It has been a miserable weekend...

...weatherwise.  We've had torrential rains and high winds for the last week.  It has felt like the middle of winter.  Saturday night the winds were strong enough to rip several ridge tiles off my daughter's roof

and uproot trees in the neighbourhood. 

The fallen trees above are in Ealees where I was out taking a walk today with my lovely friends and neighbours, John and Lesley.  After all the rain we've had it felt so good to be out in the surprisingly warm fresh air.  We ambled along to the visitor centre where we sat outside and had not one but two coffees, soaking up the sun and having a good old chin wag.

Today's little outing was definitely a Simple Pleasure.  Thanks John and Lesley for inviting me along on your afternoon ramble.

Kathleen.

 

West Bay

West Bay has quickly become one of our must-go places.  I don't know what it is about this place but we all love it.

There are a good quality shops to browse, a mix of restaurants and takeaway huts to choose from and of course several coffee shops. Ellipse on the sea front is our favourite. 

On this midweek visit William and I decided on cheese and onion pasties for lunch from the hut above and then sat and ate them looking...

...at the boats in the harbour.

And enjoyed with the sound of seagulls on the air.  Not the sweetest of sounds I don't suppose but music to my ears all the same.  I know I'm on holiday when I hear their squawking.

That's William up there setting off up the coastal path from West Bay to Eype.

Spectacular views along the way.

The coastline is very dramatic with cliffs to peer over every step of the way.  Steep, high and very crumbly cliffs.  In February of this year a couple walking from Eype to Burton Bradstock had a very lucky escape when cliffs collapsed onto the beach just a few feet from where they were standing.  Follow this link for the newspaper report.

Looking down onto Eype beach.  

Now looking back to West Bay.

And finally a view I'll never tire of.  Our littlest grandson, Charlie, playing outside the caravan.  He's a little sweetie!

Still more to come.

Kathleen.

Devon 2012

A little update first.  We still have my daughter and her family staying with us.  Its actually been six weeks since they moved in with us and life has settled into a routine of sorts.  The light is now peeping through at the end of the tunnel though for Victoria and her husband.  After working hard on the house almost every day and the house having been ripped apart it is now finally being put back together and being transformed into their new home.  Perhaps another couple of weeks and moving in day will roll around!

This post has been over a week in the making. We actually got back from our trip to Devon a week last Sunday. We had a wonderful week, the weather was as expected for the time of year - some days bright and breezy, some days cold, damp and breezy.  But nothing that spoilt our enjoyment or kept us indoors.  There were no changes and no surprises waiting for us.  And that's just the way we like our favourite corner of England -  the same as its always been, year after year.

This view, down the main street in Beer, is the same now as it was almost 25 years ago when we first discovered Beer.  The first night of our holiday, as per usual, we headed straight for Beer's fish & chip shop.  Takeaway fish and chips, eaten in al fresco overlooking the beach, or better still eaten sitting on the beach looking at the sea is a treat to be relished.  In my opinion Beer chippy sells the best fish to be had anywhere.

Love this teaset atop the A-board.

Boats on Beer beach.  Pretty but practical.  Beer is a working fishing village as well as a tourist attraction.

Do you like the t.shirt?  It was a Christmas present this year from Victoria.

Another thing that doesn't change - flowers.  It seems there is always a fantastic display of blooms to gladden the heart wherever you are in Devon.  It being spring there were tulips around every corner and I love tulips.

And views like this round every country lane corner.  What more can one ask?

With luck I'll be back soon with another post on our Easter trip.

Kathleen.

iPhone Photo Friday 6

Well, it's been a while but here I am with a quick post.  I usually spend time on the computer in an evening but while we still have my daughter and her family staying with us that has been nigh on impossible.  My computer is in the spare bedroom you see and little boys are sleeping in there, so not much blogging going on for a little while longer yet.

Here are just some of the iPhone pics I've been snapping along the way over the last few weeks.  Starting top left:-

1. I often see this VW Beetle parked in Charlie's nursery school car park.  It sends my mind skipping down Memory Lane.**
2. Passing a florist's window one day I noticed this clever display.  The bikini was clad in fresh spring flowers.
3. Spotted this little wagon outside a greengrocer's. Thought it was very sweet.
4. Another memory from yesteryear.  A coal merchant's lorry.  The coalman used to deliver two bags of coal to my childhood home every week.  He was always "black as the "obs of "ell".   No central heating in those days.  Just the coal fire in the downstairs living room.  The rest of the house was freezing in winter and most of summer too for that matter.
5. In the local park is this grave of Mephisto.  Mephisto was reported to be the pet monkey of the wealthy family who owned the land in the nineteenth century.
6. Takeaway pizza.  I can't imagine life without pizza.
7. George showing off his library book.
8. Max and Muffin both straining at the ends of their leads.  Not to go further on but to go back the way we had just come!
9. Early morning jaunt to Hebden Bridge.  Toasted currant teacake, cup of tea and the newspaper in one of my favourite cafes.
10. Beautiful blue skies.
11. George with Pepper, a search and rescue dog.  He belongs to one of the rangers at the Lake Visitor Centre.  I had taken George to see all the frog spawn in the large pond at Ealees.
12. We enjoyed the most gorgeous summer weather for a week.
13. A trip to Manchester where I met my lovely cousin, Sylvia. Our first stop was the Cath Kidston shop. Love her stuff.
14. Charlie at the library.  Still loving that place.
15. The summer weather came to an end.  We had snow and gale force winds in its place earlier this week!
16. Mine and Charlie's plates of meat. 

