World Book Day

 Today is World Book Day.  I can't imagine being without books.  I have to be reading a book and have books around me.  It's good to escape into the pages of a book especially in troubled times.  By books I mean any means of reading them.  On line, on an e-reader, cloud library, audio book or a physical book from the library or book shop.  I do struggle with font size nowadays so some of the favourite books I've pulled off our bookshelves would probably not now be read as they stand but I still have them and wouldn't want to be without them.

I've read lots of wonderful books over the years but the ones I've photographed are enduring favourites.  

In the centre my very favourite book, read many times 'A Month in the Country' by J L Carr.  Also re-read many times are 'The Enchanted April' by Elizabeth Von Arnim and 'The Daughter of Time' by Josephine Tey.  

 

I read 'A Child in the Forest' by Winifred Foley when I found out that one of my ancestors my 4xgreat-grandfather came to Derbyshire from the Forest of Dean in the 1780s.

Two other favourite books I can't find at the moment, perhaps they are in a box somewhere or maybe I loaned them to someone and they never came back. Anyway they are 'Testament of Youth' by Vera Brittain and 'Katherine' by Anya Seaton.  Winifred Holtby who wrote South Riding was a friend of Vera Brittain and the preface of my copy was written by Vera's daughter Shirley Williams.

I did find both copies of a book that introduced me to Georgette Heyer whilst I was still at school in the 1960s.  I read the older version from 1946 from my Mum and Dad's bookshelves and then must have later bought a copy for myself.  It cost three shillings and sixpence.

Many of these books are old, much faded with browned pages but somehow I can't part with them, they are old friends. 

 I haven't even touched on favourite classics or non-fiction.  Perhaps they will be for another day.

Right, I'm off to sit in my comfy chair, with a mug of tea and a good book.  Do share your favourites, it would be lovely to hear your choices.  I expect they will all be very different.

Take care.

It's Friday

It's been a busy week.  Medical appointments Monday and Wednesday for me.  A Geological group meeting on Thursday for Paul.  

Whilst out for walks over the last week or two we've spotted some bright and cheerful things.

A Snoopy Trail is coming to Trentham Gardens in March.  That will be fun.  Love Snoopy.  Many years ago I had a yellow Woodstock (Snoopy's little bird friend) I wonder what happened to it? I probably gave it away.

There is another outdoor art exhibition in the City Centre in the Bethesda Chapel Gardens opposite the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.  The Museum building is closed at the moment for refurbishment.

Charles William Brown (1882-1961) was born on Biddulph Moor* and worked in both the farming and mining industries.  He took up painting on his retirement.  Here is a -link- to more information from the Barewall Gallery in Burslem.  * The source of the River Trent is on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor where it rises as a small stream making its way through Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire across country until it meets the River Ouse and the North Sea between Kingston-upon-Hull and Immingham.

The paintings are of local places and happenings.  All painted in the early 1950s.  The three below caught my eye.

Landscape with bus 1955.  I'm guessing a day trip into the Staffordshire Moorlands or the Peak District., mainly because of the stone walls around the fields.

Shelton Bar from the Allotments 1950.  Shelton Bar was a major steel works in the city.  Closed now, of course as are the coal mines and many of the pottery works too.  

Washing Line 1952.  A riot of colour.  It looks like a warm Summer day.

A red squirrel at the Peak Wildlife Park.  He had a damp tail but was enjoying tucking into his breakfast hazelnut.

Snowdrops at Wolseley Bridge nature reserve.

My photos don't do the carpets of white under the trees justice.  There were a few daffodils dotted around amongst them.

A trip to the Library this morning to take books back and seek something new to read.  I took ages to find books to bring home but three came with me.  All authors I've read before.

Bad news this morning when we learned that a friend had fallen and broken her ankle and leg.  We will go to visit next week hopefully.  She and her husband spent most the the Summer and Autumn last year helping a neighbour who had fallen and broken her ankle quite badly now our friend has done the same.  

All for now.

February Days

February weather has been grey and damp so far.  Local walks have lifted spirits a little even if we have to zig-zag and slalom around the rain filled pot holes and continual roadworks to get there.

Some encouraging signs of Spring at Trentham this week.

Witch hazel  

Daphne - the scent was wonderful, soft and sweet.  

Snowdrops, flowering on either side of the pathways, glowing in the dull air like little nightlights.

Little Egret - we hadn't seen one for a while but two were spotted on this visit.  Lots of Herons too.

Cooking in a warm kitchen.  Paul made Leek and Potato Soup and I made cheese scones to go with it.

Just the thing to liven up dull, grey days.  Not the most attractive scones I've ever made but tasty nonetheless.

Evening visitor to the garden.  I could just about snap this photo with the outside lights on, he or she wasn't at all bothered as it tucked into the fox's food.

Books from the library and one loaned from a friend.  Lots of interesting reading to write about possibly in a later post.

It's raining again today we managed a walk before the heavy rain started.  Now it's time for lunch and some of the soup left over from yesterday.

All for now.

Books and Baskets

 On Wednesday we had a lovely day out when we met up with old friends from Beeston, Nottingham at the village of Cromford in Derbyshire. (I mention Nottingham as there is also a Beeston in Cheshire, not so many miles away)   Cromford is a great place to meet up being about halfway between their home and ours.

Cromford is most famous for its industrial history and heritage.  It's two mills - Arkwright's Mill and the later Masson Mill - both are open for visits, although perhaps seasonal in the case of the latter. The village is also known for its canal side walks and I've taken you to these places many times over the years I've been writing this blog.  In fact my very first post was about Dab Chicks on the Cromford Canal. 

