hedgerow watching – Page 3 – Dreaming In Stitches

Hidcote Blues…

If all had gone to plan at the weekend, this post wouldn’t be here. Instead I’d have written about a visit to Chastleton House over at Mists of TIme (I’ve only been waiting about fifteen years to go to Chastleton, it had better be worth it when I finally get there!).

But on Sunday morning, after a week of rain and grey skies, the sun came out as we were driving westward and we made the executive decision to ditch Chastleton and head for Hidcote instead.

Which was such a good move, because it turned out to be the most perfect English summer’s day, and really, what better way to spend it than languidly wandering around one of the most beautiful and iconic gardens in the country (rather ironically the creation of an American).

I took about a zillion photos while we were there, but in honour of the famous lavender ‘Hidcote Blue’ (which I didn’t photograph at all…), here are just a few alternative blues spotted as we meandered through the seemingly endless secret gardens.

For me, the experience felt like walking through an Impressionist painting. The dazzling variety of textures and jewel-like points of colour seep into your soul and I’m certain it’s not only gardeners who feel inspired by its treasures.

❤

Hidcote Manor is tucked away in the countryside close to Chipping Camden and managed by the National Trust. It’s always beautiful, but just occasionally, when the Fates decide, it’s magical.

❤

All over the shop…

hedgerow watching

So, how’s May been for you?

I was mildly surprised this week to find it’s almost over, surely it can’t have gone by quite that fast.

I seem to have walked in a lot of rain lately, which has had the benefit of making everything smell wonderful, although the elderflowers are refusing to come out until they get some more warm sunshine.

There has been some stitchiness, but I’m having real trouble getting this one to photograph – this is the best shot I’ve managed so far. Is it me, or does my phone simply not like doing bluey shades – anyone else have this problem?

Otherwise, it’s all been a bit of a blur.

Did manage a quick trip to Berkhamsted Castle yesterday (dodging the rain – just!). There’s a post over at Mists of Time if you’re interested in ruined castles that had a lot of big name medieval visitors… (oh I know, no need to feel guilty).

Back in June!

Happy stitching.

❤

Tree time: May

hedgerow watching

Well I’ve been photographing the oak tree almost every day for five months now. So instead of showing you the pictures from mid April to mid May, I thought I’d show the mid month pictures from January until today…

Here goes –

January 2014…

February 2014…

March 2014…

April 2014…

Today – May 21st 2014…

All the daily pictures are on my Instagram feed – the latest are over in the sidebar, but if you want to see them all just click on the pictures in the sidebar (then click on Dreaming in Stitches), the Instagram icon, or HERE.

I also post the daily pictures via Twitter, so feel free to follow me there if you prefer. Follow @AnnPawley

Nearly half way through the year and at last the oak is dressed in all its green finery.

❤

A Beltane Bouquet…

hedgerow watching

Well perhaps it wasn’t the best of nights for jumping over fires or other more intimate May Day rituals – I lay in bed listening to the rain pouring down outside and thought that if anyone was out there celebrating the start of summer, I hoped they’d taken their best waterproofs with them…

My rather more sedate if still fairly soggy celebration, is a little virtual bouquet made up from the flowers I saw on the lane this morning.

Happy May Day 2014

❤

Oh and just because it’s May Day, here’s my oak today.

❤

Tree time: April…

hedgerow watching

Well, what a difference a month makes…

A whizz through the month – (if you want to see every day’s picture, they’re all on my Instagram site, you can get there by clicking the Instagram pictures or icon in the left sidebar).

You can see that at last the oak has leaves. I first caught a glimpse of pale fuzzy browny greenness towards the end of the first week in April, but I couldn’t get close enough to see really well, but other oaks along the lane started to unfurl at that time too. Within a week, you could see them for sure on the sunny days.

So I’ve learned that the oaks come into leaf a lot later than the horse-chestnuts, which are already sporting a full head of leaves and lots of candles, but there are still a few trees on the lane without leaves – now I have to go out with a book so I can work out what they are…

The last picture here was taken yesterday – quite a change from mid March.

The weather has been much better over the last few weeks, but the most noticeable thing by far for me, is the huge explosion of growth in the hedgerow and the banks. The sheer amount of plant life that has sprung up in the last couple of weeks is incredible. It’s easier to understand how important this time of year was to our ancestors when you see the rapid increase in green leaves suddenly appearing everywhere. The blossom has been and now is largely gone. Today I realised that the brambles have practically doubled in size as their new leaves seem to have shot out of nowhere. What a relief it must have been after the harshness of winter to welcome back all this plant life.

