Wintery Spring ~ Links & Likes.

Welcome to my first Links & Likes of 2018. This is a series where I like to include some links to a few posts I have ♡ recently.

February is a funny month. Spring is just around the corner( hopefully!) ,yet I still feel like hibernating! With snow, sleet, rain and hale all forcasted over the next few days in the North West, can you blame me if I cosy up under the duvet and snooze for the forseeable….

Yet I do have plans. 😁 Febuary is Snowdrop Season and I would really love to witness these first signs of Spring in all their gorgeous glory. Here in Lancashire Lytham Hall welcomes all to wander round their lovely grounds over the next couple of Weekends. Frames high-light the blooms for picture opportunities. Hornby Castle near Lancaster is opening to the public for Snowdrop Walks on the 17th & 18th February. Elsewhere The National Trust has details of early blooming gardens on their website. Hopefully I will be out and about searching for snowdrops in the next few days.

Other plans I have for February include a Ghost Walk at Houghton Tower and a Girls Night In Clothes Swap Party. So really, hibernation is not actually an option. 😄

Snowdrops at Lytham Hall. Image off Pinterest.

Christine has been playing Colour Bingo with her camera. A great idea for a blog post!

Amanda visits a Train Station , where an iconic Romantic Movie was filmed in the 1940s.

Louise marks the beginning of Spring ( Imbolc ) at the Marsden Fire Festival.

I love Rosie’s post about close encounters with cute seal pups. Aw.

This Tea Time Mango Cake looks and sounds delicious on Shilpi’s blog. 🍰

The Typewriter Girl has some perfect ideas for filling February with fun and light. 🙂

Its going to be A Dog’s Life for Gina, as she prepares to welcome a cute new arrival. 🙂

What are your plans to brighten up a dreary February?

Thanks for dropping by. X

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Hawthorn’s June Photo Scavenger Hunt.

Hurrah I found a Photo Scavenger Hunt recently, courtesy of Hawthorn at I Live, I love, I Craft, I am Me.  So I thought I would join in for June!  I must admit, I have borrowed a couple from the archives, on this , my first attempt. But mostly my photos were taken in the past four weeks. 🙂

The Setting Sun. Crystal Cove near Tofino on Vancouver Island. Wow 11 years ago!  Oh to go again and look for bears, whales and giant woodpeckers. 🙂  You can see some of my memories of Canada  here.

Local Wild Place. I guess if I am not walking the dog down the fields, my nearest local wild place is Clitheroe Castle and it’s park. I’m lucky enough to live a stones throw away, and its a great place for watching birds , squirrels and butterflies.

Mug of your favourite drink in the garden.  There is actually a drink in my mug. Honest! I wouldn’t say coffee is my favourite drink, but I certainly consume more of it than I ever used to. In fact before I met my other half ( many moons ago) , I didn’t drink coffee at all. Now I am on the hard stuff. Strong and Black! 😉

My kind of beautiful. My beautiful nephew and niece.

Look to the skies. A holiday snap from our stay in Norfolk. Taken from the pier at Cromer. I love the slightly moody sky in this picture.

Rain. A Yellow Flag Iris covered in raindrops. This was in Norfolk too, on the Sandringham estate. A very rainy walk !

 

 

Mini Beasts. Spot the shiny green beetle. Out with Hugo on a miserable rainy afternoon, a glistening green jewel caught my eye.

Something Summery. Beautiful Beach huts at Old Hunstanton in Norfolk. I love Beach Huts!  There are not many in lovely Lancashire , though St Annes has some. The Norfolk coast has it’s fair share though. 🙂

Urban Wildness.  Swans and cygnets on the canal in Skipton. 🙂

My Own Choice. My family! Minus the crazy cat. Its me, Wil and Hugo outside The Golden Lion in Hunstanton, Norfolk.

If you wish to join in too in July , check out the blog link above . Catch you soon!

February Photo An Hour.

So  before I got on with the challenge I set myself of giving up Facebook,Instagram and Pinterest for a month( 24 hours now and counting! ), I just had to join in with Janey’s  and Louisa’s  monthly Photo an Hour on Instagram.  The day chosen was Saturday which turned out to be pretty wet and miserable, but still a pretty good day all in all. Here’s my day by the hour.

8am. I’m up already as the pet’s decided to pounce all over us. Left Wil in bed as he had a bit of a heavy night out Friday. We are watching Breakfast Telly though Hugo is already thinking ahead to his walk..