On this visit we stayed in the centre of the village.  One of it's main attraction is, of course, Scarthin Books - link to their website.  Again I've written about the shop before.  I love its higgledy-piggledy rooms, creaky stairs and overloaded bookshelves also the café hidden behind them. 

After morning coffee there we spent ages looking at the books.  Our friends bought some books but this time we didn't make any purchases.  

When we visited  earlier this year I bought a Persephone book. Here is a link to the post I wrote in January. I always love their bright window boxes.

After a leisurely lunch at The Boat Inn went in search of the basket makers - link to their website.

They are based at the Water Mill on Water Lane across the mill pond from the bookshop.

There were lots of lovely baskets in the retail area.  

Our friends wanted to enquire about basket repairs as they had an old beloved basket that had a broken handle.

All too soon it was time to say farewell and set off for home. 

Orchids and books

 In February we were given an Orchid as part of a thank you present.  I wrote about it at the time - here.

About three weeks ago the last of the flowers died off so we freed the plant from its wire support and let it grow as it wanted.  Soon more flower buds appeared and now we have more flowers on the first of the two stems and buds enlarging on the second.  I'm hoping we can keep it going for a while longer.

In my last post I promised recent reading and more wallabies.

I've been reading quite a few books that had been reserved at the library over the last couple of months and as often happens they were ready for collection almost at the same time.

I enjoyed reading Gill Hornby's novel The Elopement, just as much as I did her first two Miss Austen and Godmersham Park.  All three feature the Austen and Knight families and are well researched and easy to read.  The fourth novel from the Reverend Richard Coles A Death on Location is just as gently amusing and entertaining as the the first three.

The Red Shore by William Shaw introduces a new detective called Eden Driscoll.  I've read all of William Shaw's DS Alexandra Cupidi novels which are set in Dungeness.  The new setting for this novel is Teignmouth in Devon.  I have many happy childhood memories of Teignmouth as we spent a couple of weeks there each summer over a number of years.  We stayed at the same guest house and always had a beach hut belonging to them on the back beach where the ferry crosses the Teign estury to Shaldon.  The setting for the book is in the area where we had the beach hut. I hope there are more books in this new series as I really enjoyed this one.

Above me and my cousin John on one of those holidays.  I'm not sure how old we were, perhaps nine or ten.  John was just two weeks older than me.  He would have been seventy five this coming Friday.

Death in Blitz City by David Young is set in Hull and has quite a convoluted storyline with several different elements shooting off at tangents until all is revealed.  It took a while to get into but I did finish reading it.

Another book I read on e-books Cloud Library  was Death at the White Heart by Chris Chibnall.  (I forgot to take a photo of the cover.) I hope this is the start of a series as I enjoyed it. 

I have three more books reserved but I suspect they will be longer getting around to my turn.  They are The Black Wolf by Louise Penny, Deadly Remains by Kate Ellis and The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith.

Two more Wallabies spotted over the last few days.

Wobbly painted by the Rachael and Phillippa Corcutt Collective in collaboration with Borderland Voices.  He's at the Manifold Valley Visitor Centre at Hulme End near Hartington.

We treated ourselves to a coffee at The Tea Junction tea rooms.

The Wallaby above is Bere painted by Nellie Shepherd and Briony Eyre from the Bullclough School of Art in collaboration with Beresford Memorial First School.  This one is outside the Peak Wildlife Park.

All for now.

Five Little Things

 We've been watching the Great Crested Grebes on the lake for the past few weeks.

Nest building

Sitting on eggs

Catching Food.  Lets hope we see some chicks soon.  I love their stripey, humbug appearance and the way they travel on a parent's back. 

Family History

I've been finding more family history on line.  I knew about this family but didn't have details of where they lived in- between my great great grandfather Alexander Young being born in Loughborough, Leicestershire and later census details of the family in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.  It seems he married my great great grandmother Rebecca Webb in Lenton, Nottingham.  They married on 1st March 1857.

On the 1861 Census the couple are living at 145 Little John Street, St Anne's, Nottingham.  Alexander was a tailor and you can see from the other entries that most people worked in the textile industries in Nottingham famous for both lace and hosiery.  Alexander was the son of John Young who moved to Loughborough from Kirkaldy, in Fife, Scotland some time in the 1820s.  John, my 3x great grandfather, married Maria Parkinson, my 3 x great grandmother, at All Saints Church, Loughborough in 1826. Ten years later they had  five of their children, including my great great grandfather Alexander, baptised at the Dead Lane Primitive Methodist Chapel in Loughborough on the same day.

In the garden the sweet peas are doing well, as are the strawberries.

Also in the garden a very relaxed fox.  

They visit early morning and late evening.  We thought they only had one cub this year as they were bringing one cub at a time into the garden but last night both parents arrived with two cubs.  Apparently they do separate the cubs to keep them safe from predators when they are very young.

It was too dark to take any photos of the cubs but it was a joy to watch them run and play around the garden.

As well dabbling in family history I've been reading.  I took these two books back to the library this morning.  Both read and enjoyed.  I did wonder about the new Elly Griffiths and if I would be able to read it as it has a time travel theme and I don't usually read anything that is time travel, fantasy or science fiction but I stuck with it and did enjoy it in the end as the writing is so good.

After leaving the library we popped into the Emma Bridgewater factory shop for coffee, the garden at the side of the factory was looking lovely.

There were some beautiful roses and the ones below caught my eye.

So pretty.

Well I think that is more or less a Friday five.  I'll be back in June.