Season things to look forward to

 

Things that with all the other stuff in the world going on that I'm far more interested in is Halloween which creeps in towards the end of next month and in the first couple of days of November.

Good things about for me include spending more time outdoors as I'm not really an indoors type of person at all which can include things like outdoor crafts such as pumpkin based lantern making and games which benefit from having that room to spread around.

In the past they would of included things like toffee apples, dress up with props

 

There's nothing wrong with getting up in the trees and even being a fairy

Fall is magical for the amazing colours of leaves that may be gathered and I can remember when I was young doing a leaf based collage on black card.

Fall thoughts

This is no ordinary week sadly and there is much I can say that goes way beyond what this blog is about and will ever be about.

We are in throws of The Fall here which is one reason I have been about a fair bit of late determined to enjoy the last of warm low sun and that free spectacle in your local parks, playgrounds and woods which as damaged in parts as this area has been for being on fringe of a City Region we are fortunate to possess.

The glow of the forever changing colours of the leaves is vivid and yet a day or two later, you find them down on the grass in an expanse of golden brown carpet ever growing to the point eventually the trees will be denuded.

You might that is sad as it's usually followed by colder weather including snow but come the spring it all rejuvenates and that's what we look forward to.

Whatever happens in the awful adult news this week, just remember the good people have done and that the result of that good will triumph over all else.

 

Whit Bank Holiday Edition

The break before last that had a Bank Holiday Monday was strangely enough warmer and sunnier  than much of May which we exit at midnight today.

You might recall the Easter Egg featured that great girltastic animal, the Unicorn  which is a real creature and not just a pony with glued on horn, well this a outdoor creature of mine who lives in the front garden.

While it has been sunny I was out taking  a bit of exercise and enjoying the fresh air with sunshine which beats the pants off rain any day of the week where I spotted this lonely Alpaca who had been left all on his own by the others.

While I was there, he went on to find and chew a carrot with the others looking on.

Nearby the wild berries are starting to come out which have always fascinated me from childhood although I had to be careful of the many flying small insects some of which can make me very ill quickly.

Spring Bank Holiday edition

 

Goodness, it's a May Bank Holiday and don't you just feel like spending all that free time going down the country lanes, in the woods and along public rights of way with the sweet smell of fresh spring flowers on top of fresh air.

I cannot think of anything rather do to be honest on good day.

Some places have Bluebell walks where you can see and photograph them , planted in an ordered way rather like amateur gardeners often do which I have seen around here and yet others may grow in a very organic way in the woods. 

Of course in more normal times it wouldn't be spring without maypole dancing either in town and village centres or at spring school events such as fairs where as girls and boys we'd spend time practising the plait to music.

Surprisingly I wasn't bad at that given my co-ordination and ability to keep in time with others.

Our world

This week we're in the 'Big Room'.

Play is hugely undervalued by that boring species, the groan up, but this delightful peace of work was spotted while I was out last Monday locally on our estate and was followed up by chalked hopscotch but when I came to take a picture there was a van over it.

A child, highly likely to be a young girl decided to make her home environment more colourful and fun for her and her friends to have fun and play.

Spring is here so the meadows are out and I spotted spotted this lovely patch of dandelions near some trees which really restful on the eyes.

Although you could technically call it an import, the cherry blossom tree is a huge favourite of mine, often featuring in animes and the local ones were out in full bloom, keeping the bees busy and adding something to our suburban life.

The garden is a staple of suburban life, my grandfather did a lot with his small garden in terraced street and this is one of my planters

Paused Spring II

The follow up to last March's post in some ways  with temperatures down when I typed this to three degrees Celsius.

There's a few less restrictions like not being asked questions as you board the bus as to why you are out and the twitching of curtains as you go across the the village green and beyond all of which was permitted so long as you stayed local (and there was no official measure of that).

Whatever happens Spring does its thing in it's own time which was why these daffodil's were later coming out on the village green than those some people  had bought for their front gardens.

The woods are alive with the sounds of birds, birds flying with worms in their beaks to feed the young and those lovable scamps the squirrels playing climbing trees apart from the buzz from the park as children play after school and at weekends.

