Tag: out and about

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creating Christmas * day 10

The Christmas visit

Elizabeth Gaskell’s House

The Christmas season would not be complete without a visit to one of the many places that put on a Christmas event. I prefer the lesser known places, the ones that are not overcrowded and Elizabeth Gaskell’s house fit the bill completely.

I was as excited about this day as a child might be let loose in a toyshop. Mrs Gaskell’s house had been on my ‘go to see list’ for so long and it was definitely worth the wait to go at Christmas….. and it was everything I had hoped for and more.

It is only over the hill from us towards Manchester city centre, not an easy route ploughing through the unknown areas of the suburbs, but we made good time and as our booking was for 11.40 am we missed the worst of the morning rush. To our astonishment we could park on the street right outside the house for 3 hours free and thereby avoiding the usual steep parking charges in Manchester.

The house was beautifully decorated and in addition there were readings from Little Women (Elizabeth Gaskell had close connections with the Louisa May Alcott) and musical entertainment by the Gaskell Singers choir…who were heavenly to listen to.

There is too much for me to write about and too many photos to edit in this post today but I will do a special post about the visit soon….they would welcome the publicity, I am told, and need more visitors to keep them going especially in January….but the sun is shining and my other Christmas tasks are calling me to go and attend to them….. so I will leave you at this point.

I will be posting creating Christmas * day 11 at some time later today.

Meanwhile thank you for all your lovely comments recently, you always have interesting things to say and I love to hear about your Christmas preparations, though I fear mine are well behind most of you.

And welcome new subscribers – I hope you enjoy reading.

If you would like to leave a comment click here.

Back soon X

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dear diary ~ a moment….ous week

Not only was it Remembrance Day yesterday but it has been a week filled with both sad and happy moments.

Last Tuesday my friend K could not come shopping with us as she was expecting a visit from her daughter. I was a bit disappointed as we look forward to her company but we agreed to catch up later in the week for a chat. We almost overstayed our welcome in Sainsbury’s carpark as you only get two hours and I was having a good browse in all the various sections including the clothes and looking out for any Nectar bargains. It was mid afternoon when we got back home and we had just eaten our lunch and put all the shopping away when a little after 4pm we had a phone call from K’s daughter to say she had been rushed into hospital. K was diagnosed with a terminal illness in October of last year and we all knew her time was limited, but somehow she managed to keep going and always keep smiling.

We went up to the hospital to see her straight away and then visited a couple of times through the week but she was mostly asleep or very drowsy, then on the Thursday teatime when we bobbed in to see her after my audiology appointment, she was raised up in her bed enjoying a cup of tea. We had a lovely little chat for a short time and then came away so as not to tire her out. I didn’t know then but this would be the last time we would have together… and I will cherish those moments. On the Friday morning K became unresponsive and eventually slipped away peacefully on Monday.

Although we had an age gap of almost 20 years, K was a dear and special friend who I met almost by accident when I gave a lift one freezing winter’s morning many years ago to her neighbour Bernard. It is a story I have told before on my blog. Bernard became my Tuesday and Thursday morning companion as I drove into work until he became ill and was taken into hospital. That evening I had a call from K his neighbour saying Bernard was asking that I should go and visit him and had passed my phone number to her. We alternated our visits as his family lived away and each evening K and I would speak on the phone to report on progress. After 2 weeks Bernard passed away but K and I continued to phone each other and eventually met at Bernard’s funeral. Our relationship continued and blossomed and we found we liked the same things especially the area of Scotland where our cottage was located. K and her partner often came on holiday to the area around Stranraer and we would meet up if we were at the cottage at the same time.

When I see the poppies now I will always remember our last moments together but I know our Tuesday shopping day will never feel quite the same without the cup of tea and a chat we had afterwards when we took her back home.

The weekend was another busy one for us.

On the Saturday we were determined to fit something in for ourselves and we chose the Sheffield Print Fair at the Millenium Gallery. As I was born in Sheffield near the Wednesday ground I love to go back and now the city centre is vibrant once again after the loss of Debenhams and John Lewis and a certain amount of regeneration and rebuilding has been occurring over the last few years. The planners I think are doing a good job, preserving some of the old historic buildings amongst the new and providing plenty of lush planting and seating around to soften the harshness of these concrete cities.

