RANDOM SHOT #5

Tags

cat, Merlin, photograph, Random, reflection, vignette

#5 Merlin

My beau says Merlin must be the most photographed cat on the planet! I have to agree, but she’s so gorgeous and photogenic that I can’t help taking photos of her! This one was taken on my mobile phone with a new app I found called ‘Vignette’. I love the colours of the shot mixed in with a slightly dreamy effect which compliments the refection in her eyes really well.

THE GARDEN TIMELINE

Tags

cyclamens, Flowers, garden, musicians, plants, primulas, violas, Window Boxes, winter

My dad always said to me:
“Son, to be happy for a few hours…get a drink. To be happy for a few years…get a spouse. To be happy forever…get a garden”

A lot of my family and ancestors appeared to have been either musicians or gardeners in their spare time; I have been lucky – as I enjoy both! I spend a large part of my working week as a musician, but yet, love spending time in the garden whenever I get the chance.

I have recently enjoyed creating winter window boxes for the front of the house – as well as filling the stone pots with winter plants including evergreens, miniature conifers, pansies, violas, primulas, cyclamens to name but a few ;-) in the back garden. I love colour all year round.

I also really love how a garden changes continually throughout the year – and I have just collaged this little collection of photographs taken in the short time we’ve been in this house.

As well as plants, I also love buying ‘accessories’ for the garden – and have recently purchased a second mangle (this time for the front garden), a vintage rusty milk churn and an old Victorian iron wheel (that most probably belonged to an old wheel barrow) all cheaply off eBay. I love how they give the garden added character.

We have bulbs coming up already – so am looking forward to seeing the next chapter of this garden’s evolution too!

BOOK ART

Tags

artist, book, book art, book-binding, hebden bridge, paper, Rachel Hazell

As a boy, I spent all of my pocket money on records and books. The only other thing I enjoyed spending my money on was (sweets &) paper! There was a thrifty shop in my local town (long before the £-shops) which sold a cellophane wrapped collection of plain, lined and squared paper of different sizes. Buying this gave me SO much satisfaction I can’t put it into words…but needless to say, I couldn’t wait to get home, open it up and start writing. I compiled lists mostly, lists of my 7″ singles and 33rpm albums – as well as writing to my sister who lived away at university. I also had several pen-pals and would love writing to them on my new fancy paper.

This passion for stationery has never gone away – and last weekend I fulfilled a goal that I’ve wanted to achieve for some time – a book-binding workshop weekend! I was told about the workshop by the lovely Gillian Lee Smith (who I’ve mentioned on here before)  and through her link I was able to contact the workshop leader Rachel Hazell. I booked myself on – and two days of creative book-binding ensued.

We started by creating little booklets made simply out of A4 pieces of paper – and this led eventually to folds of paper being stitched together in various designs. It was a lot more fiddly than what I thought it’d be – but I was impressed by my fumbled results and the amount of booklets we managed to make in the time. On the second day, we practised other stitching patterns before creating our own piece of ‘book art’ out of beautiful paper – and utilising the knowledge and techniques learnt during the weekend. I took in old photographs, lexicon cards, ephemera and little vintage wares to use within my creation. The book I made had little pockets and flaps in which to tuck things – it also had scored folds which meant the book unfolded in unique ways revealing little hidden areas for those special words of wisdom. (I’ve not written those yet!)

Want to see some more pics? (click for a bigger nosey)

Rachel was a constant source of wisdom and wit and I thoroughly enjoyed (and would recommend) the weekend. I also particularly loved meeting other creative artists and book-binding enthusiasts; plus I want to give an extra special shout-out to Fiona P, definitely the mostess hostess, who fed and watered us throughout. You can find a link to Rachel’s website HERE which is full of interesting facts, links to blogs and information about her past and future endeavours. Her aim is to run one workshop a month for the next 12 months before creating a video and book about the process and experience. Watch this space for more details about this – as and when I find out about it.

RANDOM SHOT #4

Tags

angel, barbed wire, halo, Madonna, Random, statue

#4 Barbed halo

I took this at an architectural reclamation yard – and was particularly struck by the barbed wire wall against the peacefulness of the religious stone figure.

