Sunday Snaps

It’s that time of the year, over here in England, when we ‘put the garden to bed’ once again, although this October we are still experiencing warm, sunny weather. The light always seems so clear at this time of the year. I took this photo the other morning, as the sun was rising across the fields next to the garden....

There are still so many roses blooming at the moment, although I’m sure that they will finish flowering once the mornings start to get a little chilly. 

I think the colours of Autumn are shown really well in the following photos - it really is like having a carpet of gold in the garden 🍁🍂🍁

Every year I like to plant winter flowering pansies in the tubs, so that their colourful faces brighten each day! 

All the photos here today have been taken in the past week. This was my attempt at a little Autumn display!

Don’t forget to just double click on any image if you want to enlarge it.  I think the following quote (courtesy of Pinterest.com) is always worth remembering 

It’s hard to believe, but this little tub of flowering daisies has been in full bloom since June and, even though it is now October, it is still covered with buds!

So then, I hope you have enjoyed my Sunday Snaps feature today,  of my Autumn garden. I will leave you with this thought .... ❤️. (Pic courtesy of Pinterest).

And All At Once, Summer Collapsed Into Fall.

Hi everyone. That’s a lovely saying, isn’t it?  This past week, I’ve been spending a few days in Ibiza with daughter number 1, where the temperatures are still in the high 80’s.

I landed  at my local airport, and was almost blown off the flight steps as I disembarked from the aeroplane!  Apparently, the U.K. was being battered by Storm Ali in my absence.  

A lady was killed in Cornwall, when a caravan blew over the cliff 😳. Wow!  

As I sit here writing this on Saturday evening, I’ve got the first fire of the season going in the wood burner, so it’s lovely and cosy. 

It was dark by 7.45 pm, so Autumn 🍂 is really on its way, although we’re supposed to be having some warmer, sunny days next week, when I hope to get out walking with daughter number 2.

I feel so blessed to have my two daughters, who are really good company.  Although one of them lives in Ibiza at the moment, fortunately the other one lives less than five minutes away 😊.  

So then, only another week and we will be into the month of October - the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.  I’m looking forward to the new season, I must admit. 

Cooking a lovely roast dinner once again, chicken or slow cooked lamb. It’s been such a hot Summer over here, that it was all about light bites really. But who doesn’t love a good old roast? 

Summer, you’ve been wonderful, but it’s time to move on from sandals and crops, to boots and warmer clothing. 

So then, I’ll leave you once again, hoping that you are all keeping well and looking after yourselves. 

Come For A Walk With Me ......

I seem to have  been lucky enough to have gained a few new readers to my Blog - thank you.  If you are a new Follower, it occurred to me that you don’t really know where I live, although for readers in the UK, the name of my Blog might be a bit of a giveaway!

Yes, I live in the area of South Hams, in the beautiful County of Devon, right down in the South West of the Country.  Next to Devon, you have Cornwall, which I’m sure many of you will have heard of, from various novels and TV dramas -  Doc Martin and Poldark, to name just two!  After leaving Cornwall, you just drop into the ocean! That’s one of the things I love about living here, the ocean is always around us.  

The first four photos were taken at Hope Cove.  Walking from Thurlestone to Hope Cove is one of my very favourite coastal walks.

The photo above with the path leading to the sea, always reminds me of the poem by John Masefield, called Sea Fever .... “I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky; and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by..... I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide,  is a wild call and a clear call, that may not be denied......”

We are surrounded by the sea, and I love nothing better than setting out on a coastal walk.  All the photos today were taken by me whilst I was out walking.  I also live at the foot of Dartmoor, one of our National Parks, but, to be honest, it has to be beaches and the sea for me every time.  I feel blessed that I am still able to walk around eight miles or so, and, believe me, Devon is known for its hills, so it really is all uphill and down dale.  The hills lead right down to the sea, and the lanes leading to the sea are narrow, with very high hedges, so that you can’t always see vehicles coming in the opposite direction!

This next beach has to be one of my very favourites....Bigbury on Sea.  Would you believe that I’ve been going there for over 71 years, as my mum and dad took me there from the time I was six months old, so it’s almost in my DNA.

This next photo was taken at Salcombe.  I really am so lucky to live in this wonderful spot, that I call heavenly Devon, as all these places are only 20 minutes from where I live. 

On a lovely Summer day, it’s one of the best places in the world.  Oh, okay, perhaps I AM slightly biased.  I was playing with a new Camera App with this last photo.  I have very fond memories of visiting Salcombe with a friend, a few years ago now.  It was a boiling hot day....too hot to do much serious walking, so we sat under the sun umbrella on the terrace of a lovely Hotel, which had gorgeous views all along the estuary, with brightly coloured boats bobbing up and down.  We started off with morning coffee and warm, buttered croissants, which drifted into lunch, accompanied by the obligatory glass of Rosè, and, believe it or not, we were still sat there at 4pm, so decided to have a Devon Cream Tea, complete with lashings of Devonshire Clotted Cream!

Well, I hope you’ve  enjoyed the little tour, and I’m sure I’ll be back again soon.  Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my Blog.  I really do appreciate it.

