Within the Walled Garden

Bits Of Green Between The Winter Colours

2012-02-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

We visited the New Forest a couple of weeks ago, to see the oldest oak in England. Or the oldest oak in the New Forest. Or the oldest oak I've ever seen. One of those will be correct.
It was a grand old growth and still alive and carefully looked after.

But the younger trees in the pic below are closer to home and were only planted at the start of the railway era (1830s). They are on a wide bridge over the old railway path from Bishop Auckland to Durham...now known as the Auckland Way and turned into a footpath and bike path.

The Bishop of the time didn't want to see the smoke or soot of the trains and ordered a bridge to be built, wide and deep enough to grow trees to hide the track below. These trees are still growing.

Further into Auckland Park, which the Bishop's carriage would cross on his way to his palace at Bishop Auckland, were ancient meadows for grazing and trees which sheltered the deer. These strange lumps on the old meadows are the remains of ancient ant hills.

These brown lumps are much more modern and show the previous night's efforts of Mr. Mole and his family!

We are now cloaked in a thin but chill layer of white as the snow settles in around us.

Hope the weather is fine where you are.

Cheers Gillian

SEAL SANDS

2012-02-03T01:52:00.000-08:00

We went for a ride on the Transporter Bridge over the Tees and then northwards past all the industrial area of oil refineries and power stations. It is called Seal Sands and the inlets and mud flats are a nature reserve for birds and seals.
This is the first time I've seen them in England. They were sunbathing on the mud just a few metres from the road side.

I shall return in a couple of months for birthing and breeding season and hope to get pics of a few babies.
There is a great birdwatching hide at Saltholme which merits a visit too.
This area is south of Seaton Carew, which is one of our favourite hangouts so we shall now drive in from the south and get to know the tidal area of the Tees so that we can track down the wildlife.
Cheers Gillian

The Good Life 3

2012-01-28T05:59:00.000-08:00

The buttermilk was used in the making of the cheese scones and they were eaten today with the butter for lunch.
A little of the last of the xmas cake completed the meal.

The crossword was nearly completed at one sitting, without references. That's about my best go yet! There are three clues left to research.
A round picture, a freemason's doorkeeper and a place in Surrey with the letters E_H_M.

Cheers Gillian

The Good Life 2

2012-01-26T12:39:00.001-08:00

The double cream was poured into the food processor and whipped with the whipper until it stopped. It might have stopped because the stuff was solid or because the contact in the processor had got very hot, but I changed over to the main metal blade and carried on.

It turned into lovely pale yellow butter and I poured the buttermilk into a jar and I hope to make it into scones tomorrow.

800 ml of double cream made about 700 gm butter and 100 ml buttermilk and a lot of washing up.

If the butter keeps well I may do this again. Cheap and very cheerful, especially if the scones are better than those I usually make.

Cheers Gillian

The Good Life 1

2012-01-26T06:41:00.000-08:00

We were spending a few days away visiting and whilst at my sister's place, my nephew came round for lunch with some bread and butter he had made himself.
We all enjoyed it!
I'm not a good bread maker and will not waste time or ingredients checking up on that, but I'm going to have a go at the butter right now. E said he just beat the cream till it turned into butter and so shall I. Well I shan't do it by hand. I shall put it in the magimix with the whipped cream attachment and just watch it happen!
Let you know soon.

I finished my first two oil paintings and they seem to look quite good this size on the blog. I took photos and then copied the photos. Nothing terribly creative but I'm getting the hang of the paints and how they handle. They are the new water soluble oils, and the brushes and palettes (and hands) can be cleaned in warm soapy water.

I'm on to a third now and am trying to be a bit more adventurous and creative. Creative to me means something like using the "wrong" colour. Sad really. I wish had some flair.

Cheers Gillian

Eating and Outing

2012-01-15T03:03:00.000-08:00

We do concern ourselves with food and drink, probably over muchly.
The latest mission was to make a successful Quiche Lorraine. The last one was so unsuccessful that we threw it away after a few mouthfuls.
For this one, the recipe by Stephanie Alexander in her orange-coloured, Ozzie tome on food was followed carefully from homemade short pastry to how much cheese to include. And no tomatoes!

There was plenty of pastry. I was concerned with the wobbling centre after the allotted time, so gave it 5 more minutes. Next time I shall have more faith and not overdo it.
But all in all it was a great feed and has done us well for two meals and there is some left over. That last piece might remain left over.
I am rather obsessive about waste and try to use up everything, but sometimes I feel a need for a complete change and the last bit goes. I have had to make a rule about three times and it's out or we would be grimacing at one another over a bowl of quiche lorraine soup.
The glorious sunshine on Saturday saw us venture to Staithes in the campervan. Other vanners were there with their surfboards. Some had slept in them overnight in order to be up to catch these waves! It had been colder in the van than in the sea said one from Leicester. He had had three sleeping bags and was still cold.

It's a pretty village and famous for the artists who frequent it to catch the changes in colour and light.

We moved on to Saltburn where I found the "Arts Bank" (http://www.artsbank.co.uk/) full of lovely pictures and works for sale.

And then this morning, saw the Andrew Marr interview of David Hockney putting up his new exhibition at the R.A. I would love to get to that. I can't get a link working today but try http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ and type in Hockney. Such colour.

I think I shall print this pic off and try it in lime greens, purples and stuff. I'm too staid with colour. Time for an adventure.

Cheers Gillian

PORRIDGE...THE REAL STUFF

2012-01-11T13:47:00.000-08:00

OK. Here is the test.
I made two pots of porridge. I put lots of milk and some honey on both bowls. The one at the rear is "Tesco's Finest Rolled oats".

The one at the front is "Mornflake Medium Oatmeal". I had a yearning for the sort of porridge my granny used to make. She used to get up really early and cook it in a double boiler. My grandfather would have his with milk and a sprinkling of salt. I found the Mornflake stuff in Sainsbury's. I made the two batches at once so that we could compare them.

The outright verdict was Mornflake real porridge.

I admit I put them both on at the same time and so the rolled oats were quite well cooked and very smooth, but the other stuff was just right and it is definitely worth getting up earlier in order to cook it.

So I shall.

Cheers Gillian

YOU CAN TAKE A HORSE TO WATER!

2012-01-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

Another fine day saw us out at Seaton Carew having a long walk on the beach.

We weren't the only ones. Most people take a dog or two, or some kids and bikes. This bloke took his horse.

He said she had laminitis as a result of eating food too rich in oats and barley and it was like having gout in the knees.

Walking her through the cool water helped to bring down the inflamation and he would be bringing her back each day till she was better. (And fixing her diet, I hope).

She was certainly enjoying it.

Cheers Gillian

MID-WINTER BREAKS

2012-01-08T06:24:00.000-08:00

We got the campervan out of storage and took off in the early morning sunshine. The North Yorkshire coast is home to jet and fossils and Runswick Bay has a good reputation for both.
The village is absolutely lovely. Lots of cottages tumbling down the steep hillside, with footpaths intertwining all whichways through them.

Carparks and roads are off to the side.

Gardens are small and exquisitely kept and the views are plain marvelous.

The original village was swept away in a storm in the 1600s leaving only one cottage. It is still there at the foot of the cliff but new cottages have all been built higher up the steep cliff.

Unfortunately the beach is not as strewn with treasures as I was led to believe, but we walked all the way round to the cliffs and hammered hopefully at strange shapes. We returned empty handed to the van.

Bacon sandwiches and the Saturday papers kept us occupied for a fair while and we shall return as soon as we can because it is a treasure of a place even if I found none on the beach.

Cheers Gillian

ROLLING ROCKS

2012-01-06T08:44:00.000-08:00

I have another new toy. It is a rock polisher. It turns jagged rocks and lumpy pebbles into smooth shiny treasures.
The company who sell the polisher, send out a bag of jagged rocks for you to start on, so I did.

You put the rocks in a barrel, cover them with water and add a spoonful of grit. Then you put the lid on tightly.

The barrel is loaded onto the turner and left turning for a week. It's in the shed cos it rattles all the time as the rocks tumble around inside.

After ten days (oops) they came out looking like this. They were gorgeous while they were wet but are still lovely dry. They are now back in the tumbler with a finer grade of grit for another week and then they get a week with the polish. They should end up looking as if they are wet all the time.

I'm thrilled. Being a bit of a rock nut, this is a grand way to make some of them even more attractive. But the big concern is...WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH ALL THE POLISHED ROCKS? There are plenty of unpolished rocks in every nook and cranny of the house already and fossils fills spare spots on shelves and large boulders adorn the garden.

Please send suggestion soonest. Fortunately it takes a month to polish a small barrel from start to finish so you have time to think up some really ingenious suggestions. If it makes money I'll share the profits!

Last week I opened a "forward" from a friend in Oz and clicked on it in order to see an amazing picture. Nothing obvious happened, but the bug in the email then forwarded it to everyone in my address book. I didn't know that and apologise to all of you out there. The next bit is worse though. Windows/hotmail then blocked my email provision and will only consider unblocking it if I provide them with some very sensitive info, like all your names and addresses and contents of recent emails and even financial stuff.....so "up them". I'll start again with a provider which is more careful what it lets through and doesn't punish me for being a victim. So I'm now gmc48@btinternet.com and would love to hear from you all so that I can start building up an address book again, from scratch!

Cheers Gillian

Lumix Me Up

2011-12-26T07:27:00.001-08:00

We went down onto the beach to join the crowds. It was quite windy up on the esplanade and not much better below. This year the brave and foolish started from the Staincliffe Hotel so they had quite a jog along the top and then even further down the beach because it was low tide. Some started on the beach!

Getting up and down to the beach is still tricky cos there are limited stairs available and the longer they leave it the less there are! These new ones are half under sand and disappearing fast.

Well, I'm very pleased with the new camera. It takes pics quickly and in focus. These were all done on "intelligent automatic" and needed no tweaking. The ones from the fuji were getting dingier and gloomier and I was having to do quite a bit of restoration using the windows photo package to liven these up. I can now go back to honest shots. At least until I've worked out all the wonders the software can perform!

Cheers again

Gillian

OUT WITHE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW

2011-12-26T05:47:00.000-08:00

Kelly isn't the only person at our xmas eve party. Some have been and gone on to a club, some have gone home to babysit grandchildren and some are in the snug having a go at the target shooting game. But it was grand and we got to bed later than usual and so rose late on xmas day...very slowly and carefully. The pressies were duly unwrapped and the garments put on. I think the hat has a moose on it and of course the apron has a grand Santa. Tigger didn't get any gifts so I shared my "angry bird" with her. If you squeeze it, it makes the sort of noises that fascinate cats.

I stand here, blocking the view of the xmas tree and ready to have a go in the kitchen. A turkey is over the top for a dinner for two so we roasted a lovely bit of sirloin and all that goes with it.

It is now Boxing day and after watching a couple of hundred fancy-dressed people plunge into the sea at Seaton Carew we have returned to have tea and xmas cake and complete the procedure for putting the old Fuji camera away in a drawer and installing the new Lumix.

These are the last of the fujipics on this blog. I hope that the new one will produce better close-ups and clearer images generally. The human factor will still be important, but the new camera does seem to have "greater intelligence". The big question is "Can I match it?"

Hope you all had a great xmas day.

Cheers for now Gillian

ONE MAN AND HIS CAT

2011-12-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

DJ has been training Tigger to climb the loft ladder and do sentry duty at the small hole which is attracting the Jackdaws to enter the roof space. She is being praised and rewarded with Kittie Treats. In the mean time she is also demonstrating a willingness to have a go at rounding up sheep. I think the black and white dogs attracted her.

For those of you unfamiliar with this TV show....It is called One Man and his Dog. It shows off the best skills of the shepherd and sheepdogs. "One Man" will have to be changed soon because more and more of the younger competitors are girls.
Tigger loved it when the rounding up and driving of sheep into pens, took place.

And she couldn't resist giving the dog a helping hand.

Cheers Gillian and Tigger

TWO FRENCH LADIES AND A XMAS TREE

2011-12-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Addison's Winter Auction and so we braved the weather and went and watched the bidding. We had pre-viewed and selected interesting lots and done some research into probable artists, fakes and values so we were ready to wave our bidders number.
I lusted after this terracotta reproduction of Madame Recamier, made to look like the original bronze by Chinard but worth far less than $500,000. Madame now adorns the sideboard in the sitting room and it made me clear away all the things that end up on sideboards when they haven't got a bust to display.

DJ fancied Frieda. Well that's what she has been named because she was painted by Pal Fried, who signs all his paintings as Fried Pal so that he makes people think of cooked dogfood. This lady is wearing clothes. Many of his don't. And she has a nice bit of Paris in the background like they tend to. There's some space on the wall beside her so she might get a friend at the Spring Auction.

There were some very interesting paintings "in the manner of" various artists that I liked. They look pleasing on the wall, are real paintings and don't need six figures to buy. A dealer was snapping them up and I missed out on a painting "after Boudin" which had a lovely seaside scene. But you never know how far other people are willing to bid so he got it for the next bid after I stopped bidding!

It snowed this morning so we got the xmas tree out. Well we were going to anyway, but it made it feel like winter is really on the way.

The lights still work, the baubles all hang well and the corner will glow for a few weeks.

Xmas approaches.

Cheers Gillian

UP AND DOWN THE STAIRS

2011-12-02T09:31:00.000-08:00

It was a sunny day so Seaton Carew was on the agenda. The local council have nearly finished the seawall and esplanade renovations, or would have, if the stormy tides hadn't brought all the sand back up the beach that the summer tides took away.The hand rail at the bottom of the steps is not of much use right now! At the next flight, along the prom, they had a digger moving sand by the giant shovel load and scattering it down by the retreating waves, so that the new steps could be accessed. And at the carpark steps a large lagoon welcomed people to what was a vast sandy beach just last month. Trying to stop the sea having its way is futile, but local councils still waste money trying to stop the action of the waves rather than changing their rigid coastal paths.

This afternoon was spent warming up at home.
At the top of our stairs is the den, and I suppose it is like having a shed/studio/office. There has been much in the news lately of the benefits to men of having a shed. I think this is what this area is to DJ cos his shed is only big enough for some tools, a couple of bikes and the empty paint tins. I'm having a go at oil painting at the moment. That means taking one of my photos and copying it. I read some how-to-do-it books and have a couple of good ones which show how to get from blank canvas to finished picture in step-by-step pics and I'm following the method, sort of.

I was doing mixed media last month and watercolour the month before. I'm too much of a butterfly to get into anything in a serious way but I'm enjoying it.

I like the way you can tweak oils. I have scraped off the chicken's face, cos it looked gormless and shall have another go tomorrow at making it look more like it has a personality. Also its tail needs more tarting up .
DJ's desktop and printer are up here, and so are lots of books, comfy chairs, lots for Tigger to play with and the only window that gives a view of farm animals on a good day.
Apparently cats and dogs can see digital TV much more clearly than the old sort. Tigger is certainly an avid TV watcher and is engrossed in it as I write this blog. At least it stops her from trying to share the keyboard with me and keeps her off the desk and away from the pens. She is especially fond of soccer and loves Sky news and seems to read the "breaking news" strip as she follows it across the bottom of the screen.

Cheers Gillian

Lights Lots and Mid-Week breaks

2011-11-27T01:11:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, Durham had its Lumiere Festival. We drove to the park-and-ride and found that hundreds of others had too. The queue for the bus was long enough to fill three buses so we walked into town and struggled up the hill and onto the Palace Green outside the Cathedral. Thousands of others had done the same and it was pitch dark so that the lights would show up better.
They did. The cathedral was bathed in glorious scenes from the Lindisfarne Gospels. We watched awestruck before flitting off down a side alley and skirting the thousands more still climbing the hill to see the next show.The Market Place was decorated with a giant snow dome and there were other installations all over the city. We didn't stay for much that evening because the crowds were overwhelming but we came in on the Sunday for Comedy Store at the Gala Theatre and battled the numbers again, but saw some more displays on the way.There was criticism of the crowd management and it was so poor that it can only be improved but Durham is a city with narrow, winding, steep city streets and not much can be done about that.
The village of Blanchland in Northumberland also gets crowded on fine summer days but last week it was almost empty. It has parts as old as Durham. All its front doors are painted red because the whole village is owned by Lord Crewe, just as the Lord Barnard (Raby) properties up and down Teesdale which have dark blue front doors.Much of the original mediaeval layout remains. The post office is housed in the castellated gateway and the pub has a fine reputation for its food. We were staying nearby at Derwewnt Manor Hotel on a bargain midweek break.

We were upgraded to a suite with the largest bed I've ever seen and a balcony with a view and a sitting room etc. The food was good, sometimes "very" and sometimes "quite". We enjoy cooking and it made us glad to get home and get on with some of our own.

