It's The Simple Things That Count

Materialism is an ever-constant assault on our senses. It's everywhere. All the time. Trying to convince us that happiness and contentment can be bought. 

I was scrolling through my archives and found this post that I wrote in 2015. I couldn't help but think how much pressure to 'have more to have happiness' has increased with the growth of social media and influencers since writing this post.

 

Honestly, it's exhausting to be constantly told how to 'find happiness'. Ultimately, the people who are trying to convince us of their wealth = happiness gospel are doing so because it has a direct correlation to their own bank balance!

So, I thought it may be a good time to re-publish this post as timely reminder to rebalance our thoughts and hearts on what truly matters in life.

From the Archives:

In today's post I wanted to share some lovely simple things from my week that have made me happy. It seems to have become a bit of a ponderous post for me though after our read-aloud time this morning. So instead of speaking about those lovely simple things, I will pen out my thoughts and pepper this post with pictures of them instead.

I am reading the book 'Daddy-Long-Legs' by Jean Webster to my girls during our read-aloud time. In today's reading the main character, Judy, writes to Daddy-Long-Legs of her first visit to New York. She writes,

 "I can't imagine any joy in life greater than sitting down in front of a mirror and buying any hat you choose without having first to consider the price! There's no doubt about it, Daddy; New York would rapidly undermine this fine stoical character which the John Grier Home so patiently built up."

Her very next letter sees her in a more rational frame of mind. Daddy Long-legs evidently sent her a cheque after reading her letter, but she returns the cheque with a note explaining why she cannot accept the money, she writes, 

" I am sorry that I wrote all that silly stuff about the millinery shop; it's just that I had never seen anything like it before."

I'm sure we can all find a time in our life when we felt like Judy. It is so easy to get sucked into a world of materialism. I usually try to avoid shopping malls that hold every top brand name, or those streets in London that house the same. It sucks you in and you begin to feel a little like Judy. I know what she means when she says that *New York (*fill in your own city/mall/shopping weakness here) would undermine her stoic character.

Materialism is a terribly enticing and bad master and the truth is that shopping up a storm or adding 'stuff' to your name does not make you a happier person. Unfortunately we spend our lives having advertising companies bombarding us with messages on why we will only ever be happy if we buy x-y or z.

The best way of counteracting this is to cultivate a spirit of thankfulness for what we have and appreciating the simple things in life. 

There are many, many things to be thankful for and appreciate if you just look around you. Here are some of mine this week:

* The good health of everyone in my family

* BBQ's on a warm spring evening

* Nature walks with my children

* New life springing out from all quarters every single day

* A roof over our heads and food in our tummies

* A good job to keep us in above-stated condition :)

* Being able to sit quietly and work in my nature journal

* Good friends to talk to

* Happy memories of family holidays and times together

* Living in England! I love this country and feel blessed to be here

* Seasons - I love the seasons

* Birdsong - how can you not be cheered when you stop to listen to them

* Buzzy bumble-bees and fluttery butterflies - all out in the sunshine

* Washing dancing in the wind as it dries outside on the washing line

* Freshly cut lawn

* Clouds scudding across the blue sky

* Blossoms and blooms - they are everywhere at the moment

* The feel of my fountain pen moving over paper as I write in journal entries

* Reading good books together with my children and for myself. We have many wonderful memories of books read together. I'm so grateful that I have given my children a living-books rich curriculum

* Jumping on the trampoline with my daughter and laughing until our sides hurt

* Eating ice-creams outside in the warm sunshine

* Seeing the Cowslips blooming - they are so sweet, I love them.

I could go on but I fear I might bore you LOL. But I'm sure that as you read my list you will see that none of the things I have listed as precious and thankful memories and moments have cost very much or anything at all.

In a world that seems to have gone half-crazy on materialism, I'm immensely grateful that its the simple things in life that make me most happy.

A blessed Thursday to you all...

Finding Your Way Back Home: A Letter to the Weary Homemaker

 For the Christian woman who longs to return to a life of peace, purpose, and grace

I walked past a quilt top that I first pieced together in 2017. It still is not finished! I have started hand quilting the top but the fact that it has taken me 8 years to get to this point bothered me.

This prompted me to think about when the last time was that I created anything at all. When last did I finish a knitting project? When last did I spend some time enjoying a bit of cross-stitch or excitedly plan out a new project of some sort?

I have Pinterest boards brimming with ideas and projects that at some point inspired me, things I wanted to try my hand. I remembered back to the days when when I was most certainly an inspired homemaker.

