Filling The Freezer

I've done a bit of batch cooking today. I like to have some easy meals in the freezer so that if I'm short of time or I don't feel much like cooking, there's something to fall back on.

With the colder evenings, I've been craving comfort food, so I've made some cottage pies, lasagne and a minced beef pie. I also save some of the lasagne bolognaise separate as Eleanor likes it as a sauce instead of it being layered with pasta and white sauce.

It's good to have some meals prepared, I just need to do some vegetables to go with the cottage pies or minced beef pie, or some garlic bread to go with the lasagne.

I'm sure you can tell that I'm not back in to my healthy eating regime yet, I just don't seem able to get myself motivated. I think it's important to really want to do something before you embark on it though, otherwise you'll just end up giving up. The weight I lost earlier on in the year is starting to creep back on so it's important that I get back on board soon.

Now, what to make for tea.

On My Own

It was Eleanor's birthday in July and when asked what she would like for her present, she replied another session in the recording studio, so that's what she got. We made the booking for yesterday and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

This time she decided to sing On My Own, a song from Les Miserables. She didn't sing this in the show, it's sung by Eponine, but it's a song she's always loved from her favourite musical.

I thought you might like to hear the recording, so after hours of struggling to get it on YouTube and then on to the blog, and with much help from Eleanor as I wouldn't have had a clue how to do it myself, here it is.

I hope you enjoyed it.

 

Another Finished Blanket

After blogging about the blanket I finished in July, I didn't expect to be showing you another finished blanket quite so soon. My first blanket took over a year to crochet, this one just a month, it's my finished item for August.

It's much smaller than my first blanket, there's only forty two squares, and the squares are smaller too, five rounds instead of six, but I decided to use up the yarn which was left over from my last blanket and this was all that was left.

I actually prefer these squares to the ones in my first blanket. Each of the five rounds are a different colour, whereas the squares in my first blanket were three lots of two rounds of the same colour. The colours were still chosen randomly though.

I've used exactly the same coloured yarns in both blankets but they look totally different. You can see my first blanket in my post of 23rd of August.

So shall I tell you who this new blanket is for? Archie of course. He will have it in his bed this winter to keep him nice and cosy. Talk about a pampered pooch.

But in the meantime he has no intention of letting me put it away.

You could say I'm hooked on making blankets now. I've started a new one, but more on that another time.

Fifty Shades

In August, I finished reading Head Over Heels in the Dales by Gervase Phinn, and then went on to read a trilogy.

Having heard so much in the media about Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James, I thought I would get myself a copy and see what all the fuss was about. I have to admit that I did quite enjoy reading it.

I borrowed the second and third books in the trilogy, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed. I thought the second book was actually better than the first, but the third was very disappointing. I was actually bored reading it, and it seemed as though the author was just trying to string another book out of the story. I was glad when I eventually finished it.

I've recently picked up another couple of books from the charity shop. The first one is The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith, another tale from The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, and the other is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I've got the film on DVD but have never read the book so I'm looking forward to settling down over winter and getting stuck in.



Elsecar Heritage Centre And Craft Fair

Last Sunday, we had a trip to Elsecar Heritage Centre. Diane from Heartshaped has written about it on her blog in the past, and I'd thought at the time that I must visit.

The buildings which were once the ironworks and colliery workshops of the Earl Fitzwilliam now house exhibitions, antique shops and craft workshops. I had discovered that a craft fair was being held last weekend, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and visit whilst the craft fair was there.

The craft fair itself was held inside a large hall and was a great event in it's own right. There were so many examples of different crafts and lots of stall holders were only too happy to demonstrate their particular skill.

I enjoyed looking round the permanent shops on the site too. Elsecar Antiques Centre is amazing, so many treasures to explore, and The Craft Box is a crafters dream, I could have spent an absolute fortune in there. There were many other shops too which we enjoyed browsing.

There's a cafe on site too, though we resisted the temptation. It looked very pretty decked out in bunting.

We discovered these paintings on a wall as we were walking round. Very colourful.

The Elsecar Heritage Railway is also here. This is manned by volunteers who undertake everything on the railway from driving the engines to maintaining the track.

After our visit, we crossed the road by the side of the centre in to Elsecar Park, a lovely area for a stroll, with an adjoining reservoir where people can be seen fishing. We were hoping to have a go at pitch and putt but unfortunately, it was closed.

It was another lovely day out. It seems that many different events are held there so I'm sure it's a place we'll go back to.

Back To The Dales

Last Friday saw us back in the Yorkshire Dales again, this time to visit Malham Cove. I absolutely love it in the Yorkshire Dales and never tire of the area, even though we visit it often.

We started off in Malham itself, a small village with a handy car park for walkers and a National Park information centre.

There's a traditional blacksmith's workshop in the village, Malham Smithy. There were lots of items here for the home and garden.

I wonder if the ironwork on this bridge, which we found behind the workshop, was made by the blacksmith. Can you see the decorative kingfisher?

As we walked through the village, a signpost guided us in the right direction.

It wasn't long before we could see Malham Cove in the distance.

This information tells us how the cove was formed many years ago.

It's not a very long walk, and the footpath makes it an easy walk, we even saw people walking with pushchairs. It's good that it's so accessible.

It wasn't long before we were right in front of the cove. There were two climbers on the face, though I don't think you can see them on this picture. It's about 260 feet high, I wouldn't fancy climbing it.

We decided that we would walk up the steps to the side of the cove to reach the top. There's over four hundred steps to climb in total.

You get a great view as you walk up the steps.

On top of the cove is a large area of limestone pavement.

This information board explains how it was formed.

The view from this point is spectacular. You can see the path which we walked down to reach the cove.

We just got back to the car in time before it started to rain, so we decided that we'd head off to Grassington on our way home to have a look around the shops.

I love Grassington, it's such a pretty village with lots of little shops.

Isn't this cottage gorgeous?

I absolutely loved this day out. I don't think you can beat a trip to the Yorkshire Dales.

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.