Saturday 16 February 2019

Wall to Wall Blue Skies

We are enjoying some unseasonal skies and sun courtesy of a 'weather-front' brought to us across the continent from the Azores. It is predicted to last for at least another week.



Having attended our Fine Art Society to hear and learn more about a favourite artist, Stanley Spencer, it was far too lovely to return straight home again.
Lunch can remain on hold whilst we wander around the town enjoying the warm sunshine and the newly emerging flowers. 
Although February is the shortest month of the year sometimes it can feel longer - this weather is such a very welcome tonic.

45 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I know the place well, but yes, obviously.

      Delete
    2. I used to buy stone from Catbrain Quarry. Great name eh?

      Delete
    3. I read that Catbrain comes from Middle English “cattes brazen” reference rough clay mixed with stones, but I agree it is a great name. Our garden walls were built from stone that came from further north in Naunton - is Catbrain Quarry now redundant?

      Delete
  2. Hello Rosemary, You indeed are lucky--here we measure good weather in hours, not in weeks!
    --Jim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Jim - fingers crossed that this weather continues to drift up in our direction.

      Delete
  3. So happy for you grabbing on to the great weather arriving from across the ocean! Sunshine is so important to our happiness and health! Your visit to this beautiful spot must have been wonderful on such a glorious day - the flowers and shrubs are so uplifting to one's spirit when they are abundant such as these. Lovely photos as always.

    Glad you are doing better Rosemary - all good here but we are having a lot of rain today - and predicted to continue daily during this coming week - so it's very green and blossoms are appearing. Spring can't be far off!

    Enjoy the weekend - Mary x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is a local town down in one of our five valleys Mary - perhaps due to the mercurial weather in our hemisphere, we do really appreciate the good days when they come along. Hoping that the forecast is correct and that it lingers on for a while longer.

      Delete
  4. Nothing lifts the spirits like clear blue skies and sunshine. Not to mention all those lovely flowers poking their heads up in gratitude.
    I have heard February is the six months between January and March. It sure felt like that when I lived in Chicago.
    Enjoy the fine weather! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is helping February pass much quicker Catherine, in fact I can hardly believe that we will be into March in less than two weeks. I don't want to wish my life away, but February usually does seem to go on and on.

      Delete
  5. Super-sunny photos. Not so good here today, but last week was certainly splendid and I got out somewhere every day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am sure more blue skies will soon be heading in your direction John - the forecasters say so anyway. I am pleased you managed to get out and about during the week, it makes a huge difference not being stuck indoors.

      Delete
  6. Everything looks so green and spring-like there already!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the flowers are such a joy to see once again Debra.

      Delete
  7. It's been glorious hasn't it. And long may it continue. It certainly has me out tidying in the garden and sowing seeds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lovely Jessica - there is nothing better to lift our spirits.

      Delete
  8. Beautiful shots!

    Little flowers like that show up here in late April.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had no idea that you had to wait that long William.

      Delete
  9. I was at work all day, but the beautiful, mild afternoon meant I got to take 4 of our residents out for wheelchair walks on the prom. It was lovely to be able to take them out, albeit one at a time, and for me too. It's hard to believe this time last year we were in the grip of the 'Beast from the East'!! All those glorious crocuses!! I finally have daffodils coming through, though no flowers yet. Best, Jane x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I bet the residents loved their walk along the prom with you - yes I agree, the crocus flowers are glorious, they were a joy to see stretching their petals wide open to capture all the sunlight.

      Delete
  10. Crocuses were the first sign of Spring when I visited England the first time in 1963. I love them! We stopped for a walk around that pretty village when on our way to visit friends in Coln St.Aldwyns in 2016. I seem to remember a lych gate. Glad the sun is cheering you there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are right Betty - the lych gate is the building that you can see on the second photo. If I had known you were so nearby I could have met you.

      Delete
  11. That looks a lovely day. Those crocuses (or croci) look wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To see them so wide open was a joy, and they displayed so many different tones of purple.

