Out and About

On Saturday we went over to Nottingham to have lunch with friends.  On the way over we stopped to look at St Mary's Church in Attenborough because I wanted to find the memorial to the victims of the Chilwell shell factory explosion for my last post.  It took us a while to find it in the churchyard.   I asked a local lady where it was but she didn't know.  She had come to the church to look at the bazaar and wondered why it was closed  even though I wasn't local I was able to tell her it was actually in the village hall but only because I'd seen it mentioned on the church's website whilst I was looking up details about the memorial the day before.

The church does open three days a week but not on Saturdays so I'd like to go back some time and look again.  The house to the right of the church in the photo below is Ireton House.  It was the family home of Henry Ireton a general in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil Wars and the son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell, he married Cromwell's daughter Bridget.  He was baptised at the church on 3rd November 1611.

  I've always been fascinated by Henry Ireton since I had to study the Putney Debates as part of my 'England in the 17th Century' course for the Open University.  Although he fought on the side of Parliament during the civil wars he was wary of all the radical groups that grew at that time and he still believed in the constitution of King and parliament.

Just near the church is a path to the Attenborough Nature Reserve.  We visited a few years ago (seems like only two but it was five) and here is a - link - to the post I wrote at the time where you can see a photograph of the visitor centre.

From here we went to pick up our friends from home and then out towards the village of Draycott where we had a wonderful lunch in The Beetroot Tree.  The food was tasty we all had Homity pie and a winter salad followed by a lemon meringue. The service was excellent if a little slow but that was quite understandable as they cook whilst you wait and it was very busy.   Inside, as well as the cafe, is an upstairs exhibition area as well as sales of different crafts, fair trade goods and crafting supplies.  They also do workshops and courses.

We were there over two hours after which we drove back towards the city and to the Djanogly Art Gallery which is part of The Lakeside Arts complex at Nottingham University.   We went in to see the Lowry exhibition they have on at the moment.  As it was late on a Saturday afternoon it was quite busy and we struggled to see some of the paintings and drawings.  As it is on until the end of February I think we may go back again.  I have seen quite a few of Lowry's paintings at The Lowry in Salford and there are some of his paintings in our local museum.  I just love them.  I was particularly struck by a couple of paintings he'd done of a deserted house on an island in the middle of an industrial wasteland, very dark and stark but quite different from his densely peopled city streets.

We also visited the newly opened University Museum which is near the gallery.  It was so quiet in there after the Lowry exhibition. Based on the Romano/British collections of Felix Oswald which were donated to the University in 1933 there is lots to see including a case of artifacts found in Nottingham's famous caves. Again we will have to go back and look some more.  When we left it was dark so I couldn't take a photo of the new building.

Before I leave you I just want to show you a couple of photos I took in the back garden late on Tuesday afternoon the sunlight after all the rain we'd had was golden......

and quite beautiful.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Photo Scavenger Hunt - November 2011

Here are my photos for this month's Photo Scavenger Hunt.  A lot of them are taken at home as I haven't been out and about very much this month. Thanks as always to Kathy at Postcards from the P.P. for coming up with the monthly challenges.  Here is a link to some of the other participating blogs.

 A Lucky Charm

A little black pottery cat with Looe stamped on its back. I'm not sure if I bought it whilst on holiday or if it was given to me after someone else's holiday.  I've kept it since I was a child and it lives in my 'treasures' box.

A Poppy

Well, a poppy seed head anyway.  I collected some earlier this year from the garden and dried them out and placed them in a vase.  I made this photo black and white as it shows more detail that way.

A Self-portrait

Taken in the bathroom mirror.  I've done this one in sepia tone just as an experiment.

Comfort Food

A bowl of Macaroni Cheese is always comforting!

Memorial

A memorial in the churchyard of St Mary's, Attenborough, Nottinghamshire to all the civilian workers who lost their lives in an explosion at the National Shell Filling Factory in nearby Chilwell on 1st July 1918.  One hundred and thirty seven men and women were killed - only thirty two of them could be positively identified.  They were buried in a mass grave in the churchyard.  Two hundred and fifty people were injured. The blast was heard over 20 miles away.  Photo taken on 26th November.

