A Rainy York

We tried to get out as much as possible last week to make the most of Mick taking the week off work, and it also being the last week of the school holiday. I find that there's plenty of places to go when the sun is shining, but less so when the weather isn't quite so favourable.

Last Wednesday was a really rainy day, but rather than going somewhere indoors, we decided we'd go in to York and have a mooch round the shops. Daniel wasn't keen on the idea of a shopping trip so it was just Mick, Eleanor and I.

We always use the park and ride when we go to York. For one thing, the car parks are always chock a block, and another, it's so expensive to park in York. The park and ride bus drops us right in the centre of York just beside Clifford's Tower. This is almost all that remains of York Castle, which was built by William the Conqueror.

I love shopping in York because there's lots of small individual shops as well as all the larger well known stores. I always head straight for The Shambles, a narrow, cobbled street with overhanging buildings which date back to the fourteenth century.

There's a mixture of shops in The Shambles. One of my favourites is Ramshambles, a wool shop. It has a good selection of yarn and the staff are really friendly.

Half way up The Shambles, I spotted this cat climbing up the wall. It's part of York's Cat Trail, a two hour walk around York taking in cat statues on some of the historic buildings in the city.

I'll have to put the Cat Trail on our list of things to do as we've never done it yet, though we did spot another couple of cats on our travels. Can you see this white one sat on the window ledge?

A shop we always visit is Christmas Angels. It's filled with all things Christmassy as well as lots of fun pocket money toys.

I couldn't leave without buying a new ornament for the Christmas tree.

York Minster can be seen from most of the shopping areas. It's a long time since I have been inside, but I believe they now charge an admission fee.

Another of my favourite shops, The Teddy Bear Shop. I've bought many soft toys from here.

Some of the streets in York have wonderful quirky names.

I always remember to look in all directions, including skyward, when I'm in York. There's so much to see and I wouldn't want to miss anything.

We didn't buy an awful lot, but had a good time wandering round the shops, and it kept us out of the rain.

All The Fours

It's my 44th birthday today, I'm getting old, though I don't feel it. Ok, that's not strictly true, I sometimes feel 64 never mind 44.

I've got some gorgeous cards and wonderful presents. Mick is off work today and the kids don't go back to school until tomorrow so we're heading off to Bridlington on Yorkshire's east coast for the day, making the most of the sunny weather until we're back to normality tomorrow.

I hope the weather stays fine.

Glad To See You

These gladioli were just waiting in the reduced bin at my local supermarket for me to pick them up and take them home. A couple of stems are a little battered, and they're more like Curly Wurlies than the straight stems they're supposed to be, but for £1.05 I'm not complaining. They're brightening the house up.

I've been enjoying these roses and iris's for quite a while. Roses don't seem to last very long in a vase, but a comment on a previous post from The Cookie Jar advised me to trim them and stand the stems in a cup of boiling water for a minute. It seems to have worked as the roses lasted far longer than the iris's.

I'd like to thank everyone for all the lovely comments you leave on my blog, I always appreciate them. As a thank you, and also because it's my second blog anniversary today, I'm going to be having a giveaway. I wasn't organised enough to have a giveaway ready for the date of my first blog anniversary, and true to form, I haven't got myself organised again this time. Keep checking back as a giveaway will be coming soon.

Thanks again to everyone for your continued visits and support.

Unhealthy Eating

We managed to collect about one and a half pounds of bilberries at Brimham Rocks on Sunday. Eleanor wanted to bake some muffins with some of them, so I used about a pound to turn in to jam.

They're such a lovely colour when they're boiling in the pan.

Eleanor made a batch of scones so that we had something to spread the bilberry jam on. Delicious.

I shouldn't be eating bilberry jam on scones but my healthy eating regime, which I started at the start of the year, has gone right out the window since the start of the school holidays when we went to Cornwall. I ate lots of things which I shouldn't have done and I just don't seem to be able to get back on track. I'm not stressing about it, I'm sure once normality sets in again when the schools go back next week, I'll get back in the swing.

Beside The Seaside

Mick has been watching the weather forecast for the last few days and decided that today was the day if we wanted to take a trip to the seaside. I'm glad I listened to him because we headed off to Whitby and it was a glorious day. What a difference from yesterday, we were all in t shirts.

I've never seen Whitby so busy. I expected it would have been busy yesterday because of the bank holiday, but never expected so many people to be visiting today.

I love all the little shops in Whitby. They sell such a variety of goodies that I could spend a whole day just looking in them all. One of my favourites is Bobbins wool, crafts and antique shop. It's housed in an old church hall and there's so many treasures to discover in there.

