Marvellous Monday

Gosh what a beautiful Monday we have had.  Cold yes, but a lovely blue sky and the sun shining which always makes for a much better day.

Our Maple is looking more bare, and we need to rake up yet more leaves...

I love the light shimmering through the leaves and the yellowness of them.  They were gently swaying in the breeze as well.

Had a lovely walk this morning through ancient woodland which has been managed for coppicing for over 300 years.  We also went through the meadow which was once an old drovers' track.  Such fascinating history.  We stopped for our customary cuppa and natter after the walk which was nice.

I did a little sewing this afternoon.  I have started to make the rabbit from the book I bought the other week.  As I'm not using felt but calico fabric, I sewed it up a little differently in places to what was suggested... It was quite fiddly, seemed to be more so than the tiny rag dolls I make.

I didn't have any fabric interfacing to stiffen the ears unfortunately so they will probably be a bit floppy unless spraying with some starch will work...I haven't decided yet how I will combat this.

I stuffed the legs before I sewed them onto the body which was what made it a bit more tricking, especially as I had to stuff down the whole length of the leg which is different to the way they suggest you do it.

Waiting.... no arms have been made yet.

I think though it does actually look like a rabbit!

Of course instead of sewing I should have been attending to more household type duties...but with a nice clear sewing table, I couldn't resist the temptation!

I did book my car in for its service and MOT though. 

This evening I will sit and knit.  

Words and Walking on Wednesday

Hard to believe this month is almost at an end!  It feels colder today, although while out walking with the my group this morning, I actually had to take my jacket off.  When the sun was on you it felt warm, but there was also a bit of a cold breeze nip in the air.  I  think it has got a bit colder as the day has worn on.

I went on the group walk today but didn't stop for the tea afterwards deciding to come home.  I didn't feel especially like socialising today, no real reason, just wanted to get home.  It was mostly along the roads today (well footpaths along roads) so I didn't enjoy the walk as much as the roads are quite busy.  We did go through the park on the way home, but it was straight through and we didn't get a chance to stop and enjoy it at all.  So no photos of the walk today

Little Percy has never worn a dog coat...we initially bought him one when he was younger as we were advised to, but when we put it on, he refused to move and would turn his head back to look at it either side, and then look up at us as if to say 'If you think I am going outside dressed in this, you have another thing coming.  I am a dog!  I don't wear clothes!'  It was so funny.  However, I have noticed that he has been shivering a bit when out recently so I pulled the dog coat (just a plain black, so nothing silly) out of the drawer and tried it on him again this morning and he wore it quite happily.  I think due to his illness and treatment he doesn't have the muscle tone that he used to have so feels the cold a bit more, so hopefully this will help him. 

After lunch my husband and I took the dogs for a walk over what used to be the golf club.  We have never walked the dogs there before as we didn't know it was now open to the public until recently when I started doing the group walks.  I did take some photos this afternoon as we went at a more leisurely pace enjoying the countryside.

The leaves look so pretty with the different shades.

An old World War Two Pill Box

Such a lovely place to walk.

This old tree is a survivor!  What luck it has not being in our street where the local council have cut down two beautifully healthy and perfectly formed Oak Trees.

I bet many a golf ball got lost in here!

Percy with his coat on.  It could have done with being a tad longer, but the next size up was way too big.

I wasn't sure what this was, so took photos of it.  It is wonky like this!  

Apparently it is a Coal post (or Duty Stone) of which many were erected following the Coal Duties Act of 1851.  If you travelled this way 150 years ago people would have queued up with carts loaded with coal and other supplies and would be found haggling with the tax man at these coal tax posts.

Not the best photo of Stanley by any means...it was very washed out so I had to darken it.  I am sure the settings on my camera have been changed unintentionally as this seems to be happening a lot lately. 

We got home just after four after a pleasant hour or so out.  

I forgot to mention that yesterday when we got home from having lunch out there was an email waiting for me, and finally we had the report we were waiting on.  It wasn't as in-depth as we were expecting, but it was reassuring, so hopefully now other things can progress.