Paws crossed a few restrictions should be removed today which should help seeing a family member or two face to face and we'll see what Mid April brings.

Bank Holiday edition

Today is a Bank Holiday here in England which means I should be just resting enjoying myself  although everything has been altered a little by this covid-19.

 One place I am likely to snuck off to is  the local canal towpath where while there  be a number of people passing through in their barges, it is generally very restful where you'll see a lot of wildlife about if you keep your eyes peeled.

Often ducks and swans can be seen in the canal itself although the ducks can also be seen in some nearby properties gardens and fish are caught by local anglers before being returned.

The park is open and I expect to hear the excited voices of children enjoying play before returning to school on Wednesday as Tuesday is an Inset teacher training day locally.

Getting by during the Hols

 As I'm typing this I'm on the umpteenth glass of pop trying to stay both cool and hydrated this warm weekend.

 Naturally school is off even if sadly it was only half on at best since Spring as I struggle to recall anything like this from my own childhood as more or less everything isn't what it was since the word Covid-19 entered the daily news reports.

It's really rather more the outdoors that I've clung onto, watching birds and insects going about their business, enjoying the tree blossoms and flowers growing  and even looking after this.

 I've also been reading a fair bit from comics and comic annuals to the books I adored as a child probably cos in this messed up world I have the same needs for escaping what's around me.

 It seems the same needs for repetition, routines and security I had then apply now and in odd sense never really being fully adult seems to aid it as inevitably we have to try to work our way through this one day at a time.

Now for another one of these!

Time Together

Because this month I may not be away with friends due to you know what doesn't mean I cannot look back at those moments and some of the views I saw such as walking around this lake in East Anglia enjoying the tranquility of it all.

 Nor does it mean I forget the joy of being able to stroll around the grounds of where we usually stay enjoying the trees and watching the insect life on a warm Winter's day.

 It's the memories we make that help us get through difficult times such as those we are all facing presently.

It is to be hoped we'll be able to get together in February.

May Day 2020 round up

Hi. Today is May Day, which normally is a "bank holiday" but because the groan ups decided they wanted to mark V.E. Day which was seventy-five years ago instead decided to cancel May Day bank holiday and make Friday the V.E. Day  a bank holiday in its place.

They were somewhat late in doing so so many diaries and calendars are not actually correct and not as much of was planned for that is actually going ahead anyway.

 From my point of view then I'm running with what we'd normally do such as holding events in town or village greens and schools such as Maypole dancing which I loved for the music and dancing  spectacular it is as illustrated here by the girls in lovely blue dresses.

Unfortunately like with most things this year Covid-19 has been a party pooper spoiling to such events so in many places we've not been able to do this but I insist on holding to the tradition and the memories.

 While I was out exercising under the current restrictions this weekend I came by this lovely specimen and captured it with my Sony compact camera with the air much cleaner than usual so I could hear and smell the countryside rather than car fumes and the roar of the motorway nearby.

 I was pleased to see the return of Holly Hobbie on CBBC in the second series last Tuesday following the story of the teen schoolgirl country singer her friends and trying to "be the change" in her small country town.

The series has a good heart, does raise some interesting ethical points along the way but above all is entertaining with well drawn good characters avoiding stereotypes.

I seldom watch groan up television cos it does nothing for me .

Weekend musings

As arrangements despite the emergency to mark Easter continue and attempts to even stop the sale of Easter Eggs I have been continuing to go out enjoying as best you can the Spring.
Indeed on Friday I had to persuade a wasp to buzz off as it was attracted to my Tuque's colours illuminated by the bright sunlight as it came flying of a hedge and toward me as I was walking around.
It might of been these fine things it was really after that I thought looked really rather lovely in front of a wall on communal grass by the sidewalk.
I'm continuing with viewing Malory Towers which should start showing today, April 6th direct on the CBBC channel which all being well I should be able to get in HD as we'll of gotten a new Panasonic colour HD tv to replace the old 32" Sony.

