Look after yourself. Don't forget the 'Deep blue'!!

Last week seemed tougher than previous weeks this year. Nothing major happened (although it was the anniversary of my Dad's Memorial / Thanksgiving service at York Minster) but I was aware that I was a little more tired than usual, a little less motivated, a little more distracted, etc and I was not taking the time to slow down or look after myself. There were signs and thoughts that were hinting that this was going to be a problem but I still ignored it.

I forgot to take my vitamins, omegas and cellular support pills; I wasn't quite so proactive with my emotional oils and my muscle rub (doTERRA's deep blue ointment), which keeps my back healthy, got misplaced. I usually apply it morning and night at the very least but I kept forgetting to find my tube and so didn't stick to my usual routine.

Fast forward to Friday and my back 'went'. I am standing straight in this photo and you can see that I am very wonky and my hips are out of alignment. 

This hasn't happened for at least 2 years (probably more) because I had been methodical with my essential oil use and other beneficial stuff for my body generally. It was so strange to be reminded of how awful this made me feel and I started out very annoyed with myself.

• How could I be so stupid to forget to use my muscle rub?
• Why didn't I just find the tube and put it where it needed to be?
• Why didn't I pay attention to the signs of my brain telling me, via my body, to slow down?

And various other questions! All valid but ultimately unhelpful. 

The problem is that once my back has gone into spasm it's a lot more difficult to get out of it. Prevention is definitely better than cure in this scenario. Once I have lost the ability to stand or walk safely it is problematic.

Luckily helping out a friend a week ago with some essential oils information meant that I found a helpful reference section in my Medicinal Essential Oils book. I looked up antispasmodic and found these 2 pages of oils that I could use and there were loads of them! I already knew about marjoram having used that before at any hint of back spasm issues. 

But how amazing that bergamot mint (from the doTERRA Spring Exclusives kit) had arrived that very morning. Are doTERRA wizards? How did they know? It was a sign to me and this little ray of hope turned my questions and mind chatter around.

How can I help myself now I am in this situation?
What can I do to support myself with my natural health solution knowledge and supplies?
What could I do now to pay attention to my brain's messages to slow down and find a positive in that?

And various other helpful questions! 

I even gave myself a target that if I couldn't fix this by Monday I would have to resort to going to the doctors and getting myself pills - which I hate and have made me feel shite in the past. This was very motivating and so with this in mind I got to action (in a very slow, deliberate, painful way!!!!)

1. I took my pills and set an alarm to remind myself to take them daily
2. I found my deep blue rub (3 tubes) and strategically placed them around the house (including one back on my chest of drawers for before bed and after waking application!) 
3. I used the deep blue rub and layered it with copaiba essential oil and my forgive / frankincense blend on my back
4. I took and then placed my antispasmodic oils on my chest of drawers - marjoram, bergamot mint, rosemary and a few others with capsules ready to take every 4 hours
5. I did some spinal twists to get my spine back in place
6. I had a hot bath and did some cold therapy too
7. I checked how my energy body was doing and found out what was going on in my lower chakras paying particular attention to my sacral chakra (something I do as part of my spiritual / energy / shamanic work)
8. I did some writing / journaling about what I found during my energy body scan and how I was feeling generally

I woke up Saturday morning and felt so much straighter.  I planned to use the antispasmodic oils and deep blue rub every few hours throughout the day which gave me a reason to move often throughout the day which was important for my back and for me to check my progress.

I could still feel the tension in my back. I was still worried so I added in some emotional oils on pulse points and I continued to journal my feelings, noted down this plan of action (and noted down some more antispasmodic oils) and had a plan for later in the day if things went in the right direction.

I have been walking most days at lunch with my DH who is working from home. Over the weekend we often do a longer walk or a bike ride but on Saturday I was concerned about any activity. My plan was to go for a walk if I could really feel that it would be ok for my back. Again this was a great motivator to use the oils, rest, look after myself and really tap into how my body was feeling and if it was realigning itself. 

I made it and it was so great to go out with DH, DS on a lovely late afternoon walk.