GRAZE

Tags

fruit, graze, graze.com, healthy, herb, nature, nuts, uganda

Set up by 7 friends, Graze is a fairly new online company who deliver little punnets of healthy goodness and treats directly to your door or office for less than the price of a bottle of wine! Comprising choices of breads, crackers, dips & dippers, flapjacks, olives, natural teats, dried fruit, nut mixes and seeds – there is something for everybody with over 100 different natural products to tempt your snacky taste buds!

I know some will call me lazy for this – and clearly I am – but I was interested in this site for several reasons; a) I got given a code which entitled me to try two boxes of food for FREE b) I never know what little tasty treats to buy from the health food shops so I usually end up buying chocolate instead and c) when I do buy healthy treats, I usually forget about them till after their expiry date!! Lastly, I also love gimmicky new things – and so thought I’d give it a go – and I had my first FREE box delivered this morning. This is what I got:

HAZELNUT ESPRESSO – which contains coffee milk chocolate drops, hazelnuts, plums and amaretto drops. (Particularly yummy!)

THE HERB GARDEN: Oregano rice crackers, crispy peanuts & baked herb bites.

APPLE & CINNAMON FLAPJACK: 3 small rustic rolled oat flapjack segments

THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON: punnet of apricots, dates & plums

I have been enjoyably snacking on these all day (you can specify which day you would like your order to be delivered too!). Each week they will send you 4 different punnets to try – based on your likes and dislikes (which you can inform them of) – all for £3.49 including postage! PLUS: with this code and link HERE (http://www.graze.com/p/TJTFYR1) you too can try TWO FREE boxes of Graze goodness like me!

After my 5th box I will decide whether to cancel or not – however, by the time I’ve bought some crisps, a cake and/or a huge bar of Cadbury’s as a side order to my lunchtime sandwich, I will have nearly spent what it costs to order one of these boxes – so I might continue to purchase and pack a healthier punnet a day into my lunchbox instead ;-)

Plus, like a schoolboy, I was very excited to receive this box through the post this morning – see, it CAN be Christmas everyday!! AND – more importantly, for everyone of you who signs up, I get the chance to donate a £1.00 to the Graze school of farming. This school teaches locals how to grow fruit trees in deprived rural Uganda. The project provides local students with tuition, tools and support to start their own orchards, invigorating poor rural areas by improving nutrition (the diet in these areas is generally very poor), increasing productivity from the land, empowering locals and providing a source of income.

Also, all packaging used comes from sustainable forests, is bio-degradable and 100% recyclable!

Everybody wins. Try it ;-)

RANDOM SHOT #3

Tags

hebden bridge, shelter, tiles

#3 Hebden shelter

I took this whilst walking to a workshop this weekend in Hebden Bridge. I found this little shelter which had patterned and coloured mosaic shapes all over its derelict walls – I took some scrummy shots of the nearby graffiti too ;-)

A BROKEN HEART

Tags

broken heart, Mother, notebook, poetry, soldier, tears, tonsillitis, war

I am sat at home, off work, with an ear and throat infection. A visit to the doctors confirmed this yesterday and I am currently on a course of antibiotics with the advice of needed rest and fluids. I’ve been in a bit of pain – but have enjoyed laying on the sofa, having a good nosey around your blogs today – and having left a few comments here and there, thought I’d even write another one of my own.

Last year I bought a beautiful handmade and printed notebook – especially for writing notes, thoughts and poetry in response to old images that I had. I’d like to share one such photograph of mine, that I sello-taped into this book – and my subsequent scribblings and inspirations for a poem.

This image made me think of a story, told to me by my dad, about a lady who lived in his village when he was a boy. Her only child, a son, went off to serve in the second world war – but was never to return. His body was never identified – and so, deep down, she believed that he was still alive somewhere, possibly wounded – but sure to return home one day to her.

For the rest of her life, it was said, she waited daily at her gate – looking up and down the lane – silently waiting for his safe return. She did this everyday until, eventually, she died of a broken heart. This image and this story inspired me to write this poem today, whilst recovering.

