January Stay at Homes

It has been a strange few weeks.  The weather has been so unseasonal with high winds and drizzle.  There have been days when it has never seemed to get properly light and we’ve had the lights on all day.  Even cars have been driving around with their lights on in day time.  We’ve been kept busy with working on photos and websites so we don’t waste the good weather.

Jon came to lunch as he was seeing a client in Bradford and then driving on to Manchester for a meeting.  It was great to see him and catch up on news.  I suppose it’s a sign of the times that he just logged into our network and checked his work emails and dealt with queries.  Keeping in touch is so much easier nowadays.

We have booked our flights to the USA for the summer holidays.  We are staying on Cape Cod in a lovely traditional house.  It looks as if there will be eleven of us with the possibility of another two.  Rosie and Mike will fly over on the same flight and stay on an extra week in the Boston area.  Dave, Tara and Simon will fly up and so will Vickie, Jay, Darvik and Danika.  It is going to be great, especially as we thought we wouldn’t manage a family holiday this year.

We’ve been diving out the door whenever it has been fine and not too windy to get in a few walks.  We’re lucky round here with a lot of public parks.

This one is just over the main road from us and you can see the back of Bankfield House, once the home of Colonel Akroyd who built our village, and it is now a museum.

That is winter heather above, flowering on a bank in the park and below is Pule Hill, which we can see from our house as well.

One of our favourite parks is at Lightcliffe, about three miles away.  It is known as The Stray and is a very open area of 11 acres of grass with trees.

I had always assumed that an area called ‘The Stray’ – there is one in Harrogate as well – would be associated with the gathering of stray sheep.  Apparently I was wrong and the one at Harrogate was set up to protect the springs.  Why this is called ‘The Stray’ I have no idea and Mr Google offers no clues that I can find.

The church shown above was the Congregational Church, though it is now offices. It is unusual, as a Congregational Church, for having a steeple and also a full ring of bells.  The park makes for a pleasant walk all through the year and the criss-cross of paths make it easy to get back to the car if the weather suddenly closes in.

We’ve made one longer trip in the second half of January. Last Saturday (28th) we woke to find a thin carpet of snow and bright sunshine so we decided to try and find some more snow by driving up to the the Lake District.

There was no more than at home as we climbed up to Ovenden and, when we started the run down to Denholme, there was none to be seen.  Not deterred, we drove on and, eventually saw snow on the hills in the distance and we chased it with the determination of thirsty travellers following a mirage in the desert.

Crossing Lake Windermere at the Hawkshead Ferry – the last time we shall make that journey at £4.30 for about 5 minutes of crossing! – and drove up narrow lanes to Hawkshead with the snow still a glint on the horizon.  When you meet a bus on a lane like the one below, you swing in your wing mirrors, snuggle up to the wall and think thin thoughts!

We only go to the Lake District in the winter as it is just too crowded in the summer.  This was perfect with plenty of room to swing the proverbial cat and we headed for the Queens Head for lunch.

An Inn since the early 17th century, it is welcoming and cosy with an open fire, low ceiling beams, and warm wood panelling.

Enormous pieces of beer battered fish and thick, perfectly cooked chips were consumed with no regard to cholesterol or calories.

Eventually, replete and in no mood to take the exercise we so desperately needed after such a meal, we staggered back to the car and resumed our search for snow.

Still it eluded us and we decided to take the Kirkstone Pass.  Surely there would be snow on the highest pass in the Lake District?

Alas, the pass was closed – whether to snow or for some other reason the sign did not say – so we metaphorically shook the snow of Cumbria off our car tires and set off back for home.  We were rewarded by a lovely view of Ingleborough, well covered in snow and arrived home at dusk, needing only a sandwich for supper.

Now we wait to see what February brings.

End of Year Round Up - 2011

I can’t believe that it is nearly the end of the year.  They do say that time passes quickly when you’re having fun – so I guess there’s a lot of fun in my life.

We seem to have spent a lot of this year chasing Charles Darwin.  He came from Shrewsbury, where there is a shopping centre named after him – of all things!

And he left on his famous voyage aboard the Beagle from Devonport. Today we think of Plymouth as a famous sea port but Devonport was one of the three towns, East Stonehouse being the third, which were merged in 1914 to form the Borough of Plymouth in 1914.

We stayed with Rosemary and Mike for a weekend towards the end of October and visited the beautiful park at Devonport where this Darwin mention is part of a fountain.

We were so lucky with the weather and even managed a boat trip past the dockyards.  The large building in the above photo is Babcock International where Grandson Dan is now an apprentice.