❤

I try to post every picture I take on the same day on my Instagram site – if you would like to watch the oak more often, follow me on Instagram

❤

Blossom…

hedgerow watching

If you walk down the lane most mornings, you might well see me holding onto the Delinquent Dog with one hand, while attempting to snap using the mobile camera with the other. Trouble is, for close-ups you really do better with two hands, and unless I take my reading glasses – and really, who does take their specs when they’re walking the dog – I can’t actually see what I’m doing.

Which is why I was particularly pleased when I downloaded the pics to the Mac and found this.

❤

The hedgerow is really coming alive this week.

Tree time: March…

hedgerow watching

It’s been about four weeks since the last tree project update, and as you can see, we’ve had a lot more sunny days. The oak tree itself still seems much the same, although in just the last few days I’ve noticed so many more buds appearing in the hedgerow, spring is definitely making its presence felt.

I continue to be surprised by how the light varies each day – all these pictures are taken at roughly the same time each morning, and I’m not adjusting the exposure, so what you see, is how it is on the day.

The main difference I’ve noticed since the last post, is the huge increase in birdsong and general bird activity during the morning walk – I wish there was a way to give the pictures their soundtrack. And we’ve seen lots of baby rabbits darting through the hedge – very sweet.

)O(

Over in the sidebar, are my Instagram pics of the Daily Tree Project, with the occasional stitchy update and other random snaps from daily life around here.

Do feel free to explore, or follow on Instagram or Twitter.

)O(

Perverse…

hedgerow watching

For weeks I’ve moaned about the relentless greyness, then this morning we had fog, and I loved it…

)O(

Green, blue & wet…

hedgerow watching

Nothing quite like a blue sky for lifting the spirits…

oak tree – detail

Can’t resist peeping through the hedge to see the view…

cottonwool clouds…

more hedge framing

early light in the wood…

wet, but shiny.

there was a woodpecker up there somewhere, but I couldn’t see him!

This week there’s been rather more blue sky than grey – leaps up and down with joy! Even the wet days were beautiful in their own way.

)O(

All pictures taken during the morning dog walks this week.

)O(

Over in the sidebar, are my Instagram pics of the Daily Tree Project, with the occasional stitchy update and other random snaps from daily life around here.

Do feel free to explore, or follow on Instagram or Twitter.

Tree time: February…

hedgerow watching

It’s nearly a month since I posted about my challenge to photograph the same oak tree every time I walk past it during 2014. so I thought today I’d show you what’s been happening since mid January.

If you want to see every picture, they’re all on my Instagram site (you can get there by pressing the little button that looks like a camera under the Instagram feed in the sidebar), but I’ve put a selection here – I think I’d have to say that on the whole grey has been the word of the month. Each picture has been taken at roughly the same time of day – between 8.30am and 10.30am, but difference that the weather makes is enormous.

Even on the rare days when the sun was shining, it mainly went on to become grey and wet – there was even one day when I got soaked about five minutes after taking a sunny picture – typical…

Waiting now for signs of spring. There are catkins in the hedgerow, a few shoots showing, and occasional mornings of rampant birdsong – will it be soon?

)O(

Foggy…

hedgerow watching

Yesterday morning was foggy. I rather enjoy fog in the woods, it’s eerie, otherworldly. In these conditions, my mind easily conjures faeries…

Later, when I was flicking through the photos I’d taken, I couldn’t help being struck by their graphic quality – the picture above is merely cropped, nothing else, – but to me it looks like a pencil and charcoal study on a textured watercolour paper.

And this is where I was walking.

)O(

Seeing the tree for the woods…

hedgerow watching

I’ve set myself a little challenge for 2014.

I’ve been walking more or less the same route, at roughly the same time of day, for just over a year now (taking the Delinquent Dog for his morning constitutional). Our walk goes through a wood and down a lane and every day, we pass hundreds of trees.

Now I love trees, but I don’t very often stop to really look at them.

And then at the beginning of January, one morning as we walked down the lane, past this particular oak tree, the sunlight caught it and for the first time, I was struck by its lovely shape. I took a photo.

The next day, the weather was dreadful and staring at the same tree, it looked different. I took a photo.

And so that’s when the idea came to me – this year, I shall take a photo of that particular oak tree, every time I walk past it.

The pictures above are from the first couple of weeks – Mother Nature trying out her various lighting effects…

I’ll post a few each month.

Happy stitching.

)O(