Spring time, Mindful Moments 1

Hello blogging friends, wow what a change has happened in the space of a few days. The covid 19 pandemic is now ramping up here in the UK and life for now is being put on hold. Social distancing is and should be the normal. My husband is working from home, which is fine but the rest of our family face difficulties as so many households do. My daughter is on the front line as an NHS GP and faces some very tough months ahead. My parents are in their late 80s and we have to safeguard them as a priority. Our communication is via watts app video for now. Hopefully when the weather improves we can sit out in the garden at a distance. The most important thing is to try to protect our most vulnerable and to ride the waves ahead. Please do take all the advice we have been given seriously to try to flatten out the wave which is coming. 

I have always written Jane's Journal with a very positive vibe and I have always chosen not to put my my personal trials and tribulations (which we all have) here so I am not going to start now. Even before this situation there is always enough bad news around without adding to it.  I like my readers to be able stop for a few minutes, see some cheerful photos and one of my creative makes, and hopefully leave with a smile. Just a mindful moment. These things will pass, we just need time. In no way am I trying to minimize the seriousness of the coming weeks and months, I am just trying to catch a breath in the madness.  I will continue to blog right through to the other side but I will try my absolute hardest to put a positive spin on life here. Jane's Journal is 10 years old this summer and my stats show that lots of people do still read my blog and I hope it might just give one tiny glimmer of normality through Mother Nature to anyone who reads it. Thank you all always for your support, especially those readers who are always here and you know well who you are 😍

I plan, between my usual card makes, Design Team  posts etc to publish occasional mindfulness posts. I am going to call them Mindful Moments and number them, today's is number 1. They will not necessarily be weekly but every post will be 1 step closer to the end of all this. One day I will come back, read and reflect on them and they will serve as a good reminder to be grateful for normal life. 

So here we go with a springtime mindful moment;

There are 2 very special reasons for smiling today; it is the first day of spring and my darling daughter's 34th birthday.

I have been out for my walk and spotted lots of signs of spring in the local area.

The weeping willow is coming into leaf and looks gorgeous in its lime green hues. The daffodils are nodding in the breeze

and at the ponds my dino ducks still come to see me.

 Hello Jane

can I bring a friend?

And yes they all got some food from me. 

In my back garden my acers are coming into leaf

and my magnolia is in flower.

The sun came out, always a bonus too. 

and also spending some time in my garden is my son's gorgeous dog Bear. He has been very poorly but is now on the road to recovery and is going to be between both our homes to convalesce.

My card today is one of spring time calm, using my Mindful Moments Visible Image stamp set and one of their new stencils called drizzle.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

Not just cards 3/3 anything goes

Creative fingers 1/3 anything goes

Crafty catz 1/3 anything goes

Simon says stamp Wednesday whatever the weather

Addicted to stamps 1/3 anything goes

Through the dark room door 1/3 anything goes

Crafty sentiments 1/3 spring is coming

To finish off  my first Mindful Moments post I wanted to share this thought to celebrate the first day of spring and my gorgeous girl's birthday.

Some old fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine

are hard to beat

(Laura Ingalls Wilder)

Remember we are now 1 day nearer the end of all this madness. Take those walks outside and choose calm. 

So happy birthday to my darling daughter, she knows the song well that her Hb, Daisy and Jack will be singing to her today as she blows out her birthday candles........ha ha ..

Keep safe, keep mindful and keep washing those hands. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

With love, Jane x