A gift of time

December 18, 2019October 17, 2025 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)39 Comments

Well, it’s almost Christmas and so I’m going to sign off here for a couple of weeks. I have all of the presents for Amy and Toby wrapped, the larder and fridge are well stocked, the log pile is full and the christmas tree is up and decorated, so I think I’m organised. I’ve not had to gift shop for H as it’s been years since we bought Christmas gifts for each other – we learnt quite early on that he doesn’t know much about yarn and I know even less about bicycle chain sets and derailleurs. So it was by mutual agreement that we decided to buy our own gifts at Christmastime. This year he’s looking forward to using a new set of titanium spoked wheels and I’m going to be enjoying these goodies…

Devotions, The selected poems of Mary Oliver;

heavenly smelling ‘resurrection’ Aesop handcream;

beautifully bound Slightly Foxed editions of Adrian Bell’s triology of books 1920’s farming life in rural Suffolk ;

soothingly tactile mug for tea from Andrea Roman, A R Ceramics;

Viola yarn, organic Merino DK in ‘Silver Birch’ and Merino fingering in ‘Rosehip’ from Loop London.

However, the gift that we do always give to each other is one far more precious than any material possesions, and that is time. Over the Christmas period, when Toby is off from the routine of school, things can get intense and wearying and so each of us makes sure that the other one has at least 2 hours of free time each day, time when the other person is responsible for the constant supervision that Toby needs. For H this might be going out cycling or spending time up in the attic playing a computer game. And for me this sometimes means going out for a wood walk alone – seeking the peace that I always find in quiet natural spaces; sometimes it might be time for a warm bath (though often that doesn’t work out too well if Toby hears the taps running as it turns into Toby-bath-time instead, especially if there are scented bubbles involved); and sometimes it’s just space within the busyness of the day to sit quietly listening to music or watching a film and having some uninterrupted knitting time at home while H takes Toby out.

Over the next 2 weeks I’ll be looking forward to my little peaceful parcels of ‘me-time’ and curling up with one of these books, or casting on some mittens with some of this yarn. But before our holidays begin I need to go and pick up Amy from uni and then we can start our festive time altogether.

And with that thought, I’m going to leave you with the wish that your festive celebrations, whatever they may be, are full of small joys and that you are surrounded by those you love most and share many tender and happy times with them,

with love and my warmest best wishes to you for the holidays and for the bright new decade that awaits us,

J xxxx

Home comforts

November 6, 2019October 17, 2025 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)14 Comments

It was the school half term break here last week and we had a fun time keeping Toby active and busy: lots of wood walks, tandem trike rides, swimming and rides on the mini steam train that he loves. Alongside our outdoor adventures there was also a little time for some indoor comforts: a couple of lazy lie-ins with knitting and tea in bed, quiet evenings by the fire and some baking of raspberry and white chocolate muffins – just the thing to come home to when you’ve had an afternoon in the breezy autumn woods 🙂

The shawl above is being knitted from Elizabeth Doherty’s ‘Rose Gold’ pattern in sublimely soft ‘Nomad’ Yak DK yarn from The Wool Barn I’m hoping to finish off the lovely and unusual side-joined border this week and then it will need blocking (my least favourite part of handknitting) but with any luck I’ll have it snuggled around my neck for our next wood walk, as woolly armour against those cool and intrusive autumn breezes.

I’m also busy with pattern writing, but more of that another time – for now I’ll leave you with some of the pictures I’ve taken over the last 2 months of the fox that has been regularly visiting our garden since early spring, we’ve nicknamed her Kit (from kitsune) …

countryside · general stuff · in the woods · wildlife

An autumn fungi walk

October 18, 2019October 17, 2025 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)27 Comments

Firstly thank you all so very much for your kind and thoughtful comments, emails and direct messages wishing Toby a happy birthday. He had a lovely afternoon full of the simple pleasures that make him happiest; balloons, cake, lego, sensory toys, curry for dinner, salted caramel ice-cream for pudding and a ‘disco’ in the evening – he likes dancing by himself with the lights off and the disco ball on. I popped a couple of pictures of him taken on his birthday at the end of the previous post.

Talking of simple pleasures, I indulged in one of my favourites earlier this week when I took myself off for an autumn wood walk. Because we’ve had a lot of rain here recently I thought that it might be a good year for fungi and I was not disappointed. I have never seen quite so many different types out in the woods and spent a very happy 3 hours wandering around with my camera and getting wet, muddy knees at Danemead wood, Broxbourne common and Cowheath wood. There’s a mix of habitats there: deciduous woodland with oaks and hornbeams; a large area of pine woods and small areas of heathland and it was very peaceful with just the sounds of birdsong and the breeze ruffling the treetops and persuading the dying leaves from the branches.

I tried to name all the different funghi but have given up because it’s so hard to identify most of them. A few though are easy – like the yellow staghorn which looks like a fairy campfire glowing in the undergrowth; the false deathcap that has a weird almost luminous greenish glow and the iconic fairytale fly agaric with it’s white spotted bright red cap. Each is beautiful in their own unique way, even though some are very poisonous!

There are also some great pictures I’d like to show you of the fox, who is still a regular garden visitor, but I think with all of these woodland pictures I’ve run out of space here today, so I’ll save those for next time. Have a great weekend and if you get time please leave me a comment below and let me know what seasonal delights you’re enjoying in your part of the world.