When Home Doesn’t Feel Like Home Anymore

There comes a time in many women’s lives when the joy of homekeeping fades into the background. Perhaps you're walking through grief, burnout, motherhood’s exhausting seasons, or simply the noise of a fast-paced world. You look around your home and no longer feel inspired. The laundry piles up. The meals are rushed. The creativity you once poured into everyday life has run dry.

If that’s you, dear sister, you are not alone. 

I've been pondering this thought for the last week and awoke with a sense of clarity on Sunday morning. My decline is closley tied up with the start of my degree studies. I don't regret my studies as it was a season of accomplishing something that I did not think I was capable of. I'm glad I did it, but it came at a cost that I didn't even realise I was paying.

A Gentle Art Forgotten

I have always loved the gentle art of homemaking and there was a time when tending the home was more than chores and checklists. For me, as for many other women over the annals of time, it was a sacred rhythm—baking bread with joy, wiping counters while praying over family, folding laundry as an act of love. I remember being delighted in creating a haven: candles glowing, scripture on the wall, beauty in the small things, and I miss that.

Life has a way of crowding out the quiet.

Maybe like me, you’ve lost that rhythm. Maybe you feel you’ve failed. But friend, hear this truth: you are not too far gone to return.

The Invitation Back

God is always calling us back—not to perfection, but to peace. Not to performance, but to presence.

He gently invites us to slow down. To light a candle. To clear a corner of the house. To make a pot of tea and open our Bibles. To begin again, not in our own strength, but in His.

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength.” – Isaiah 30:15

Rediscovering Peace in Small Things

You don’t have to overhaul your life. You simply have to begin again—with Him, and that is precisly what I have started doing. Here are a few small things I have started doing each day as I rediscover peace in my homemaking.

Start with One Room

Choose a space that matters to you. Clear it, tend it, pray over it. Let it become a sanctuary.

Anchor Each Day in the Word

Open your Bible before your to-do list. Let scripture be the first voice you hear in the morning.

Create a Ritual of Beauty

Light a candle as you clean. Play worship music while you cook. Make small acts of service feel sacred again.

Keep a Homemaker’s Prayer Journal

Write down your prayers for your home, your family, and your heart. Invite God into every ordinary task.

Plan to be Creative

I spent a wonderful afternoon going through my Pinterest boards and craft books. I have picked out a few creative and seasonal projects that I want to get started with right away and ordered the materials I need to do them. To foster creativity you have to be creative. Scrolling through IG my be inspiring in the moment but it is no replacement for setting aside time to work with your hands on something that brings you joy. So make sure that you plan some time out each week to spend on something you have always wanted to try or make.

The Truth About Worth and Calling

You are not just a housekeeper. You are a keeper of hearts, rhythms, refuge, and love. You are called by God to create spaces that reflect His peace and presence. Your home, however imperfect, can become a holy ground.

And even if you’ve wandered far from that calling as I feel I have, the way back is paved with grace.

“She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.” – Proverbs 31:27

But she also knows when to rest in the Lord, and let Him restore what’s been lost.

A Prayer for the Woman Who Wants to Return

Lord,
I am tired, and I’ve lost my way.
Remind me that I don’t have to earn Your approval.
Teach me how to tend my home with joy again.
Restore my heart.
Renew my spirit.
Lead me gently back to Your peace.
Amen.

You Can Begin Again—Today

You don’t need a perfect plan. You just need to respond to the invitation: to come home. Home to the heart of God. Home to the calling He placed within you. Home to the quiet joy of caring, creating, and keeping.

Start small. Start slow. Start now.

And know this: every step you take is watched with love by the One who calls you beloved.

Weekending in The Lake District & A Few Thoughts for February

We had expected to be in our new home by now however, we are still waiting for our house sale to go through. It's been an age and quite frankly, we just want to get this done now. We are craving being back in the countryside and cannot wait to start a new chapter in our little cottage up on the Lancashire/Cumbrian border.

So what do you do? Well, you book a weekend on Lake Windermere to ease your woes.

We found a great New Year's deal at the McDonald Old England hotel on Bowness-on-Windermere. The hotel is on the waters edge so we enjoyed eating breakfast overlooking the water.

Old England Hotel from the Water

We were slightly concerned as the day we were set to travel up to Cumbria, the UK was expecting dangerous gale-force winds across the region. However, we left after work on Friday by which time the worst of the winds had passed.

On Saturday morning we woke up to the most gorgeous day we've had this winter! Clear skies, not a breath of wind...just stunning!

