Winter solstice could not have come at a better time.
We’re on our way to spring
Whilst the date of winter solstice has been the same for aeons, synonymous with hope and renewal, this year it followed hot on the heels of a date that will hopefully be forgotten in the mists of time, for yesterday we went into Tier 4 lockdown in parts of the UK.
Spring always reminds me of the 1970s Eurovision song; ‘All kinds of everything’ – snowdrops and daffodils, butterflies and bees…all kinds of everything, reminds me of you…
The first to appear are the snowdrops, those pretty little fairy lanterns that lend a cheer to the hard grey ground, and bring a smile to our faces
snowdrops
And then the sun begins to shine again as the daffodils with their bright yellow faces sprout with wild abandon
daffodils
from then on its one after the other as more and more spring flowers appear; bluebells
Bluebells
hyacinths, primroses and then one of my favourite flowers…tulips
a profusion of colours – tulips
But don’t be fooled….for March can bring on a bite of snow
snow in March
But as we roll into April….perhaps a visit to Paris is on the cards 🙂
I’ve been invited to participate in the 2020 Travel Challenge by fellow travellers and Camino pilgrims http://wetanddustyroads.com Thank you 🥰
I’m honoured to be nominated and will do my very best to live up to the challenge!!
January
The Travel Challenge involves posting one favorite travel picture for each day. That’s 10 days, 10 travel pictures, and 10 nominations, without any explanation. If you take up this challenge, then you also need to nominate someone each day.
Today, on my first day of the challenge, I nominate the wonderfully adventurous couple behind http://jwalkingin.com
You’re under no obligation to accept, but if you do….
You can post any of your favorite pictures from 2020…enjoy and happy travels!!
The universe conspired to deliver a beautiful day to make up for the horrid news delivered yesterday. A grey, wet and dreary day would have been too depressing. Tier 4??? Seriously!
However, we are now one day closer to coming out of lockdown. Meanwhile, knowing as I do, how the British weather system works; grey, overcast skies in the morning…clear sunny, blue afternoon. Clear blue skies in the morning…rain by midday – with the odd exception.
Soooo, when I pulled back the curtains this morning and saw clear blue skies with just a hint of cloud on the distant horizon, I determined to use my shopping trip as an excuse to get out for a long walk. Which I did.
Heading along the same route as yesterday where I discovered Lloyd Park, I once again reached the park.
Thinking a slightly different route in the park would be good, I followed what looked like a nice, firm, dry sandy path to the trees I could see in the distance…it wasn’t firm or dry 🤪🤪🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️ within a few meters I was slipping and sliding along…
Slip sliding away…
Managing to keep upright thanks to my walking poles, eventually I reached a tree halfway to where I really wanted to go, and called it quits.
About turn….
I did a careful about turn and slid back to the concrete pathway, which although tough on the bones, is so much easier to walk on. I walked as far as the carpark on the distant side of the park, then returned. There were a fair number of people out walking, mostly masked up and keeping their distance. I overheard snatches of a few conversations; mostly about the lockdown and the mental health of people affected by the sudden change in the government’s position on Christmas.
On my way back out the park I ‘slid’ to the left and walked past a massive allotment plot.
I loved this path…An enormous allotment
I stopped to listen to a robin sing and then went shopping.
A robin trills
Oh oh…who is that I spy lurking behind the bush?
Who could it be?
In all I got in a very good 9.1kms and as a result I’m now only 103.3kms away from reaching my target of 2020kms of my 2020 virtual challenge 👏👏👏🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️😃
I noticed this amazing decoration on the side of a building near the station
Isn’t that just stunning!!!
As for the Great Ocean Road route in Australia I’m only 25km (15.6miles) away from the end of the challenge 😁😁 I am now close to reaching the end of my virtual journey…239.8km along the south coast of that epic continent – Australia!! I really want to finish by Thursday 24th.
I’m roughly halfway between Port Cambell which I left behind 4 days ago
Port Campbell and 51.2 km (32 miles) to go
And nearing the end at Allansford
I hope to visit Oz for real in 2023/2024….finances depending. I only just received all my postcards from the Conqueror Challenges team. It seems I started the route before they were ready, so they kindly sent the cards in one batch when they were done. So awesome. They’re all incredibly on the ball with their customer service.
And so as 2020 starts to wind down, I’m gearing up to virtually climb Mt. Fuji 🗻🇯🇵 Hopefully this challenge will dovetail nicely with the last kilometres of my 2020 challenge. And of course, it goes without saying…I’m going to participate in the 2021 challenge too….😁😁😁🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️ What distance do you think I should set my target at?
