It's Prom Time

It's Eleanor's school prom tonight. I don't want to think how excited all the Year 11 students will be at school today, I doubt they'll get much work done.

Eleanor's all prepared.

She went for a French manicure yesterday.

Sparkly hair accessories.

Sparkly jewellery.

Sparkly bag.

Sparkly shoes.

Would you like a peek at her dress? Go on then, I'll unzip the bag a little.

Sparkly dress.

Even more sparkles.

Come back tomorrow and I'll show you how it all looked together.

Cannon Hall

On Sunday, Mick and I left Eleanor at home revising and went off to walk Archie at Cannon Hall near Barnsley. It's somewhere we've never been before.

It was originally the home of the Spencer and later the Spencer-Stanhope family, but is now a country house museum. We didn't go in to the museum as we had Archie with us.

We'd really gone to have a look around the walled garden, which you can read about in my Garden Visiting In May - Part One post over on my The Good Life blog, but we made the most of the fine day and had a wander around the beautiful grounds too. The parkland was landscaped in the 18th century by Richard Woods of Chertsey.

As we walked up to the hall from the car park, we came across this beautiful deer shelter which was built in the early to mid nineteenth century.

It has a stone slate roof which is supported on four yew trunks.

We had a wander around the gardens to the front of the hall. They're presently laid out with bedding and spring bulbs.

The rhododendrons just seem to be getting going. I bet they're beautiful once they're in full bloom, another couple of weeks I reckon.

We headed down to the lake. Archie had to be put back on his lead at this point, he loves water so much that I don't trust him anywhere near it, he'd be in there. The lake has a range of water birds including geese, coots, ducks and swans.

There's a number of waterfalls along the stream which leads in to the lake.

This waterfall has a stone bridge in front of it. The gushing noise of the water was quite loud.

Archie didn't mind the noise, he just wanted to get closer to the water.

Looking back towards the hall, you can see how extensive the grounds are.

We had a lovely day and I can thoroughly recommend Cannon Hall if you're in the area. I'd like to return to have a look round the museum, and there were other parts of the grounds which we didn't get to explore on Sunday so we must visit again. The museum, grounds and gardens have free admission, but there's a nominal £3 charge for parking. There's also a farm which looks like a lovely place to take children. Across the road from the car park is a garden centre, it's quite big, and the prices here were on par with other garden centres. Of course, we had to go and have a look round, but I didn't buy anything. Maybe next time.

Tristar

We were just leaving the house on Saturday morning when I noticed this star in the sky made by three separate planes.

I thought it quite unusual for three planes to cross the exact same place leaving a trail behind to create a star. I wonder where they were all heading.

The Passion

Last night, we went to see Eleanor perform with her drama group in The Passion, a rock opera by Adrian Snell.

The musical is based on the Gospel accounts of the last week of Jesus' life, beginning with the arrival of Jesus and his disciples in Jerusalem and ending with the crucifixion and resurrection.

Eleanor took the leading female role of Mary Mother of Jesus and sang a beautiful solo, Son Of The World, as well as singing a duet, Jesus Alive!, with a friend from school who took the part of Mary Magdalene.

Afterwards, we went in to the parish centre for refreshments where Eleanor's recently retired singing teacher came and found us. It was a lovely surprise for Eleanor as she didn't know she was coming to see the play.

The last performance is tonight, after which, Eleanor will be taking a break from her drama group until her exams are finished. It's been quite full on for her rehearsing as well as revising for her GCSE's, but she's been working very hard so that she could give her best.

Bluebell Wood Revisited

I don't know how many times I've visited our local woods at bluebell time, lots and lots. Archie enjoys walking there but we don't go during the winter months, it's just too muddy, and with a farmer's field to cross to get there, you can imagine the state he would arrive home in. Our visits to the woods start at just around this time each year, and look at the sight which greets us.

Mick has taken a few walks in the woods with Archie already this year and alerted me to the fact that the bluebells are in flower, and as it was such a beautiful evening on Monday, I decided the time was right for my first visit of the year.