*

Five long mournful winters lay, wrapped and bowed, unaware of sadness

No vision to touch, yet a man in battle, landscaped & lost

They say he’s breathless…

…I’ll never believe

*

A mother’s tears will never dry

I stand and wait, helpless -

and I mourn – as only a mother can

whilst unknown brides rest, heavy, with uplifting smile and travelled dreams

  anticipating their unveil and unborn

*

Sometimes grief strips me of your wanted voice & gentleness of hand

but then I stand – and wait – and listen – and believe

and only then I hear – I feel – and I see

*

Lord, guide his spirit safely home to me…

*

RANDOM SHOT #2

Tags

bust, ghost, Grandfather clock, living room, mozart, negative, piano, shadow

#2 Grandfather Mozart

I took this with a mobile phone in my living room. I particularly like how the end effect is very mysterious and ghostly – with my Mozart bust almost appearing through the mist!

THE YATES FAMILY

Tags

antique, census, charlesworth, Family, genealogy, glossop, heinz, history, Identifamily, identify, Market, photo album, yates

Some of you will know about the second blog I set up last year called Identifamily – which mixes together the two words ‘Identify’ & ‘Family’. I set it up originally due to my own personal sadness at the amount of old photographs I had of people – which have, somehow, through history, become disconnected from their living relatives. I wanted to try & reconnect them – because, as a family historian myself, there would nothing better than someone contacting and informing you that they had some photos of your great grandparents! I think they call that ‘striking gold!’ ;-)

Anyhow, with a new blog in tow, I set about doing just this. It was at times, extremely hard – not only finding out information about the person in the photograph but also tracing someone connected to them through their family tree. I used online census’s and genealogy websites; and whilst I often identified the pictures subject, their address, their birth & death dates and their offspring – it was only recently that I had my first reconnection to a ‘living’ relative. I wanted to share this with you now.

This is what I wrote back in April 2011:

For your family history viewing pleasure today I have a beautiful young lady called Clara Yates – and her eventual husband Cyril Bowden.

From my research, I believe Clara was born in 1897/8 in Charlesworth, Derbyshire. Daughter of Samuel and Lucy, Clara had lots of brothers and sisters (some of which I believe I also have photographs of) including Mary, Mabel and Tom.

In the last quarter of 1921, she married Cyril Bowden. On my research, I found a young man with this name and of similar age to Clara, living close to her in nearby Glossop (which is where relatives of the Yates family also lived). The youngest of 5 surviving children, Cyril is listed on the 1911 census as living with his parents Lemuel and Sarah and siblings on St. Mary’s Road in Glossop.

Here is a photograph of both Clara and Cyril together, (click to enlarge) taken in approximately 1925/6 (according to the back of the photograph). What happened to Clara & Cyril. How long were they married? Did they have any children? Are you descendents of them? I have emailed several people through ‘Genes Reunited’ who appear to have both Cyril & Clara within their family tree – I have heard back from one gentleman, although it is still unclear how he is actually related to the Yates family. I have, as yet, to hear anything back from the others.

It transpired that the gentleman (Stewart) I was talking to was also a family historian – and his parents had been cousins of Clara Yates. The great-grandmother of Stewart had been a sister of Clara’s mother (don’t you just LOVE family history!!) and he had known some of the Yates family as a young boy.

I informed Stewart that I had only bought 8 photographs from a photo album on the local market – but that indeed the rest of the album was still for sale along with some postmarked letters. These were addressed to Olga Yates, the daughter of Tom Yates – who had been a brother to Clara. Stewart was very excited to hear about this (as he had met Olga on various occasions as a boy) and asked me to purchase the photo album on his behalf – which I posted to him in November last year. Other photographs were inside of the family – and it appears that the photo album actually had been the property of Olga Yates who had died in the year 2000.

Here are a few photographs of the album and its content:

Olga had been a very successful business woman and had set up her own company called Errin Foods – which apparently was sold on to Heinz. It was said within the family that one year she had bought virtually every crop of British tomatoes for her foods. Sadly, I’ve been unable to find out anything more about this through my research.

Stewart has since informed me that he has found another relative, linked to Olga’s grandparents, and has contacted them for information – and is considering sending the whole album to Glossop’s Heritage Centre to help identify the remaining photographs. I’ll let you know if I hear anymore.

