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fionadean.bsky.social
Fiona
@fionadean.bsky.social
1.9K followers 920 following 21K posts
Always busy doing something

parkrun ED, crochet, Archie the springer spaniel, nature, word games, church & choir, gardening, Mum of teen, drinking wine, let me know if I missed anything!
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fionadean.bsky.social
Today’s pop of colour: bright green moss on a stone.
Bright green filigree strands of moss.
December 8, 2025 at 9:52 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
December 8th and I’m part way through day 5 of my crochet advent calendar blanket. The wobbly edge and my perfectionism are not sitting well together
A strip of mosaic crochet blanket. Yellow with red baubles and some white rows above. And a very wobbly edge.
December 8, 2025 at 9:51 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
December 7th and I’ve finished day 3 of my crochet blanket Advent Calendar. Starting to get the hang of mosaic crochet now 🧶
A strip of red and yellow mosaic crochet blanket, folded so you can see the red circles on the right side and the stripes on the wrong side.
December 7, 2025 at 9:14 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
At 9pm on December 6th I have finally finished day 2 of my crochet Advent Calendar 😬 🧶
A strip of red and yellow mosaic crochet, with the instructions behind.
December 6, 2025 at 9:12 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
Today’s #parkrun pics from our “wear a hat” themed 750th event today at Forest of Dean. Amazingly we had a tourist who was doing his 750th parkrun, well done Dave and thank you for bringing chocolates to share! Thank you to @chris8238.bsky.social for the fab photos.
A middle aged woman in leggings, fluorescent yellow top and green 250 milestone vest running through the forest, smiling and waving. Both feet are off the ground! Archie the brown and white springer spaniel running towards the camera, a stick in his mouth. The start, with lots of runners wearing hats setting off into the forest. There were a lot of bobble hats, beanies and caps, several Santa hats and a turkey. Our visitor Dave who did his 750th parkrun today, with his wife and a splendid pair of hats. Dave is wearing shorts and a blue 500 milestone tshirt plus a blue and white striped bobble hat with a large red white and blue pompom. His wife is wearing a red, yellow and green bucket hat, yellow jacket and black leggings.
December 6, 2025 at 6:02 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
Today’s pop of colour: red holly berries
A cluster of maybe 20 red holly berries on a twig, plus the trademark spiky leaves.
December 5, 2025 at 8:46 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
How gorgeous are these beech leaves? Even brighter in situ against the dark grey evergreens
A stem of bright yellow-red beech leaves. More beech leaves, a thin branch growing from a grey brown trunk. Behind are tree trunks and the ground is strewn with fallen leaves.
December 4, 2025 at 11:15 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
Bright pops of colour on our walk today: birch leaves and gorse flowers
Leaves on a birch stem. Some are gold, some still have green in the center and yellow at the edges of the leaves, which are roughly triangular in shape. Golden gorse blooms at the tip of a stem of spiky green leaves.
December 4, 2025 at 11:12 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
Archie is really struggling with the whole advent calendar thing
Archie the brown and white springer spaniel sat looking up at his advent calendar.
December 4, 2025 at 11:12 AM
fionadean.bsky.social
Today’s pop of colour: silver birch leaves catching the sun
Golden leaves on a silver birch tree with clear bright blue skies behind.
December 2, 2025 at 9:16 AM
fionadean.bsky.social
Day 1 of my crochet Advent Calendar and I’ve made a yellow strip of blanket. Took far longer than it should’ve. Might not have time for anything else this December
An Advent calendar consisting of 25 numbered box drawers maybe 8cm square arranged in a grid of 5x5. The colour of the boxes gradually changed from green at the bottom to lilac to pink to orange at the top and there are sparkly star designs on the boxes. There’s also a pair of doors that can be fastened in front of all the drawers. A strip of yellow crochet and a crochet hook on an open magazine. There’s also a rainbow striped yarn bowl.
December 1, 2025 at 10:10 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
Today’s walk, mostly in the rain. We spotted some wildlife. Archie also went swimming and came home very wet and muddy
Frilly fungi on the end of a log. A solitary wild boar on a forest track. Behind it are small fir trees with a really tall plantation behind that. Thankfully it was a reasonable distance from us and after watching us for a minute it ambled off into the firs. Archie the brown and white springer spaniel sopping wet from the stream, poised to chase his stick. Gorgeous autumn colours in the wood despite the rain. Bracken like burnished copper and bright yellow beech leaves.
