Friday allready?

Blogger seems to be playing up right now and my posts are not appearing as they should. All spacing, justifying etc. seems to have gone out of the window, so I will be on the case, when I have a minute. Have had a very very busy few days. Yesterday we travelled to Huddersfield, Baradford, Pudsey and Leeds re Jon's business, so we were very late home. Just managed to collapse in front of the TV for a couple of hours before bed. I had an early start because one of the hens, Mabel had decided NOT to go into the henhouse at bedtime. Needless to say I worried, but early the next morning there she was, strutting her stuff in Jo's field. Eventually I encouraged her into the right side of the fence but last night would you believe she managed to persuade Olwyn that the branches of the tree were an ideal place to sleep the night! I will make sure they are both within the folds of the henhouse tonight. I think it is because the nights are drawing in so quickly! Although yesterday was a very warm day the night was colder than normal. The weekend seems to be a busy one, but I will sort out my holiday pictures and get some here to share!

View from my study window, yesterday.

Quote for Today....... "Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value " Albert Einstein

Our house looks out onto a farm. Here I can see Mike the farmworker. In the distance we can see other farmland. We are at a very busy time at the moment as the farmers are making the most of the good weather to harvest their crops. We have a variety of farms in the village and we see the comings and goings, the ups and downs of the farming industry. We have been here since 1991 and have seen many changes affecting the farming community. What do you see from your window? For other perpectives see here.

Pottering!

I have been quite busy of late with wedding commissions that need 110% attention. Yesterday however I had a walk round the garden and caught the hens investigating an old wooden pallette which we thought would be of interest to them. We were right!

Every morning when I go to open the henhouse it is always the same hen who comes to me...Eva!

This is my latest table & chairs from freecycle! We can now have 15 people comfortably seated at tables in our garden. To be honest it is becoming quite addictive seeing piles of chairs stacked against the wall on the patio! The weather has been very changeable of late. Jon's prediction that it would be better after lunch yesterday proved correct. We had to go over to Stockton to collect a textile motorbike jacket for Jon, ready for our tour of France in a fortnight. We went in the van, trying out the new sat nav! Well impressed! We had to travel to York for my jacket, the usual story.....men's jackets everywhere but a tour of the globe necessary for the same for me. We went on the motorbike and the weather was glorious to begin with! The A64 was a nightmare York to Scarborough route. We could just see miles and miles of traffic going in the opposite direction, so we came home via Thirsk. Ofcourse I was watching the blue skies turning grey and we got wet but hey ho that's the name of the game. Today with the skies looking deffinately rainworthy we are going to go on a mystery tour! So I may be a while! We will put the sat nav to task! Watch this space!

A Sky for Friday!

The open gate is just over the road from our house, part of a local farmer's land. It shows the animals have been moved to another of his fields. The weather forecast said everywhere was going to be warm and sunny except the North East Coast which is precisely where we are so I will be watching the skies very carefully. Today the weather is very pleasant, not too hot and there is a lovely cool breeze....ideal as I am tidying up my study and having a re-organisation. Many I know are moving and sorting and it has made me realise I need to sort out a few bits around the house. I received a filing cabinet from Freecycle so this will bring about great changes, for the better in my study! One day I just may show you my study, after it's re-decoration, but dont hold your breath! lol it may be a while. For more skies visit here

The Bench Today!

On the bench from the left, Mabel, Margie, Beverley, Olwyn. Next to the bench May, Behind the bench Eva. I think the bench will feature in forthcoming posts! For more Critters visit here

Before!!!!!

This is the area at the bottom of our paddock a couple of years ago! You will not recognise it now. It is the area destined and now ready for the arrival of 6 hens. I already know their names..... Beverley, Margie, Eva, May, Olwyn and Mabel! Watch this space! This is my little world! For others visit here

The Winner Takes it All!

My Best Friend Maria and Moi

The Fundraising Event was a great success, achieving much needed funds for Teesside Hospice. The star prize of the raffle was a Jamie Oliver jug! Yes I won it, and 2nd and 3rd prizes too! Embarassed when my ticket was picked for the 4th prize I said to put the ticket back! Maria won! lol! When she was picking her prize 2 more of her numbers were read out! All in all Maria won 3 prizes, I won 5! A good result I would say! lol!

Here you can see the wonderful produce which Steph and others had prepared.

The food was delicious, not that we would expect any other from Steph!

The lady at the front of this picture is the Chief Exec of Teesside Hospice. At a previous event she said she knew me from somewhere. After a long discussion it turns out we both went to the same disco as teenagers! What a small world. Steph is the lady in the background sporting a little black number and a big smile!