It’s been wonderful to think that, through my blog and my research, I have been able to reconnect an album of 160 photographs to a living relative. However, I’d love to do so much more with ‘Identifamily’ – although it takes up so much time and money that I’m sadly having to limit my involvement with this at the moment. My subscriptions have currently run out, plus I need more time to ‘hunt down’ and purchase photographs that contain traceable names. This is quite a feat in itself; I literally have hundreds of Victorian photographs – but the majority of which do not have any identifiable information on them. And why would they…how many photos of our own have traceable details on them? I find it really sad to think that our current treasured historical and family images may, one day, end up, unloved, on a market stall (although more likely on a USB stick than a photo album admittedly)!

MORE JUNK TO DUST!

Tags

Antiques, bedspread, candlestick, candlewick, chest of drawers, church, eBay, edwardian, Etsy, junk, oil lamp, presents

I particularly like receiving presents (Christmas or birthday) that are for the house – something I can display and link to the person who bought it…with love. However, most of my friends and family daren’t take that risk…something which I don’t fully understand! They often say “I saw something but I didn’t know if you’d like it – so, I didn’t bother in the end!!”

Yes, I know what I like, admittedly, but the house has my personality, stamp and taste written all over it….so, surely very clear for people to see when they come and visit. Personally I think I’m by far the easiest person I know to buy for! ;-) But due to this, I often receive money instead – especially from family – with a request to buy something for myself on my travels. So…this is what I have done…and ok, at least I can buy exactly what I want!

This is a photograph of our spare room (ready for all you fellow bloggers to come and stay!) in which we have a few new finds. I bought an Edwardian chest of drawers off eBay for a bargain price with some of our gifted money. They were in situe locally and so I went to see them on the way home from work, ending up with them in the boot within the half hour! They’re not too big and so the perfect size for the spare room and for our guests to use at their will. The subtle smokey lilac-grey bedspread was also a bargain festive find – and reminds me of the candlewick bedspreads from my youth…and looks great on the end of the bed. (Click on the pic for a closer look).

Downstairs, we also have a few other gifts bought from monetary donation. I use to own an oil lamp that belonged to my late sister, which sadly got broken many years ago. I used some of my Christmas money to buy a replacement antique one, which now has pride of place on the mantlepiece. In the same antique shop, they also had this brass ecclesiastical church candlestick which I fell in love with due to its battered state. It seriously looks as if it’s been dropped from a great height at some point – but it just adds mystery and character to its history in my opinion.

My beau also got a vintage Crombie tweed coat from the same shop which he hasn’t taken off since! It was a snip of a price and fitted him perfectly.

I also want to show you a beautiful gift that I received from a fellow blogger ‘Tialys’ AKA Lynne, in response to a competition she ran over on her own blog – which you can find here. It was very much appreciated and loved (especially as I didn’t win!) and became the perfect festive accompaniment on the coffee table, housing the much prized Quality Street & Roses chocolate sweets!

So there you have it…a few new gorgeous additions to the Houdini household…or as some family & friends have called it about the ‘more antique’ of my purchases “…more junk to dust!”

Thank goodness I disagree ;-)

RANDOM SHOT #1

Tags

angel, black, candle, negative, photograph, WEDNESDAY, WORDLESS

In a bid to blog a little more this year – I intend to include some of the random photographs that I seem to take daily around the home or out on my travels (either with my canon camera or the mobile phone). Inspired by the light, my mood or simply the subject…they take all forms and will appear with different effects.

They’ll also most probably appear as part of the wordless [or should that be clueless] Wednesday posts!

#1 Dark Angel

I took this shot whilst in bed with my mobile phone! It is an image of part of a pair of candlesticks that I have resting on the tiles of the bedroom fireplace. I know the negative effect is quite common now – but it is a vintage setting that I have on my mobile phone and I love it!

A WINTER’S TALE

Tags

cat, Celebrating, champagne, chocolates, Christmas, eating, Family, friends, New Year, Puppy, santa claus, Snow, turkey crown

I only had time to blog once in December – so thought I’d have a little look back today, the 1st of January – at what’s been happening this last month through some photographs.

We had snow: not tons…but enough to cover the garden…and enough to cause road traffic so that it took me over 3 hours to reach work!