December 1, 2025 at 10:03 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
Foolishly cut into a large crown prince squash to make soup for lunch without considering the amount of space (not) available in the fridge for the other 3/4’s.
Two pieces of crown prince squash on a chopping board. A half squash closer to the camera, with duck egg blue skin, apricot flesh and seeds in the middle still. Behind a quarter piece. Teaspoon for scale - the squash was probably as tall as a teaspoon, and had a teaspoon length radius.
December 1, 2025 at 12:44 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
My mum gave me the curlew one and I gave her the owl. Mine is now reused every year
An advent calendar with a drawing of an owl. There are little drawings of animals in the open windows. Another advent calendar by the same artist, but this time with a large curlew.
December 1, 2025 at 12:05 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
Here’s a colourful pair of gloves I’ve just made for my partner.
A pair of crochet mittens / hand warmers. They are made with multicoloured yarn which creates stripes of red, orange, yellow, green and blue.
December 1, 2025 at 8:49 AM
fionadean.bsky.social
So it appears the sound wasn’t turned on during the livestream this morning so we will never hear how well / badly I sang the Advent prose. I can’t find the right version, but it went something like this
A page of chant, the chorus and first verse of the Advent prose. It’s not written in conventional musical notation.
November 30, 2025 at 8:51 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
I have to do it… when the boy whose job includes pruning and planting brings one home… last year it was enormous, at least 10ft, and I didn’t really have enough decorations 😬
A proud forestry worker installing a Christmas tree in my front room. His accomplice watches. Tree with lights. Yes, it is touching the high Edwardian ceiling.
November 29, 2025 at 7:21 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
Every week after parkrun we go for coffee and cake at a local cafe. Here is Archie eyeing up my flapjack
Archie the brown and white springer spaniel eyeing up a piece of flapjack on a coffee table in front of him. Nose no more than 6” away. But he was very good and didn’t help himself.
November 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
Well it rained at parkrun but not till the second lap. Mud developing nicely. No photos of me but here’s Archie with a big stick
Archie the brown and white springer spaniel running towards the camera with a big stick in his mouth. The ground is covered in fallen leaves.
November 29, 2025 at 2:39 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
Morning. Please can someone explain the forecast. Yellow warning of rain yet sunshine all day? Have the weather men finally gone mad?!
A weather forecast, showing light rain early on, then cloudy sunshine. And a yellow warning of rain.
November 29, 2025 at 8:00 AM
fionadean.bsky.social
We get them in our garden. Gorgeous little things but prone to getting damaged by lawn mowers 😬
A slow worm, a type of legless lizard, wrapped around the fingers of my hand, so the head and tail just cross over. It’s a little slimmer than my little finger and has a long brown stripe along the side of its pale brown body. The body is covered in tiny scales.
November 28, 2025 at 9:06 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
Yesterday was frosty and I went the scenic route to work. Today is grey and damp and it’s time to walk Archie 🐾
The view from Brockweir bridge looking up the Wye valley on a very frosty morning. The foreground is dark but the distant hills are catching the sun and the sky is blue. The river is steely grey and the banks are frosty.
November 27, 2025 at 8:39 AM
fionadean.bsky.social
It was beautiful today, so glad my working arrangements meant I could get out with Archie for an hour this morning 🐾
Sunshine bathing a big oak tree with rusty brown autumn leaves, a grassy field and more trees in the distance. The sky is clear blue, not a cloud to be seen.
November 25, 2025 at 8:20 PM
fionadean.bsky.social
Aren’t they gorgeous? Archie has regrets about going swimming this morning as he had to have the hose when we got home
Archie the brown and white springer spaniel looking mournfully up at me. He’s stood just outside the back door looking very soggy.
November 24, 2025 at 10:44 AM
fionadean.bsky.social
I’ve tried a couple of patterns… the dc amigurumi method ones look good but have no stretch. This pattern uses alternate rows of doubles and trebles and is really reliable. I don’t knit so can’t comment on how long they last compared to knitted socks.
A page from a magazine with the written instructions for the crochet socks.
November 22, 2025 at 6:16 PM