Hubby's Pretty Pictures

As I mentioned (somewhere) in the previous post (or possibly the comments), Hubby took a few pictures of the bluebells and woods too. I think you'll agree that these pics don't need frilly prose to make them look good. So all I'll say is - Enjoy!
This was taken in The Bluebell Wood in Ashridge on the road to Ivinghoe Beacon.

Ashridge, Bucks.

Mossy logs and bluebells in the woods near our house.

A very English woodland path.

Beautiful green sycamore leaves.

If you took the time to look down, the woodland floor had plenty of gems to offer.
Bluebell.

Buttercup.

Woodland Anemone.

Pretty Pink.

And so ends our little nature walk through Springtime in England.

Woodland Wandering

It struck me as I walked through the woods recently, that there is a magical quality about woodland that you don't find in any another landscape. It's no wonder that fairy stories grow up from this environment. Everything about them stirs the imagination. Free from the pollution of humanity they feel more purely natural and yet, so strangely supernatural. The moss under the trees looks and feels like a luxurious natural carpet - fit for Titania as she plots against her treacherous Oberon. Every step you take is accompanied by an orchestra of bird calls while the breeze gently breathes through the trees.

It is at its most bewitching in spring when the bluebells cover the ground with a purple mist. The sun is still penetrating the burgeoning canopy filling the space with dappled light. You can almost hear the giggles of the fairy folk. There is evidence of them around if you take the time to look carefully.
This is unmistakably the front door to a castle.

A meeting place perhaps - a fairy school.

And what of this? Am I alone in thinking it looks like a discarded spell book or tome of woodland wisdom?

Another thing that I love about the woods is the way that nature has decorated it. The ground is uneven and strewn with debris. Knotted roots plot to trip you. I swear they move and are never in the same place twice. I have a theory that the trees and woodland creatures are in cahoots and our stumbles are their entertainment as they hide in the branches.
The wind plays a big part in forming the woodland and our wood suffered terribly at her hands in the hurricane of 1987. However the myriad of fallen trees have added the most incredible structural beauty to the place. It's as though Nature herself fancied a bit of sculpture.


The combination of sunlight passing trough the canopy while the breeze moves the branches means that there is a constantly changing palette of shadows being cast. The tiny stream that meanders and trickles through this enchanting place is the perfect place to watch them. Sometimes it's so perfectly peaceful you could almost drift away...
But there's always a reminder that we've got to keep going.
Pooch doesn't like to stay still for long.

Howdy!

So… I'm not dead or anything. I thought I'd let you know that. I'm alive and … well … sneezing. Ah the sun, she came out and brought with her all the little polleny harbingers of misery. I'm a bit miffed actually because it's a bit early. I normally get through most of May (which is my favourite month of the year) without the snot monster coming for me. I'm only hoping that as it's started early, it might finish early too. Sniff.

Other than that I'm quite busy at work. This is the time of year for assessments and reviews and planning and all that stuff. It's a bit knackering and time-consuming but mostly it's thought consuming. My mind is so far away from writing that I haven't been able to cobble a blog post together for a couple of weeks. And I have loads of things to write about. I have my annual bluebell post to do (I have 2 posts of photos; the first are the crappy ones I took of my woodland walk and the second are the wonderful ones that Hubby took), I have a post planned to review Cindy Pon's Silver Phoenix, a similar one for Sarwat Chadda's Devil's Kiss - not to mention a very thoughtful and reflective post on household appliances. I just have to find the time..

Ah time ... that slippery little bugger.

In the meanwhile if you don't hear from me - blame the Koala. I hear she's got her claws out and my entrails may soon be on display for all. Sorry McK. It's just that I have this thing called a life...

OW! Bloody hell those things are sharp!

A Lesson in Priorities

I was doing a group activity today at school. It was to teach the children listening skills. I gave them lots of shapes and the idea was that they listened very carefully to my instructions and arranged the shapes to make a picture. At the end we would compare their picture with mine and see how close they came.

The kids actually did very well. Children of their age (4 and 5) often have trouble following instructions as their attention tends to wonder half way through.

Me: "OK children for today's activity you are going to have to listen very, very carefully."

It was at this point that Nutty started interrupting telling me that he knew everything and anyway he'd already done this and his was the best.

Me: "Actually you haven't done this one. What we're doing now is completely different to the game you were playing with during break time. Now you must be very quiet and listen very carefully…"

Nutty: "Anyway I'm the best at listening and I know what to do already."

Me: "I haven't told you what to do yet…"

At this point Nutty turned right around and just talked right over me as I was saying…

"…being very quiet and listening to the instructions I give you is the most important thing with this activity."

I looked at him sternly. He continued to chat away and pay absolutely no attention whatsoever.

"Nutty!"

He looks at me a bit surprised. "Yes?"

"What did I just tell you was the most important thing?"

Without blinking he replied " Urrrrrmmm … Jesus?"


I couldn't talk for at least two minutes I was laughing so hard.

The (Mostly) Minions Meet

Well Sunday was very exciting. I took myself off to London to meet up with some very dear friends from Blogland. We met up at Giraffe on London's Southbank at about midday. It's a very nice part of the world. The river was to our left, the London Eye a hop and skip away, the Tower of London within sight and best of all the sun shone so we could sit outside.
(l-r: Jan, Robin, Gina, Neil, me, Sylvia)

So who was there? Well me (obviously), FairyHedgehog (Gina) and her wonderful husband Neil, Robin and her very lovely sister-in-law Jan, pjd (Peter) and Sylvia. We had such a good time. I was an honorary minion for the day.