Polka Dots

I'm never sure of the difference between spots and polka dots but anyway this is the spotty Aga at the Emma Bridgewater Factory Shop, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.

Silhouette

Of a finger-post taken at The Longshaw Estate in Derbyshire on 19th November.  It was an extremely sunny day so just right for taking a silhouette.

 Something Purple

A cyclamen growing in the hot-house at Buxton Pavilion, Buxton, Derbyshire taken on 12th November.

 

 Something that lights up

A display case in the Museum in Buxton, Derbyshire

Something you have made

A Coffee and Walnut Cake for a friend's birthday.

Staircase

Staircase in the upstairs art gallery of The Beetroot Tree, Draycott, Derbyshire taken on 26th November.

Warmth
A warming bowl of Broccoli and Stilton soup for lunch much appreciated after a brisk walk in the chilling wind.

That's it for this month - just one more to go!

Holly Hobbie

I was thinking about this plate the other day and went on a search for it in the dark, depths of the cupboard finally finding it amongst the sea of orange and brown Hornsea wares that were both mine (Saffron) and my mother's (Bronte).  We both started collecting it at the same time in the mid 70s after a visit to the factory on the South Yorkshire coast with the village WI that my Mum belonged to.  Anyway, back to the plate and  Holly Hobbie as she and her little ginger cat always make me smile.

I think Mum bought her at a charity shop in the local town and she went on display soon after,  hanging on the bright turquoise wall in the back porch right opposite the back door.  I remember she was the first thing you saw when you went into the house high up over a bookcase which was full of old hard backed books like dictionaries,  encyclopedias, little china ornaments and dangling spider plants.  The back door was at the top of three steps on which the rusty tin containing tokens for the milkman was always placed.  At the side of the steps was a small paved area with a seat under a window and which, in spring and summer. was always full of pots of colourful flowers.

Through the door, which was always unlocked and often, in summer, open with one of those candy striped plastic fly curtains fluttering in the breeze, past the downstairs cloakroom and into a warm living room with its Rayburn fire and settee covered in crocheted granny square throws and plush velvety cushions.  Holly Hobbie stayed in her place on the porch wall way after Mum died as Dad wouldn't move anything, any ornament or picture had to be left just as Mum had wanted it.  Later, when my sister and I cleared the house we boxed and bagged everything and halved the boxes and took them home sorting through them at our leisure.  Many of the things went to charity shops but I kept this plate.  I desperately need to have another clear out and I think all the Hornsea stuff will have to go to a charity shop or free to a good home if I can find someone who collects it. I'm holding on to the plate though as I love the words on it!

I always thought Holly Hobbie was the name of the little bonneted girl but it is also the name of the designer of the complete range of Holly Hobbie goods.  Here is a  - link - to her Wikipedia entry so you can read more about her.

You don't live here!!

Casper is a lovely cat!  He has a lovely home!  He has caring owners (servants) who tend to his every whim, who paid out hundreds of pounds in vet's bills when he was run over by a car last summer.

He is now supposed to be on a diet to help him lose the weight he gained after so much inactivity during his time with a steel pin in his leg.   Of course, he's found another source of food - in our house!  He waits for us to go out and then pops into his local cafe!

Where he can empty Max's and Chloe's bowls of food and then have a snooze on the sofa in the conservatory where he has easy access to the cat flap.   This week he has got so confident that he didn't move when I took these photos.  He's such a lovely, gentle cat, but he's becoming a pain in the posterior as when we go out for any length of time our cats have to be kept in,  otherwise he would eat all their food and they would be very hungry when we got home.

A walk around Buxton

When asked where I would like to go today I replied - a nice town with historic buildings, a market, a museum and park with somewhere we can sit and enjoy a coffee in pleasant surroundings - Buxton it was then!

We usually park up near the town hall on The Slopes - I love this row of houses with the bay windows.  I wonder if there are seats in the upper ones?  If I lived in one of those I would spend ages gazing out of the windows watching the happenings in the town.

