Category: countryside

autism · countryside · foxes in my garden · wildlife

Spring into summer

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)32 Comments

The last few weeks have been even more of a roller-coaster ride than usual here. There have been quite deep lows; Toby’s challenging behaviours have been gradually worsening for a while now and the episodes of his self-injuring and violent behaviour have been escalating. He’s been sent home from college on 3 separate occasions for injuring staff and I currently have multi-coloured grip bruises on both of my forearms to add to my growing collection. Like many other families caring for offspring with severe learning and behavioural difficulties, we live with the constant distressing threat of domestic violence from our own child. Working out what is happening with him is an almost impossible task and we’ve spent so much of our recent free time filling out ABC (antecedent, behaviour, consequence) charts and forensically unpicking details of incidents. On top of that I’ve had food poisoning, though happily short-lived and thankfully in the past now.

But it’s not been all bad, we’ve had big highs too, the biggest being Amy passing her driving test first time. We are delighted for her and the newfound independence this gives her. She’s now driving herself to work each day, which has made my early mornings so much easier and has given her such a confidence boost.

And as always nature is such a balm for a troubled heart so I’ve been out and about soaking up the peace and calm that it always brings me. Hawthorn blossom and wild roses, white nettles and cow parsley, buttercups and butterflies and so much green, more shades than have ever been named or mixed on a painter’s palette. May and early June are abundant with much appreciated beauty.

I’ve also been visiting the long horn cattle regularly, study field trips for my in progress cow pattern, but also delightfully entertaining as they are all such characters and there are 5 beautiful calves this year.

And seeing kit the fox is always a big high for me, she often seems to turn up when I’m feeling low and the privilege of her visits lifts me enormously. And yes, she did sniff my camera lens!

There’s one more week until Toby finishes college for this academic year and then he’ll be off for just over 2 months so we’re planning very calm and predictable routines which we’re hoping will help him find a calmer place within himself. I hope to be back periodically over the summer months, but as he’ll be my main focus I might not get as much chance to hang out here as I’d like.

Until next time I hope you have a good July and August and that you too find ways to temper any challenges you are facing with something that brings you joy, J x

 

 

countryside · in the woods · wildlife

The orchard in May

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)24 Comments

One of my favourite local nature reserves is a tiny hidden gem. It’s not immediately apparent from the road, so you have to know it’s there to know it’s there,  and most of the times that I’ve visited I’ve found myself alone and in perfect and peaceful solitude. It’s an old orchard, with twisted, ancient, lichen-encrusted trees from which the most beautifully delicate apple blossoms sprout, in every shade of soft, blushed pink. It’s abuzz with bees and other pollinators and carpeted with drifts of forget-me-nots. Behind the trees there’s a meadow and then a small patch of woodland, which in the springtime is pungent with the smell of the wild garlic growing abundantly under the greening trees and it is home to a large and complex badger sett.

Come and wander along the meandering green pathways with me, mind your head on the overhanging branches. We’ll walk quietly, listening to the bird song and the drone of the bees and when we’re hungry we’ll stop for a picnic lunch at the little bench by the pond, where we’ll watch the ducks squabble over pond weed and breathe deeply the softly fragrant breeze.

Tewin Orchard, early May 2023

 

countryside · in the woods

Magical May

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)12 Comments

Here in the south of England May is the most magical month. Throughout April there are always days that feel like they’ve been reclaimed by winter, with sharp frosts, cold winds and even late snow flurries. But when May arrives it brings a dramatic change and suddenly the countryside, which seemed so bare, brown and twiggy just a week ago, is clothed in a bright green growth.

If you visited these woods during winter you would think them rather dull, but they are at their breath-takingly beautiful best right now and to come and sit here with a coffee and a rather delicious slab of salted caramel brownie is such a privilege and delight. Sitting quietly on this log, surrounded by such beauty, smelling the delicate scent drifting up from the bluebells and listening to the bird song filtering down through the new leaves in the canopy is a joy and I’ll be back out in the woods again next week, making the very most of this fleeting natural wonder.

“I enjoy the spring more than the autumn now. One does, I think, as one gets older.”

Virginia Woolf, Jacob’s Room

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PS: Thanks for all of the kind comments on the horses pattern, it’s almost done, will post again when all the final checks are finished, J x