The print fair was packed and we thoroughly enjoyed browsing the stalls of some very talented young (and older) print designers. There was every kind of printing method on show but I am always drawn to the linocuts and silk screen prints rather than the polished digital artwork.

Afterwards, we had a mooch around the centre. It has been a while since we were last there and a lot of the demolition sites are now showing off the new and restored buildings. It is something I like about Sheffield that they try to keep and cherish old buildings and they sit side by side with the new.

This block housed an old fashioned jeweller in the corner shop; in the upstairs windows you could see them at work with the machinery on old wooden benches. The end of the run was obviously past restoration but they have added a new section to compliment the terrace.

They also flaunt madly the fact that the city grew on steel manufacturing and many of the structures around the centre are made of it. Because of the steel industry Sheffield was hit hard in the blitz and most of the town centre was demolished by bombs and needed a complete rebuild. Nearly everyone had a relative affected by the blitz in one way or another. My grandma had her windows blown out a few times, but was luckier than the people in the next street along whose house had a direct hit.

It is a leafy city as well – had I had the time I would have been picking up some of these leaves to press.

We walked down the Moor to Atkinsons, the family run department store, where this plaque is permanently displayed in the entrance. They are doing well to survive in this retail climate and it is such a comforting department store as it hardly ever changes, just a little updating every so often; enough to keep up with the trends but not huge changes and revamps like John Lewis.

On Sunday it was Sweetie’s 7th birthday – oh the joy and excitement of being seven. We travelled up to north Yorkshire to help at her pottery painting party that she had with a few friends and afterwards she had a second family party at her home and a mammoth present opening session.

This meant two cakes, though at the friends party we just gave out a cupcake each (far less mess than cake cutting).

She struggled at times to read some of the messages in her friends cards!

….but was overjoyed at the presents….

….and she declared the day her best birthday so far.

Meanwhile, this week I was set the task (I don’t even remember volunteering for this) of organising a celebration for my mum when she turns 100 in January. It will be a small group of us as she has outlived many of the family members. We have decided on a private dining space in a local restaurant and will probably opt for the Sunday lunch. Their menu is quite extensive and they even have fish and chips (which I think mum might like) and luckily for us a nut roast. I think there will be something for everyone’s tastes. I just hope the weather is not against us and that no-one falls ill with colds or Covid, especially not my mum! It would be so annoying to wait a hundred years for this special day and then not be able to celebrate it.

I am making sure our vitamin C quota is kept high in the hope the dreaded lurgy in one form or another passes us by and it is a delight to go into my pantry at the moment, the colours are a wonderful sight.

I have bought all the ingredients now for my usual favourite ‘organic’ Christmas cake recipe and managed to get a smaller pack of white icing from Hobbycraft as I only ever cover the top. I am all set to make it the Sunday after next if I remember to soak the fruit on the Friday.

I have also sorted the Christmas Eve Santa pyjamas for the 4 grandchildren, red tartan for the girls and white for the boys, their mum’s choice. I nearly ended up with all the colours in all the sizes and stripped Sainsbury’s bare. Now the respective mum’s have decided on the right sizes I can return the surplus and Sainsbury’s can re-stock!

I also have my eye on these.

I don’t think I have anymore tales to tell of the last week. This week I need to finish the mountain of ironing that has accumulated and sketch out some ideas for the linocutting workshop DH and I are booked onto on the 19th November, only a week away.

After finishing my last 3 tasks I didn’t have chance last week with the hospital visits to do more but I have more or less decided on the next three.

  • Plant the bulbs and small mixed shrub selection I bought a while ago in pots or the garden.
  • Drop off the items we have for the auction at the Crisis charity coffee morning at church.
  • Trim the berberis

Have a great week and thank you for all your comments…so sorry I never got to answer some of them – normal service might resume soon.

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dear diary ~ a creative few days…

I finally completed my 3 tasks. It took me to the Wednesday of last week.

The sewing of the greenhouse shading took far longer than I had anticipated but it is finished and packed away for next year.

There was little point in me setting another 3 tasks when the grandchildren were about to descend upon us for a few days. The next three tasks would have to wait a while.

Instead I did do a few little jobs that have been waiting my attention just to get them off my mind.

I made some more thank you labels. Currently I am selling quite a few garments on Vinted for my daughter and once wrapped in tissue I add a little thank you label. So far this year I have made almost £200….enough maybe to check if I need to pay tax to ‘Rachel from accounts’ although I am not sure my meagre contribution will solve her cash flow problem!

