Spring Paints the Land with Footsteps of Colour

             

Spring Paints the Land with Footsteps of Colour © Jeanie Kirkby 2010-03-30

The air smells different in spring. It has an aroma of new life emerging from the forest floor.

Wild garlic pervades my nostrils so much that I could dine out on the air.
So redolent of passing by on narrow streets full of tantalising Bistros on balmy summer holiday evenings.

Such memories rush back instantly, as I stroll along the lane, reminding me of warmer times.

Not this bleak iciness that we have all lived through this winter just gone. Not those long drawn out remarkable snowfalls which harassed us, and still do in some areas, these past winter months.

Now spring is releasing all her prolific artists of colour.

Daffodils, crocus, heathers and grape hyacinths lighten my steps and reward my sepia steeped winter eyes.

Celandines carpet the forest floor amongst the crunchy empty nutshells of the squirrels repasts, when they woke from their snug drays with rumbling stomachs, on the warmer sunnier days of their winter sleeps.

The roses are oozing their leaf buds from their stems with red and green tipped eagerness. The clematis too is joining the race.

The hazel trees unfurl their long catkins like golden furry caterpillars hanging out to dry on their branches.

SPRING PAINTS THE LAND WITH HER FOOTSTEPS OF COLOUR AND I AM HAPPY AGAIN.

Happy Easter Everyone!

I have the 'Munchkins' staying for a week so I may not be around very much.

Take care and have a lovely holiday.

Jeanie xx

Another poem of mine to save to Blogger.

The Greenwood Gate

(c) Jeanie Kirkby 2006

Step this way, and follow me;

A path leads down between those trees.

Towards a forests dank and dour

With leaf mould strewn about its floor.

Come, follow me through yonder door

Wherein you’ll find great views, I’m sure,

Which nature gave to you and me.

Her visions framed in every tree.

It’s free of charge; there are no fees

Through this green tunnel where you’ll see

Mirrored reflections on rippled ponds?

Or magic tap of magician’s wand?

Come; take in views that cost no more

Than sitting here upon a floor,

Of dappled shaded greenery;

With grass and moss as your settee.

Windflowers dance upon the floor,

As you step through the wooden door.

This links the outside world to here,

A place for calmness no more fear.

Wildlife abounds within this bower.

I’m sure you’ll browse for countless hours

In contemplative solitude,

Find peace at last in this green wood.

You’ll find out soon in quick point rhyme

How flowers in the forest will dance in time

To every heart beat that you drum

Knowing that here…. His kingdom’s come.

HUGS....JEANIE XX

Windows (Community Photo Challenge)

This month's photo challenge is "WINDOWS"....or "Window". The main focus is "window". You can use your imagination & be creative. You can use the window as a framing tool, but it must have a window in it. You can have one window, or many windows, but remember the focus is on windows.
Starts today & ends April 15th.
Post your windows on your blog, come back here, click the blue button, follow easy directions, post your image on here.

http://communityphotochallenge.blogspot.com/

I had aother window photo to put on here but for one reason or another that's beyond me...it didn't want to play the game.  I have spent ages trying to get this far. Anyway...I have had another go at this competition.

Why don't you try it yourself?

Jeanie xx

Just giving some old poems of mine a home on Blogger

A Spring Bouquet

When I woke to the Sunrise this morning

The birds sang their sweet sounding trill.

The flowers of the meadows and woodlands

Still slept upon my windowsill.

I had gathered them up in a bouquet

To place in full view for to see

Their beauty as nature unfolds them

With her magical mystery.

Their colours were vibrant, yet fleeting,

As their lives slowly faded away.

Their vitality was not for my keeping.

I could not, with love, make them stay.

Much better by far that they’d lingered

In the earth from whence they came forth.

To light up our lives for much longer

Than plucking them out with such force.

(c) Jeanie Kirkby

Images

by Jeanie Kirkby ©

Images around me seem

Just like phantoms in a dream.

Colours take on different hues

Fiery Red, Purple, Blues.

My daydream shimmers in the heat

Perusing dancing children’s feet.

Their arms linked through like metal chains

As they sing to God for Blessed rains

Their earth is parched there is no yield

Of grain or oats in these dry fields.

The famine hits both man and beast

As yet again there’ll be no feast.

The brazen sun beats down its rays

Drying out hope that soon one day

The parched and sandy fields will be

Places of verdant grass and trees.

© Jeanie Kirkby

Memories of Guy

                                   A Vist of  an Angels Wings on a warm summer's day.

 Memories of Guy (C) Jeanie Kirkby 2009

A long time has passed since we were last together walking in companionable silence.

A memory of you flits into view now as a bee drones by intent on gathering nectar in the summer’s sun.

A time when you almost got too close for comfort when you pressed your nose curiously towards another bee on a similar summer day.

Closing my eyes to capture that memory, familiar lanes and woodland paths appear ahead of me of our usual walk. I look through the gloaming and see you fleetingly as you slip from tree to tree. You are always tantalisingly ahead and out of reach.

Only your back is visible, yet I know that you smile widely. You were never without that lollopy smile. This familiar knowledge warms my heart and turns my lips up into a loving smile too. I sense that you are happy and mischievous.

