Winter Wonders

This week started with a weekend in the New Forest helping a friend. We managed to squeeze in some clauses for the Nature Lover badge between jobs by visiting a small nature reserve on the edge of the New Forest and immediately afterwards going for a walk in the New Forest for an hour. The nature reserve had a large pond that had frozen over, and we had a splendid time throwing stones on it and listening to the fantastic 'booooiiiiing' noise that happened as the impact of the stone reverberated through the ice. The walk in the New Forest provided frozen puddles for us to slide on, and magnificent views across the heathland as the sun was setting. There were also many more frozen ponds. The countryside was glorious and we appeared to be the only humans about! I must go back and explore further when I can. We also visited a wool shop and a craft shop and I have spent the rest of the week learning to knit on the round and create a cosy cowl to wear in the winter. This shall go towards my Advanced Crafter badge.

During the weekend I filmed my friend singing an Elvis song to a Christmas Cactus while she was dressed as a penguin and doing a cat puzzle. She has a higher threshold for embarassment than me, clearly! I did complete a 1000 piece cat jigsaw a week or so prior to this so have gained some points for the Rebel Cup.  Since the start of January I have completed five merit badges, one quarterly badge from the end of last year, and drawn a picture of Nelson Mandela so have at least gained some points for the challenge.

Yesterday morning was spent helping out at a clothes and textiles sale at my local foodbank, which helps raise funds for them. Everything was a pound so there was an absolute scrum of customers in the first hour. This counts towards Advanced Community Service. I spent an hour this afternoon sitting in my cold garden watching for birds as part of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. The majority of the watch was fruitless but there was a flurry of birds towards the end and I saw blackbirds, a collared dove, a bluetit and a female chaffinch. There were a lot of herring gulls wheeling around in the sky above me but none landed, and I could hear a lot of starlings in the trees nearby!

I began Rebel History by reading 'Rosa Parks: My Story', which I picked up in a charity shop last weekend. I knew very little about her at the start, other than she had refused to move seats on a segregated bus; this book told her story from childhood to the 1980s, giving the background of her parents and their community, as well as the history of the civil rights movement in the USA. It was a very interesting book, and gave me lots to consider.

This week may still be quiet, but I shall try to finish off my Bronze Maverick Award evidence so that I can send it off to Charly. The weather is improving so hopefully I will get outside more and do more towards Nature Lover and Observer, and finish the Exercise Every Day Challenge.

Wearing my new cowl while birdwatching.