9am. Slinky is watching the rain outside. And so am I! I know I have to get out in it soon. 😦

10am. Out and about. This is one wet dog! But he was enjoying himself. Honest!

11am. I’m home and tidying the bedroom. Slinky looks like she has been reading ‘I Let You Go’ by Clare Mackintosh. Well i do recommend it. It’s a real page turner thriller with a twist I did not see coming.

1pm. Oooops missed the Noon photo but this is my lunch. I’m out having a catch up with a friend. Were at Whalley Abbey in the cafe there. Yummy jacket potato.:)

2pm. Soggy snowdrops in the Abbey grounds. Still raining!

3pm. Home and a spot of reading.

4pm. Honestly my dog always looks depressed when I take a picture of him. Love you Hugo.x

5pm. Wil has treated me to tea in The Emporium. We are sharing a cheese board and an Antipasti board. Food Heaven!

7pm. We spend a couple of hours in the Emporium, where all surrounding furnishings are for sale.Even the chairs we were sat on!

Later… At a New Order tribute with friends. I kept forgetting to take any more photos. But a good night was had by all. 🙂

Hope you had a good weekend and Thanks for dropping by.x

 

2015 in Photos.

January ~  A week away on the Cumbrian coast. Hugo, still a pup was frightened of water then. My first sighting of snowdrops.

February  ~  The first of far to many Afternoon teas in 2015. A valentine’s inspired picnic bench afternoon tea no less!  Hugo growing so fast really loves his walks.

March ~  I have been recording my bird sightings in the local park all year. I love this picture of three breakfasting bluetits. My friend Fi celebrates her 40th with afternoon tea and drinks in Manchester.

April ~ Out celebrating  my sister’s birthday with Afternoon tea of course…at Mitton Hall. My favourite bird pics this month are this mistle thrush and kestrel.

May ~  I went to London with my friend Becky and we dined with cats at Lady dinah’s cat emporium ( cat cafe in Bethnal Green) and enjoyed a Mad Hatter’s Afternoon tea at the Sanderson in Soho. I also went to Skipton Waterways festival in Yorkshire and messed about on boats.

 

 

June  ~ I took part in the #30dayswild challenge and tried to connect with nature every day. It was a fun challenge and made me appreciate our beautiful British wildlife even more.

 

 

 

 

 

July ~  Two camping trips in July including one in a Shepherd’s hut in the Lake District. One of my favourite parts of the country, I love the Lakes and Hugo does too. 🙂

August ~  Hugo celebrates his first Birthday ( with us of course! ) in a Beach Hut in Lytham St Annes. Afternoon tea at the Glass house in Ribchester and cocktails at Hotel Gotham in Manchester are two ways that I marked my long service celebrations. The flower is a lovely scabious on a country walk.One of my favourite wild flowers.

September ~  I persuaded the OH to take me to Vintage By The Sea in Morecambe. It was a gorgeous day too. Elderberries were abundant this year.

October ~  Made soul cakes for Halloween. Went to a Cider Festival and knocked the famous Brougham Door Knocker in Cumbria.

November ~  My Birthday and what did I do to celebrate??  Got together with the girls for Afternoon Tea. Are you surprised!  A very scrummy one at Whalley Abbey. Recommended!  And a holiday by the sea on the Yorkshire Coast this time. 🙂

December ~  I took part in Janet’s Thrifty Christmas Gift swap and one of the lovely gifts I received was a pack of three stripey mice to make. Slinky is looking forward to me making them! Hugo reluctantly models his Santa hat. Christmas Day is not Christmas Day without the Christmas morning Dog walk. And i enjoyed participating in a Drink and Draw evening in Blackburn. 🙂

So there’s my year in photo’s. It was a pretty good one actually! I’ve been a very lazy blogger and not included any links to any of my posts…..but hey, I will do better in 2016. Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wildlife Wishlist ~ a look back.

Cute Bunny () ()

Back at the start of 2014 I wrote my Wildlife Wishlist. I hoped I would catch at least three of the following animals and birds on camera…..

Jay, Tawny Owl, Hare, Curlew, Pied Wagtail, Sand Martin, Jackdaw, Fox, Goldfinch, Bullfinch,Lapwing,Starling, Kestrel, Red wing, Swallow, Roe deer, Badger, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper and Kingfisher.

