and the wanderer returns...

she came home!

pigeon...

naughty, naughty pigeon...

strolled out of a huge patch of nettles right before my eyes...

spotted me and loudly yelled for her breakfast clearly furious that it was after 10am and she had been out all night and was starving...

and then spent the afternoon snoozing in the sunshine clearly exhausted from her first
{ and hopefully only } night sleeping under the stars..

we are feeling rather blessed right now :)

start as you mean to go on...

last week was a funny old one, full to the brim of heartache from the moment we opened our eyes monday morn and tried so very hard to save the life of a lamb and failed, to the biggest loss of a very old and dearly loved animal friend mid week that literally left both my chap and i broken beyond words and we still cannot find the voice to write about it, right up to last night when my dearest all grey duck pigeon did not come home at the end of the day with her pals...

i am fearing the worst, that a fox braved to venture so close to the farm in desperation to feed its young..

despite living in the forest we do not seem to be troubled by foxes that much, we lost a duck last year which we put down to mr or mrs fox, and a few weeks ago one of the whippets started rolling in what looked and stank like fox poo in our small front garden, right next to the house where mr and mrs poot live..

because of this they get carried like the the royalty they are and spend each night tucked up in a straw lined box in our locked front porch...

i am thinking that today the ducks will be tightly contained in to one area again which they will hate as they are very used to roaming free, paddling in lots of fields, swimming in the big pond with its own tiny waterfall, but there is no other option until the fox cubs are reared and hopefully mama fox does not need to risk venturing this way again ..

i will always wish that i had pre judged this and contained them all sooner, if only i had twigged that it was probably this time last year that we lost a duck..

heck, life is full of what ifs...

i will always remember pigeon, she was the first duck that was described to me over the phone all those years ago, the smallest of all our girls, the most beautiful grey, never broody for babes of her own but so gentle by nature.. poor pigeon i feel i have let you down and now you are gone.. :(

so with last week firmly behind us and after a little soul searching and connection with friends { by golly friends are SO important aren't they?} i am planning to step in to this week on a more positive, happy, busy note..

it looks to be a busy week filled with animal chores, and most wonderfully orders to stitch and knit and i hope to document it here as i do think writing it all down helps me, clears my mind, makes such valuable connections with all of you out there who take the time to pop on by {{ thank you }}

so

onwards..

 best foot forward and all that ..

mr gloom

so it has come to be that a gloom cloud has fallen upon my shoulders and simply refuses to shift ...

now, i will not bore you with the tedious details of how mr gloom managed to find his way in to my sunny happy days, but just be sure that he was not a welcome visitor ...

once gloom has his feet tucked neatly under my table i really can do no more than put up with his persistent yibber yabbing in my ear, planting seeds of worry, woes and doubt..

a truly horrid time..

from past experience i know that i just have to keep my head down and plod on through the foggiest fog that mr gloom blows around my feet making each step just that little bit harder..

i try to tuck myself away so that nobody else has to clap eyes on the terribly unattractive gloom and run the risk of catching it themselves, for as we all know gloom can be very contagious -  like the mumps...

nope, the best thing for me to do is sew and sew and sew..

tiny stitches patching together scraps of this and that in the hope that something *nice* appears...

so,

here we have a collection of things that came from this particular mr gloom visit...
they are all in various stages of completion and will over the next few days find there way in to my Etsy shop..

now be gone mr gloom and take mr worrier and mr doubt with you...

its shearing week...

shearing has always been seen as a gloomy day, the worry of if the person shearing will be gentle and have respect and understanding for our sheep, especially those of the more senior years...

each year we are both anxious as the day approaches, we look at each other with worry and dread..

but not anymore - no siree - for last year we had the most excellent shearer visit and he came along with his whole amazing family who are a walking encyclopedia of all things fleecy, yarny and spinning..

by golly i was a happy gal that day!

so

this year we await the singing shearer with a smile upon our faces safe in the knowledge that our precious sheep family are in truly the very best hands..

they will be sheared as if by the most gentle magic and then i shall give their dancing feet a trim and a brush up, teeth will be checked and a dose of this and that if needed - a proper sheep m.o.t done in the blink of an eye..

and before they know it they will be back out in the green fields without their woolly coats admiring each others shiny new summer look..

hurrah, hurrah 

roll on wednesday ...

this week...

