Unlucky Friday?

Well, it's Friday 13th, do you dread it or does it not bother you at all?  I think we had all our strange happenings yesterday.  We were going to go out for the day as the weather was forecast to be dry and sunny.  Paul got the car out of the garage ready and popped to the Co-op for milk and a newspaper.  When he got back to the car park it wouldn't start.  Greenflag were called and were with him in about forty minutes.  Luckily the Co-op has a coffee machine so he was able to sit in the car with a drink and the newspaper whilst he waited.  It was the battery.  Luckily the mechanic who turned up had a van full of them and a new one was fitted.  The old one was taken away.  It was the original one fitted by the factory eleven years ago so had done well.

We decided then that we'd not go on our original planned outing and pop to the Dorothy Clive gardens for lunch instead.  Big mistake!  Halfway along there were roadworks with badly adjusted timings and a junction where two lanes had to run into one.  Forty minutes later we got to the junction and decided to turn left towards home and ended up at  Trentham Gardens.  Not that I minded, the walk was lovely and it was good to get out into the fresh air.

 

Even though it was cold it was bright and for some reason very quiet.  I think possibly lots of people walk early in the morning or after lunch.

This morning when we woke there was a frost.  It's typical November weather now.  Misty or frosty early mornings, pink or red skies at dusk.  We've been out this morning and bought vegetables to make soup.  It's definitely soup weather.  Leek and potato first I think, we can make some to eat and some to freeze. 

I was thinking about superstitions.  Some I remember from childhood.  My step-father was quite superstitious.  He didn't like passing people on stairs, didn't like umbrellas up in the house to dry out and always threw salt over his left shoulder if any was spilt.  Some superstitions like not walking under ladders are really quite practical. The black cat superstition always confused me as a child as some people said it was bad luck if a black cat crossed your path and some said it was good luck.  I remember years ago being give a pottery black cat as a souvenir from a holiday.  On it were painted the words 'Lucky Black Cat'.  

 It was also a time when at or just after midnight on New Year's Eve a dark haired person was designated to bring a piece of coal over the doorstep the ritual was known as first footing.  It was supposed to bring good luck into the house for the rest of the year.

I'm sure there are many more superstitions around in different parts of the world.

Well that's all for now.  Have a good weekend.

A Riverside Walk

 On Thursday we ventured just a little further afield for a walk.  It sounds as if we drove a long way but in fact it was just less than forty minutes away from home.

The village of  Ilam was our destination.  We parked up near the Youth Hostel.  The estate is maintained by the National Trust.  

It's one of my favourite local places to visit.

The views are amazing.  Above and below the Church of The Holy Cross.  Over the other side of the hills is Dovedale.

We walked by the Manifold river which runs through the estate.

We stopped to watch the Dippers displaying.

After a visit to the second hand book shop it was time to pop inside the tea rooms.

It was very quiet but after we settled down a few more people came in.

It was tempting to try this month's NT scone flavour which was pear and caramelised biscuit.  The scones were huge so we shared one.

  I'd been saying for ages that we didn't seem to have had any post for days and I knew I was expecting one or two things from my Haematology doctor.  On Wednesday a huge pile of post arrived with about fifteen items in all.  The usual seasonal catalogues, charity letters and junk mail but also two letters about my next hospital appointment a letter about my pension and one from the dental practice about changes happening there.  Luckily I knew about the hospital appointment from PKB (patient knows best) but it is a worry for those people who rely on the postal system to receive important letters.  Not everyone has access to a computer or a smart phone.

Not too many fireworks on Thursday.  The foxes visited early just as if they knew they needed to get back to their den to hole up before dark and the noises began.

Apologies, the fox photo was taken in low light through a not so clean kitchen window so it's a little blurry.

All for now, have a good weekend.

Into November

Into November with some Autumnal trees.  Photos taken at the Dorothy Clive gardens early last week.

It was a short and lovely walk after coffee and a teacake in the tea room.  The colours were stunning.

What else have I been doing?  Mostly reading in the afternoons as I'm still not feeling great after the virus which pinched most of October.  I picked up a book in the library.  It sounded intriguing.  The words Curator, Castles and Medieval King sounded right up my street.

I'm halfway through and it is unusual and easy to read.  I'm enjoying it so far as it drifts between the present day and the court of the King.  I see it is shortlisted for this year's Booker prize.  I wonder if it will win?

Other books waiting on my kindle are:-

The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris by Daisy Wood and The Beaulieu Allotments Historical Society by Olivia Hayfield.

None of them my usual crime fiction choice of reading.  It will make a change.  I have two books by my favourite crime writers reserved at the library.  The Dying Light by Ann Cleeves and  Miss Wolcott's Ghost by Louise Penny.

I received an e-mail from the RSPB urging  me to vote for this year's 'Bird of the Year' 

There are five birds on the list, four listed as UK conservation status Red and one as Amber.  I was torn between two.  The Lapwing or Peewit as we used to call it as children.  Growing up in a small Derbyshire village the fields were full of them.  Cuckoos and House Martins also bring back memories of that time.  However I eventually opted for the Greenfinch because when we first came to live here they were one of the most often seen birds in the garden.  We've seen them dwindle over the last thirty years until we didn't see one for ages.  This last couple of years we've seen one or two pairs.  In fact there was one on the bird feeders this morning, I didn't have my camera handy when I saw it so no photos.
All for now. Take care.