It's a magical place at bluebell time, the colour seems to light the whole area up, even though the ground is shrouded by a great canopy of trees.

I love to see the bluebells en masse like this, it just accentuates the colour and it looks as though the woodland floor is covered by a beautiful carpet.

They can look very pretty on their own too.

The flowers of the wild garlic will be following very soon, just the odd one or two blooming at the moment.

I love to see ivy wending its way up a tree.

The woods will be one of Archie's regular jaunts again now that the weather's better and there isn't so much mud around, especially whilst the bluebells are in flower.

Archie enjoyed his walk in Bluebell Wood and so did I.

Challenge Update - April 2014

My 2014 challenges are:-

1) Knit one hat each week for The Innocent Big Knit.

2) Do something nice for me.

3) Choose a non fiction book from the library.

I've gone back to Alison Hogg's Big Knit hat pattern this month, but as you can see, I've knit the hats in two tone. I think it makes them look a bit different, and I'm still loving this pattern. You can find it on The Creations of Crazy Dazy blog.

I think these little flowers just finish the hats off nicely.

I had a lie in for my nice thing for April. I can't tell you how long it's been since I've slept in past eight in the morning, and even eight's late for me. I'm not a very good sleeper, I'm usually awake during the night unable to get back to sleep and I wake very early. The slightest thing disturbs me, and the slightest worry or niggle keeps me awake. I walk around exhausted most of the time as I know I don't get enough sleep, so when I woke one weekend morning and managed to get back to sleep, I took advantage and didn't stir until about ten, I couldn't believe it. I even stayed there even longer and read my book. A rare treat indeed.

I've found, through researching my family tree, that my ancestors have lived in Leeds since 1777, perhaps even earlier than that as I haven't been able to trace my tree further back yet. This has piqued my interest in local history, I often wonder what the area was like when earlier generations of my family were alive. The book I've chosen from the library for April is Blue Plaques of Leeds by Dyson and Grady. The blue plaques have been placed on buildings in Leeds and a short description on the plaque tells something about why it has been put there, but this book has more in depth information. It's so interesting reading about the people and places in Leeds from many years ago and why they have been commemorated in this way.

It's been a quiet weekend here. Mick was supposed to be playing cricket on Saturday but the match was cancelled due to rain, though I think the decision was made rather early as it brightened up and we managed to do a bit of gardening. Eleanor spent the weekend revising for her GCSE's which are now just two weeks away. A scary thought.

Temple Newsam On Good Friday

As I mentioned in my last post, we didn't do very much over the Easter bank holiday for one reason or another. As we knew we'd got lots on, Mick and I got up early on Good Friday, left the teenagers in bed, and headed off to Temple Newsam so we'd at least done one nice thing over the weekend.

I thought that the rhododendrons might be in flower, but looking back at previous posts on my blog, Temple Newsam Rhododendron Walk is at its best during May and early June. There's lots of fat buds just waiting to burst open though.

Some buds are already opening.

We did manage to find some rhododendrons which are already putting on a show.

There was some beautiful blossom on the trees too.

We sat on a bench for a while enjoying the view.

Daisies are carpeting the lawns.

It was a lovely morning, the sun was shining and there were plenty of people about. The farm was very busy, lots of children jostling to see the animals. We didn't go in to the farm but lots of animals can be seen from the park. Look how the sun catches the feathers on this cockerel, isn't it beautiful?

This goat was keeping its eye on Archie.

Last time we went to Temple Newsam, there were Tamworth and Middle White pigs. This time they'd been replaced by these, which I believe are Saddlebacks.

Archie found a friend. This is Alfie, a Wirehaired Dachshund, he was so cute.

He was very fond of Archie and wouldn't follow his owners when they called him. As you can see, Archie was more interested in watching the goats through the railings.

This little trip out was a lovely start to the bank holiday weekend, though we'll have to return in the next few weeks to see the rhododendrons in all their glory. It's a wonderful sight and well worth a visit if you're in the area.