Talking about bargains before I get on with the food... I bought a job lot of boxes at auction which had lots of railway memorabilia...old pics, pamphlets, way-bills etc. most of which I have since re-listed on ebay but the pics are not very interesting so on with the food.

When I first moved in here there were some good supermarkets handy. Lidl and Aldi were both within walking distance. But there was nowhere which sold good fresh bread. But now Sainsbury's and Lidl have in-house bakeries for par-cooking fresh bread and the local farm shop has started to produce really great loaves. Left over bread can now be a problem. Fresh bread odours waft around all our favourite shops. So it was time to make some bread pudding.

Lovely stuff.
And DJ caught a snippet of arvo TV which showed the Hairy Bikers de-boning a chicken and stuffing and roasting it so....

Off to the farm shop for a chicken. The farmer and his son were both grinning broadly as we left at the thought of the mayem about to occur in our kitchen. Both had expressed extreme reluctance to do it for us and were really glad we didn't want them to.

DJ sharpened up the knives and set to following the guidelines he had found on the internet. Getting the leg and wing bones out was the worst bit but the final effort was one piece of skin and meat, a pan of meaty bones for soup and a very happy cat. It was covered with a layer of stuffing made from pork mince and a gourmet packet mix and then sewn up with a bodkin to resemble a chicken shape. Roasted for an hour, it came out looking like this and beat the restaurant food at Derwent Manor, hands down and thumbs up.

Cheers Gillian

A GOLDEN TREASURE OF POLITICAL INCORRECTNESS

2011-11-15T09:25:00.000-08:00

I went to Watson's Auctions this morning to buy a large brass Asian statue which I was going to use for hanging my jewellery on. It lives in a tangled mess in a basket on the chest of drawers at the moment. Buddhas and similar statues were fetching quite a high price so I bought a job lot of railway memorabilia instead. It was much more fun and sorting through all the boxes on return was like christmas in the old days.
One of the old books is shown below. I shall tell you more about the railway stuff in another blog because this book has enthralled me.

It was published in 1927 and tells the story of two children going for their first ride in the car that Daddy has bought. Gender roles are clearly stated! Men were easily flattered at an early age. And quite good at pretending they knew what was going on by mentioning magnetos whilst looking under the bonnet of a car.

I suppose Dolly got quite good at making sandwiches and setting out a picnic in much the same way.

The earlest campervans are also demonstrated as are many "other" sorts of vehicles.

Even way back then, Ozzies were visiting "the old Dart" and travelling around in jolly charabanc loads, landing on distant rels for a feed and stop-over for a month or two, visiting old buildings and pulling beers in the local for a job. Americans wisely stayed home. Luckily they ALL enjoyed camping out in the woods, regardless of the grizzlies.

And as for those Africans. They were always smiling even when they were the butt of a bad pun and the whole village was loaded onto a mere two wheeler.

Cheers for now Gillian

A FISHY TAIL

2011-11-06T06:10:00.000-08:00

"Limestone Landscapes" is a project, currently being run by Durham County Council and they put on an education day. The morning was spent in the classroom being taught all about the Magnesian Limestone unique to Durham and its place in the geological history of the world. There was a lovely power-point display, free map posters and lots of rock samples to covet.
Then we all trooped off to Coldknuckles Quarry for some fieldwork.
At the bottom of this quarry is a deep layer of sand known as The Yellow Sand. It is the remains of Permian sand dunes formed about 250 million years ago when England's climate was dry and tropical. It is mined and used as building sand. It can be seen in its dune layers, cross-bedded from the changing winds of the desert. At the top of the sand is a thin grey line of Marl Slate which forms the boundary between the sand and the Magnesian limestones. It is about halfway up the picture and above it are the layers of limestone.
It's the Marl Slate that has the fossils in it and the quarrymen dig it up and pile it out of the way as they go down for the sand. Lots of folks come round and fossick in the dumped slate, including me.

The aim is to find a fossil fish. People do, and so did I. Well a good bit of one. I'm not sure if it's the tail or some fins. I shall have to do more research.

At the top right is a piece of plant, then something unidentified, then some sand balls and then some calcite but on the left is the big trophy. I knocked the edge of the block of slate with the hammer and it split open to show the fishy tail.
We then went down to Blackhall Rocks to study more of the limestone in the cliffs, but the tide hadn't gone out far enough to see the best bits.

A bloke in the carpark was exercising his Harris Hawks and held them for me to photograph. He has a couple and takes them along the cliff top each day training them to return for their food. He said it is all done by making sure that the bird is hungry enough to return and he ensures that by weighing them between flights and feeds. Then we decided to drive down the coast a short distance to Seaton Carew to catch the fireworks display. We arrived in time to get a seat at "The Almighty Cod" for a fish and chip supper. When we went in there was a queue outside the take-away section, about twenty people long and when we came out it was well over twenty yards long and more. All three fish and chip shops had enormous queues and there were thousands of people milling around waiting for it to start.

It was short but grand.

Today is a well earned rest and newspaper day before we head off to the Comedy club at the Gala Theatre in Durham.

Cheers Gillian

A QUIET WEEK

2011-10-30T02:25:00.000-07:00

There was nothing on the calendar this week so we were able to do what we wanted every day. The fire in the snug got lit to make sure it still worked after being taken out and put back in during the renovations. It was so lovely we lit it again last night just to make sure. It shows off the picture so well

On Friday night we went on a "Ghost Walk" set up by Hartlepool Council. It was around the old Headland area. We heard all about the history and ghosts of the past inhabitants and other members of the group were encouraged to share their stories of poltergeists and ghosts of their own. One woman had lived in the area as a child and had some hair raising stories from her childhood. In one street we were warned that the ghosts of mischievous lads might undo our shoelaces as we walked. I looked down and one of mine was already undone!!! They have never come undone before but blaming them on a ghostly prank is not my style.
The Headland is the home of the old HEUGH BATTERY which defended the port and shipbuilding areas in wars. In the WW1, German ships fired shells onto the area and the first British Military death on British soil happened just outside the gates. Many civilians and soldiers were killed during the shelling. During the Napoleonic wars a French ship was wrecked just off the coast and a monkey in a French uniform jacket was the only survivor. The locals, supposedly, tried and hung the monkey as a French spy. Therefore Hartlepudlians and their football team are referred to as monkeyhangers.

The buildings exposed to the sea are painted with black, salt resistant paint and in the evening this makes the area quite dark and spooky. When I was a child there was a West Hartlepool and a Hartlepool next to it. Hartlepool is now called The Headland and the old West has been dropped and the larger main town is now, just Hartlepool. I must admit, when I came back from Oz, I wondered what had happened to West Hartlepool.

Yesterday was a fine morning so we took the camper up to the top of the Pennines at Westgate in Weardale. Nothing but sheep about.

And some of them quite orange. There has been so much sheep rustling up on the moors and in the isolated villages (because of the rising cost of lamb) that some farmers are dipping their sheep in a dye to deter theft. At least they can be easily spotted. Large texels like these are very valuable. They seemed to be a bit self conscious, but at least they were at home.

Today's extra hour has already been wasted lying abed with tea, coffee and now juice. I might as well give up and get up.

Cheers Gillian

A Knitting Success

2011-10-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't knitted a successful garment for a long time. I took some sock knitting to France in the camper this summer but I had to give up because it was bamboo. It was so slippery. All went well till I made a mistake and correcting made all the stitches ladder.
The fabric below is a combo of Wensleydale Longwool and Lion Homespun.It is my new winter cardigan. I got some lovely vintage brass buttons on ebay and the heavy knitting has good drape and so the collar fell into place well.

Then... I put it on. It's so very big but warm and comfy. I could pretend to be a sylph like figure below all the miles of knitted yarn but I'm not. It is soft and snuggly and will be well used if the weather turns into the winter they have forecast.

It is mild today and I have trouble believing that it will soon be cold enough to need it. We walked to the farm shop and it felt like early summer instead of early winter.

Cheers Gillian

The Circus Came To Town

2011-10-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

It was a gorgeous day today so we did the usual and headed off to Seaton Carew. The tide was on its way out and had left great swathes of seacoal on the sands. Much of this is just gravel size.

But some pieces are worth stopping to pick up, specially if you have a coal fire or two. This is the size of piece that we gather. I have left my foot in the pic to give some scale. Today we found the largest piece we have ever come across. It was the size of a brick.

It is on the right of the collection which we brought home today. It won't see us through the winter but it will add to our pleasure when we light a fire, to know that it was "hunter-gatherer" gained. We will save the large piece for the New Year fire. I never finished the Geological Map of England jigsaw which is why you never saw it finished on my blog. I couldn't cope with all the unmarked white pieces and put it away. But this one I'm proud to say...I finished. It was a special one with a fancy edge. It was advised by the instructions (Yes Dear Reader! A jigsaw with instructions) that you start from the large centre piece and work outwards. So I did. It took three days. This pic below shows how to remove the edges when you have finished so that it is ornately self-framed.

This is the whole, finished, done thing. It comes with varnish so that you can adhere the pieces and arrange for framing. No thankyou. It is now back in its box, ready to be returned or forwarded to another afficionado.This is the first time I've loaded a you-tube clip so I hope it works and thankyou to all appropriate people. I had trouble placing it so you might like to read the rest first...or not.

The circus came to town at the start of the week. It set up camp in a field at the bottom of Brusselton Hill, just over a mile away. So we went! It was called Circus Vegas but didn't seem to have anything to do with Las Vegas except for some amazing American style trucks. When we were in France we saw a circus moving along the autoroute in the opposite direction. It seemed to go on for ever; truck after truck towing trailers and caravans all highly decorated and very garish. This was much the same but I have no pics because I forgot to take my camera.

The acts were great and in the second half "Captain Munoz" was shot from a cannon just a few feet from us, right up to the apex of the Bigtop and then landed in a safety net on the other side of the Ring. Captain Munoz was shaped very much like a cannon ball with limbs and a head, so I suppose he wasn't destined to go very much further. The finale was the you-tube clip you see above (I borrowed it from GRMAINS, who filmed it the month before in Middlesbrough) and on the night we were there THREE riders rode around inside at the same time. Two lads and a lass. WOW!!!

The only animal in the circus was the dear little spotted pony who gave rides to toddlers around the Ring in the interval. All the risks were taken by the clowns, the strongest man in the world, the girl who put herself into a fourteen inch perspex cube and the man who balanced atop a whole dining-room full of chairs without falling off. I fall off even when I climb on one chair to fix a light bulb.

We walked there and back because parking was a risky option on the ring road. Fine going there; forgot the torch for coming home, but we scuttled along briskly behind the couple in front following their chattering sounds and the faint glimmer of his pale slacks in the total darkness. Gosh! we are such urban folk, expecting street lighting everywhere.

Cheers Gillian

Happy Birthday Transporter Bridge

2011-10-11T02:31:00.000-07:00

The Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge is one hundred years old this week and so we decided to go and have a ride on it. It is a high metal structure across the River Tees. A gondola hangs from it by long cables, just a few feet above the river. You turn up and drive your car onto the gondola. It takes about ten cars. A conductor takes your £1.30.

Then the cables tow you over to the other side. You can't even feel it moving it is so smooth, but they don't use it on windy days. So if a ship goes through all it has to do is fit under the high bit where the cables are. It isn't like a chain ferry where you get dragged across. On this one you hang from the top all the way.

Then you drive off and it fills up and comes back again.

As you can see from the pictures it started to rain as soon as we arrived so better pics can be found on other sites such as http://www.visitmiddlesbrough.com. My link wouldn't work properly so you'll have to click the Whats On button. There are clips of people bungee jumping and historic clips etc. Have fun.

Cheers Gillian

Stanhope in Weardale

2011-10-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

Another lovely day on Friday made us decide to go for a walk. We haven't been on many walks lately and we haven't been to the gym at all. I would much rather go on a walk than go to the gym so I have decided to stride out again at least twice a week. DJ agrees heartily, so we packed a flask and drove up Weardale to Stanhope. Walks are published each Thursday in The Northern Echo and this was one we had done before with the County Durham Walks so we felt confident about finding our way from the printed instructions. We walked up the escarpment behind the church, across the limestone quarries which were Stanhope's lifeblood in the industrial days of the last two centuries. The limestone was sent over the top to the Consett steel works and the rail trucks were hauled by winding engines.
The view above shows the waste heaps. Each one would have had a rail track along it for the wagons to go on, to tip the waste over the edge into the used part of the quarry.
We had finished the steepest part of the climb but were still only halfway up! We alarmed dozens of grouse and partridge and a rabbit or two as we trudged up through the heather.

Yes it is a grouse, but digital cameras are slow to start and so most of them got far away before I could aim and focus.
Lead was also mined from seams running through the limestone. This old adit would have followed a seam into the hillside until the lead ran out. It seemed to have been a bivouac for more than one person over the years.

Much of the land and therefore most of the mining companies were owned by the Church of England and so Durham Bishops and church officials were wealthy men. It was very common to use lead for the whole roof of the churches. Some still have a good covering even though the price of lead has led to increased thefts.

Stanhope still has its lead roof! And here's some I found on the way near the old adit. Pretty stuff.

Cheers Gillian

DORIS THE DOORKEEPER

2011-10-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

Doris was found lurking in a corner of Watson's Auction House and nobody else wanted her! We had spent quite some time deciding how much we would pay for her and were worried that we might be led into bidding too much in our eagerness to bring her home. But one bid was enough. She has been moved three times and now seems to be happily settled in the corner next to the door. She is really Doris-the-Second on account of there having been a previous Doris in DJ's life. She will do nicely as a hat stand and will hold a few scarves and such in the winter months. She fits very well with the settle, which came from the same auction, into the new porch. The settle has a lid and will be used to store shoes. It has been lovingly and energetically re-polished. A grand entrance awaits visitors.

A previous auction purchase has been re-framed and now adorns the wall above the fireplace...

...and Cockie, one of my earliest auction treasures has been given pride of place in the sitting room because there's only so much "wow factor" that one room can contain!!!

Cheers Gillian

Summer At Last

2011-10-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

We headed off to Seaton Carew in the campervan and parked (early gets the front row in the car park) on the sea front for the two days of the heatwave that we got in the north-east of England. Normally, visitors can be counted easily if they all stand still long enough, but on Saturday the beach was awash with people. So many tiny ones dipping their feet into the sea for the first time! The group on the left had been out to a lobster pot (somewhere they wouldn't tell us) in their inflatable and had come back with half a dozen fine specimens to barbecue. There has been a lot of work done all summer, on the seawall. It started as a refurbishment of the terrace and the steps, but it seems now that there is some undermining of the pathway behind the wall by the drainage and this has caused serious problems.

In at least four places the footpath has caved in completely.

Large boulders are being emplaced by huge earth moving equipment. I hope it is successful and that they are able to save the seawall and path. The waves that hit this structure during storms and spring tides are really enormous and forceful and I'm just hoping that they haven't opened a can of worms.

Our very small crab apple tree produces glorious blossom and very attractive golden, cherry-sized apples. I wasn't sure if they had much oomph as a fruit so last year I let them all drop. They made a bit of a mess so this year we picked them and made a dozen jars of crab apple jelly. Guess what you are getting for xmas if you live nearby?
We had walked our favourite blackberry patch for the last few berries of the year and they made an amazing difference to the colour of the first batch. The pure crab apples produced a golden coloured jelly with a very slight peachy tinge.

Just finished dealing with the last couple of auction purchases. Shall post them soon as I have photographed them. They have pleased us both immensely. Now waiting for the shepherds pie to bake: the left overs from a breast of lamb roast from last night. A tasty and cheap cut and we shall add it to our short list.

Never having been a great success at baking cakes etc. I watched the finals of the bake-off on telly last night with awe. What amazing resilience you have to have to be a baker and a competitor all at the same time. Fabulous results. Congrats to all participants.

Cheers Gillian

I'M VERY SORRY BUT...

2011-09-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

While we were at St. Cado in Brittany on the Ria d'Etel, it was the "Great Pardon". This is an annual but movable feast and the statue of St Cado is moved by men, on their shoulders, while everyone who knows the words, sings along. The words were sung all day and they were the same ones. There is only one hymn to St Cado and it was sung well. Apparently Cado the saint came from Wales and was washed into the ria and landed on the isle of Cado. At the celebration of the Grand Pardon, we are all swept along singing the same hymn all day.We trudged across the bridge and smiled at one another.Then the weather turned wonderful.

On our return from France we decided to venture out.
We went to Castle Howard. We had to drive up Sutton Bank. An amazingly steep gradient and always one of the first places to close in icy weather. And then we followed the signs till we got there.
I loved this statue with its see-through marble. There were hundreds of statues, inside and out but this one stopped me in my tracks. The whole place is amazing and on a really grand scale.