I also glued the little houses back together that the grandchildren made during a previous school holiday. Then I stuck them down onto a strip of card so they don’t wobble over anymore when I am dusting. Thank heavens for the glue gun inventor.

Since the grandchildren arrived last Thursday we have been busy bees …..making and baking…..and entertaining…….my house is in utter chaos….but we had great fun.

Some of it done in complete secret!

We painted the wooden Halloween train, only to find that 7 of the 19 pieces in the box were missing. We painted the scary plaster figures only to find that one of them was faulty and the base sheered away irreparably. There were tears of frustration and no amount of comforting words helped their initial disappointment.

Luckily, the missing pieces did not stop us putting the main parts of the train together…but nothing could be done for the plaster figurine even with my trusty glue gun and Sweetie had to make do by decorating the Halloween balloons instead.

The little kits were bought at The Works and I did go back and tell them and the lady did refund our money.

My advice is to check these kits as soon as you buy them.

I bought some cute autumn cupcake cases and toppers from Homesense but the children preferred more gruesome decorations on their buns!

We spent all afternoon on the Friday making a lantern from some old 5 litre water bottles for the village lantern event on the Saturday night.

The event is completely free and run by volunteers (though donations are welcomed). The lanterns are made either individually like ours or by some of the local schools, playgroups and other groups in the village. This will be the 5th year now and the first one we have been able to attend. It is such a lovely ‘feel good’ village event with everyone coming together to enjoy a very simple evening.

I had rooted out some old 5 litre water bottles from the shed…the ones I usually use as cloches in my garden….but needs must!

Being too young, Baby Chocolate was not a party to this crafternoon, but Little L, Sweetie and Master Freddie each decorated a bottle with tissue papers, which we then ‘varnished’ over with PVA craft glue to make it water resistant. Grandad assemble the three bottles into one giant lantern and threaded the string of battery lights through each one. The result was quite effective and the children were delighted at their combined efforts.

On Saturday at 3 o’clock we took our lantern down to the People’s Pleasure Grounds to be hung ready for the event later that evening. The Pleasure Grounds were created by the mill owners for the mill workers in the village for their leisure time.

It is basically a path surrounded by some very mature trees and runs alongside what was the mill stream in the valley bottom.

Across the stream is a long imposing terrace of mill houses that were built by the mill owners for their workers like the village of Saltaire. We once lived in one of these houses when we first married.

We chose a lovely dark spot and hung our lantern from the highest tree branch we could reach without a ladder. The whole place was a hive of activity as the volunteers were putting up all the other lanterns that the villagers had made.

We then rushed home to put the baked potatoes in the oven for an early tea and at 6pm prompt, when it was quite dark, we all went back to the Pleasure grounds for the start of the lantern walk event. I would say that it is about a 500 yard walk from one end to the other and it was fabulously lit by strings of homemade lanterns.

The children were so excited to see their handiwork swinging from the tree and glowing in the dark.

There were some really lovely ones – I only managed to get one or two pictures of my favourites.

We ended the trail with a hot chocolate from a catering van and some tiny chocolate brownies that I had bought from Morrisons.

And the fun didn’t stop there as on the Sunday afternoon I had booked us all into a local village Halloween pantomime – Jekyll and Hyde. It was amateur dramatics at its best and a brilliant performance…..scary and funny in equal measure. The children had front row seats and got showered with a pretend bucket of water (confetti of course) but let out shrieks of delight when they realised it wasnt! Baby Chocolate picked every piece of confetti that had landed off himself and then started on the floor. Photography was not allowed but I did manage a couple of pics of the pantomime dame and the two policeman as we left the theatre.

The grandhildren have all gone back to their respective homes now and we had a much needed day off yesterday and spent a few hours in the garden.

Today and Friday I have some little Halloween sweet bags to make up and hopefully put out the paper pumpkin lanterns in the tree outside if the weather stays fine.

And I must not forget to make up my next list of 3 project tasks to make a start on, though I won’t be able to do much until after the visit up to see my mum on Saturday.

Back soon x

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dear diary ~ temptations and remembrance….

It was a lovely day on Tuesday, it is our regular shopping day at Sainsbury’s and normally we would pick up my dear friend K to take her with us.  K will be 90 next year and unfortunately has a terminal illness, doesn’t walk easily now without a walker or supermarket trolley to hang onto, and has limited vision. 

