Taking Time Out

Hello!

We had our first camping trip of the year last week; we pootled down to Adam Henson's Farm for a few days with a group of friends and it was a complete tonic.  The sun shone everyday in a bright blue sky, peppered with cotton wool clouds and it was HOT!  There were barbecues, tractor rides, rare breed animals, new lambs being born, ice-creams, football games, laughter... it was a heavenly break.

Adam's Farm is in the beautiful Cotswolds, rolling fields of brightest green and zingy yellow undulated as far as the eye could see.  Our last evening was bright and clear and we sat outside our tents until after dark with the candle lanterns flickering, watching the satellites silently travelling the starry sky and listening to a fox barking in the woods.  There were shooting stars and the air was warm and still.

I thought to myself how good it was for the soul to switch off from Real Life like this.  To be away from televisions and computer screens, the chores and the day to day responsibilities.  Life had been pretty full prior to this trip and I had been feeling pretty worn out and run down, it gave me some space to think about doing things differently for my family in order to keep us all happy and healthy.  All we had were the basics: camping equipment, warm sleeping bags, a kettle, some good food and good company, countryside, nature and wide open skies.  It was all that we needed.

What can be nicer than waking to the sound of skylarks calling above, seeing the sunlight streaming through the fabric of the tent, and making a cup of fresh coffee to drink in the warm morning air?  There is something deeply satisfying about walking through the dewy grass of a long field to go for a wash with the little one, past tall pine trees where golden light casts long shadows across the pine cone strewn ground.  Hearing the bleating of newborn lambs in the field, the sounds of nature, breathing in delicious gulps of fresh country air...

I resolve to camp more - we need to be able to come away from our day to day surroundings in order to refuel and revive ourselves.  I always return home with a renewed sense of possibility; bursting with new ideas for paintings and new projects.  And coming home, there is the delicious feeling of climbing into a real bed; there are all the home comforts to welcome us back ~ rainbow crocheted blankets and cushions, my books, my paints.

I hope you have all had a wonderful Easter.  I will be posting the Gallery Page for the April theme of Being Creative on Saturday, and you are welcome to add links to pictures of your work on either Flickr or your Blog post, or add your thoughts about the theme in the comments section.  There are lots of people taking part now, and if you would like to join in yourself you can find out more by clicking the link in the sidebar, or the tab at the top of the page.  There has been some wonderful work emerging in the Flickr Group, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else you are going to share.


Sending love ~ thanks for visiting today, it's always a pleasure to know you've stopped by.
Julia x

I Heart Camping...and Crochet!

Hello there!

Remember last week I tormented you with a picture of some tiny granny squares? Well, here is my little reveal!! This is what those teeny tiny grannies became...can you guess what it is yet from the picture above?

Did you guess right? It's a rather pretty little table mat! What do you think of it? I'm very pleased with it, those bright squares and the picot edging makes me quite deliriously happy, and the Little One has already asked if she can have it for her very own...you can guess what the answer to that was of course!

So! What else did I have to tell you this week...hmm, let me think. Ah yes, as if I could forget!! Our first foray into the world of camping!

Oh people, I have to tell you I am absolutely, completely and ridunculously hooked.

Here we are, all pitched up and oooooooooh it was so exciting!

We arrived in Oxfordshire under warm blue skies, the day looked promising and the weather held as we pitched out tent. Of course, the instructions said it would take about 10 minutes, in reality it took about an hour...and a half... ;)

Summer was blooming in abundance, wild flowers bobbed their cheerfully bright heads at us and the landscape unfolded as far as the eye could see into a patchwork of fields the colour of clotted cream fudge and faded limes.

As soon as the tent was pitched, an ominously dark grey cloud floated over and dispatched a large rainstorm onto us. We didn't care, we were cosy in out tent boiling a kettle for our first cup of camping tea and giggled outrageously at how much fun it all was!

Our friends arrived and over the weekend we visited some gorgeous little villages. Nature seemed to be wearing her prettiest dresses as everywhere we looked were colourful feasts for the eyes...

...hanging baskets and window boxes burst at the seams with vibrant colour, every village was festooned with tall hollyhocks that swayed gently in warm breezes, in wonderful shades of darkest burgundy to the softest pink tinged with lemon. The wild flowers were in competition, putting on their own gloriously technicolour show in hedgerows and fields and glades!

We took a trip to Oxford, so much beautiful architecture, and bustling with 100 languages of visiting students and tourists...

...I loved Oxford, I loved the atmosphere of it and the delicious little shops, but I was glad to come away to the serenity of Woodstock where there was a photo opportunity around every corner!