      Delete
  12. It's been a very mild winter so far, hardly any snow. Feels like spring already. Having said that most of the snow during the last few years has arrived later, around March/April time. Weather like that is a real tonic... and very addictive. I never go anywhere without it :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do recall that we had some snow last March so I for one will keep my fingers crossed that the couple of days snow that we have had already will be the last. Snow is not my scene - I like it for one day, and then I want it to vanish and go as quickly as possible.

      Delete
  13. Also here in Milan we are blessed with an unusual warm February, I would call it nature's gift ,because obviously it is not going to stay like this, Spring is yet to come. But I have done a lot of gardening , pure bliss.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nature's gift it is indeed Jane, and long may it last, but like you I too realise that it may be short lived.

      Delete
  14. Dear Rosemary - Flowers are in full sunlight. I understand how you wandered around tempted by the warm sunshine under the blue skies. The yew trees look like guards watching and protecting the place, like the steel-framed soldier with a gun in the last photo. Here in western Japan, I haven’t seen frost or snow this winter and it’s going to warm up for the week.

    Yoko

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Yoko - your winter weather sounds as if has been very kind to you in Japan this year. I do really like your interpretation of the yew trees in the photos, and I find it a very fitting description.

      Delete
  15. Your photos are a delight at this time of year. We too enjoyed a glorious week, sadly back to grey today but the promise of an improving week ahead. B x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have had some grey too Barbara, but at the moment our sunshine is back again, and they say that it will continue into next of the week.

      Delete
  16. When I saw the first photo I thought "Painswick" and then the first comment confirmed it. How lovely that carpet of crocus is in the early spring light. We wandered those paths in the churchyard! I'd be so tempted to wander in the sunlight rather than head off. Those sunny days beguile one to stay outdoors.
    We had our snow, and we still have it. It's going to be here for a week or two. Now is the not-so-pleasant part.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know exactly what you mean about the snow Lorrie - love to see it at first, the world looks so pristine and beautiful, but after a couple of days I am happy for it to say goodbye. We had snow for two days only - went to bed with it still hanging heavily on the trees, woke up and every last bit had vanished - it seemed like magic.
      I am glad to know that you too have wandered this ancient churchyard.

      Delete
  17. The weather looks gorgeous and the flowers would certainly lift anyone's spirit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It certainly does David - thank you for visiting and your kind comment.

      Delete
  18. There is something particularly uplifting about crocuses fully out - I suppose it is because they remind us that the world is waking up again, despite the bare trees and chilly winds!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These crocus were such a joy to see Jenny and I loved the fact that they were in various different tones of purple.

      Delete
  19. A lovely place to wander around in, especially with the pretty sunshine. We are having blue sky’s today too and it is up to 61degrees. It seems a tad bit chilly since we just arrived home from the Caribbean,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am sure that it does Janey, there is nothing better than enjoying some lovely warm sunshine during these winter months. We are off soon too seeking some of the same.

      Delete
  20. Dearest Rosemary,
    What a perfect sunny out-door day after attending a Fine Arts Society event!
    We missed a lovely program past Sunday as we both visited a dear friend who's going through chemo... Forgot about the Fine Arts Society! Naturally as it is quite emotional to witness someone dear to you suffer.
    Here we have had a few of those special sunny and warm days, up to 27˚C even. Had to change my wind-proof biker pants for longer shorts! But then again a dip in temperature and worse, gloomy weather with wind and rain. Today was lovely though but tomorrow is again 90% rain.
    How lovely all those crocus in bloom and the blue skies above!
    Hugs,
    Mariette

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This was the start of over two weeks of glorious weather here - it has certainly helped to shorten the winter months - I can't believe that we are going into March already.

      Delete

❖PLEASE NOTE❖ Comments made by those who hide their identity will be deleted


“You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you - you have to go to them sometimes”

― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh