Reasons to be Cheerful: Galloping into June #R2BC

 
It may be grey and damp outside but that doesn't mean I have no reasons to be cheerful! Joining in with Michelle to share the happiness:
1) Grasmere Gallop
I have been taking part at the Gallop since 2013 and my son since 2014 (we missed it last year!). This year he knocked over 2 minutes off his time from 2017 to finish 3rd under 16 boy and 8th overall in the 5.7 km race. It was my 2nd attempt at the 10 km race and I was a couple of minutes slower than in 2017 but it still felt like a great run:

2) Peace & Quiet


My son went off for two nights on a residential. This not only meant the house was really quiet (too quiet!) but I had time to enjoy a rare sunny evening and have a girlie dinner with my mum and my daughter.

3) Blooming lovely

We might not like the damper weather this year but it has meant that my garden is starting to burst into flower earlier than during last year's heatwave. Plenty of the wildflowers have self seeded and some of my bulbs seem to have survived too:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Be More Wit Wit Woo #R2BC

The blogging community is currently reeling from the sudden and unexpected death of one of the most optimistic and vivacious members Kate Sutton. Back in the early days of Twitter when I was a newly single parent she kept me sane with conversations online. She was an inspiration for me to embrace life and not care what anyone else might think! Rest in peace Kate.
Here are my reasons to be cheerful which I am sure she would have appreciated:
1) Insects
Its wonderful to see busy bees and butterflies making the most of the flower bonanza brought on by the unusually warm weather:

I am glad to have done my bit for them with the wild flowers in my front garden:

2) Clearing Out

We did another car boot sale on Sunday and got rid of some more bits and made a few more pounds for the holiday kitty! It was also a good social occasion:

3) A Trip Down Memory Lane

I went through lots of boxes in the garage for the car boot and found loads of treasures. This included the children's christening gifts, some missing Denby and this rather bizarre guinea pig I made in art at high school:

Front Garden update

I thought it was time to do a follow up post to my gardening post from April! Things have definitely come a long way since I dug out the borders for bulbs and seeds:

Here was a my video update from last week when I incorrectly identified cyclamen as geraniums:

Here are some of my favourite wild flowers that grew from seed:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Running, Tulips, DIY and Winning #R2BC

At least I have remembered what day of the week it is this week so that I am ready for hosting! I am enjoying reading and sharing your posts this month and look forward to it again this week. Meanwhile here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Up and running
After a visit to the podiatrist I have been told to not give up running! I have new insoles to correct my flat feet and pigeon toes which should hopefully sort out my painful heel. So I was delighted to head over to Lancaster parkrun for a Run Mummy Run meet and our annual tourist trip to Williamson Park:

2) Winning things

I have won 2 Facebook competitions this week. First of all I have won a Haynes manual for the NASA Skylab:

Secondly I have won a burlesque photoshoot - ooh er missus - a chance to get primped, preened and try out a corset! Not sure if the results of that will be appearing on here...

3) Overdue DIY

Review: Prestige Flowers Christmas Bouquet

Sponsored Post

I arrived home on Saturday to find this beautiful box had been delivered from Prestige Flowers:

Inside it was this wonderful Noel bouquet from https://www.prestigeflowers.co.uk/christmas-flowers:

The bouquet was delivered with its own vase:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Time #R2BC

This is Michelle's last week hosting as the linky comes back to me for October! I had better be super organised from next week. Let's hope I have as much time to be organised as this week... The advantage of being underemployed is that time has not been in short supply. So what have I had time to do this week that has made me smile:
1) Time with family and friends
This week I have spent more time with my local based family including a trip to Victoria and Abdul, tea out and a relaxed coffee. When things have been a bit bonkers this is so essential! Accidentally bumping into a friend when out and about is great reason to smile too.
2) Time to organise
The airing cupboard was out of control so I spent an entire day culling our bedding and towels and putting in back in an organised fashion. How long will it stay this tidy:

3) Time to finish fixing my iPhone

To get all the features of my phone working I had to get help to remove the LCD plate off the remains of the old screen:

Luckily once again my dad had time to come to the rescue and we successfully put the plate on the new screen and I now have a fully functioning phone with Home button and both cameras!

4) Time to appreciate my garden

I am very lucky to have been given some autumn flowering plants which are providing colour for me and food for insects:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Nearly Half Term #R2BC

As an NQT and a parent its been quite a stressful half term so I am so happy next week is our break! Luckily there are always some things that keep me smiling and sane so that I am not totally stressed out.. Here are a few from this week:

1) Flowery treat

Nothing quite like bargain roses on the 15th of February. One of my favourite flowers and with no significant other to treat me it was nice to be able to treat myself:

2) First snowdrops

There is always something special about seeing your first snowdrops. It heralds that the end of winter is nigh and that spring is nearly here:

3) New running shoes

After nearly 2000 kilometres I finally gave in and replaced my running shoes. A wonderful treat for my feet:

Flower Friday

It's Friday so here are this week's flower photos:

Flower Friday

Time for a return to my occasional Flower Friday photo series!

#WordlessWednesday Narcissi

 

Flowery Friday Snowdrops

Nice to have flowers for Flowery Friday with these snowdrops:

Flowery Friday

Found a rose hiding behind shed!

 

Flowery Friday

Still enough flowers around to do this:

Flowery Friday

How many more of these will I manage with autumn heading in... Oh well here are this week's flower photographs:

#CountryKids at Sizergh Castle

With family up for the long weekend who love taking photographs there was only one choice for day one Sizergh Castle. They have just started allowing photography inside the castle as well so it was a good time to make our annual whizz inside (we most often just stay in the garden and grounds.

First up on the child led tour was the sunken garden:

Then we wandered past the wonderful flower beds:

Then it was time for the children to do a barefoot walk from the beehives to the chicken run:

We had time to try making grass trumpets and playing Pooh sticks before heading back towards to the castle:

Before going into the castle the children headed to the barn to try out the medieval dressing up clothes:

Eventually it was time to head to the main entrance for our timed entry into the castle:

They have quizzes to get the children to slow down and actually look at what is in the rooms as you go round but we still seemed to whizz pretty quick past all these lovely things:

We picnicked near the front pond before looking to see what nature had so show us:

Little brother had dipped her!

All in all a perfect Country Kids day!