A couple of years ago I used to rank cheese scones in my blog.

I must admit that Castle Howard scones are highly priced but so is everything in the shop and cafe

But this was the BEST cheese scone ever eaten by me. I don't know what it cost but if it's price is reflected by the rest of the food and giftie stuff then it wasn't cheap. But it was heavenly. 10/10

Cheers Gillian

THE CAT AND THE CAMERA

2011-09-27T04:27:00.000-07:00

Just reading Heide's blog http://heideho.wordpress.com and watching what her daughter A3 was doing instead of her homework and decided to do this instead of doing the ironing!

FOOD AND FRANCE

2011-09-26T04:09:00.000-07:00

DJ and I spend much of our time enjoying food. Planning what to eat, shopping for ingredients, prepping, cooking and of course...eating. As a result we probably eat too much but it's a grand hobby and you can take it anywhere, so we took it to France. We treated ourselves to a little gas barbecue.We cooked a lot of sausages on it and brought even more home. It also produced garlic prawns, pork chops, fried potatoes, bacon, eggs, and tomatoes and the cooker inside the van produced the rest.We managed to eat outside the van on all days except the downpour day and even then we cooked outside and just ate inside. At la Trenche-sur-Mer in the southern Vendee we had wonderful weather and treated ouselves to a groundsheet (grandly called "un tapis de soleil" by the french) and doubled our territory in one unfolding. The people opposite us in the campsite had been there all summer. At the start of our last day they were packing up too. Monsieur started by taking up the wood block flooring and folding down the outside furniture (including 17 chairs!). He then dismantled the awning and parasols etc.When we returned after a spot of beach-combing he had reduced much of their summer home to neat piles. That evening he went off to get a truck to load it all into and drive it home to their house, five kilometers away. Apparently they set up every summer in the same place. We hope to see them again next year!!!We love our coffee and sat happily in cafes drinking our morning dose and watching the people on the boardwalk and the Atlantic waves breaking on the sand.We had a couple of fine meals in restaurants. In Orleans we had lunch at a Thai restaurant with a multicultural clientele. Orleans is in fact a very multicultural city and we shared the tram into town from our campsite with university students from all over the world. The lunch was great value and memorable eating.

In Auray in Brittany, we went with my sister and her husband for a "moules" lunch at a quayside restaurant on a sunny day. We sat outside on the terrace and watched the tide race out under the bridge. Another fine memory. We arrived in Calais a little early for our ferry, a couple of days in fact, and spent the last of our holiday cash in Carrefours. Sausages, cheeses and wines were loaded on board the van now that we no longer had to put the bed down.

Tonight we plan to turn some of the pork mince we bought into Sang Choi Bao and Sausage Rolls for our meal. Lunch has been the cheese.

Cheers Gillian

CHENONCEAU CHATEAU

2011-09-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

After a few Cathedrals we journeyed on to the Loire area to see the Chateaux. I think I expected to see them from the road and appreciate their magnificence and glorious gardens from the comfort of my raised seat. However, they all seem to be tucked away behind forests and I suppose if I had built myself a chateau I would have placed it away from the main roads too.
We were camped close to Chenonceau Chateau and so we rode there on our bikes, only to find that we had left the lock behind. We returned in the afternoon to find that many of the bus loads of tourists were gone and the rest were in the gardens, so we locked up the bikes and sauntered down the avenue to the front door.The entry smelled wonderful because of this amazing display of lilies. The rooms were all decorated with an abundance of enormous flower displays. We toured the bedrooms of many famous people from the past. Catherine de Medici, Diane de Poitiers, Henris I and II and Louis XIV were some I remember, but not whose was this one. We promenaded the galleries built on the long section over the Cher River. And admired the gardens, great kitchens, paintings and tapestries. Because the chateau was undergoing some renovations, parts were not open but so as not to spoil the view the scaffolding had been wrapped like an art installation with the image of the missing section on display.

I liked that bit best.

It poured with rain for two days after our visit so you won't have to read about any more chateaux in this blog because we headed south to the seaside and warmer climes.

Cheers Gillian

FRANCE CAN BE QUITE DISARMING

2011-09-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

We stopped for the first night away in France at a place called Louviers, south of Rouen. We parked up at the site and then decided that four hairpin bends back to town was too much to walk and drove the "Van Persie" back down into the town-centre car park and wandered round a really lovelyold French town. We popped into a small food-mart and bought the basics for the next 24 hours and then wandered.
The Notre Dame Church was being given a major overhaul, in and out. Most of their saints and martyrs had become bereft of some limbs. It became a familiar pattern as we moved on. The next stop was at Chartre after some parking negotiations. Chartres Cathedral is amazing and asymetrical. Below is the side with the best display of missing limbs.

And this one is Orlean where we went looking for Joan. We found a great second hand book sale set up in the main square. The most popular books seemed to be childrens (well kept) and student/school books of a VINTAGE rather than antiquarian age.

More to come.

Cheers gillian

BITS & PIECES

2011-09-05T06:32:00.000-07:00

I adore doing jigsaws. I buy them at Op Shops which is the Oz name for charity shops. It is short for opportunity shops. I was returning a couple of completed ones and looking for further supplies when I spotted this one. It is ABSOLUTELY GLORIOUS. It is quite large and beautifully made. Every piece is a different shape. There is a full size poster to go with it which is the size of the finished jigsaw, otherwise it would be tricky to read some of the small writing on the box lid.

First of all I sorted out the edges. These pieces will have to be left to the end because they are all pretty identical...white with a black line through! Then I sorted out all the plain white pieces. These two groups went into bags for ron (later). Then I sorted the stratigraphic sequence of the rocks and the bits with big writing and assembled them all. Day two, I gathered the coastal pieces into three piles...England & Wales, Scotland and Probably Ireland. These were in order of my geographic knowledge. And I completed the coastline of England.

Day three was spent completing Great Britain and then Ireland. The rest of the bits with stuff on them, were inserted and the puzzle was pulled together.

It's all beginning to look rather grand. It's now day five! The white bits and edges are still in their bags and the jigsaw has to be turned through ninety degrees so that it will all fit on the table. A tablecloth has gone over the top so that we can still eat in comfort and it will probably stay there a while. I'll get on with life and post a pic when it's finished.

Cheers for now

Gillian

Size and Scale

2011-08-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

DJ loves trucks. In fact he loves most things on wheels with an engine.
Barnard Castle had a "Truck Show" over the long weekend and because it's only a few miles away, we went. There were one or two leaving early to head back to Scotland but the rest were still on show. They let us in for £5 instead of £8 and we had a great look round.

They were lined up and down and again and again. I've never seen so many trucks in one place before. This was a gorgeous vintage truck with it's engine under the flat bed of the truck and cab. Not many of them around apparently. DJ's favourite was this full-on show with a bonnetted unit. It's like a jewelled outfit to him.

Anyway, we managed to spend some time between rain-showers, doing over three of the hanging baskets with winter pansies and variegated ivy. And...I harvested some carrots.

As you can see they match the quality and grandeur of the tomatoes.

You will be relieved to know that we have no further vegetables in the kitchen garden (two small pots) but the herbs are still doing well and the crab apples are turning a lovely gold colour. They will be the next ingredient in some culinary marvel.

Hope you all have some kitchen garden stuff you are pleased with. Do you find that much of the fun which results from a glut of home-growns is working out what to do with it all?

Hope so.

Cheers Gillian

Size Matters

2011-08-29T03:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a goodly part of the tomato crop chez nous. A handsome collection and probably a few more to come. We are proud of them. They were grown without assistance from glasshouse, fertiliser and know-how, in one of the coldest corners of England.Here they are artfully posed beside a mug. And again artfully tossed into a cup and saucer.

However, the truth of the matter is that they are only this big. The mug was DJ's "tea" mug and the cup and saucer are espresso sized.

They will not provide passata for the long winter months as Italian families expect their backyard crop to do. Indeed, they will hardly provide a part of a lunch snack. But they grew in Bishop Auckland outside in the garden. Next year we may be bold enough to try again and expand our kitchen garden to include the rest of the salad.

Cheers Gillian

So I Baked a Cake!

2011-08-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

The biscuit tin contained quite a few stale biscuits. Some were old ginger nuts from Lidl and others were fine cookies with stem ginger from a posh shop. DJ is very fond of ginger, but these were all past it.

I googled "what to do with left over ginger biscuits" and got some disappointing results. I thought there would be thousands of things you could do with a few old ginger nuts. But no. Zut alors! (practising my french for the foray abroad). At last I came up with a lovely recipe for a ginger cheesecake. I haven't ever baked a cheesecake before but the important factor...the use of the old biscuits...made me decide to have a go.

I set off to buy cream cheese, sour cream, a lime and....a cake pan.

Yes, it's a beauty. But it cost over six pounds and I was buying it to use up some old biscuits.!!!

I followed the recipe to the letter because, not only have I never made a baked cheesecake before, but I have never made a successful cake of any sort before. My sponges erupt like a volcano and my fruit cakes slump in the middle and have patches of raw bottom no matter how long I cook them for. ( As I write this I remember a remarkably glorious xmas cake I made last year. So unusual that I forgot it, but I blogged it so I can't pretend otherwise). Read on...

It worked.

I often go wrong because I can't help trying to improve on a recipe. I resisted the temptation until I got to the sour cream topping at the end and added lime juice and zest.

Most amazingly, it not only slid out of the cake tin with ease, but it also cut into slices like the ones you get in teashops. WOW.

I hope I can get the link to work so that you can share the recipe. Nope! here it is in full

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3531/

Cheers Gillian

HORSE TRADING

2011-08-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the village of Ravenglass on the south west Cumbrian coast. On a clear day, you can see the Isle of Man to the west and very distantly, Scotland to the north west.
We visited the area in the campervan together with M&D and their four dogs in their own campervan. The weather was variable as it usually is in the Lake District but the views are outstanding. We had a great drive over and enjoyed Lake Bassenthwaite, the port of Whitehaven and a walk along the beach at Ravenglass at low tide. The next day was wet and the drive home views were spoiled by very low cloud (ground level!)

Last Sunday's gathering of gypsies was apparently to buy and sell horses. There were many horse boxes and horses were being ridden, driven and led around. This lad rode his cob up and down the street as the one in the horsebox looked longingly on.

This group came down the road from the club, with beer glasses in hand to inspect a horse parked in the box across the road. A lot of shouting was followed by a slapping of hands as a deal was reached.

The horse in the last picture was also ridden bareback down the road to show it off, but was unhappy to leave its foal and stubbornly refused to go more than a few yards. The foal was untethered and had to be held back by a few of the lads. I was very glad when the two were re-united and the foal stuck like glue to Mum for the rest of the time. Eventually they all moved on. There have been a few covered wagons on the road lately as if they are being taken off to winter somewhere. The horses plod along so patiently coping with all sorts of traffic and are lovely to watch.

Bought a SatNav today! I have always been proud of my map reading skills and have resisted using a gadget. But the prospect of touring France on the righthandside of the road, reading the signs, getting the kilometres right and coping with the new and unknown, has resulted in the purchase of a Tomtom.

So... more to come of the road less travelled.

Cheers Gillian

Along The Road Less Travelled

2011-08-21T05:59:00.001-07:00

Last week we drove along the coast of Yorkshire from Spurn Point to Scarborough and then over the moors to home. Spurn Point is the most easterly and southerly point in Yorkshire. It is quite bleak and although we walked right round the point, we saw little to please or amuse us. It seemed that all the rubbish thrown overboard, into the North Sea, ends up there. But I'm glad we went. It is one of the coastal features included in every Physical Geography book and I have taught the theory of Long Shore Drift using Spurn Point as an exemplar more often than I care to remember. This was the first time I had seen it in real life.

We stayed the night in Withernsea. Again, I'm afraid to say not much to please or amuse but a good meal at the pub.

The next day we drove on through villages and lovely countryside. The villages of SKEFFLING and FITLING did amuse. I saw the names as verbs and we passed the time wondering what sort of practices skeffling and fitling involved. Much innuendo and undeserved insults were suggested about the fine people of these villages.
Eventually we came to Flamborough Head. Probably in all the same aforementioned geography books. A great cliffscape of chalk. It was a lovely day and the sea was truly this colour. DJ sat and sunned himself.

He had been scaring me by walking right up to the edge of the cliffs. I could only get this close by hanging on to a fence and putting one foot out.

We were looking forward to climbing the lighthouse but sadly it was closed on Fridays. Obviously washday.

After an overnight stay in Sewerby, north of Bridlington we drove to Scarborough to buy lots of fish and then came home over the top. The moors are ablaze with the bright purple of the heather and were wonderful in the sunshine.

Today we are cleaning up and re-sorting the provisions, washing clothes and ironing ready for the next foray which will be a couple of weeks in France.

As I write this I'm also keeping an eye on the WMC up the road where the gypsies are gathered with horses and wagons and girls wearing as little as possible and boys walking around shirtless & with a swagger. Another series of "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" in the making maybe.

Cheers for now Gillian

High Force

2011-08-21T05:43:00.000-07:00

After some rains a couple of weeks ago we went up to High Force in Teesdale to see how powerful it was and we were well impressed. But then after last weeks deluge we decided to re-visit. As you can see quite a few other people did too. The ones at the top are walking along the Pennine Way. We went in through the Raby Estate path and were on the other side.

A grand sight!

Cheers Gillian

Go Home Crowds!

2011-07-29T04:50:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week Bishop Auckland was reported in the papers and on telly for having the cheapest fuel in England!
Until then not many people even knew where Bishop Auckland was.
Half the county and some of the rest of the country is now queued up for it.
The new Sainsbury's and Tesco's, which have been built to the west of us on the old coalmine site and some other wasteland, are having a local fuel price war in an attempt to lure the greater number of new shoppers to their site.
Well it has sort of worked and the cars/vans/caravans and lorries are all there stretching nearly all the way back to our house. I don't know that many of them are also shopping for food or whether they are just filling up and driving on but it has reminded us what much of the traffic in central and southern England is like. And we don't like it. We have spat the dummy and won't take our car out again today. We might have to go to the farm shop for meat supplies on our bike.
Got that off my chest!!!
Cheers Gillian

Even More Seasides

2011-07-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

It has been a dry summer up until last week. Then it poured down for a couple of days. Enough rain to deserve a visit to High Force up in Teesdale. Some of the smaller valleys have been shaded enough to maintain their green velvet look and the main waterfall was indeed splendid. The brown colour from the upland peat shows in the rush of water over the Whin Sill and onto the sandstone below.

Then when the weather brightened up we took off north to find puffins. Boats travel out from Seahouses to skirt and land on the Farne Islands offshore. The season for puffins is about over and fewer seals are to be seen too, but it was our last chance for this year so we booked a trip the next morning to the Grace Darling Lighthouse Museum and a tour of the islands.

The next day, the sea was a bit choppy and it was with smile of relief that DJ was informed that there would be no boats that day. We headed off to "do" Bamburgh castle instead. The puffins will return next year and so shall we.

The sparrow hawk hunted happily in the dunes as we walked along. The tide was out and another enormous expanse of British beach spread before us with the castle in the background.

The UFO in this picture is the sparrowhawk again, or maybe one of its relatives.

The weekend was spent in the mobile conservatory at Seaton Carew. Sunshine, big waves, picnics and the weekend papers! DJ even got the TV working so that he could watch the Grand Prix.

It's a great life... if you stay on your bike. I rode my new one along the promenade. I did well until I was two metres from the van. I glimpsed a section of kerb and panicked. (I can only ride in straight lines on flat surfaces).

I jammed on both brakes and came to a very abrupt stop. My bike was unhurt except for a broken bell. But my knees are still sore and there are bruises on most arm and leg corners.

Cheers for now Gillian

Florida Fell Off

2011-07-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

The pebble resembling North America also had a small piece, shaped like Florida, but it fell off. I then looked for the other continents but only the South American pebble came close. I shall continue the search next time we visit the same beach. The lovely limestone and marine fossil pebble was washed up in the same area. These pebbles are really dark grey, not blue like in the picture. The area is the delightful Sandsend village and beach just north west of Whitby. We took the camper and parked on the coast road overlooking the lovely beach. We walked around the village and then went back to the beach and walked along it to Whitby for a fish and chip lunch at the "Quayside". It was a really lovely day.

A lot of the village of Sandsend seems to belong to the Mulgrave Estate which has a large logging plantation behind the pretty cottages.

It was all a very idyllic spot and we plan to return again....and again. It is less than an hour and a half from home and an early start will ensure a pretty parking spot. Next time I hope to catch a really low tide so that can explore the cliff to the north which is famous for fossils and I also need to find out how to identify jet as opposed to other small bits of black rock which litter the beach.

