A Day At Scarborough

With the weather being so nice last week, Mick decided to take a day off work so that we could spend a day at the seaside. He chose Friday so that it would make a long weekend and we headed off to Scarborough on the Yorkshire East coast.

Scarborough has two bays, North Bay and South Bay, but before we went down to the beach there was somewhere I wanted to visit first.

I've been coming to Scarborough since I was a tiny baby yet I'd never yet seen this famous resting place of Anne Bronte.

Anne Bronte, a member of a nineteenth century literary family, who wrote Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the only member of the family not buried at Haworth. She had been suffering from the early stages of consumption and was in Scarborough for the change of air hoping that it might relieve the symptoms. She died on 28th May 1849 and her grave can be found in St Mary's churchyard.

The original headstone gave Anne's age as 28 when in fact, she died aged 29.

The Bronte Society installed a new plaque in 2011 which gives Anne's true age.

Just across the road from the churchyard is the entrance to Scarborough Castle, another place in Scarborough I've never visited.

The plaque tells how the site was fortified in the 12th century and was last used defensively in 1745.

We didn't go inside the castle on this occasion but we wandered around the walls.

There would have been some wonderful views but a haze had descended which lasted the whole day. Here we're looking out on North Bay.

The lighthouse and harbour looking out towards South Bay.

On our way back to the car we passed these cute little cottages.

It was time now to get on to the beach, we'd all waited long enough and Archie couldn't wait much longer. He took one look at the sea and off he went.

Archie's quite a soft dog in some respects but not where water's concerned, he can't get enough of it.

As usual, he dried himself off by rolling in the sand.

I was really pleased that Eleanor wanted to come on our day out with us. We're often on our own these days as at nearly seventeen she doesn't always want to be hanging out with her parents, but I love to spend time with her as she's such good company.

We spent quite a bit of time on the beach much to Archie's delight, there were lots of other dogs for him to play with as well as an abundance of rock pools.

The sands were finally left behind and we wandered by the busy harbour with its array of fishing boats.

There were dozens and dozens of lobster pots and crab traps stacked together.

We walked along the row of shops and shacks selling all manner of seaside paraphernalia, shells, seafood, buckets and spades etc.

We'd taken a small picnic with us so we didn't have to buy any food, still, we couldn't resist a small portion of chips, Eleanor had a tray to herself and Mick and I shared one. Can you see who else was waiting for a chip?

It was a lovely day out and though there was a steady breeze all day long, it was still much warmer than we'd usually expect in April. We took our trip in the nick of time as the good weather has broken today and we've got rain and high winds, it's much cooler too.

Hope Pastures

Easter this year has been quite busy. Mick, with Eleanor's help, decorated our bedroom, and we also managed to get quite a few jobs done in the garden.

On Sunday afternoon, we took time out to visit Hope Pastures, The Phyllis Harvey Horse & Donkey Trust which rescues, rehabilitates, and re-homes horses, ponies and donkeys.

Hope Pastures is just off the Leeds ring road on Weetwood Lane and I've passed it many, many times, often remarking how I'd like to visit and see the work that they do, so whilst Mick was waiting for one coat of paint to dry before he could start on the next coat, we headed off for a look around.

This is Domino, a young horse. He came to us straight away wanting a stroke and a bit of attention. He wasn't a bit nervous of us.

Just look at that whiskery chin, so cute.

Muffin the mule, he's half pony, half donkey. He's a little bit stubborn, but what do you expect, he's a mule. You've heard the saying, as stubborn as a mule.

Banjo is a beautiful donkey who has come a long way since arriving at Hope Pastures. He'd been found frightened and underweight at a horse market where his owner was seen hitting him. He'd travelled a long way and was tired and thirsty, but no one wanted to buy him so a kind person bid £63 to save his life and he ended up at Hope Pastures. He's now got a friend, another donkey called Coco who arrived at Hope Pastures around the same time and Banjo has learnt a lot from him and isn't quite so nervous anymore.

Every horse, pony or donkey here has got a story, but it's wonderful to see them enjoying life again. There's plenty of space for them and they each seem to have their own special friend.