That's wired to my Blu-Ray Player and the YouView BT Sports box so apart from seeing sporting events better when this emergency is over with, I can watch this baa'ingly funny blu ray with better quality

Nature week

While recovering here I did nip outdoors and noticed apart from ground frost something else was starting to put in an appearance

 Yes breaking down things was Fungi near hedgerows and trees when I went out to fetch the newspaper and a few things for Sunday's breakfast passing as I do our bits of meadow that break up the nondescript ribbon development along the main road, keeping some sense of human scale.

 It has been pretty mild up here so there hasn't been much of indication of The Fall as in gorgeous coloured leaves on and off the deciduous trees although it won't be long I suspect before they put in an appearance.
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Wet weekends

Yesterday was rather wet so I  didn't get around to taking any pictures which was my intention and indeed I was lucky to spot a moment where I could slot in a walk in the drizzle but while doing so I did see a few things that came to me.

I've always had a fascination with snails and I saw rather a lot of them not just in gardens as you would expect but actually on the curb and pavement where they had paused so I had to be careful not to accidentally break the shells which is easy to do.

While aesthetically I don't like slugs I do find them fascinating to watch making their moves taking in their food stuffs on a well lubricated trail.
Also Orson, the literary cat was hanging about wanting food and shelter having been out overnight looking a little bedraggled from the wind and rain that woke me about 5 am on Sunday morning.
We had quite a lot of thunder and lightning too which isn't my idea of fun.

Things to do on a rainy day

As I write this, it's really been something of a damp squid of a weekend with very heavy rain, power issues in parts of the country and no good for being out of doors which as I said the other week is really more my thing.
Instead I've been otherwise engaged with more mundane things such as sorting out bookmarks on the Chromebook because my bookmarks go back at around 2006/7 being imported from machine to machine regardless of browser over that period.
Sometimes it can be good for finding a old post about something I recall particularly if it has some otherwise hard to find information in it.
On the other hand you may draw a blank because either the site no longer exists like Google + or it's a persons blog on a site that has been removed or they shut down such as on Tumblr and so serves no real purpose.
The great thing about Google Accounts is being synchronized it doesn't matter on what you view on, all things like bookmarks and password changes are all saved across the board so I thought it was a good use of time this weekend.
One thing you can do is still life photography of either objects like coins, models or like this, flowers.
I also listened to a few recordings I hadn't played in a while while I wait for some new old titles to slowly come in being ordered from various separate suppliers.
 

Time to be out

Seeing we had some good weather not unsurprisingly I have been out of doors a far bit  this last week or so and one thing I always found handy was the able to read a map and to take a smallish one me in case either I get lost which can happen or for extra details about the terrain or area  that might prove most useful.

One thing I always looked forward to seeing when I was younger were the Dandelion's coming out after Winter even though as you can see in this photograph the soil is fairly dry underneath, they  are all out and I can enjoy blowing the seeds away which always seemed magical to me.
It was taken on my new camera last weekend.
I shall most probably be out distributing our communities monthly magazines on foot this week depending on how soon they get to me from the printers as it's sometimes as a bit of dash to get them done in time.
I don't know about you but sometimes it seems there aren't enough hours in a day to cram it all in but somehow we just manage it all right, making for a rich life.

Floral relaxation

It has been a somewhat turbulent week not least today with current affairs so I'd sooner move on to something more soothing

 Although we're alternating between seasons having had when I typed this snowfall followed by brilliant sunshine followed by drizzle it is proving fine for blossoms out of doors and indeed even indoor ones as these flowers I had for my birthday are surviving well.
I find looking at flowers very relaxing just having to change the water every so often and typically they last a few weeks by which point I usually replace them.
I'm slowly but surely working through the PIP form with just a couple of bits to do before photocopying and mailing it back

January round up

It's been something of a mixed week with being a bit busy with the build up to February tidying up the desktop of the old Windows laptop and things .
Apart from about six days of low temperature it has been a fairly mild winter here to the point that I noticed while out some of spring flowers had started to burst out of the school gardens I pass most days here and in fact going toward a patch of woodland, you can actually see the pussy willows and catkin out which was something always loved as a kid.