the sun has shone each and every day which has been truly blissful..

i am not a sun worshipper at all by nature much preferring the cooler autumn months, but i think this year after coming through such a long, dark, damp winter i needed it. to warm me right through to my bones..

the start of the week saw the final flourish of paint being applied to the ghastly fireplace in the main room..

still not my idea of how i would like it to be for the dream is that our rayburn will one day sit right there, but it is a vast improvement on dull stone and red tiles...

the middle of the week took a downward spiral as poor sweet miss mabel moo had a nasty flare up from an old leg injury..

much pain and sadness meant a trip to the emergency vet at 4am... once more i am thinking of selling a kidney to pay for the bills..

happily today she seems so much better, the leg problem will never go away and we are booked to see a fantastic specialist next tuesday to discuss how and if we can strengthen the little white leg on my beloved little white doglet..

to cheer us through the last few days i have collected blooms from our fields and popped some in as many rooms as possible..

when you walk in to a space with flowers it really does lift the heart a little don't you think?

with mabel more settled today i have squeezed in a little furniture painting and was reminded how fiddly diddly it is to paint smaller pieces, the vastness of  a wardrobe seems overwhelming before you begin but i do believe i could have painted two in the time it will take me to complete four small tables and a dolly swinging crib!

.. but the highlight of my week so far has been those few short moments throughout the day when i have stitched..

a little here, a little there...

a pile of new needle cases slowly growing..

and for the weekend?

Saturday i am putting on my very best *helper* dress and popping over to my gorgeous pal's house..

lady of immense stitching knowledge who is opening up the door to her secret studio where a small happy group will be given help and guidance in creating a piece of clothing to wear with pride :)

there will be much laughter, friendship, tea and delicious home cooked food i am sure and if by chance you fancy a spot of frock making yourself then pop over to Rachelle's marvellous website and take a peek at dates available...

you never know i may be there to serve you a cuppa and a slice of cake..

we could chit chat about all manner of things..

now wouldn't that be lovely :) 

x

what a truly beautiful spell of sunshine we have had...

we have all been out soaking it up...

the tree maintenance team have been super busy...

gretel has put herself in charge of chewing camera leads and everything else attached to me..

and tiny harry has had quite a week, he has taken his very first steps to stardom..

i shall tell you more about that next time ...

hoping that the sun is shining wherever you are ..

x

a chair crime of the utmost kind..

a ghastly crime has been committed in this house..

upon my arrival downstairs this very morn i spied dog wee up my very favourite rescued chair...

yes. this one. can you believe it?

badger said george did it

george said badger did it

i think they *both* did it...

after a severe telling off and a spectacular tantrum from yours truly which included door slamming and a five minute major sulk in the bathroom, i spent the next few hours refusing to talk, nay even look at the two criminals...

once i had calmed down, used my nifty carpet cleaner  to scrub the chair and seen to all other doglets the guilt started to creep in..

i knew it would for it is a well known fact that you just cannot remain cross with a whippet for more than 2hrs 28 minutes 12 seconds..

so with that in mind i decided to forgive and forget and take the two newly forgiven boys down to the far field which they find most thrilling as it is where the wild things live...

so many smells, so many things to wee up, pure joy for small boys...

little did i know that badger was busily hatching a plan of revenge for my earlier screaming doolally fit...

firstly he ran off at great speed, in fact faster than i have seen him run before..

this should have been my first clue that he was hatching a dastardly deed..

he returned a short time later again at top speed with his tail aloft and a long leg hanging from his jaws...

clearly he was hoping that the sight of his found highly prized treasure would send me in to a spin of horror and shock...

pah

living in a forest with wild things has made me very hardened to the sights of leftovers from the wild things dinner times...

upon seeing my unflustered demeanour badger promptly trotted over to the gate, dropped the leg carefully as he was obviously hoping to collect it on his way home.. {{no chance sonny }}

he then took off like a rocket once more...

by this time poor old george had circled the field a good few times and was back at my side cream crackered so i sent up the homeward bound whistle and started to head back via a different gate..

one without a leg for decoration..

just as we were nearing home a badger shaped blur whizzed past leaving behind the most awful aroma of death and decay...

oh my oh my how sweet revenge is..

one reeking badger grinning from ear to ear at his very finest act of revenge..

little did he know i would have the last laugh..

i would win this battle..

for it is bath time....