My photographic review of 2020

Hi friends I thought I would pop in between Christmas with my annual review of 2020 in photos. I have written Jane's Journal for over 10 years now and I also write my journal as a personal record too. It really has been a year like no other, Covid19 hit the news after Christmas last year and by late February the situation was looking dire. Just after the first day of spring the UK was plunged into its first Lockdown on 24th March.

It was really hard to select just 16 photographs from the 100s I took. I made them into 4 seasonal photo collages.

Spring

We were so fortunate that in January we had our tiny garden landscaped as a gift from my dear parents.  We had no idea at the time what lay ahead. What a blessing my garden has been this year.

I sewed seeds, planted new plants and mowed my new lawn. We spent many many happy hours out there this year.  One event that I have to include, despite the sadness we still feel, is the death of darling Bear, our son's dog. He was such a big part of our family. A huge dog with a huge heart who was loved so much by everyone. He loved our newly landscaped garden and I am so glad that he was able to see it and enjoy the magnolia in flower. The one thing I will also always remember of the spring of 2020 was the incredible weather we enjoyed in South East England. The skies really were azure and the sun shone for weeks on end.  I also wrote a series of 10 Mindful Moments which I shared here on my blog. If you missed them, click here for number 1 and you can search for the other by putting them in my search bar on the side bar of my blog.

Summer

I love walking and I walk almost every day. Despite the lockdown restrictions we were allowed to walk locally and my sweet dino ducks brought me so much cheer. I saw the latest clutches of fluffy ducklings grow into the gorgeous adults they are now. We stayed at home and I crafted, gardened, baked and clapped for the NHS. We even enjoyed a socially distanced street party on VE day on 8th May to celebrate its 75th year. 

In August we actually made it to Italy with our family and had a week of bliss in a secluded villa in the vineyards of Tuscany. Summer was a brief respite from the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. We enjoyed long hot sunny days and saw our family again. I'm so glad we did as sadly in the autumn things were to change yet again.

Autumn

We enjoyed visiting our favourite public gardens RHS Wisley all through the year. At every visit there was always something new to see and admire. We witnessed the pumpkins growing and saw their gorgeous display when they were harvested.  The colours of autumn this year in South East England were quite extraordinary. The mostly fine weather continued and we saw golds, reds and oranges in the autumnal leaves which took my breath away. My dino ducks made such lovely scrunching noises as they waddled through them to see me on my regular visits. 

Sadly new restrictions were imposed again on 5th November and once again we could no longer see family. I had even started Daisy's birthday cake but everything was of course cancelled. Luckily I sent the decorations I had made and her Mummy made a cake and put them on. As with most events this year we celebrated via Watts App. Thank goodness for modern technology.

Winter/Christmas 

We saw the stunning Christmas Glow display at Wisely on a cold but gorgeous night in December and for a while thought that we would actually celebrate a small family gathering on Christmas day. Sadly just 6 days before Christmas that was all cancelled. Of course Christmas day still went ahead, in a very different way indeed. I still celebrated my favourite time of the year and made some new memories.

The one bonus of this year has been that our darling Billy cat has had our company constantly. My husband has worked from home since the first Lockdown and is his company is not rushing them back to their City of London office for the foreseeable future.

This was my Christmas place setting this year. I made these "emergency" crackers at the last minute.

I will keep the "real" ones I made 

for when we get to celebrate Christmas with our family at some point next year. Even if it's the hottest day of the year it will be worth waiting for. All the presents are ready and waiting until we can be together again.

As we approach the end of 2020 it is time for me reflect on this extraordinary year. I am incredibly grateful that my family has stayed safe and well so far. My daughter is one of the thousands of heroic NHS doctors we are blessed to have working for us. Their work this year has been phenomenal but so difficult and stressful. They truly are such selfless souls. My son has worked tirelessly and often 7 days a week to successfully move his golfing business completely online. Thank goodness golf was one of the sports allowed to continue from the earliest days of the Lockdown. I am so proud of the way my family has worked and kept going whatever challenges they faced. I personally know a lot of families have not been so lucky and my heart really breaks for them. Let's hope 2021 brings hope of a more normal life returning. 

I will be back on new year's eve with my crafting highlights of 2020. What an amazing year that has been! Despite Dotty's having to close for some of the time (and she has had to close again) my crafting has been incredibly productive. Together with my garden and Mother Nature it has been just the best of distractions for me. 

