Breaking the silence

It has been a long time since I last posted and life has changed massively, we now have a 3 week old baby and the time for exploring has been taken up with preparing for her arrival and giving her the attention that she needs.  We also had to unfortunately put our cat to sleep just before as she took a huge turn for the worse and was suffering hugely.

It is lovely having the option to go for a walk down the country lanes with her when the rain holds off and the joy of giving her fresh air is wonderful and gives a welcome break from insesant crying as the trips in the pram calm her wonderfully!

The recent storm luckily only caused a small part of our neighbours tree to fall down which is giving us more logs to store and dry for future winters.

We have realised that we are very lucky, going back over the arrival of our new baby we got caught up with the negatives of constant checks at the hospital and the way in which she arrived which was not how we planned.  However, hearing the stories of those around us who have given birth recently makes us realise how smoothly it actually went and the things that worried us at the time were only small things and nothing that was worrying.  It would be so useful if babies came with a manual or at least some instructions as you just get sent home without knowing what to do!

Photography Time

It has been a while since I last posted, weather hasn't helped as it has hampered many an attempt for a weekend walk.

Yesterday I took part in a photography workshop, learning how to use the manual settings on my camera. It's so easy to use the automatic settings but there is so much more that can be done by exploring outside the box.

It was a very hands on day, a bit of tuition followed by sessions outside to practice and compare different settings. Each was followed by looking at all the photographs to learn from the mistakes we all made.

Fortunately the rain only reappeared in the afternoon when we started on portrait photography but by this time we were safely inside.

As the sun came out this afternoon I decided there was no better time to go and have a practice using the spring flowers as my topic!

Sunny Sundays

And what a change a week makes, the snow stayed around until Friday night when a huge downpour cleared most away. I have been keeping a photo diary of the changes of the view out of the front and back of the house and the few below show the change from snow to sun!

I had some fun with the camera through the front window which has panes of different colours to see how the neighbour's barn looks in different light.

We had exciting post this week, our wedding photo book, it has only taken us 8 months to decide which of the thousand photos we wanted to include. It was lovely to spend time revisiting the photos and memories that go along with them to create a lasting book.

Sunday bought us sun and a chance to get outside without sliding over, a bit of time in the garden before a heavy shower and then a chance to walk along the lane and back. As we came back the black clouds reappeared and in the distance there was a bright rainbow.

Roast chicken will need to go in the oven soon but with an Indian twist to it.... Should be interesting!

Snow days

So the expected snow did arrive this week as promised. Waking up on Friday the had been about a centimetre of snow on the ground, when I went to leave an hour later this was quite a bit more and I had to brush large amounts of the car. Travelling along the lane was fine of the crunchy snow however, upon reaching the main road I started to skid. Crawling along everyone started to stop at the top of the hill at which point I decided going back home was a good option so snuck down the other end of the lane. As the morning progressed so did the snow and soon the car was fully covered again.

We ventured out at lunch time to the village shop to get some milk to have hot chocolate. Whilst out we took some lovely photos along the way. After fitting in a bit more work we then went and had play time in the snow. My husband had never been on a sledge so we took the wooden one out the garage and experimented on the sloping lanes....

Saturday gave us the challenge of a walk to the village shop again to get a few bits and pieces, th lane has turned to ice so it was a case of finding patches of snow to walk on. We ventured out again in the evening to go to the pub for dinner, really glad we did as they had loads of people cancelling on them. The snow does really effect the small businesses that need people to drive to them, fine for those that can work at home but if you need customers not so great. Walking home was a challenge on the icy road!

Tomorrows challenge will be getting off the drive (wonderfully cleared) and on to the main road to work..... First though a nice venison and juniper stew.

Muddy Boots

As it was such a glorious day we decided to get out walking boots and go for a walk, we chose one that started at Castle Combe and off we went. We arrived around 1pm and the sunlight on the old buildings was a lovely golden colour. We wandered through Castle Combe before setting off up a very very muddy path, and quite steep too. The trick of not starting to slide backwards seemed to be to walk as quickly as possible without stopping! Our boots became laden down with mud but after a hike the paths became slightly less muddy. The views around we're lovely and it was just nice to be outside enjoying it.

Whilst we were enjoying the sun outside the cat had been finding out all the spots in the house this morning where she could enjoy sunning herself too!

We had an unexpected substitute in our veg box this week, sprouting seeds, which we have never cooked with before and this resulted in a lovely weekend lunch incorporating some chorizo and rocket, a nice healthy and tasting meal.

Tonight there is the expectation of snow, though whether we wake up to a nice blanket of white in the morning or not remains to be seen, for now it is time to settle down in front of a roaring log fire whilst our dinner cooks.

Unexpected visitor

It is fully into the pheasant season and as a result we get various 'escapees' wandering the garden and posing dutifully for photos.....

It is lovely to have some sun and for the fields not to be lakes anymore, though it is amusing to see ducks swimming in fields on the way to work! There have also been some wonderful sunrises, though unfortunately didn't have a camera with me to stop and take some photos, still it puts a smile on your face in the early morning.

In our veg box this week we had some Seville oranges which meant it was time of a batch of marmalade to be made, very nice for breakfast fresh from being cooked the day before with nice fluffy bread straight from the breadmaker.

New Year's Day

It was a lovely sunny, crisp start to the new year so we decided it was an opportune time to have a walk after all the rain. I quickly managed to sneak in some photos of the view from the house for the series I am taking to show the changing seasons and the we were off.

We decided to walk along the Caen Hill locks near Devizes on the basis that the paths may not be too muddy, wishful thinking!

It was lovely out and the views as we walked down the very muddy footpath along side the locks was lovely, the sunlight just making it very postcard like. Once at the bottom we crossed over and walked up the tow path, taking time to watch barges making their way down the long stretch of locks.

It was then off to birthday celebrations for my dad, champagne with lunch to get the new year started with a bang!