A walk along the footpath at the base of Brussleton Hill provided us with a feast of raspberries and a visit to the farm shop on the way home for some eggs gave us these enormous double yolkers which we had for tea last night.

The one at the bottom is a normal extra large egg!!!

Cheers Gillian

Bits and Pieces and Out and About

2011-07-11T03:23:00.000-07:00

We have just got back from visiting friends for a couple of days. Apart from the lovely time we had, we also acquired a few kilos of fabulous cherries from their tree. We received bounteous amounts from them last year as well and it inspired us to plant a cherry tree in our yard. There are fourteen cherries on it. One branch has half of them and I nearly pruned it off! It stuck out a bit and I will need to espalier the tree as it grows. This branch will now be carefully trained.

Yesterday we went to a Country show at Raby Castle. These lovely alpacas were first past the entrance gate and stopped us all in our tracks. The Suri at the front has just been shorn and their babies are so very adorable. There was plenty on to do with "Huntin', Shootin' & Fishin'" and almost every dog in Durham was there on a lead. We watched the Springer Spaniels and Labradors find, fetch and retrieve, all with their tails wagging non stop and enjoying it so much.

Then the Scurrie racing was more exciting to watch than I had expected and the beautifully matched pairs of ponies a delight to see.

Last week we went to Binchester with P and M. They were up north for a week and Sunday was so lovely we needed an excursion. Binchester is the remains of one of the Roman Settlements on the Roman road from York to Hadrians Wall and it is just up the road from us. These remains have only recently been exposed.

The main dwelling on the site had a bath house with under floor heating as shown here.

And last but not least this is Tittybottle Park in Bishop Auckland. It is a short walk from the hospital and was used in the "old days" by the midwives from the hospital who took the babies out for some air and sat here to give them their bottles. The old double ended glass feeding bottles gave their nick-name to the park.
The weather is still mild but unexciting so the next good day will be a day out in the campervan. I hear Sandsend near Whitby has fossils on the beach at low tide.

Cheers Gillian

Hurworth-on-Tees

2011-06-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

The Northern Echo publishes a walk every Thursday. Often they are proper hikes over high parts of the dales and moors but occasionally they are gentler rambles around pretty villages and along river banks. Yesterday's was one of the latter. A gentle three and a half mile saunter along identifiable paths and through some of the prettiest countryside and villages around. We parked in the remarkably pretty village of Hurworth-on-Tees and walked down to the river, past cottages and gardens to die for. It was a lovely day and the weather added to the total picture.
There were signs up warning people about the dreaded GIANT HOGWEED. If you get the sap of this plant on your skin, sunlight will react with it and cause painful blistering. Fortunately it is a really giant plant with big white flowers on top and is easy to see.

I climbed down the bank and clung to a tree branch to show you this outcrop. The photo doesn't show its true enormity, believe me!

Just as DJ took the picture the branch I was clinging to snapped off and I began to slide towards the triffids. I gave a genteel squeal and plunged my hands and knees into the mud and attempted to brake my downward movement. I managed to stop but then I had trouble climbing back up again and nearly got the giggles as the hysteria threatened to get out of control.

Deep breath and back to the top of the bank and I stayed on the path for the rest of the day.

It was a lovely tour of the river bank, farms, golf course, Rockcliffe Hall Hotel, the mainline railway to London, a man training his gun dogs to retrieve (they were so splendid to watch), and village real estate to lust after. We love our house and wouldn't change it but could happily transplant it onto the green at Hurworth-on-Tees.

We took ourselves into the Croft Hotel for a sandwich at the end and they were having OAPs bargain lunches. Oh Yes Please! Two courses each for £15 the double. And it was delicious. We shall return.

If you are up this way it is a must to visit.

Cheers Gillian

A Mobile Conservatory!

2011-06-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

The latest acquisition is this campervan. At the moment we use it like a mobile conservatory. We pack up a picnic and go park somewhere with a lovely view. We don't have much of a view from home and there are so many lovely places near us that we shall never run out of picnic spots.

This the view from the carpark to the south of Hartlepool looking across at the lovely old houses on the Heugh. There is a super toilet at this spot. It is free, automatic, clean and has an all-in-one hand washer. You put your hands in the hole in the wall and first they get squirted with soap and then they get sprayed with water and then warm air blows on them. Don't leave them in too long though, like I did the first time...hoping for some more warm air to finish the drying process. I just got washed from start to finish all over again!!!

We took ouselves further afield to places in Northumberland. Some of the loveliest castles in the world are within a few miles of one another. We passed within spitting distance of Warkworth Castle, admired Dunstanburgh Castle from a mile away, promised Alnwick castle that we would come back soon, camped overnight within view of Bamburgh Castle (except that we got the spot behind the barn) and then dared to be amongst the first few to cross over to Lindisfarne as the tide ebbed. This enabled us to walk out to the castle in the sunshine. Sadly the rainstorm hit us with still a mile to walk back to shelter. It was cold and wet.

Then we visited Chillingham Castle and got warm and dry and well fed on scones and homemade cake before another squall hit us on the way back to the carpark.

I haven't been too well since then. Quite a severe chill took over for a few days, but there may well have been something viral in it too because DJ is feeling a bit snuffly today just as I feel better at last. Isn't it always the way.

We also took the mobile conservatory to the Penshaw Monument and climbed to the top for a picnic and a grand view of north east Durham. Plans are afoot for outings to North York Moors, Seahouses and the Farne Islands to see the puffins and a trip to France later in the summer.

Once again I wonder how we will fit it all in. Today is wet and drizzly so I can catch up with some knitting and start another jigsaw.

More sunshine please.

Cheers Gillian

THE END OF THE WORLD

2011-05-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

This is the view that Prince Henry the Navigator looked out upon when he stood at the end of the world. He and many other "Navigators" wondered what was beyond the horizon. Most feared that they would be sucked over the edge into an abyss or even hell and it took a great deal of courage to venture out into the Atlantic Ocean in a small wooden boat, relying on the moving stars to tell you where you might be.

The cliffs at the south western edge of Portugal are massive and the view stretched further than it would have done if you had stood on the beach. Perhaps the fact that you still couldn't see the dreaded edge from up high fed the imagination and encouraged the early Portuguese explorers.

On the way to Sagres and these cliffs we passed through Lagos where storks were nesting on the tops of large chimneys. These are birds I have never seen before in the wild and they brought back memories of childhood stories in books showing storks nesting on the chimneys in Europe. Our tour guide was less than impressed and nearly spat at the thought that they might be an attraction. "Many more later in Silves", she said. "You can take pictures there!"

So I did. I found them nesting in the top of an old palm tree in the park beside the river.

I took pics with the zoom so they are a bit fuzzy but if you look carefully you can see the chick's head.

And this lovely fellow was taking the air along the banks, deftly helping himself to a slow sardine or two.

Back in Albufeira, my favourite bird was this cheerful cocky.

As you can see, he is obviously a close relative of my own Cocky, bought in a job lot at Watsons Auction Rooms and jealously covetted by visitors and particularly by DJ. These Cockies sport attire from the same outfitters! They have the same stance and they have the same vocation in life.

The fairly posh hotel where we stayed had a fairly posh pool, but once the sun had gone in as well as all but the hardiest of guests, the seagulls came for their daily dip. Portugal does big seagulls. These were easily the size of a large duck. They seemed to prefer the deeper blue of the tiles in our pool and eschewed paler pools in other hotels. I eschew all pools and didn't even put a toe in so they were welcome to their daily ablutions as far as I was concerned.

The rest of the hotel was spotless and the food was fresh and tasty, the sun shone all the time except for one morning and we loved the town, the bustle and lifestyle.

But just for one week!!! It's lovely to be home. I start getting homesick after about three days.

Cheers Gillian

SO MUCH TO DO

2011-05-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

It has been a very busy time of late but at last the new snug is finished. I spent a couple of days being very tired. When I woke in the mornings it took a few moments to realise that we didn't have to get up in time for the tradesmen and builders.

But we did get up and have been out and about visiting interesting things and places. The old pumping station at Ryhope near Sunderland was open and in the grounds was a classic car show. DJ's favourite was this old Rover. I liked them all.

A couple of weeks later we went to Locomotion, the overflow of the National Railway museum in York which is full, and rode on one of the old replicas of The Rocket. Lots of old engines were out and about being polished and stoked up. Black smoke and steam everywhere and "blokes-who-love-steamtrains" were in heaven.

The first load of carpet for the snug was flawed and had to go back. The next load was too short. My fault. I had omitted the doorway when I measured up. Fortunately the carpet layer was very adept with a piece of oak trim and it all looks lovely. we moved the furniture back in the next day and have sat in it ever since. Tigger has spent some time in here with us but is still treating her bed which is on the settee in the sitting room as her default bed. She is in there now, probably wondering where we are.

Not far away from us, is Washington Hall. It is the old home of the family from whom George Washington was directly descended. It is now a museum with wonderful gardens. This is the most amazing hedge I have ever seen and is in their front garden.

The kitchen is laid out with everything there would have been in earlier times!

The house looks over some wonderful gardens, orchards, apiary, kitchen gardens and ponds.

The tadpoles abounded but the bees had all died and the hives were empty. They died of malnutrition because the harsh winter reduced their food supply drastically. Some new Italian ones have been ordered.

Another outing took us to Whorlton. A small, attractive village on the banks of the Tees which has a suspension bridge. There was a walk along the banks which had been outlined in the local paper but the midges were bad and so we shall return another day.

The fine spring has been very dry in this area and the river levels are low. But the Tees still has enough water to keep the waterfalls spilling over in places.

While all this has been going on, my computer has been sick and has been behaving in irrational and irritating ways. I was unable to blog because it was so disobedient. The local computer techie took it away to work on. It needed a new battery in a place that had been glued down! and other events such as a power surge may have upset it and its timing and desire to perform.

It's back. Quite a few quid later but worthy of a gold medal for performance. Photos which I thought I had lost are back where I expected to find them and stuff like that.

The comfort of having the laptop on my knees in front of me as I watch some cooking programme on TV and smell some real cooking happening in the kitchen is wonderful. DJ has set up the new TV and it gets everything in super sight and sound.

Time to sit back and relax for a while.

Cheers Gillian.

Showing off the new Shower

2011-04-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

Well of course this isn't it. This is the new front door with an angled shot of the new "french windows" and then the new shed door. It's all a bit plain at the moment but the Virginia Creeper will grow as will the Climbing Rose to the left of the front door. The Wisteria to the right of the front door is doing well and we will soon be covered with vegetation again. These are porcelain tiles....not real marble!

If you look carefully you can see that the tiler has cut us a hole in the wall at about shoulder height and lined it with the same mosaics that have been used for the shower floor area.

The toilet area has been fitted with a shattaf and grab rail as has the shower area.

I managed to buy a heated towel rail on ebay for £40 and the ride up to Gosforth was certainly worth it.

I shall go out tomorrow and buy some towels and bottles of stuff to match....Wouldn't you?

Cheers Gillian

SCARBOROUGH

2011-04-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

We went on a coach trip to Scarborough. So did everyone else it seems! Not only was everyone from the north east of England there, but all the "motor scooter clubs" in England were visiting too.

There were donkeys being ridden on the beach, Children paddling, queues at every fish and chip shop, billowing banks of mist rolling down from the cliff top and people absolutely everywhere trying to get some sunshine when it broke through.

The Grand Hotel is a little tatty on the outside but still has very grand Victorian features and an amazingly commanding position on the top of the cliff.

We crossed over the bridge after visiting the Museum which houses the remains of Gristhorpe Man http://www.rotundamuseum.co.uk/rotunda-museum/our-story/The%20Gristhorpe%20Man

The weather stayed fine and we explored the promenade, the shopping area and the back streets before returning to the Grand for a well earned drink with the motor scooter riders in the bar.

Much of the Victorian architecture survives and space on top of the cliff is highly prized. Buildings are wedged together and parking is extremely limited so we were glad we had chosen to travel by coach for the day out. Dozens of motorists got parking tickets along the promenade. They all seemed to have misread a parking sign saying "Three Hours Parking between 5pm and 9am".

Cheers Gillian

SO MUCH SUNSHINE

2011-04-14T04:14:00.000-07:00

The spell of lovely weather continues. Clouds go over now and then but the sun soon comes out again. This fuzzy pic shows a black sqirrel in C's garden. She has black ones and grey ones and some blackish ones which must be the offspring. Occasionally she has a little deer visiting but I have never been there for that.

The new doors are on. This is the new front door and there are matching ones for french windows. The sun streams in them all for most of the day. The weather has helped the building go ahead steadily and each day brings it all forward. We are on the enhancing bits now. The plastering is done. The electrics are finished and the lights are all up...there are a lot of switches which will take a while to get used to. They are to enable the lights to be turned off and on at both doors. The window is back in and the tiling is getting done...beautifully.

The knitting is on its third creation. The previous two having been too small. The yarn is now blended with some mohair I bought in Tunisia a couple of years ago and haven't found a use for yet and the whole thing is on larger needles. It feels and looks good and is now up to the armholes.

The shed roof is going on today and the building inspector called unannounced but could find no faults. He has a reputation for being deliberately nit-picking. He boasted to us when we handed in our plans that he could always find something wrong!

But nothing can spoil this. I have always wanted a tiled porch and now I've got one. I was going to wait till it was finished and grouted before I took a picture but I'm so thrilled with it you can all have a look now!

Cheers Gillian

On Top Of Things

2011-04-05T00:49:00.000-07:00

The weekend before last was lovely and sunny and so we joined a walk from Middleton-in-Teesdale. we climbed steeply up the Hudeshope valley into the old lead mining areas. These hillsides are heavily scarred with "hushes" and "dumps". The hushes form deep vees in the slopes where the soil was washed away from the lead ore and the waste dumps make the rest of the landscape look very lumpy. The double line across the middle of the picture is the dry stone walls on either side of the road. The mineshops still remain but in ruins. Ponies were so valued that six lived in the stables on the ground floor of this one at Coldberry and 42 miners lived on the next floor up. They were easier to come by!

The roof went on this week and it is all beginning to look less like a building site and more like a building.

I have finished spinning and knitting the merino tops I bought. They have become a large shopping bag. It spent a few days being just that, because I have never felted in the washing machine before and as I have a front loader, I needed to read the manual to work out the pause mechanism. Also, after such a lot of spinning and knitting I was a bit worried that it would be a disaster.

But it worked. It is now out in the sun drying, with newspapers inside to keep the shape right.

So I have embarked on spinning the blue-faced-leicester tops. There is a mixture of natural shades and I have spun and plied them randomly and am knitting them into a jumper. I always hope I shall look like the model in the picture, when I wear my version.

I shall spin more today so that I have some knitting to take south to visit C. I haven't been far from home for a few months and it will be fun to get out on the road again. DJ will stay and keep an eye on the cat and the builders and I shall do the same next week when he goes off visiting.

We are keeping up with our resolution to go to the gym three time a week and although I'm much the same size and weight, I feel fitter and see no reason to give it up. We shall also walk more again as the weather improves but I excuse myself in wet weather by complaining that it is hard to see in the rain when you are wearing glasses.

I don't like wind either.

Cheers for now

Gillian

TODAYS TOP PICS

2011-03-23T11:55:00.000-07:00

Off to the seaside! It was the only way to play the day because the weather was just so gorgeous. We have to make the most of it "oop north". We headed for Seaton Carew, which is our nearest seaside. The tide was the furthest out we have ever seen it. I presume that this is the spring tide effect, linked to the moon being nearest to the earth last weekend. We had to walk for ages to get to the sea and things were exposed that we have never seen before. The beach was enormous. This is the view, after we had walked for an hour, back towards Seaton Carew.

This is the view of the sand under the water at my feet. I was wearing gumboots so that I could paddle about and this was the pattern of ripples under about two inches of slack tide near the water's edge. I loved the pattern.

At the jetty to the north of the entry to Teesport, an enormous object had been uncovered. No idea what it was, but it was about eight feet long and solid rusty metal.

We had a great lunch at the Staincliffe and then came home to the start of a new roof.

Great stuff all round.

Cheers Gillian

SPRING IS SPRUNG

2011-03-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

The first lamb can be a good indicator of spring, but the first foal is my "sure thing" for spring. This photo is a bit blurry because the foal was wary and although another member of the family followed us on our walk, hoping for more carrots, the baby stayed safely back. We were walking with the Durham Guided Walks group and this little cob came as far as it could and managed to get about four carrots from DJ.

We haven't walked much lately. It's not easy to walk whilst wearing glasses, in the rain, but the fine weather got us on track again. A lovely walk around the riverside in Durham on Saturday was followed by this trek along old railway lines on Sunday. In fact, part of it was along the first passenger railway line in the world. Before steam engines, ponies hauled the coal and mineral-ore wagons along these early lines.

