Wednesday 22 July 2015

Checking in


Again, I've had plans to write (and photograph) a post which isn't just a quick look back at our week. And yet we're back here again: another Midweek Miscellany. I'm determined to keep this blog ticking over until the workload lessens, when I can return properly and do it justice. But until then it's all about trying to do too many things with too few hours in the day. I'm making good progress on the drawings front but there's still much to do.

So, the week that was. Do you like my lovely collection of Observer guides? The nature ones are particularly useful as I have a small library of reference books for my artwork. I usually work from studying real specimens, but sometimes draw from memory. And now and again I forget the shape of a leaf or the exact form of a shell...

These little books were mine for the bargain price of three for £1. More about that later.


We've been out walking. A lot. On sunny evenings when the wind's been blowing through the fields, sending ripples through the long grass and wildflowers. Yes - Joe is wearing his sleepsuit and wellies. If you can't do that when you're two, when can you? And yes, he did have a change of clothing before going to bed that night. No creepy crawlies under the covers.


We've also been out walking on grey, wet days. Being outdoors is so much better than being in. We just employ that Scandinavian idea that there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. So sleepsuits have been swapped for puddlesuits and we head for the woods where everything's sodden and the water's rushing over the rocks and rain falls onto the canopy of leaves above us.

We've made friends with ginger tomcats. We've held tiny frogs on our outstretched palms. We've examined pinecones and sycamore keys and eaten wild raspberries.


At the weekend we had a visit to the animal sanctuary on the edge of the village. Joe loved it - donkeys, tractors, rabbits. And a friendly goat called Wallace.

They'd also built a new little bookshop. Previously there'd been a very dusty collection of yellowing paperbacks in one of the barns, next to a shabby old piano. Now there's a wooden building which is quite heavenly. It's all bare pine and unfinished ply inside, cosy and filled floor to ceiling with books of all kinds. 50p each or £1 for three. I added to my little nature library and Joe got a 'new' Thomas the Tank Engine book. I'll be going back again very soon.


In other news: we're counting down the days until we get the keys to the new house. The kitchen's ordered. The builder is at the ready. I'm trying not to think about what he'll find under all that lath and old plaster.

Eats-wise we've been having it pretty good. Roast chicken thighs with lemon and oregano. Griddled polenta with tomato sauce. Courgette and feta fritters (Nigel). Meatballs. Salmon wrapped in streaky bacon. Chickpeas spiced with harissa. And there'll be a soup to use the leftovers on Friday. I finally got around to using last year's blackberries from the freezer, stirring them into my breakfast porridge.

I realise I didn't tell you the result from my healthy eating plan. I lost 10lbs and am still sugar-free. Yes, I eat fruit (a lot) and no, I'm not a slave to ingredients labels. But I do exercise some common sense. No gluten (that's another post - and yes, it's for health reasons); no refined carbohydrates; no night-time snacking. If I want an occasional treat I have one. But it doesn't feel like self-denial any longer.


Finally: thank you again for keep visiting. I will respond to emails as soon as I can. I'm reading other blogs whenever I get the chance. Family circumstances (with my brother) have become quite difficult of late and I'm trying to juggle full-time parenting with work deadlines but it will slacken off. Soon. Please let it be soon...

Wishing you a happy midweek and some more season-appropriate weather!





23 comments:

  1. You might be busy, but still sounds a happy time to remember. I love the shot of the Observer guide books have a few myself and my window sills are covered in grass seeds from collected grass, have to come home with something.
    Have a lovely week...
    Amanda xx

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    1. You too! I'm terrible for bringing 'treasures' home, usually feathers or pine cones. My auntie used to live in a beautiful cottage and she had an oak dresser. There was a little twig with pine cones attached and I was fascinated by it as a child... I'm now on the lookout for a couple of glass domes to display my windfall birds' nests in x

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  2. I love the sound of that little bookshop - a treasure trove I'm sure! I'm really interested to hear more about your sugar free regime. Sugar consumption has been getting a lot of media coverage lately and so Mr d and I have been monitoring how much of it we eat. The problem is I have just made another batch of gooseberry jam ....!