 From The Slopes there is a lovely view down to The Crescent

and also to the Buxton Baths

There are some lovely shops in the Cavendish arcade within the Baths building.  I did my first bit of Christmas shopping in Atticus Boo.  My second bit of  seasonal shopping was a pudding from Waitrose.  I used to make a Christmas pudding around this time every year but for the last couple of years we've bought a small one just for two.

After a cup of coffee in a pleasant cafe called No 6 The Square, just round the corner from The Crescent and opposite the Opera House,  we set off for the Museum and a wander around the galleries as well as a look at the temporary exhibitions.

 Then we had a walk in the Pavilion Gardens which were looking lovely in the sunlight.

There was a Saturday Bazaar taking place in the Pavilion with lots of wonderful craft work and tasty goodies on sale and  also some interesting art work in the displays in the Tourist Information Centre.

Outside the fire brigade were putting Christmas lights in the trees.

It was time to head towards home but we diverted out towards Wildboarclough instead of going back towards Leek....

.....and down to Rudyard Lake for a cup of tea and piece of cake before heading off through Endon and Stockton Brook towards Stoke and home.

Wasn't it wonderful to see some sun today after such a grey, dull and rainy week?

Edit 13/11/11 - I forgot to mention that I wrote a Remembrance post on my Family History blog this year - link in my sidebar.

They were Three Sisters

Last night, courtesy of the New Vic Theatre and Northern Broadsides, we were transported up to the windswept Yorkshire Moors and back in time to the 1840s to a parsonage in Haworth where three sisters lived their daily lives trapped by place and time struggling with their growing awareness of the fleeting, fretfulness of life and the looming presence of death.
In the darkened theatre with the sound of wind howling in the background and a candlelit table with three writing desks the play starts with the line "Mother died on a day like this" and so the three Bronte sisters, Charlotte (the small, plain  and compassionate one)  Emily (the odd, wild and restless one) and Anne (the young, pretty, outspoken one) come to life.
Though troubled with worries about their ageing father Patrick, drunken brother Branwell and visited by various other characters like the doctor, the teacher and the  'love-sick' curate they encourage each other to write.  Like the three sisters in Chekhov's play who long to go to Moscow these three long to go to London.
In the last act as they see their brother spiral into a drunken, debt ridden life they cling to what they believe will be their purpose in life as Charlotte says  "Soon the years will have passed and we'll be gone. Our faces will be forgotten, our voices will be forgotten, all that mattered to the three of us will be forgotten.  But there'll be our books.  And in the end, we will be remembered"

This is a new play by Blake Morrison. directed by Barrie Rutter and acted by an outstanding cast of performers.   It's not as morbid as it sounds, there are lots of humorous moments,  but throughout there is the awareness, through hindsight, of what is to come.  It is a brilliant play! See it if you can.

I found the trailer below to give you an idea of what to expect.......

On the Fence

It was wonderful to see a thrush in the garden again over last weekend.  He or she stayed around long enough for me to run upstairs, get out my camera and take a photo through the landing window as it sat for quite a while on our side fence.  I was quite pleased with the result considering that it was taken through double glazing and that I couldn't seem to keep the camera still.  I think it is a Song Thrush as its feathers are quite dark and its spots brown rather than the black spots and paler feathers of the Mistle Thrush.  The shorter, sturdier neck and the song pattern we heard just before we saw it convinces me that it is a Song Thrush.  Does any one know?

Sadly the decline in song thrush numbers across the country especially on farmland means it is an endangered species accorded 'red status' by the RSPB and given high priority for conservation.  I'm pleased we have one in our garden.

Photo Scavenger Hunt - October 2011

It's Photo Scavenger Hunt time again hasn't this month gone by so quickly? Thanks as always to Kathy at Postcards from the P.P. for coming up with the monthly challenges.  Here is a link to some of the other participating blogs.

I feel as if I haven't done very well this time, although I've found and photographed all the topics, I'm not satisfied with some of the results and feel that I could have done better.  Anyway here they are in no particular order......