Deaf to my calls, when you know it doesn’t matter if you answer them or not, you push onwards following the well worn familiar trail.  I just want to keep you close to me and in sight, but you slink from view with only the sound of your feet for me to follow.

I skliff  amongst the crunchy leaves you have disturbed with your feet. Smells of damp rotting forest floor detritus extrudes familiar earthy smells.

In view again in a clearing you haltingly lift your head briefly to the suns rays while simultaneously sniffing the air, then you skip on, still elusive.

Today, I am reminded of those walks where we shared our love and companionship, listening and watching for the thrum of life in our beloved woodland.

The sun has warmed the earth for yet another year.

Floral perfumes hang redolent in the balmy air tempting me to breathe in deeply and absorb them into my spirit.

Just as the earth absorbed you, my beloved dog, when you left me here to walk the woodland paths alone.

Mother's Day, visits and prayers.

I had a lovely surprise for Mother's Day yesterday.

Samantha came to visit with the 'munchkins'.

She does so well to make the round trip of 120 miles when she is in the closing stages of her university degree to be a teacher.

She brought roses and presents as well as lunch.

What a treat!

It was so nice to catch up with her again. 

I will have my grandchildren for the Easter holidays whilst she puts together her classrom teaching plans for her final full summer term placement at a school nice and handy for her to travel to.  It only takes her five minutes to get there.

Her dissertation is all bound and handed in; which she says was such a relief as it felt like part of her had gone into writing it up.

As a mature student I don't know how she has held the past four years together whilst she made this her aim but she has managed her time management well by waiting for the children to go to bed before she got on with her work and studies.

Her graduation ball will be this June and then on the 15 July we will be attending the ceremony at Carlisle Cathedral as she receives her graduation certificate.

I guess I am allowed to say that I am so proud of her and what she has achieved.

She was with me when I was diagnosed with my breast cancer.  It shook her to the core so much so that she decided that life was too short to not make the most of her time here on earth.

So you could say my cancer was a blessing too. 

 

Samantha with her Dad at Brockhole.

I'm behind the camera...as usual...being a pesky pest asking them to pose.  lol

Rachel &; Amy Grace

This is Rachel, my lovely daughter-in-law with Amy Grace.

She lost her darling Mum last April to a brain hemmorage.  Her Dad is in hospital at present and I want to wish him a speedy recovery.  I know how much she is worrying about him, so please... prayers for his safe recovery would be wonderful.

I know yesterday, 'Mother's Day' was difficult for her even though she has three children of her own to keep her busy.  I couldn't ask for a nicer daughter -in- law.  She is a District Nurse and has the perfect temperament for her job. 

Ben's 9th Birthday February 13th.

L/R....Rachel, Amy Grace, Matthew and Ben.

That's it for today folks.  I'm off to read a few journals.

I may not be around tomorrow as it's Bryan's Birthday and we are going out for the day.

 

For Paul..

God bless.

Jeanie  xxxx

Some cheery photos instead of snowy ones...

Today weather is so balmy compared to the recent snows and night frosts, so much so, that I almost want to push this little kitten out of its hammock and laze in the sun myself.

I have changed my picture header to one I took a few years ago at our local Leonard Cheshire Home for the disabled.

The grounds are wonderful as are the gardens which are looked after by volunteers.

I have had enough of looking at snowy pictures.

We still have snow on the high fells surrounding us here in Windermere but at last we can see the green grass again lower down here in the valley!

I managed a decent walk on my own in the sunshine today.  Bryan went further across the fields and around the tarn.  It wont be long now before I join him.  By then I will have no more worries about my boots adding pressure to my big toenails.  No more problems.  Pain free walks again. Yippee!

The daffodils are beginning to bud.  We have hundreds of thousands lining the verges here in the Lakes in the springtime.   They are such a riot of gold along the lake as well as when lining the woodland paths.

Taken at Grange-over-Sands last year

Spring time last year at Grange-over-Sands..Arnside in the distance.

I'm looking forward to seeing it again this year.

I guess we all are.

A quick entry today just to keep in touch.

Hope you like the new photos.

Bye for now....

The Windermere Triangle and another Tale of Life as it is in the lakes.

My thanks to Donna for this lovely tag.