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    1. I know, sugar's the latest Bad Thing isn't it? Saturated fat has now been deemed Not As Bad As Was Once Thought... To be honest I didn't really set out to do any kind of elimination diet as I believe everything in moderation is the way to go.
      I eat ketchup sometimes, succumbed to a Cornetto last night and so on but as a whole no longer eat refined sugar or desserts. Amazing how much of the stuff people consume without even realising it. But salt - I do adore the stuff and ladle it on. Oh dear.
      Gooseberry jam must be enjoyed. I can only imagine the cake you could bake using it... I stewed some gooseberries with apples a few weeks ago with the intention of making a crumble which I'll probably watch other people eating while I gnaw virtuously and enviously on a piece of fruit :(

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  3. I love the Observer guides too, they are such constant sources of inspiration and information! And your photograph of the donkeys is beautiful. So you don't think I can get away with a sleepsuit and wellies at 42? Boo! x

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    1. In the privacy of your garden maybe ;) I admit, it bothers me when I see people wandering around the supermarket in pyjamas. What's that all about?!
      I saw another Observer guide today, and was very keen to buy it until I saw the price: £5. It was in an antiques centre, but still... I just couldn't do it! x

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  4. I would love the little bookshop, it sounds exactly my speed. We just returned from the library a little while ago, with 19 books checked out between me and the children! Lots of reading ahead. Your eating lately sounds great; congratulations on the weight loss and on being past the cravings for sugar. You must feel so good. Hope your brother and family are okay.

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    1. Hi Jennifer. The bookshop was just lovely. All it needed was a woodburner and it would have been the perfect literary cabin...
      I love libraries too. The fact that many have closed recently here due to government spending cuts appals me. I'm sure they could be run very well by volunteers. Such a short-sighted move. And thank you, my brother's fine but things aren't going as smoothly as I'd hoped. It's a very complicated situation and I'm feeling at a bit of a loss to be honest. Fingers crossed things get better.

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  5. Well done on finding the time to write your lovely blog – working and looking after a two-year-old, let along anything else, is full-on. I especially love the photos of the grass flower-heads and Joe in the field. Hope your load lessens soon and that the weather warms up a bit :-) Sam x

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    1. Oh, me too! It's cuddly cardigans all the way in this house (which I secretly quite like) but still, a bit of 'proper' summer would be most welcome. It's very windy and overcast again today. Hope August and September are a bit kinder to us... x

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  6. I like the Observer guides too, especially Birds' Eggs and British Butterflies. The littlest boy is obsessed with Dogs, especially the Brabacon, which he dearly wants to be his very own. The animal sanctuary sounds wonderful, especially the bookshop part of it, oh how I love a secondhand bookshop. Sorry things are a bit tricky at the moment, and incredibly busy, you have a lot on your plate. But busy is good I think, provided it's not more than you can handle. Well done on the no-sugar thing. I'm in a sugar phase at the moment, working up to cutting it out again. I do feel so much better without it. Sending you a cyber hug and my very best wishes. CJ xx

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    1. I just had to Google Brabacon! They are very cute, especially those downturned little mouths... I'm not much of a dog enthusiast but am quite partial to a Border Terrier. Such cheeky faces. And I once saw a baby Daschund, which was quite possibly the cutest thing ever.
      Thank you for your good wishes. It seems that if I try and take a step back I just get endless lengthy phone calls giving me a blow-by-blow account about who said what or did/didn't do something. Relatives, eh? I may have to start using caller ID...
      The no-sugar thing is probably now more like minimal sugar. I know it's in some things but I try and steer clear as best as I can. I thought I had it under control but it took some serious arguing with myself to step away from the 3-pack of raspberry Magnum lollies at the shop last night. I've been dying to try one since they came out... x

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  7. A lovely post. The donkeys are great!

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    1. Thank you. They were a bit strange to be honest, there were probably ten of them all standing there and staring and not moving an inch. Jay was a bit freaked out by them!

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  8. Personally I love these posts that look back on your week and I can remember days spent outside when my boys were little. I do hope things calm down for you soon and you some time for yourself.

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    1. Thanks Gina. I did that this morning - dropped Joe at nursery and had a couple of hours wandering around antiques places nearby. It was lovely :)

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  9. I illustrated The Observer Book of Rocks and Minerals. It is one of my proudest achievements! I think you are doing very well to check in even once a week in the present circumstances.

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    1. Thankyou Lucille. And as for the illustrations, well what a claim to fame! I'd be proud too.

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  10. I always like your miscellany catch up posts. Sorry to hear that things are tough for your brother right now, I guess that there were always going to be tough times, but that doesn't make it any easier does it. Thinking of you all still. I hope that you get the keys to the house very soon and can start work and investigate what treasures it holds for you! xx

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    1. I was in there on Thursday morning frantically measuring walls as I'd seen the most perfect old dresser and the man agreed to keep it for me until the end of the day... It'll fit so I'm very happy indeed! We're not even in there yet and I'm already buying furniture... Typical! x

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  11. Nice post, great photos Sarah.

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  12. Excellent score with those books, what a find! They're so popular now that everyone knows their value and they're not often a real bargain. I love the sound of everything you've been eating lately, lots of ideas there, thank you. X

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  13. i found a couple of those little observer books at an antique stall on a visit to England....just love my souvenir! So nice to see how many more I can look for sometime for my 'collection'!

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