Of late...in pictures

I had a brilliant time taking my family away for an activity weekend in a little luxury lodge. I worked hard and saved money and paid for it and made sure everyone had a great time. We did horse-riding, archery, fencing and tree-top assault course as well as swimming and have spa treatments. One the sunday we had a huge christmas-style dinner as we knew we werent going to see each other much over the festive month and had presents I gave to everyone and enjoyed table top games, home baked food such as the profiteroles by me and the bagels by my very excellent dad! It was a great weekend and a great time building memories and good times! I'm proud of myself for organising and pulling off what was a great little get-away!

Love this picture of one of the last glorious days of indian summer

Went with my godson for his first ever visit to Santa!....he was more fascinated by the lights than the man himself...!

The nights have gotten colder and everyone is already snuggling up for cosy warmth...including Indy the piggy!

Went out with my girlies for a girly lunch which was brilliant as always especially to catch up with them and consume lots of wonderful food!

I really been enjoying this change in the seasons, especially with my mind set of looking and taking in the small things for what they are and enjoying the beauty they offer. Be it natural beauty...

artificial beauty...

Beauty from the streets...(its a real banksy!)

...and beauty with my loved ones and all the things we do.

I got to meet one of my heroes a few days ago! I'm so happy I got that chance!
I met Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, a British celebrity chef, tv personality, journalist, food writer and campaigner for "real food" and the owner of River Cottage franchise/restaurants. He inspired a lot of my cooking to date, and because of him I now always look and ask where does my food come from, the welfare of animals as after all healthy animals gives good meat and to date he is the sole reason why supermarkets now primarily stock free range chicken and eggs. He knows we cant be organic and vegetarian but he asks us to respect all food and enjoy it at its best. He also for me, inspired seasonal cooking. Why would you cook something pass it's best our of its growing season and we are all so badly out of touch with where and when our food comes to us. Total respect to this man! plus...he loved my hair! (i had a fan-crush and blurted out "I dyed it for you Hugh!" total cringe-fest!)
Made my day, week and month for sure!

Oh...and my bangs are back!

If you are curious of what I'm getting up to and don't see any posts here, you can check out me out on instagram riiiiiight here (click it here man!)

hope you are all well!

Birdie Love to you all
xxx

Just call me a spinster...

On sunday, we ventured into the deepest rural part of cornwall to this lovely house in some small, unknown area, down a country lane overgrown with summer weeds. It really is a property tucked away out of sight and with the sun brilliantly shining, the mood was great especially as I was joined by good friends, my even greater friend and my baby godson.

Out in the bright courtyard was a spinning wheel that originally came from new zealand, pulled out so us newbies get a chance later on to give it ...well...a spin!

By the front door were two buckets containing the dregs of whatever natural dying products we were dying with that day. One was a mystery wood chip that was a mystery colour and the other was onion skins that left fabrics golden yellow in colour.

They have been boiling outside in large boilers since the crack of dawn and emitted er..."wonderful" smells...!

We dyed fabrics, I taught a lesson in glossing as a transfer medium to fabrics and under the bright sun, we spun. I watched the smooth settling rhythm the experienced spinners settled into, feeding the wool into the spool and teasing and straightening  the wool as well. 

And then it was my go, sometimes I went too fast and sometimes too slow but eventually I settled into a tempo where I could just about feed the wool, teasing it out straight and controlling the pedal all at the same time and at one point all four of my limbs were doing their own thing!

I can see why people love doing it and the peacefulness people get from it but my inexperienced caused me to be rather tense and even as i write this now, my back hurts from sitting hunched over the wheel, scared to go wrong despite what the elders said reassuring me that its ok to make mistakes!

 

 

I might not be able to do spinning...but tea and cakes in the sun? That I can do!

Tea in a typically english countryside summer garden, surrounded by lovely flowers...perfeck!

 

The grounds of the place was massive and I will share more with you later on as well as my session teaching which was recieved and went down very well with the others!

it was a great day in the country on a rare sunny day in rainy England!

With my Godson Henry, watching his mummy in the garden messing around with Ice dyes! He was a great sparkling cherry on top of what was a great day!

What did you do this weekend just gone? Hope it was a good one for you!

Birdie Love!

xxx

Resurrection

I named this post Resurrection as not only is it the first post in a long while but also to symbolise what it means for me. Its my way of saying I guess I’m fighting to get back onto my feet after all that has happened.
Back in 2009 when I made my last post, I was keeping a journal. I knew I wasn’t quite right and I was suffering in a way I couldn’t describe or figure out. I recently this year found the same journal and continued it but read the last entries... a lot has changed from 2009 to the present day. A lot.
Being disabled is a weird thing to try and encapsulate in order to explain. It affects all traits a human has in the deepest, unconscious of ways. I have always fought against my disability, fought to prove myself more than being a disabled girl who was at odds with the world. I had a point to prove with anyone and everyone and I wasn’t going to back down and I was going to fight the fight...whatever it was. I never accepted I was deaf on some ways. I rarely told people I’m deaf unless I have too and worked hard to be as “normal” as I can be.  Now...there is no such thing as “normal” that I can say I’ve learnt. Plus having an accident which resulted in a serious head injury that impaired my disability further and I’m having to relearn how to cope and live every day kinda throws you out into a tail spin and gives you a few new perspectives to look at whether I wanted to or not. Things in my life, things I do and value and things about me are thrown into an ugly light and I’m learning that I accept these ugly things and that I’m kinda ok with it actually. I’m making my peace and things will either change or quieten down since peace is made.
But I look back at my post in 2009 and the one I make now and I see the same girl but is also so very different as well. Things have happened in between time that I never thought I would do, things happened I never would have predicted and I’ve grown in ways I never envisioned. I’ve walked away from everything so far to date with a new founded appreciated, respect or a lesson gained. I’ve learnt what is means to truly have friends and that I actually have friends that care in the deepest of ways and would put themselves in the line of fire to protect me without being asked. I’ve learnt that you only have one family and I made peace with that and the bonds that are there. I’ve learnt that life waits for no one and to sit on the fence watching life go by is to watch your own life roll on without you in control or enjoying it. And I’ve learn the many lessons of love. Love is a many varied thing yet has only one word for it. Why? A love for a parent is different to the love a parent has for their child. That unrequainted love is more painful in deeper ways than mutual love. Love for a friend is varied in itself too. All friends are friends to you for various reasons and you love them all for these reasons alone. You have a friend that you know will pick you up when you’re down. You have a friend who is always willing to be the fool to put a smile on your face and you have a friend you can tell secrets to that are kept and never judged. The values you grew up with are forever tested and revalued and you evolve in the deepest of ways, often without knowing.

I may not know where I am heading in life but I think I got a clearer frame of mind as to how to handle things life throws at me, judging the cross-roads with fairness and weathering the path itself well. Life is a journey and no map, bearings or compass is given to anyone. But are we truly lost? I’m still finding out the answer to that but I feel more positive already and whatever the answer is, I’ve already seen beyond this.

I just hope and owe it to myself to journey well and take everything in. To life this life as a gift that is denied to the many that never got to share it with us. 

My rambling point? 
Don’t give up on me yet! Don't give up on life and don't give up on yourself. X