focus on small joys, it’s a very peaceful activity so I’m glad that somehow comes through to others
J xxx
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Thanks so much Vivienne, we all get in the doldrums sometimes but it usually doesn’t linger for long. The robins have helped enormously – it’s been such a wonderful experience!
J xxx
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Your photos are beautiful & a blessing! Thank you so very much for sharing.
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Sorry I somehow missed this post, and sorry that you’ve been feeling down. I’m glad you’re feeling a bit brighter (in your latest post). Life can be hard at times, and I do hope that the difficult times pass soon for you. Sending you a (belated) cyber hug. CJ xx
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your springtime pictures have me feeling a bit jealous. Things are still a bit wet and brown where I am, and it is making me impatient. I’ll just live vicariously through you and your beautiful pictures for now. Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you very much for these wonderful pictures.
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