Thoughts from the Shower #9

I've got a pheasant at the bottom of my garden (reminds me of a song that I used to sing to my kids when they were younger -  'There's a worm at the bottom of my garden . . . '!) it likes roosting in the Elder tree and there are two robins that are trying to claim the trampoline as their territory - all makes for interesting viewing out of my lounge window!

100th Blog Post! Music Flows Through my Life

Whilst enjoying a rare peaceful breakfast with my husband, we got to discussing songs, albums and artists that have been introduced to us and/or been important during childhood/teens/events/challenging times in our lives.

Here's my list:


Classical Music - early childhood onwards

Abba 

Wham/Bananarama/Ultravox/Aha/Spandau Ballet/Duran Duran/Roxy Music/David Bowie/Queen - what I remember listening to at boarding school, which I attended from age 12-16

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms album - received Christmas 1985

Kylie Minogue - in all her incarnations!

Crowded House - introduced by my brother

The Corrs - Forgiven, Not Forgotten - introduced by my friend Andrew V

Garth Brooks - introduced by my friend Louise H

Enya

Primal Scream

Witchcraft - As I Hide; 
Stairway - Medicine Dance; 
Northsound - Celtic Nights and
Ocean Dreams - all introduced by my darling husband

Damh the Bard - first heard live at a local Moot in the early 00's

Solstice - introduced (separately) by my friends Fiona P and Richard L

Music that I found myself belting out when feeling maudlin when I was younger:

Without You - Harry Nilsson (originally performed by Badfinger)
All By Myself - Eric Carmen
Mr Blue Sky - ELO

Spring Crafts

June and December have been very busy over the last week, crafting decorations and making cards to welcome in Spring and celebrate Easter.

I have, at long last, purchased a hot glue gun which has been on my 'must buy for crafting' list for years. Whilst it is a very small one and only cost £5 it has made a huge difference already and made these Spring Wreaths possible (we tried PVA glue and it just kept soaking into the eggbox card and not sticking!):

December's Spring Wreath

June's Spring Wreath

On Tuesday we had our first really warm day and the girls spent the day outside creating Spring gardens, making clay creatures to live in their gardens and painting eggs to decorate the house for Easter.

As you can see, there will soon be a zombie threat in their gardens which, hopefully, the giant white rabbit will be able to see off!

They have also made some cute felt baskets

and some gluten free cookies

Happy Spring everyone!

Time for a Change 2016 #2

February was a very busy month for me. Alongside all my usual activities I joined a fortnightly singing group and went to my first meeting of a local women's group.

I have now attended two singing group sessions and am loving it. I particularly like the fact that it isn't a formal choir and that we are singing purely for enjoyment's sake. The inspirational Claire leads us in warming up exercises followed by working on three different songs Belle Mama and Zidele Anathambo (which I haven't been able to find a recording of) which are both four part songs and Gaudete which is a very different style from the first two, though with a Steeleye Span take rather than a choral style.

I always feel very happy and relaxed afterwards and I have found that my sleep patterns are much improved for the first night or so after, too. During the weeks between sessions I usually find myself absentmindedly singing one or other of the songs whilst cooking, driving etc

I've restarted work on a crochet Afghan blanket which I'm making for December - only about 200 squares to go!

7 Day Photograph Nature Challenge : Day 7

For the last post on this challenge I thought I'd share these two pictures because the top one is a great reminder to me that Spring always follows on from Winter, no matter how dark and dreary it has been. The second one is testament to endurance and survival - these tiny snails hibernating in a cleft of an ancient beech tree. When I went back a few weeks later they had all gone - I like to think that they left of their own accord and not as a snack for a hungry bird.

7 Day Photograph Nature Challenge Day 6

Brimstone

As the weather has been so chilly today, I thought it would be nice to share some photos of beautiful butterflies that I took last summer.

Red Admiral

7 Day Photograph Nature Challenge : Day 5

Today I have chosen a couple of photos which I took of the first spring lambs in early March 2015.