If you have recorded or want to watch Strictly Come Dancing on catch up….
Because…..
Well well well well….Strictly Come Dancing champion 2020……issssss
BILL BAILEY!!!!! 🕺🕺🕺🏆👏👏👏👏
Huge congratulations to Oti for raising a champion dancer.
I genuinely thought Hrvy would win due to his age and popularity and of course I would have loved Jamie to win, even though I didn’t think he would, and Maisie…..what a little ray of sunshine…
They were ALL amazing and the final was quite simply SPECTACULAR or as Craig would say FAB.U.LOUS 😁😁😁
but I’m THRILLED that Bill won. He was amazing and definitely made the most improvement and ended in a spectacular fashion.
Strictly Come Dancing has been so uplifting during the last few months and it’s still my absolute favourite show. It brings so much joy.
As a child you grow up with traditions and learn about others, whether they be religious or seasonal, familial or foreign and they all seem to be set in stone with certain rules that govern how they play out. I learned something quite profound one day…..traditions are not set in stone, they can be amended or tweaked and new ones can be created…!!! 😁😁
My mother had quite a few traditions, one of which was decorating the Christmas tree. A few days before Christmas a tree would mysteriously appear in the lounge (sitting room for the Brits 🤪🤪), and if a real tree, it stood in a bucket of sand. 🎄
In the build up to Christmas day we learned that Father Christmas aka Santa would be visiting on the night before Christmas and leave us lots of presents….and he would decorate the tree, so when we woke up on Christmas day, magically the tree would be adorned in all its glory.
As we got older and learned that ‘Santa’ was actually Mommy, we got to help with the decorating. I remember the excitement as Christmas eve got closer and the anticipation built….and then her Christmas boxes would come out from wherever she was hiding them and glory be….we got to open them. Oh the beauty of all those shiny balls, the tinsel glittering in the light, the quirky little characters exclaimed over with delight and then the decorating began as we tried to balance them out around the tree with much laughter – the baubles going higher the taller we grew. And finally with a flourish we pulled tufts of cottonwool off a fat new roll, threw them all over the tree with wild abandon and voila, the tree was covered in ‘snow’. 😃😃 Too much fun.
Being the eldest of 4 daughters I got to help my Mother decorate the tree in secret 3 times to surprise and delight my sisters on Christmas day…and of course the day brought a pile of presents too. 🎄🎁🎁🎁🎁 Needless to say, my Mother did things in a big way, and half the house would be decorated too ☺☺
When my daughter was growing up I carried on the traditions of my childhood and decorated the tree and lounge the night before Christmas to delight her in the morning. As she grew up and learned more about Santa’s secrets, she also got to decorate the tree. As it was just the 2 of us, we used to decorate together.
Now she’s grown up with a family of her own, she’s started a new tradition….the grandparents are invited over earlier in December for an evening of laughter, dinner and decorating the tree. Last year we all gathered together and my contribution was a 1st Christmas decoration for Jamie; an engraved ceramic star
This year I found a delightful little wooden decoration in Shepton Mallet; a picture of a snowman – he loves snowmen. ⛄⛄
Unfortunately this year, due to tier 3 restrictions the paternal grandparents didn’t join us, but we had a fun time decorating the tree.
Granny and Jamie hanging his decoration
This was Jamie’s first time ever decorating a Christmas tree. He got the idea straight away. Mummy gave him the first bauble, showed him how to open the string, and he went straight over and hung it up with very little instruction on how to do it. We’re so proud of him. ☺☺
He just got it….so smart 🥰💙
Of course not yet 2 years old, he got impatient with taking the decorations out one at a time and turned the box upside down and all over the floor 🤣🤣🤣 – and THEN proceeded to jumble them up.
But he was dissuaded and one by one the decorations went up with the assistance of Mummy and Daddy.
A steadying hand from Mummy
And finally when every last bauble and ball was up, he helped Daddy put the star on top 🎄…..👏👏👏👏 hoorah!! Its Christmas 🎉🎉🎉🎁🎁🎁
Daddy’s little Christmas star ☺☺💙He took it all very seriously ☺☺🎄🎉
Once the tree was done we settled down to have a superb Christmas meal….fully vegetarian.
Table decorations
A newly established family tradition.
