Hawthorn Scavenger Hunt

Hello there!!!

I am joining in with a lovely Scavenger Hunt hosted by Hawthorn Spellweaver at I live, I love, I craft, I am me...

Here's the list. You can go over and join the fun at her blog!

Feather:

 I saw this 3 shades of grey feather on the Saffron trail walk last Saturday.  It looked a bit ragged but still beautiful in my eyes. You can be scruffy and still beautiful, not dressed in the finest feathers!

Orange:

 These sweet potato crisps from Tyrells are delicious and a delightful orange colour. Makes them more healthy of course! My husband didn't get a look in. I hid these!

 Something Fresh:

Oh my! If you knew the amount of hours I spent squeezing oranges and lemons!  If you want to know WHY I was doing such a tiresome task, it was because we had an organisation called 'Conductive Music' in at school doing a music technology project with a class.  It involved connecting up pieces of fruit and veg to a makey-makey board and using the fruit as a sort of 'fruit piano' with an online keyboard.  I had to provide 20 oranges, 20 lemons, 2 potatoes, 20 carrots and 20 apples for the workshop which were then used a few times by 3 groups of kids from 2 classes.  I bought it from Lidl opposite school and in the time it took me to cross the road, I had lost the receipt (?!?!??!?!!) so I couldn't claim back (I didn't ask but I presume I couldn't without one. They're very strict!).  Thus, I was left with 100 pieces of fruit and veg which I was JOLLY WELL GOING TO REUSE since I had had to pay for it (AND I can't bear to chuck away anything without really trying to recycle or reuse!) . Thus my fridge was full of 20 lemons and oranges (carrots had been made into soup, apples into apple amber, potatoes donated to year 4 teacher) and I had to do something with them. I zested all 20 lemons and juiced them, then juiced about 14 of the oranges just using a handjuicer.  My wrists are really tired!!   But the fresh juice was amazing!

Horizon 1:

It's always exciting to see OSR on the horizon and even better, right in front of you!!! The joys of living CLOSER to the countryside with a husband who drives!

Horizon 2:

But even a less vivid horizon still has its beauty.  This was on the Saffron trail too getting close to Felsted!

Wet:

 This was our Easter Sunday walk in Haltwhistle.  We'd only been out for 10 minutes before it started pouring with rain.  The fields were rather wet and a tractor had been churning up this field.

 Luckily, when the sun shone again, it reflected onto the water and shone like gold!

The next day, on Easter Monday, we went to the Cheviots and climbed Windy Gyle where I took my first step into Scotland. It was also rather wet higher up but the views were great!

Sticks:

I couldn't seem to find any stick pictures so I found this picture from Easter Sunday and thought the large amount of branches are essentially uncut sticks. This was really hard to climb under!

Growing:

The flowers are growing beautifully by the gorgeous cafe!


Craft:

Made some cards over the holiday with some stars. My craft mainly consists of cards and the occasional brooch!

Memories:

I love blackbirds!  It all stems from this particularly virtuosic blackbird who suddenly started singing in my garden about 9 years ago. He had a particularly tuneful riff or little pattern that he repeated quite often, with other less memorable variants. I always knew when he was in the garden because I heard it.  He sang it every year for a few years.  From hearing that tune, I could always hear the blackbirds. My mum and I always imitated him.  Moving to this house, there are suddenly blackbirds.
Mum and I were gardening a few weeks ago and a blackbird was singing in the next garden. We sang back to him and he came and sat on the fence for about an hour along with a robin on the other side.  Now, he comes and sits on my blogging tree daily and sings to me (I like to think it's my own personal concert! How terribly egocentric!) and I sing back to him in imitation. I caught him on the branch in these pictures.

Own choice:

The final view of the Cheviots after our Windy Gyle walk- beautiful river meandering against a myriad shades of green!

Scavenger Hunts are great fun!!!

xx

An unusual pairing of non-typical clothes

Has a basil plant ever composed a symphony?
...such is the mind of my husband.  We were arguing as to whether the basil plant has feelings.
He deemed no, I deemed yes!
What do you think?

 I thought I'd share this outfit as when I look at it, it is full of items that I wouldn't usually deem to be Kezzie-esque items.  It's amazing what you somehow find yourself wearing something totally un-you!

For example, I am not a very willing or frequent denim-wearer, nor do I do edgy-looking jackets or fitted skirts!

And yet, I somehow have these items and unified them for a Saturday trip to London.

The funny thing is, most of the items originated from Doctor Who, Clara Oswald cosplay ideas.

The denim shirt from TK Maxx was a little nod to 'The girl who died' which I haven't cosplayed yet.  My cosplays are very tenuous and general compared to what I have been following in recent times on Instagram but that doesn't make me enjoy finding items and wearing them any less.

The tapestry skirt is Topshop which I charity-shopped and I wore it here for my Clara cosplay for 'The Caretaker' (and not a bad attempt might I say!). I'd never have considered wearing this skirt shape if it wasn't for seeing it as a potential TARDIS Tuesday item.

