Thursday 30 April 2015

Last day of the Month.

Well it seems my blog has become a monthly event. So once more I'm just in time for the month. I almost forgot that April has only 30 days.

Sadly some of those days saw the demise of these trees.



 The Methodist church is (are?) hoping to build an extension and after showing everyone the plans,  and in answer to everyone's questions "Are you chopping the trees down?, they said 'some'. However they took the lot away. Half of them were already down when I took this photo.

And here's what its like now. I suppose we have a better view of the moors now, and the only blots on the landscape are the two garish signs, also belonging to the church.




Opinion around and about is divided, with some people 'Thrilled to bits' because they won't have to sweep the leaves and others (mainly me) horrified. 
Oh Hetty is non-committal and just liked looking out to see all the activity. Can you see her in the window?








I had a long and heated discussion with the Methodist minister who said 'You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to tell him I don't mind going without the omelette. I'm sure the extension will be a big advantage to them, of course, but perhaps not the 'asset for the whole village' they might imagine.

As a result of the discussion there are now signs plastered onto the front of the church calling it 'tree replacement' because they are planting more they say.

Anyway I'm over it.
I have to be.

Earlier in the month, on Easter saturday, we saw the 'Chorley Grand Prix'. We all stood outside and watched a huge number of very serious cyclists hurtle up the hill...


....five times! They did 5 circuits of some very steep hilly places.
Notice the trees?

At the back of the house we had exciting goings-on with a blackbirds nest, and all was going swimmingly with two little comedy beaks sticking out, and much to-ing and fro-ing, when the evil thing happened in the form of our horrible cat who brought in one of the babies. They must have fledged and hung around on the path. Poor thing. Hopefully there's still one baby around somewhere.




I'm also forcing myself to be 'over' that . But it did make me sad.

At the start of April we had a trip out for number two son's birthday. We picked him up in Manchester where there was a superb city sunset..I missed the actual sun in this photo!


He lives in this super duper environmentally friendly block. They have a huge curved lounge window and I don't think they ever need to put their heating on.


When teh sun shone last Saturday we had a lovely late lunch at Wilfs cafe in Stavely and then on to Grasmere, for a beautiful walk all around the lake. 
There's a lovely wooded riverside walk before the lake, with bridges, 



and then we walked back along the road and back through the woods, where, by this time, there were whole families having barbecues on the river bank.
It was a lovely day.


Closer to home..in fact actually at home of course..I've been making. I made some felt in palest seashell inspired colours and I've made some seashell-inspired brooches. I'm testing a few of them on  Etsy at the moment.



I've also made more pieces for wallhangings.

 



Phew.
Just in time
My April blog post just minutes before midnight!


13 comments:

jinxxxygirl said...

so glad yur playing catch up... :) i would be upset too about those trees and when someone told me they were glad they didn't have to rake leaves i think my mouth would have fell open... i too think of what i should have said after the fact...just not quick enough...

aaawww the baby birds... we had a nest in an arbor of trumpet vine in Texas and the ants got to them before the could leave the nest.. i was horrified!

Love your artwork like always my dear...hugs... deb

Magpie's Mumblings said...

It's only 10:15 pm here, so you made it with lots of time to spare. So sad about the trees - people don't take into consideration how many years it took for them to grow. They're more interested in building something newer, more modern and most likely an eyesore. On the other end of the spectrum we can look at your beautiful art!

WendyCarole said...

I know how you feel about the tree. Some vandals hacked at the one outside our house and the council had to take it down as it was dangerous. We think someone paid some one to do the hacking. I miss it and so do the birds although I think they adappted better than I did to it not being there.

Beautiful work as usually :)

We are off to Ilkley at the weekend to watch the tour de yorkshire cyclists.

Rachel said...

Love the pattern of darks and lights on the bridge!

Heather said...

It's sad about the trees and the baby blackbird. It must be 50 years since I went to Manchester (we used to live near Stockport) but even so I seem to recognise bits of it. Grasmere looks beautiful as do your new pieces of work. I love the delicate shell colours of your latest brooches.

Terri said...

There is something missing without trees. Our neighbor had to remove 2 giant eucalyptus trees that were causing troubles with the foundation of her house. We all missed them... the white " bark" kind. I cried.
Love your house - yes I bumped up the size of the pictures and saw Hetie there in the window. She has the best seat in the house to see those bikers wiz past.
Love your new makings...such pretty colors. Thanks for sharing them.
Hugs

FeltersJourney said...

Oh dear.. sounds like its been a traumatic month Jackie! So sorry to hear about your baby blackbird and local trees, I know how upset I would be about both things so you really do have my sympathy. Cats will be cats though.. Don't think I'd be quite so philosophical about the minister with culinary aspirations.. bet he thought he was being clever with that remark!

On a happier note your work is simply stunning - as always! I love your new brooches :) hope they do really well on Etsy xx

Robin Mac said...

Always sad to see trees cut down, hopefully they will plant new ones before too long.
Hetty is looking really great and obviously enjoying herself.
I hope your pale brooches sell really well, but I must admit I love the colours in your wallhangings. They are gorgeous - as usual. Cheers

Chris H said...

Well done on your monthly post! :) What a shame about the trees. I hope they do away with those ugly signs too.

Joy said...

You live in such a lovely town.

Marci said...

I just found your blog and I' m going backwards, reading your posts. Your wall hangings are stunning! Really wonderful. The brooches are beautiful, too. Such a shame about the trees and the baby bird, although I do love cats, just not that part of them

Marci said...

Sorry, forgot to say I don't have a blog.

Jackie said...

Marci Thanks for your comments. I really must write another blog post!



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