Autumn Colours.

Mother Nature really has put on a spectacular show of colours this year.  Perhaps that makes up somewhat for the rainy summer we had.  Sad to say this year summer was the wettest one we’ve had in decades!

Anyway, I just wanted to post a couple of photos I snapped yesterday when Victoria, the boys and I were in Towneley Park.

We had a lovely afternoon.  Okay, it was a little bit chilly but pleasantly so.  Just chilly enough to enjoy warming our hands on a hot coffee and to enjoy a hot snack, still al fresco though, at the cafe with the above very-easy-on-the-eye view.

I have more pictures but I don’t have the time to wade through them just now.  I’ve had a busy day today packing, doing housework and other stuff before William and I hit the road in the morning for the five hour drive to Oakdown.  It’ll be our last holiday of the year in Devon and we are both eager to get down there and enjoy it.

TTFN,

Kathleen.

Malham, North Yorkshire

Malham in north Yorkshire is beautiful, there is no other word for it!  William and I had the fun of exploring it for the first time last Sunday.  I really don’t know why we’ve never been to Malham before, it’s only an hour and a quarter away from us, but I do know we’ll be going again! 

It is so very pretty.  Mind you, it’s set in the Yorkshire Dales National Park so I wouldn’t expect anything else.

Fortunately for us Sunday was a blue sky day so we saw Malham at its best.  We really couldn’t have picked a better day.

Wide open spaces along the way.

A walk was what we had in mind so we took the road out of the village and followed the footpath to the spectacular Malham Cove.  Apparently the last Harry Potter  film featured a camping scene that was set atop Malham Cove.

Ancient little footbridge across Malham Beck.  I was in my element.  I absolutely and completely love this English countryside of ours!

Our destination - the humongous limestone cliff which is Malham Cove.

See the arrows in the pic above?  The minute speck at the end of the top arrow is a person!  The arrow below is pointing to a small group of people who must have nerves of steel and also be slightly bonkers.  Rock climbers.  William and I both had the willies just watching them!

After the walk and back in the village some sustenance was needed.  We only had a light snack and a pot of tea but boy, did it taste good in the fresh air and…

…with this view to feast our eyes on.

A couple of quaint village pubs complete the picture.

And finally, a few welcoming A-boards we saw dotted about the village.  You know you’re in walking country when you see signs like these.

Yep, Sunday was certainly a lovely day, exactly my kind of day in fact.

Kathleen.

Three Boys and a Branch

Beautiful crisp and dry autumn weather has been ours all weekend.  What better way to pass the time then, than outside in said beautiful weather.  All our men were working at one thing or another, Caroline was working too so on Saturday afternoon Victoria and I took our three boys and three dogs off up to Watergrove.

For a change we attacked the circular walk clockwise as opposed to anti-clockwise.  Peculiar what a difference that made.  A good difference though, it made the walk feel like somewhere new.  Strange I know, but true.

The boys ran, climbed, slipped, shouted, hunted for woodchopper phantoms and trolls, carried sticks, threw stones…

..rested (briefly) and generally had a whale of a time.

Glorious autumn colours.

This picture makes me smile.  George is digging with a stick for goodness knows what, Nicholas whipped a mask our of his pocket and put it on and Charlie looks like he’s in pain of some kind!   (He wasn’t Caroline, honest).

Now we come to the branch bit.

Find a branch, as you do.  The bigger the better, naturally.  Carry it high overhead.

Navigate through the stiles with it.

Cross the cobbled road.  Where are they taking it?  And why?!

I wonder what was going through their minds? 

I think I know where the branch is going to end up now.

At least they didn’t ask to bring it home with them!  All good fun.

Charlie taking a breather.  See the gun in his left hand.  Charlie is rarely without a gun or a sword.

Nicholas looking very happy about something.

George was the only one with wellies on and got to go in the water and squelch through gallons of mud.

Harley loves to swim.  The little dogs don’t go in if they can help it. 

We’re nearly back at the car park now.  They could go through the gate at this point – but no, they’d rather risk a broken ankle…

..and do it the hard way across the cattle grid! 

Times like this with my family are precious to me and I treasure them.  These three noisy, boisterous, cheeky, loveable, huggable, little boys won’t be this little forever and that’s why blogging is so worthwhile.  It helps to keep these memories alive for me and for them.

Kathleen.

Autumn

Autumn has got to be my favourite season.  Never too cold and certainly never too hot.  Perfection in my book.

Yesterday was a glorious autumn day.  Victoria and I took the boys and the dogs for a woodland walk through Ealees.  I had told Nicholas about Molly and Lola and he was keen to make their acquaintance.

We did see the pigs but they were at the other side of the field so Nicholas wasn’t able to get up close and personal with them.  However both boys did get to pat one of the racehorses as it passed us being taken down to the paddock.

Dark clouds seemed to be gathering behind us but believe it or not we were walking in sunshine most of the way and not one drop of rain spilled from that menacing cloud.

The babbling brook that flows parallel with the footpath never ceases to lose its attraction for these boys.

