Sparkling Snowy Views

Today the sun came out and made the snow look so pretty, but you could be forgiven for thinking that the photos from yesterday were taken in black and white as heavy snow fell all afternoon and evening.

You can see from the snow on the fence posts just how much snow we had, it must have been about 4 inches (10cm) and we had to cancel our trip into town due to the condition of the roads.

Here is the same view I took last week, when there was just a little dusting of snow and frost and still lots of green showing.

Looking down towards the river from the top of the field.

Shadows in the snow!

Looking back towards the farm from the field.

I have lots more snowy photos but will leave you with this view of the overhanging snow on our gutters against a stunningly blue sky.

Lucky Snapping - a Quotation

This week Lynne has provided us with a quotation to inspire our creativitity.

There are 3 things that a child can teach an adult
To be happy for no reason
To be always be busy doing something
And to know how to demand – with all one’s might- what one wants”    ~ Paulo Coelho

This is our home taken looking across our 'wee' field last Sunday.  I love living here and my home is very important to me.  Some weekends I come home on Friday night and don't leave home again until Monday morning to go to work.  It makes me happy for many reasons and none, it just does.

I am always busy doing something, even when I watch TV I am usually knitting or looking at a magazine or maybe online checking websites and tweeting!  But I'm most often busy in my kitchen and this week, as it is the season, I was making marmalade with seville oranges.

What I want right now is to be in a warm place where I can swim in an outdoor pool and soak up the sun.  I'm not sure about demanding, I've found that is not particularly effective.  We wont get that sunny poolside experience this year as we are going on holiday in March so let's hope we get a little sun in the UK this year.


Thanks for the quote Lynne, it made me think about what makes me happy, what I am busy doing and what I would like to be doing!

Snowy Nostalgia for Lucky Snapping in 2013

Kathi is hosting Lucky Snapping this week and has chosen the theme of Nostalgia.  Here is what she says:  

"what it is that takes you back, or what will take you back when you look at this week's post in the future.....

• it doesn't have to be a long lost memory, it may just be from last year;
• maybe it will be a vintage postcard or a retro styled cup in a shop..
• or a special little thing you do in your house that might become a traditon for your children in their future...
• it might be just your news this week which fits the theme and you can put it down for posterity..

To make it easy we will use the term 'nostalgia' for my prompts..though as I said it may just be something happening now which people will enjoy reading or seeing in the future..

 

The term describes a sentimental longing for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations......In common, less clinical usage, nostalgia sometimes includes a general interest in past eras and their personalities and events, especially the "good old days," such as a sudden image, or remembrance of something from one's childhood. (thanks to Wikipaedia as ever).."

For January there is the additional theme of 'New Beginnings'  I'm not sure that I have met that one, although I suppose you could say that featuring toddlers at the beginning of their lives is a kind of new beginning!  It will have to do, because it was the snow we had on Sunday and the photo I took with my little compact camera (the DSLR arrived back from repair today-hurrah!) that reminded me of these older photos of my sons around the same age.  I hope Andrew will forgive me for putting him in a pink snowsuit, I recall that I got it second hand  and they both wore it to keep warm around the farm.

 

Snow Glow!

One of the workmen from the waterboard has turned to snow!  I can't take credit for this snowman, my son and his wife made it for my little grandson, complete with hi-vis jacket and traffic cone!

Hasn't he got a lovely smile?

Snow Day!

Remember yesterday's photo looking up our road at the workmen digging up the road?

What a difference a day makes!!!

Here is my 'Lucky Snapping' View today

and some other views around the farm house

I like this one looking across the back garden from the window at the top of the stairs.  The photos are not too bad with my little compact camera.  I do miss my DSLR though, I am so used to it, but it has gone to have the 'door' where you put in the memory card, fixed.  I couldn't carry on with an elastic band around it forever!

If the snow stops we might even get out and make a snowman!

No through road

The water board are replacing the pipes all along our top road.  The notice in the local paper say that this may go on until 3rd of March!  Fortunately we have another route out of our farm but there are all kinds of things that haven't really been considered.  We had to phone the council about the refuse collection, no-one had informed them and there is no way we can wait until March to get the bins emptied!  They are going to arrange to send a smaller truck which will be able to get through.  I also spoke to the postman and he hadn't been told what was going on either, but wasn't able to make his deliveries to the houses whose only access is on that road.

 

This is the view from one of our upstairs windows, looking up our road towards the activity of the water board.  

And now we wait to see whether it is going to snow and if so, how bad it is likely to be.  It's not a lot of fun having snow out in the countryside as travel becomes very difficult.  It could also delay the work on the road and continue the disruption for even longer.

