What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?
There’s been plenty of domestic bird activity for me to watch lately. Spring-time is a busy period in the avian calendar.
As April reached the three-quarter point I was charmed by a pair of house sparrows, Continue reading “Birds on the Balcony: front row seats”
The view from here is filled with promise
Monday: I like Mondays! Monday is the beginning of my week and I love beginnings of all kinds: great or small; humdrum, life-changing or complete one-offs. Continue reading “The View from Here: beginnings”
The view from here is harmonious, breezeless and beautiful.
I climbed the stairs this morning to a rosy, frosty sunrise. No mist today, and the fields had a coppery hue as the early golden sunshine bounced off the bejeweled grass. Continue reading “The View from Here: where sheep may safely graze”
…what I’ve created works perfectly. I love it!
Before we moved I tried to persuade B to dispose of some of our furniture, which in my opinion would obviously not work in the new house. Nothing expensive or meaningful: things we had agreed we would replace anyway and/or bargains collected from charity shops. It seemed silly to go the trouble of transporting them but B said no, we should take the lot and if it wasn’t needed we would dispose of it later. How wise he was and how wrong I was Continue reading “Homemaking at Highfield: mixing, matching and making do”
The view from here is full of love and promise
Saturday April 9th
This evening gave us our first real sunset. Not a majestic, fiery, spectacular sunset, but a sunset nonetheless. I have photos, but B has the best one which I’ve ‘borrowed’ here. Continue reading “The View from Here: moments and memories…”
I’ve never thought of myself as a real homemaker
Surely one of the great joys of making a house move is the pleasure in making a new home? A house is a building which shelters you from the elements; a home is a place of warmth and welcome. To create a home is to alchemise the essential structure of a house into the very personal experience of a home: making it unique to your wants and needs, to the personalities of those who abide beneath its roof. Continue reading “Homemaking at Highfield: a toy cupboard”
Now I know what a woodpecker in a bad mood sounds like…
“The whole world is a series of miracles but we’re so used to seeing them that we call them ordinary things.” Hans Christian Anderson.
Last Saturday was a day filled with ordinary miracles. Here’s the first: Continue reading “Birds on the Balcony: woodpecker wars”
The view from here is clean and simple … and very much in the present
A week since I last wrote here. I’ve missed it; I’ve been wanting – needing – to get back to the View almost daily. It seems that writing here does need to happen in the early morning, before the day starts. And there have been no really early mornings for a while. B has woken early several times this week – before me – and we’ve got up together, after a leisurely read and in my case, a cup of tea. It’s been nice; we are spending so much more time together since arriving here and it’s lovely. But I’ve missed these interludes. Continue reading “The View from Here: the world crashes in”
I could die happily here, lost in this view.
Sunday April 3rd
Another restful sleep; I’m sleeping so very well here. Awake soon after 5, but the room was dark, the bed was warm and comfy; it was easy to stay snuggled under the duvet. B woke early too though. We chatted for a bit and I was up before 6.30 – ahead of our avian guests’ arrival – ready to watch the day unfold. Continue reading “The View from Here: serenity in the rain”
“Hear! hear!” screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time. “Winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it.” -Henry David Thoreau, 28 November 1858, journal entry
A pleasing avian symmetry yesterday: the day began and ended with the call of the pheasant. My Cornish bird list, based entirely on sightings from the house, currently has 18 entries. Continue reading “Birds on the Balcony: what watching yields”
A Corner of Cornwall 