Winter Walks and Crochet

The beautiful snow came - and I took my little red star for a walk!

The snow-plough pushed the snow to the side of the paths

It was firm and crunchy underfoot.

A few brave leaves still clung onto to the otherwise bare branches

and we got a blue sky that day.

Hurray!

I go for walks every day and was happy to see these baubles and garlands

still decorated a tree in someone's garden.

I finished my Temperature Blanket.

Each two-row square represents the coldest and the warmest temperature of each day.

There are 361 squares and five rows of the border

which make up the 366 days of 2020.

A Leap Year!

A few extra shots to show different aspects.

On the left we can see the colder days of the year,

they corresponded to December 2020.

The way this one is folded, we can see the warmer days.

Here we can see the winter, spring and summer.

I've never crocheted anything over a whole year before.

Sometimes, I didn't feel like doing it, especially during the summer,

but I'm glad I saw it through until the end.

It tells a colour story!

What I love about the month of January is that spring flowers can be found in the florist's shops.

Tulips are a great favourite and these deep pink ones with green stripes

were really beautiful.

Down to the park Mon Repos

to enjoy the tall trees and nature.

The fountain had icicles around it.

They were shining in the sunlight.

Some of them had broken off.

The red berries on the holly are always a welcome sight

Tall trees in the park against a sky of blue.

My little box of Hyacinths will soon be coming into flower

I've taken down the Christmas decorations to create a feeling of spring in my home.

A fresh dark pink cloth and a crocheted Mandala which I made sometime ago.

Tender pink tulips to complete a new look

and my Kindle e-reader which I've decided to use much more

as I already have far too many books and all my bookshelves are overloaded.

Let's keep our spirits up in going for regular walks, good reading

and uplifting films and documentaries.

Flowers in the home bring in some colour and beauty too.

 

Bringing Colour into the New Year!

I thought a swirl of luminous colours might do us all good today!

Now the days are getting longer, one minute at a time.

You would never guess that this abstract was created

from a crocheted piece in warm colours and yellow Christmas lights!

Here are the same lights with my red candle

I do love candles and lights to brighten my home at this time of the year.

This was a pretty sunrise from my balcony one morning

and later on that same day we had blue skies and dappled clouds.

Snug afternoons at home with a cup of tea and a new book to read.

The two lovely packets of tea were given to me by my grandson for Chrisltmas.

A mug of soup 

in a new mug from my daughter,

I'm trying out different recipes from the accompanying recipe book.

I love eating on my Christmas tablecloth too!

I promised myself to do daily walks, whatever the weather.

These tiny cyclamen growing under a big oak tree were a delight to discover.

I rather like early evening walks

and loved these fairy lights along the railings.

Even if the day has been grey, the evenings seem to develop into a lovely

shade of blue if you catch them just at the right moment

after sunset in what is known as the Blue Hour.

These pine branches were particularly lovely.

Back home again to enjoy some candlelight.

This pretty jam-jar lantern was made by my grandson when he was little.

We always used to do crafting together and had pressed some leaves

in my flower press to use them with coloured tissue paper. 

The photo of my grandson was in my nearby park when he was a baby.

I have left my scintillating Christmas cloth on the small table because it makes me happy!

On January 1st, I baked some Florentine biscuits with flaked almonds

brushed with chocolate and flavoured with grated orange rind.

I also opened a bottle of Clairette de Die

which is made from Muscat grapes and very bubbly, like champagne.

 My second Amaryllis plant came into bloom.

There were five huge blooms which lasted over a week.

I protected my plants on the balcony with pine branches

and this tiny yellow viola popped out through a little space one morning.

We did have a light snowfall in the night leading up to the first day of January.

So I took my little gnome and red mug for a walk to add some colour.

I rather liked this snowman which some children had built.

He's sitting on the very same table where we had our Christmas Eve

get-together to exchange Christmas gifts.

See us HERE

The snow started to melt quite quickly, but it looked perfect on the branches

with red berries.

One week ago, I bought some red tulips

and today I took a photo of them looking very beautiful still.

So despite the rather grey days we've been having

and cold temperatures too, around 1-2C  (33.8 Fahrenheit),

I've been enjoying lots of colour in my home.

One last swirl of colour, this time in blue.

Colour is so therapeutic, don't you agree?