Onwards and Upwards...

Bluebells - good for the spirit!

Well – it’s been a pretty difficult few weeks here. Don’t really want to go into much detail but to top everything we lost our beautiful cat Hincapie. He has left a hole a mile wide in our lives, he was the noisiest, most demanding cat I think I have ever met but the house is so very quiet without him :(

Mr Noisy 

I thought long and hard about this post and how I don’t want my blog to appear a whole picture of rainbows and unicorns. We all have shit happen in our lives and it would be a false picture to paint otherwise. However, I have sat back and given it some thought and I have also had some fabulous things happen in amongst the crap and as I am a (mostly) optimistic and glass most defiantly half full kind of girl I thought I would concentrate on the joy and loveliness and not the rubbish and sadness. (reading back this sentence I saw that spell check had changed ‘definately’ into ‘defiantly’ and hell, I’m not going to change it back!!)

The bluebells have been out in the woods both locally and at work. I have spent a lovely couple of evenings out with friends walking and enjoying them and making up for being so damn antisocial lately. I am also grateful that friends have supported me feeling a bit rubbish and not my usual self at all (sorry to you all for that!)

Beautiful friends in beautiful surroundings! Counting my blessings.

I have had dinner out with other friends that I have not seen for a long time. One of them is now winging her way to California for 5 years and I am so glad that we caught up before she left. Lots of reminiscing and laughs!

More laughs with friends!

DH and I celebrated 23 whole years of being stuck with each other. We spent a day touring Salisbury where we saw the Magna Carta at Salisbury Cathedral, had a meal out and then went to see Old Wardour Castle to get at least a little value from our underused English Heritage memberships...

The reflections in the font water were stunning.

My favourite find - historical graffiti!

Usually I get to do the bunny ears.

How I feel sometimes!

We have been cracking on with the garden and allotment – not managing to quite keep up with the weeds and growth of grass but putting up a brave fight.

Mostly I have decided that being positive is a good thing and that I have a great deal to still be grateful for, no matter how things might sometimes appear otherwise!

Looking for the good things....

Normal service will be resumed shortly :)

I'm back - again!

If anyone out there has been regularly checking out my blog then I must apologise - the observant amongst you will notice there has been precious little input from me for several weeks other than my Thoughtful Thursday posts. So, what has happened? I could make excuses and say work has been overwhelming (true, but I have still managed to get to the gym) or that I couldn’t get near the computer for teenagers (they mostly have their own computers but getting near a plug socket – now that is a problem!!). The truth is I couldn’t think of anything exciting to say. Or even mundane. Or funny, or weird, or anything.... So, I have decided today is the day I will break out of the rut and ease myself in gently with a set format and a way to give an overview of the past few weeks.... I have used these prompts before, courtesy of Marylin at Softthistle. Here we go, a whistle-stop tour of things I have done J

Making: My new shed extension into a space of beauty and relaxation. Electrics are in, insulation and wood burner still to go but that can wait a while! Now I just need to put things back in and still keep the feeling of sanctuary and not dumping ground.

Cooking: It’s a Bank Holiday and so I am trying everything in my power not to have to cook anything! Over the last few weeks I have triumphed with a chocolate cake and failed miserably with some rather overdone venison.

Drinking: I never thought it possible but I have persevered with herbal tea and now I am choosing herbal over Earl Grey! Admittedly I seem to have quite expensive tastes (Pukka only thank you) but I have discovered some that not only smell lovely but do not taste of cats wee.

Reading: Onto book four of the Game of Thrones series and loving every moment. Although I now have the dilemma – do I continue apace and then know what happens in the TV programme before it plays out or do I continue to know what will happen in the book before I read it???

Wanting: Inspiration for my blog and more time to do things that aren’t work or housework related.

Looking: At all the seeds that we have planted starting to come up. And all the weeds. And the dead dahlias that I forgot to cover before we had a frost, oops.

Playing: The new Paloma Faith cd and Emiliana Torrini.

Wasting: Too many of my evenings in front of mindless TV (not including GoT in this) and too much of my nighttimes worrying about pointless shit and not sleeping L

Sewing: After my Clothkits skirt I have sadly not made anything else yet but I do have fabric to sew a new yoga mat bag. I bought new mats for my Saturday class and my old bag is not big enough. The class is still my oasis of calm on a Saturday morning and I have even booked a weekend yoga retreat in June. Will def have finished the bag before then!

Wishing: That just sometimes I could know exactly what the best decision to make would be.

Enjoying: That the weather is slowly getting better and that we are blessed with garden and allotment and space to grow things. I love that the garden gives me the chance to ground myself after a busy day at work, even if it’s 10 minutes of mindless mindful weeding.

Waiting: For someone else to offer to cook tonight J

Liking: All the new learning I have been doing (see loving).

Wondering: If we will make full use of our new English Heritage memberships this year. DH has already used his card whilst at a bike rally (visiting a castle without me!!)

Wallingford Castle - I found this one!

Loving: My daily Reiki practice. Over the Easter weekend I did my First Degree Reiki training and absolutely loved it. I am now currently undertaking my 21 days of self practice before I meet with my tutor again. I am reading around the subject and practising every day. Even on houseplants. This can only be good for them as usually I am hopeless with houseplants. I am studying the Reiki Principles too and seeing how they relate to my own life. It’s not a religion but I am embracing big changes!

