Sunday stroll...

My plans changed unexpectedly today and so I took Pippin for a long walk along one of my favourite local footpaths.

I forgot to take my camera and so used my phone along the way to record it in photos.  Sometimes I get a bit nervous of walking through the footpaths on my own but thought there were bound to be other people out and about on a Sunday.  I was wrong... I didn't see a single person the whole way.


I love walking along this particular footpath and I really ought to try and do it more often.  I also need to change the setting on the phone not to change the 'film' by shaking the phone!  It was obviously uneven ground because when I got home and looked at my pictures, nearly all of them were taken on a different setting!

It doesn't have quite the same effect in black and white as it did in real life with the sun coming through the gaps in the hedgerow.

The sky was heavy with clouds and the wind was strong and head-clearing.  I'm so glad I made the effort.  It beats pounding the pavements and being tugged along by Pip on his lead.

As it turns out, my unexpected day at home was just what I needed.  Funny how that happens some times.

October rain...

Hmmm, so typically, this morning it is raining and my garden plans have been temporarily (I hope) thwarted.  Strangely, No2 has yet to emerge from his bedroom too.  Funny that, when I mentioned that we'd make a start today...

So I thought you might like to see the new bed I made for Pip last week.  I am in the process of having a major sort out at home and in the process, came across a big bag of fleece that I think I bought at a Knitting and Stitchery show quite a few years ago.  It turned out, I had already cut out the 3 pieces needed to make a simple Oxford-style cushion cover to fit in his basket.

I always use these really cheap (£2.59!) duvets from Ikea for his bed.  They last a couple of washes and I don't mind throwing them away when they are too dog-eared.  (Sorry!)  To make his new cushion really comfy, this time I splashed out and used two together.  The convenient thing is that if you fold them into four, they fit perfectly in his basket.  I tied them together using some embroidery thread so they keep their shape as he does like a fidget about.

As I had a couple of hours to kill, I thought he might like to know that his new cushion was, indeed, his.  Of course, he can read!  I raided my scrap drawer and used some bondaweb to cut out his name.

I then used a narrow zigzag stitch to complete the applique.

I used the same stitch to make the Oxford-style edge to the cover and lazily kept the lime green thread in the machine!

Now he knows his place and it is making everyone smile when they notice it.

Look at him, all soppy.  He is a ridiculous dog!  He takes that toy everywhere with him.

Ah, well... I think it may have stopped raining...

Decision time...

I've not talked about my course at university here for some time, so I'm going to come clean. The last 6 months have been difficult at home. Regular readers may remember. The balls I have been trying to juggle have had to be rethought and decisions made.

There have been several things that have influenced my decision to fill in my withdrawal form.

I have loved every minute of my studying but when things were going astray, I found I was unable to do my second placement because I was needed at home. If I'm honest, I was a bit relieved. My first placement before Christmas was ok, but I felt that maybe teaching wasn't going to be me.

During my humanities module this year, huge emphasis was put on the benefits of field trips as part of the enquiry process to learning subjects such as geography, history and RE. I'm not sure if I have referred to the fact that Tom's brain injury (when he was 4 and at nursery) that left him so profoundly disabled, was a result of a school trip. For that reason alone, I just don't think I could get behind the core of the module. Of course, I'm not saying that school trips are unnecessary, it's just that personally, I'm struggling with it. No2 has always gone on trips , apart from the particular one that Tom went on, and at primary school, I always tried to join him as a parent helper. At secondary school now, he participates too - he's even been ski-ing for a week, but it's hard for me.

Having missed a fair amount of the second half of this term when No2 was out of school, I came to the conclusion that I was glad I'd tried it but no, it wasn't for me. If I'm truly honest, I also know that I don't want a full-on, full-time job and teaching (especially to start with) would be just that. I found it hard not having time to do the things that feed my creative soul.

So, here I am back at home, with time on my hands, hence the copious amounts of crochet going on here.

I'm a firm believer in things finding you when you're not really looking for them and in May I was invited for an interview at Helen House to take part in a training course to help support other bereaved parents. I got on and have just completed the training. I now have to wait over the summer, to be allocated my first family. I will visit them in their home to listen and support them through, what I know, is the worst time. I can share my own experiences and hope that they will find the benefits I have found in talking to people who share the same scar.

Also in May, I was fortunate enough to meet the Children's Commissioner for England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green. We discussed the difficulties I'd been having with No2 and school and he was extremely interested. He is starting a research project on bereaved children and would like my story to be part of that research. I really hope he contacts me to help.

So, this is the thing: maybe I need to embrace the things that I cannot get away from and work with them to make something positive happen. I'm happy to do that. It's something that I can dip in and out of and it leaves time for me to be creative, which heals me.

If all else fails...

Bantwen...

My Easter break in Wales was just lovely. We stayed in this wonderful cottage: good friends, lots of laughter, fabulous views and plenty to do.

The beaches on The Gower are to die for and the walks along the clifftops are breath-taking.

There are rockpools to investigate...

...and churches hidden high up in the woods overlooking the beach.

There are castles to explore...

...with more stunning scenery...

There are targets to aim for...

...and full moons to gaze in wonder at.

You can have fun with long shadows made in the late afternoon sun...

...and then come back, light a fire, open a bottle of wine, put some music on and spend the evening in the best of company.

Lovely. Sigh...

Red, white & blue...

This little robin hangs out with the chickens in the garden. His red breast cheers me up whenever I see him...

There was more of the white stuff this morning... I've only had one 90 minute lesson this week at uni... I'm bored now...

My blue hyacinths are trying to cheer me up with their love-it-or-hate-it scent (I love it), but my mood is blue... My plans for the weekend have had to be postponed because of the weather... Ho hum...

Wordle...

Perusing the World Wide Web this morning, drinking mugs of freshly brewed coffee, I came across Wordle over at Rachael Rabbit.

I had to have a go...

I entered my blog URL and this is what came up:

I like it! It satisfies the missing random element to my way of thinking! If you click on it you can enlarge it - it just went all blurry when I tried to make it bigger. Now I've got to try and include it on my sidebar...