We made a return trip to Mackenzies Smoke House towards the end of November to stock up and to have lunch to celebrate Alan’s birthday.

The journey up went so smoothly that we arrived much too early and pottered round the lanes for a while, passing the ‘golf balls’ of Menwith Hill.

These geodesic domes house the very latest in communications and intelligence support to the UK and US.  Nearby there used to be one of the more amusing of military eccentricities in the shape of HMS Forest Moor, a navy base on a hill which had to be named as ‘Her Majesty’s Ship’.

The biggest news of the autumn was the birth of Danika, a daughter for Victoria and Jay and sister for Darvik in Kentucky.  Alan travelled over for a few days to meet her.

They stayed most of the time at Old Rice Farm in Victoria and Jay’s cabin.

Last week we travelled to Fountains Abbey which is in North Yorkshire for a dinner followed by a performance of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by The Pantaloons.  We had a lovely evening and then a drive home on a crisp moonlit night.  Perfect.

At home, we have both been busy on various projects. Alan’s website is popular in the Tourism world and among his ex students.  He hopes to have a book coming out some time next year.

Pat has started to put her recipes and cooking knowhow onto a website – A Yorkshire Cook.  It had been suggested by several people but the time involved has never been available till now.  It is proving great fun and, of course, we get to eat the food.

In other family news, Layla is now at university, studying design. Tariq is studying for A levels and is specialising in literature. Kalif is working towards GCSE and doing well. Jon has joined a company which deals with cleaning up after emergencies and disasters.  He is finding it more satisfying than his previous job.  Kerry is enjoying organising music and drama at two secondary schools.

Rosie is still a teaching assistant, happier in her job after a re-organisation and Mike’s company is weathering the recession.  As I mentioned earlier, Dan is an apprentice with Babcock, beating a lot of competition to get the position.

Dave and Tara are still in California and Simon is doing well at school.  Their latest adventures can be seen here, including Simon’s Christmas performance at school – he’s at the back left in the video.

In the wider family, we have had two deaths this year. Orlando, Joy’s grandson, died in a light plane crash in May.  It was a great shock as he had come back safely from Afghanistan when he was in the Marines and was a very fit and active young man. 

Last week, Shirley’s brother in law, Bob, died after a long illness. Even though it was expected and he had beaten the medical predictions by a couple of years, it is still a sad loss.

We’re looking forward to a quiet Christmas.  There will be Dr Who and plenty of relaxation.  If the weather is good we will get out and about but that is not something to plan too rigidly at this time of year.

A Happy Christmas, everyone!

Catching Up for the New Season

I’m sorry to have been missing in action for so long.  I had to leave this blog in limbo while I dealt with other priorities and it got shuffled off the list.

We left you while we were in Devon and will catch up on that later but I’ll just give an overview of what has been going on over the past six months.  This may take several posts!

 

Alan went to Cuba in early October to speak at a conference.  He’s written an account of it here so I’ll leave you to read that at your leisure.

 

This is the last photo of Mac, taken while we were in Devon. The day after Alan flew off to Cuba, Mac collapsed while we were out walking.  He recovered enough to get back to the car but he curled up on a chair in the sitting room and couldn’t manage the stairs that night.  He was no better the next day and Sunday night I sat downstairs with him.

On the Monday, I took him to the vets and he confirmed that his heart was in a bad way and that we would have to keep him confined to the house if I wanted to prolong his life.

Mac lived for his walks and his quality of life would be so poor that there was no option but to help him over the last hurdle of his life.

If it should be that I grow frail and weak,
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then you must do what must done,
For this last battle can't be won.
You will be sad - I understand,
Don't let your grief then stay your hand,
For this day, more than the rest,
Your love and friendship will stand the test.

RIP Mac.

A family lunch

Alan and his brother, David, occasionally met for lunch in Derbyshire which sits between us in Yorkshire and David and Shirley, who live in Staffordshire. The Lamb Inn is a very good example of a real English country pub with small rooms, low ceilings and a roaring (and most welcome) wood burning stove.

It also - most importantly - serves fresh cooked food to a high standard, served by friendly staff. You can find a review here. No, I don't have shares!

When we got a reasonable day towards the end of January, we took Joy with us to meet David and Shirley for lunch. We must have enjoyed it because it took us over two hours to eat two courses.

5 more family Join us for The Weald and Downland Museum

The other day of note is when we met up with the other five family members (if you’ve been keeping count, you will realise that I’ve only mentioned fifteen so far) who joined us at Singleton to visit the Weald and Downland Museum. Jon, Kerry, Layla, Tariq and Kalif drove down for the day from Maidstone and we found one another easily – hooray for mobile phones.

