Colour me happy.

The weather is due to turn really cold across Europe next week, so we're making sure we have plenty of fuel and food for us all.
I love this landscape, old, cold and magical. When I walk these woods, I can feel the land breathing through the soles of my feet. The energy rises through me and takes away any blues it energises me but at the same time grounds me. I can take these gorgeous colours and see them in my art, visualise them in my wool. While I'm walking and feeling happy, I'm still working. It's work I love, so maybe it's not work at all?

I get home to work on the shawl, ready to weave cool blues and greens into a gorgeous scarf. Bambam thinks it's a lovely day to help me  :D

It's hot in the conservatory out of the wind. Too hot maybe for Dexter so he climbed into the weaving box and offered support from there :D

The scarf is brighter in real life but I love how it's progressing. The dark stripes are my homespun wool and the main colour is a ball of Acrylic that Moomin brought back from the Uk for me. Soon my scarves and shawls will be all homespun wool. Sometimes though, people prefer acrylic or are allergic to pure wool, so it's good to have a variety of fibers to work with.

These colours are also showing in the pools that have appeared in Merlin's hollow. Have I mentioned Merlin's hollow before? There are a series of natural hollows in the woods behind our house. They're magical and remind me of places in books and movies that Merlin often had his little hut/house. Several are lined with stone and after all the heavy rainfall lately, they filled with water and haven't yet drained.

This one here is deep enough for me to swim in but it's freakin cold and I'm sure will have gone by the time it's warm enough to even dip a toe! Wally can't get enough of the water though and loves swimming in even the coldest waters!

The land here is altering my view of the world, my art and my life. It's great to be connected to this beautiful place that I love so much <3

Ups and downs ( a long post).

I really couldn't think of a better blog title. It's been a time of many emotions. Just when we get things going smoothly we get a set back. Nothing too awful, but stressful all the same. My car developed problems with the wipers in November and I tried to get it fixed when we were in England. It was frustrating to say the least. In January the wipers stopped completely and I became trapped in the house due to all the rain. I finally found an English mechanic who I should have walked away from as I just had a bad feeling. Well, the picture below shows the switch to control the wipers! If it rains, I have to stop the car, open the bonnet and turn the wipers on!
You may wonder why I accepted my car in this ridiculous condition? Well, I felt lucky to get the car back at all and the mechanic wouldn't hand over the keys until I paid! I'm not normally the most outspoken person, unless really pushed and to be honest, I felt very intimidated. I've since found out that this man makes a living from ripping people off and bullying them if they complain! I was just glad to get away!

A good thing was a beautiful bunch of flowers from T's Mum when she came to visit. They've lasted for a few weeks and are just gorgeous <3

The weather has finally started to improve and the rain has stopped for now, yay :D I don't mind the cold frosty mornings, they're invigorating :D

I think this has to be my best bread yet! It was so soft and fluffy and great for sandwiches and toast.

Look at that lovely crumb, I'm so full of myself, haha :D

We took the dogs to the lake to escape the sound of T bashing tiles off the walls and floor in the old bathroom. This is my favourite place to be, the next best thing to the beach.

The sun was still shining when we went for a road trip to visit a very lovely lady who breeds the Ouessant sheep. The little white girl came and licked my hand and I'm afraid my fate was sealed! I'm so in love with these little sheep and their placid but enquiring natures.

You can see how small they are, they are only knee high! Smaller than both of our dogs! Their wool is variable, but you know, I just don't care. I'm in love and that's it <3

I spun some wool, not my best to be honest and I tried Navajo plying which was awful. I didn't feel like knitting it, so I used some of it to warp my loom.

The wool was brought back from England for me by Moomin and the cool greens and greys together with the greeny/blue wool I spun reminded me of the colours of the lake in winter, so I'm hoping the scarf will be a perfect reflection of my favourite lake.

Snow!

It was pretty chilly yesterday, but the sky was blue and despite a freezing wind, we got the first line of wire attached to the fences all around the paddocks! Hopefully, the days of escaping ponies will soon be at an end! We were cold and tired and crashed out early with a lovely comforting supper of cassoulet, beans, squash, bacon and sausages. It sounds like a lot, but the meat was really for flavour as the vegetables made up the greater part of the meal. Unfortunately, we were too tired to get some essential items for the cave.

We woke up this morning to this! A beautiful white landscape. Thankfully we have a fully stocked larder, but what we really needed to get was some extra wood, as our woodpile was sat under a leak in the roof!