We had friends round, decorated the tree and opened the tinned chocolates far too early!

We shopped and shopped…and wrapped presents, wrestled queues and bought food – and finally watched for Santa from every window.

We hosted my parents over the festive period as well as the in-laws – and little Ben puppy-dog!

We drank, we ate, we opened presents, we cleaned, we travelled, we visited, we partied, we cleaned, we celebrated, we rested, we slept, we cleaned…

…then finally my beau and I spent New Years Eve alone – with only champagne,  curry, chocolate and music for company…it was truly wonderful ;-)

Now, here I sit, on the second anniversary of this blog – and on the start of another year, wishing you ALL a very happy 2012 full of love, light, luck & laughter x

O CHRISTMAS TREE, O CHRISTMAS TREE

Tags

bauble, bottle, carols, chilli-non-carne, Christmas, decorations, festive, friends, mulled wine, piano, singing, tree

Well Christmas is almost here…where HAS the year gone!

Of course, December brings with it the obligatory parties – and our very own ‘Bottle & Bauble’ party that we now host every year. This year we cooked a mean vegetarian chilli-non-carne, created mulled wine, provided the tree, festive smells and candle-light, Christmas tunes on the hi-fi – and drunken carols around the piano. Friends brought a bottle for the fridge and a bauble for the tree. I’ve got literally hundreds now – but as you will see from the photos below – ‘less is more’ definitely does NOT apply as far as my tree decorating is concerned! I love burying baubles and lights deep within the tree – so that every time you look you see something different. We had a great night – and how wonderful to start the festive period with friends.

I’ve been on too many Christmas meals already – and the loss of pounds that was supposed to happen pre-Christmas has NOT happened! I’ve currently run out of money too…so will have to wait for pay day to buy the rest of the gifts and seasonal food! Thankfully, this will be happening before the ‘big day’ itself…so I will be able to feed my parents who are coming to stay as well as the in-laws. We have a bigger house for the first time so we wanted to utilise it and make this Christmas extra special – and I’m looking forward to hosting my mum and dad this Christmas for the first time ever!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree…how lovely are your branches!

SNOW-GLOBE & OTHER CHRISTMAS STORIES

Tags

angel, baubles, berry, Christmas, Christmas Tree, decorations, gold, holly, Home, House, ivy, pine cone, Snow, Snowglobe, soldier, The Nutcracker, wooden, wreath

We’ve been in the house exactly 6 months now – hasn’t it flown quickly! It feels like we’ve been here forever – and the last place we lived seems nothing more than a distant memory now!

We’re looking forward to our first Christmas in the new house – plus we’ve got both of my parents coming for the festive period…along with my beau’s mum and the immediate family too – it’s going to be great! (It’s my dad’s and mother-in-law’s birthday too!!) I’ve already started getting things in for their visit – plus we’ve been buying many things to decorate the house. We’re having our annual bottle and bauble party in a couple of weeks – so we want everywhere to look nice for that too. Want to see what we’ve been buying?

First up is this beautiful gold Christmas tree musical snow-globe. I’ve adored snow-globes since being a boy and had a small globe as a child – and I constantly turned it upside down to see its small world disappear under a whirl of snow. I’ve wanted to purchase a nice one for many years now – and just haven’t seen the right one! This isn’t exactly what I had in mind, although I do absolutely love it (however, I just wish there was a bit more snow within!) We also purchased a musical Nutcracker wooden gentleman (at the request of my beau) who holds a numerical countdown to Christmas display in his wooden arms. We also bought a berry wreath for the door and a longer pine cone version for the dining table. Neither of these are real – yet everyone who has seen them have commented on how life-like they both appear. It’s now hanging proudly on our front door. It’s slightly early – but we’re really going for it this year!

Of course, we bought some crackers for the Christmas Day dining table – and we also bought a contemporary gold angel for the fireplace and many new baubles and decorations for both the tree and mantlepiece. We’re planning on buying our tree at the weekend – so I’ll take a few photographs of the finished display and share it with you on here then – once it’s fully decorated.  I’m getting very excited already!