No band rehearsal tonight (there wasn't one last week either) so a night in which is nice.  I won't be able to go next week either as my husband has chess (he is in a club) and we don't want to leave the dogs alone with the inevitable loud bangs of fireworks, which we have been having for the last two weeks!

Can't believe our son will be home from his latest four month tour (he is a navigator on a cruise ship)  in just over two weeks.  His wife will be thrilled to have him home, but little does he know we also have a list of jobs to get him to help us do! 

This morning's walk.

Today I walked to one of our local parks.  It was forecast for rain, but the morning was quite nice, so I wanted to take the opportunity to get out.  The sun wasn't shining like it was yesterday, but it was still pleasant out.  I was probably out for a just over an hour and walked approximately 4 miles I guess. Although the phone app had quite a different opinion - I realised today when I checked the mileage to the park that the app on the phone is WAY out.  According to google it is 1.3 miles from our house on the route I walked, whereas on the app it said I'd walked 1 km so comes up much less than I have actually walked.  So much for relying on that to get an idea of what sort of mileage I was doing each day.

I have photographed this old tree remains before.  I saw what almost looked like a butterfly flying away from it, at least that is what it seemed to fly like, but I couldn't see clearly enough to tell as it was high up.  I wouldn't have thought there would be a butterfly at this time of year?

There were a few moorhens in the park.

Some more hellebore

The lakes were partially frozen.

The seagulls seemed to have taken up residence on the ice.

The remains of what was once a tree turned into a carving.

Some Coot.

Crow

Standing proud.  Their feathers are such a rich colour.

There were a couple of Scaup (I believe that is what they are) on the lake.

Plus cheeky squirrels of course.

Berries on a plant.  Not sure what it is, but the flowers had quite a pretty scent to them.  I have since been advised that this is Sarcococca confusa 

Some tiny snowdrops.

The Days Go By...

Thursday morning was damp and overcast, and rather on the chilly side and it didn't really warm up all day.

The weather hasn't stopped 'Ingrid Bergman' from flowering beautifully though.

I had to go into London for my third acupuncture session in the afternoon.  I don't mind this particular journey too much as it is just one train to catch and I just sit on it until the end of the line.  I was feeling particularly bad and down  as I had had a bad night and was also tired.   He tried something different today to see if I would respond better.  A more traditional Chinese method where I had needles put into all the outer points - there was some special name/terminology used, but I can't remember what it was.  I had needles in my feet, knee area, hands, elbows and head and then had to lie there for about 15 minutes.  I don't think I have responded favourably this time either as felt pretty bad that evening with a slight pain in my head also and by the end of the following day I had bad pain in my head and just didn't feel very good at all.  Time will tell I guess.  I was told I would need 6 - 10 sessions before we knew whether it was going to make a difference.

Friday morning dawned quite differently to Thursday.  The sun streamed through my window and it was a beautiful day.

Lovely clear blue sky - the sort of crisp Autumn day I love, and actually it wasn't too cold, relatively mild really.

I took some more photos of the beautiful red roses in my garden.

Touches of colour that remain in the garden.

Even a dandelion was flowering!

I decided to bring one of the roses inside as the forecast was for rain the following day.

Such a beautiful rose, with a lovely scent as well.

We decided to make the most of the lovely morning and took the dogs for a walk in a local park.

Greens and blue, such a lovely day.

One of the wood sculptures in the park.

Autumn leaves 

Glimpses of red

Such a vibrant red on this tree.

Even the pond looked good - sometimes this pond can look a bit messy.

Something has caught Percy's eye.

Stanley has spotted something as well.

Continuing on our walk.

Another pond, this one much larger.

Reflections!

Two happy dogs.

Berries!

Heading back to the car the dogs refused to get in, or go near it - clearly indicating they felt their walk hadn't been long enough.

 So we walked for an extra twenty minutes round some streets and spotted these two Great Danes standing guard in someone's front garden.

Watching....

This morning it is a complete contrast to yesterday - very grey and very wet!  A day to stay inside.  Hopefully it will also put off the many bangs that terrify the animals tonight - aka fireworks!  Last night was pretty bad and seemed to go on for hours.