The jacket, yep, you've guessed it, was another Clara-cosplay-inspired item.  Next but Charity-shopped.  I'd never wear an Asymetric jacket but when I saw it, I saw it as a possible Nightmare in Silver cosplay!

The things that rendered it more me in this combination- floppy hat (also charityshopped- over a decade ago!), fox brooch (charity-shopped), handmade bird earrings, claret tights

The thing is- I will never be that coiffed perfect individual. You can see from the way my shirt is not tucked in in a smooth manner, the waistline not perfect. Sometimes, I question why I share outfits on here, always worrying either that I look shallow or often think that the fashion-minded blog-friends are genuinely just being kind about what I wear and actually are having a little giggle.  But it is a kind of artistry I guess and I have learnt a lot about using clothes in many different combinations through these blog experiments.  In the past, I would always wear certain items together. But no more. I embrace the remix!

Not sure what I am trying to say here except that you can sometimes end up outside your comfort-zone for some quite funny reasons!!!

Hope all is well with you.

xx

A bunny is for life, not just for Easter

Any embellishment for cards can, I am sure, be used for an occasion other than the one for which it was intended.

I was given a late birthday present on Easter Sunday which included a Waitrose pack of little felt bunnies, Easter eggs and chicks.  To be honest, I don't really make or give Easter cards, so it was unlikely I'd use these embellishments for their true purpose.

Luckily, one of my favourite blog friends is Bunny Queen Extraordinaire so I made her a card with them.

I do prefer to keep my cards simple. Most of the professional-looking ones people make nowadays have lots of details and embellishments but I somehow prefer a Spartan-simplicity!

Any of us could make a card with pretty paper strips and tiny embellishments. If you haven't given card-making a go, why not start with something simple like this.

Linking to Creative Mondays with the lovely Claire Justine

A beautiful Essex Walk- The Saffron trail

This is a photo-heavy post (I'll try not to talk too much) but please be assured it really is worth it for some glorious views and sights including the beautiful yellow fields of rape-seed oil.

It was CBC's birthday this weekend and through his Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, he discovered a long series of walks through the Essex countryside called the Saffron Trail.   It runs from Southend-on-Sea to Saffron Walden and is around 71 miles.  We decided to the stretch from Great Waltham to Felsted which is 6.5miles. 

It was a sunny albeit not too warm day.

The path is well signposted with Public Footpath signs and Saffron trail markers.

The first field was full of buttercups and daisies - very pretty.

 There were some beautiful trees- well protected too.

 We saw 'Pemberley' in the distance! Who lives there, I wonder?

 There was always something interesting to look for.  What was this strange building? Was it an old ice house for the grand house?

 There were some gentle cows who looked like they've recently calved.

 I've honestly not seen a metal gate like this. They're usually fairly rudimentary and wooden.

 With ornate curls.

 Some very pleasant flora could be seen at frequent intervals.

 There were some beautiful delicate bluebells ringing their silent song of Spring-joy along the main road.

The joy of walking at a slow pace along the lanes for a few stretches was the opportunity to see some really old and fascinating-looking houses.

 I particularly liked the Stucco-features on this house.

 Even the nettles were putting on their finest show.

Blossoms adorned a myriad branches by the river/streams

 I only noticed this tiny fellow on the blossom later.

 There were frequent stretches of newly ploughed fields, possibly loaded up with new crops.

And then I saw the most glorious sight. A field of rape-seed oil blooms sharing an ebullient golden glow.

 I thought my only view would be from the side but as we continued, it appeared we had to walk through the midst of further fields.

 Continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the Milky-Way (sorry Wordsworth), they stretched in never-ending line.

 It was truly magical wending our way onwards through such vivacity.

 I wasn't sure if these were young ones or some other variety of flower?

Eventually and rather sadly, the fields of gold ended and we found ourselves surrounded by verdant emerald crops.

 These Stitchwort flowers were so pretty and delicate- I enjoyed these!

 I heard this little bird chirping. I'm really not sure what he was.  He has a little look of a Chaffinch or a Bullfinch but his song was definitely not Chaffinch! I know Chaffinch when I hear one!

 As we had a tight-schedule, we had to hurry towards Felsted. It's a pity as we would have liked to have continued onto Great Dunmow for the entire walk.

 As the journey cotntinued, we saw a Priory marked on the map.  This historic building is used for wedding receptions I realised as we saw the name on the sign. What a beautiful location!

There were a fair few little bridges towards the end.

And a tranquil lake flanked by already fluffy dandelions waiting to be dispersed by wind.

 A serene lake was a delightful surprise.

Finally, we reached Felsted where we had a taxi waiting to get us back post-haste to our car in Great Waltham.

Felsted is astonishingly pretty and quaint too. Alas, I took no photos!

If you are in Essex and would enjoy a good flat walk, I recommend this.  We had enormous smiles on our faces most of the time.  We are endeavouring to complete more of the 71 miles this Summer!

Have you heard of this trail? Have you enjoyed any walks recently?

xx