The 'Gone but not forgotten' wall shows how special each of these animals are, even when they're no longer here, they're still remembered.

Resident turkey. He has his own little door in the gate so that he can come and go as he likes.

The staff were so friendly, happy to answer any questions we had. It seems they're passionate about education and that's one of the reasons why they offer Pony Days in the school holidays where as well as having fun, the children can be taught about the importance of animal welfare and the work of the organisation. It really is easy for families, groups and organisations to get involved with the work of the sanctuary as there's regular events throughout the year where the public are able to get involved.

Hope Pastures is open to the public every day of the year free of charge. The visitor centre is open at weekends and bank holidays with activities, information, souvenirs and refreshments. If you're in the area why not pop in?

Winter Green

I've finished the Winter Green hat that I was knitting for myself. I didn't think I'd get much use out of it this year with it now being April but I've been glad of it whilst dog walking over the last few days with the weather being as it was, rain and high winds.

I got Eleanor to model it for me, she's very obliging.

The Winter Green hat is a pattern by Kirstie McLeod and it features in issue 128 of Simply Knitting magazine. It has a lace pattern but is an easy knit and works up very quickly being knit in chunky yarn. I used Wendy Aspire as recommended, an 80% wool 20% alpaca mix, and chose the Thistle colourway.

The high wool content in the yarn makes it a warm hat, but it could be a little bit itchy for anyone who has problem wearing wool. The addition of alpaca does give it a soft feel though.

The Easter weekend has got off to a dull, wet start so perhaps I'll get some more wear out of my hat before it gets stored away ready for next winter.

Poor Sammy

Eleanor's bunny, Sammy, isn't very well at the moment. Mick went out to his hutch to feed him last week and noticed that he'd got some hay caught around his back leg, acting like a tourniquet and making it swell up. This has happened to him before. I don't know how the hay manages to wind itself round so tightly.

We managed to get the hay off, no mean feat I can tell you. The leg was so swollen that the hay was nearly cutting in to him. We took him to the vets to have his leg checked out and was told that it was warm and he was using it, which was a good sign. The vet gave him an anti inflammatory injection and we were told to keep an eye on him. He'd bitten his leg trying to get the hay off and the following day, we noticed that he was still biting so we rang the vet and asked for his advice. Sammy is now the proud owner of a lampshade collar, one of those contraptions usually used on dogs to stop them licking at wounds or stitches.

He's actually managing really well with it, it doesn't seem to bother him at all. We're making sure that he gets plenty of supervised time where he can have a run around without the collar on. We have to watch him all the time though to make sure that he doesn't bite at his leg, which seems to be healing well now that he can't get to it.

This photo was taken last week, you can just see where he's been biting at his back leg.

I'm hoping that the leg is completely better soon so that we can take the collar off him. It can't be much fun for him.

Challenge Update - March 2015

My 2015 challenges are:-

1. Read one book each month.
1a. Read Agatha Christie books in chronological order.
2. Watch films from IMDb's top 100 movies of all time.
3. Support charities.

My reading picked up a little in March, I got through three books as well as my Agatha Christie read. The first book I read was The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty. I remember someone recommending this book on a blog but I can't for the life of me remember who it was. What would you do if you found an envelope amongst your husband's belongings with 'to be opened only in the event of my death' written on it? Would you open it? Cecilia Fitzpatrick did and it had serious consequences for a number of families. I enjoyed the story, but once I've read a book I'm sometimes left wondering what happened afterwards. I liked the fact that Liane Moriarty answered those questions in a final chapter.

I saw The Debt & The Doormat by Laura Barnard was a free Kindle download so I thought that was a good reason to give it a go. I enjoyed reading about Poppy, a girl in her twenties, who swaps flats with her best friend and who is totally accident prone. The book was very funny, but the poor grammar and terrible punctuation nearly spoilt it for me, I can't see how this book was ever proof read. I enjoyed it for what it was but I'm in no hurry to read the sequel.