I will close with one of my favourite poems written nearly 100 years ago, way before our modern life and all is complexities. How important  Mother Nature is to still keeping us all mindful....

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

William Henry Davies          

                      

Take care and stay safe.

Try to find the time to stand and stare, amongst all this chaos. We will get there. 

Back on the 31st. 

Jane x

Blooming and growing, Mindful Moments 9

Hello friends, here I am with my 9th Mindful Moments post. If you did not see my first post and wonder what these are do check it out here. Thank you to everyone who has been reading them. I can see from my stats that these are getting at least twice the usual traffic of my other posts, which has really inspired me to keep trying to get them written weekly if I can. I really hope you are finding them a moment to make you smile and stay mindful during these very turbulent times.

This week has been very much a blooming growing week; in my garden, all around me and especially my dear dino babies, more about them later.

I had my fantastic delivery of annuals from my local nursery. 

I bought a few veg plants too including Gardener's delight tomatoes and some dwarf beans. I have also been planting out some of the seed I grew.

My spring pots had finished and it was time to empty them out, wash them and get my summer bedding plants in.

Here is one pot finished..so much colour to add to my garden.

I can't wait to see them bloom and grow. They will bring such joy.

I also have digitalis in flower in my front garden, one of my faves. When they have seeded I will sprinkle some out the back again as all my old plants were dug up when we had our landscaping work in January. I'm sure they will reseed.

In the park there are so many gorgeous blossoms now. New ones seem to appear almost daily.

The coots on the lake at Beddington have hatched their sweet chicks.

 The ducklings swim by to say hello and are growing really big.

The Canada geese goslings who were mere fluff balls a few weeks ago are being proudly shown off by their Mum and Dad.

And as for my sweet dinos...oh my they are doing so well.7 of the babies have survived and even the tiny runt who I thought had died is doing OK. I saw them this morning and just look how big they are!

In the center above and below is the darling tiny runt, he is being well looked after by his family.

It is such a joy to see them growing up.

So my Mindful Moments project for today are some ATCs I made using a rather apt Paperartsy stamp set from yonks ago, a reminder that even rather psychedelic caterpillars will one day grow into beautiful butterflies!

Here is one in close up;

 I would like to enter my ATCs into the following challenges;

Through the craft room door 2/2 anything goes

Not just cards 3/3 anything goes

Cute card Tuesdays 2/3 critters

Fab n funkie 3/3 anything but a card
Creative artiste 1/3 anything goes
Lil patch of crafting friends 1/3 anything goes

Pixie's snippets playground #378 I used snippets of paper for paper piecing my flowers

If you missed my post yesterday I have a little giveaway running on my blog which is open to everyone worldwide. Take a peep here; it runs until 6 June and is gift to yourself or to a friend for one randomly selected commentator.

I found these inspiring words to use today;

“Every bird, every tree, every flower reminds me what a blessing and privilege it is just to be alive.”

Marty Rubin

These times WILL pass.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for the kind comments you have taken the time to leave me, they are so appreciated. Have a lovely weekend, take time to look around you at Mother Nature who is totally unaware of any Lockdown or Pandemic!

Please keep safe, keep mindful, keep washing those hands.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

With love, Jane x

When there are blue skies, Mindful Moments 6

Hello and welcome to my 6th Mindful Moments. If you did not see my first post and wonder what these are do check it out here.  Thank you to everyone who has been reading them. I can see from my stats that these are getting at least twice the usual traffic of my other posts, which has really inspired me to keep trying to get them written weekly if I can. I really hope you are finding them a moment to make you smile and stay mindful during these very turbulent times. 

Mother Nature is still being very kind to me here in South East England by sending another week of wall to wall sunshine and clear blue skies from dawn to dusk. There was a little bit of a chilly wind earlier in the week but the last few days have been very warm.

So what have I been up to? Well I am still enjoying my gorgeous newly landscaped garden, with lots of lunches and breaks taken outside. 

The acers are looking stunning in their pots

My bulbs are still blooming away. The daffs are nearly finished but now the tulips have come out

and how about these, which opened over a few days......

 into scarlet and yellow beauties

The spring blossom I have seen on my daily socially distanced walks has been breathtaking

and we can now "cast a clout" as the May is out!

