Category: countryside

countryside · wildlife

Summer days

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)22 Comments

Summer has arrived. Here the month of June has the longest days of the year, and the countryside all around is at it’s most green and pleasant so as there are only 2 more weeks until Toby finishes college for this year, I’ve been making the most of what free time I currently have. I’m getting out and about with my camera as much as possible, because although we’ll walk every day over the long summer break together, walks with Toby are all about his needs rather than my wants, so we’ll be going at the pace he dictates, along the route he chooses and he’s really not keen on me stopping to take pictures of things.

For my solo adventure this last week I headed off to Panshanger Park. Though it’s on the edge of Hertford town it feels like deep countryside, especially midday in the midweek, when there are few people there. Oh my, this place makes my soul sing, there’s so much there to delight in…

wandering along the woodland paths, dappled with sunlight and cool green shade, listening to the small bird chatter in tree canopy overhead.

wading down through the open meadows, past the great gossamer globes of the goat’s beard seed heads, swishing through the long grasses which move like the gentle swell of the sea in the breeze and buzz to the drone of bees, dragonflies and hoverflies and where the longhorn cattle go about their business of meditative munching.

squelching along the marshy margins of the lakes and the meandering river, where coots, ducks, swans and grebe all call out their warnings from nests hidden deep in the reeds and rushes.

The heat of the summer sun has not yet been with us long enough to have bleached the intense green from the leaves and everywhere there are flowers; exquisitely delicate lace of cow parsley, fragrant heads of elderflower, tiny flowers of deep periwinkle blue that glint in the verges along the path, daisies and buttercups and dog roses. I walk with a big smile on my face and a lightness in my heart that has been a little lacking of late.

Back at home I’m making plans for the autumn, which is when I’ll have time to work properly again. I’m drawing up lists of the patterns that I’m planning to work on, and the tutorials that I’d like to share. As always these lists will probably be rather more ambitious than realistic, it’s hard to factor in the limitations that caring for Toby brings and I forget that everything always seems to take twice as long as I’d imagined it would. I do however already have samples made for a blog post on the increases and decreases that I use in my patterns and their relative merits – I’m hoping to write that up and share it soon and as always I’ll keep you posted on news of new patterns later in the year.

Well that’s it until next time. I hope that you’re able to find some of the same kind of joy that Panshanger brings to me sometime in your week ahead and that you’ve enjoyed seeing some of these pictures, thanks as always for visiting with me here, J x

PS: In my 3 hour wander I managed to take 443 photos! So these are the heavily edited highlights 🙂

 

 

countryside · garden stuff · in the woods · wildlife

Snapshots from February

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)23 Comments

 

These are some pictures from my February, but words seem hard to find right now. What to say when the world has undergone such a monumental change? Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness abound and it seems unlikely that anyone in the world will be untouched by the ramifications of this horrific war in Ukraine.

It is hard to balance feeling both overwhelmed and distraught at world events with moments of contentment and happiness in our own individual existence, it creates an uncomfortable mix of emotions that are hard to accommodate. But it is human to feel both, and so I am sending the hope that you are finding some moments of peace and pleasure in your days. As always I turn to nature for solace and find it constant and steadfast in it’s ability to calm racing thoughts and soothe physical tension. There’s knitting going on too, but it seems so inconsequential at the moment and I don’t have anything finished to show.

I’m still trying to work out how best to help, for now I’ve donated to the British Red Cross Disaster Emergency Committee fundraising appeal but there are many many other charities raising funds to help. If you or your loved ones are directly affected you have my very deepest sympathies.

 

 

countryside · crafts & knitting

Emerging

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)22 Comments

February is always the time when I feel like I’m emerging from hibernation. Not that I have slept all of January of course, though the temptation was certainly there. I have been busily knitting away and have put together the beginnings of a couple of new patterns. They still need editing, photographing, laying out and testing so it will be a while before they are ready but they will be coming soonish and when they’re a little further along I might give a sneak peek. I’ve also been out and about with my camera a bit, enjoying the quiet of the winter countryside, though never venturing too far from the pull and comfort of home.

Winter this year has been mild, with only a few frosty January mornings. I do love how the frost transforms the dull coloured twigginess of the winter landscape, so couldn’t resist heading out to take some pictures before scurrying back home to curl up with my knitting again.

In the last week there has been a sense of change in the air, especially at daybreak, which throughout December and January has been a silent affair. But now that February is here the dawn chorus is gaining new voices each day, with small birds singing out their territorial boundaries from first light. Spring is waiting in the wings, ready to burst forth with colour and fragrance and celebration of warming and lengthening days. I don’t know about you, but I feel very ready for it.