There has been some strong stormy days out mixed in this so apart from running my Tumblr account and visiting the odd site, I have been doing some colouring.

 No that's not a miracle, I do actually have fingers not that they work so well, trying hold that page down as I took a picture of it with an old camera lens mount in its box holding done a sheet of spare paper.
Yes, they are small fingers too so I have to wear girls gloves as groan up ones are too big!!!
The lambs were out this weekend as I walked past their field and their was quite a bit of activity on the bird front.
I did also redo some minidiscs one using an early edition of a title that sounded better and had another bunch of six brand new blank ones arrive here to keep me busy.

365 days around The World of Joanne Chan 2018 style

This last years has had its up and downs, there appears little point in not acknowledging that and sometimes even mixed in each other.
For one thing it was a year I did spend  lot more time out of doors observing nature, going on walks interacting more with people face to face getting more physically and mentally resilent even if it was also the year I came close to leaving this world in wooden box being seriously ill thanks to an infection.
It is quite probably that increased resilience coupled with with my treatment made a big difference in its outcome.
Fun times were spent at littles camp in February and July just switching off from adult concerns to just enjoying playing, having games and quiz's  and actually going on walks outside together enjoying the countryside.
One thing I'd like to see more of is just going beyond our immediate surroundings visiting a nearby town or attraction together.There's a world beyond four walls.
It was a year I listened more to classical music with a high proportion of it being bought on better sounding Super Audio cds often newer recordings but also a few carefully mastered older ones.
Collecting classical music is nearly always a long term affair as you explore not just all the works in a variety of genres by any one composer but also interpretations by various conductors and orchestras.
I hugely enjoyed the recordings conducted by Sir Andrew Davis of Gustav Holst's music  that goes so much beyond his ever popular Planets Suite for the British label Chandos.
It was also the year I upped the quality of recorded visual content with the addition of a HD Blu Ray disc player and replaced a number of dvd's with their much sharper blu ray ones not least my Studio Ghibi full length animes.
It's hard for some to comprehend the distance we have travelled from our adequate VHS tapes that lack really fine detail we had since the popularization of owning home video content in the 1980's , the advent of the dvd in 1998 and more recently the Blu Ray that's the same size but being able to store more data uses it to give some the sharpest images we've ever seen at home.
The year ended with the annual GHS bonfire and Halloween weekend party which was fun as ever and for me a delightfully little christmas.
Thanks for everybody the people in cglre/liltot, the asb's of tumblr, the furries of f.a, the g.t site and associated littles, the i.k chat and finally my bff for your contributions for making 2018 a great year.

Fall Sightings 2018 Part 2

In what seems more like a last hurrah of spring  rather than The Fall, I've been out quite a bit this last week noticing things.

 We're getting in classic golden fall territory in our local wood withe the leaves going a coppery colour and a good number down to ground level making a colourful carpet.

Strange things having been going on as while as you can see the leaves are starting to decay actually on Saturday Afternoon they were smothered with at least three Ladybirds per leaf and indeed I had to carefully scoop one that had attached itself to me and put it on a leaf.

There were two spotted ones and the Harlequin ladybird.

The trees at the end of the  lane are starting to go go coppery as those just opposite already have

 Down at ground level you can see the leaf carpet around each trunk and to where Zee-Zee's mates were spotted running up and down the branches in a carefree way.

It's been a great week out.

Fall sightings 2018

This week in the crazy world of me we actually go outside at the start of the Fall where within a built up area you actually get to see things you'd normally have to go a bit beyond down the country lanes for.

 I wouldn't go mentioning requiring a new jumper in the presence of these two as they may well Baa you out within seconds. They're within a hundred yards of a community centre but it doesn't feel like it.

 If anyone ever accused these two of horsing about they'd have quite answer to that as I careful supported the camera with the lens set at 105mm in uneven light and later on adjusted the exposure a little.
It was around here I once almost lost a camera bag to curious horses!

 There's nothing like crisp leaves and sunlight although I used to cheat in the old days armed with the Olympus OM4 and use the TTL flash with a warm up filter sometimes to get the kind of golden colour cast I like.