Hoping: My Amazon parcel arrives soon. Can’t believe they deliver on a Bank Hol but the email assured me it was on its way!

Marvelling: At how many clothes I have managed to part with. Big declutter happening here. It’s hard but I need to face the fact I am very nearly a hoarder (not TV scale hoarding yet!) but I definitely have too many things for my tiny home and the truth is I don’t need all of them. Think this might have been spurred on by my magazine declaration – which you will be pleased to hear is still going mostly well. Mostly.

Needing: A cup of herbal tea about now.

Smelling: Cut grass. We have to pay a child to do it. Hang on, I did it two weeks ago and I didn’t get paid!!??

Wearing: An ‘interesting’ top from the charity shop. It has weird seams so you’re not quite sure which is inside out and outside in. And it’s a weird shape but it’s very comfy and I love the blue colour. Also, since the purge I have less to choose from. It also hides any post-Easter chocolate bulges!

Following: Sadly nothing. I haven’t been near the computer for a while but I am determined to catch up with some favourite blogs today.

Noticing: That although I have still managed the gym every week, I have not managed more than once every week and it is showing. A lot L

Knowing: That I need to give myself a gentle and loving kick up the arse to make sure I am motivated to do the things I love instead of being boring and lazy.

Thinking: Too much at night. My yoga teacher showed us some good insomnia moves but I’d have to go all the way downstairs to have room to practice as apparently it disturbs DH if I try to do a shoulder stand in bed.
My photography needs motivating too. However, now the nice weather is here I can dig out my analogue cameras again and spend 3 weeks remembering how to use them! Sunny 16 rule anybody?

Feeling: Sad that we lost 2 chickens to Mr Fox and DD lost her lovely rabbit too (not to Mr Fox). Capie the cat is also feeling sad as he lost a couple of things that were making him fighty and bitey. Now he is mostly sleepy and hungry and less of a boy!

Bookmarking: Gardening sites and Pinterest to make inspiring boards.

Opening: Up to the certainty that my grey hairs are getting more noticeable all the time and I DON’T CARE! Wearing the grey with pride...

Giggling: At the question someone allegedly asked Derek Acorah on a Q&A session – Are duvets actually just fat ghosts? (I know, but it made me laugh!)

There,  I have done it – I have blogged – maybe now the block has been blasted away for a while... Thank you for your time, see you again soon x

Our Big Adventure - Part 3

Not the best photo, sorry!

DH and I do like a castle – I may have mentioned it before. We hadn’t fully decided which one to visit over the weekend. I have to admit I love Warwick Castle but recently it has been super expensive and a bit theme park like. So we decided to try Kenilworth as neither of us had visited this one before.

I’m so glad we made this decision – it was an awesome place. Firstly, the buildings are made of very red coloured stone which looked so fabulous rising up against the brilliant blue skies. It was busy but not overwhelming and it wasn’t too expensive at £9 each (although we did get swayed by the superior selling techniques of the English Heritage gentleman and ended up buying a membership!)

The Elizabethan gardens were lovely - they had recreated one of the fountains from records.

Kenilworth dates from the 1120’s and bore witness to one of the very few full scale mediaeval sieges in this country. Supporters of the defeated (and dead) Simon de Montfort holed up here to defend the castle against King Henry III after the battle of Evesham in 1265. They managed to withstand heavy assaults on the castle but finally had to surrender in 1266 due to disease and lack of supplies.

Further into Kenilworth’s history saw the estate given to Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester and favourite of Elizabeth I. Now this is one of my personal favourite periods in history and so to actually stand in the grounds where they would have stood was pretty exciting! English Heritage are currently installing viewing platforms in the building that he built especially for her 1575 visit (she had visited 3 times before this). Once these platforms are complete you will be able to look through window spaces that no one has looked through for 300 years – how mind blowing is that?

In a further building are the remaining fittings that Dudley had installed, albeit elsewhere in the building, so you can look at a marble fireplace and carved wooden panel that both he and Elizabeth would actually have seen and touched. It’s these links to the past that really make history so moving.

I like castles :)

All around the site there is carved graffiti too. I took a few photographs and we marvelled at how old some of it was. But then as we were tutting at the “Gaz woz ‘ere 2012” and “Gemma luvs Mark” we wondered if past 1800’s visitors did the same over “Mr Cooke’s” efforts or “Joe Hart – 1840” and when does carved graffiti move from vandalism to historic interest? Possibly when the quality went downhill which I assume was probably when ‘stonecarver’ became a somewhat undervalued profession. Gaz clearly spent nowhere near as much time and care over his offering as Mr Cooke although in fairness he was probably trying to carve into 800 year old stone with a crappy nail file nicked off his girlfriend :)

I only photographed the old stuff, sorry Gaz

This isn't one of mine, honest!

If you are ever in the area I would highly recommend a visit to Kenilworth Castle – I would also highly recommend a visit to the gift shop where they are known to do tastings of the fine alcoholic beverages that they sell – but that’s a whole ‘nother story!

Detail from the windows Robert Dudley had installed - apparently they were groundbreaking in size.