Twixmas - a bit of this, a bit of that

After a few family filled days, at this moment, it is just myself and a mug of tea. The house is remarkably still and restful with just the hint sound trailing from the radio as it cheerfully plays hits from 2008. The overly youthful DJ announcing that she was only seven when these 'oldie-but goldie' tunes came out - what on earth is she talking about?? - it was only 'yesterday'! Gah - what does she know! 

What I do know is that this year gifts were definitely more thoughtful, more considerate.Something else I know, we quaffed countless mugs of tea - teas of all flavours with many differing varieties of milk. Keeps me on my toes - making sure everyone has the correct combination.

I find at this time of year - the kitchen becomes the engine room of the house, churning out not only meals for hungry tums, but festive treats and bakes too. I've tried a couple of new to me recipes (inspired by the unreachable perfection of instagram) but will need to practice/improve/give up/admit defeat 😆😆. 

The weather has been rather predictably rubbish - that pristine but brittle cold blue sky slid into a driech grey wet blanket with on off miserable rain. It does make hunkering down by the fire rather enticing while dog walks are more a feat of endurance that a pleasure. We have had a couple of gently splendid soft grey and peach sunsets sprinkled liberally with hail - they were bracingly joyful made all that much better by returning home and putting the kettle on with mincepies and ginger biscuits calling out to be eaten.

We will have a couple of days to ourselves, Himself and I, while the boys spend time with their extended families and although a walk or two has been discussed - the weather, once again - will feature somewhat!

There is something about this time of year - it makes me restless - I feel the need for an adventure, not quite on the level that Bilbo Baggins undertook however - I can feel that need rising.  

Do you get that stirring of restlessness or (if you are in the northern hemisphere) happy to hibernate?

 And one last image - a fuzzy-zoomy photo of Moss as we performed a double quick march to get home before the hail shower pinged our respective noses even more!

 

Wreath making🎄

During the first weekend of December we gathered around newspaper covered tables and we crafted many wreaths.  For ourselves, for friends, for colleagues and for family. 

Food was shared and there was so much - the table groaned beneath plates and despite our best efforts, the left overs were shared out and sent home to be eaten later.

By the end of a wonderful day of cutting, snipping, chatting, eating, tying and tweaking, between the ten of us we had made 15 wreaths.  Our home smelt gloriously of wood and pine - quite heady and spicy.

Then, later, once our guests had gone, the house quiet, left over foliage and fripperies put away we cradled mugs of tea and toasted our toes in front of the fire.

It had been a good day, a very good day, made the more special as we'd not been able to celebrate wreath making for the previous two years and it was wonderful being able share food and friendship once again ❤️❄️🎄

Visiting

Whilst waiting for lunch to finish cooking, I am sitting at the table typing to you, dear ones.

We have Eldest and his lovely girl with us for a few days, Youngest and his lovely girl will be landing later as we are getting together to celebrate Youngest's birthday. It is wonderful when they descend - Moss and Pan (the cat) are absolutely delighted and don't know which person to shed their fur on the most!)

Yesterday we visited East Riddlesden Hall again -  where the four of us wandered through the gardens which seemed to have survived the heat and lack of rain surprisingly well despite some of the plants looking a little sunburnt.

There was a wedding reception happening in one of the huge stone barns where brightly dressed and happy folk spilled out of the doors in loud and cheerful voice. The bride and her groom were taken around the gardens for their photos - hope they have a long and loving life together.

The bees and butterflies were making the most of the late summer flowers and the borders were abuzz with activity. Particularly the herb garden where even the non flowering herbs were being used. I remember reading somewhere that bees will chew on herbs to get access to their essential oils and the general agreement was that they could be doing it for medicinal reasons - how wonderful is that?

The house is always open however we usually just enjoy the garden and café. On Saturday we decided that we'd go for an explore. The house is a bit of an enigma as there seems to be a lack of relevant historical records. As with all these places, the experts can only 'suppose' or 'surmise'  to extrapolate stories. The volunteer guides were generous in their information and explanations but most came with the proviso - 'this is what the experts think but it could be open to further investigation'.

The house, when obtained by the NT, was bare bar one item - a grain 'ark' so all the furniture and furnishings, paintings and ornaments have been gradually accumulated over the last 90 years. Some original pieces from the family home as well as others from now long gone homes from the same era.

Every corner had something interesting and I suspect we could have stayed longer - chatting with the guides was very satisfying and we learnt so much.