Coal mines were very plentiful in the area around us. Here is a major subsidence on the "right of way" near our Sunday walk, which has recently appeared. There was a coal mine just up the hill from this point and this "sink" is probably over an underground tunnel. There was also evidence of an underground fire shown as blackened soot layers in the red clay.

Today was such gorgeous weather that the Botanic Gardens in Durham beckoned. It was a tad early for the daffodils and azaleas but we shall return in a couple of weeks. The ponds were full of frogs and spawn. The trees and bushes were at bud burst and the sun shone quite warmly on us as we ate our lunch outside.

Tom cats are around. Tigger is in bushy tail mode to make herself look more alarming to any unwanted visitor as she heads for the door.

She is getting a new cat flap in a couple of weeks. The building is on schedule and the weather continues to be kind to us.

Cheers Gillian

NO MORE BORING BUILDING BLOGS

2011-03-17T04:29:00.001-07:00

Well not for a while anyway. I went to the AGM of my W.I. group last night. There is always a small competition and last night it was "a limerick using a local place name". I picked on Brough, because even though it's not very close, it is considered by those who live up in Teesdale as being just over the top of the next hill. I chose it because it is pronounced Bruff and is easy to rhyme. I got started well but stalled at the last line, then DJ came up with the winner. So off I trotted with my plate of supper ( bag of Cadbury's chocolate drops), my donated prize for the raffle (left over box of Thornton's chocs from xmas), "my" limerick and my calendar of events for next year all neatly typed up...AND...came home with a bunch of tulips for the limerick and nothing else. A successful night.
So here is the limerick.
There was a fine lady from Brough
Who motored round town in the buff
They said it was rude
To drive in the nude
Removing one's hat is enough!

And here are the winning tulips. And some knitting. This is for the felted/fulled bag and is well under way. I haven't done anything like it before so it is proceeding swiftly while my enthusiasm lasts.

Tigger loves it too and has just chased the needles around the room. You may have noticed that there has not been much mention of the photography lessons of late. My enthusiasm for that has waned. I find the teacher a bit tedious and we seem to have done all the topics I like and are now working through topics he likes. His examples are black and white classics from the sixties and seventies when he was at the height of his career, and stunning though they are I'm learning little from them. The other students are helpful and good company and we get a great deal out of looking at all of one another's work.

This afternoon is "Tradesmen", even though it includes tradeswomen and should really have been called "Tradespersons" or simply just "Trades". I am still irked by a general lack of caring about this sort of reference to male/female terms since I came home from Oz. Before that it was "Portraits" and although I have some good ones of both, I shan't post them because I haven't permission.

I realise that I don't want to be a photographer, I don't want to walk around with a large camera hanging round my neck and I'm annoyed by teachers who are badly organised and bumbling.

Off to photography for the penultimate class this afternoon. Back to watercolour painting next term.

Cheers Gillian

LOVELY WEATHER FOR IT!

2011-03-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

I managed to finish enough squares to complete the throw at last. The yellow and green ones and some of the brown ones were hand spun and then dyed with plants from the Raby House garden. The rest are left over wools from the stash. There is a wide variety of fibres so washing will have to be done by hand in the bath. Then I crocheted a picot edging around the outside and finished it off with a press.

Tigger loves it too! I was keen to get it finished because I had spun some tops on the new wheel and had identified a "felted" bag, on the net, to knit and full. I challenged myself to get one project finished before I started the next. I'm now halfway through knitting the bag so I shall blog it next.

The weather continued to be fine. Very cold, but fine and the workers were able to keep going on the building. Here's another view of builder's cleavage. Totally accidental on his part and mine. At least I photographed it from a distance. I'm not sure if it is the same builder or whether they are taking it in turns and NO I haven't studied it in close-up. The concrete is poured, the insulation laid and the top layer of concrete is drying off now.

There was only a slight hiccup when they found an old lead gas pipe with a distinct smell of gas coming from it. The first plumber came round but was too busy to take up all the floorboards because he had a boiler in pieces on someone else's floor, so his mate came round and fixed it later. Fortunately only one floorboard needed to be lifted and none of our appliances were attached to the old pipe so it could safely and easily be cut and capped.

The whole space is still looking smaller than I expected and the walls won't help. Still it always was called the SNUG.

Cheers Gillian

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

2011-03-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

Tigger looks out of the snug window for the last time. Actually the window was to remain but no-one told the wrecker and he put a sledge hammer through it. A team of wreckers started on the roof, so I hurried next door to apologise to V in case anything fell in her yard.

It was a lovely sunny day and the roof came off tile by tile, rafter by rafter and then the ceiling came down. The soot and dust which had settled in the ceiling over the last century of heating and cooking with coal, spread itself all over the yard and the kitchen. We thought the doorway was boarded off and dust proof, but not so! And a fine view of tradesman's cleavage here!

Luckily this part of the house was cobbled together from the old out-buildings years ago and is only one storey high, but some rudimentary scaffolding was put up and used.

The old fireplace and chimney are exposed and the radiators removed because the new floor will be raised to match the rest of the house.

The roof is now on the ground! The builder is salvaging some of the tiles. Unfortunately they can't be re-used because the pitch of the new roof will be too shallow.

This is what is left after two days of demolition. Trenches have been dug and when the plumber has shifted the pipes and the builders have moved the manhole, some concrete will be poured to make the floor for a new warm snug, a shower room, an entry porch and a small but useable shed.

The contents of all these are down in the rented lock-up and will be presented to you in stages as the progress is made.

Tigger is not impressed. Her catflap got demolished and there is too much noise but she will like it in the end. I have bought her a new catflap which opens when her microchip approaches. It stays open for four seconds so we hope that any cat chasing her is not too close behind.

So this is the beginning of the end. The last big job to do and this house will see us through.

Cheers Gillian

ANOTHER NEW SPINNING WHEEL

2011-02-27T07:38:00.000-08:00

We walked along the pier opposite the Seal Point oil refineries and the Corus steel works. It was blowy but fine and in a few months the blast furnace at the steel works will start up again as will hundreds of jobs. A sense of mild euphoria hangs over Redcar with this good news. The north-east has always seemed to be particularly badly hit in economic slumps and this re-opening of the steel works and the hundreds of jobs it provides is good news all round.

And more good news is my new wheel! It is my sixth spinning wheel and my third "Traditional Ashford". This one was new but greatly reduced because it had been on display in the shop...and...it came ready lacquered. We put it together in less than an hour and it went to work straight away.

I have a Nagy and adapted it to something like "scotch tension" but never felt comfortable with it, so when I saw this for sale I snapped it up. I shall restore the Nagy to double drive and sell it on. I have some Teesdale Lustre wool which needs combing but these days I prefer the ease of ready combed tops like the Merino beside it.

And these Blue Faced Leicester natural colours made me want to blend them into something tweedy.

I hope to spin the BFL into some yarn for a waistcoat for myself and have also been using up some ready dyed and other tops to produce these balls of mixed wools. They are all suitable for felting and will be used to make a bag like the one called Knitted Bag with Mitered Squares from here.

But before I get onto the knitting I must finish this WIP. I'm up to 39 squares, each about 8"square and reckon another six will be enough for a throw to go in the new snug when it's rebuilt. At the moment it is empty and all the stuff from the sheds and the snug is in, or soon will be in, a lock-up container down the road.

Some stuff like the cookery book bookcase has been squeezed into the sitting room beside the sofa where I sit and knit, so the squares are piled on top of Mrs Beeton and friends.

The weather is brightening up and I'm hoping that we get a dry spring so that the building work can go ahead unimpeded. There will be a building site outside the back door for a couple of months and that is if all goes well!!!
Cheers to you all

Gillian

Extra Pics

2011-02-24T12:25:00.000-08:00

This was an attempt at a fast shutter speed of the waves to show the clarity of them breaking on the beach. My camera only does what it wants and so it is much blurrier than it could be.

This is a "night" shot from the automatic selection. This was taken from the top window at about 6pm watching the night traffic go home.

These are the little sparkles from the shake-up dome that C sent for xmas. It seems to be much easier to get a sharp focus if you take the pic from a distance of about a meter and zoom in.

Last but not least is Tigger. I hung over her bed with the camera in hand and the wrist strap dangling down by mistake.

She went for it....fangs and claws.
Cheers Gillian

TOY CAMERA

2011-02-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

About a year ago I got a refund on a digital camera that developed a spot on the screen and I spent the exchange £100 on a Fuji480. It has produced all the photos for this blog and more for about a year or so. I have been very happy with it. I use Windows Photo Gallery to do simple alterations to the pics and mainly to crop them. This is an example of it's "artistic" view of the flames from the coal fire in the kitchen. The pic was quite highly regarded at class review, for its artistic qualities also for the fact that it is a photo of something which is not obvious!!!This is obviously a pic of Tigger's left eye checking out the magic sparkle storm that C sent for xmas. She loves it. You shake it up and a mini battery sets it off. It has silver sparkles which swim in the LED light changes.
I have also got a smashing pic of the close up sparkles.

This Impressionist vision is the early evening shot from the top room. Very Monet!

We were supposed to be doing "more movement" shots. DJ reckoned that the pigeon and chicken crees on the fells would do so we went up this morning. Cockerel decided to give me the arse and these three hens were busy climbing up the dung heap.

Most people on the course have a much better camera than me and so today I volunteered to go first so that I could get mine off the viewing table and then the really good ones could be reviewed.

It's not a greatly fulfilling hobby. The extension is making us busy and so bits of "have to do my photography homework" don't always fit well in the job list.

I'm a perfectionist and I would like to do it all a lot better but I don't think it is worth a camera upgrade right now. My next blog is just some lovely pics I've taken as homework.

Cheers Gillian

A DAY OUT TO BUY FISH

2011-02-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we bought some really lovely fresh fish from Carrick's van in Leyburn market. It was truly good and so today we went in search of their shop in the little village of Snape, three miles south of Bedale in Yorkshire.
There have been road works on the A1 in this area for years. They will be on for another year at least while the A1 is transformed from dual carriageway to full blown motorway. But a decision was made recently to cut all future funding so the super-duper bit of road will end when you get to Leeming Bar if you travel northwards.
Smooth travel ended for us at the roadworks as we travelled southwards today and we were diverted through the village of Leeming Bar on our way to Bedale in the other direction! A fortuitous turn of events as it happened. We had never been to Leeming Bar before and would probably not have made the effort unless forced to do so.
We found the start of the Wensleydale Railway line. They said that they will start running trains this weekend. We sauntered along the platform and plan to return for a ride as soon as we can. The trains go up Wensleydale to Redmire and then you can catch a vintage bus as far up as Hawes and even further. The pic below shows one of the old snow-plough trains.

Next door to the station is a large emporium called Simply Dutch. It sells an amazing array of objects for the home, especially for people who have everything already. A life size Elvis to help populate an empty room or a beautifully made "Butlers Cupboard" for your butler perhaps.

We then drove under the A1 and on through Bedale. This is the avenue which leads from the main road into the village of Snape and it was lined with snowdrops.

We found Carricks and bought some haddock which we have just finished and it was as good as the last lot. There were lovely fresh veggies too , so I bought a celeriac. I have not cooked or eaten one before but plan to cook and mash it with some spuds to go with a steak and kidney suet pie this weekend.

I keep complaining about my weight! But I did do three sessions at the gym this week. And it's not really weight that worries me but size. I want to be able to do up my waistband comfortably.

A new Traditional Ashford arrived this morning and when we got back we set about assembling it. I'm off now to do some more spinning before going to bed to watch Graham Norton. He has good guests on tonight and I think he's a dear too.

Cheers Gillian.

CATS and PHOTOGRAPHY

2011-02-08T07:52:00.000-08:00

This week's photography assignment is to take pairs of photos showing contrasts. So here's a small number of trolleys... ...and here's a large number of trolleys.

This new Sainsbury's in town is a pleasure to visit. There aren't many people inside and there are fewer cars in the carpark. Hence the abundance of trolleys in the bays.

My next pair of contrasts was finished/unfinished. So I finished both the jigsaw and a piece of cake. The contrasting photo was, of course, some unfinished knitting but I shan't bore you with the whole assignment.Tigger helped with the jigsaw. Here she is putting in the last piece. She gets into about a quarter of all photos somehow or the other, because when I'm at home she rarely leaves my side, rather like a puppy.

Here she is again in her bed on the sofa watching me set up a tripod to take a shot of the glowing coals in the grate and looking rather Queen Victorian about it! I think there is an assignment later on based on capturing movement. She'll come in useful for that when she feels like it! Cheers Gillian

ART PHOTOGRAPHY

2011-02-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

Well here is some sea-coal from Seaton Carew. Taken by my fuji480 compact camera.
It was in a red plastic bucket and so the light reflected through and lit up the coal. These pebbles were found on the shore and brought home. I bring a pocket or a bucket of rocks home every time I go to the beach.

They are corallian limestone, You can see the corals in the rocks.

My "close-up-photo" folio session is now finished. The next session requires the class to produce five pairs of contrasts and one intact photo which displays contrasts. More about that later.

We went to Saltburn today, to pick up a couple of lovely leather office chairs.

On our return we staggered upstairs with them and then spent a great time spinning, rocking and rolling in them.

Cheers Gillian

NEW PASTIMES

2011-01-30T04:41:00.000-08:00

This has been a busy month. New activities have been added to the ongoing pastimes and more work is planned for the house. So we took ourselves off to Whitby and climbed to the top of the hill as many others have done before and let the sea breeze refresh us.There are outbuildings to the side of our house which are going to be refreshed as well. Fortunately the years have been kinder to them than to this old Whitby cottage but it will still be quite major with new roof, floor, walls and door! Then the inside tradesmen will arrive to swap their skills for a large slice of our retirement fund. The finished job will create a warm dry sitting-room to the side with a shower/cloakroom and a new entry with a porch, suitable for taking off muddy boats and hanging wet coats. The washing machine will also be allocated an inside spot and so will no longer freeze solid and be unusable for much of the winter. We washed clothes in the bath for a couple of weeks last month! The brochure for Spring Term courses at Darlington Arts Centre arrived. I have had a go at all the art and painting ones so I thought I'd better try something else. I chose "Art in Photography". It became clear at the first lesson that we were not going to be taught HOW to use a camera but WHAT to point it at. This in itself is OK with me but it does mean that I take a good picture only when my guardian angel is smiling, because I don't have a clue what I'm doing.

We were assigned homework. We had to produce a selection of urban close-ups for a group critique session next lesson. I don't really know how to take close-ups. There is a "macro" button that I employ but it doesn't get as close as I would like and I can depress the flash and keep the colour real BUT although I think I understand the term "depth of field" I've no idea how my camera copes with it.

This purely accidental shot of some wrought iron railings at the new free toilets in the carpark at Whitby was well praised for its composition. I'm still not sure why. I liked the rusty lamppost so much more. Anyway I have been sent back out to explore the chains further and add more fetters and vinculi to vary the presentation. I shall try to read the manual for my camera and learn how to get the blurry bits where I want them.

Apart from that we decided that long walks were not providing us with enough aerobic exercise. Well it was either that or gluttony which was causing our waistlines to expand. So we joined the local gym!!!

Now that I have been four times I can announce this publicly as being more than a nine day wonder. It is an hour a session and involves miles of cycling, rowing, treadmilling etc and you end up still at the gym! I'm trying to go twice a week. I hate swimming so I don't do that bit. People say that I'll be really pleased in a few months time.

Cheers for now, Gillian

IS IT SPRING SOON?

2011-01-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

Hazel catkins grow along Burnshouse Lane at the bottom of Brusselton Hill, nearby. We walk the lane for a mile or so and then return along the ring-road footpath. We watch the seasons change, worry about the gypsy horses, wait for the first lambs, harvest the wild fruit and try to keep fit. Today it was very mild with no wind and slashes of blue sky in the light grey broken low cloud. These hazels have been coppiced in the past to provide new growth for interwoven fencing which is what they used before wire came along. There is also quite a lot of evidence of old hedge-laying along the lane. Hedge-laying is one of the traditional crafts that is being revived like dry-stone-walling. It is time consuming and slow to produce a hedge, but when it is done it provides hedging, homes for wild life and a softness to the agricultural landscape which lasts for centuries. The multiple thin stalks of the coppiced hazel can be seen here. They are regrowth from the base where a single trunk was cut. They were harvested when large enough and more would grow.Some colour is provided by xanthoria parietina, or golden lichen. It gets its name from the ancient greek for golden , so does crys(x)anthemum...its the "xanthe" bit which means golden and once upon a time all chrysanthemums were yellow.
Sadly a bit further on amongst the hedgerows we found a dead owl. Recently it seemed to have flown into a hawthorn and become stuck in the thorns and branches. It was impaled and the tree was strewn with feathers. It was too sad a sight to record on camera. The feathers were beautiful but I could not "trophy" them.