Female bullfinch

Me and my little Lumix didn’t have the best look with the list….but I am hoping for great things this year. After raiding the old Change bottle, myself and the other half have purchased a Lumix FZ72 which has a 60x Optical zoom. Hopefully when I’m out and about ( with or without Hugo the pup) and spy that shy jay in the oak tree over the stream, I might have a greater chance of adding him to my photo collection. 🙂 For now here are a few snaps from last years posts.

Robin.

Damsel Fly.

Long tailed tit.Soo cute.:)

I was so excited to see the rare Bee orchids that grow in the Salthill reserve. Don’t the flowers look like bees. 🙂

Beautiful moss.

Sammy the snail.

Common spotted orchids.

Little Egret, Bolton le sands.

Thanks for dropping by. 🙂

Thursday Favourites and a Blogging Question.

Well what has put a smile on my face recently ?  Life has been pretty good of late. I can’t really complain. I’m a wee bit scint ~ I don’t think I’ll ever get used to getting paid four weekly ( even after all this time! ) , but apart from that…..everything is tickety boo. 🙂

Facebook Can Be Great ~ Recently social media has really helped my friends who run a farm animal rescue centre. They have found themselves in the awful situation of having to move and rehome most of the animals. Finding loving homes for farm animals can prove difficult so I’m  greatful that Facebook especially is proving to be a great way of spreading the word. Today the first of their hens have gone to a  new home with some lovely people. That makes me happy! If you can help ( the farm is based near Settle in Yorkshire) their email is gbfarmproject@gmail.com

Blossom 🙂
How beautiful is this Hawthorn blossom I spied on a walk on Monday. Nature is so breathtaking at times.

Eighties Band down the Local !

Was out on Friday and we ended up seeing 80’s band The Blow Monkeys in Clitheroe. All a bit random. They were quite big in about 1987, around the same time as Curiousity Killed the Cat. Their biggest hit ( No, it wasn’t their only Hit !) was called Diggin Your Scene. Do you remember them?  Anyway I enjoyed a bit of Eighties Pop nostalga. Showing my age now!

Jane and Lisbon got together. ❤

And I was really pleased with the season 6 finale of one of my favourite shows The Mentalist on Tues night.  Patrick Jane and Theresa Lisbon have admitted their feelings for each other finally. Yay !  I can’t wait until season seven to see how this storyline develops. 🙂

Boo hoo I may not be able to blog now until after my next payday. 😦

Seems I have nearly used up all my storage space for photos and images on WordPress….and I’m going to have to pay for more space If I want to carry on. 😦
Has anyone else used up theirs? You find out by going into Media on your dashboard. Photographs are a big part of my blog so I’m a bit gutted to be honest ( maybe everything is not all tickety boo then! ) ~ any re assurances would be appreciated. 🙂

Bye for Now.

March ~ Photo an Hour.

Janey from the blog Is That You Darling is attempting to complete one of these Photo an Hour posts every month and asks her fellow bloggers and instagram users to get snap~happy too. 😀 I may not manage this every month but here are my pics from Saturday’s challenge. If you wish to join in with Janey in April look out for her #photoanhour posts on Twitter or check out her lovely lifestyle blog.

My Photos every hour.

7-30am ~ Woke up much to early for a Saturday morning. Coffee’s on.

8-30am ~ Slinky got up then went back to bed. Cheeky!

9-30am ~ wrapping up a teacup candle to send to a lovely new home.

10-30am ~ A friend called and asked us if we could walk her dogs Bel and Bexley. They are both Bedlington terriers but look and act totally different. We took them to Brungerly Park. I had forgotten how exausting dog walking can be!

11-30am ~ The resident Kingfisher down Brungerly. 😀

12-30pm ~ Doogs dropped off and we were starving. Treated my Other half to lunch at my fave tea rooms in town ‘ Callooh! Callay! The lamb, apple and mint pie is heartily reccomended.

1-30pm ~ The crazy rain and hale showers outside meant staying for pudding in Callooh and snapping pics of Alice In Wonderland teapots. Any exscuse!

2-30pm ~ Back home and booking our city break in Paris. We are now officially going to Paris. Oooh La la!

3-30pm ~ Chillin out with a couple of episodes of Bones.

4-30pm ~ My first ever attempt at a bun ( of the non edible variety!)Thanks for showing me how Jo. I have led a sheltered life!

5-30pm ~ Headed to the pub for a couple of pints. 🙂

6-30pm ~ Found a book by actor Ethan  Hawk in the pub. Random.