So my message to you is:

1. Make sure that your self care is foremost in your mind ALL THE TIME or at least most of the time
2. If your brain is telling you to remember to 
•     take your pills
•     use your essential oils
•     take a break
•     use whatever is your go-to thing to support your health and wellbeing, LISTEN TO YOURSELF
3. PAY ATTENTION if you are:
•     feeling a bit low 
•     a bit demotivated 
•     tired
•     feeling something that might be telling you to slow down
4. Take a BREAK when you need to and do something JOYFUL
5. Take a bath - do some hot / cold therapy 
6. 
   Go for a gentle walk - notice at least 3 things in nature
7. Lie on the floor with your feet and legs up against a wall and listen to some fab music
8. Check your chakras and see if anything is going awry (I can help with this if you want to know more)
9. Listen to your intuition or gut as to what you need to do
10. Be your own cheerleader for looking after yourself
11. Have some fun (like I did with Snapchat on my walk!)
    

If you want to know how to use essential oils, essential oil-infused supplements, energy body clearing or anything I have talked about here, please book a FREE spiritual / essential oil health check with me. I'm here to help you be the HERO of your HEALTH.

If you want to see what Kevin Hart thinks about doTERRA's Deep Blue rub watch here.

Home educated to college

I've been meaning to write about this for a long time now but just didn't ever seem to be able to find the words.

When you start on a rather odd path like home educating, especially a free-range, autocratic, child-led home education, college or structured education seems a long, long way off and for some it never comes at all. But like all things, if and when it does creep up on you, it can be a shock or at least for me it was. I started recording Facebook 'lives' last year and my August / September ones were all tinged with an air of sadness and the emotional-ness of the loss I was feeling over my eldest going off to college after 12 years of not being at school and 17 years of being with me pretty much 24/7. Don't get me wrong, I was excited as well but it was a big change for the whole family and I really had no idea how he was going to emotionally cope with the environment of a college with over 4,000 students (I wasn't bothered about the academic side).

Anyway off he went, my gorgeous, sensitive, free-range child and we were blessed to have him looked after, nurtured and cared for by total strangers. There were ups and downs of going from no academic study to 3 days a week of Maths, English and a level 2 Games Design course plus the fact that the college only catered for people re-taking Maths and English GCSE not those who had never even studied Maths or English GCSE. But the staff were absolutely amazing - DS was given extra work to do and was helped in every way possible.

DS has never been diagnosed with dyslexia but when he started trying to read when his sister was teaching herself at age 4 (DS was 7) he showed classic signs of it. I am dyslexic so knew what to look for. At that point I asked if he wanted to read and he said no so I told him to stop - he was only doing it because his sister was. We always brought our kids up to play to their strengths and at that age his strengths were climbing trees, drawing maps, playing computer games and mental arithmetic so why learn to read when you don't want to or need to - that was our philosophy. Left to his own devices, he eventually taught himself to read some time between the ages of 11 and 12 with no issues at all.

At college he was supported by the learning support team and assessed with additional needs due to his dyslexic symptoms and at times he availed himself of the mental health services when he felt overwhelmed or needed some time out. All this was done with no judgment or stigma, as I feel it should be. We all have mental health and need support from time to time and the same with a helping hand with academic work.

Anyway, I'm here to let you know that all went well. He coped, he passed all his courses with the best mark he could get and he managed that all in 8 months from an academic standing start. He started the equivalent level 3 course yesterday.

Why am I telling you this though? Am I just wanting to blow my own trumpet on how amazing I am as a mother and educator!! Nope. Instead, I want to remind everyone out there that there are alternatives to mainstream education that don't need you, as a parent, to be a teacher or amazing at imparting knowledge to your children. When my DH and I decided that DS was not going to school because we didn't want him to be taught to read or anything until he was ready, we decided that as the main stay at home parent, I was there to parent my children with guidance and love, not educate them in the ways of Maths, English or anything else.