THE HEART THAT CANNOT BE HIDDEN

Tags

Art Market, Gillian Lee Smith, Heart, Holmfirth, mixed media, November, painting

Living where we now live is great for many reasons; the countryside, peace and quiet, nice neighbours etc etc etc – but also due to its proximity to so many lovely places.

Holmfirth is literally now only a couple of miles away – and is host to so many different festivals (music, food, drink, culture, arts & craft) as well as many other planned activities throughout the year. One of which is the Holmfirth Art Market, run by artists, for artists, to help promote their work to a wider audience. Over 90 designers, jewellers, artists, textilers and crafters congregate over two consecutive Sundays to display and sell their creative wares. The market happens twice a year and I always try to go as it’s a wonderful afternoon out; I’ve also been thinking of applying to have a stall myself!

This year, I was very pleased to meet a lovely young lady there called Gillian Lee Smith – a mixed media artist from Nottingham who sells paintings, sculptural characters and textile adornments; all of which she says are inspired by dreams, memories and the art of storytelling. You can see a link to her Etsy shop HERE.

I fell in love with several of her paintings and prints – although one, in particular, spoke to me entitled “The Heart That Cannot Be Hidden” which I couldn’t resist from buying from her stall! Want to see a photograph?

Isn’t she beautiful!

I am currently making the spare bedroom homely (for our guests) and this picture is perfect for the soft gold and white tones of the room – and greets us as soon as you walk into the space. I absolutely adore it – and it’s great to have something so contemporary in our home, other than our usual Victoriana! (Although, I guess that’s why I like the subject of this however!) Gillian’s friend also makes the frames.

(photos courtesy of Gillian’s Etsy shop).

Please check out Gillian’s blog HERE for some more information about her work and her approach, as well as her Facebook page HERE - and please stop by and say hello to her.

CATS & DOGS

Tags

beautiful, cat, dog, jack russell, laura ashley, Puppy, pussy, sofa

I went home at the weekend to visit my mum and dad – which proved, as ever, a photo opportunity to take some pictures of their little doggy Ben! He is now 18 months old and still as cute – however, he appears to have lost his desire for being a photographic model. I had to hold a treat in my hand to even get him to pose! Want to see?

He still is gorgeous!

I was also able to take a few piccies of my puddy-cat as she slept on the new sofa. She has been caught scratching it on numerous occasions and so normally is now banned from going on it unsupervised…however, she looked so cute that I couldn’t bring myself to move her! I forgave her for her sneekiness and shrewdness. We bartered and she agreed to a few snapshots in return for another hour of sofa-time! ;-)

Aren’t furry friends beautiful!

JUST A NUMBER AFTER ALL!

Tags

7 billion. population, bbc, generator, number, world

The world’s population is supposed to hit 7 billion over the next few weeks! Cor blimey!

Find out what number you are…through this BBC interactive link HERE. It’s painless…you only have to submit your date of birth…and the generator does the rest! Great for kids to learn about the ever increasing world population…and their future need to think twice about reproducing!

Apparently, I am person number… 3,897,368,368

…hey, how did they know that was my lucky number too! ;-)

40 CANDLES

Tags

1980s, 40, Adam Ant, birthday, Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, DJ, fancy dress, friends, Madonna, party, video

Last week was my beau’s 40th birthday. We’ve spent the last 6 years talking about his next milestone – …and finally it has arrived – and so we decided that we needed to celebrate it in style – 80s style that is! My beau and I both adore 80s music and so it was only natural that we were going to organise a birthday party involving this era.

So, we hired our friend’s art / wine bar – and utilised their projector by visually blasting out classic 80s videos on silent, whilst blended compilation CDs of ours – along with our DJ friend Marc – filled our eardrums with old vinyl and old favourite 80s tunes. We asked that people arrive in 80s fancy dress – and thankfully most people did. Pop icons filled the bar – everything from Adam Ant to Madonna to Tina Turner to Siouxsie Sioux to Phil Oakey to Cyndi Lauper! Everyone looked so colourful and timeless! You can see me – dressed as Adam Ant – top left with my sister on the picture below.

Want to see a few pics?

