Category: wildlife

garden stuff · summer · wildlife

thunder moon

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)22 Comments


July’s full moon is known to some as the ‘thunder moon’ and that has been most appropriate this week.

Overall this year has been really dry and when rain has been forecast it’s either completely evaporated before reaching us or we’ve just had a short shower. This last week has had a different story though and we’ve had several summer storms that have swept in quickly with dark, ominous clouds bearing torrential rain. Roads have been dramatically turned into rivers and the windows shaken by the loud thunder before the storm has headed off over the horizon leaving a wonderful sunset and the sound of dripping leaves.

It’s been good frog weather, which has pleased Toby who finds a hopping frog to be the funniest thing on the planet, though if they hop in his direction and get too close he is liable to panic and run away squealing. The rain has been great for the garden too, everything is green and growing fast with flowers attracting lots of visitors.

This week has also seen a welcome slowing to the pace of life here. The last month has been really busy as we’ve been taking Amy up and down the country to visit various University open days. She has a year left of A levels before she leaves school and hopes to go on and study English and creative writing, which would be perfect for her as she’s always written the most wonderful stories and has a flair with words. Hopefully everything will come together for her during this next year and she’ll be starting a new chapter in her own personal story. The departure of a grown child is a strange time for a family though and is contrasting the very different needs of our two children even more than before; one ready to fly the nest and begin a new independent existence and one becoming even more dependent with the ending of the school years. It is what it is though and we are excited for Amy as she starts to make plans and preparations for her future, whilst trying not to dwell too much on how quickly the years fly by.

crafts & knitting · general stuff · in the woods · wildlife · winter

February, the waiting month

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)41 Comments

 

February always feels like the month where you need the most patience. The shortest day of the year may well be weeks behind us now, but February days can feel as short, dark and cold as it is possible to be and although we all know that Spring is on the way, concrete evidence of that is hard to find. The grey days coupled with lingering sniffles have us feeling a little blue here, even the mood-enhancing effects of cake seemed more short-lived last week and we’ve all needed a little extra comfort and cosiness.

Unsurprisingly I’ve been finding mine in knitting and I’d like to show you what I’ve been working on but I’m not quite ready to reveal, so that will be for another day. I have finished the Snawpaws mittens though and as today had the brightest start that we’ve seen in weeks I grabbed them and my camera and set off for an early walk (leaving the others to a half-term break lie-in).

We’re lucky to have such a good choice of places to walk and today I chose the New River canal and Amwell nature reserve. Though the trees are still bare I’ve come home reassured that Spring really is just around the corner: there were plenty of catkins and buds; frilly anemone leaves underfoot in the woods and a feeling of renewed intimacy between the resident swans. The male swan spent a good deal of time thrashing the water with his huge wings and putting on quite a display for his mate and it’s nice to think that there will be a new clutch of fluffy grey signets hatching out in a few months. A little robin was trilling away in the hedge and flew down to greet me, perching on a fence post just beyond arms reach. He was most amenable to being photographed and offered me several poses to choose from, such a bold and entertaining little chap as he was. It was a lovely morning to be out and I’m glad I made the effort and resisted that tempting lie-in.

I’m hoping to get out later in the week for a snowdrop walk because once they’ve emerged there’s no denying that Spring has begun. ‘Til then I’ll be keeping Toby entertained and busy and hopefully squeezing in a few rows of knitting here and there. Hope the week ahead is good to you, see you soon.

general stuff · summer · wildlife

End of summer

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)38 Comments

Firstly I want to say a huge Thank You for all of the kind, funny, thoughtful and heartwarming comments on the giveaway post. I have read them all and I really appreciate the time everyone took to comment. As usual I’ve used a random number generator to pick the winners and in view of the amount of comments I decided to giveaway an extra animal so I’ve picked three winners. They’ve each been notified and are in the process of choosing their prizes (you can see who they are in the previous post).

As I’ve been merrily knitting away for months, making exactly what I want when I’ve wanted to I’ve ended up with lots of clothes, heads and feet. Now I have to jigsaw all the pieces together, work out which head goes best with which outfit and make all the missing parts. It’s going to take me a little while but I am hoping to have a little batch of animals ready to sell this autumn and all being well another one in the run up to Christmas. That’s the plan anyway!

We’re starting to get back into term-time routines here. It always takes a while for Toby to settle in, especially as he has a new classroom and new teaching staff. He’s also in the biggest class he’s ever had with 11 classmates instead of 6 or 7 so this is challenging for him as he thrives a calm and quiet environment. And he’s adapting to the after school clubs that I’ve signed him up for. As he’s almost 15 it seemed like a good idea to expand his horizons, so he now goes to Rock club where they explore lots of contemporary music and Health and well-being club where he experiences relaxation techniques and yoga. On club afternoons I collect him with a handful of custard creams as a little treat and to try a lessen the anxiety he experiences at not coming home on the bus as usual. It also helps me feel a little less guilty for tipping him out of his comfort zone!

Anyway, I must get on with some work so I’m off to get knitting arms and sew seams. Until next time I thought I’d leave you with some of the pictures taken over the school summer break where we celebrated Amy’s brilliant GCSE results (3 x A*, 7 x A, 1 X B), tried to get out and about as much as possible and made lots of plum jam 🙂

See you soon x