One of the larger and more ornate rooms - a possible master bedroom had it's curtains drawn to prevent the precious textiles from fading. The 'Black work' embroidery bedspread was fascinating - the work(wo)manship was perfect and each leaf seemed to have a different pattern. I was as fascinated by it as I was the last time I came (some years ago in my capacity as a NT volunteer).

After we'd explored every room and many a photo was taken, we returned outside and sat in the grounds with hot drinks watching the ducks on the pond and the wedding party. We'd been very lucky with the weather - showers had been promised and it was only as we were planning on leaving that the clouds began to look a little menacing.

The rain in the evening was glorious - steady and deep, the garden today (Sunday) is looking quite satisfied!

Hope you all had a good weekend - here is to an excellent week! xxxxxxx

CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS!! 🎈🎈🎉🎊

I don't normally share faces of my family here but as I have been given special permission - I want to share how full my heart is for these two😃❤️ Youngest and his lovely girl.

We were invited to their graduation ceremonies and what a brilliant (and long) day it was - so very proud of these two!

And if you think you are going to see a sensible photo - think again! Life is too short to be boring.

Here is to the next step in your lives - may it be as good as today❤️

What weekends are for!

It is really early in the morning and I am sitting on tenterhooks whilst Youngest is about to do 'an interview of a life time' - fingers are crossed so tightly that typing could be difficult! **

So - to keep my overactive imagination doing somersaults I thought I would share our weekend adventures. We, Himself, Moss and I drove down to Eldest and his lovely girl and spent some time with them.  They had a couple of place they wanted to share with us and we had a pair of Eldest's shoes to return,  he'd accidently left them behind at their last visit!

On Saturday we popped into a lovely new eco-shop with a glorious range of deli-style foods, a refill station, gifts and locally made jewellery, I could have spent a fortune there! We have a community eco-shop in our village which has won several awards and it was really good to see how others interpret the same brief. Here is to many more popping up!

A selection of plants and fowl from Pot Hamlet

We then went to a little farm style 'retail village' where you can wander around whilst chickens stroll along the lane or be startled out of your skin by a shrieking peacock - brilliant! We had lunch there, tickled goats until they were almost comatose, laughed at ducks and guinea fowl, were amused by the posturing turkey cock and checked out the garden centre. After lunch we walked along the Silkstone Waggonway which started from the village - Moss thought that this was far more fun that 'shopping'! (Despite her being bought a 'doggy ice cream' and her scoffing it in record time!)

Moss says she's a lapdog!

That evening we shared a meal at our van and despite the chilly wind, it was a lovely evening - especially as Eldest and his lovely girl cooked for us and it was super yum!

The Trans Pennine Trail, lots of rain, stepping stones and a fascinating tunnel.

On Sunday, Eldest, Himself, Moss and I went for a walk along part of the Trans Pennine Trail. Although it must have rained for most of the way, the rain was warm and it turned out to be a really good walk (wet but good haha).

The tunnel was amazing, the reverberations and echoes were incredible!

All too soon we had to return home so after a delicious lunch of soup and cheese toasties, we headed home - tired but replete. These are what weekends are for - filling your soul ready to take on the next week!

**I am typing this at the end of the day and Youngest has returned from the interview feeling positive - it is now just a waiting game - fingers crossed!

Meanderings of the muddy kind

It has been a busy few days recently, however today I started work really early to get the bulk of it done before it was too warm. I can deal with the heat quite well having lived in Africa til I was in my 20s but gardens in the uk can't. They sulk. 

So whilst the garden owner was swanning around in her fuchsia pink Japanese kaftan, matching toenails and flamingo mug of frothy coffee, I got stuck in and planted several trays of plants I'd placed last week but had not had time to settle in. She is lovely lady - mellowed as we have got to know each other. When I first worked for her she was quite the dragon (ex senior school head) and stood for no nonsense as she dictated where EXACTLY each plant was to go, what was to be pruned, what was to be moved/watered/etc and all the plants were spoken about in their full Latin names. After a few years I changed jobs (the boys were older and I could stop being freelance around their needs) and a fellow gardener took over.

Fast forward nearly a decade (jeez where does time go) and I now garden for this client again. The previous gardener was more than happy to give back the gig (in almost indecent haste) and I picked up where I'd left off.