We decided to hire a little self-drive boat for an hour and pootle about the lake. 

Memories of the adventures of the Swallows and Amazons which I'd read to my children came flooding back. All my most loved heros have lived a life in this area. Beatrix Potter, Charlotte Mason...I felt completley at home and at peace.

I confess that I have had a moment or two during this whole house selling and buying business that has caused me a wobble or two. But being back in Cumbria I just knew that the move is the right thing at the right time for us.

After pootling about the lake we took a drive around Lake Windermere - it is so nice in winter. Very little congestion and few visitors. Apparantly it is almost unpleasant in summer with the amount of visitors that visit the Lake District.  But who can blame anyone for wanting to escape cities for this landscape!

The opposite side of the lake to where we were staying is not really devloped for tourists - perfect! If I had an unlimited budget, I'd definitely be buying a lakeside house. I probably wouldn't get a thing done - I'd be hypnotised by the view!

All too soon our weekend in paradise was over and we returned to our suburban home, a little more motivated to start packing those boxes!

North West Winter Wool Festival

February is set to fly by, we have the North West Winter Wool Festival in a little under 2 weeks - so there is a LOT going into that at the moment. 

Saturday tickets have reached capacity for the venue so we have had to stop selling tickets for that day. How incredable is that! Tickets are still on sale for Sunday however, if people want to book any Saturday workshops we will be issuing show tickets for them. So email us on northwestwinterwoolfestival@gmail.com if you are wanting to do that.

February Love...

Apart from the show and hopefully our house move, there is lots to love about February! I've got my little Valentines heart tree out. Of course, it's not going to be a slow Valentines weekend for us as we will be working at the show but it's nice to mark the season with a bit of home decor.

I've enjoyed having bunches daffodils brightening up my home during Janaury. It's one of those little things that is part of the rhythm of my year. Gloomy January is cheered up with daffodils.

In the Garden

I was working in the garden yesterday - mainly helping my husband repair a fence that had blown over in last weeks storm, and found a little bunch of snowdrops! I love seeing the garden slowly waking up. I always find it so sad to see the state of it in the winter months. Snowdrops are just the reminder we need that no season lasts forever!

We have enjoyed some lovely frosty mornings this winter. I love the way spiders webs freeze up and look like delicate pieces of jewellery. I've been taking time to once again appreciate the small things in life - it makes such a difference to ones outlook wouldn't you agree?

I've snipped a few Forsythia branches from the garden and brought them indoors to force. 

I think I may do a journal entry documenting the process. It's been a long while since I picked up my journal and I must say that I miss it!

February Ponderings

Its funny how life seasons change, disrupting your rhythm and changing the course of your habits isn't it?

Just like the fierce storms we have had, they cause turmoil, rip things away, and leave behind some form of devistation that needs to be cleaned up and put back together, often leavning life looking very different.

Since taking the decision to close my yarn business, I have been through my Instagram doing a bit of housekeeping and archiving some photographs. I realised how single focused my life has become, whether it was on yarn or during my legal studies. 

Quite frankly, I don't like it! 

I believe that this is a great danger in life becoming mundane and lacking in joy and appreciation of the small, ordinary things when we set them aside in favour of achieving a goal to the exclusion of all else. 

Every so often, we are given the opportunity to confront our choices, review our life and decide if we like what we see or if it is time for a change.

For me, it's time for a change. I think our house move, the end of my studies and trying to make a business from my hobby is that juncture. Workwise, I'm in a good place. I have the yarn show which is going really well, I'd like to build on this and arrange another one for the autumn. I have also just been appointed as a county court advocate which allows me to decide how and when I work. 

It gives me the flexiblity I've been looking for to build a balanced life that includes time for the things that are important to me, like getting outdoors, painting, visiting friends, getting involved with my church and other groups. I am determined that 2025 is going to be a year of appreciating the small things and moments.

What are you hoping for in 2025? 

Anyhoo lovelies, I hope that you have a lovely week whatever your plans are. I look forward to catching up with you a bit later in the week.

Perfect Day...

Have you ever watched the intro to Beatrix Potters Peter Rabbit series? Oh it's just lovely! One of my favorite things. It opens with 'Beatrix Potter' painting in the Cumbrian countryside... it's all just so perfectly English and shows exactly what our lovely countryside is all about. Here, I'll show you...