The little black cones belong to the Alder. An untidy tree which grows well in wet areas. Yes! Dear Reader, this is a wet area. I usually walk in gumboots.

As we returned along the ringroad path a large heron flew over towards the wetlands and reminded us of the wealth of wildlife near us. Even one heron means there must be some fish in the Gaunless River.

There is such a black, industrial history here that the river is still recovering and the litter and other debris can be depressing but a heron lifts the spirits because it indicates that the food chain is recovering.
And last but not least....the teasel. The forerunner of the hand carder, well known to spinners as a fleece loosener. These teasels were used to raise the nap on woollen fabrics and they exist in museums, mounted in rows onto wooden boards which were used for teasing out the wool before spinning it.

My sister is visiting and drawing up plans for re-jigging the outhouses. Last night she was on her way back from seeing a friend and encountered a large dog fox not far from our house. We have not seen one near here before but Tigger was behaving in a most erratic way last night and went off today with her bloodhound nose on, to follow the trail. She is back. Fortunately no fox with her.

We all went out for a Burns Night Dinner last night. We went to the Staincliffe Hotel at Seaton Carew.

There was no Burns Night!!! They said they were sorry but obviously no-one had informed us that it had been moved to next weekend. We had a wonderful time anyway. We didn't have to eat any haggis, the blokes were glad they hadn't sported their kilts and the pianist was really lovely and probably better than a piper. They gave us a free drink and we had a window table looking out over the North Sea with the lights of the shipping going past.

I can't wait to go again.

Happy New Year to you all.

Cheers Gillian

Seaton Carew Boxing Day Dip

2010-12-27T13:34:00.000-08:00

HUNDREDS of people in fancy dress and not, raced from the Seaton Carew Club, down to the beach front and then.......another quarter of a mile to low tide level......into the sea for a well sponsored dip. There was snow on the high sands and dunes but the sea cannot be below freezing point and still splash you, so hundreds of us stood in the ankle deep water which was sloshing around at low tide, in order to cheer on the wave after wave of hardy partcipants. Amazing fancy dress ( pyjamas, kilts, 118 wigs and moustaches, army gear, sports teams, leopard print and bikinis of all shapes and forms and in pink) was worn by youths, men and women.
It's a hard trudge back up the beach. Some just drag themselves all the way in their freezing gear.

Others went in with less and came out the same way
They still shivered and so did we.

WELL DONE TO ALL YOU BOXING DAY DIPPERS.
Cheers Gillian and DJ

SHORT AND SWEET

2010-12-21T10:35:00.000-08:00

Once again I admit to using "ready prepared" icing. It has to be kneaded into a pliable mass. Then you roll it out to fit your cake. My cake is quite small so there was a lot of icing left over. And so I made it into sweeties, dipped in chocolate and studded with cake decorations in the shape of penguins. There were a few short of a penguin so I iced them with a tasty morsel of red icing from the tube.
Fortunately, by the time I had finished these processes the cold water in the kitchen was back on tap.
It had frozen in the night... -12 dgrees Celsius last night and the kitchen water pipes are not lagged.
The rest of the shopping is done. Hoping about 20 will come on xmas eve from up and down the street.
Happy Christmas to you all out there.
Cheers Gillian
ps Heide the roast potatoes need white fat like dripping or lard to be really good.

GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS

2010-12-19T10:02:00.001-08:00

DJ has been eager to improve the standard of the roast potatoes we dish up, so yesterday he began the quest for a method for producing the best roast potatoes in the world. The previous title holder for "Best Roast Potatoes" has been his sister, but her long reign may well be over.
The above picture shows potatoes that were of that standard. They were boiled till nearly cooked then drained, shaken and cooled before gently and carefully rolling in smoking hot goose fat and roasting for up to 45 minutes with occasional careful turns; they were perfection.
At the same time I made parsnips dauphinoise. They were very thinly sliced lengthwise in my new kitchen food processor (expensive and unnecessary kitchen toy but such fun), Cream, milk, nutmeg, bayleaves, honey and S&P were boiled and then the parsnips were added for a minute or two before transferring the lot to an oven dish. They were baked for 45 minutes too. They melted in the mouth but didn't photograph so well. Brussel sprouts with chestnuts were also produced but it was agreed that chestnuts spoil a good brussels sprout. We are both very fond of brussels and will have them steamed with a smear of butter on christmas day instead of tarting them up with posh bits.

Today I played with marzipan. I did the christmas cake and because I used ready made stuff there was some left over. I made some marzipan sweets by icing them and dipped some in chocolate to make small logs. Very small.

A sortie round Laura Ashley last weekend made me want a throw for the end of the bed made in super-chunky, big wool. I shall knit one, I thought. It will save me buckets of money and be finished by christmas. Well maybe not. To get it chunky enough I had to double up the wool so it will not save me buckets and I will have to wait for another lot of wool to arrive to knit it long enough. At least it doesn't have to come by air. I hear they are keeping camera crews out of Heathrow Airport because the scenes inside are not "happy christmas" ones.

It is quite quick to knit up at two stitches to the inch but the needles are a bit unwieldy and the throw is getting heavy. I have a circular needle the same size but I found it tedious to drag the stitches around it all the time, they slide well on the wooden ones though.

Cheers for now

Gillian

CHRISTMAS MARKET AT THE BOWES MUSEUM

2010-12-19T09:32:00.000-08:00

We are very lucky to live near this wonderful place. It is The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle in County Durham. Today was the Christmas Market and while the rest of England has ground to a halt under a deep heap of snow, we seem to be in a sunny corridor of the country. It is freezing though. Our washing machine is in the outbuildings, which are next on the renovation agenda, and it is unusable because the pipes are frozen. The museum has rarely looked so splendid. There were craft stalls around the parterre and food stalls along the terrace.

We treated ourselves to real bacon, homemade bread, hand crafted cheeses, Tweed Valley honey and Cumbrian mustard. We had lunch as soon as we got home!

Apart from the stalls we wandered round the grounds and museum. A six month ticket costs only £9 if you are old enough. There was a Damien Hirst print exhibition inside and an overwhelming collection of glorious objects on display in the salons.

Santa seems to have a new way of getting his reindeer from one place to another and has found them some work for the rest of the year. I was surprised at how small they are and how very pretty and gentle they seem.

And Yes!!! They were eating snow!!!

Cheers Gillian

WINTER TYRES

2010-12-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

The bad weather has encouraged us to be grateful for our ability to get around. We are agile enough to put on boots and walk to the farm shop for meat. The last time we did, however, a blizzard made us detour inside the cafe for a lovely homemade bowl of soup. The trudge home was very wearying.
So we have had winter tyres put on the drive axle of the Meriva, and will park it round the corner from the front of the house but facing the main road. That way there will only be a meter or two of ungritted road between us and the cleared main road. More bad weather is predicted by next weekend.
We have a HiQ garage across the road and they are very good to us. They will change the tyres and store the others till it is time to change them back.
Thankfully we have not needed to rely on Hindles! They are somewhere near the Tees estuary and I'm sure they do a great job whatever it is. We went down that way for some sea breezes and gathered another big bag of sea-coal and watched the shipping enter port. Then we went to the main seafront and plodged along the tide line. These sandstone rocks have been worn into smooth folds of chocolate blancmange by the waves and the seaweed grows on top like a green velvet table cloth.

I've enrolled for some classes in art photography for next term. I have done all the painting classes and shan't give up the day job. I like pointing a camera and would love to know a bit more about how it all works and how to do better pics.

We had a lovely couple of days away seeing friends and rels, eating, drinking and driving. All went without a hitch. Christmas will be at home and we plan to shop till we drop this week and then retire while the bad weather hits.

We are having great fun with Kinect and have supplies of fuel, food, drink, jigsaws etc to see out a siege.

Hope you are all going to be having much of the same.

Cheers and Happy Christmas to you all, Gillian

ITS JUST GRATE!

2010-11-28T09:02:00.000-08:00

I'm fond of alliteration but DJ "the fire raiser" likes puns. Lots of Dickensian stuff was bandied around for a title and "all I want for xmas" and trite things like that were mentioned but I went with the pun in the end. The snow is quite a few inches deep around here and special toilet facilities have been set up inside (and well used! sorry bit too much info) for Princess Tigger. She still seems to like to explore outside between snow flurries.

Inside the house, she continues to attack all biros/ballpoints as if they are prey. She particularly like the clicky ones. Good fangs shown here. Dozens of biros lurk beneath large/heavy items of furniture. And it wont be long before she tries to get the bird at the top of this tree. We missed the Scarborough auction because of the weather, so we went into Watson's today to view Tuesday's lots. There is a "Braaq" similar to the ones we missed out on at Tennants a couple of weeks ago. When we got home, we put together the xmas tree, had lunch and went to Sainsbury's for milk, came home and then...DJ did a bit of fire raising in the kitchen range. It is its first use since moving in. We had the chimney swept a couple of months ago and we wanted to test the sea-coal.

We need a proggy mat in front of the hearth but they took each family a year to make and I want one tomorrow. We were advised by a bloke we met on the beach with his metal detector, while we were coal-gleaning, that we would need a spark-guard because seacoal tended to explode!!!

He was so right. We have contained some minor explosions behind our hastily bought "Argos" guard. The bloke on the beach said that some seacoal could cause damage to the far wall!!!

Well, we are ready for another winter like last one. Plenty of fuel and fireplaces.

Slow cooker is on with a casserole in it and I didn't cook it. Lovely life up north.

Cheers Gillian

SNOW SEA & SAND

2010-11-26T11:33:00.000-08:00

It's best to do this with gumboots on and thick socks for insulation, specially when the tide is on the turn and each wave surprises you with its reach.We had planned to visit Duggleby's at Scarborough, on Saturday, to check out their auction rooms on our way to visit friends holidaying in Whitby. The weather over that way has been terrible. They have been snowed in and are thinking of leaving for home as soon as they can. So we took off for Seaton Carew to check out our own bit of coast.

Snow on the sand of the dunes. Something I have not seen before.

Tankers lurking in the gloom below the thick roll of snow cloud on its way to North Yorkshire. They ride out the low tide a mile or so out to sea and enter on the returning tide. Sometimes they lurk out there for days waiting for increases in the price of crude oil before heading into Seal Sands.
Some lurk too long!This is the remains of a "collier brig" or coal boat. It is similar to common coastal trading vessels of this coastline a couple of hundred years ago and is exposed at low tide. Captain Cook favoured such sturdy vessels for his voyages. But obviously not this one.

Scarborough is still undecided. We shall see what the morning brings.

Cheers Gillian

GETTING MARRIED

2010-11-25T05:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a lovely end-of-autumn day.

Today it was the start of winter. It seems appropriate to me because it is also the start of my newly married life.

DJ and I and Tigger the bridesmaid took ourselves off to the Register Office at Bishop Auckland with a couple of witnesses, who were passing by on their way from Southend to the new Sainsbury's round the corner.

Actually we had to leave Tigger behind to guard the flowers and champagne at home, because we all had a booking at Headlam Hall to wine and dine in suitable style.

Back home now and on with life. And it's a good one. Especially because, even though we missed the first day of the Test Match because of the Nuptials, England are all out for 260!!!
Cheers Gillian

New Stuff!

2010-11-11T13:26:00.000-08:00

These are the original floorboards in the kitchen. They have been sanded back, given a coat of old oak stain and a coat of matt polyurethane. I perhaps, would have preferred satin finish, but I'm thrilled with the colour and the overall effect.
So is Tigger! Cheers Gillian

Riverside Riches

2010-11-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday the weather was so gorgeous that we were tempted down to the River Wear for a walk, where it skirts the north of Bishop Auckland. Autumn colours have been glorious this year. The viaduct in the background of this picture once carried the railway northwards. The line now stops at Bishop Auckland Station, about a mile further south. Fortunately, someone came up with the idea of putting a new road on top of the "Eleven Arches" before it got demolished. Much of the old railway and mining fabric of the north has been demolished or obliterated. There is no doubt that the countryside is now very attractive and eyesores were removed but the big D-for-demolition stamp was used frequently in the offices of the town planners in the 1960s and 1970s and some great treasures were lost in the haste to modernise.

The copse of trees lit up by the sun on the hill across the river to the north, hides the old site and remains of the Roman Cavalry Fort of Binchester. One of the forts on the Roman road from York to Hadrians Wall.The Gaunless (olde englishe for useless) River flows through Auckland Park and the grounds of the Bishop's Palace and then into the River Wear over this weir. The grand old trees of the park provide shelter for flora and fauna from deer to fungi. Deer are shy and move fast but fungi are a photographer's dream.

The weather has now turned and we expect snow on the hills soon. The driftwood and sea-coal look more attractive by the day.

Keep warm wherever you are.

Cheers Gillian

Christmas Cake Craziness

2010-11-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

I decided to make the christmas cake. Yes! I know it's a bit soon but there's a lot on between now and xmas chez nous. I got the fruit etc measured out and left it to soak in brandy overnight. Then I went to the cupboard to get the rest of the ingredients that Delia had listed as suitable for the cake tin size that I had.
I had quite an array of flour bags but Delia said I needed plain, plain flour. Not the strong bread flour, nor the bread mix. Not even the self raising flour suitable for cakes or the sack of Wessex Mill scone mix. So in the middle of everything, I had to go out for some flour. We have seven supermarkets within a mile or so. I had already been to Sainsbury's earlier for some milk etc and come home with three new tops as well, so I went to Lidl, the closest and top-less, and bought some flour. Oops! I came home with a bag of Self Raising!!!
After peals of laughter and much amusement at my silliness, I went out again. This time, I tried Aldi......and came home with a bag of Self Raising!!! I even got as far as weighing it out, sifting it and adding mixed spice and grated nutmeg. Then DJ kindly pointed it out to me.
My sense of humour evaporated, and DJ disappeared to the top floor. This time I decided to try Tesco but the car ended up back at Sainsbury's. Getting frazzled, I ignored the 25%-off sign pointing to the clothes and came home with some plain flour. I bought a small bag because I was worried about where to store all these new supplies.

The cake got made and came out of the oven looking OK. It is now bathing in a sprinkling of Southern Comfort, mainly because neither of us drinks it and there was some in the cupboard. This will be liberally applied weekly and the cake will be wrapped in foil until I get the urge to ice and decorate it.

More news later as long as I don't repeat my serial shopping too often and get carted off to a home for a "nice rest" before xmas.

We went coal and driftwood gathering again today and are looking forward to a great fire in the kitchen range grate on xmas day.

Cheers Gillian

SEA COAL......FREE COAL!

2010-11-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

Today was DJ's birthday and he eschewed the proffered lunch at the Morritt Arms, at Greta Bridge and opted for a trip to the seaside. The Morritt does a stunning three course "Credit Crunch Lunch", at £10 and it is available in the Dickens Bar where the walls are painted in grand Dickensian style by Jack Gilroy and the gardens are stunning too, if you are there in good weather. The link has a great slide show.
DJ chose a visit to Seaton Carew. The day was windy but the skies were blue. This is our nearest and favourite seaside, just to the south of Hartlepool and to the north of Teesside.
The tide was on its way out and we faced the wind to walk south towards the dunes. We followed the high tide line because I love to search for treasures. Coloured or shiny bits glinting in their recent wetness. A woman in front had a dog and a bag of stuff she kept gleaning from the berm ahead of us. I asked her what she was scavenging. "Sea coal" she said, and showed us how to identify the lumps and distinguish them from the black pebbles by their lighter weight and glimmer even when dry. She said she might as well gather a bagful while she walked her Scottie.

So guess what we did. It wasn't a great harvest because we only had DJ's hat to carry it in. But we shall return. We have seven fire-places and chimneys. We only use two and one has a wood/multifuel burner and the other is part of the kitchen range.

This shovelful is it! "Oh Yeah", you might say. "So what!"

Four miles and an hour and a half of walking! But it was such fun and free...like the fruits of the footpaths.

Seaton Carew has a grand sea-front and a lovely stretch of Victorian buildings and hotels shown on this link. http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/gazettelive2/jul2010/9/4/seaton-carew-878858304.jpg Its a grand walk along the front at low tide and then we enjoyed a "Ploughman's Lunch" at the Staincliffe Hotel overlooking the sea and watched an ocean-going tug bringing in an oil-drilling rig.

These are the treasures I garnered today. Blue was the dominant colour, but the green stone at the bottom right stood out too.