We have reserves on pony food - just in case and plenty of hay. The snow came down thick and fast as we fed the ponies.

Then it brightened up a bit before a prolonged fall that lasted through the morning.

Our little woodland looks so sweet in this picture.

Today is T's birthday and I bought him a set of overalls to protect his clothes from the mud. It's also a good way to stay warm with extra layers :D

In time for his birthday our home cured bacon was ready. I cut a few slices for breakfast

and packed the rest up for the freezer. Bacon is expensive here, when we can get it, so this is a cheaper and in my opinion, tastier way to have it. There are often large pieces of pork on offer when the farms have a clear out and we bought a piece big enough for chops, chunks for casserole and pieces for stir fry. The belly was what we were left with and of course, that meant bacon rashers :D

The snow has stopped a little and we're going to venture out to see if we can get some dry wood and dog food as that's the main thing we're low on!
Hope you all stay warm wherever you are.x

Slowing down.

There's been a big drive towards slowing down your life for a long time. It's funny because the message to slow down is gathering momentum, I enjoy that kind of contradiction :D

It's a hard thing to do, especially when we're so used to living at a certain pace and I noticed that since I was a child the speed at which we live now has increased at an alarming rate. Movies from my childhood seem so very slow without the non-stop, high speed chases, fight scenes, battles, you name it. Films like Ladies in Lavender and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel have snubbed the trend for fast paced movies and have gone back to a gentler more classic story and I love them dearly for that. Is it my age??? I hope not, but then maybe with age comes an understanding and a realisation that we don't have to be first in the queue, first to win the race or first or fast at anything at all! It's taken me nearly half my life to realise this, and I say half my life because I intend to make it to 100 ;)

I sweep the whole house daily. I enjoy the quiet rythm of the broom and this little pile is just today's mixture of pet hair and dirt. I like sweeping, it's a slow, peaceful time to think about the day to come, plan meals, plan the tasks that will fill the day, to slow it all down and live in the moment. I do hoover, once a week as we have rugs in the bedrooms, but I dislike the noise and how it upsets the animals and my thoughts. In the summer, I'll only sweep and the rugs will have a good shake and a beating out of the windows.

 I made soup for myself. I wanted a red Thai soup recipe, but all I could find on the internet was 'open a jar of red thai paste'!!! Eventually I found a recipe for red thai past! The soup was actually pretty good and I felt my body thanking me for the lovely vegetables and vitamins. A little piece of salmon would have been perfect, but it's a bit expensive just for soup!

 I finished the seond pair of socks and these only took four days to make! They're a present for T's birthday and I hope he enjoys them :D I went to a knitting group a few weeks back and someone mentioned that making socks is silly when you can get them cheaply in some shops! That's not the point I told her, I make them in honour of my feet. Think about it, we spend a large part of the day on our feet, they carry our weight, forced into tight shoes and then made to walk miles! I think they deserve a little pampering and handmade socks are like little fluffy clouds in your shoes <3

 Of course, Dexter had to get into the picture! He's everywhere at once, that boy <3

Bringing in the Wild (or what is re-wilding?)

When I started this blog, it was with a view to getting back to the wildness that moves me. To finding in the wildwoods of Hampshire the power to heal myself. I walked for health. I wanted to take home pieces of the woodland that helped me to cope with my health and the daily issues of stress and anxiety. The woodlands inspired me to create art and I wanted to fill my home with the wild art of the woods that were slowly succumbing to the encroaching houses. I felt desperate to capture this feeling before it was gone.
And then I moved to France. The wildness that I desperately craved, I found all around me. Not in danger of suddenly disappearing, instead this wildness is celebrated and I found my true home. Now, at last I understand what re-wilding is all about. It's about staying connected to nature, to having in your home less plastic, more natural substances like wood or stone, wool or even glass. Give up the plastic, use paper, re-use man-made things if you have them, so long as they don't go to landfill. I've seen beautiful knitted bags made from woven carrier bags! If you have plastic, reuse it, but don't invest in any more!
It's this ethos of living naturally that is becomming more and more a part of my daily life. When we shop, we fill our trolley with goods (usally a lot of cat food tins) and at the checkout we dump our shopping back into the trolley only to empty it straight into the car! We unload it right into the cave at the other end. No bags needed at all. Sometimes a box may be used, but that's it! The cans are then squashed and put into the recycle bin, a complete cycle.
You don't have to be as extreme as we have been, but you can still think about making a difference to your life and that of the planet. Use less, reuse more and live carefully.
This ethos is becomming more of my daily life and helping me to get up in the mornings, to seek the healing that this way of life brings me. And of course, the biggest part of this journey is wool! It's all around us, waiting to be spun and then knitted or crocheted into a thing of beauty. I can always find a way to justify my wool obsession :D

A duvet day.