The Airing Cupboard, but not as you know it Jim!

Yesterday we bottled 34 pints of cider! They will stay in the airing cupboard for 3 days before being moved to the garage where they need to stay for at least 3 weeks! This leaves fermenting bin 1 free for us to start off some beer. Tomorrow I collect another fermenting bin thanks to Freecycle which I will use to start off 15 gallons of a red wine. I also have a rose to start off in a demijohn. The 2 demijohns of apricot & strawberry wine continue to bubble away in the airing cupboard. I must say it is getting pretty crowded in there and we may have to make some alterations. Less bedding = more home brewing space! I have too much bedding anyway! lol!

ABC Wednesday...Z is for.......

zest [ zest ] noun Definition: 1. hearty enjoyment: lively enjoyment and enthusiasm zest for life 2. exciting and enjoyable quality: an exciting or interesting aspect of something that makes it particularly enjoyable "If you have zest and enthusiasm you attract zest and enthusiasm. Life does give back in kind." Norman Vincent Peale I have a real zest for our life, who we are, what we are about and where we live. Each day I try to appreciate the environment in which we live in, the impact of our day to day living and the wonderful world around us. An action such as this does not cost anything, sometimes I simply sit and look out of the window but mostly it is when I am out walking with Wilma I take in the very essence of what is on our doorstep!

Up Handale Lane yesterday I fed apples to the horses!

Yes, a new addition!

The horses opposite the new foal were waiting for attention!

Mother and foal! Doesn't she have her mum's walk?

Up close for a stroke of her nose!

The dot in the distance is Wilma!

This little rabbit quickly scuttled off!

Further up the lane the Honeysuckle perfume was quite wonderful on this sunny day!

The brambles which I will pick for my winemaking later in the year!

Heading back towards home Mother and foal walking through the field

The dot in the distance is Wilma, on her way home.

More horses for apples! The red tiled roof in the distance, centre of the photograph is our house!

Until another apple feed the horses make do with grass!

So, end of ABC Round 4! Last week it was decided quite categorically to carry on with ABC Round 5. This will take us into a 3rd year of the weekly project. It has been so much fun and I have been thinking about what I will do for Round 5. I like to have a theme or focus and I have decided that Round 5 will be based on our strive towards a more sustainable self-sufficient life. All my photographs/thoughts will be based on our little piece of land here in North Yorkshire where each day my zest for life is re-kindled by all I see around me. To feel the beauty of nature absorbed into my bones inspires me to improve all we have.

I have many friends who are like-minded one in particular, Brigit Strawbridge has been a total inspiration and her concept The Big Green Idea is awesome! Check it out, it may be coming to a town near you!

Earth I am the Earth And the Earth is me. Each blade of grass, Each honey tree, Each bit of mud, And stick and stone Is blood and muscle, Skin and bone. And just as I Need every bit Of me to make My body fit, So Earth needs Grass and stone and tree And things that grow here Naturally. That's why we Celebrate this day. That's why across The world we say: As long as life, As dear, as free, I am the Earth And the Earth is me. Jane Yolen

To see more ABC visit here

My World Tuesday

View from our window

It seems quite a while since I wrote anything here on my blog and I guess that pretty much says a great deal about my world right now....as there seems to be so much going on. I try to speak to my friend Maria every day following the loss of her partner Phil, Wilma needs her daily walks, I am getting stuff together for a carboot sale on Thursday, Garden chores are knocking on the door and I have quite a few wedding commissions on the books too. Saturday sees a village wedding so on Friday, together with some neighbours I am decorating the church with flowers ready for the big day. Our holiday to the Isle of Man is not far away so today Wilma, Elsie and Ella are all off to the vets for various booster jabs ready for their stay in the bording kennels and cattery....this sums up my world right now but despite what is going on at least I can look out of the window and get everything in perspective! My World Tuesday.....see others here!

True Colour Thursday

Yesterday morning, through the kitchen window!

As we were having breakfast yesterday morning Jon noticed this fella in our front garden. Behind him you can just see the peanut holder which had fallen from the tree! Peanuts are obviously a favourite of his as he soon ploished off the few left. Once he had finished I collected the bag, fear a bird could become trapped in the mesh. I think the colouring of pheasant feathers is just awesome, so many browns yet the contrast with the red plumage around the head is just so beautiful. We often get pheasants from neighbours who go shooting. I am not a vegetarian and do use what we are given as I do not want to waste the bird, it would not seem right. However I always feel it is a thing of beauty which man has popped out of the sky.