Although I have helped other people's children pass GCSE Maths (I am a geek who LOVES maths) I am appalling at imparting my mathematical wizardry to my own children. I am mean, short-tempered, have no patience and become possessed by the worse teacher you can imagine. Not at all Mum of the Year material!! In contrast, I am their Mum, I am their taxi driver, I am their confidante (if needed) to name just a few but I am not their academic teacher and I don't need to be. Most of their 'education' from me has been around emotions - trying to have empathy for where someone else might be coming from if they act in a certain way that causes upset; not taking offense (as it is pointless - read my post here); holding your boundaries whilst being kind; not labeling someone as something but rather labeling the behaviour; the 5 languages of love, etc.

All the academic stuff is better taught by teachers and that seems to have been borne out by DS's experience. I am hoping that the emotional resilience he showed over the last year is due to my DH and my nurturing of him and his sister over their lifetime but I can tell you that his academic prowess is all his to congratulate himself on as well as the college staff who facilitated his learning.

So remember:

1. there are alternatives to our education system
2. you don't have to be a teacher to home educate - you just have to care about your kids :-)
3. children DO NOT have to follow the national curriculum
4. it does NOT have to be expensive to home educate
5. it is possible to pass Maths and English GCSE in 8 months having never seen the curriculum before (3 hrs a week per subject whilst doing another course)
6. you can get a job without any qualifications - just thought I would throw that in there in case you are still reading!
7. if you are MY child, don't ask me to teach you Maths unless you want to see my Mrs Trunchbull impersonation!! In fact, don't ask me to teach you any academic subject
8. MOST IMPORTANT - you are all unique and AMAZING (watch my FB 'live' to really instil that in you) 

If you would like further information about home educating please feel free to get in touch.

The positives of having a cold

Seriously, is there a positive to having a nasty cold?

When you are experiencing it sometimes it feels not.

However, I thought I would turn those feelings on their head and see where I ended up!!

Here goes........................

I have tried really hard, and quite successfully until this last weekend, to NOT get a cold. It is the season to be coming down with something at the moment whether it be a cold, stomach flu, etc.

My dh got the horrid cold last week and I still managed to avoid it. I am generally a healthy person and having recently started using essential oils (EOs) via doTERRA, I have found diffusing their protective blend, drinking lots of water with their lemon oil to alkalise my body, as well as other things, has greatly improved mine (and my family's) health.

The irony is that because I was preparing for my first outing as a doTERRA wellness advocate, some of these routines went by the wayside: I was going to Wakefield Vegan Festival to share oils and hopefully empower others to look after themselves with EOs as part of their health regimen and I was forgetting to take that advice myself.

How often does that happen?


Anyway ,Sunday came and so did a cold - straight to my throat. I was so annoyed because I find it SO MUCH EASIER to prevent an illness than GET RID of it once I have it. Also ,I have no tonsils (they were removed on my 19th birthday!!) so anything that goes to my throat makes me very annoyed as it brings back memories of many, many attacks of tonsillitis but also it tends to then go to my chest.

So how to get rid of a sore throat and not have my infection go to my chest?

I am relatively new to using essential oils but I have some great books I bought from Essentoils and there is also a wealth of information out there from other EO people via Instragram, etc.

I ended up with this combination:
1. Lots of water with lemon and peppermint.
2. Healthy snacks like apple with On Guard oil (wild orange peel, clove bud, cinnamon leaf, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus leaf and rosemary) diluted with coconut oil.
3. And then other oils to combat the illness internally.




That stopped the sore throat in its tracks - SUCCESS. Now I just have a runny nose which will pass in time if I keep looking after myself.

However, it hasn't all been about EOs. They are foremost in my mind because as a geek I like to try and see what works but also the best way for me to try and share the oils with others is to practice what I preach. However, I also took the opportunity to clear my decks of everything that I could this week and take some time for myself.

I am a person who does a lot of stuff (by choice) but I do forget sometimes that the energy required to have a full life also requires time to just be.

It has been great to rest, do some shamanic journeys, use my oils in new ways, read a new book, re-read an old book, mind-map ideas, listen to webinars, do a bit of planning for the future and write this blog post.

So maybe it wasn't just my 'not looking after myself' that meant I ended up ill. Maybe, as we all do, I needed the excuse to slow down and take some time out. However, in the future I am going to try to:

1. remember to plan taking time out
2. remember my daily health routine
3. NOT get ill

If I fail again though, I will count it as a blessing and take the time to slow down, reconnect with myself, sleep and dream.