When the weather is bad and, lets face it, just lately it has been, there's not much you can do but cosy up on the bed with some cats, the laptop and some knitting. It took me nearly a year to make these first socks! They were ripped bak and restarted too many times to think about. Once finished though, I felt ready to tackle more.

I found an easier pattern with less stitches and these soks have taken less than a week! They would have been finished in a couple of days, but I made a fair isle pattern for the top which didn't work out, so I wasted a lot of time reworking that. In the end I opted for the most basic fair isle stitch as these socks are a present for my lovely man's birthday next week!

The wet weather has driven all the cats inside. Bambam loves to snuggle with Manchee and his blankets :D

Dexter has been making a determined effort to break in to the house by sneaking in behind the other cats. I muddle him up with up with Bambam all the time and he's managed to get half way in. During the day, that's not a good idea as Manchee still barks at him and would give chase if he could! Last night though, I let him in. It was very cold and although he has a duvet and two hot water bottles, it felt mean to shut him out.
Fae adores him, so long as he remembers his place.

So here we have all 7 cats in one room. The sofas are covered with towels and blankets in case of an accident and a quiet night was had by all. I slept very well knowing they were all snuggled together :D

For the most part, this is Dexter's bedroom. He has a very cosy bed that Finn often shares with him, away from those silly girl cats ;) I think he's very happy to have found us and I know that I'm really happy to have him. He makes me smile and laugh so much <3

A bit of fun.

Just lately I've been waking as exhausted as if I'd skipped a night and gone straight into another day. I'm just not getting enough rest due to hot sleepless nights (thank you hormones) and worries about how the animals are coping in this rain and mud.
This morning I dragged myself out to feed the ponies and it was such a bright, sunny morning that I was in no hurry to go back inside. I told T that I would be in shortly, but what started as an idea quickly got out of hand. I started digging a little drainage channel so that the area around the hay rack could drain and give the ponies a break from the mud. Two hours later, the area was draining very nicely but so was my energy!
Very rarely does the Fibro show up physically but my hands were like balloons all day and by evening the back of my left hand was purple with a bruise. That was a bit of a warning, I guess, but I still managed 10 rows of knitting! I think it actually helps with the swelling (I'm convincing myself, haha).
Sometimes when I can't knit, I go to Youtube for inspiration or just to learn something new.
This however, I doubt I'll try. I have accidents cooking normally without combining it with knitting, let alone Fair Isle!!!  It's fun to watch though and I love the lady talking with passion about her art. She is sooo fast though!

Have a look and see what you think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKDA63_DT4shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKDA63_DT4s

Into the Wet and Windy Wildewood!!!

I can't tell you just how wild it's been here lately. The weather has built up until we thought it had peaked and then died down just to build up again. A few nights ago, the house shook with the wind and we had lighnting but no thunder or rain. We've suffered the tail ends of a couple of hurricanes and been almost drowned with incessant rain. The paddocks have flooded and on more than one occassion, almost given in and moved the ponies to their spring pasture. I'm glad I resisted though, as the newly planted grass is so thin and frail, that after only hours we would just have another muddy paddock.

A rare moment of sun. The hayracks have been amazing, but today, this one was broken and the area around it flooded, so the feed was moved to a drier area. The green patch behind the horses is the spring paddock. It looks great, but it couldnt withstand seven lots of hooves in this rain!

So after running outside to feed the ponies in the wind and rain, I came back in to a hot cuppa and a very hot shower. I almost crawled back to bed, but instead settled to some knitting and blogg hopping. I visited my dear friend, Pattypan at Tarragon and Thyme. I've been thinking for some time about yogurt making and I've asked for some cheese making kit for my birthday, so when I read PP's post about yogurt, I accidentally bought myself a yogurt maker (and a little wool!). I'm looking forward to trying some soya recipes that I found online because I can only cope with a little dairy before I get tummy issues (that's all I'm saying). I'm ok with cheese, which is strange, but yogurt is one of the things I really miss.

 We got really cold and wet doing the second feeds, so I came in and made coffee. This little pot is my Christmas present from T, it's sooo cute <3 I bought him a blue one, which made us laugh as we think the same way often :D

My new gloves are on the needles and they match the coffee pot, haha :D I love this wool. These gloves are for me <3

Jerry.