Tesco's and Sainsbury's have both opened around the corner. The Tesco is a regular big one and the Sainsbury is the largest I have seen, although a friend says she has seen a bigger one at Fosse Park near Leicester.

We went with same friends to a "Mamma Mia Mystery Night" at the Ramside Hall in Durham and I was going to blog about it. But I won't. Next time they visit we shall make our own costumes out of old curtains, paint on make-up and put wigs on our heads. We shall screech at them all night and make them eat some mediocre food as quickly as they can so that we can all go home to bed early and the disco can play loud music for them on automatic. We might get away with charging £20 too!!!

Cheers Gillian

CORFU CAPERS

2010-10-11T01:59:00.000-07:00

We took the opportunity of having a week in Corfu. The rest of the year will be busy and so some sunshine and new pastures fitted the bill perfectly. We chose an hotel close to but not in, Corfu Town and were able to access the town easily for 90 cents on the bus. We climbed to the top of the Old Fort, shown here. Later we climbed to the top of the Venetian Fort as well. The place was well fortified over the centuries!The views from the top were grand. The clouds passed by for one day. The stormy weather stayed for another but the rest of the time was hot and sunny with brilliant blue sea and skies. The best coffee I have had since leaving Melbourne was to be had at the "Europe Cafe" in Eleftherias with the old cricket pitch in the park beside it. This grand old street is paved with marble and specialises in cafes.

We trod the streets all over town. Many parts must date back centuries and there has been a tradition of patching up and building a bit more on so that many areas are a pastiche of eras, styles and uses.

This could be one of the oldest basketball courts in the world, or it could have been put up yesterday on an empty space.

The sea is in the background of everything. We stayed at an hotel with its own beach as well as all the rest and watched three or four cruise ships arrive and leave the port a kilometre away each day. This one is catching the setting sun as it sails past the hotel gardens. It is blocking your view of Albania. Day trips to Albania can be got for a mere 60 euros but are titled "Albanian Adventure" so that you don't expect too much comfort. Talking about comfort... if we return we shall try the Corfu Palace Hotel in town. We snuck in for a sticky beak and were mightily awed.

The epic building of supermarkets around the corner from us continued while we were away. The new Bishop Auckland Football Club is nearly ready for its first match and a giant Sainsbury's and a Tesco Extra are competing to see which will open first. They are across the road from one another, will offer all the same things and petrol and have caused havoc to the traffic for weeks while roundabouts and new roads are emplaced. The bus routes will be changed and teams of builders, electricians, plumbers, gas workers and JCB drivers are working around the clock to be the first store to open. Vast quantities of material have to be removed from the site while new utilities are put in place and then all the material will have to be returned to fill in the gaping holes and landscape them. All I want is some decent bread within walking distance.
Cheers Gillian

FURTHER FORAGING FORAYS

2010-09-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

We recently returned from a walk around Forcett with a carrier bag full of potatoes. This was the loot from a trudge across a recently harvested potato field . False and unfair are the accusations heaped upon us by RH, of potato rustling on a major scale in the north and blaming us for shortages in the south and so causing the near starvation of thousands of children!!! Let them eat chips, we say!)
Unfortunately the potatoes only taste good because they were free and have lashings of butter on them. That's a shame for us but a bigger one for you because you are probably going to be paying for their big brothers in a supermarket near you all winter.
The blackberries and elderberries are now dealt with for this year and our fingers are returning to their normal colour.
So we took ourselves off to Saltburn on the train. A grand day out for £6.30 each return. Some fish and chips and a ride on the cliff lift. Yes and no. The lift is closed until Easter so we walked down and up again.

The tide was well out and there was a lot of weed washed up, so the coalmen had to scrape it aside to forage the seacoal which they shovel up into sacks. This couple happily filled a few carriers as well. Our foraging nature has led us to enquire how it can be used at home. Can we make our own "Saltburn Nuts"? When we were young the coalman delivered "Welsh Nuts" to our home to keep the hot water boiler burning, because London in living required the smokeless fuel of the anthracite coal from south Wales.

We have seen this seacoal gathered commercially to be used in the furnaces in the steel works on Teesside but how can it be used domestically?

The weather is starting to change and cooler temperatures are here. Such a supply of fuel could be very welcome.

Cheers Gillian

HEDGEROW HARVEST

2010-09-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

A quick and easy bike ride for us, is along the bridle path, a short way up Brusselton Hill. There is the remains of a derelict garden beside the path and although it is very overgrown, raspberries, blackberries and apples are to be found. Also, not far from us near the village of Gainford, the footpaths are lined with blackberry bushes and near Headlam Hall, "unclaimed" apple trees can easily be accessed.
So to work! A blackberry and apple crumble was made for that day. Blackberries were washed and dried and frozen. Then raspberries from the freezer, fresh blackberries and scrumped apples were boiled till good and mushy and then strained through muslin.

Then the juice was boiled up with sugar to make Hedgerow Jelly.

The apples were then peeled and cut up into two batches of chutney. One with green tomatoes and one with spices and chillies.

DJ made some smart labels and now all the jars are looking for homes. We shall use plenty ourselves, but this xmas will provide an opportunity for emptying the cupboard a bit.

The elderberries were just ripening and looked so pretty in the sunshine that I'm tempted to harvest some of them and make stuff....but what? Any ideas or recipes?

Cheers Gillian

The Tale of Two Brollies

2010-09-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

We have just come back from a week in Brittany. Fabulous food, plentiful drink, beautiful scenery and great company. The weather was gorgeous too. One day my sister went out on the boat with her charming, red parasol.
She showed me it later and said that she didn't know where it had come from but she thought it might be mine. We visit one another and have been known to leave belongings behind.
"Oh Yes!" I cried, "it is mine. In fact it is the red umbrella which is the picture I use on my Blog Title". DJ was not so sure. He couldn't work out how it could have travelled so far without us remembering. He was sure he had seen mine very recently at home.
My sister handed it over and we returned to England with it. DJ accepted a £5 wager with me, that it was indeed mine. It was so distinctive and rare, it could only be my precious red umbrella.
The first thinjg I did on returning home was check the umbrella hook......

I am now £5 poorer but have two identical red umbrellas. My sister is happy that one day she will get the other one back. But it isn't hers. She admits she doesn't know where it came from. Mine is the one on the right but how can I tell?

Has anyone out there lost a red umbrella? Can you explain how it got into my sister's house in Dorset? Why do both of us have the same favourite umbrella? Has anyone else got one just like this?
Cheers Gillian

So This Is How They Do It!

2010-08-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

On a bike ride across Brusselton Hill, to assess the ripeness of the blackberries we spotted this. Hay-making! These days it involves a lot of machinery and few people. The tractor was just dumping a black-plastic covered hay bale. There were five tractors operating in the fieldOne was raking up the hay into long piles. Another was sucking the piles up into a baler and spitting out big round rolls of hay. Two were bringing the bales to the black plastic binding machine, from each end of the field and the last one was attached to the black plastic wrapping thingy. But this is how they do it! The bale rolls around and around and up and down and is thoroughly bandaged by the gadget on the back of the tractor. It then dumps it off the end like a great roll of glad-wrapped/cling-filmed left overs.The blackberries are not really ripe enough yet.
Cheers Gillian

Bobbins and Blankets

2010-08-20T04:19:00.000-07:00

The weather has been so dismally unpredictable, that during the gloomy, humid spells I have resorted to some winter hobbies. We did manage a lovely walk along the cliffs yesterday clambered down steep steps to a sun-drenched cove backed by tall cliffs where we sat on the rocks and had a picnic. All on our own!
But today it is wet and grey so I continue to trade in lace-making bobbins. These are some well used and hand decorated plain sticks but they have very old buttons and bone beads as spangles, which I find more fascinating than some of the newer sparkling rhinestones I frogged a UFO and rewound the wools in order to knit squares for a blanket. They were the wools I had spun and dyed while I was in Staindrop and the yellows and greens are from the plants in that original "Walled Garden". Not enough for a garment and not regular in thickness, they are perfect for patchwork squares. The colours vary according to the type of plant, the part of the plant and the mordant used.

The stitches vary according to whether I'm watching the test match or the recent programme on the miners' strikes, "Strike: When Britain Went To War". That required concentration on the subject matter and so stocking stitch predominated. I was in Oz for the Thatcher era and much of the news footage used was new to me. I was astounded at the way the police force was manipulated and used. I was also astounded at the clear arrogance of Scargill and his petty vanity.

We walk in beautiful scenery today. The scars of the coal-mining industry have been obliterated and local knowledge is needed to point out the vestiges of the gigantic eyesores that were the pits.

I reckon there are enough squares here for a third of a throw. If the weather continues, it may not take long to complete. Time then to get the spinning wheel turning again.

Cheers Gillian

Sweet Success

2010-08-17T01:49:00.000-07:00

It's difficult to fit a good "yorkshire" on the plate!
In days gone by, the yorkshire pudding was served as a starter with a load of gravy on it. This was to reduce everyone's appetite before the expensive roast meat was dished up. As children we were given yorkshire pudding as a dessert with syrup on it. This was also an economy measure.
DJ has mastered the new stove and has settled on a particular baking dish and a two egg batter mix which he now "throws together" at the drop of a hat. This time it was to accompany the Barnsley chops (two loin chops joined at the bone like a wing), mash, greens and sweetcorn. A jug of mushroom gravy awaits on the table.

Not to be outdone, the next day I bought some puff pastry. First of all I made a chicken pie. The problem with a round pie dish is that there is a strip of left over pastry from the ready-made oblong block.Left over puff pastry has to remain in its layers, so I just rolled it out flat, put it in a baking dish, pinched up the edges to make a tart and filled it with thin slices of marzipan (from a left-over xmas block at the back of the cupboard), then a layer of apple, then scattered it with currants, sprinkled it with spice and drizzled it with honey. Then baked it.

Yum, we even had the left overs for breakfast the next day with the rest of the custard.

Off now for another long walk along the prom at Seaton Carew for calorie counterwork.

Cheers Gillian

THE TONG FAIRIES VISIT

2010-08-09T04:58:00.000-07:00

In Oz there are ubiquitously available cooking tongs with little metal collars which slide down and keep the legs together.
Unlike these indecorously common English ones! Friends from Oz were imminently due and so I emailed them to bring some collared ones to replace the one pair I had left.

A fantastic selection arrived. Large, medium, small, silicone tipped and the everyday, tinny ones. Enough for a lifetime maybe. I shall not claim so in case they seem to run out too soon.

We toured the Moors and the Dales. This is a view not far from Reeth in Swaledale.

This is a sheep not far from Reeth in Swaledale.

And this is Richmond in Swaledale. The one in Melbourne does not have a coat of arms!

S and K are "en vacance" for a while and have now taken off in a hire car to see more Dales and find the Lake District. We also managed to fit in Robin Hood's Bay, Durham City and Cathedral, shopping, eating and a night out at the Gala Theatre in Durham to see a comedy show.

We shall remain "chez nous" today and go off to see the Tall Ships leave Hartlepool tomorrow.
Cheers Gillian

A BOUNTY OF BOBBINS

2010-08-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

I'm the queen of the castle! Tigger lacks great heights to climb. Her wild-tree-cat genes encourage her to try anything eg. curtains, cars etc. She still can't see over the top of the wall or hedge. The crab apple tree will get her there next year but she won't think much of it when she sees it. The factory roof will be in the same place! I harvested a double heap of lace making bobbins at Watson's Auction House this morning. We sorted them and spread them along the sideboard.

They are mostly antique turned ones and some are pewter decorated with tiger stripes and leopard spots and two have butterflies. The glass bead spangles are really old on many of them and they are a pleasure to have in such quantity. It makes them all look like a pile of glorious treasure.

There was also a fabulous home-made pillow. The stuffed rollers sat in a stuffed green cushion, held on a solid wooden base, so that it will sit safely on a table top. This has been listed on ebay but is only suitable for "pick-up" because it would be too hard to pack and post. It has some lace, patterns, cottons, linens, velvet backing, piercers, parchment, patterns bobbins and two spare drums. I hope someone wants it and that it goes to a good home.

I've had a go at bobbin lace making and can do it reasonably well but I don't think I should add it to the list of other arts and crafts I love, do and rarely complete.

We went for a three-miler up the hill and back around the farm shop, before coming home to make chicken pie for tea and stopped on the way to take our fill of wild raspberries. There were a couple of apple trees nearby and it is likely that this was once a garden of a cottage along the old railway line. It was not far from the site of the first railway sidings in the world! They are no longer there...hardly National-Trust-worthy at the time. Maybe the shunter had a cottage there and the fruit is from the garden.

I heard from Heide today about sock blanks. I had never heard of them before but they are the next thing on my list of must haves.

Cheers Gillian

AN EXTRAVAGANCE OF CHERRIES

2010-07-27T03:08:00.000-07:00

Friends came to visit and brought rain and cherries. The rain has greened up the hills and the cherries are still being enjoyed too.

We travelled the Dales, walked in the woods, watched "Pride and Prejudice" in the walled garden at Raby Castle with a picnic, collected pebbles on the beach and ate and drank and talked and laughed. More friends came for the weekend and so we did more of it all again.

And the cherries are still being eaten. I brought my cherry-pitter back from Oz with me. It was purchased in the delightful kitchenware shop in the shopping centre at Bacchus Marsh. It has clicked its way through a few pounds of cherries this week and there are still a few to go.

We've had them fresh for breakfast and nibbled on them all week so I decided to do poached cherries from Stephanie Alexander's orange cookery bible "The Cook's Companion". The finished batch shall be made into cherry clafoutis for dessert tonight. I have found an easy recipe for the batter and have located a suitable dish.There is still a large container of cherries in the freezer. They shall stay there a while, until the desire for cherries is great enough to spend an hour pitting them and living with purple fingers for a day or two
Cheers Gillian

p.s. the clafoutis would have made a good house-brick but it all got eaten. Obviously there is a knack to making it and I shall have to try again because it tasted divine. It was just very stodgy.

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY!

2010-07-26T09:05:00.000-07:00

This is my one-hundred-and-fiftieth blog as "Walled Garden". I started it at Staindrop when I had the large house with the walled garden. I then moved to a tiny house, but it also had a walled garden and last year I moved to this house and there is still a walled garden.This house has a brick wall and some hedge as well but a wall still features.
Thankyou for following my blog this far and, I hope, for longer yet.This was a pressie to myself for getting a new kitchen. I had a Magimix in Oz and at last have room for one on the bench top again. I'm not a baker, but I do like this toy and all its features. The main output so far has been some very successfully grated potato which cooked into wonderful rosti. Because we have had so many guests over the last two weeks, there has been quite a demand for seats on the sofas. Tigger has a bed but it is usually placed on a sofa so that she can see around and watch TV. We bought her a new bed and persuaded her to sit beside the sofa instead of on it. It took great patience and many hours. I resisted the temptation to use kitty treats as bribery and so it only works if I'm in the room. As soon as I leave she is back on the sofa. I read somewhere that dogs and cats are better able to identify images on digital broadcasts. She certainly seems to be watching more TV these days. As you can see, she has a rooftop viewing area and a basket igloo for getting away from it all. A Lidl special.We sallied off to the "pick-your-own" today and returned with peas, broad beans, potatoes and goosegogs.

The berries were blanched in clementine juice and zest ( I didn't have any oranges) with a splash of vanilla essence, then they were lifted out of the juice which was reduced to a syrup with a slosh of cointreau in it. They await a crumble topping. The beans and peas were podded and blanched and bagged up for the freezer,

We did some last week and they were so lovely they have all been eaten so this time it was a big bag of each and a case of "podding thumb" when we had finished.

Cheers for now

Gillian

GROTTY GROTTO

2010-07-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

B is visiting from Oz. She has travelled north on the bus, from the Metropolis (well, Ealing to be exact) and is spending a few days with us. We did a bit of Teesdale...namely Eggleston Hall, home of the "Ladettes to Ladies" series and, indeed, once an old Finishing School in real life.
Then we did Durham City. Truly lovely as usual and B fell in love with it as visitors do.
So the next day was a trip down the Durham coastline from north to south. We stopped first for a coffee at the Marsden Grotto. The pub itself was always a visual disaster on the gorgeous beach below the cliffs, once a historic smugglers cove and now an eyesore. The coffee was as bad. Freshly made, on a lovely tray, with jugs of milk etc, it failed to taste anything like coffee should. Great service, great view , no taste!
It is the tail end of the nesting season. Parent gulls hang off the cliffs, taking it in turn to fly out to sea to fish and return to stuff the catch down the throat of their offspring, which are now nearly as big as them.

If you want to play on the beach you need to be a few metres away from the cliff to avoid falling guano and putrid smells. It's County Durham so you also need warm clothes. B had a paddle but the sea has the temperasture of freshly melted ice. It's a beautiful area but tourism is thwarted by the weather.

