It was #PhotoAnHour at the weekend, and although I took part on Instagram I felt like sharing my day here too, along with a few bonus photos.

9am - I woke up with plans of doing some work, and then getting stuck into some DIY, but my body had other ideas. I woke up with sinusitis - again - so my plans needed a rethink. After feeding the cats I returned to bed with a cuppa and a box of Sudafed.

10am - Making my second cuppa of the day. Not satisfied with the duck he was given, Socks followed me around the kitchen, loudly demanding something else to eat. He got tuna, and then ate only the tiniest morsel.

11am - Finally dressed and ready to face the day, breakfast was soya yogurt, apple and (my obsession continues) rose hip syrup. I ate it sitting in the sun that streams in through the dining room windows, with peace and quiet all around. I love my weekends, Andy is normally at work so they are mine to do with as I please. Thanks to my sinus pain I opted for slower, calmer pursuits than I'd planned - things that were also on my to-do list along side work and DIY, but things that would allow me to take it easy and recharge.


Bonus pic - every morning Andy makes Tinker a cat nest out of my sofa slanket, she gets cosy and sometimes stays there all day, looking grumpy if you dare to disturb her.

12pm - Today wasn't a day she would spend curled up on the sofa. I'd donned my wellies, made myself a mug of lemon green tea, and set off to forage for some more rose hips before I ran out of syrup altogether. I hadn't gone far when I heard her little paw steps behind me. She followed me as I made my way along the hedgerow, investigating as she went. I chatted away to her, stopping frequently to give her some fuss, and slowly gathered enough hips to make a half batch of syrup. I gave up when I encountered a particularly nasty bush that left me with both index fingers and thumbs bloodied and sore.


1pm - It was a gorgeous day, really warm and sunny. I wasn't ready to go back inside, so I decided to plant up my hanging baskets. I took them down in September and had been meaning to fill them up again since then, a trip to the local garden centre during the week meant I had everything I needed. I'd chosen pansies and violas as I was stuck as to what else I could possibly use.

2pm - The finished baskets, I think they'll look super when they've established themselves and filled out a bit.


Bonus pic - I had plenty of flowers left over so I set about refreshing the container pots around the door, removing old primroses that had seen better days, and fading Lobelia.


Bonus pic - lunch was late thanks to a very late breakfast and super easy - left over chili from the night before. I was so grateful not to have to cook, when sinusitis hits I normally lose any inclination to prepare food so this was very welcome.

 3pm - Time for another cuppa and a bit of a sit down. Tinker had found her way back to her cat nest and was super sleepy and cute. I have to admit I'd intended to only sit for a short while but I remained there for the best part of an hour and might have had a small doze.

4pm - Feeling refreshed and armed with a good pair of gardening gloves I headed out again, along a different hedgerow, to gather more rose hips to make a full batch of syrup. As I wandered along I noticed a lack of sloes and realised I'd probably left it too late to grab any to make sloe gin. Just as well I have some blackberry, and elderberry gin already on the go!


Bonus pic - I don't know what these are but they're so pretty. Any ideas?


5pm - This was the sky heading home. It was such a lovely bright sunny day, warm enough for me to momentarily consider grabbing my book and sitting in my hammock a while, but sinus pain doesn't mix well with reading sadly.


6pm - the light had faded enough for me to light my pumpkin and get cosy for the evening. My activities left me feeling tired and my headache was getting worse.


Bonus pic - Tinker had been fed but was fussing for more food. They always have a bowl of crunchies available to them but, for Tinker, I have to take them out of the bowl and put them on the floor before she will consider eating them. My cats really are the most coddled of all the cats.


Bonus pic - Andy wasn't home so I dined alone in front of the TV. Leftover chili again, this time accompanied with heat-in-the-mircowave-for-2-minutes Uncles Ben's rice - talk about an easy supper. I wasn't complaining, I think chili often tastes better the day after it's cooked and I had no inclination to set about preparing anything else.


7pm - Tinker often curls up on my lap of an evening, and tonight was no different. She was a little bothered by some random fireworks, luckily they weren't very close but she's weary of them. It's only this year that she's stopped running and hiding under the kitchen cupboards when she hears them.


8pm - Still on the sofa I pretended that this pomegranate juice was wine by pouring it into a huge wine glass. And this is how I spent the rest of the evening.

I had a lovely day, despite a radical change in plans. I'm glad that sinusitis didn't spoil my day as it so often does. I hate that life can be so disrupted by a reoccurring illness, thankfully I have found the cause - definite proof instead of just a guess - and I have plans afoot to treat it. So with luck this near constant irritation will soon be a thing of the past.

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

With thanks to Jane and Louisa for hosting.