It's been so wet here all over Christmas that my musles have been suffering big time. Lugging heavy hay nets around and filling the large hay mangers has taken it's toll on my shoulders and hands. I've had so much help, for which I'm very grateful, but all the same it's been tough. Today wasn't so good and I had to go back to bed for a couple of hours, which I hated as I just don't like wasting a day.

I was restless, but couldn't settle to anything, so I went outside to hang out with the ponies and horses. Since arriving here, T's horses have been very wary of me. The journey was stressful and they only respond to T. I've waited patiently and left them to settle down. It's been nearly four months since they arrived and I've barely been able to lay a hand on any of them.

(Jerry on the right and Flash on the left)

I decided that Maggie needed her mane sorted out. In the picture below, she looks lovely, but in the last four months, her mane has become knotted and tangled. Frankly she was a sight! She let me loop a rope around her neck and for half an hour I carefully combed the knots out. She looked beautiful again and asked to be scratched all over her neck. A persistent little nudge on my shoulder told me that Flash was feeling left out. I still couldn't do much with him, but he was close and that was good enough.

Next horse to push in was Benson. He laid his head over Maggies neck so that I could fuss him without getting too close. I combed his forelock and he was happy. The biggest surprise of all was Jerry. He is T's horse and that's that. Arabs are very loyal to their people and Jerry hasn't spared me a single glance. However, this time, he came right up to me and I carefully lowered the rope to the ground and stood, looking down. He touched my hand and I slowly moved the brush towards him. He sniffed it and let me move it up his neck. I slowly groomed his mane and worked out the knots. As I worked, the weariness left me and I felt a great surge of love for him. He moved closer and I scratched his neck with my fingers. I moved away before him as I wanted him to know that I wouldn't push him. It was a lovely moment.

The next day, the weather was terrible and Jerry and Maggie seemed to be struggling with the cold and wet. I spent a little time with them and resolved to put rugs on them. They've been so stressed since their arrival that rugs seemed a lot to ask.
The following day was warm and bright so I just hung out with the horses and they let me move the rope over their necks. I plaited Maggies mane to stop it from tangling again and then fetched her rug. She ran away, but was soon by my side as I fiddled with the rug in the field. I put a halter on her and with much persuasion, I was able to rub her neck with the rug and finally put it across her back. She loved the attention. Much later, it started to rain and I was glad that I'd taken the time with Maggie as she let me put the rug straight onto her. Jerry was no problem at all! I caught him by accident, I was eating an apple and suddenly his head was in the halter that I'd used for Maggie. Of course it was too small for him, but it didn't matter, I slipped the rug on him, but needed T to help me fasten it as I can't deal with fiddly buckles at the moment.

I'm so glad we did rug the two vulnerable horses (well, pony and horse) as the rain and wind built up to a very wild night, last night and I was able to feel less worried about how they were all coping. My three ponies are fat and have wintered very well, but as Jerry is an arab and Maggie has been stressed they needed the extra protection from their rugs. Soon we hope to build their shelters.

I forgot to say why this post is called 'Jerry', it's beause he made me feel so happy, helped lift me from the doldrums and for a while, reminded me of my dear old Oliver with his gentle, careful manner <3

Tipping point.

We've reached that moment when one year becomes another. It's only minutes on a clock, but somehow it means so much.
Earlier today I needed a lie down and as I slumbered in a very cool bed, I thought about my garden and how I saw the flower beds in the spring and then the summer. It was so lovely to look ahead to the months to come. This house and home means so much to us all, so many plans lie here. Dreams of a future filled with potential and promise.
 
Next week there's a gathering planned outside the Mairi. Half of the population (150 - ish) are turning out to welcome the new arrivals to our lovely village. Wait! That's us and a couple of other newcommers!!! Holy mo, what an honour :D I'm excited and scared by degrees. I'll be practising a few new sentences in French, just in case!

So, on to the coming year. I've been knitting like a demon, ready for phase 1 of the new business - Grow it, dye it, knit it. I hope to grow the plants to dye my fleece, whih will then be spun and knit up to sell. I've been in touch with a lovely lady who breeds a local rare breed sheep (Oussant) who I'll be meeting with next month with a view to one day owning my own ewes. This is the slow part of the business, the animals, horses etc... are the beginning part of it all. I can't really explain it, as it will develope as time passes in an organic kind of way.

