A Walk in the Woods

I've discovered another new, local place to go walking! The road to the woods is lined with tall redwood trees



Trees......lots of trees



We weren't expecting this



Isn't it beautiful?



Wildlife too



More trees



Interesting sights





And still more trees.......but look carefully



Did you spot this... blending in perfectly in the hazy blue sunshine



Isn't it beautiful?



~A

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you have had a good day! Each year I like to surprise my family at the breakfast table and this year I decided to cut a very sparkly piece of gift wrap into 4 'place mats'.



I also bought each member of the family a small gift - heart shaped pencils for my son who is crazy about pencils (!!)



a tiny teddy for my daughter (sorry about the bad pic)



and for my husband a box of his favorite chocolates.



And for me I hear you ask? Well, I originally bought Hubby a very small box of his favorite chocolates but then I saw the same chocolates in special Valentine's packaging, so I got him those instead and I got the small box.

He's already eaten the whole box!!!!

~A

*Love* Cupcakes

Yesterday my son had cooking at school, they were going to make Pineapple Upside Down Cake. We measured out the ingredients the night before, all ready for him to take to school in the morning but both he and I forgot about the butter in the fridge! He went ahead and baked without telling the teacher about the missing butter (smart kid!) The end result looked very good despite being a little hard and flat. When he got home, feeling disappointed with his flopped cake (I know that feeling well!) he decided to bake cupcakes.

A few weeks ago I bought these lovely baking cases and edible heart sprinkles, planning to use them on Valentine's Day.



Knowing that my shares were down, there was only one way to save the day...



~A

Footprints in the Snow

I am pleased to report that the snow has now all melted and life has returned to normal. Before the snow melted I noticed these prints in the snow



I wonder who they belong to???

Aah, could this be the culprit?



~A

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone - it's been a while since I last posted. I hope you had a good Christmas and are ready to face the year ahead.

Life in the UK has slowed down somewhat after the deluge of snow we received earlier in the week. The children had one day back at school and then schools were closed for the rest of the week - much to the delight of my kids.



The neighborhood kids made this fine fellow



The view up my road - what road??



The sun was out today and some snow managed to melt despite the low temperature. I noticed these on a neighbors house



~A

Beautiful Butterfly

This beautiful butterfly was sitting on my patio this morning, enjoying the wonderful autumn sunshine.



~A

Easily Distracted

I can be summed up with two words - easily distracted! Just ask my family, they will agree.
I started this blog with the intention of showcasing my handmade cards but then I got distracted. Anyway, for those of you who have missed seeing a card from me, I made this one over the weekend. The words are printed (Microsoft Word) onto a clear transparency film, which I then put on top of the ribbon and stickers. Not sure if you can see this in the photo.



Ribbon: Papertrey, stickers: Provocraft 'Zany-zoo' (so cute!!)


PS Right now I should be doing housework but instead I'm blogging!



~A

Caught in the act

Remember our sunflower from this post? Last week I cut the flower head off and hung it in a tree, wondering if the birds would find it. Well, I didn’t have to wait too long - yesterday I noticed these two... can you see two? Click on the pic to enlarge it, one bird is on the branch, just above the sunflower and one higher up the same branch camouflaged in the leaves. From my bird book I would guess that they are Great Tits (wonder who gave them that name?)



It was lovely to watch them, they would come down from the branch to get a seed, then fly up into the leaves where they would try to break open the seed by holding it in their beaks and ‘hammering’ it on the branch, their little heads and bodies bobbing up and down.





Sorry the pics are not the greatest, I think it's time for a new camera.

~A

Autumn in the Allotments

Our house backs onto allotments. If you are not familiar with them, they are small pieces of land that the local council (usually) rents out to people so that they can grow vegetation. I guess during the war people grew food but these days people seem to have different motivations for having an allotment.

Most people have a shed



Which they decorate in various ways





Some plots have personality








(I love this cat keeping watch over this tiny pond)

Some plots are neat, tidy and organized





Some are just plain messy





Some people grow fruit and vegetables







Some people grow flowers







Some have a plentiful harvest







Some not so plentiful



And some visitors go home with a handful of seeds so that next summer they can hopefully grow some of those huge sunflowers.



~A