As you can see above, guano stalagmites hang down from the rock shelves which are home to the gulls for another week or two. The young will be able to fly soon and explore the North Sea.
On our way back we stopped at Latimers in Whitburn for cockles and mussels ( sing chorus now if you know it) for lunch and fillets of halibut and haddock for tea.

Great days.

Cheers Gillian

OLD KITCHEN/NEW KITCHEN

2010-07-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

When I bought this house, just over a year ago, the kitchen looked quite attractive. I felt that it had a "country charm" and of course a lot of space. There was a large gas cooker and belfast sink. The bench top and cupboard doors were timber and the floor had the original Victorian floorboards. The original range is a beauty.

MAY 2009

It had an air of recycled, reclaimed wood about it. It looked good from a distance, and probably does in this picture, above. However, the curtains had enough grease in them to stand up on their own. The dresser top behind the cooker was also grease sodden. The taps kept falling off the sink. The belfast sink was so badly cracked that it was unhealthy. The glaze had been destroyed in many places. And there were "remnants" of things in and under all the cupboards and drawers.

MAY 2010

I worked on it and kept it going. Its size was its forte and it had the old Victorian range and original floorboards.

JUNE 2010

I re-worked the cupboards, hung clean curtains, got Hillary blinds, bought a new cooker, fixed a bit of plumbing and hung in there.

JULY 2010

Ten days ago, the old cupboards were pulled out, the plumbing was re-worked to accommodate a dish washer, the washing machine was removed to the out-house with the freezers, the electrician put in new wiring and the plasterer covered the Artex with smooth skimming. DJ repainted and this week the kitchen fitters moved in.

We had a Wickes kitchen. It is top quality, solid and well fitted. We got a "free" dish-washer and "half price" installation. But I think that's par for the course with present-day pricing techniques.

We are thrilled with it. There are some tiny touches to be added and two doors to be replaced this week. They said so, or they, and you, will hear about it.

So we sat down to celebrate with a steak from Broom Mill Farm Shop.

The dish-washer has just beeped to signal that its work is over!!!

The football is over too...Well done Spain.

Cheers Gillian

KITCHEN CAPERS

2010-07-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

When I first moved in, the kitchen was the best room, but now that the rest of the house has been done, the kitchen is in need of improvement. All the cupboards and drawers had to be emptied so that they could be ripped out. The contents found new homes in towers of boxes and spread over flat surfaces like the table and dressers and the freezer was banished to the shed. Tomorrow the plumber will come and make a new home for the washing machine in another out-house. In the midst of this I decided to make some jam.

Strawberry, raspberry and blackberry with star anise and vanilla.

It cooked up well...

...and made a few jars.
While the jam cooled, I sat outside with a coffee and read a magazine and Tigger stayed inside and clambered around the furniture till she tracked down her bag of biscuits.

And made her own lunch!

The football is nearly over.

Cheers Gillian

My New Wellies Make Me Wet Myself

2010-07-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

I have always lusted after a pair of Hunter Wellies.
*I don't go to Glastonbury
*I learned to ride years ago and wasn't fond of it so I stopped
*I haven't got a farm
*I don't take dogs for walks across open land
*I stay in when the snow is deep and treacherous.
.........so there has never been any really good reason to spend £60 on a pair.
Until, on my most recent foray to TKM.
Aren't they just beautiful? And they were only £29.99. Now that is a really good reason for buying some at last.
BUT
This morning, after my bath and while I was getting dressed, I wandered into the closet to find some clothes and saw them on the floor. I thought, "Oh you gorgeous things! I shall just slip my feet into you and see how grand you are".
They were, and I happily paraded in front of the mirror, wearing them and nothing else, because I had forgotten to select some clothes.
Then I sat on the stairs to take them off!!!
They were resistant to my tugs. I couldn't get them to slip back off my feet. I had a sudden dawning of how ridiculous I would look to any rescuer. D would definitely have laughed too much to help and he was occupied with other ablutions anyway.
I struggled and contorted myself, giggling uncontrollably, trying to wrest the boots from my damp feet. A sense of helplessness combined with a sudden need to go to the toilet.
Yes dear reader! I nearly wet myself!
That warm sensation of a trickle escaping, heightened my efforts and the boots now stand alone and high and dry.
I am writing this fully clothed and in my slippers.
The football is nearly over,
Cheers Gillian

Bold As Brass

2010-07-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

The sun shone again today so we drove to Howlands "park-and-drive" and bussed into Durham for the Brass Festival. It was terrific. I didn't take the camera so there are no pics but the link will show you lots.
We saw brass, jazz bands from Japan, France, Switzerland, Spain and Africa as well as many from England. They spent the day entertaining the holiday crowds, all over the city.
If you are free tomorrow, get in there for a great time. If the weather holds we shall try out the traditional brass bands giving a concert at the DLI park.
The sad dog at the coal depot, across the road, is barking a lot. It worries me that he is left alone to guard the coal for long periods. He barks and wags his tail at the same time, everytime someone walks past. That makes me concerned that he has a personality disorder from the continued isolation. I also think that Tigger has been over there to tease him because she seems to have discovered a new source of rodents to hunt at night, and when she is out he barks more loudly.
The football is nearly finished.
Cheers for now Gillian

WORLD RECORD HOLDER COMES TO TOWN

2010-06-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

A lot of people went to Shildon on Wednesday to see...The Tornado pull the Mallard all the way from York, with some help up the rear end from the Prince William!The Mallard holds the world steam traction record (1938) and is usually housed at the Railway Museum in York. The overflow from York is housed at Shildon, a couple of miles from home, and the Mallard will be there for a while.It has super, sleek lines. Art Deco in Transport.

The Prince William was needed to add a bit of oomph and diesel power to the procedings,and the gallant Tornado gushed steam, whistled, tooted and shunted the whole procession into the yards at Shildon.

Leaving the Mallard behind to be admired by all those around.

Cheers Gillian

LUNCH AT THE TAN HILL INN

2010-06-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

We took visitors to the Tan Hill Inn, the highest pub in England on top of the Pennines. It was such a lovely day, it was hard to get a table outside for lunch. Some people had to share!

Seats inside were full up too.

And others were eating off the carpet in the lounge bar.

Picnickers were short of space.

But eventually we settled down on the leather sofas inside and tucked into a giant yorkshire filled with cumberland sausage and chips and gravy.

We spent the rest of the day driving back down the Dales to sea level and home via Archers Jersey Ice-cream parlour for a spag bol tea.

Badly need some exercise and today's stroll around Durham city has not had much aerobic impact. Watching the footie this afternoon won't help and neither will a meal out tonight, so there will have to be some catching up this weekend. I hope the lovely weather lasts.

Cheers Gillian

LAZY HAZY CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER

2010-06-23T00:56:00.000-07:00

My sister had been given the use of a beach hut on the Mudeford Sandbank at Hengistbury Head in Dorset.So we caught the ferry over from Mudeford Quay. And walked along the spit and betwen the huts. The Isle of Wight could be seen in the distance.

And spent a wonderful day lazing and sunning ourselves and enjoying a barbecue. Such beach huts are highly sought after and beautifully situated for sailing, swimming and other seaside pursuits. We probably had the best weather so far this year. What a grand day. We had to catch the last ferry back at 6 pm and waited on the quay, drinking more wine, while M cycled off to fetch the car to carry us and our goods and chattels home.

Thanks T and M!

Cheers Gillian

THE SOUTH COAST OF ENGLAND

2010-06-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

Much of the south coast of England is chalk, sandstone and limestone. These rocks are the result of ancient seabeds which have been formed from the remains of shellfish and sediments. The visitors centre at Seven Sisters displays also, the flints which formed as concretions in the sedimentary layers. One side of the building is the whole flint pebble, the other side is the smashed flint boulder pieces. Both of these are used to facade buildings in this area. They are weatherproof and decorative.We walked from the CarPark, along the river bank and out towards the incoming tide. I chose NOT to walk along a path with large heifers and some cows and calves lingering. I am not easily soothed by people saying...."don't worry it will be all right, we'll walk near the bank and if necessary we'll go in the water". I hate going in the water and those animals were much larger than me. I worry if they move towards me.
I said that I would go the other way and catch them up. So in the end we all went that way and I was much happier.It was a long haul to the top of the first Sister but the view was splendid. I don't know if this was the first or last sister but here are the others. I knew that people from all over the world had written their names and origins on Uluru/Ayers Rock in Australia because I have been there but I was shocked to find that they had all been to the top of the Seven Sisters and done the same. Why am I shocked? We picknicked at the top and enjoyed the view and the day.
The previous day we had walked along the Lancing Beach Path.

We found some delightful cygnets in the lagoon behind the beach,
Lovely sunny days .
Cheers Gillian

VISITORS FROM OZ!!!

2010-06-08T11:54:00.000-07:00

When I left Oz, I made everyone promise, that if they came to England , they would visit me. P reckoned that it would be unlikely, because of the children and anyway if she is going to go on a long haul flight it will be home to Canada. But M was 40 today, so they all travelled with him to England and Europe while he was on a business trip.
P and I worked together at Northcote High School in Melbourne for many years and were very close.
So I travelled south to meet up and took DJ. It was important to me that they all get on and they did.

The girls are delightful and were so good all the time. On the first day we walked across the centre of London, from Mayfair, to Princess Di's waterfall, where the girls paddled and dipped in the water with many others and we then headed off back to Mayfair for a lovely Italian dinner. The next day we met and went by bus from Mayfair to Charing Cross River Bank but we were advised by the driver to alight just after Trafalgar Square because there was a grid lock due to a burst water main. The day before we had been lucky enough to catch one of the last ten Routemaster red double decker buses still operating in London. Buses are fun for most but DJ loves Routemasters so it was a special ride. It lasted for ages too, because there was so much traffic trying to get round Hyde Park Corner.
Anyway we walked down Whitehall, past the Horse Guards, Downing Street and protestors and on to the quayside just beyond Big Ben.

The boat ride was to Greenwich and return and many famous sights were seen on the way.

Tower Bridge is still awesome. Much of London seems to be an art installation wrapped in paper, but it is simply the new "health and safety" measures on scaffolded buildings.

A Great Time. Here we say Good Bye.

Love to P,M, A and S.

Hope to see you next year.

Cheers Gillian

BUTTERCUPS AT BUTTERKNOWLE

2010-06-08T09:57:00.000-07:00

Footpath markers criss-cross the British countryside. They point the way across fields and stiles. This stile is a wooden climb through a drystone wall and it was easy to cross. Others on this walk were wonky, well hidden by thorny bushes and/or covered with nettles. DJ discovered that shorts are not always a good thing on a warm sunny day.

Butterknowle is at the western end of the old coalfield. At this high spot on the fells of the Durham Pennines, the coal seams were nearest the surface. The coal was found early and many mines were dug down and into the hillsides. The coal finished quickly because the seams dipped down and away to the North Sea to the east.

Our walk took us past several old pits but the above is evidence of the waste slag and an old building.

The area is now agricultural. The meadows were full of buttercups, the trees were blossoming and the burns were trickling through the trees. The foals are everywhere and the horses are pleased to see you.

The Appleby horse fair is on this time of year, so gypsies, tinkers and other travellers abound. There are horses, waggons, carts and big caravans. Nearly every paddock has a few foals sun-bathing out-stretched on the ground or prancing around. It's lovely.

After marching ourselves through a couple of buttercup meadows we noticed that our boots were showing the effects.

The yellow pollen from the flowers had filled the cracks and crevices in our footwear.

Cheers for now Gillian

More Yorkshire Delights

2010-05-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

The County of Yorkshire is only a few miles south of us, down the old Roman road , through Piercebridge, the site of a Roman Fort, and across the River Tees.
We sallied forth this morning because a) the weather was wonderful, b) we had a picnic to eat and c) we had a walk from the local paper to try out. A bloke called Mark Reid does a map and description every week in The Northern Echo and he was recommended by Ivy who we often walk with on the DCC guided walks. Well done Mark! It was a ripper. It was only 4 miles but it was beautiful and rich in history so here goes......
A long time ago before the Romans came this way and built the road on their way to Hadrian's Wall, the area was inhabited by some Iron Age tribes who have been grouped together and called The Brigantes. Celtic tribes who mined lead, traded with Romans and others and farmed the area. They had a large fort at Stanwick protected by deep ditches and earthworks. We walked that way today and on our way had to cross the graveyard at St John the Baptist at Stanwick.

Then we walked across the fields and round the meadows, avoiding the bullocks and admiring the wildlife and birdsong. This little Red Admiral was obviously on its last wings because it stayed still long enough for me to photograph it.

We followed the lines of iron age earthworks and ditches and admired the rumpled ground hiding the remains of an iron age settlement.

The earthworks were quite impressive in some parts. They would have been an impediment to any invader of the time.

The picnic was delicious, the weather stayed wonderful, we only got lost once, the cows left us alone and we returned home via Archer's Jersey Ice Cream parlour, which is attached to their farmhouse.

I had vanilla and DJ had black cherry and we brought a tub of Vanilla home. All the icecream comes from this little girlie's mother and aunties! Hasn't she got lovely earrings?

Still lovely weather outside so a bit of hedge trimming is underway.

Cheers Gillian

Sorrow about Sorrel but Joy about Yorkshires

2010-05-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

One of the main reasons for buying a new cooker was so that we could have glass doors in order to see the yorkshire puddings rise while they cooked, instead of having the "Yorkshire Pudding Russian Roulette Routine" inside an oven with no glass in the doors and no thermostat light.
Here's the first result of a no-recipe-no-measure one, just cooked for dinner with a chicken roast.

GREAT SUCCESS The herb patch in the garden is doing really well too.

BUT... the sorrel has been overtaken by the recent burst of hot weather and is going to seed rapidly. Does anyone know what to do with a large ripe sorrel plant? I've only just learned what to do with a couple of leaves at a time. eg. salad leaves and chicken soup.

The front of the house was overgrown with clematis and climbing rose when I bought it a year ago. It was very badly overgrown and needed removing. It is slowly but surely being replaced with wisteria, virginia creeper and climbing rose. As you can see, the wisteria is well advanced up the drain pipe it has been planted to camouflage. The others are doing really well too.

Some more warm weather would help. I'd like it too. How about you?

Cheers Gillian

Summer Outings

2010-05-26T02:16:00.001-07:00

DJ made a splendid rhubarb and custard tart. His brother and sister in law drove up from Oughtershaw near Hawes, where they were having a week in a cottage in the Dales, and this was dessert. The rhubarb came from my brother's allotment in Barnet. We had been away, staying there for a couple of days, visiting them and getting to ride the tube to the O2 to see Carmen. It was a tremendous spectacle. We enjoyed a sunny day in town and visited the big machines at the Science Museum, the big skeletons at the Natural History Museum, lunched at the Royal Albert Hall and then bussed to Oxford Street to buy me some socks and trainers because my feet were blistering in my sandals. I'd had the good sense not to wear my new red shoes but the old comfy sandals were doing their first day of the year on bare feet in the sun and the feet couldn't take the strain.
Then on to the O2 for Carmen. It was sung in English but that made it no easier to understand. Doing opera "in the round" means you don't get it all in your face and anyway, it doesn't sound like english when its sung like that. But the production, the spectacle and the soloists were outstanding.

We saw Robin Hood at the pictures last week and like Chillsider, thoroughly enjoyed it but thought it overdid the battle scenes. We are also looking forward to the next one. This afternoon we are off to see The Bad Lieutenant. We love bargains and the Orange 241 Wednesday deal gets us both into the pics for £5.40 and two pizzas for the price of one at Pizza Express. Bring it on!

Cheers Gillian

2010-05-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

My car needs a major operation and I'm at home awaiting the phone call to tell me what it is and how much it will cost. It has been such a fit and well car up until now that it was quite a shock when a light started blinking on the dashboard. It is in for "diagnostic tests".
So I did a spot of dyeing to hang out to dry in the sun while I waited. I used a garnet red shade on some more of the merino/tunisian batch of wool and also threw in a scarf I had knitted in blue/grey/white mixes. The Merino picks up the dye better than the Tunisian wool and the pure Tunisian is on the left, the Merino/Tunisian mix in the middle and a blue acrylic and Tunisian mix is on the right.
I was cheered up when my new shoes came.

I tried a pair on in another colour at the shops yesterday but they hadn't got them in lovely, shiny, Dorothy red. Clarks are able to check their computer for availability and then arrange to have them sent to the shop or delivered to your door. My door! Yes Please!

They are like new slippers.

I shall go round to the P.O. to send some teaspoons to Moscow that I sold on ebay and try them out properly. DJ will sit in the sunny courtyard and wait for news from the Car Hospital.

Cheers Gillian