7-30pm ~ My last pic of my day. Tea and a dvd. Watched Catching Fire which i enjoyed but Wil fell asleep. 🙂

So there you have it. Of course I am awake early once again and have managed to blog this at an unsociably early hour for a Sunday. Can’t wait to check out everyone elses. 🙂

Photo An Hour. :)

Yesterday I took part in a photo an hour challenge started up by Janey at Is that You Darling  , linking with other snap happy folk at #photoanhour on twitter. I instagramed my way through the day, atempting to post a pic on the hour, every hour. I enjoyed the challenge! So here is what I got up to on Saturday. I’m sorry I didn’t have a more adventurous day…….but it does include cute kittens and a new frock. 🙂

8am ~ woken up by my cat Slinky. She had been demanding breakfast  noisely for at least an hour!

9am ~ Wil surprised me by nipping out for croissants. Yummy breakfast.

10am ~ Nipped into town to do some errands and noticed the lovely spring flowers outside the florist.

11am ~ One of my errands was getting some new passport pics. Well they turned out absolutely awful! I look like a depressed convict. And these were the best ones !

12pm ~ To cheer myself up after passport pics trauma I ending up buying a new daisy print dress in town.

1pm ~ On my way to a friends to cuddle her cute kittens. The sky is blue. Hurrah!

2pm ~ Here are Mau and Sisi. Gorgeous girls. They are five weeks old and are being hand reared by my friend Lisa and her family after their mother abandoned them. This was one of the rare times they sat still. 🙂

3pm ~ Admired the vintage vending machines at Lisa’s house. Very Cool !

4pm ~ Popped to the supermarket to buy tea supplies and some pink wine to take to a birthday party later.

5pm ~ Time for a soak in the bath with a lush bath bomb. 😀

6pm ~ Beef Buritos for tea.

7pm ~ Posting this pic has reminded me , I need to check this. Who knows I may be a millionaire !

8pm ~ A cheeky Amaretto before going to a friends 40th.

10pm ~ or maybe later. A pic with the birthday girl. Happy 40th Fiona. X

Well thats it. After this last pic I would have been classed as drunk in charge of a camera. But I enjoyed the challenge and can’t wait for the next one. 🙂

And I had better go and check that ticket!

Out of the Blue.

Feeling Blue ? I thought I would look through my photos and find inspiration from this fresh colour that lends itself so well to summer and winter. I would say Blue is my favourite colour. 🙂

Early morning blue sea one summer at Durdle door, Dorset.

Blue blooms in boots. 🙂

Blue wall art, Essaouira, Morocco.

Out of the blue. fancy a brew? 🙂

Bluetit enjoys breakfast.

Blue sea, Blue sky ~ Sorrento, Italy

Blue fishing boats, Essaouira,Morocco.

Beautiful statue, Island st Honourait, France

Sniff the blue flower. 🙂

What is your favourite colour?

Wildlife Wish List :)

Mallards.

Another year and another Wildlife Wish List that I would love to capture on camera. I only started taking my camera out with me on walks a couple of years ago. Since then I have been lucky enough to see all sorts of wildlife……but I’m not always quick enough to get a decent picture. There are certain animals and birds especially, who always manage to evade my unfortunate photographic skills. 🙂

Foxglove.

My camera is pretty good , it is only a Panasonic Lumix with a 12x Optical zoom which I have had for nearly four years. Maybe its time for an upgrade. I like the fact that it is a small camera but maybe I should go with something with a better zoom. I’m rubbish with all the technical terms !

Green Woodpecker in Silverdale. Wish I could have captured his gorgeous colourful plumage.

Anyway here are a few animals and birds who live locally but who scarper quickly when they see me coming!

Jay, Tawny Owl, Pied Wagtail, curlew, Fox, Roe deer, Hare, Lapwing, Sand Martins, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Tree Creeper, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Kestrel, Starling, swallow, Jackdaw, Redwing, Badger, Kingfisher, Hedgehog,

I would be happy if I manage to get photo’s of at least three of the species on my list this year. 🙂

Bluetit enjoying lunch.

I did manage to get a few shots of Herons last year. Hurrah!

Peacock Butterflies in the park last summer.

Tufted Ducks at RSPB Leighton Moss

My fave all time birdy pic. A camera shy Red legged Partridge hotfooting it away from the paparazzi. 😉

So if you see someone hiding in the hedgerows it may just be me ( Nerdy bird) hoping for that shot of an elusive Bullfinch. Lol. ;0)