I pointed out to George at one  point that my shoelace had come undone.  He was a good lad, bent right down and refastened it for me.  Note how he had to get behind my foot to tie the lace.

William and I are planning a walk somewhere a bit farther afield next weekend.  I hope the weather is kind to us.

Kathleen.

A Few iPhone Photos From Friday..

..and Thursday too.

• The boys and their mummies came round at teatime on Thursday.  Hotdogs were on the menu.  Charlie, lucky little chap, is with his mummy and daddy down in Windsor for the weekend.  Legoland is featuring large on that little trip.
• My granny square blanket is coming on a treat.
• A new neoprene cover for my Kindle.  A bargain at £1.99 from TK Maxx.
• I needed a needle threader for all those loose ends in my blanket.  On a trip to Uppermill with Lesley I found one in a charity shop.  It was obviously a free gift with Woman’s Weekly magazine many years ago.  It was still in its original little envelope.  And do you know what it works like a dream.  The best threader I’ve ever used.
• Friday morning I had to take my car in for its MOT.  With time to kill while it was being done I wandered through the local park and into the library.  A knitting club convenes there on a Friday morning.  I got chatting to the ladies in the club and I will be joining them next week!  I’m looking forward to that.  I hope there’s a crochet expert amongst them.  I could do with some help.    
• An immaculately kept cobbled back alleyway I passed on the way to the library.

These photos are all taken in and around our local park. The gardeners do a wonderful job keeping it in shape and can be seen out in all weathers doing their thing.

Very pretty looking over to the Pennines beyond.

Bandstands make me feel very nostalgic.  They just add that extra something to a park.  

After collecting my car (which, hooray,  had past its MOT ) I needed to go into Todmorden and from there it’s only a cockstride into Hebden Bridge.

Which is where these pics were snapped.  We’ve had a lot of rain again and the river was running high once more.  Thankfully no flooding this time.

That’s it for now.  I’m all up to date and ready to go make a drink and grab my Kindle.  There’s a story with my Kindle, pardon the pun, but I’ll share that another day.

Kathleen.

Molly and Lola

On a walk through Ealees with John and Lesley this morning I did something I’ve never done before.

I stroked a pig!  Now that’s not something that is the norm in my everyday life.

Lola and Molly were sooo cute.  Clean too.   Running around in the field with their doggy friend just like puppies.  It was amazing to see.  I’ve never seen anything like it before.

We found out the names of the pigs from two young women who were in the field with the animals and who came over to the fence to chat with us.  There was one question on my mind from the start.  Were the pigs for pets or for the table?  I was relieved to here they were pets.  We also discovered that the owner of the land has plans to open a little petting zoo if everything works out for her.  There being also a couple of pygmy goats and a few sheep on the property.  It doesn’t stop there. This landowner also takes in unwanted racehorses, gets them back to good health and then tries to find new homes for them.  We have seen the horses around in neighbouring fields but didn’t know that they were ex-racehorses.  Apparently unwanted racehorses are treated the same way as unwanted greyhounds and given away by their owners when money-making days are over.

The landowner has lodged plans with the local council to erect a large American style barn and build more stables among other alterations to her land.  I think we’ll all be watching further developments on this land with great interest now rather than just a mild curiousity when we pass by on our walks to the lake.

Talking about which it was a very nice walk too.  Thanks J & L for inviting me to join you.

Kathleen.

A Sunday Stroll

I love to go a-wandering through our luscious green countryside and lucky for me I don’t have to go far from home to indulge myself.

Yesterday morning William worked outside the house on different jobs he needed to do. You know the weekend kind of things - washing the cars, tidying the garden, pointing some flags, that kind of stuff.  While I, after a very lazy start to the day, which included two cups of tea (brought to me by William) and reading my new Kindle in bed, caught up on some housework.

With all that done we decided to take advantage of the beautiful autumn weather and take a stroll through Cragg Vale.   In this picture we were still on our way uphill but Muffin had had enough and was doing that thing where he stops, turns round and hopes we’ll follow him back the way we’ve just come.  It doesn’t usually work for him and it didn’t yesterday either.  Poor old thing!

Only a ten or fifteen minute drive away from our doorstep, Cragg Vale is a peaceful Pennine valley.  Ideal for a Sunday stroll.

Autumn’s colours are beginning to show themselves.

This field of golden grass really pleased me as did the perfect dry stone wall.

We wandered happily up hill and down dale.

Unusual properties.  I presume in its heyday this was the lodge house to Cragg Hall.

Going back to the car now.  More of the up hill part of the walk passing this row of characterful weaver’s cottages.  I wondered what weaver’s cottages were doing here so I turned to Google.   It would seem that Cragg Vale was home to about a dozen cotton mills during the Industrial Revolution!  That fact amazes me.  I cannot imagine this beautiful, peaceful valley as a hive of industry.

On then to Hebden Bridge for a well earned tea break.

Where this young artist was doing his thing in the middle of the river

And doing it in bare feet!  That water had to be freezing!  Bonkers.  Don’t you agree?  Interesting sculptures though.  I don’t know how he made that little arch at the the bottom of the picture.

Kathleen.