Little Things

It's a time of looking for diversions.  I'm trying to think about and enjoy small things.  News is worrying, the weather too. 

Fox in a windy garden

 Outside the sky is a dark grey and the trees in the garden are whirling their branches around with abandon, yet still the Goldfinches fly towards the swinging feeders in a mad flurry, keen to top themselves up with energy before dusk appears. 

Well, I wrote those words on Saturday, on Sunday morning we woke up to find the bird feeders on the floor and the pole snapped in two places.   Luckily it missed the greenhouse windows as it fell.

 The honeysuckle arch had also collapsed and broken. The only other damage appears to be the hanging basket which was dangling on one chain.  Luckily it was rescued before the plants fell out.  We forgot to take it down during the storm.

We popped out to the garden centre at Trentham yesterday morning and bought a cheap and cheerful replacement feeder as the birds (and squirrels) were confused as to where their source of food had gone to.

It was such a wet day at Trentham yesterday but there is plenty to see there at the moment.  I've done a collage of some of the things on offer, photos taken early last week.  We went for a coffee and walk there after I'd had my three monthly blood test (for the PVJak2) it was good to get out in the fresh air.  

The Staffy trail is still around the lake and there is a new Shaun the Sheep trail around the gardens.  Of course Halloween is near so there were pumpkins and of course a few skeletons, it's that time of year.

As I've very little to write about at the moment.  I'll be back in November.

Take care.

Bits and Pieces

 Apologies for a prolonged absence.  We've both had awful coughs and colds over what seems like ages but is about three weeks.  I can't remember when I last had such a bad cold.  It took me back to those teenage years when two or three colds a year were the norm.  Getting older built in the immunity and colds have seemed few and far between over the last decade or two.  As well as home comforts fresh air was needed.

We walked where we could keep away from crowds. Seeking out Autumnal colour.

Fungi was spotted too.  It's a good year for it.

Fly Agaric

Cauliflower fungus

Shaggy Inkcap or lawyers wig.

Not sure what the ones above are called but there were loads of them all along the walk.

I've also been reading quite a bit.

Dear Mum - Letters from Orkney to Sheffield by Susan Tyzack is a series of letters from the author's mother kept by the author's grandmother, which were written home to Sheffield from an Orkney naval base during the last year of the second world war.  The book also tells of the author's own experiences of retiring to Orkney and becoming involved in the local community.

'When I'm in Orkney, I can barely imagine Africa.  I love the cleanliness here.  The bare spare horizontals. The smooth sweep of hill and loch, open, untrammelled by trees. The cold smell of the air.  The shock of a windless day, or the hunch into a near gale, the lean of the walk into it. The hidden hare in the back garden tussocks, the trilling of a curlew.  The long view.  The ever-mutable arc of the enormous sky.'

Sue was a colleague of Paul's.  They worked together in the biology department of the local college for a few years.  She left the college to work in Tanzania and eventually moved to Orkney not far from where her mother was stationed.  Recently we received the sad news via her son that she had died suddenly.  She has left behind a wonderful account of both her and her mother's time in Orkney.

Meanwhile in the garden the foxes are back and paired up ready for the next seasons of Winter into Spring.

and some of the apples are finally ripe enough to take gently from the tree.  

 All for now.  

At Harlech

 We arrived early at Harlech castle as we wanted to have breakfast in their café.  I loved the post box topping just outside the entrance.

It was a cold and damp morning so different from the day before at Llanbedrog.  After coffee and scrambled eggs on toast we set out along the bridge into the castle.  I've taken you here a couple of times in previous posts.  This time we didn't go up onto the battlements as it was far too windy.

We walked around the outside wall first and nearly got blown away.  There are some lovely views across the town and down to the coast from there.

The Railway Station

Towards the sea

Roof tops and chimneys

Distant hills and mountains

I didn't take too many photos inside the castle.  Just of things that caught my eye.

The castle is one of a number of castles built for Edward I during his invasion of Wales between 1282 and 1289.

Below is a statue of Branwen daughter of Llyr.  She is one of the main characters of the Welsh folk tale know as The Second Branch of Mabinogi.  The story is that she trained a starling to take a message to her brother at Harlech castle to bring a force of his men to Ireland to save her from a cruel husband who had banished her to the kitchens to work as a maid where she was beaten daily.  The story goes that she returned to Harlech but died of a broken heart because of the devastation of the war caused by these actions. 

 

The statue stood out against the grey stone. Here is a -link- to the full folklore tale of Branwen.

Below is another  statue relating to the story of Branwen, who left the castle at Harlech to marry the king of Ireland.  Their son the young king Gwern was killed in the war that followed.  The statue shows Bendigeidfran, brother of Branwen, carrying the body of his nephew Gwern.  The sculptor shows the futility of war and the ensuing grief of loss.

After a walk around the little town.  It was time for another coffee, well tea for me as they didn't have de-caff coffee and I'd already had one coffee that morning.  I try to only have two a day.

Over the next few days we are changing our internet provider.  I'm not sure how smoothly that will go, I'm sure there will be some problems. I don't know when I will be back.  Some time in October I hope.