"Hey EVERYONE, leave those kids alone"

I watched this brilliant TED talk today - How to raise successful kids - without over-parenting - and Julie Lythcott-Haims had some very interesting things to say. It was great being reminded of why I home educate in the way that I do - where my children find their own path to their passions and stretch themselves when they are ready with mine and their Dad's support and love.

"With our overhelp... we deprive our kids of the chance to build self-efficacy which is a really fundamental tenant of the human psyche... Self-efficacy is built when ones sees that one's own actions lead to outcomes." Julie Lythcott-Haims.

This has come at a really interesting time in my family's home education journey as ds has just turned 15 and is starting to consider what he wants to do over the next few years. He has a wonderful extended family where there could be chances to travel and work in Hong Kong; work in a family-run shop down South; travel with a worldly-wise niece; work for exams at a college or just carry on having fun as he does every day. Like every parent I want him to do everything; try everything; experience everything and do it all now whilst he is young. However that might not be what is right for him and it is his live, not mine.

What I do know about him though is that he doesn't base his self-worth on grades (mentioned in the TED talk) because at present he doesn't have any!! What he has had is a childhood "built on things like love and chores." This comment by Julie again made me smile because both my kids have helped with household activities from an early age. In fact, one of my favourite childhood pictures of ds was taken with him when he was helping trim the hedge at 20 months!!

Neither of my children particularly like doing jobs around our home but we have had family meetings where dh and I have explained how the household works, including finances so that they can understand that they are part of a system that works better when everyone is involved, understands the system and helps out accordingly.

My children can go to school if and when they want and as mentioned above ds is considering going to college next year to do some exams. It is so much easier for a child to know their own mind (desires, capability, etc.) when they have always been allowed to make their own choices. Luckily going to school doesn't stop that happening but it definitely makes that harder. As Julie states "If their childhood has not been lived according to a tyrannical checklist then when they get to college...they'll have gone there on their own volition, fuelled by their own desire, capable and ready to thrive there."

I loved Julie's last comment that her children are wildflowers of an unknown genus and species because even though both my children have been born to the same parents and neither has been to school I can tell you that they are not only wildflowers of unknown genus and species but that they are both TOTALLY different wildflowers of unknown genus and species. And as such they need very different things from me as a parent (and from their Dad) to help them feel unconditionally loved and valued. This is one of the many 'lessons' we discuss in our family about how different dd and ds are as well as how different Mum and Dad are (see the 5 Languages of Love results from the 4 of us here as one example of our different needs) I also agree that "it's my job to provide a nourishing environment, to strengthen them through chores and to love them so they can love others...my job is not to make them become what I would have them become, but to support them in becoming their glorious selves."

I love this sentiment and I hope that is what I am doing for my children along with their father. However I do wonder after watching this TED talk whether that is enough?

What I wondered after watching it was by over-parenting do we actually make sure that our children NEVER grow into adults who can make their own decisions. Julie mentions that our children are growing into adults who need a "workplace checklist" because they can't think for themselves and implied in her talk it the need for praise and validation to build their self-esteem. As you may have read in a previous blog post of mine there is a theory out there that rewards are detrimental to everyone (read more here near the bottom of the post.)

Also in the blog post about mental health in children here  I stated that:

Mentally healthy and resilient adults are grown out of children who have such traits as: self-esteem, a healthy body image, positive self-belief, empathy for other people and the planet, a passion for life, an ability to acknowledge and learn from their mistakes, accountability for their actions, etc.

So what happens if these childhood needs don't get met? Do we then have adults who are still acting like children and can't take responsibility for their actions or decisions? Do we have adults who need constant validation and if they don't get it they blame those around them?

I think not over-parenting definitely, helps in this area and teaching our children about love is definitely a must. However, I think that our children also need to learn about not blaming and they need to learn about taking accountability for their actions (revisit Brene Brown here.)