My beau really wasn’t bothered about getting a cake – although I decided the week before (how to make your life difficult!!) that actually we should go for it! So I had one cake decorated with a picture of my beau, taken when he was aged 5 – and the other cake I decided to do myself! As we’re both vinyl mad, I decided to design a turntable complete with edible turntable (sadly Trishia, the old 45 single is the ‘real thing’ and would certainly hurt your teeth if you bit into that!) For my first cake ever I was quite pleased with the result. Despite getting lots of help from my neighbour, I really am not sure if I’ll be making another one in a hurry! I surrounded the cake with retro sweets from our childhood to add further nostalgia to the party – check out those Sherbert Dips, Dib Dabs, candy necklaces, Drumsticks, Black Jacks, Fizz Wizz’s, Flying Saucers and Love Hearts…to name but a few!

Friends and family came from all over the country – and a fantabulous (& very drunken) time was had by all!!

For my beau’s actual birthday, we went to Chatsworth House – a stately home in the heart of Derbyshire. It’s somewhere that we both absolutely love – and so, we used this as an opportunity to revisit, taking in both the house and its garden – as well as the converted stables, shops and cafes! It really is stunning there – and we had such beautiful weather – especially for the end of October! The grounds are full of beautiful statues and sculptures – including some recent Damien Hirst pieces.

A beautiful and very active week – I’m sure you’ll agree!

SIMPLE PLEASURES

Tags

autumn, blog, cat, dancing, freshly washed, kiss, milk, Mother, pumpkin, rain, sheets, simple pleasures, smile, velux

I have borrowed this idea from Catherine – who often describes “the moments that inspire or take your breath away, comfort or heal” over on her blog “Jumbleberry Orchard” – which you can find HERE.

The last month has been very very busy with many many commitments (some of which I’ll be blogging about soon) including hen weekends, weddings, day trips, 40th birthdays and several parties – so much so…that last night I sat, totally exhausted, and thought about some of the things I have either completely missed or taken for granted within these busy times – realising that these are indeed the ‘simple pleasures’ that Catherine describes so beautifully in her world.

As life seems to be on fast forward for me at the moment, I’ve decided that it’s particularly important to truly cherish (what may at first appear nothing more than little things) the things that make us smile, the things that remind us how lucky we are to be alive and the things that heal us…often when we truly need it the most.  I’d like to continue sharing some of these with you – every now and again – as and when they come into my head.

A glass of cold milk before bed

Seeing my sister for the first time in nearly a year

Working on the laptop whilst hearing my beau busying himself in the next room

My cat sitting on my lap purring 

Beautiful cream roses in a vase sitting on the dining table, given to us by a friend

The sound of rain outside on the velux windows

A lovely appreciative comment from someone you’ve never met on your blog

Homemade pumpkin and carrot soup on my return home from work

Freshly washed sheets on the bed

The sound of my mother’s voice on the other end of the telephone

A brand new (although much needed) toothbrush

A stranger’s smile 

The smell of freshly made coffee

Being called ‘young man’ by people…when I’m clearly not anymore ;-(

Dancing for hours and forgetting how much it will hurt the next day! 

My beau blowing a kiss across the room, as he goes to bed, to say goodnight – & catching mine in return

Standing and staring at the stunning colours of Autumn

…are just some of the simple pleasures that have happened this week.

*photo taken last week at Chatsworth House

WYMONDHAM WINDMILL

Tags

Day Trip, Leicestershire, Windmill, Wymondham

Wymnondham Windmill is situated about 8 miles from where my parents live. I have been there many times over the years as there has always been a tea room as well as some retail shops on site. Sadly, these have gone downhill in recent years and not really worth the mileage in my opinion – and so the reason I go nowadays is for the beautiful antique shop that’s about a mile away in the nearby village. I still like driving by though and admiring the windmill itself as it is so beautiful.

The windmill was built in 1814 and is an example of a six arm Lincolnshire cross built over five floors (of which there are only 4 left in the whole country). It was used to grind corn until 1952 and then to grind cattle feed until 1960. One of its six sails was damaged in the early 1900s and so subsequently ran with just 4 sails until 1922. This was then replaced by a traction engine which was used until the 1960s.

The original cap (roof) was struck by lightning and so stood open to the elements and unused until the 1970s when eventually a new cap was fitted. The mill fell into disrepair until local entrepreneurs built craft rooms and shop outlets and a children’s play area on the site.