I didn't buy anything in Bobbins this time, but did buy something in Whitby Galleries. We've recently decorated our staircase and thought that this picture of Whitby's 199 steps would be just the thing to adorn the landing at the top of the stairs. I thought it quite apt.

After a walk around the other side of the harbour, we decided to head off to pastures new.

We discovered Sandsend, to the North of Whitby, last year.

It's great for dog walking, a great expanse of sand, and the sea is close by, which Archie approves of.

Archie loves a little paddle but isn't so keen on big waves and makes a sharp exit when he sees one coming.

A stone skimming competiton was held, I think Daniel won.

We all did a bit of beachcombing.

Even Archie likes beachcombing.

I added plenty of sea glass to my collection today.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside, beside the sea.

A Playground For All Ages

Yesterday, we had a trip to Nidderdale in the Yorkshire Dales to explore Brimham Rocks.

As this information board explains, the rocks here were formed from Millstone Grit millions of years ago.

The site is now run by the National Trust and is a favourite for families. Children and adults alike enjoy climbing the rocks, which range from quite easy to extremely challenging.

There's some very funny shaped rocks too.

Some rocks look as though they've been placed on top of others, but this is the way that they were formed.

It's a large area, and there's a circular walk which will take you right the way round the rocks, but you can also stray off the pathway and make up your own route.

The scenery is quite spectacular too, with views over Nidderdale.

The area is known for bilberries, small very dark blue berries which, as it happens, are ripe at the moment. We couldn't go home without foraging for some, there were plenty to be had.

The downside of bilberry picking is the stains it leaves on hands.

Daniel and Eleanor went off for another climb before we headed home. My stomach would be churning if I'd got as high as they did, I don't have a head for heights.

All in all, a great day out, which I would certainly recommend if you're in the area, especially if you have children, young or old, they love it.

Finished At Last

My finished item for July is the blanket which I started over a year ago. I got it completed just before my holiday, as the warmer weather came along, so it hasn't been in use yet.

I'm really pleased with it for a first attempt. There's things I would do differently next time, but overall I'm satisfied.

It's quite a large blanket. 10 squares by 14 and measuring about 55 inch by 77 inch. It will keep us toasty and warm in winter.

I used Stylecraft Special DK and it feels really soft. It will be easier to wash being made from an acrylic yarn. I chose the colours randomly, popping my hand in to the bag and using whichever colour I chose, I think it worked out pretty well that way.

I'm not too sure about the border. I did one round of double crochet, two rounds of treble crochet, then another round of double crochet. I don't know whether my tension is wrong or what, but it ruffles around the edge. I don't mind though, it doesn't really matter.

Eleanor's already asking if she can have it, so I may just have to crochet another one. I might be a bit quicker next time.

Up Up And Away

How would you fancy a flight in a balloon?

This was flying over our house on Saturday evening, it was really low at first.

It took a while to notice that there was a second balloon flying alongside, it had already gone over the rooftops.

We could see the burners being fired to make the balloons fly higher.

It wasn't long before they both drifted off way up high in the sky. Just look how blue the sky is, we haven't had many days like that this summer.

I'm not a lover of flying so there's no way I would go up in a balloon. I'll keep my feet firmly on the ground thank you.

Baa Baa Black Sheep

It was forecast to be the hottest day of the year yesterday, and after a doubtful start where it clouded over and a few spots of rain were felt, it did eventually come good. Daniel was playing cricket and Eleanor wanted to spend a lazy day at home, so Mick and I decided to head off to Temple Newsam, a nearby Tudor-Jacobean house with lovely grounds which I've blogged about many times before. It's quite a novelty when Mick and I have time alone as for the past seventeen years, we've usually had at least one child in tow. Now it's a dog.

The farm animals were all out enjoying the sunshine. These sheep didn't give us a second glance, they must be used to lots of visitors by now.

The view towards the lake. I love how the grounds are planted with so many trees.

As we approach the lake we usually put Archie on his lead as he loves water and will jump in. We decided to chance it this time.

Archie's found a puddle.

I did say he likes water. Even muddy puddles have lots of attraction.

Fortunately, he hadn't got too dirty, but just to make sure, he goes in the little stream to wash off.

Happy dog with a dirty face after rolling around in unmentionables.

Cheeky chops. He looks like he's having a good time.

Time to go home so we walk back towards the house. There's lots of bare patches on the grass at the moment as Party In The Park was held there three weeks ago.

Bye bye Nanny goat and little kid.

We had a lovely day.