I too often see that low self-esteem and low self-efficacy in adults leads to the blaming of others for things that those adults ALLOWED to happen to them. My children sometimes exhibit this behaviour and it is something that it really hard to teach/explain. I thank goodness that there are people out there like Brene Brown who show that blaming others and not taking accountability is not good (read more here -> blame is basically the discharging of anger)

We need to hold ourselves accountable for what we allow to happen to us.
We need to hold boundaries around what we allow to happen to ourselves.

Hopefully if we are brought up with unconditional love where we have the space and time to build self-efficacy, self-esteem (which I feel includes not blaming but holding others & ourselves accountable), empathy and positive self-belief maybe we can then move forward as an adult in an adult's body and not someone who needs external validation or to blame others when our life doesn't turn out the way we wanted.

A massively tall order I think and one of the reasons I write this blog: to remind myself of the huge task I have taken on being a parent and also the huge responsibility I have in being a wife, a friend, a daughter, a sister or just being a human being interacting with others on this planet!!!!

Anyway go and watch the TED talk -How to raise successful kids - without over-parenting - and consider watching Brene Brown about blame here and Natasha Devon about mental health in schools via my blog here.

#30dayswild - days 27-28 - drawing, open door theatre, edible plants and bees again

Well, who would have thought it? Because of the #30dayswild challenge, I decided to have a go at drawing again. I have done some in the past but there has always been that nagging voice in the background: that voice from my art teachers at school: that voice that told me I couldn't draw. I did have one art teacher who told me I was ok because she taught a type of doodly art like this> and I really, really liked doing it but I also really liked the idea of sketching and I was definitely put off that at school.














In later life, I tried my hand at zentangle and again enjoyed that very much but I always wanted to sketch, draw and maybe even do a bit of coloured drawing!!















So thanks again #30dayswild challenge because day 27 I picked up a pen and had a go at sketching. I then posted the pictures to the facebook page to see what people thought and I have been blown away by the response!!


To date, I have 175 likes/loves and loads and loads of fantastic comments. I will be trying my hand at more sketching tomorrow as I am off to an arty friends house for the day and it will be #30dayswild inspired art!!!

Day 29
Today couldn't help but be a nature inspired day because my dd's home education theatre group performed a short version of Midsummer Night's Dream in the York Museum Gardens. The weather didn't hold up which was a shame but luckily we were under trees and nothing could dampen the enthusiasm of the children or all the adults watching. It was fantastic and such a fantastic city center venue in which to perform!!

Another great thing that happened today was that the York Press did a great double-spread piece about home educating in York which featured some of the performers in the play. You can read it here.

One of the reasons I home-educate is because I think children should spend more time in nature. It seemed pertinent to the #30dayswild challenge.

My dh had never been through the relatively new edible wood mentioned in #30daywild blogs here and here so before the performance, we took him there so he could have a look.

I got to take some more photos and try some plants!!

I am hoping to get my hands on some of these types of plants for my garden and I might well be getting an edible daylily from my arty friend tomorrow which I am very excited about.
I love eating daylily nearly as much as nasturtiums.


I also tried to get some pictures and videos of the bees on the lavender but again didn't do too well. I do love the sounds in the background of the video of children in nature and this bee picture didn't turn out to badly.

#30dayswild - day 20 - celebrating the Strawberry Moon

It had to be done didn't it? Celebrating the Summer Solstice Strawberry Moon with the virgin fire in our chiminea? I thought so too so that is what we did. I also took some pictures of the lovely sunset as well!!!

Dh, dd and I all wrote the things we wanted to put behind on and burnt them.

We then wrote the dreams we had for the coming year and burnt those too. You can see the paper in one of the photos!!

I then sat and listened to the dusk while the fire went out.

I stayed up to get a photo of the full moon but it was too cloudy. So I stayed up a bit longer and got some very blurry pictures.

So I switched from my camera to my phone and tried out some different modes and managed to get these few photos whilst also remembering I had also taken the sunset ones on my evening walk.

I love the moon reflecting on the skylight on the roof of my house!!

Still don't quite get a clear picture but I think they came out better than on the camera even though the camera is more powerful.

