Perfect day

The wedding, was wonderful, the ceremony was all the more meaningful for it’s simplicity, so many of the fripperies  of a traditional church wedding are cleaved away in a Quaker ceremony, leaving the bride and groom, and what we have all come to witness, their commitment to one another, at center of the occasion, it was very moving. Having spent over two decades dealing with the hype and drama of other peoples weddings, when I worked in the flower business, where I am sure many couples had given more thought to whether or not the colour of the bridesmaids dress clashed with the best-man’s cravat, than to the reason why they are getting married in the first place, it was like a breath of fresh air. Most of the ceremony is conducted in silence, this was a bit of a challenge to some of us, in spite of the fact I had checked three time that I had turned my mobile phone off, I still wished I had left it in the mini bus, just to be on the safe side.

We could not have been made more welcome at the ceremony by the other friends at the meeting house, they made us a splendid tea that included my all time favourite cake, ginger cake

After tea, cake and photographs in the garden, we went on to the reception, did I mention I thought some care might have gone into the selection of the reception venue and that real ale might be involved?

 

The meal  at the Thatchers Arms, Mount Bures, in Essex, was divine, I had rack of lamb with rosemary mash, served with a rich gravy, as dark as Tudor oak; the wedding cake was chocolate, with just a hint of something, alcoholic and citrus in the cream, the boys ate two servings, well most of us did actually, truth be told.

We sat out in the sun for a while, and took part in one or two ‘activities’ that had been arranged for us, (I may post more about that) to allow time our ample meal to digest and the band to set up. A cracking band, brought about much dancing, (even Tom felt moved by the music, to get up on the dance floor and he was particularly impressed by the drumming) there was just a little disappointment that the band didn’t have ‘Tiger Feet’ by Mud, in the repertoire but they did have this Elvis

One of the things that made it such a special day, was not only seeing the bride and groom so very happy, meeting old friends, but in addition to that coming home having made some new friends too.

I don’t normally post personal photos on my blog, and I’ve not asked them if they mind, but I’ll chance it: here you go,  ladies and gentlemen, please raise your glasses, a toast.

  ‘The bride and groom wishing them health and happiness, always.’

All Roads Lead to the Lake District (part III)

Buildings, fixtures and fittings

I suppose the more isolated an area the more vernacular the style of buildings, building were built to a specific style because they worked well, the local workforce knew how to build them and the building materials were readily available, its what gives an area its distinctive look.

Apologies to this family, for posting a photograph of their undergarments on the washing line across the ‘tinternet‘, it’s the house we are supposed to be looking at.

Farm buildings

This is Yew Tree Farm, as well as a working farm, it is a guest house and a cafe, it makes my heart sing, it is a business that is run with such finesse and attention to detail it is a joy to behold.

I went in the cafe for a cup of tea and a sit down, the tea is sold in half or pint mugs, you can see why this establishment has a place in my heart; the ladies in the cafe sold me a pasty, ‘just baked, fresh out of the oven’ I could write a whole blog post on this culinary delight, but a synopsis will have to do. The pastry, firm yet melt in the mouth, the filling, stuffed full of veg; potatoes carrot and marrowfat peas, farm reared lamb, with a hint of mint,served with home made chutney, eat one of these and you will never buy a ‘Gregg’s’ pasty ever again.

Fastened to the wall of the porch of Yew tree farm is the original back door of the farm, dating to C1720

I was going to say that it is it’s simplicity of its construction that appealed to me, but closer inspection shows it to have been, what I imagine for it’s period, to be ‘top of the range’, piece of joinery and a bit ‘posh’ for the average Lakeland farmhouse C1720. The face of the door is three planks of oak wide, studded with oak pegs, through to a second layer of smaller oak boards,

it is carved with a diamond pattern, (not easy to see on the photo) and the original hinges are to match.

Once upon a time some one would have been very proud of such a fine door.

All Roads Lead to the Lake District (part II)

The people

The National trust warden and his handsome dog, the third generation to accompany him in his work

The mountain biker, I told him he was looking rather photogenic, ‘Yes’ he replied you can call the shot, ‘Mountain Biker Lost’ so I did.

The farmer feeding his lambs, the black one being a bit of a maverick

The schoolkids setting out on an adventure, that was going to be wet.

The farmer, dog, sheep and lambs, heading for the fells, I think I’ve photographed him before

And last but least, Joe, doing a little archery in rather a splendid location

Joe got a little impatient waiting his turn, he claims he said he was ‘bored,’ the instructor insisted that Joe said that ‘archery was boring’ and so punished him because it isn’t!

 

It did wash off, in the end.

Blue Sky Thinking

A good way to start the day, I took this shot on my way to work this morning; delicious blue sky, spring grass and sexy curvy dry stone walls, the last time I mentioned sexy curvy walls, I had an email from a reader who said I needed to get out more.

Spring

It’s official, today is the vernal equinox and rain is lashing against the windows, it doesn’t look very spring like, but never the less,  I bring you a dual symbol of rebirth and spring growth, all wrapped up into one, a double tulip in an egg shell.

 

I’ve also been to Joe’s  schools Easter church service, church services are not my kind of thing, that said the vicar was a bit of a showman he had the kids ranging in age from, 5-15 totally focused, far different  than the boring stuffy kind of guy we got at our school services. The collection was taken during one of the hymns, which neatly side stepped any chance of the reoccurrence of an embarrassing incident  that took place a couple of years ago, when one of Tom’s class mates held the collection plate for the retiring collection (taken as the congregation left church) as money was placed on the collection plate, the boy kept up a commentary  of the running total,

‘£3,£4,£7′ and on he went, ‘£13, £15, £18′ as the donations grew, he was up to about £68, when a rather well heeled grandfather placed a crisp £20 note on the plate,

‘£88!’ his voice getting even bolder and  louder as his net takings took a giant  leap forward, he was a bit like a bookmaker on the track side at a racecourse, we could hear him, but couldn’t get through the melee at the church door to stop him! If any child was trying the same thing today, at least the powerful organ music would have drowned out the bottom line, I do like organ music.

