Catch up

Well it's been a while! I had all good intentions for posting regularly, but we've had a bunch of family illness and then issues at work, so my mind has been elsewhere for a while.

I left my job in December (they were making redundancies and had cut my hours down to 12 a week - it was a complicated situation) and since then have been helping care for mum and supporting dad.

So other than those jolly happenings, looking back on what I've been up to: 

G and I took a visit to Cardiff in Wales last week, he needed to go for work so I went along for the ride. We had a lovely time, the weather was gorgeous. We met up with a couple of friends while we were there, which was good for me as, at the moment, it can be a little isolating during the day.

Look at those skies! It was bloomin freezing though!

Marina in Cardiff

Coco is settling more and more 💖 the 29th February will mark 1 year since we adopted her from the Blue Cross. She is such a fluffy cute girl.

I've been trying to walk more and generally exercise more, oh and eat healthier. We're lucky to live near beautiful countryside.

Love this tree - it's an oak tree. I must admit I say hello, and occasionally a hug, as I walk past.

We had some lovely snow in January and me, B & L threw a few snowballs, made snow angels and generally had fun.

Christmas was fun and relaxing. Just us and close family.

We had a holiday in the Lake District in September. The cottage we stayed in had beautiful views with just a tiny glimpse of Windermere.

We had some lovely walks around the area and a trip on one of the the Windermere cruises.

Anyway, I could ramble on forever!

Have a lovely day!

Sarah x

Friday's Fave Five

I've not done this meme before, and it looks fun.  I'm trying to really focus on my blessings.  Focusing daily on our blessings, and having gratitude for them, has been shown to improve mental health generally.  This has apparently been proven in some scientific studies.

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. ~Proverbs 17:22

Before I get to the meme I just wanted to share also that I watched an interesting programme on BBC2 about this: The Truth About Personality, this chappie suffered from lifelong pessimism and insomnia.  He undertook a series of experiments to improve his general outlook, two of which were meditation and spending time each day focusing on photographs of happy people.  Sounds strange but it really did work for him, I'm not sure that it made him into Pollyanna or anything, but it did change his brain-wave patterns and made him look automatically for the positive rather than the negative.  It was SO interesting.  Do watch it if you have time, it's an hour long but fascinating:


Humour is also a good way for me to 'look on the bright side' too, nothing like a good chuckle to cheer you up. :)

So anyway, here's my Friday Fave Five!

Visit Susanne at Living to tell the Story

1. Our holiday

Every year my Mum and Dad take us away on holiday.  We never have enough money to pay for a holiday ourselves so this is a great great blessing.  This year we went to Cornwall, to a place called Bodieve near the small town of Wadebridge.  We had fantastic weather, only a couple of days of drizzle and cloud - which in England is a huge bonus!  Cornwall is a beautiful place, I've always said that my dream is one day to retire there in a small old cottage on the coast.

2. Birthday!

I turned 40 on holiday!  Yes, I know, I don't look a day over 21.  Here I am opening my cards in the cottage.  My Dad looking resplendent in his slippers and Squidge still in her jammies.  It was a lovely day.  They made my breakfast, and I got some lovely presents! I am loved. :)

3. Eden Project

One blessing we see often, but daily take for granted is the beauty of plants. Trees especially are essential to our survival, they provide oxygen and are an integral component of the water cycle.
Whilst we were there, we visited The Eden Project. The project aims to educate about and protect the earth's plants.  There are two biomes to visit, the rainforest biome and the Mediterranean biome, plus a whole host of other things to look at.  It's fascinating. 

Inside the rainforest biome, which is SO humid and contains butterflies and birds flying around, there is an aerial walkway.  It is unbelievably high up.  It is suspended from the top of the biome by wires, so when you're walking up the steps and standing on the platform it is swaying.  Also, the floor is metal mesh, so you can see right through.  It is not something for the faint hearted!

The high suspended walkway

Photo from the platform

A butterfly in the rainforest biome

Outside the biomes, the metal-man you can see at the bottom right is made from discarded electrical equipment

4. Birds of Prey and Jellyfish

You know, God has created some amazing beautiful creatures.

Whilst we were there we also visited the Cornish Birds of Prey Centre.  What an wonderful place.  It is immaculately clean, the birds are all well cared for, I think all of them are rescue birds.  Birds that have been mistreated or given up by their owners.  Apparently the Harry Potter films led to lots of people deciding to keep owls!  What on earth possesses people to think that they can keep owls as a domestic pet?  Anyway, here are some pictures.  Such beautiful creatures!

Not a bird, but still a beautiful creature! :) Squidge having fun on their zip-wire

This made us chuckle.  Poor Romeo.

Speaking of fascinating creatures, here are some jellyfish from the beach. Chatterbox was not impressed one day at the beach, there were hundreds of them in the sea.

Apparently this kind of jellyfish can give you a painful sting

 

Investigating jellyfish in a bucket - these kind don't cause a painful sting - but we didn't touch their tentacles just in case!

5. Family

I just love the summer holidays.  I love them because I get to spend more time with my girls and when we go away with family it's even better!

Have a most blessed weekend!

Day 4 - the blogging challenge starts to take its toll

I'm taking part in Jen from Conversion Diary's 7 Posts in 7 Days Epic Blogging Challenge.

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I had a lovely birthday.  The hubster and I went out for a meal, it was delightful.  Except it didn't agree with my stomach.  I was awake 'til silly-o'clock with a very large and growly belly.  I often have stomach issues, it's the cross I have to bear [note melodramatic tone].

We are on holiday in Cornwall with my Mum and Dad at the moment.  When I came down in the morning Mum had decorated the living room of the cottage we are staying in with streamers and...wait for it...Red Nose Day balloons! No expense spared on the decorations then. LOL

We visited St Michael's Mount during the day.  It's an old castle and church, there used to be a monastery there.  It is so called as there is a legend about some fishermen seeing Archangel St Michael in 495 AD standing high on a rocky ledge.  

Ay me! Whilst thee the shores and sounding seas
Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurl'd;
Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides,
Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide
Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world,
Or whether thou, to our moist vows denied,
Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old,
Where the great vision of the guarded mount
Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold:
Look homeward Angel now, and melt with ruth;
And, O ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth.

~Lycidas, John Milton

I have lots of photos, but I'll upload them when I get home I think.  Here's one from my phone camera:

St Michael's Mount is accessible on foot during low tide and we walked over, we got back just a the water was starting to cover the path.  The above photo was taken as the water had become too deep to cross on foot.

After that we drove back and got ready to go out for our meal.

A lovely day...apart from the stomach issues, ha.

Hugs.

Beeeeuuuutiful Lake District

We spent a night away at the Lake District - Windermere to be exact - we had a lovely time. Cumbria has had some SERIOUS snow, some of it beat the snow we got around our house recently (big snowdrifts everywhere!), but the snow only remained really on the higher ground, it made the mountains and hills beeeeuuutiful!

Lots of trees to climb

Aira Force- Aira from old Norse meaning gravel bank, force is a northern English word for waterfall.

Skimming stones