At least I managed to find some different modes on both my camera and phone which meant that these are better than any I have taken before.

I think these were taken in night mode and you have to hold the camera or phone for a few seconds before it starts processing the pictures. Not easy when you are leaning out of a velux window. Good fun though discovering more ways to take photos!!

And great that I remembered my sunset photos!!



I always love taking pictures in this gap in the houses as you get to see the sky.

This sounds strange but in York it isn't easy to see the sunset because York is very flat and there are lots of houses. To see any sunsets I usually have to go into my attic room and lean out of the velux.

So I always try to add this road to my walks to get a good look at the sky. It always pays off.
 

#30dayswild - day 19 - a day at the woods

Today I invited loads of friends to my woods. It is something that I have been planning for ages but had never managed to get around to it. Until now!!  I am hoping it is going to be something that will happen quite often and was really pleased that 8 families made it along today and we had a great time.

I am hoping that a fellow #30dayswild-er will share some fab photos that see took via her blog here. Jenny's Gecko Wood post is here.

Any way we had a great time at the woods and as part of the #30dayswild. I had decided beforehand that I would do the following:

Today, I chose to lift up a log #30DaysWild pic.twitter.com/H6rg9Wjj6R — Viv (@vckidd) June 19, 2016

and

Today, I chose to learn who sings a favourite song #30DaysWild pic.twitter.com/l4jsfxbv0f

— Viv (@vckidd) June 19, 2016

So I learnt the descending whistle of the Willow Warbler and when I lifted a log in the woods discovered woodlice!!

As part of looking for interesting things a casing was found (which I am holding in my hand in the collage above). We thought it may be the outer casing of a stinkhorn mushroom.

There was also an egg (we think pigeon) and a stinkhorn mushroom.

I showed people around the woodland and we ate some wood sorrell and identified wild strawberries. We discovered that the area of the woods in which we want to make a pond is still boggy (top left photo) and therefore definitely does seem like a good area to make a pond in the future.

We saw loads of blackberry bushes (bottom left) which are going to be great fun to pick in Autumn.

My dd and Jenny made a den (hence the fact I will add a link to her blog post because she took loads of great photos of the transformation.) And a carved The Den sign was made (spot the associated photos).

People had a go at archery, on the zip wire, and on the slack line.

We then discovered an actually living stinkhorn (middle.) Dh had some help planting some trees that had been donated to us and harvested some elderflowers (top right.)

As well as all that there were fires, food cooked on fires, fun, and friendship. Who could ask for more?

#30dayswild days15-17 - nettle tea, recycling, rose and alliums

Wednesday 15th June

I was going to York University to attend the One Planet York Launch so I decided I would do an observation experiment with myself by walking to the Ron Cooke Hub from the York University Library one way and walking back a different way.

I discovered very interesting things such as I do actually have to pay attention if I want to notice things. I was talking to my wonderful brother for part of the journey in the morning (hence the longer walk because I went round and round the campus whilst still talking to him.) It meant that I wasn't observant at all. I did however notice that there was way less bird song on the campus and wondered if this was due to lack of trees.

The transition between walking on campus and then onto Field Lane was a noticeable increases in birdsong which surprised me. The gardens on Field Lane were filled with flowers, hedges, trees and this seemed to encourage wildlife way more than the green on campus.

I still love it on both campuses because there is a lot of green and water which is great. However at present I prefer the West Campus just because of the diversity of green with trees, bushes, lawns, wildflowers, etc.

I spotted Jack by the Hedge on the way back so now I have nailed that one I need to move onto another edible plant that I can try and recognise out in the wild!!!

I also discovered this bug in my filofax and managed to get a picture and with the help of facebook and instagram friends discovered it was a ladybird larva so thanks #30dayswild - I learnt a new thing today!!!

I then started my Ecology online course whilst waiting for my dh to finish up at work.

It looks really good and shouldn't take me too long. I have been meaning to learn more about ecology for ages so thanks again #30dayswild for giving the impetus I needed to actually just get on with it.

The link is here in case you are interested yourself.



