Hello everyone, I know it has been a while, unintentionally of course, and thank you for asking after me – I didn’t mean to raise any concern from my lack of posts – life just gets in the way sometimes and having my mum to look after for a few days took all my time and energy.
As I knew mum was coming to stay whilst my sister went on a short holiday I centered days 5 to 10 of my Advent activities around the visit. She will be 93 in January and I was a bit concerned this time at the change in her and what she is able to do, or should I say what she is not able to do. She has acquired a few new ailments, a swollen knee and swollen foot, added to her ‘dodgy’ hip that is painful in cold weather (she was knocked down by a five-year old who ran into her from behind with his scooter in the shopping precinct and knocked her to the floor last year – she fell on her hip and although she was lucky and did not break anything she has suffered from a bad hip ever since). So walking has become difficult.
But my mum is a determined lady and likes to be out and about even at a hobble so we spent Friday shopping in our local town of Huddersfield, followed by tea at Compo’s fish and chip restaurant with my brother – I have the Broccoli and Cheese bake – they have the pensioner’s fish supper.
On the Saturday the Advent activity was our traditional annual visit to Tissington in Derbyshire for lunch at Herbert’s Tea Rooms and a browse around the tiny gift shop in the village. It was heavy rain and with mum’s inability to walk far we skipped the usual walk around the village which we love to do and moved on by car to Ashbourne. Mum managed a few shops and the little Waitrose and then we came home for tea.
Sunday was much brighter, we hastily packed a picnic of homemade tomato soup, cheese and beetroot sandwiches and Higgedy’s Cheese and chutney sausage rolls. 
We ate our little feast in the car parked high above Abney in Derbyshire and watched the hang gliders taking off over Great Hucklow. Afterwards we visited more of mum’s favourite places – Pilsley farm shop and the Derbyshire Craft Centre.
We had a lovely day and once back home my daughter and SIL joined us for tea and a chat. It was the perfect time to fulfill day nine’s activity which was to cosy down in the evening with a hot chocolate and watch a Christmas film. A good laugh did mum the world of good as her lack of mobility has been making her feel upset and frustrated.
On the Monday we took mum home to North Yorkshire and then called at our younger daughter’s house to see Little L and Sweetie. We were out much longer than planned so the advent activity for this day was abandoned as was the following day mainly due to me being so tired after looking after mum and all the travelling up and down – I just needed some time to get the house straight and my brain back into gear.
Day 12 – I was super excited on Wednesday knowing the Advent activity was our trip to see the Winter Light Festival at Dunham Massey (a National Trust property in Cheshire) with two of our lovely friends. We were picked up at 3pm for our timed tour at 5pm. Everything went exceptionally smoothly and although the roads were busy thankfully, we had no hold ups and parked easily.
The lights which are accompanied by music were quite spectacular – some are activated by and keep time with the music and were pretty amazing – we followed the trail around; each section just as breathtaking as the last. (Did you spot the picture just for you Sadie if you are reading this!) 
So it has been a few hectic days and I am now having a quieter time of reflection. Mum is becoming increasingly high maintenance now when she visits and needs a lot more attention to help her do all those little things that she would have done herself at one time – it can be a bit exhausting. On the other hand though how lucky am I to still have my mum around and that she is still able to look after herself in her little apartment with a little help from my sister. But I do fear for the future and how she will continue to cope.
During these last few days it was also the anniversary of when my dearest friend and colleague Helen passed away.
I made two tiny posies – one to give to her mum and one for her two daughters in remembrance of Helen. I just quietly leave them on the doorstep – it is just a little something to let them know we are thinking of them.
Again it made me think of how lucky I am to see my two daughters and granddaughters growing up and that we can be together at Christmas time. So although I am tired at the moment beyond belief I am certainly counting my blessings.
Must go now I have 25 robins drying in my craft room and needing my attention before bed.
