weekend wanderings #74

(images from Uncia and Tigris and conversationpieces.co.uk)

• Some recent posts of mine you may have missed - How to gets a better night's sleep and some recent gold and black trinkets.
• I really love these Sunday in Verse posts from Beth, particularly this one from August. 
• I've been catching up on all my blogs recently, and I love this weekend in North Devon from Lizzie, particularly as we used to visit that bit of Devon regularly as kids! 
• I'm a longstanding lover of Jane's travel posts, these shots from LA are just lovely, I always think of LA being a bit bleak, but these shots make it seem welcoming. 
• Who doesn't want to be able to make homemade bourbon biscuits?!
• Zoe's pictures of her cats upstaging her flat-tour are just too adorable... 
• I haven't got around to showing you my pictures from my Peak District adventure yet - but next year I really want to visit the Yorkshire Dales - Kelly makes it look stunning! 
• A really useful, comprehensive post about getting gauge when knitting!
• Some simple mantras to success - I need to write these on my arm or something. 
• A healthier alternative to a crumble topping for the winter months; I like to put some oats in when I make crumble anyway, but this forgoes the flour and butter altogether... 
• A very stylish, printable blog planner - if only I was that organised.. 
• How to clean your digital room, so to speak! 
• Peanut butter anything and I'm there - I'd also like this view... 
• I saw some of the amazing heather in bloom when I visited Derbyshire - however I didn't manage to get any good photos, however Anya's will have to do, and that's okay because they're beautiful... 
• I've become obsessed with knitted blankets: I want to make this colourblock bias blanket; these colours are perfection. 
• The inspiration behind Kate Davies' Scottish inspired yarns is so lovely.
• It's rare I crave new makeup products: but I reallly want to try this Bobbi Brown face palette. 
• This cabin-break with family that Freya recently shared looks so idyllic, those sunsets on the lake are something else.
• I'll take several of these brown butter nectarine tarts, yes please.
• I have a heart of stone, but this post from Alex talking about her partner just about warmed it. 
• Please can I have a sweet little craft room with all my yarn laid out in their hues like in a shop? No? Oh, okay...
• The Skovtur mitten pattern by Karie would make perfect Christmas presents for people: knit in a worsted weight yarn, they'd knit up super quickly, too.

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new in: black and gold bees

It's definitely a re-occuring theme of mine, rediscovering gold-hues. For years I opted for silver above all else - before I realised it was just shiny things that I enjoyed, and the colour was really irrelevant (although, I'm not fully convinced by rose gold, if I'm honest).

I saw this beautiful little note-pad in Marks in Spencers recently as I'm weirdly obsessed with anything bee-related (my mother and I are currently designed a bee-themed quilt), and into the trolley it went. Whilst we're on the subject, I really love Marks and Spencers. No, this isn't sponsored, but I know they're trying desperately hard to shake off the mumsy vibe, and I think they're succeeding. They do amazing coats, their beauty selection is pretty great too, and they're probably the only place that I can get jeans or trousers to fit my five-foot-ten legs and not leave me with a foot of ankle hanging out, or my bum crack on show to the world.

Anyway, I'd say I'm digressing but I don't really have much else to say, except I found this notepad absolutely adorable. I particularly like the little gold foil hexagons adorning the pages, and it's gold clip. I guess technically it's a shopping list type deal, but I'm using it for to-do lists and reminders at the moment, and it's the perfect matching hue as my watch and ring. When I searched for this to show you guys, I also found this lovely little 2016 diary...

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the royal landscape: the saville garden

These photos seem a world away now after the few weeks of bad weather we've had here - it fully feels like autumn here... I took these photos on one of my first outings a few weeks after healing up from my operation, my mum and I took a short walk around the lovely flowered gardens and a leisurely pace, and taking lunch in the cafe afterwards. Of course, I took a few snaps...

Since I last visited, they planted up a beautiful selection of wild-flowers, which had the most stunning cornflowers (which I've decided are one of my absolute favourite flowers, they grew like a weed all over the allotment and I used to pick them in copious amounts and bring them home to sit on the windowsill in little jam jars)... I've decided that if I ever were to have a garden of my own, I would plant only wildflowers as they attract a swarm of bees and their colour makes me so happy. 

They had quite a few of the late summer flowers in bloom when we went along - with a lot of hydrangea's (which could be a close contender for my favourite flower - particularly in this beautiful blue hue). The Saville Garden is part of the The Royal Landscape (which I've posted about many times) as it's a place filled with so many memories for me and  love spending time there - particularly of wandering around collecting fallen hydrangeas and rhododendrons as a child and bringing them home to press between books... 

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taking stock #11

Heads up: this isn't a "oh, I'm sorry I've not blogged in a while" preface. I'll be honest, I love you guys, but I love not blogging, as well. Maybe as a blogger, I shouldn't say this, but I think you're all grown up enough to hear this.

So - I know that I've been a bit absent on my blog recently, a bit heads in the clouds, feet on the ground - but mostly just away from the internet. I have a deep affection for the internet, when I was younger and not very well, I loved coming online and reading blogs and all sorts of things as a form of escapism. Now, I don't feel the need to run away from my own life, and it's more like I just want to dip in and out, share with you some fun adventures rather than my whole life...

Making: A linen blanket for my bed.

Cooking: The last thing I made were some portuguese egg tarts.
Drinking: Morning coffee.
Reading: Just put down Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman.
Wanting: To not go to the gym?
Watching: Yarngasm Podcast.
Eating: A bowl of maple-syrup porridge.
Deciding: On how I'm going to get my hair cut later today...
Wishing: for crisp autumn days, not this overcast day that we have today.
Enjoying: Having a lazy morning.
Waiting: for the gym motivation to kick in!
Loving: my pictures from my alpaca adventure earlier this week (see my Instagram for cuteness!).
Needing: a holiday! A mid-week day off makes me crave a full holiday.
Smelling: A cinnamon candle - it's winter, guys.
Wearing: Bunny PJ's and fluffy grey slipper socks.
Thinking: about my next knitting project. (I've got second sock syndrome, and I'm not even knitting socks..!)
Hearing: Podcasts and not much else.
Feeling: a little bit sleepy.
Buying: into autumn and winter hype - I blame Pinterest.

- a l l   t a k i n g   s t o c k   p o s t s - 

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Goodbyes, again...

dad, grandma & norah

It feels like only a few months ago when I was writing a goodbye to another grandparent. The sorrow there seems to have only just settled, and this seems to have brought it all back again. I have so many sweet memories of you and the time spent at 56 Kingsfield Road, of winter trips up there and watching snow fall, of long summers spent playing in the garden with the cousins - reminders of cosy nights playing card games, eating cake and playing games with you in the lounge. And more recently, stopping in for scrabble games and trips to the farm, time spent with you at ours on Christmas mornings. The week you passed away, I was supposed to stop in and see you and you would've really loved to hear about all the places me and my friend went and our jaunts, but it clearly was not meant to be. It seems like such an adequate phrase to say that you will be truly missed by everyone, but it's never been truer.