🎼🎶Don’t Worry, Be Happy🎶🎵

Well, hallo again little peeps. I’ve been writing a blog for almost 10 years now and, unbelievably, I wrote a post almost EVERY DAY for the first couple of years. 

Now, more often or not, I find myself staring at a blank piece of paper, wondering what to write!  As I was cogitating today, the word WORRY came into my mind.  We all do it, don’t we - in fact, over the years, it’s amazing the amount of time I’ve spent worrying - over big things and, also, the most trivial of things. 

Of course, as we go through our lives, there are genuine things that we worry about, and these are probably things that all of us worry about from time to time, but there is also a lot of other stuff that we should just let go.  

To be honest, I can remember worrying about things in the past, which never even happened anyway.  Worrying too much, of course, must also affect our well being, because it creates stress within us, and stress is something that we can all do without. 

There can be no doubt, also, that as well as affecting our physical side by causing that stress within us, it can also affect our minds, whereby we start looking at things in a negative way, rather than focusing on the positive and trying to remain upbeat.

I do try to worry less, now that I’m older and, if those worries do creep in, they are invariably about family and friends.  I’ve found that it’s perhaps alright to worry about things that you can do something about, but you can’t take on every worry about the state of the world 🌍., although I’m sure we all support causes that we believe in. Having said that,  all any of us can do, at the end of the day, is to make sure that our own little corner of the world is filled with compassion, generosity, kindness and love towards others. 

If you are plagued with a genuine worry as you read this, I pray that things will work out for you. 

Look after yourself my friends.

(All images today courtesy of Pinterest.com)

Don't Worry....Be Happy...

So then, how are you all doing out there in your own little corners of the world?

Hands up all those of you who have spent quite a lot of time worrying over the years - often quite unnecessarily so. The following quote is so true, isn't it, and something that I have learned more and more as I progress through this wonderful life that we have been given. 

 

I thought that, today, I would show some quotes about worrying, and how, really, we should try to live 'in the moment' as much as we possibly can. Obviously, there are certain times in life that this is easier said than done, but I'm speaking generally here, and when we worry unnecessarily about what really are the 'little things'.

 

 

 

 

  

I hope that perhaps this will give you some food for thought as you go about each day. Meanwhile, enjoy what's left of the weekend and I'll see you again soon 😊

(All quotes today courtesy of Pinterest.com)

Almost the end of Summer ......

Here I am again then, writing this Post on the last Bank Holiday of the year here in the UK.  How I wish we had Thanksgiving, or something similar, to look forward to, between now and Christmas.  There, I’ve uttered the ‘C’ word, and it’s only August.  

In a couple of weeks, the children will be returning to school, at the start of a new school year, with a new Teacher to guide them through the next year, and so time rolls inexorably on.  I find it amazing sometimes to think that I am in the eighth decade of my life, but having lost close friends along the way, I am also very grateful to still be here to enjoy life.  I mentioned around 18 months ago, when I celebrated my 70th birthday, that they say that when you are in your 70’s, you are in the sunset of your life.  Well,  visiting my number 1 daughter and granddaughter in Ibiza a week ago, I was blessed to view a wonderful sunset.  As number 2 daughter and her young children were also with us, it made it doubly special.  

We have had a long, hot Summer this year, with cloudless blue skies during the day, and balmy Summer evenings.  What a wonderful treat!  Whilst I have enjoyed these lazy, sunny days of Summer, am I the only one who is now looking forward to the evenings drawing in, lighting the lamps and making the home a warm and cosy place, with the onset of Autumn 🍂,  putting  away the sandals for another year, and going back to wearing boots and long trousers. 

Each Season holds something very special for us to look forward to,  whilst we also reflect on Seasons past.  Perhaps that is one of the signs of getting a little older - reflecting on memories of times gone by.

Having said that, I also like to look forward - forward to making more memories with family and friends, and to realise how blessed I am. 

Toodle pip for now. 

One For The Birds And Bees. ....

I am very fortunate to have plenty of wildlife here in my garden in heavenly Devon, and I try to capture photos whenever I can. The woodpecker is the most difficult one to capture with the camera, because he is off at the slightest movement or noise. I shall have to sit myself on a chair and learn to be patient - and very quiet! I did manage to take this one shot, although the quality isn't really very good

I was rather pleased with that last one, I must admit. 

Talking about the garden and the wildlife, research shows that bees are dying in large numbers.  However, this is not a new phenomenon.  In the 1950’s, there were over 50 species of bee here in the U.K.,  yet now there are only  25.  The rest have become extinct, and yet the number of non-native bees have increased.  This has been put forward as one reason for the demise of our own native bee.

A bit like our native bluebells, which are now being over-run by the Spanish variety!  Many people are simply not aware of the consequences if the bee population dies out.  They are responsible for pollinating our crops, and I have discovered that a third of our regular diet could be affected if this decline continues, and animals, both wild and domesticated, would be left without the foodstuffs they rely on. The following poster is courtesy of Pinterest.com

Strangely enough, with the hot, dry Summer we have experienced this year, I have never seen so many bees in the garden, which is planted up with all the shrubs and flowers that bees love so much. I also have several Bee and Insect Hotels dotted around!

Well, we are now in August, and the year is pressing on. I hope you are keeping well wherever you are in this small world of ours 😊.