A Mother's Story by Amanda Prowse was recommended by Mitzi on her Lazy Days & Sundays at The Willows blog in A Mother's Story post. It just so happened that on the day Mitzi posted about this book, it was on my Kindle Daily Deals for just 99p so I downloaded it straight away. I'm so glad I did as I really enjoyed it. Jessica and Matthew appear to have it all, but after the traumatic birth of their first child, post natal depression rears its ugly head and their lives fall apart. It's written with great sensitivity and gives a very real insight in to the effect that post natal depression has on people's lives, it's such a terrible illness.

Hercule Poirot returned in Agatha Christie's third book, The Murder On The Links. This is my favourite of the three Agatha Christie books I've read so far. I was kept guessing till the end in this book, having changed my mind who the murderer was on several occasions.


I haven't watched as many films this month as I did in January and February, just four.

I've never seen Terminator but I watched Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I'd seen bits of this film previously, and it doesn't really matter if you haven't seen the first film. I'm not really in to science fiction but I didn't mind this film at all.

I've seen both Alien and its sequel, Aliens, previously but I enjoyed watching them again. I don't think there's many films where the sequel is better than the original but in my opinion, this is one of them.

I'm really not in to gangster movies so I wasn't expecting to enjoy Goodfellas. It's based on a true story and follows Henry Hill, a small time gangster, over the course of the next thirty years as an associate of the New York Mafia's Lucchese family. He eventually betrayed the mob and was placed in witness protection. There's no getting away from the fact that it's a violent movie but the violence is part of the story so it's in context. I think the casting was excellent and the film itself exceeded my expectations.

It was Red Nose Day for Comic Relief on the 13th of March so I bought a red nose to support this worthy cause. I saw children from the local primary school going to school that morning dressed in red and some even had their face painted. I could hear lots of excited shouts in the playground that day.

It was The Great Daffodil Appeal for Marie Curie Cancer Care in March. I bought my daffodil and have been wearing it all month. Marie Curie support so many people, not only the person living with terminal illness but their families too.

I had a bag full of old clothes and textiles which had seen better days so I dropped these off at the Oxfam recycling bin in the nearby Tesco's car park. Oxfam have a recycling plant, Wastesaver, which maximises revenue from textiles that cannot be resold in their shops, and minimises the amount of textiles sent to landfil. Damaged or low grade items can be sold to recycling traders so they can be turned in to such things as car soundproofing or mattress stuffing. I'm happy to know that my old clothes and textiles which aren't good enough to be sold in charity shops can still raise money for worthy causes.

Do you remember my Challenge Update - January 2015 post? I mentioned Candlelighters which is a childhood cancer charity in Yorkshire and said that I'd set up a regular standing order to them. I'd done it in Mick's name as the charity is able to reclaim tax on a donation made by a UK taxpayer, increasing the amount of the donation. As I don't pay tax because I don't work, it made more sense to donate in Mick's name. We received a lovely card from the charity thanking us for our regular donation.

I'd hoped to get out in the garden a bit this weekend but the weather hasn't been very nice at all. Surely, now that we're approaching April, the weather must improve soon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Photo Medley - March

Time for a round up of the photos I've taken this month which haven't made it on to the blog for one reason or another.

Archie on one of his many walks.

It's tiring posing for photos, especially when you're a dog.

Signs of spring in the garden.

A Gerbera amongst my Mother's Day bouquet.

Trying to take photos of the eclipse without looking at the sun and without a filter on the camera. It doesn't work!

The first thing Eleanor's ever knit.

She even crocheted a curly tail.

Archie showing his appreciation of flowers.

A random set of photos, I'm sure you'll agree.

Sewing Machine Basics Giveaway Winner

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway to win Sewing Machine Basics by Jane Bolsover.

A name was drawn at random from all the entries and I'm pleased to announce that the winner is Amy from Love Made My Home. Can you please let me have your address so that I can get the book posted out to you, my email address is under the Contact Me section in my sidebar. I hope you'll find the book very useful.

I hope everyone's enjoying the weekend, it's a lovely day here today, I hope it's the same where you are.