Blogtober 2021 : Day 7
Hooray! Sunshine!
After all the rain of the last couple of days, it was lovely to be outside and feel the warmth from the sun, even if it was that Autumn sun without the Summer heat. I’ll take it over torrential rain any day!
This particular walk is usually muddy when it’s been raining and I was glad I had put my wellies on.
There are water channels to the side of this path as it goes through the woods where run-off water from the farmer’s fields higher up flows down and they were pretty full, although nothing like the brook I showed you yesterday so it was quite safe for the dog to go in them. He likes to investigate most sources of water – I don’t even try to stop him these days (unless it’s obviously dangerous or inappropriate) as it’s just what he does; I’m used to my car smelling like a wet dog and hosing him down by the back door is part of the dog walking ritual!
There are conkers underfoot everywhere. I love conkers! They’re so brown and shiny when they’re new out of the spiky cases that fall to the ground from the horse chestnut trees.
They’re not as big this year as they have been in other years although there seems to be more of them on the ground than usual. I took this photo back in August – there were lots of these spiky cases by every conker tree we passed so perhaps the trees had created too many this year and dropped the excess so that they could concentrate on producing bigger seeds.
Isn’t Nature fascinating? How did all the horse chestnut trees everywhere we walk know to do that?
I’ve also noticed that it’s still warmer than I think it should be for this time of year. Today, for example, it’s 19°C and the average for this this time of year should be more like 14°C. Not that I’m wishing the warmer days away, but it doesn’t feel like Autumn when I’m out with the dog and I have to take my coat off because I’m too hot! 🙂
On the home front, not so small daughter has had the Back to School Lurgy and she’s given me her cough. So very generous of her! It’s not Covid, it’s that horrible cold that most people seem to get in September and October when their children go back to school and mingle with other people and pretty much everyone I’ve spoken to recently has had some form of it. Not so small daughter was quite unwell for a couple of days and had to stay off school (we’ve both done the lateral flow tests and they were negative but she was too poorly to go in at the time – I think we forget these days that it’s still possible to be unwell without it being Covid!) but I’ve not had any of that, just a chesty cough that makes me sound like I’ve been smoking several hundred strong cigarettes behind the bike sheds, especially first thing in the morning. I’m getting bored of it now!
Luckily, it’s not stopping me doing anything that I need to do and I’ve got a packet of Jakeman’s cough sweets which are helping. Not so small daughter doesn’t like them at all, she says they burn when she eats them, and she’s got a point – they’ve got menthol, eucalyptus and aniseed in them so they are quite fiery but they stop the cough! They also come in different flavours so she has some lemon and honey ones which apparently are still burning her mouth (so dramatic!) but at least they are working!
I also spotted whilst I was taking this photo that the small hole near the pocket in my dog walking trousers seems to have got bigger.
Oh dear, I think these might be beyond a quick stitch to fix them! I’ve ordered some new ones – these are men’s cargo trousers because apparently women don’t need cargo trousers with lots of pockets but just in case there’s a clothing manufacturer reading this, we really do! I’m not one for carrying a bag when I’m walking the dog so everything goes in my pockets – my coat and trousers are full of treats, poo bags, keys, phone, conkers … there are never enough pockets!
That’s it for today but before I go, I’ve got something exciting to tell you about! There’s a new yarn shop opening in Warrington! It’s called Stitch Station and it’s in Great Sankey very close to the railway station. It’s going to be a coffee shop as well as a yarn shop and will be stocking West Yorkshire Spinners, Stylecraft and King Cole yarns, crafts from local makers and will offer workshops and knit ‘n’ natter sessions too. It officially opens on Saturday 16 October and, always happy to be close to the cake, I will be there to say hello and answer any sock questions you might have, or just admire the socks you’ve knitted as I am an excellent Sock Appreciator! (I’m assuming that the Horrible Cough will have gone away by then – it can’t stick around forever!) I’ll remind you about this again a bit nearer the time in case you fancy coming over for a look around, but in the meantime the Stitch Station website is here and the Facebook page is here.
Have a lovely evening, I’ll see you tomorrow! xx
Wonderful post as usual, I live quite near London not a craft shop to be found. Treasure yours.x
Really? That’s such a shame! Have you seen this page from the UK HandKnitting Association? There might be somewhere close that you’ve not seen before xx
How exciting to be welcoming a new yarn shop to your area, I hope they do well and you get to be part of a lovely new creative community xxxxxx
Yes, I think that where they are will be a huge boost to the whole area – and somewhere new to eat cake is always great! 🙂 xx
How lovely to have a new wool shop open in the area!! I would patch those trousers – with something denim and/or floral! My dogwalking trousers (and jackets) are a good twenty years old – they have outlasted several rescue dogs! I hope the cough goes away soon – it is horrid to get one. Have a lovely weekend.
The rip is right on the pocket which is why I’ve had trouble mending them but I’ll have a look and see if there’s something else I can do before I give up on them 🙂 My jacket is years old but the trousers get a lot of wear as they double up as gardening trousers or DIY trousers so they do have a shelf life – it’s just that the shelf life on this pair has been considerably shorter than I would have wanted! 🙂 xx
Thanks for the heads-up on Stitch Station. It’s going to be very handy having a local wool shop.
I think you’re going to love it – Di (who owns the shop) has worked really hard to set it up using local and upcycled products whenever she can, and she intends for it to be a place of great coffee, cake and yarn so you can’t fail to be excited by that! 🙂 xx
Its so lovely to see new wool shops opening. Being of a certain age, I remember the flourish of excitement when Kaffe fasset hit the scene and then easy care fleece garments coming in and wool shops hit the GREAT DECLINE ! The variety available now in wonderful. …..so wonderful I am not sure if I will ever get through my stash before my hands give up with old age…..like you with cake, there is always another delicious colour that I dont have…..
Oh it’s so easy to be tempted, isn’t it? I actually don’t find it as hard to resist buying new yarns as I might have expected because I ask myself what would happen if I never finished using it all by the time my time here is done and I know I can’t take it with me. Cake, on the other hand, well that’s an entirely different matter as you can’t keep it indefinitely! 🙂 xx
Our conkers are smaller this year too. I collect some as a spider deterrent – placing them on window sills around the house. Here I do the rounds of my favourite horse chestnut trees every couple of days until I have about 30 conkers because they seem to come down all at the same time then dissappear quickly. Where do they go?
Squirrels! We often see a squirrel with a conker and we sometimes find them growing in the grass and borders too because the squirrels have hidden them 🙂 We used to put conkers around the house to stop the spiders but they don’t seem to be bothered about them now and come in anyway! xx