Because I didn't have anybody to organise but myself, I was, for once, early. But not the earliest. FHH and Neil were there already and had bagsied a table for us indoors. It's funny, I was worried that I wouldn't recognize anyone but as soon as I spotted Gina I knew her immediately. We said many times over the afternoon how it felt like a reunion rather than a first meeting and so it was from the beginning. The first thing I did (after the intros) was order a bowl of spicy wedges because I was starving. Then I proceeded to choke on one. As I mentioned to Gina, this happens a lot to me. I have no idea why but I imagine it has something to do with talking and eating simultaneously and their basic incompatibility. As we got to know each other (and I downed a glass of water while Gina was probably wondering if the Heimlich Manoeuvre was going to be necessary) we learned that Robin and Jan had arrived and nabbed a table outside. It was such a lovely day that we moved lock stock outside and as we approached the table Robin yelled "Pete!" (and I wasn't even wearing a hat) because Peter had arrived too.

Then the talking started.
(l-r: me, Peter, Sylvia) "What's do you call like - whatsit- a sortof river that runs in an ocean?" Oh yes! - I was THAT eloquent.

Sylvia arrived soon after and then we ordered and the wine started flowing. And the talking continued and the wine continued to flow and flow. Gina and Neil had to leave mid afternoon but the rest of us stayed til 6ish. So much wine. We had a rather dishy waiter who looked after us with great humour and didn't object once to being objectified. Bless him. (That may have been just me though). Peter showed us the correct way to get the attention of waiting staff. You make eye contact and raise your right finger in the air (like ET). We found that this method was most effective when Peter was sitting beside you doing it at the same time.
(Robin: "Just let me put on my sunglasses so people will recognise me.")

Honestly I haven't a clue what we were taking about but we talked a lot. I can't tell you how much fun I had. We remembered all our absent friends. (There were hugs Aerin). There was even talk about possibly doing the same thing Stateside next year. San Francisco was mentioned (and Vegas!). How cool would that be?

My attempts at working out the bill were laughable. The phrase "That can't be right - can it?" was said a lot. In the end I'm 100% certain of only one thing. I owe Gina and Neil lunch and when we all meet again the first bottle of wine is on me. (OK that's two things!)
(The numbers were swimming I tell you - and speaking a foreign language).

I managed to totter back to Hubby and the kids without too much difficulty. I had a cracking headache afterwards but that's what analgesics are for by golly!

Can't wait for next time!

In the fog of all that was said on Sunday I'm pretty sure everyone said they didn't mind having their photo posted. If however you find that you'd rather not feature here then let me know and I'll take it down forthwith.
The top two pics are courtesy of Gina and the one of Robin was taken using Hubby's phone which I had great intellectual difficulty with. Wine and technology - not a good mix!

Thanks for all the Awards!

Here's a quiet five minutes in an otherwise rushed week - time enough to do a long overdue post.

It's awards season on the blogsphere and I have had a few come my way for which I am chuffed to pieces. However I've done absolutely nothing whatsoever in terms of accepting these wonderful thoughts because, to be honest, I am feeling a bit awkward about what to do next.

This whole notion of singling people out because they are special has the downside of leaving others out - which is totally uncool. And yet I'm pleased as punch that I was chosen. So you see the dilemma. I want to pass on the good stuff but I don't want to unwittingly make anyone else feel unspecial.

However those who have gone before have provided me with the answer. So to everyone who has awarded al their awards to everyone who visits their blog I say "thank you" . You have provided me with the means to accept these wonderful awards and not be mean in the process. I steal your idea with gratitude.

First off to all my visitors I award the Light in my Soul award. This was given to me by Absolute Vanilla - so long ago I'm embarrassed to admit it. Thank you AV. Like you, the readers here at Whittersville are warm, loving and giving and I pass this on happily to each and every one.




From Bee of Bee Drunken I have received no less than TWO Awards. Again the first was quite a while ago - before the Oscars actually - which she gave me for being a blog that makes her LAUGH, for VOICE and for giving good feedback (it's very easy to do that because her blog posts are so good).


She gave me another more recently which is brilliant. Brilliant in that I'm thrilled to receive it and also brilliant because well … read for yourselves…

The aim of the Award is to acknowledge writing excellence in the spirit of Jane Austen's genius in amusing and delighting readers with her irony, humor, wit, and talent for keen observation. Recipients will uphold the highest standards in the art of the sparkling banter, witty repartee, and gentle reprove.

Then from Aerin I got this - which, if you read the explanation, is also totally awesome. I'm touched - I really am.

This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award.

Then to top it all off earlier this week The Whirlmeister himself awarded me the Terrific Tootsies award for my Pooh post. It's the love of socks I think that did it or perhaps the heady combination of dancing toes and A.A. Milne. It's wonderful to twinkle in the eyes of another.



So thank you from the bottom of my bottom to Vanilla, Bee, Aerin and Whirl for your kindnesss, generosity and all round loveliness in giving me these awards. And thank you too to all my visitors who come by even though I'm very stop-starty these days. I pass these on, in gratitude, to you.

Hiatus

I'm going on a hiatus for a while. Probably for a few weeks. Have a Happy Easter.