So what ever you might or might not, be celebrating this weekend, have a good time, even if has to be ‘indoors if wet’ I was rather hoping for a spot of gardening, but I might just have to eat eggs instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Vernal Equinox, Eggs, Tulips, Easter Church Services, Chocolate, Spring

Celebration

It was party time at the weekend, an 80th birthday

we gathered at the Severn Valley Railway

It was an ideal location as we are a scattered clan; as well as the most senior member of the family the very smallest were in attendance

But it wasn’t all sepia tones, we had Champagne

and the birthday girl had, colourful gifts, flowers

     

and a magnificent cake, (the map is of a favorite family holiday location)

We had a lovely meal on the train and the staff were all excellent and equally as colourful as the party.

 

 

As well as chuffing up and down the line I had chance to play arty with the camera.

 

I even got to have a look around on the footplate

 

After a very pleasant day out, the journey home was enhanced by the fact we had been able to hand over the sails to BiL, that we collected for him the other week,therefore we didn’t have to share the car with them on the way home, or listen to the boys complaints that they smelt like wet dog.

 

Technorati Tags: Steam trains, party, flowers, Champagne

Serendipity

On our journey home from Blackpool took an unexpected and fortuitous turn, we had just driven past this wonderful sculpture,

 

I was lamenting how I would have loved to stop and take some photographs, but it was a busy road, with no obvious stopping places, when we stumbled upon the entrance to the studio of the maker of this magnificent installation (I’ve since discovered it is lit at night and changes colour)

I love art glass, I love stained glass, ( give me colour, give me colour, jewel like colours, I’ve never been a pastel sort of girl, and as for beige, well.) I was chuffed to bits to find that the studio was open and that John Ditchfield  was working at his art.

      

I’ve posted about glass before, and this link was very popular on the ‘clickometer’ so go have a play and blow your own vase.

If you have ever seen and enjoyed the work of Dale Chihuly its a pretty safe bet to say you will like Johns art, John uses quite a bit of iridescent luster in his work and the boys encouraged me to buy a piece, a green pod like garden ornament, will it get to the garde? well I am currently trying to work out which bit of garden would be a safe bet for it not to end up like this

in the mean time it sits happily in a cobalt blue dish, this makes me very happy because it is a ‘peacock’ colour combination which I love, John also works on a lot of architectural installations, this is a template for a pair of gates, nice eh? 2.6m high, made in wrought Iron, with infill of blue and green luster glass

There are large sculptures in the fields around the studio, they are great fun, very witty and as this is a visual art,  I’ll shut up and let you look;I hope you enjoy this looking at this  photofest as much as I did taking them.

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Art glass, stained glass, Glasform, Fun, Peacocks

Fire and Ice

Blowing hot and cold, we’ve had a lot of fun today,

a little scientific experiment the boys wanted to make a flame thrower,

it worked, as you can see.

For your information, after extensive field trials, cornflower was found towork best, blown through a length of copper pipe

I got chance to take some photographs, whist we were out at the fell races this morning, icicles at a weir

Red leaves in the river

When we got home, Tom found some ice in a bucket

Which we played around with in the setting sun

Then Joe smashed it to bits, which he toughly enjoyed, all in all a very nice day.

Waiting for the light

I was so excited when this morning dawned and it wasn’t lashing with rain, just a shame I can’t share with you the smell of wood smoke, coming from the chimney in this photo, that was rather nice too.

 

In the field, the sharp frost had made a crisp, granular topping to the squelchy sodden turf, it was a bit like putting your foot through the sugary bit on to of a Madeira cake, before sinking into the soft cake underneath.

Must go, late for work and the car needs defrosting and the lanes are treacherous with black ice, making them no place to hurry.

Technorati Tags: Ice, Rain, Floods, Sun, Dawn, Madeira cake, Sugar

Luxury

What’s your idea of luxury?

luxury (something that is an indulgence rather than a necessity)

What is your idea of a special gift; maybe its one of the following,

• A fine malt whisky
• An hour with a book 
• Turning off the alarm clock and going back to sleep?
• A fluffy sumptuous bath robe

Or maybe it something all together more random, I’d love to know.

Today I was given a luxurious gift, unexpectedly; out of the blue, a nice heap of grit and salt, right by our gate way. 

Whilst I have been trying to sort out the water/ice problems in the lane I asked the county council if they would leave us a heap of grit, so we could ‘look after ourselves’ a bit better, I was told by the very nice lady in the call centre place that it was no longer policy to provide heaps and we could only have grit if we had a grit bin, like this.

To get a grit bin we, would have to contact our town council to apply for a grit bin, and if the town council approved the application and once the grit bin was in situ, they would then fill it. By this time we would be reaching the summer solstice and ice wouldn’t be the issue. So I gave up.

Today the ‘roads gang’ came out to have a look at the pot holes, the pot holes that are now rapidly eroding into sump smashing craters and when after they had slithered and skidded their way up the lane, they took a much more pragmatic approach,

‘Oooh its a bit slippery’ they said, ‘we had better leave you a heap.’

And that’s just what they did: bliss our very own heap of grit, but I am a bit worried we might get a bit possessive about ‘our heap’, after all luxury goods get stolen, we had best set up ‘grit cam’ surveillance camera, to monitor the situation, we can hide it in the blue tits  nest box in the pine tree by the gate and  I  had best warn the neighbours, and tell them to go get their own heaps.