I bought my boobee an early Christmas present; a Peppa Pig set of plate, bowl and cup. He’s currently obsessed with Peppa Pig, so an easy buy 🐷🐷
Another tradition my Mother had was making a Christmas pudding….every year she would buy the fruit mince the bread crumbs, the eggs, suet, the sixpences and 50p (all carefully boiled to sterilise them) and then the mixing began. We would fight to mix and once it was all done, fight again as to who would get to lick the spoons and the bowl. When the grandchildren came along they were encouraged to participate and I have the loveliest photo somewhere of my Mother, my daughter and 2 nieces gathered round the table mixing the pudding. Possibly the last pudding my Mother ever did since she passed away a couple of months after my daughter’s 4th birthday. Moving forward, my daughter doesn’t like Christmas cake, Christmas pudding or mince pies….weird child, but more for me 😁😁🤶🏻🥧🥧🥧
Oh and without a doubt, you can be sure that on Christmas day….we all vied for the 50p!!! A veritable fortune in those days 💰💰💰
P.S. did you notice the spelling of merry in the header photo…🤪🤪 only noticed after the package was opened…. a new tradition? 😉
Got in a very respectable 15.9kms this morning. Starting off with a fantastic sunrise….red sky in the morning and all that
I headed up the coast to Stone Bay via Broadstairs where I stopped off at my favourite tearoom The Old Bakehouse for almond croissants (best ever) with a cup of coffee, which I enjoyed on the promenade, and fed the sparrows some toasted almond crumbs.
Almond croissant from The Old Bake House, Broadstairs Ever so cute…
Enroute I strolled past the Dickens Museum – although he didn’t actually live here, it was the home of one of his characters in David Copperfield; Betsy Trotwood.
The Dickens Museum, Broadstairs
By the time I reached the end of Stone Bay the wind had come up and that promised storm blew in…with a vengeance.
Blowing up a storm I wondered why….
Before heading back to Ramsgate, I bought some bird seed and scattered it amongst the bushes for the wee sparrows.
The wind was so strong along the foreshore that my walking poles were blown backwards and I had to plow into the wind.
Despite the wind and cold and rain, I had a fantastic walk. The harbour looked very different when I got back from when I left just after 7am
7:20am11:14am
And tomorrow I’m back to work. I don’t feel as if I’ve had a proper break.
But I did have a most wonderful afternoon with my lovely family…Christmas tree decorating. I’ll write about that tomorrow..
There is nothing more precious to me than hearing my grandson from behind the door saying “G’anny” when I ring the doorbell and then seeing that beautiful little face lit up with a smile. And a cuddle follows close behind ☺☺💙
This is a piece I’m sharing from another blogger. Its incredibly poignant and shares a glimpse into the lives of people during this awful pandemic. I’d recommend clicking through to her blog to see the whole piece it’s so beautiful, albeit really emotional.
I left this comment onthe writers article…..”Wow, what an incredible piece, so poignant and emotional. I’m in tears. As a Granny myself, the image of the grandmother hugging her granddaughter really tugged at my heart. I’d have been devastated if unable to see my grandson. As it is I didn’t see him for 7 weeks during the 1st lockdown. I also so felt for the young man watching his grandmother’s funeral.”
I have previously written an article to talk about an exhibition depicting lockdown experiences in Britian. These pictures from the online Hold Still exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery provide a very touching narrative of the lockdown. I wrote an article setting out my favourite pictures from the exhibition. In this article, I have selected […]
I really miss watching the sunrise on the coast. Sunrise is always lovely but when you’re living in a town or city, the view could be obstructed. I’m usually based in towns in the countryside and my routine doesn’t allow me to get out, so when I’m back at my base I try to get out every day.
I’m hoping there’s good weather on Sunday and I get a repeat of this ☺☺
Okay so it’s not actually Friday but it sounds good 😁😁 Frosty Tuesday doesn’t quite sound the same.
But…..look at this!! I thought this leaf looked like an origami creation.
Frosty origami
It’s a beautiful blue sky day in the Mendip Hills and I’m hoping that the fog doesn’t come in before I go on my break at 2.45pm….but I’m not holding my breath.
If you have a magnifying glass, you’ll be able to see the deer 🦌🦌
Yesterday also started off as a blue sky day but by the time I went on my break at 12.30pm….this is what I had to contend with.
Foggy days in the Mendip Hills
Mind you I don’t mind foggy days, they have their own beauty, but I would love to see some more clear skies.
Not Just a Granny 
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