We also visited Burford, I am completely taken with this little corner of our country folks, it is chocolate box perfect in every way, gentle on the eyes and the soul and a pleasure to visit.

We found gorgeous little shops like this one above, boutiques and delicatessens housed in age old tipsy buildings with dark beams running higgledy-piggledy across the ceilings..so much to see, Iwas bursting with delight at everything we found!

The buildings in the villages are built from that famous golden stone that seems to glow with a warmth even on a grey day. They are enhanced by lavender frothing onto the pavements, geraniums bobbing their scarlet heads from terracotta pots and tiny windows that lean crazily at odd angles under swags of gauzy lilac wisteria.

Back at camp, some of the simple moments were the best ~ hot coffee and freshly baked pain au chocolat from the tiny camp store made a perfect breakfast...

...and in the evening, we told ghost stories as we sipped fizzy rose wine. As twilight cast its luminous blue glow over us a japanese lantern was cast off from the opposite field with much ooohing and aahhhing. We watched silently as the flickering amber lantern made its way up toward the first twinkling stars of the night, it was a lovely moment.

So, I think you can probably gather that we had a good old time of it. We were lucky with the weather and after that first afternoon downpour it only showered during the night.

I have to say, I cannot wait to go again!

I think that's about it for today, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and before I go, there is just one last thing I would like to share with you all, and that is I'm having a bit of a sale at my website - and if you fancy having a nosey, you can see more here:

Thanks for stopping by today, and for all your lovely comments that you leave for me. I love hearing from you so if this is your first visit, it would be lovely of you to say 'hello' as it means I will be able to come and find you and your blog (if I haven't already!)

Sending love to you all for a delicious weekend!

Much love

J x

Salt Breezes and Other Stories

Hello.

This has been a funny old week - one of restless mind (yes, again) which was partially soothed by a nice morning making Rocky Road but followed by a general unsettled~ness which began with a very tiny need to be by the sea, and which turned into a bigger and bigger one as the week drew on.

Saturday promised to be a fine day, and without much persuading we gathered ourselves, buckets, spades, shrimping nets and hefty picnic and drove off pronto to the east coast, to Filey, where we set up camp on the vast sandy beach and enjoyed a warm and happy day which we finished off with delicious salt and vinegary fish and chips on a bench overlooking the Brigg.

I'm so happy by the sea, I can hardly put it into words. Its all the simple things like the wonderful scent of the salty sea breezes, the fresh and tangy air, the views, the light heartedness that inevitably comes from being by the coast...There are other little moments too, like that divine feeling of soft white sand under your feet, and cool crystal waves lapping about your ankles as a seagull cries overhead...

It was a tonic, but alas we had to drive home that evening as the following day there was a rather Important Job to be done.

We were off to buy our tent!

Well, at long last we have brought it home, along with a few other goodies such as a little stove and cooking set...and you probably want a peep at it don't you? Oh - well alright then!! Here you go!

This is our new portable home!! Next weekend it will be coming with us to the Cotswolds for its first outing. We are having a trial run (a sensible thing to do we've been told) and are going to put it up in my parents back garden first, to familiarise ourselves with it, and then probably go loopy with excitement and jump about in it a bit, like you do!

We are all looking forward to the adventures we are no doubt going to have, and I will try my hardest to remember to squeeze the camera in the car somewhere and take lots of pictures.

So what else has been going on here?

Well, some art work has been done - here are a couple of line drawings that I did and rendered with greyscale watercolour. These sorts of drawings are fairly quick to do and great fun, it's almost like messing about and not 'proper' drawing at all, the imagination can go wild!

This one above looks a bit like me, going wild in the kitchen on baking day...!

...and this one was inspired by my two little nephews, I think they're monster hunting or something boyish that boys generally do when equiped with torches and much mischief!

The picture at the bottom of this post is from my sketch book, and was done using watercolour and inks. It was just something I did for fun, but overall I'm liking the effect of ink and watercolour together, and the rather scratchy way I've edged it all. I generally work with acrylic paints and so it's nice to experiment with new stuff to see what works (and what doesn't) and move away from what's familiar. I think I'll be making some new pictures with the ink in future!

Well, someone Small is in the sandpit, the sun is shining and I can feel a spot of crochet coming on, a nice and relaxing pursuit for as long as I can get away with it methinks!!

I hope you all have a nice weekend, we are off to my Mum's village tomorrow for the yearly Carnival, I just hope the weather holds!

Til next time, much love and thanks for visiting me today!

J x