Pheasant by Sylvia Plath You said you would kill it this morning. Do not kill it. It startles me still, The jut of that odd, dark head, pacing Through the uncut grass on the elm's hill. It is something to own a pheasant, Or just to be visited at all. I am not mystical: it isn't As if I thought it had a spirit. It is simply in its element. That gives it a kingliness, a right. The print of its big foot last winter, The trail-track, on the snow in our court The wonder of it, in that pallor, Through crosshatch of sparrow and starling. Is it its rareness, then? It is rare. But a dozen would be worth having, A hundred, on that hill-green and red, Crossing and recrossing: a fine thing! It is such a good shape, so vivid. It's a little cornucopia. It unclaps, brown as a leaf, and loud, Settles in the elm, and is easy. It was sunning in the narcissi. I trespass stupidly. Let be, let be.

For more Brown Inspirations visit Poopsie here I haven't been blogging much of late as I have been seriously de-cluttering my study. Once I was started I knew I had to see the job through. ie I have 3 major wedding commissions approaching and had to have my study tidy so I could work efficiently, ie know where things where! Well I am happy to say I am almost there, a couple more hours today will see it completed...then it will be in a position to be re-decorated. I think everything could be lifted out in the boxes I have been organising so the walls then can be stripped, skimmed and painted.....hmmm wonder what colour I will go for....watch this space. I had a rather scary incident in the pick up this week. It had been in for a major service & MOT last week. It was a humongous £450 but the front brake pads were replaced. On Monday as I was travelling down Loftus Bank I had to stop as a car in front had stopped to let a bus turn right. I saw the car, had plenty of time to brake but when I did so the pick up, although eventually coming to a stop was very slow. The tyres screached so loudly everybody was looking! The red light which indicates a brake fault came on. We phoned the garage and on Tuesday dropped the pick up off on our way to an afternoon in Whitby! When we returned the garage owner told us in the few minutes the pick up had been standing on the forecourt before a mechanic drove it into the workshop a substantial amount of brake fluid had leaked onto the ground...on investigation they discovered a calliper had snapped and over a perod of a few days all of the brake fluid had leaked out! I tell you, it just does not bear thinking about....what could have happened eh? Pick up is now back in the garage! Phew!

ABC Wednesday......C

C is for Community. "a locality inhabited by such a group" This is an aerial shot of our community. We have been part of this community for nearly 20 years. In the bottom photographthe building on the far left is our village church. The local pub can be seen to the far right and the village hall can also be seen. We are a close community yet we dont live inside each other's homes. If anybody needs anything they can be assured somebody will know and help out. What type of community do you belong to? A viilage, town or city? To see more posts, visit the ABC Blog here Have a good Wednesday! Dx

ABC Wednesday! Yes Yes I know I am early!

Continuing with my theme of writing about what is close to my heart, appreciating what is around me I can honestly say B is for BUSY BUSY BUSY! Andrew's Birthday was a great day and I cooked a lovely family dinner. Andrew loves my mashed potatoes. I cooked rib of beef...awesome. My typical day starts at 7am when we get up and I make Jon a cooked breakfast to put a lining on his stomach for the day's work ahead of him at the workshop. After Jon has left for the workshop it is housework time, washing machine loading etc etc. At 10.15 I go to the workshop, just 5 minutes away and take Jon his snack. Over a cup of tea we always play the Radio 2 Popmaster quiz at 10.30. I am on a role at the moment and have beaten Jon every day except one! LOL! After the quiz, around 11 I drive to the beach with Wilma and spend anything up to an hour racing around throwing the ball in an effort to tire her out. Home in time to prepare Jon's midday snack, usually something like a sandwich. Jon returns to the workshop and takes Wilma, I am left with Elsie who is content to lay by the door whilst I get on with whatever jobs I haveplanned to do. Yesterday I was dealing with some telephone calls re Jon's business, setting up appointments etc so I multi-tasked and had a big cooking session whilst I was on the phone. I am a huge fan of menu planning and produced... 7 beef curries 5 portions of sausages in onion & mushroom gravr, 5 chicken stirfries moroccan style 5 spicy pork steaks in sauce 5 pasta bakes 5 mince & onions These are all now portioned up and in the freezer. No more main meal cooking for 32 days which will take me well into February. Today my afternoon job is to start on my current wedding commission which I need to complete by the weekend ready for them to be delivered. Tomorrow afternoon we have a village funeral to go to. Sadly one of our neighbours died last week. It is sad and her husband is devestated, alongside other neighbours we will go to the church to support Les and his family. Thursday, we have a very important business meeting re Jon over in Darlington. We are excited about this, it is a very significant possibility for future work. Infact meeting new custiomers is always exciting, it is what business is all about. Friday there is a possibility we may have to travel to Lancashire, again regarding new business for Jon's business. All of these are important and significant to me and I appreciate them all. Working with Brides, Business, Busy busy busy. Oh and I am co-ordinating a Wedding Fayre for March. I have a new bride to meet on Friday evening and once I have delivered the current wedding commission I am working on I have another one to start and complete asap. I must admit I have not been able to find time to comment on many blogs but I do hope people appreciate what is going on right now. To see more posts, visit the ABC Blog here Have a good Wednesday! Dx