I have a bit of catching up to do in blog land and I will be back and commenting in the next few days and hopefully posting pictures of my Advent crafting. xx
It is a community in mourning, feeling the loss of a friend and neighbour – many of the locals are calling for a road barrier to be put in place now so this loss of life does not happen again in the future when the sea is at high tide. The sea that I love so much has suddenly become quite a fearful place but even so now I am back in landlocked Yorkshire I miss going to sleep with the roar of the waves in the background.
Our nearest store is – a bit too far away for a our weekly shopping but we always call in on our way to or back from Scotland at the Penrith or Kendal branch. It is packed with photographs of deliciously tempting Christmas fayre to order or buy in store interspersed with a few recipes to make.
So I collected mine yesterday and spent my elevenses this morning pouring over all the Christmas food on offer and a quick look at the recipes in the back. I find it remarkable that Booths can produce such a lovely little book and give it away free – I was a truly happy bunny.
As you may remember from last year I decided to do something different to the usual wreath on our front door so I hung my chicken wire cone 
Pack the front and sides with moss (I had collected a small heap in the summer in readiness). Find an empty jam jar and push down into the cone as far as it will fit and so it is not visible.
Remove the jar again and push some chicken wire into the jar to hold the stems steady when filling with foliage. Fill the jar with cold water and start arranging pieces of foliage. Hold the cone steady in a small bucket then lower the jar into the cone making sure it is a snug fit.
At the moment I am using some dried red hydrangea heads and a dried white one, some ivy and a few holly stems. As we get closer to Christmas I will swap these for eucalyptus, holly and Hypericum like last years.
As you can see I am no florist but it is not too difficult to get a pleasing arrangement. You could add sprayed leaves, ribbon or pretty much anything. Just remember to keep topping up the jar of water.
…a pack of watercolour notelets (right) painted by a local artist to support the Aldouran Wetland Garden and these two pretty little felted Christmas tree cards for each of my daughters – made by a local crafter.
The frilly cake band takes me back to my childhood and reminds me of Christmases past – they would appear each Christmas round our Christmas cake – at 99p I just had to have one. The packet contains an iced ginger cake – we always buy one when we are at the cottage but usually we get the un-iced version – these too are only £1 from Tesco or Morrisons but I have never seen them south of the border. I thought the iced one would be a nice treat for Christmas. 
And on the way home a few small inexpensive things for Christmas from Tebay services of all places – each of these little tissue parcels were a £1 – you will have to wait a while until I unwrap them to find out what is in them.
I stuck a few cloves into the end slices and the smell was really nice. I wasn’t very impressed with this microwave method – one or two of them scorched a bit but this won’t be that noticeable when the colour darkens with age. I will take them back home and put them in the airing cupboard for a while. I decided not to continue with them here and wait until I get home and can use my oven.
…with the Three Wise Men on camels who were awesome (as Sybil would say) though it was hard to get a good photo without all the police escorts and minders getting in the way of taking pictures.
They were like big cuddly teddy bears and didn’t seem the least bit phased by the noisy crowd, the bagpipes and the loud speakers on the castle belting out Christmas music; and were very amenable to the children stroking them.
As it is quite a small town the parade circulated a couple of times and as it became dark everyone gathered in the square by St John’s castle (which had become Santa’s grotto for the day) for the countdown to the switching on of the lights by the winner of the Primary Schools competition. There was such a sense of excitement in the air.
Once the lights came on a big cheer went up and it was quite spectacular but not something easily caught on camera. It felt so nice to be part of this community spirit here.
All the shop windows around the town have been dressed with a Christmas theme and lit up too – it was a wonderful sight that you don’t see very much now on most high streets (well not in Huddersfield) since the national chain shops seem to have taken over and don’t really go in for window dressing in this way; but up here in Stranraer the majority of shops are mainly small family concerns and whether they are bakers or hairdressers they all join in to make their little town look delightful. Here is a quick tour of the shop displays and haven’t they done well.
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