Thor's Cave, Garden and Ronnie

I am now well settled back home from our holiday. Home feels nice and a calm place to be.

I like spending time outdoors. Garden seems to be a happy place for me, if I am not walking in the woods or in the countryside.

Peggy (hen) was on her own for a while after we lost Maggie (hen) and Nibbles (bunny) last year before Christmas.

 But now she has a friend, Ronnie, to chat with, even though she was not happy to share her food with her for the first two days. Ronnie is well settled and has started laying already. Wow! That was quick. It is quite small compared to Peggy's egg.

The birds seems to be very busy this time of the year. We have got three Palm trees in our back garden. A bit of a tropical feel, and the birds favourite tree, as they get lot of the hairy bits from the trunk of the palm.

 Robin and black bird middle of their conversation.

Goldfinch was so quick from moving back and forth from the palm to where my garlics are. And I thought I clicked my camera in time but when I looked into the above photo, goldfinch was gone.

But eventually I did manage to click and capture the finch in my lenses.

Yesterday morning straight after breakfast we went to the Thor's Cave in the Peak District. You can see how small Ronnie's eggs are as compared to Peggy. They are delicious though.

 Olivia, at thirteen still enjoys making flower crowns.

The woodland was filled with wild garlics and the smell of it was yummy.

Carpets of flowers everywhere in the woods.

A quick mark making.

 Emily fell asleep in the pushchair and so me and Olivia climbed up all the way to the cave.

Was happy that the bears don't live there anymore.

And my new Kilim back pack which I bought in a Morracan/ Asian shop in spain. Also bought two Kilim cushions, couldn't stop myself.

 After waking up little Emily was happy to play with the stones and thought it was bit like at the seaside only without the water.

The dry river bed had two beautiful rusted piece which came back home with me. Love to find bits and bobs.

 By three we were back home, weather was so good didn't feel like going indoors.

So there I was under the honeysuckle, in my shed.

With my new found rusted pieces and my sketch book.

And some more bird watching.

Advent

 Sunday was a beautiful sunny day. Woodland walk was in my mind. So we went to nearby forest(Melbourne).

 Lots of fallen autumn leaves.

The sunshine through the woods.

Still lots of leaves on the tree.

The smell of woods. Ah! I love it. It is so much better than walking in town this time of the year. Don't know about you but not my cup of tea for sure.

I'd rather built my nest here.

What could be better?

Yes, this Linen dress that I made couple of weeks ago and my noro crochet shawl which I did during summer wrapped around my neck to keep myself warm. I did have a coat by the way too.

This little girl enjoys so much in the woods. Doesn't mind if nature gets stuck on her hair.

She picked amongst the wet leaves. X-mas decorations! The smell of woods. Hmmmm.

Christmas atmosphere in the woods.

 The moss.

 Lake and the forest. Melbourne is so beautiful.

Everyone enjoyed the sunshine that day.

 

 

Back home from forest was inspired to complete my stag. Feels good to have finally completed that. and now is up on the wall in my dinning room.

Pine cones and leaves from the forests.

Finally our advent was up last night. Olivia decorated all the little brown bags, the branch is from our back garden.

My crochet blanket and knitted cushion also came out.

This is my kitchen windowsill right now. Dry poppy heads and Chinese lantern (Physalis alkekengi) from my garden, moss, pine from the woods.

 Peter the hare was a very kind gift last Christmas. You can read more here about him.

Hope you all had a good weekend, I know I did x