I love how the rain washes the countryside clean - you can almost smell the rain hitting the earth. Well today is one of those days here in my bit of England. The scent's and scenes instantly conjured up memories of the clip shown above and of the song 'Perfect Day' by Miriam Stockley - which is just heavenly to listen too.

Wanna hear it?...

I love how puddles form and great big clouds dress the expanse of sky...

I love how the rain sits on the spring flowers, delicately balancing and dressing each leaf and petal with little 'diamonds'.

I love how it feels when I am inside looking out of the rain-speckled windows with a hot cup of tea cupped in  my hands, the steam gently drifting up and touching my face.

*SIGH*

what a perfect day...

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Catching Up

Hello my lovelies! Its been an age...I know. This year has started off on a very rocky start. On the 31st December we went into yet another lockdown and I have to say that I have found this one to be really tough! 

On top of that my dear grandmother contracted Covid whilst in hospital for other health issues in January. After a thee month battle with covid, which weakened her body along with this other issue she sadly passed away two weeks ago. She loved reading this blog and I'm going to miss seeing her comments and then the two of us discussing some of the things I write about.

And finally (can I take this as bad luck comes in sets of three?) my DH has been dealing with a restructure at work and it's been touch and go whether we would be facing redundancy or not. It is ongoing and hopefully will be resolved soon but as you can imagine I have had little to no time to feel or engage in anything other than trying to get through one day at a time.

Seasons in life...some are tougher than others!

In other news, I have been working on separating my blog content. All my homeschooling posts are now housed on my website Building a Household of Faith. Since writing my one and only post of the year...there have been developments. I have been blessed to once again be given the opportunity to write for The Curriculum Choice which is a ministry very near and dear to my heart. I wrote for them for the longest time and stopped once our homeschooling came to an end. As that ministry door opens up it seems appropriate to separate some of my content. All those old posts are still here but no longer tagged according to their categories.

As I mentioned in my last post, Under An English Sky remains my little heart place where I will focus as I said before on my home, crafting, gardening and so on. As some semblance of order begins to take place in my life I am finding a little more head room to do a little of what I love and sharing it here with you.

All these pictures are of my beautiful home town by the way. I just love Chester and thought I'd share a little of the serenity of one Saturday morning walk around town with you. This was still in the height of lockdown and the city was generally empty. It's looking busier now and it is good to see life return to this beautiful place.

I suppose lockdown has a way of halting life and not much living gets done. Often over the past few months it has felt distinctly like Groundhog Day! 

Crafting and creating has just not happened since December. But I'm pleased to say that that too is changing. I've been forced into action as my knitted dishcloths all began to deteriorate and get a little yucky! Yesterday a good stack of 100% cotton arrived and the knitting needles have been clicking away to restock the kitchen drawer! I have a few ideas for my shop regarding my favorite dishcloth pattern so watch this space or follow along on IG for updates! Oooo, so excited now. The ideas are beginning to flood in!

Okay my lovelies, I'm going to love and leave you for today. I shall be back very soon with some gardening news and of course crafting news! Have a fab day!

Seasonal Observances & Musings

Hello my lovely friends, how has your week been panning out? Here in the UK we have gone from days like this... 

 

To something more like this...

...and it is glorious! I so appreciate the rain to water my parched garden. We've had so little rain this spring with is very unusual for us. I have to admit that as much as I love the sunshine I also love the rain. The sound of the falling rain is comforting and the wonderful aroma of the earth after a shower is just wonderful.

This week we've done a bit of exploring around Chester. I am amazed that even though we have lived in this city for a little under 2 years, we still find places to explore that we didn't know about! This week we took a drive to a pick-your-own farm nearby. Although we can't do this at the moment we were seriously getting a bit of cabin fever so a drive to the farms farm shop, which is open, was in order. 

We had not gone very far when we discovered a small nature reserve park, right around the corner from our new home. We decided that we would explore it later on in the week which have since done.

It is a little gem! There are lovely walkways, a few rolling grassland areas, woodland and a lovely little pond with a healthy duck population. 

The drakes were all having a nap in the grass while mama duck looked after her brood of very healthy ducklings. As you can see the yellow flag irises are in season, they are so lovely!

The Elderflower is just coming into season as the moment. I am reminded that even though the world is a very strange and unhappy place at the moment, nature ignores it all and keeps to it's rhythms. I find much comfort in that.

The nature reserve has an abundance of elderflower, so much that I think we may get some elderflower cordial made this year and possible elderflower syrup in the autumn! Last year I did not get around to making elderflower cordial so it will be nice to do so this year. I have shared my elderflower cordial exploits and recipe's before, you can read all about it in my posts Food from the Hedgerows in 2014 and Storing Summer's Bounty from 2017.