Serendipity - the start of the Silver Lining

Lucky Snapping in 2013 is now in it's second week and we have moved on to Anne's challenge.  Here is what she has asked us to do:

"Let's reflect - January

Welcome to you all.
So here we are, at the start of the Let's reflect challenge. We will be together for 12 weeks, the 2nd of each month. Wow !
I called my challenge let's reflect, because sometimes life gets in our way, doesn't go at all in the direction we wanted and we can feel hopeless and disoriented. I have been in this situation several times and to be honest I am in it right now, preparing my post in advance. A good way to go through these difficult times we all experience is to look inside and also to concentrate on others as learning from loved ones, even from strangers is also learning about ourselves.
As you know our discovery will be based on 12 words, each one starting with a letter from SILVER LINING.
Today's word is Serendipity. I absolutely love this word. If you never heard it before, it means
the act of finding something valuable or delightful when you are not looking for it
In simple words, it's taking joy out of something that you didn't expect.  
It 's a stranger smiling at you and making your day.  It's your granddaughter saying " you look beautiful today ". It's a letter from an old friend you had lost contact with.
It's a song that brings back some beautiful memories. It's a smell that makes you hungry when you weren't.
During this week, we will concentrate on the little things life brings, these little things that we sometimes are too busy to see. It is a good exercise to look for these moments during this coming week but you also can use moments having happened before and come back and add moments that will happen in the future. Remember, we are building a " Silver Lining book " for difficult times. Anything that can help you, can go inside.
You are doing this challenge for yourself, so whatever your serendipity examples will be this week or earlier, they are yours. We are all different, so if your examples only make sense to you and nobody else, that's OK. If you want to only share some with us and leave the others hidden, that's OK. If you want to explain a lot or just a little, that's OK. What is important is what you are doing for yourself.
The way you choose to do this challenge is also up to you. You can take pictures, you can write, you can make a scrapbook page, you can art journal it, you can draw, you can share about a book that brightened your life, whatever you feel like doing will be the right thing to do."

Although I have loved taking  a photograph every day, the fact that I also made it into a digital layout meant that I have done very little other crafting, so I am going to take this opportunity to start an art journal.  I intend to share the journal here unless there is anything that I feel is too personal. 


Tonight I have found a little pamphlet that I will use as my journal and have gessoed the front cover, I hope to gesso the first page tomorrow and then I will start to make my Serendipity page.  Already today, I found a little joy at my optician's appointment, let's see what the rest of the week brings!

 Here is my Serendipity Art Journal page, the journalling reads as follows:

Serendipity 
The act of finding something valuable or delightful when you are not LOOKING for it!
On Monday I went to the optician for an eyesight check up.  I knew the time had come for varifocals.  My sight test went well and although I will need new glasses, the good news is that my eyes are in excellent health and my macular is clear and helathy.  Important due to family history of macular degeneration. 10/01/13

My 'Neighbourhood' January 2013

It's pouring with rain and very misty here today, so taking a photo of  'my neighbourhood' for Lucky Snapping in 2013, additional prompt #2 is not really something I want to be doing.  I decided to take some liberties with the prompt and show you the place where I probably spend most time - my kitchen!

As we live in a very old farmhouse the kitchen sink. where I took the photo from yesterday, is actually down three steps in the 'back kitchen' and not next to where I cook.  You get used to it eventually and you certainly get your excercise!  It's relatively tidy today, but there is usually a lot of cooking and baking action going on here so I should be able to show you a few changes in 'my neighbourhood' ;-)

From my kitchen sink

Lucky Snapping in 2013 Additional Prompt #1

The view from my kitchen sink is very similar to the view I chose to use for the other challenge, just from a lower angle and to the right!

Lucky Snapping in 2013 - January 'View' Scrapped

I couldn't stay away from my digital kits for long!  I've scrapped my 'view' for January using the sketch by Jen on Lucky Snapping for 2013,

Kits: Secret Garden - Designs by Mozz; When Autumn Comes - Fanette Designs

Lucky Snapping in 2013 - January View

Well, here I am starting another photo blogging challenge this time there will be a variety of photographs and only occasional scrapping.  There will be different challenges organised by a variety of different creative people at Lucky Snapping in 2013  The first is described, by Jen, below:

                                 The View challenge

So this challenge is to decide on a view that you love and take a photo of it at some point this week, when the light is good and/or you have time. Over the year we will then have one photo a month of that view which will show the changes in the seasons. 

 

It was pouring with rain this morning when I got up, so I thought that as this is probably our most prevalent weather feature, I would see if I could take a view from one of the windows in our house as this might prove more sustainable!  The window I chose faces West and has two alternative views:

This one, which features our 'swamp' area full of willow trees, it floods regularly. The water has just gone down, but no doubt it will be filling up again soon.

And this one which features the farm sheds, the patio and there should be fields and hills in the backgound but today they are obscured by a thick mist!

In the end I decided to use the second view because there will be changes on the patio when the beech hedge turns green and the bulbs come out in spring.  Then in summer, the patio table and chairs will be put in place and the tubs will be filled  with bedding plants.  The fields and hills behind will change too as they go through the farming seasons and you might even catcg a glimpse of the calves.

There is a scrapping part to this challenge, so I may be back with a layout for the view later.

Happy New Year 2013

We do not make a huge fuss of New Year in our house, but had a family lunch and toasted 2013 with a glass of Cava.  I have some nice things to look forward to in 2013: in March we are going on a river cruise in the South of France, it will also be my mother's 80th birthday and we are planning a trip to London together.  I also have another grandchild due in May and my sister-in-law will celebrate her 60th birthday in June.  So the first half of the year will be rather eventful!

I have no specific resolutions for this year, however I will continue to go to the gym twice a week to improve my fitness and carry on keeping my food portions small to keep my weight in check.  I'd like to try and fit in some 'physical' as well as digital crafting and I am going to take part in the 'Lucky Snapping' challenges so I continue to take lots of photographs.

So here we go...2013