My Canine Pack!!

They say never work with animals or children!!!....all I wanted was a picture of four dogs together.....well it was like a three ring circus.....I'd get one to sit and the others wouldn't.....
ok I wanted them to sit on a tree stump....so!!!!





....one on....two off.......



..no in a row not behind each other.....



ahhhhh!!!!......



.....is this as good as it gets....??




..Yes!!!
We are off to dry off now!!!

Hope your day was less muddy!!

Bye Bye Daddy

I have just seen on another blog that the wonderful pit bull terrier, Daddy, owned by Caesar Milan has died aged 16.....if there was ever an ambassador for how its not the breed its the owners that make bad dogs Caesar is it ....
Daddy was such a fantastic star on his show and I'm sure must have left a huge hole in the 'pack'...

Run free Daddy....

Curry Night

There was a time when the thought of making an Indian curry from scratch left me cold......

but I have to admit that the flavours are so far superior to anything you can buy in a sauce...i find that now I always do...



....blending garlic and ginger to make a paste with a splash of water....
grinding cardamon, cloves,cinnamon stick and bay in the pestle and mortar.....



....lots of spices..cumin....coriander....garam masala....turmuric...paprika and salt.....



...slow fried onions, whole green chillies and ripe tomatoes...




...chicken.....stock and a gentle simmer.....perfect for a snowy cold evening in February....

whats on the menu at your house tonight??

Smelly Sunday!!!

My house smells of wet dog and fried chicken......its not nice....thankfully I am going to work and can shut the door!!!






....he may look cute but he's not!!!

Hope your sunday is wonderful..

The Sun, The Sun,

What glory today.....

...cold nose peeping over my scarf..

..earth sodden with days of rain..

.the layers of dead and decaying leaves make for a slithering walk among the trees...
..we disturb two red deer...leaping silently through the brambles and over the fence..

....The Lodger strains at the lead....the hinds scent evokes a song and dance in him...

..a buzzard hidden in the tree suddenly takes off above us...wide wings gliding effortlessly across the waterlogged fields...

..late winter sun weakly shines through....bringing a lifting of my spirits..

....tiny wings flapping in my heart....

..could spring be here?......





Snowdrops

Do you know what I was, How I lived? You know
what despair is; then
winter should have meaning for you,

I did not expect to survive,
earth suppressing me. I didn't expect
to waken again, to feel
in damp earth my body
able to respond again, remembering
after so long how to open again
in the cold light
of earliest spring-

afraid, yes, but among you again
crying yes risk joy

in the raw wind of the new world.

Louise Gluck.

Taking Flight

Sometimes.......






I just feel like flying away......

Fabulous photos from Rosie Hardy...with thanks.

Lake Level

A break in the clouds as we finished work yesterday and walked a different way along the lake.....
by the waters edge a patch of snowdrops nodding their heads in the gentle breeze....



I was fascinated by the way the sheep had nibbled the bark bare from this broken branch.....a skeleton left...love the wispy catches of wool that have attached themselves....a natural sculpture...



..my world reflected...



...the thing I adore about this place is the random pieces of architecture that you come across....an eighteenth century bridge...in the distant is an old ice store....dark ...dank and slightly scary......



..the clouds gathering to cover the setting sun...rays sparkling....shadows lengthen.....ducks skim along sending water trails behind them.....a silent swan flies by.....

Wind Walking

This week I walked an old haunt of mine......the day had been bright and sunny although there had been a few snow showers.....nothing prepared me for the cold on the highest point on the Berkshire downs!!!!........boy it was freezing....even old patches of snow lingered in deep gullies....the wind whipping past me forcing me to don a rather unattractive hood to shield the my ears from frostbite!!!!



This ancient byway was deserted...(little wonder)..save the buzzards circling and hawks hovering.....the sheep grazed in the distance..others sheltering in the lea side of a pocket of trees.....



In the distance the Gibbet stands on Gallows Down....built in 1676...although it has been replaced several times since then....only two people where hanged from it...a couple who were having an affair and murdered the mans wife and son....nice!!...for all its ghoulish stories this place is outstandingly beautiful...on the border of Berkshire and Hampshire...on a clear day you can see to Oxfordshire and Wiltshire...it seems as the whole of England is laid out before you....



......in the summer the air is filled with the sound of skylarks...today it was just my ears that were singing!!!



I once walked here in a gale...it didn't seem so bad at the base....but as I walked with my old bull terrier...staggering to the gibbet...it got worse and I had to cling onto a fence post and the dog to stop us being blown away....what madness!!!



This place has lots of memories for me and I love its wildness and its beauty....

Lengthening days....

At last I walk after work in daylight....the dark walks of 5 o'clock are over...the torch no longer my constant companion....tonight with two doggie friends and the lodger we found a new vista....rounded fields of just emerged winter wheat.....dancing catkins grown longer each day and turning some trees a pale lemon...tonight a blue sky in a day that has seen hail....snow...rain...and sun...the dogs fly very which way ....scents of hare...deer...and badger sending nostrils into overdrive.....





the gloaming falling as we trudge home...

Cooking today

Quite a quiet day at work today.....just an office lunch for eight .....basically that is a finger buffet....smoked salmon.....spiced chicken baguettes....chunky thick sliced ham and cheddar sandwiches....flaky sausage rolls...an asparagus and leek quiche....a dish of crudities and red pepper and walnut dip.....




...oh...and chocolate cake...well why not!!!



..tea and scones with cream anyone?.....

hope you had an easy day too.....xx

Spirits of the Woods

There is a certain path that I sometimes walk....high up...trees soar above us and the ground in soft with decades of fallen leaves....slowly decaying....high in the sky the buzzards circle....climbing on the air of thermals...i feel them watching our progress.....

At the same point every time... my heart skips a beat...each time I walk here I have forgotten the spirit of the woods...each time he's there to remind me....he has been here an eternity..breathing in the seasons as they pass year by year....once he was young..sappy....bending with the west winds..as he grew...he became solid...grounded..tough....now centuries later he is growing still..but is wounded...time has scarred him....his bark is deeply grooved...moss and lichen invade...man has cut him....but still his presence makes me jump....

from a distance there he is...peeping out..watching as we advance...the closer I get...I calm....its ok....he's just waiting for company....for a moment.....

...I say a prayer to the spirits of the forest...keep us safe...my hand brushes over that ancient bark...connected for a moment....one world....

and walk on....

Stitch in Time

For all my life I can remember my Mother sewing.....she could make anything....I suppose it came from a time when the war was on and buying clothes with coupons was unbelievably difficult....she has a skill...she could make suits...coats..knit fair isle...she even sold what she made for a bit of extra cash when we were young....smocked dresses...shirred swimsuits..you name it!!!....and she taught me...going through the 70's I was making dresses copying Laura Ashley..my Saturdays where spent leafing through the butterick and vogue patterns at the local department store.....but times change and although I used to make my girls dresses when they were young its a while since I got out the old sewing machine for anything other than soft furnishings.....however my daughter found an old vogue pattern and asked if I could make it.....this is from the 40's!!! not many instructions included....but I am trying...on a very cheap fabric first....I'll let you know how it turns out!!




..glasses now required..



...pleats basted....a cotton lawn in a sale at 1.99 a yard!!! I can go wrong and not worry!!!



Below are two photos from my absolute favourite fashion house...for their amazing originality and passion for recycling old clothes into something fabulous..
.gibbous fashions..check them out...


Just love it!!!