So the practice side has led me to little gloves, which were a Christmas present for the Moomin.

 She loves them and has cast on her own knitting for a large jumper. I can't do big projects as I get bored easily!
I straightaway cast on a new project for gloves as I couldn't resist the wool calling me and my gorgeous wooden DPN's that were my Christmas present from my son. I got a little bag with about a dozen sets of needles in varying sizes. They're super cute and so easy to knit with <3

I have mastered the Norwegian style and am happy to report that I have no hand cramps at all and can knit for hours in this style. I always knew there was a system out there for me.

Also, I found a wonderful walk this week but alas I didn't have my camera. It's not far from the house, but there are amazing rocks rising from the ground like the bones of Gaia. I wanted to stay, lie down, paint, meditate all at once, but I had the dogs with me and they ran off to find fox pooh and other smelly stuff! I'll go back by myself next time and take some pictures.

So, here I am, now in 2018 and I'm filled with excitement. I hope the New Year holds magical moments, times of hope and happiness and above all possibilites for everything you wish for in your life.
Love and bright blessings to you all.xxx

What to leave and what to take.

There are only a couple of days left of this year, and maybe some people are thinking of New Year's resolutions and some are wondering why they ever bothered. We often give up our resolutions after a week or so, because they're just too hard to stick to, right? I've often made resolutions that are way out of my control, regardless of the bestest intentions while sat full of Christmas food and wine and wishing that I'd indulged a little less. I'll get slimmer, fitter, earn more and be better at everything I try!  When you've overindulged it's never the time to make resolutions, if that's even what you want to call them.
From now on, I want to focus only on what I learnt from last year. What served me well, what lessons did I learn and what do I never want to repeat again? There are too many for me to list here so I'll keep it simple.

I discovered so much about my art and my work ethic this year. What I want to do is very different from the passion that flows through my veins. I have always wanted to paint and sculpt, but this year I've learnt that there is art in so many things I do, from baking bread to raising plants from seed and even from pruning an old tree in the hope of bringing it back to new life. Art is something I feel and breath, not always something I put down on paper.

So what am I leaving behind? Well, for me, I guess, everything. I've pretty much left all my baggage behind in the UK. I finally walked away from the things that were bringing me down found a new life, a new focus and haven't looked back since.
Looking forward, I face many adventures, many challenges and as far as I can see, many happy days full of hard work and rewards.  Bring it on :D

Arne and Carlos

I think I'm in love with these guys and want to make them my knitting brothers! As I can get You Tube on the tv, I had their vlogs playing while I did a little knitting. My lovely T gave me some very odd looks as he walked through the kitchen a couple of times, but I watch his cooking shows (and often enjoy them) so it's all square :D
Check them out if you don't already know them and if you want to learn how to knit Norwegian style. It's completely changed how I knit now :D

Arne and Carlos easy knitted socks

Wild in the Wildewoods

We had an incredible storm last night. The wind was so strong that the upstairs landing window blew open and the force pushed up the loft hatch with a mighty crash. We were scared for a while until we realised it was the storm and not a burgler crashing in. The dogs burrowed deeper under their blankets which is a usual sign that there are no intruders. The storm built up in force and then came the rain. No thunder or lightning, just incredible driving winds. Throughout the bangs and crashes the forest droned like a hive of angry bees. At one point it was calm enough for us to sleep, but I heard it building up again around 7am and a pain in my shoulder kept me awake as I listened for any hint that the ponies had escaped.  In a short while, we'll go and survey the damage.

How has Christmas been for you all? We had a lovely, peaceful time just chilling out and eating far too much!
Walley adored the tree but couldn't understand why he wasn't allowed to play with the balls!

 We had a really cold and frosty couple of days where the sun was golden and the skies were clear.

 Yes, it was cold, but it was refreshing for a while, mud free.

 Finn and Dexter chose the warmest spot, outside of Moomin's window. They're often together <3

 Bambam decided that she loved Walley and snuggled up to him whenever she xould.

 On Solstice eve we lit our candles and put lights around the mantel piece to welcome back the sun.

 Bambam does love to pose ;)

Sadly, since Christmas eve, we've had pretty much non-stop rain which then led to last night's storm. It's been sunny on and off all day but only in between wickedly harsh showers and hail stones! It's a great day for the heating to stop working and trying to figure out the timer is a little beyond me. We persevere!!!

ps, the ponies were fine, but their buckets were scattered around in nearby fields! If that's the worse we have to deal with, then I think we got off lightly!