The foxgloves are looking spectacular at the moment and I have to say that they are filling me with joy. I have so many in the garden and I'm looking forward to the foxglove patch growing year after year. My garden generally brings me much pleasure and peace. I've posted many gardening posts over the years like this Beautiful June post from 2015. This week it's been rather windy and I've enjoyed hearing and watching the wind blow through the branches of the magic tree...

I love looking up into the branches of this tree as the wind moves through the branches. I love how the swaying boughs and swishing leaves mesmerize and calm the soul...such simplicity.

Now I think it's time for me to love and leave you for today. The kettle has just boiled and I'm looking forward to a cuppa tea and a spot of knitting! 

Wishing you all a blessed day.

Follow

Moms Moving On

When our children begin to fledge the nest, it can be a turbulent time for us mums. We have dedicated years to nurturing, raising, educating, planning, researching, doing, existing for our children.

We always know that what we are doing is to raise responsible, well-balanced, happy, and successful children who will thrive in their own adult lives.

But all too soon they suddenly grow up and off to college, university or out into the world in their first grown-up job and you are left to wonder, "What now?"

There is absolutely no doubt that you as a mum and homeschooling mum at that, are going to go through one huge life change. With that comes a whole heap of emotions that you will need to work through. 

You are of course excited for your children to be progressing and having a world of opportunities and experiences open up to them. But there is a sadness that knows life has inextricably changed. You will see less of your children, not be involved in every decision or perhaps not know everything that is going on in their lives.

Your once full and busy days will suddenly quieten down and you will be wondering what to do to fill the time or grappling with finding your new purpose and path in life.

These are really all perfectly normal feelings and instead of allowing them to make you anxious, it is best to acknowledge that it's quite alright to have a good old cry every-so-often to grieve the end of an era. It's quite alright to not know exactly what it is you are going to do for that is a journey in itself that you will have to take before it becomes clear.

From the moment I gave birth I knew that raising my children was my purpose. It's all I wanted to do. Later we were called to homeschool and I knew too, this is exactly what I was purposed to do. I have always been someone who has been perfectly happy being the wife, mother, and homemaker that God called me to be.

So when that purpose has been fulfilled and it fitted who you were so perfectly, it can be a very hard journey indeed to find a new purpose and if you do find that purpose it can come with feelings of guilt and indecision.

This is what I have been grappling with over the past year. I figure that other mums moving on from full-time parenthood or homeschooling must go through something similar.

I have been lucky in that I found something else that I really believe in and enjoy fairly quickly. Law. I really love it. I find it quite fascinating. I absolutely love my work as a Magistrate and it is this that spurred me on to take a law degree and begin pursuing a career as a barrister.

However, guilt is something I apparently LOVE to drag around with me. I feel guilty not being able to spend as much time on my home as I have done in the past. Guilty that the washing does not always get done in a timely manner, guilty that meals are generally quick and easy, that I don't have the time or energy to bake everything from scratch, guilty that perhaps my work is not as important as the work of raising and educating my children has been.

But something clicked this week as I was praying about it to the Lord. I was asking how my work and chosen career path could ever possibly be as important as what I had been doing. Was it even worth going through the next 5 years of my law degree, Bar course, and hopefully pupilage and dedicate all that time and expense to a career that is quite frankly expensive to attain both financially and timewise, highly competitive, and difficult? Then I recalled Jesus' life work.

He did not live in a sheltered, cozy bubble. He was out in the field with the despised of society. He took time to have tea with the tax collector, spoke to the shamed woman at the well, mingled with prostitutes and societies undesirables.

He wanted to be with the 'messy' people. Why? Because they needed him most. He loves the very people society does not want to bother with or see. As Christians, we should be the same, bringing the good news to those who need to hear it most!

My work as a Magistrate ensures that I am working with 'messy' people. They have issues, vices, tragic life circumstances that bring them to court. In my current position; yes I have to dish out justice and sometimes send people to prison, but I also get to sentence by way of rehabilitation and reform which gives people an opportunity to change. In this position, I don't have much close contact with 'messy' people other than the short time they appear before me in the dock and having to deal with their crimes but in my chosen career path as a criminal barrister, I will.

For the first time, I felt some of the guilt fall away. You see, God called me and you to homeschool and raise our children; to keep the home running smoothly and beautifully for a season. Just because that season is over and your calling has been fulfilled does not mean that He is done with you. There will be a new season and a new calling; a new work that He needs you to do and he expects that you will do so with the same passion and enthusiasm that you have shown in the last task He set for you.

