Dreich

The weather today has been miserable, overcast and gloomy, and it has rained continuously since late morning. It has been so dark recently that even my houseplants are beginning to droop and show signs of lacking enough sunlight - I understand how they must be feeling :) I might need to reposition the ones furthest from the window.

There has been some more removing of Christmas decorations. This time the kitchen and dining room have been on the receiving end of my spontaneous cleaning. The little kitchen tree has been returned to the garden once again and the window garland is back in it's box. I may even tackle the living room tomorrow,  I'll see how I feel. Lily doesn't like it when I pack away the Christmas things, but as she would quite happily leave the decorations up all year round, I won't use her heavy heart as an excuse to leave them up for too much longer. I also worked my way through a large pile of ironing -  seriously, where does it all come from? -  and then I flattened some boxes ready to take for recycling. Neither very exciting, but necessary. 

This afternoon we went swimming. It has been a few weeks since I've been in the water and it felt good to be doing some sort of physical activity that didn't involve being wrapped up in several layers in order to keep myself warm. That said, a little extra heating of the pool wouldn't have gone amiss. It just meant I needed to keep moving, which, after the excesses of Christmas, was not such a bad thing. Lily, of course, thoroughly enjoyed herself and, as usual, it took some persuasion to get her out of the water at the end of our session.

Tomorrow, I expect I'll spend a quiet day at home. At the moment I don't  have any plans but, weather permitting, I can hopefully get out for a walk at some point. 

J. X

Rainy Days and Pumpkins

 

Once again, thank you so very much for all your lovely messages. I cannot begin to express just how much it means to me knowing I am in your thoughts. I will reply to you all very soon, I promise. With each day that passes my heart feels just a little bit lighter. 

So, my time off didn't go quite to plan. For obvious reasons I cancelled our planned trip away. It wouldn't have felt right, and in all honesty I wouldn't have been able to enjoy myself. It was a shame really, as the weather on the east coast looked to have been much brighter than at home. To say it has been a bit wet here would be an understatement, and my heart goes out to those who's homes and businesses have been affected by flooding yet again. Wind and rain lashing against the windows has been the soundtrack to much of the week, standing water covered many of the roads and any unnecessary travel has been avoided.

Because of this I have been mainly hunkered down at home and unusually for me I've hardly ventured out, preferring instead to stay cosy and dry indoors. We did, however, go out just for a short while, so that we could choose our Hallowe'en pumpkins and I spent a very productive afternoon carving them. It never ceases to amaze me how I manage to do this without somehow causing myself serious injury, although I suspect it's very much down to good fortune rather than my knife skills. 

And I didn't let anything go to waste either. The flesh was quickly turned into some delicious spiced pumpkin soup and the seeds were gently tossed in olive oil before roasting them in the oven. They taste so so good, and are very moreish. If you've never tried roasting them before, I can definitely recommend it. Just be careful not to eat them all in one go. 

At the weekend, and during another brief respite from the unrelenting rain, we put on our boots and set out to enjoy just a small part of what autumn has to offer. The leaves are changing rather rapidly now and with the sun making a brief appearance it was wonderful to spend some time amongst the beautiful seasonal colours. I would like to say we enjoyed kicking through the crisp fallen leaves, but disappointingly they were far more soggy than they were crunchy - still pretty though, especially in the bright sunshine.

Last night we welcomed some delightfully scary looking characters at our door for Hallowe'en, and you know it really did feel so good after the quiet of last year. During the evening many chocolates and sweets were given and received. I always end up buying far too many but they never seem to last long in this house. 

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this here before, but Hallowe'en is also a special day for another reason. It is the day I officially adopted Mog! It has now been six years since Lily and I drove to the animal shelter and brought her back home to live with us. 

I think she's happy to be here. 

J. X

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

Yesterday, my friend asked me how my week had been and I replied, honestly, that it had been rather ordinary. Good ordinary. I didn't go into all the boring detail but the rain poured, work and school happened, rooms got cleaned and tidied, the rain poured some more, cakes were baked, laundry was washed, ironed and put away, and I did the weekly shop. Some weeks are like this and I am grateful for them. Life isn't all about amazing days out and notable accomplishments, and it's weeks like this that give me the time to catch up with those little jobs and mundane tasks which allow for the more memorable ones.

The weather has had a huge part to play in this ordinary week. All around us is so wet and muddy, and even though I wish I was spending more of my time outdoors it really isn't very nice out there.  Wellies are definitely my footwear of choice at the moment. Even my faithful walking boots would struggle to cope with the washed out pathways and ankle deep mud. It may be that we are seeing hints of spring, although it is quite clear we are still in the grip of winter here and the biting cold winds along with the constant rain mean any time I've spent out walking has been opportunistic and fleeting.

At the weekend there was such a moment and a short walk through the woods beckoned. It's close to home, reasonably sheltered and one of my favourite places when I want a quick countryside fix. The winds had quietened and it seemed eerily still, compared to the previous night's stormy weather. The earth, which has been sleeping for so long, showing signs of awakening. Snowdrops, sadly gone now, making way for the daffodils, of which I'm sure there will be an abundance here in the coming weeks. Catkins adorn the hazel trees and, just like a child, I still cant resist touching them as I walk past.

Returning home the skies poured with rain once again. My hands wrapped contentedly around a hot mug of tea, grateful for this snatched moment of fresh air and sunshine on, yet another, rainy day.

J. X