**Many moons ago my sister spent two summers working in Italy.  While there she met and fell in love with Jerry, an American Airforce Sergeant, who was stationed in Italy.  Happily this was not just a summer romance and my sister and her American Sgt became husband and wife.  The wedding took place in our home town in England and this is where the VW Beetle comes in.  Jerry owned one of the original Beetles manufactured in the 60s and he and Maureen, my sister, drove all the way home from Italy to the north of England in it.  One heck of a journey!

I clearly remember that little car, a week or so before the wedding, come driving down our street, its horn sounding and coming to a halt outside our house.  My sister and her American husband-to-be, emerging from the car, tired and crumpled,.  Peering through the kitchen window I got my first glimpse of my wonderful brother-in-law to be.  I could write a full post on this subject alone -  but not today.  After all I did say this was going to be a quick post.  Maybe I could talk my lovely sister into writing her story for us.  What do you think, Moll?

Sunday will find William and I heading down the motorway for our first holiday of the year in Devon.  My younger daughter, Caroline, and her family are already there and I can't wait to join them! 

Kathleen.

 

At Sixes and Sevens...

...that's what it's like around here just now and probably will be for the next six or seven weeks. 

We have house guests.  My older daughter and her family are living with us while they are in between houses.  The house they have just bought is being completely renovated.  It's a big job and will take a while.  So things like blogging will be taking a backseat while we fall into a routine and things become less hectic.

Saturday afternoon my younger daughter and I took the boys and the dogs out for some fresh air and also, more importantly, so that they could burn up some energy.

We took them up to a local reservoir.  This reservoir is in a lovely place, high up in the foothills of the Pennines and it is always windy up there. 

Ideal for windsurfers as you can see.  Ideal too for little boys to run around, throw stones, climb, get dirty and generally let off steam.

Also I've been having a couple of computer problems.  The mouse kept freezing.  However, after much fussing, common sense finally came to the rescue.  I fully recharged the mouse batteries and now everything is back in working order!  Like I said things are at sixes and sevens just now but all will be resolved in the fullness of time.  Or so they say anyway!

 

Silhouettes

I am a big fan of silhouettes and recently took a photo of Charlie that I knew would make the perfect silhouette.

So, I worked up a little magic in Photoshop and this is the result.  I love it!

Kathleen.

Butter Wouldn't Melt

Well, this week has flown by, just like the rest of this year's weeks have!  It's March already!  I love it when we reah the month of March though, with the promise of spring well and truly in the air.

I'm playing catch up today. Not a lot of stuff happened this week but even so I don't want to let it go by and post nothing.

A trip to the garden centre yesterday morning was a pleasure.  Spring flowers were everywhere.  William quite likes garden centres but he was still busy up a ladder in the kitchen.  I offered my assistance but he didn't want it, so with a clear conscience I toddled off and left him to it.

Midweek I needed to go a few errands.  Outside the antiques store was this gorgeous little cart.  I can just imagine it full of tubs overflowing with flowers in the garden.  Unfortunately it'll be in somebody else's garden.

Instagram pic.

Harley has settled into his new family nicely. Charlie loves him to bits.

Instagram pic.

My little grandson, Charlie, the helicopter pilot in action.  Wearing grandad's ear defenders he really thought was a helicopter pilot!

My middle grandson, Nicholas, came for tea on Friday night. 

Doesn't he just look like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth?  After tea he wanted to do the washing up and even looked at me when I had the camera in my hand!  Now that's what I call being a good boy.

This morning a trip with my lovely daughter, Caroline and Charlie to the ice cream parlour at the Chill Factore was on the agenda.

 Instagram pic.

I don't know how many flavours of ice cream they have but the only one I ever choose is Turkish Delight.  No ice cream for me, or Caroline today, we had a latte instead.  It was quite cold today, snow had even been forecast, naturally Charlie had an ice cream though.

Last night our sweet friends and neighbours, John & Lesley, came round.  We played Rummikub and had a couple of drinks.  It was good fun.  We always have a good night with them.

There we have it.  I'm all caught up again.

Kathleen.