Crunchy Leaves

and conkers collected on a leaf strewn walk at The Brampton in Newcastle-under-Lyme.  

Golden

A lovely Chestnut tree in the pleasure gardens at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire.  The leaves looked so beautifully golden in the afternoon sun.

Candlelit

Candles illuminate some pom pom chrysanthemums in a vase on the table.

Pumpkin

Harvested from our garden - we managed four in all two small and two larger ones.  I think we had more last year and they matured a little later than this year.  We used the same seed this year as last so next year we will buy new seed and see if we can grow some darker more orange pumpkins.

Something eerie

At Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, there is a bridge from the churchyard over an open passage way from the shop and cafe to the toilets.  As we walked across I looked over the wall and saw the figure on the ground below.  Was it meant to be there?  Was it in the process of being moved?  Was it real?  Was it a fake/backdrop for some sort of theatrical production or a display?  Why was it upside down?  It reminded me of  Henry Wallis's painting of the death of the tragic 18th century poet Thomas Chatterton  who, aptly for this topic, influenced some of the later Romantic and Gothic writers of the early 19th century. Very odd, very eerie!

A black cat
It's a regular visitor to the garden and despite its stern look is quite friendly.

 A River

The River Bollin as it runs by the side of Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, Cheshire.  The water from the river was used to power the cotton looms in the mill.

Heritage

Children learning about their heritage by  re-enacting the past at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, Cheshire

Graffiti/street art
In an underpass in Newcastle-under-Lyme.  Official and unofficial  street art!

Fog/mist
On the A50 near Uttoxeter

Sunset

Taken from the garden on the evening of 26th October.  What a strange light it was,  a hectic mass of black swirling clouds tinged with deep gold.  It was constantly changing;  the gold seeming to celebrate the two quite lovely days that had gone before and the black forewarning of the next day's heavy rain.

A witch's hat/broomstick
Which one will you choose?  A selection of hats in the clearance sale at TKMax, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.  I like the orange and black one with the little curl on the back - in the middle of the top row.

The One Where.........

........the content of the post bears no relation to the photograph accompanying it! 

Swan on the lake at Trentham Estate taken last Sunday morning

 In a week where everything has been about the glorious weather, (except yesterday but we did need the rain!), woodsmoke in the air,  Halloween pumpkins and pomegranates in the market, ghostly and macabre apparitions in shop windows, children off school on bikes and scooters down the road, Diwali fireworks and a 'penny for the guy' collector we have received our first Christmas card.   I wasn't in the least surprised to receive it so early, knowing from whom it came, but what did surprise me was to receive one for 2012 as well.  Let me explain!

We have a dear elderly friend who, each year sends or gives us a package containing an Easter card, a wedding anniversary card and two birthday cards and I keep them safe and open them as each event comes along.  Our friend is now 86 and is concerned about losing her memory - I have to say when I speak to her each Sunday morning she is as bright as a button and when I can't remember something like a name or place she is quick to fill in the blanks. She also tells me that non of her family have ever lived over the age of 87 and so she has sent us a card for 2012  just in case she  a. loses her memory or b. doesn't get to the end of next year.  Half of me is amused by this but the other half feels quite sad, disturbed, uneasy - what other words can I use to describe the whirligig of emotions?   I expect I will put the card somewhere safe (not too safe or I'll never find it!) and open it  when the time is right and hope I can still 'phone her to say thank you.  

On a brighter note don't forget it is 'Feed the Birds' day tomorrow.  Here is a link to the - RSPB - site.  I shall just carry on as normal as I feed the birds every morning - I love to sit and watch them through the window as I eat my lunch.  Also tomorrow is the end of British Summer Time so the clocks go back an hour.  Remember Spring forward and Fall (Autumn) back. This of course means the evenings getting darker earlier which I don't like very much.

We've got a busy weekend ahead with a first for me of a Saturday funeral - I've never come across that before - so I'm going to schedule my post of photos for the October Scavenger Hunt and hope that blogger works as it should.

Well, whatever you have planned or not as the case maybe,  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend:)