I also spotted these gorgeous camellia

and the joy of this week....I spotted my first dino babies!

So I have a lot to be grateful for this courtesy of Mother Nature. What joy she can bring.

My Mindful Moment Make this week is a card I made for my Hb, I was so inspired by the sunshine that I made an inky sunny background and used my new delightful stamp set by the lovely Tracey Easson. I coloured the mice with zig pens and added some glossy accents to the stars.

Because these gorgeous clear skies during the day really do make the stars shine bright. 

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Addicted to stamps and More 1/3 anything goes

The house that stamps built 1/3 anything goes

Simon says stamp Monday Create a scene

A bit more time to craft 3/3 anything goes

Creative artiste 2/3 anything goes

I found this little quote for today by John Burroughs, I think it sums me up!

I go to nature to be soothed and healed and to have my senses put in order. 

Please keep safe, keep mindful, keep washing those hands and looking around at the beauty and inspiration from Mother Nature.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

With love, Jane x

Back to village life, Mindful Moments 5

Hi everyone I am back with the next of my Mindful Moments posts and I am already up to number 5

 If you did not see my first post and wonder what these are do check it out here.  Thank you to everyone who has been reading them. I can see from my stats that these are getting at least twice the usual traffic of my other posts, which has really inspired me to keep trying to get them written weekly if I can. I really hope you are finding them a moment to make you smile and stay mindful during these very turbulent times.

The weather has really been extraordinary over the last week, wall to wall sunshine and blue skies.
I have been out for my daily walk and down at the ponds it is so surreal. As there is little or no traffic I can really imagine what my high street looked like in days gone by when Carshalton was still a tiny village. I thought I would share the photos I took with you...here is Honeywood, once a rich man's country house but now a museum. It looks out from one side of the ponds.

There is a ford in front of it. Before the bridge was built it was the only way of crossing the water.

 With no traffic racing by this is a rare photo to capture. This is looking across to the Greyhound pub. Carriages and carts used to be driven across here in days gone by.

So peaceful and quiet, but very surreal.

Beautiful blossom hung from the cherry trees.

This heron was just pottering around in the shallows.

The bridge with no traffic on it at all.

Looking back to the church.

A church has stood here for a thousand years and the original part is listed in the Doomsday book. There have been pandemics of all kinds through the ages, this is sadly just one of many and it will pass. 

I actually wandered out into the main road to take these shots. This is usually a red route

The Woodman, once an old butcher's shop now a bar, but silent for now.

 Looking back down our deserted High Street usually a bustling with plenty of shoppers, just a lone man walking along instead.

I really felt as though I had taken a step back in time. All I could hear was birdsong, not traffic noise and for that time I was able to really feel at peace. It was very much tranquil and mindful moment. For now we have reverted back to being a quiet village, despite being just 10 miles from central London.

My crafting share today was inspired my walk. Daisy, my 6 year old granddaughter and I have set up a "crafting by post" activity. I have given us 15 themes to use to make 2 artists trading cards and coins. One we keep to look back on and one we swap. She has been loving this. We are up to number 4, the theme for this one is "flowers". These are the coins and ATC I made.

Here are the coins in close up. I used my Tim Holtz wild rose stencil, some of his wild flower and garden greens die cuts and tiny small talk stickers.

Below is the one I have sent to Daisy. The words are so true, I miss her so very much but we keep in contact by video and though our joint love of crafting. 

this is mine to keep to remind me that life still goes on, just at a much slower pace

I would like to enter my coins into the following challenges;

Sparkles Monthly 2/3 spring is in the air

A bit more time to craft 2/3 anything goes

Allsorts 1/3 flowers and/or showers

Alphabet challenge 1/3 A is for anything goes

Crafty catz 1/3 anything goes

Creative artiste 1/3 anything goes

C.R.A.F.T 1/3 create your own flower/embellishment

Dragonfly dreams 1/3 add flowers

My little quote for my Mindful Moments post today is one I feel most appropriate for staying creative at the moment;

Start where you are,

Use what you can,

Do what you can do.

Arthur Ashe

Please keep safe, keep mindful, keep washing those hands and looking around at the beauty and inspiration from Mother Nature.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

With love, Jane x