ABC Wednesday

How many X's can you see?

The gates in our village are truly rustic and fascinating!

The Unknown Gate...appropriate as we approach 2009! I pass this gate everyday And wonder what lurks behind, Mysteries and secrets I imagine To know the answer I am resigned. The latch is shackled the gate is high A stone fortress for reasons unknown, Gates are made to keep one in or out, or to simply be secluded and alone. I keep passing by this unknown gate It is never opened or unlocked, I often wondered who would answer if I simply stopped and knocked. The stone is cracked,grey and cold, Is the gate ever opened or closed? The paint chipped door and wild ivy look unsightly as neglect is exposed. Who or what will reveal the truth the old story or future fate, Who or what holds the secret key to what lies behind the unknown gate? ©Shelley Costello 2006

To see more posts, visit the ABC Blog here To see the ABC Anthology, visit here

U is for!

UnbieveBLE¬ Thia is just 5 seconds away! Every day!

Sunday Sunday!

It’s the first storm of the season….., And it really sets the mood……, Cause the spirit of the holiday…., Comes from gifts, snow and food…., And it looks like a good one….., That I hope you just won’t miss….., Snow Light, Snow Bright On Christmas…., Yes, Snow Light, Snow Bright On Christmas….! ! ! Trade Martin

I was a coward and took these pictures from the comfort and warmth of my study! I may venture out with Wilma, I should really, but I have a really good book on the go by James patterson and the settee in the snug is so comfortable........... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! What would you do?

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Wilma, this morning!

We were expecting snow and when we awoke the village was covered in snow. We had heard the gritter wagon earlier this morning and then it was on the News. The A171 Moor Road and the A174 coast road were both mentioned. These are the major roads which we travel on to get to our village. I wasn't going anywhere so this suited me. I took Wilma up the lane and it was very cold, it started to snow again so we came home. We had some really good feedback from one of the butchers, absolutely over the moon with the pie mould Jon made, we now have 3 happy butchers as new customers. Jon is at work today, we are out at friends tonight and are looking forward to it. Nothing exciting happening, just catching up on household chores. The sooner I get the jobs finished, the sooner I can settle down with a book, or potter about in my study. I do have Christmas Cards to think about! Have a good weekend...what are you up to?

N is for...Neighbours.

For this week's letter from the village I decided upon my neighbours, so I took all the photographs from the bottom of our drive. In this first picture you can make out our blue garage doors, next to our neighbours the horses!

Turning anti-clockwise, still from the bottom of the drive are our neighbours over the road, John and Trish.We often go out on the motorbikes together.

The horses are in the field next to our other neighbours, Malcolm and Anne. I often see Anne on a Monday afternoon on the library van.

Turning again, our other immediate neighbour is Sue who lives in the cottage next to our paddock! Notice Jo waiting for his crust! LOL!

I felt I was being watched..............................................................look who had crept up behind me!

We tend not to live in each other's houses but we all speak or wave. We know the names of everybody who lives in the village, all 54 houses to be precise. We will all be meeting on Friday as it is the village Harvest Festival followed by supper in the village hall! Neighbours My neighbour has a field of wheat And I a rood of vine; And he will give me bread to eat, And I will give him wine. And so we are a jolly pair, Contentedly unwed, Singing with supper as we share Red wine and crusty bread. Now venison is mighty meat And so is trout and hare; A mallard duck is sweat to eat And quail is dainty fare. But such are foods for festal day, And we will not repine While on the table we can lay Crisp bread and rosy wine. A will to till one's own of soil Is worth a kingly crown, With bread to feed the belly need, And wine to wash it down. So with my neighbour I rejoice That we are fit and free, Content to praise with lusty voice Bread, Wine and Liberty. Robert W. Service

To see more posts, visit the ABC Blog here To see the ABC Anthology, visit here