Winter Solstice

Today is the shortest day of the year!  That means spring is on it's way.  This makes me feel very happy and optimistic because I am one lover of spring and summer, the winter months can really get me down, I am fantasising already about the spring, planting seeds, getting to the allotment, spring cleaning and a summer oF sipping wine in the garden and walks on the beach and digging up home grown fruit and veg and, and, and...
After today we will have more minutes then hours of daylight in out lives, this got me thinking about Jesus and how we call him the Light of the World; it therefore seems most appropriate that we should celebrate his birth shortly after the winter solstice when we are beginning to have more light in our lives. Whether you believe that Jesus was the Son of God or not, there is no denying that he brought a most amazing message of light and love to the world:
John 8:12

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Images all from flickr, using search words: Light, new, spring.

What does Christmas time mean to you?

First day of the holidays

Hi everyone,

What a day.
I got up with a delightful day of activities planned, first to visit my lovely friend who lives about 40 mins drive away, then to go into town and do my last bits of Christmas shopping before driving to another town to do some shopping of my own, charity style, but it didn't quite go to plan.  When I checked the weather in the morning, more snow was forecast.  I am not a confident driver on the best of days to cancelled my visit to my friend's and thought I would just drive into town and do my shopping, at least then I could get the bus home if my car got stuck.  I needed petrol so started out for the petrol station, I had barely got out of my road before the oil light came on on my dash board.  "Hmmm" I thought, "the engine is probably just cold and needs warming up, I will go to the petrol station and see how it is then".  I got about halfway to the petrol station and the engine cut out and the battery light came on on the dash board, I decided at that point that it was probably not a good idea to try to get the the petrol station and so headed hoe.  I am amazed I made it back to the house, there was an awful smell coming from the engine and it was making a sort of chugging noise.  I basically rolled home, but not before the engine cut out a couple more times.
So I had to get the bus into town again and found the experience much more trudgy and tiresome that I had on Saturday.  Still I got all my shopping done and back home before it started snowing:

No plans for tomorrow so will hopefully do some crafting and art work.

Etsy treasury time!

Had a lot of fun creating this doily addict's fantasy treasury today, nothing like taking time out to nurture a helpless doily fetish!
Here are some of my absolute favourite doily related items:

stitchhappens7

snookiesays

ladiesandgentlemen

buntingboutique

rrizzart

Ooooooooh yes!

Christmas time

Hi everyone,

Can't believe a whole week as gone by since my last post.  I will tell you why... it's been insanely busy!!
Was away visiting friends in Peterborough last weekend and doing things every evening this week, shopping, tidying the house, making Christmas cards etc etc!! 
Well I finally have 10 minutes to sit down and though I would use it to share a bit of Christmassiness with you.  If I am honest I am not a huge fan of Christmas.  I am all for celebrating the birth of our Lord, but when it comes to buying presents, sending cards, decorating the house, tidying up and cooking it is just stress stress stress.  Yes I may sound like A Scrooge, but I am afraid I become totally overwhelmed by all of the above and the real meaning of Christmas becomes lost.  It has become such a commercial event to the point where I find myself panic buying just any old thing so that I have a present to give someone, and I hate that feeling.  I much prefer to buy things for my friends and family because I have seen something that I just know they will absolutely love rather than buying something for the sake of it that they may or may not like.  (I also hate pretending to be pleased to receive a present that I hate!)  However I am thankful to have two weeks off work and it will be lovely to see family and friends in the holidays.  I thoroughly enjoy the food and the games and laughs we will have, and of course a couple of glasses of wine. 
Here is my Christmas tree, that my darling husband decorated this year.  I found the experience of watching someone else decorate the tree painful.  I am quite particular and normally do the honour, but Paul has done an excellent job.:

As I mentioned I made my own Christmas cards, I made a lino print, I have my own cutting tools and stuff that I got years ago, thankfully because lino printing is quick and easy so is excellent for making multiple copies of the same image:

So there we have it, half a day till the Christmas holidays, the I just have to do my Christmas shopping *sigh* 

Allotment update

I can happily report that I am still the proud owner of an allotment plot thanks to the Parks and recreation manager finally seeing sense.  Apparently it was covered in snow last time he went to visit!?  beggars belief!
In other news only one week and a day till Christmas holidays begin!!  Wooooo! 

Fury!!

I am absolutely furious today to find another letter from the council on my door mat giving me notice of eviction from my allotment!!  I am sure you remember my previous rant about the letter I received saying that my allotment was "weedy and uncultivated"  I am sure you also remember the photos of before and after showing the amount of effort Hubby and I put in to tidying it up and the resultant hole in my welly from the frantic digging that went on.  Clearly all that effort and even a late night digging in the dark session that I did a few weeks ago has gone unnoticed.  I was utterly fuming about it and phoned the council immediately.  Luckily for him the Park Supervisor was not working today; if he had been then he would have had a piece of my mind.  Instead, I ranted on the phone to his assistant and ended up bursting into tears.  Not good at all.  (I think the tears were not just about the allotment, I have had a pretty hard week so far, plus am very tired and not quite right hormonally.)
Anyway, I will be sure to be on the phone to Mr Parks Supervisor tomorrow ASAP to tell him about all my hard work, the fact that the ground has been frozen for the past two weeks and the fact that I have two fruit bushes, a rhubarb plant, two beds of onions, two beds of broad beans and a patch of strawberry plants in my plot that I have lovingly attended yo for he last three and a half years.   Hopefully I will have calmed down a bit by tomorrow as well and will be able to talk sense without crying like a baby. 

Baby bump photos

A couple of weeks ago I photographed the lovely Emma, her husband Daniel and Emma's bump.  It was a fantastic photoshoot, photographing adults is sooo much easier than children and babies, especially with such gorgeous people as Emma adn Daniel (Emma actually had some modelling experience!)  I was thrilled with the photos and have found it very hard to choose my favorites, here are just a few of them: