Outside!

I faced a major inner battle this morning. One part of my brain wanted to comfort me and tried its damnedest to persuade me to stay in. The other part had forced me to don my Fitbit and ready myself for my first venture outside my front door in months...

I had planned to leave the house at 8am, to put an end to my burgeoning agoraphobia, but by 7.30am I could feel my willpower slipping, so to keep the upper hand, I dressed quickly and made my way out through the front door at earlier than anticipated.

My key in the front door lock

I can't say that it was an enjoyable walk, but it stopped the disappointment that would have plagued me all day had I persuaded myself out of the forced adventure. As you can see from the photographs I took, my mind was preoccupied with uncomfortable thoughts throughout the walk, even though I managed to keep socially distanced for its entire duration.

Reaching the end of my street and...

...meeting the main road

Negotiating my way into the woodland

Me in the world again

The magick was still in the countryside :)

Heading back into subrbia

Meandering onto the road to keep socially distanced

It was only a brief walk - a couple of streets and a short path through my neighbourhood woodland. My anxiety levels made me hyper-vigilant throughout, to a degree that stopped me enjoying the experience. And I can't really say that I feel any better after the walk than I did before it. I am still feeling edgy, as nervous about being in a world ridden with an invisible virus as ever. But these were just baby steps. And I WILL venture out again...

A Rainy Saturday Morning

It's That Kind of Day

Sunday Morning

On a 3 Day Roll...

Waiting for the Storm...

On a Roll...

Second writing session of the week :)

#NationalWritingDay

#NationalWritingDay seems a fitting time to end my malaise and crack on with writing my Christmas ghost story...

Summer Solstice Sunshine 2020

Writing Lamp

I haven't been able to put pen to paper for such a long while :( Hopefully, my new writer's lamp will motivate me :)

Foxy Taking His Nightly Egg

A Moment of Calm...

Fasciated Purple Toadflax

Our purple toadflax has finally flowered. It has also developed a fascinated stem and flower head, making this a quite rare specimen of the plant. We picked the seed for this flower from Elvedon Forest after stopping off there after moving Amber's belongings to her new home in Norwich a couple of years ago. It is lovely seeing the plant finally flower and to find it has discovered a rare stem mutation 🙂

Sorting Out the Attic #1

I am not going to lie, my attic is currently a tip. But today I made a start tidying it, until something caught my eye and derailed me for the afternoon lol:

My Neighbours Dog...

My neighbour's dog reacting to a storm and general garden ambience:

 

Night Night

A weekend of terrible anxiety. But, for now at least, a moment of calm. Night night everyone.

Running and Writing

Whether I am running or writing, this girl is by my side :)

Lamb, Wearyall Hill, Glastonbury

Sweyne's Eye - City Leaves

Sweyne's Eye - Boat Hull Paintwork

A Cacophany of Crows

As if they were celebrating the first day of Summer, a gathering of Jackdaws heralded the breaking dawn by deciding to wake the whole neighbourhood with their raucous caws. The two resident nesting magpies seemed to take umbrage to the Jackdaw's presence and added to the cacophony with their quarrelsome cackles.

Despite it being 4.30 in the morning, I managed to drag myself out of bed to take a couple of photographs of the morning Summer sky. I even managed a little audio recording of the birds:

A Record-Breaking May...

Well, what a glorious end to Spring 2020. We were all really spoiled with the weather here in the UK in May - with the month breaking the record of the sunniest calendar month on record!  My garden has flourished in the sunshine and has continued to offer me solace as the pandemic continues to sweep across the world. We even managed to have a bbq, our first this year :)

My writing spot for the day

Making the most of being on lockdown by seating myself here to do a bit writing today. I must say, however, it seems decidedly strange writing a Christmas ghost story in the glorious hot sunshine.