Sadly, K lost her partner suddenly on this day last year after having a major bowel operation and this left her with no means of getting to the shops or anywhere else on her own other than the local Access bus which she books for a Thursday, mainly to get her out of the house. 

On every second Tuesday in the month K has lunch with friends and it gives us time to shop further afield so we went over to John Lewis in Cheadle to return a roller blind and swap it for a wider one for the kitchen window. Sainsbury’s is right next door so we could kill two birds with one stone.

I didn’t really want any window covering at my kitchen window but in the summer the afternoon sun is blinding (no pun intended) and I spend my time cooking with a squint.  John Lewis do a plain blind that is sheer in their cheaper Anyday range and unlike the blackout blinds we have at the bedroom windows this allows the light to filter through but blocks out the strong sun……perfect….or will be when DH gets it fitted!  I am sure it is on his list.

I am not sure why, but I fell in love with some decorative gold wine glasses on display which would decorate my Christmas table rather well.  I am not usually a sparkly person (I leave that to my sister) but they just ooze Christmas and I think I will be sneaking them onto my Christmas list.  Even though DH was finding it difficult to separate me from them he would not think to buy them for me without a little prompt (is it a man thing?)

They are not cheap though at £24 for two (well not for me) so I would be limited to 4 of them without breaking the bank but they do have matching tumblers which are a little cheaper.  Ironically I do not drink wine but I would certainly pour my elderflower sparkling grape juice into one.

It is lethal for me going to John Lewis it might be the only time I would ever wish to be a millionaire and like Nigella Lawson it is always for the homewares not particularly the clothes. And if any JL staff are reading I do love their customer service.

I saw a pillowcase as we walked through John Lewis in Cheltenham recently and it was just the colour that I was looking for to paint a bamboo wood Ikea dressing table and matching bedside table that we bought ages ago in the bargain basement section.  I thought I could take the pillowcase and have it colour matched but once we got home we never got to do that and my 28 days return limit were almost up so I was going to take it back for a refund; before I did we wandered round to the paint and wallpaper section of JL and found that Little Greene paint do the exact same colour called Bone China Blue in a tester pot too so I can test out the colour on the wood. I just love the name of the colour it definitely swayed me it was the right one to choose.

The tester pot alone was £5.75 (where do they get their prices from?) but needs must and I do need to get this furniture painted.

Before Christmas.

If I can.

I decided that I loved the pillowcase so much that rather than returning it I bought another to match and they will go perfectly well with a printed duvet cover I have for the summer as well as the painted furniture.

That wasn’t the end of the temptations though…. I passed reluctantly on all the Christmas decorations, lights, tableware and suchlike but then found myself in Waterstones….a new addition inside John Lewis.  Looking at the double bookcase of best sellers in non-fiction it would appear that the vast majority of us have a problem with life at the moment and in particular are searching for something comforting (Hygge) or a reason for living ( Ikigai) or beauty and simplicity (Wabi Sabi) and that Zen way of life.

Well yes, I believe I might be searching for all those.  When I think back to my grandparents I could honestly say they had little money but oh how content they were with life and what they had – even during hard times and how homely and simple everything seemed.

I gave way and was tempted to a book in this section, ‘The Get Things Done Book’ – most apt at the present time – I am always looking for better ways to manage my life – when or if I find this elusive balance to my life I will let you know.  Meanwhile, I will press on with my own trial and error exploration and at the moment it is my idea of a three item project list to get through these never ending half finished jobs that surround and irritate me.

So yesterday I managed two tasks from my list of three – I booked the hotel for Christmas Eve and Christmas day near to mum’s apartment.  It is also close to my younger daughter in Thirsk.  As a family we have no idea what we might be doing yet for Christmas – only two people (daughter and sister) have houses big enough to accommodate us all and they have to have a downstairs toilet for mum and not be far away to get her there.  Mostly, our Christmas destination will depend on just how fit my mum is by Christmas day – it may only be weeks away but mum’s condition could worsen in that short time.  There is only 3 months now until she is 100.

As I mentioned above I managed two of the items on my list but the sewing of the greenhouse shading had to roll over to today and now it has to roll over again to tomorrow as I will spend my afternoon with my friend K having a cup of tea and a chat remembering her lovely partner.

People are much more important than my tasks.

As always thank you for your lovely comments, ideas, well wishes and advice….all gratefully received. x