I like to try and visit my elerly neighbour Ron on a daily basis especially since he had a bad fall just a few weeks before Christmas. The only day I didn't go in to see him was the time I was needed the most.  He had fallen on theWednesday evening at 7 o'clock and I didn't get to see him until by chance on the Friday morning.  I knocked and went in to see if he needed any shopping. Normally I usually call for an hour between 4 o'clock and 5o'clock each day. The lead up to Christmas had me busy shopping and I thought I could miss a day. Never again!
I found him sitting in his chair with his fleece jacket draped over his shoulders and his right arm exposed to me.  He had gashed his head, hurt his tummy/ribs/ and torn the top layer of his forearm so that it resembled the sleeve of a cardi pushed up out of the way.
What a fright I got!  He had been sat like that and didn't like to phone me for fear of going into hospital.  ( I know him so well now). He wouldn't allow me to call an ambulance so, after long discussions over the phone to our surgery I took him down there to be looked at.  The doctor who saw him said you could do a nice anatomy lesson on what she could see.  His wound was 8" x 3" .  He said he couldn't feel a thing and it didn't hurt.  Unfortunately the edges necrotised by leaving it too long; which meant he couldn't have stitches.
So began a  long twice weekly change of dressing at the nurses clinic.
Then came the snow.  We live at the top of a hill and as soon as there is a reasonable amount of snow we are handicapped by being unable to take our car out. This winter, as we all know, has been a bad one for deep snow all over Britain and the east coast of the U.S.
The district nurses were unable to visit to do his dressings so I walked down to the surgery, collected a first aid bag full of dressings, ointments and sterile saline water so that I could do it for him.  Between us over the next three weeks we made one good nurse.  lol  We learnt as we went along.
Amazingly, unlike my recent toenail removal, he never needed antibiotics and his wound stayed clean and healed beautifully.
He will be 90 this June and of a mind now to be saying he has lived long enough.  Some of you will remember Margaret his wife who has been gone for two and a half years now.   I call him a miserable old so and so.  He has been blessed with a long and healthy life so far and he had better hang around so that I can see his 100th Birthday card from the Queen.  Or else!  lol
I'm amazed at his ability to heal so well. Now that's a blessing at his age.

Here in Windermere there has been a bit of mystery occuring in the village.  They were calling it the Windermere Triangle (After the Bermuda Triangle).  For some reason motorists who parked inside this triangle could not unlock their cars or lock them. Sometimes there was no problem at all.  There were many theories.." Perhaps it is to do with the frequency of the traffic lights..they could be using the same frequency as the keys to the cars".  "Maybe it was to do with a radio ham in the village?  Or.. as the local baker remarked.. "It could be to do with the ghost that haunts our shop". 

The authorities eventually looked into it and came up blank.  What on earth was locking people out of their cars or stopping them from locking them as they left?

Yesterday I was told the answer...

It was all to do with a local restaurant.

They were using electronic notepads to take orders and then sending them through to the chef in the kitchen

They were using the same frequency as the car keys.

All is well, now that the freqency has been changed, and back to usual in the village...except for our bakers ghost....hmmmm?

I may not be around tomorrow as I have an appointment with our local hospital podiatrist.  She is a nice Scottish lass from Clydebank in Glasgow, so I look forward to a chat whilst she is having a peek at my poorly toes.

It will be another three to five weeks before they heal I'm told.

It is tedious bathing daily for ten minutes in salt water and dressing them both again but it could have been longer if I had them done individually.

This way was best.  Over and done with quicker.

A mild day today here in the Lakes, but overcast with little peeps of sunshine now and then.

Take care.

Trees

Here is my attempt at the

Bloggers Community Photo Challenge.

Click on the link and it will take you to the page where you can view all the other competition entries.

They are super!

Reflective look back to last year..

L/R Ben Matthew Ryan Amy Grace and Hollie

All my little 'Munchkins ' together at the New Year.

My thanks to Sal for helping me to put 'The Secret Garden ' music back here on my Blog.

She is such a great friend and always there to help me out of my 'pickles'.

Thank you Sal

I was sitting here at my kitchen table this morning,, which looks out onto the garden and woodlands when I saw two brilliantly coloured cock pheasants.  They stood out in their burnished  plumage compared to the green of the mosses and grass. I dashed to get my camera and....you've guessed it...the batteries were low.

Another morning perhaps.  The deer are easily seen at the moment and are browsing quite close in search of food.  This winter has been a hellish one for them and yet...they still live.  Amazing!

The photos I have included here are from last year.  It was a busy one for having family,going on outings, so there are more to come for me to place on here as a record.

Some of you might know that both my computers went on the blink. It was only come the New Year when my son Martin, who is a technical manager in computers, was able to sort me out.  He put new innards into my laptop and built me another computer in place of my larger one downstairs in the cellar room.

Having done this he saved all my documents and photos to disc and now I am slowly coming to terms with how to access them all again.

Hence the montage below.

This was when Ryan and Samantha took to doing some kayaking on the lake.

Once my 'old' toes are healed I am hoping to get out and about again.

Bryan bought himself a treadmill as this winter has been bad for getting out and about because of snow.

He has plans for me to use it too....oh heck!

I might just prolong the bandaging of my toes.  hahahaha

I remember the marathons Pam did on hers in training for working at Disneyland.

I hope you enjoy the lake views on the photos and of course notice how all my little 'Munchkins' have grown.  Amy Grace will be two this year.  Tempus Fugit!

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Toodle pip for now.

Ryan thinking about jumping into the lake to get him acclimatised prior to Kayaking.  It took his breath away as the lake is only truly warm for about two weeks a year. Samantha took a panic attack it was so cold!

I suppose the thought of falling into water that cold makes them think more carefully whilst meeting offshore winds and the waves from the ferry boats.

We are so lucky to live near all sorts of outdoor pursuits.

Hollie wasn't able to join them as she has yet to learn to swim strongly and loose her fear of the water. 

This is more to Hollie's liking.