It's about seeing the work that you do as working for the Lord for that is what you are doing. I would have happily stayed in my safe and controlled world forever. I have found dealing with societies 'messy' people difficult at times because their lives and choices are so different from mine, so shockingly astounding and at times repulsive. At one point I found myself feeling rather superior to them and that, my friends, we should never ever do! For it is a slippery slope into a hardening of our hearts. 

God wants to reach the 'messy'. God loves the 'messy'. Each messy life was once an innocent baby, created and loved by God. Each messy life did not start out so but through the enemies, plans became so. These are people, human beings who still, despite their 'messiness', feel, hurt, and endure so much pain. Jesus had compassion for the messy and so should we.

I'm now in a season of preparation and equipping for my next task. It requires hours of study and sacrifice. It's a season of transition. And that is what you can expect when moving on from homeschooling. A Season of transition. Perhaps not as long as mine will be but it takes time for things to become clear. 

Pray and seek the Lord for His next 'big thing' that He is planning for you. Just as you trusted Him to guide you through homeschooling and raising your children, so too you need to trust Him to lead you into this new chapter of your life. Don't make a move without taking God's presence with you! There is a good reason whey Moses said to the Lord, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here" before he led the Israelites out from Egypt.

And ditch the guilt! No, life is not going to be the same, but Spring is not the same as Autumn, and Winter is not the same as Summer yet each season is necessary and bears its own rich fruitfulness. 

I hope that this post has been of some encouragement to you dear mama. Whether you have homeschooled or not, if your children are flying the nest it is an emotional time and we need a solid rock as the sands of time shift.

Be kind to yourself, rest solidly in the Lord and He will lead you into the next season which is full of richness for you to explore and enjoy.

Blessings in Christ.

Home is Where the Heart Is

I know that this post may seem familiar to some. The thing is I post it earlier on this week but it was redirected to my Wordpress site which I was, and still am, intending on building a business from. 

However, after much thought, I have decided to keep Under An English Sky right here on Blogspot. My reason is that I have a really strong emotional connection with this blog. It's been a place where I have recorded parts of my families lives for the past 9 years. I don't want it to be a business, I want it to be the same friendly, chatty, personal blog that it has always been. I don't want to mix this small delightful pleasure with business. It is my bloggy home and should remain so.

I will in time share my other site with you and if you choose to follow along then that's great, but it will offer very different content to this little place.

So...we are right in the middle of Easter Weekend. It's all a little strange this year as our churches are empty and we cannot worship together. But there is always a silver lining to every cloud. I read a little snippet on Facebook where someone had posted, "Our churches may be empty this Easter but so is the grave!" and so it is! Isn't that just such a glorious sentiment? Next year we will all be together again, worshipping and celebrating the risen Lord. 

So, as I mentioned on Thursday, we have been in our new and very own home for a little over two weeks now. We have settled in so well and I am convinced that it is because it is ours and we have roots. I have not felt quite myself since Chesterfield days. I was so settled and happy there, our Devon move just did not feel like home and even the last 18 months in our lovely farm home didn't quite feel like home. It had an impact on my inspiration levels and often I would make a meagre attempt at the seasonal things that I love so much but more often than not they would pass me by.

But looky here...I was so inspired to get our home feeling like home that I managed to get my Easter decor groove on right on time. On Sunday I cut a few twigs from the tree, painted them white and planted them in my pastel blue pitcher. 

I hung my egg collection and our palm crosses from last year on its branches. I love the way it looks. It is right in the hallway so we get to see it every time we pass by and it is a small delight.

The nook got the Easter treatment too with my crochet bunting, a little spring Tilda doll my daughter made a few years ago and the Lindt chocolate bunnies that have to grace my Easter mantle every year. I'm surprised that they have not been taken out, to be honest, and landed in someone's tummy. But they are still there until Sunday.

I've really enjoyed these daffodils this year and I have treasured these particular ones because they have had to last. Trips to the grocery store are only on a real need to basis which means they are few and far between. We are in the make-do season thanks to Corona Virus. Perhaps that is what makes them all the beautiful knowing that I can't just pop out and buy some more.

Anyhoo Lovelies, I hope you are having a very blessed Easter weekend with your loved ones. Stay safe and keep your eyes focused on what truly matters. Then His peace with passes all understanding shall be yours.

Blessings to you all...