Thursday 16th June

Today was about learning the plants in my garden which I mentioned at the beginning of this challenge in this blog post. Whilst the kids were busy playing with their friends I took the opportunity to check if I could remember the plants that my Mum had told me about 2 weeks ago and I didn't do too badly!!

I checked under the trampoline and got my photos.

Obviously I know that this plant to the left is Jack by the Hedge and although it is growing ok here some of the plants nearby at struggling without support so I thinking that they should be moved to over by the fence. However I definitely recognise this plant now even in the wild which is great.

The eaten plant to the right is wild garlic or ransoms and I thought it had disappeared last year but it came back this year. It isn't faring too well probably not helped by the wild geranium next to it.

And then we have this other variety of geranium (Geranium phaeum) near by with the purple patches on the leaves. The chickens love eating this. Then there were the yellow and red poppies. Pretty little plants on the edge of the trampoline.

Trying to discover what plants are edible isn't always easy so resources like this or this are really helpful.

It was then time to chop up my dried nettles and store them ready for a cup of tea. Oh and then have a cup of nettle tea in my wonderful see-through glass infuser tea mug from Marks and Spencers here. Well worth the £7.50 I spent on it. See below.

Friday 17th June


A home education trip to meet fellow home educators at Castle Howard resulted in watching kids playing, having a picnic, trying to get fresh water oyster shells out of the lake, photographing peacocks, chatting and generally having a good time.

The weather held even though it had promised rain and the sun even came out once we had left the playground area and gone to admire the walled gardens.

I am not normally a fan of roses but I took the time to smell all the roses as part of #30dayswild.

It was really fun working out the roses that I actually like the smell of - namely The Nun to the right (which smells like a typical rose but not too overwhelming) and the Leander rose which smelt like peaches and is now my favourite rose.

I also learnt about alliums and get some lovely pictures on my phone including the purple one in the middle with a lovely, very yellow bee on it.

When I then started writing this blog I wondered whether ransoms (also being of the onion family) also had an allium name and they do - allium ursinum. I love alliums!!!

They were all so beautiful and the one in the left corner made me laugh by being called allium purple and round - genius!!

I then did my bit for the wild by making sure that I collected and brought home as much recycling from the youth club I volunteer at as I could and putting it in my recycling bin.

And bringing back the tuck shop emptied for my son to store his lego pieces in.

All in all a fab few days of #30dayswild moments and pictures.

#30dayswild days 12-14 - metal leaves, rainbows, clouds and webcams

Saturday - 12th June
We went away at the weekend and spent some fab time walking around College Lake, watching lightning, listening to thunder, making metal leaves, walking up Ivinghoe Beacon and generally having a great time with some of my family.

It was lovely visiting another Wildlife Trust place and watching my kids sharing the wildlife with their younger cousins. It was also amazing seeing a red kite fly just overhead whilst eating what looked like a fish. It was a shame I didn't manage to get a picture of it though but I did remember to tweet about it!!

Again I realised that I normally miss so much and that the #30dayswild challenge has made me appreciate the beauty of nature more than I realised. We only ventured up Ivinghoe Beacon because I wanted to get some nature pictures and we went even though it was raining. It was so much fun though!!!

Monday 13th June
I snapped the picture of the overgrown ditch in Berkhamsted (above, top right) because I am now more attuned to seeing green.

I spotted Jack by the Hedge at College Lake which I already knew about but I now recognise because I am trying to learn more edible plants. I am especially trying to learn about the ones in my garden and I have Jack by the Hedge underneath my trampoline.

I enjoyed making the metal leaves so much I bought more wire so that I can make some at home or in the woods!!


I even remembered to use my other camera which has a better zoom.


It was the only way I could get a decent picture of the chalk lion on the side of the hill near Whipsnade Zoo from the top of the beacon.


Again being more attuned to nature I got some rubbish video of the fabulous sunny, stormy sky on the way home. Watch and marvel at my videoing skills below!!




Tuesday 14th June 
Today I decided to do my #30dayswild task by watching some of the webcams and it was great. Until doing this challenge I didn't even know there were such things that you could watch for free.


Here are some of the photos I got but it really is better if you go and watch them yourself here and here.