A lot had happened to the both of us in those intervening years, her husband had died, my job had turned sour and I'd fallen in with the black dog and we both had changed. Now we get on really well, she is a pleasure to work for, makes a really good mug of tea and only buys the best biscuits (and her taste in nail varnish and earrings are top notch!)

Funnily enough that was not what I was going to post about, it sort of just happened, my fingers typed one story while my head was ready to tell another. So - lucky you - you'll get both!

Over the last weekend we celebrated the last of the 21st birthdays - Youngest's girlfriend reached that milestone and we all trouped over to her parent's town for fish and chips on the beach. It was super warm and extremely busy when we first arrived so we did a quick walk along the promenade culminating at a rather delicious ice cream vendor, we then returned on the shore which was a lot quieter and far cooler. And MUDDY...... !!🤎🐾

Mud = HaPpY DoG!

Back at the van I attempted to rub off as much as the silty mud as I could but her white fur was stained a rather niffy chocolate brown - hmmm. 

We, the boys, their girls, Miss Muddy Moss, Himself and I, walked through a small woodland to arrive at the house - the garden was lovely and cool compared to the promenade and much to Moss's horror, I asked to borrow the hosepipe and Himself and I rinsed her down as best we could.

The afternoon was a pleasant family affair with music, cake and presents, silly dogs and sillier stories.  

Then in the evening when it was finally cool enough to let the dogs run without expiring, we went back down on to the beach where both Moss and Oscar had great fun.

It felt good getting sand between the toes and shoes and sandals were quickly abandoned as we walked along the shore.

Watching a gentle sunset slip behind clouds was a lovely refreshing end to a warm and family filled day. It was time to go home...... 

Happy Birthday C!! Welcome to the over 21's club😁

Summer Solstice and seven days seven photos

 Monday

The first day of the new working week layout - volunteers and I worked in a sweltering warm kitchen garden where one of the many daily tasks was to start harvesting the heavenly scented strawberries. Their perfume intensified by the warm air was intoxicating and we kept lifting up a choice morsel and saying ... this one is absolutely perfect.... No this one is even better! .... look at the size of this one! ... 

Tuesday

Today was set aside for private gardens which are a complete contrast to the hot and bustling kitchen garden, these are cooler, greener, and despite the amount of work completed, seem both more calmer and relaxing. Being surrounded by flowers, hedges and meadows is good for the soul!

Wednesday

Another day in the kitchen garden, a constant stream of people popping in to walk around the raised vegetable beds, asking garden advice or just wanting to chat. Thank goodness for the volunteers as they continue working while I feel to be standing and talking and itching to get on with my almost never ending list of 'Do it RIGHT now' tasks that summer seems to trigger.

Thursday

A different day - teaching. This time instructing 12 lovely ladies how to make a midsommerkrans or mid summer crown or wreath. Buckets of fresh flowers collected, foliage, grasses, green flower pods are coaxed into swirling 'nests' to celebrate the richness and bountiful moments of mid summer.

Friday

Back into the kitchen garden - the day is the warmest of the year so we retreat after lunch into the cool and lushness of the young orchard. I have to firmly encourage the volunteers to enjoy the slowness of weeding around the mini meadows beneath each tree and relish the cool breeze. I start summer pruning the young trees and celebrate the surrounding greenness in stark contrast to the formal construction of the kitchen garden. I also discover my favourite 'tree' - a 'tea-tree' !

Saturday

Himself and I wake up over looking Sunderland Point having set off the night before in the van. After a blissful and much needed good night's sleep we collect Youngest's goods and chattels from his uni digs because this particular lanky loon has finished university and bar the final 'extrav' and graduation day is now a free man (until the next step) - where has time gone? We load up the van while Moss sits in the front and 'guards'.

Sunday

Father's day, the boys send Himself some wonderfully disrespectful cards which amuse us both greatly, then we spend the morning pottering in the garden, baking and tinkering with the van before my folks come for afternoon tea and still slightly warm oaty biscuits.

Seven days, seven photos, many stories briefly mentioned and many which have not. My feet seem not to have touched ground for some weeks now however, with the new hours at work, I am hoping that things will be easier - not because I am doing less or doing more - but doing them at a better pace for me.

Happy summer solstice - this may be the half point of the calendar year but it is the beginning of the astrological summer with all the lushness and warmth and sunshine (being positive here seeing I do live in the north of the uk!!!) that summer can bring!

And, I shall leave you with the toast we shared at the midsommerkrans workshop ....

May the flowers in your hair stay fresh and your dance around the maypole be strong....

 skål !