After an enjoyable visit, Shirley and David stayed on to see more and the rest of us went to a nearby pub for a meal and a catch up on news.

Joining 6 more family (+ 2 dogs) - A Visit to Fareham

Sunday, we spent with Ian, Fiona, Sam and Joe at their house a few miles away. Dave and Shirley and their dogs were already there with their motor home to help with the preparations for lunch as Ian, Fiona and Joe were setting off for India early on the Monday morning.

We had a great day with them and a fantastically good lunch before saying farewell and leaving them to pack. James headed back to Manchester (poor lad had work on Monday) and Shirley and David followed us back to the campsite to join us for the rest of the week and we all met up for a meal in the evening before leaving the younger folk to talk into the small hours.

20 family and three dogs go to the seaside - West Sussex

The title isn’t quite accurate because only 11 actually saw the sea but it appealed to me.

It’s always fun to get as many of the family together as possible, even if it does mean staying beside the sea in late October (in England). It’s not always easy as we are fairly scattered over two continents but we do manage it from time to time. We’ve never yet got all four children and their families together in one place and we didn’t quite manage it this time. Dave, Tara and Simon were busy at work and school in California and Jessica couldn’t take a week out of University to travel over from Kentucky but, as Vickie said afterwards, “We're so fortunate to have family we can miss."

This year we rented a cottage in West Wittering  in West Sussex for a week and managed to gather a total of 20 variously related folk and three dogs at various times. I’m not even going to attempt to say who is related to who as it doesn’t really matter and it might give you a headache.

First to arrive were Alan, Pat and Mac. We weren’t staying at the cottage but in our caravan a short distance away. We arrived on the Thursday evening, much later than planned and settled in for a reasonably early night as Alan planned to leave at crack of dawn to Heathrow to collect Vickie, Jay and Darvik who were flying in from Cincinatti.
Rosie, Mike and Dan couldn’t leave Plymouth till late afternoon due to school and work and planned to stop overnight in Bournemouth on the way and meet up with James (from Manchester) who joined us for the weekend.

All went well with the journeys and settling in, Rosie and family joining us on the Saturday morning.

The best laid plans . . . One of us goes to the US

This is the first of a series of 'catch up' posts.


We had booked a holiday in the US, staying a few days in Chicago and then moving on to Santa Maria to holiday with Dave and Victoria and their families.


We took Mac (our rather elderly dog) to the kennels where he has been staying for years but he became distressed. The kennel owners know him well and he has always been happy there so we called the vet who thought he was probably confused (senility was mentioned) and prescribed a tranquilliser - Diazepam - and we delivered the tablets to the kennels with the instructions to call the vet if he was not OK in three days. If he hadn't settled by then, they would sedate him.


Then we went home.


I checked Diazepam on the internet and discovered our poor old Mac was on Valium!


So I decided I couldn't leave him in distress. He's fifteen and a half and I really felt he deserved rather more care than that promised. You may imagine the discussion which ensued! In the end I took Alan to the airport at 4 am and picked Mac up at 9 am. It took a week for him to wag his tail again and he is still, several weeks on, less well than he was before.


These are three photos of family. Alan took many more and, if you go to the contact page above,  I'll get him to send you the link to them - Warning. There are LOTS.


I was pretty devastated at not seeing the 'children' and grandchildren but don't regret the decision and know that Dave and Victoria understand. We took Mac on as a rescue dog from the RSPCA and he has repaid that with many years of devotion and love. I do believe that we have a duty to repay that at the end of his life and am sure I did the right thing.

Free at last! Graduation Day

Alan’s last day at work with Leeds Metropolitan was Graduation Day on 15th July. The perfect day to retire as the class of 2009 paraded in all their finery to receive their awards. After the formal ceremony, the celebrations get a bit chaotic but in the midst of throwing mortar boards in the air, Alan was presented with a scrap book of email messages and photos from past students and colleagues. His colleagues bought him a Windmate (for details see here). He does love his gadgets!

Technically his last day will be the end of the month but he had vacation owing so was able to finish early.

More pictures here.

Goodbye Mr Quips - Alan Machin Retires

This image  was chosen by one of Alan's colleagues for the invitation to his Pre-retirement party back in May as exams finished and students prepared to leave Leeds Metropolitan  University for the Summer.


A large room above the Original Oak pub in Headingly was booked and over a hundred students, ex-students and staff spent the evening eating, drinking and, above all, reminiscing and catching up with old friends.


Stuart Moss has put up two videos on FaceBook here then if you press 'next' you will get a more general one. More pictures are here.

Lanhydrock, Cornwall

Lanhydrock is a National Trust Property in Cornwall and one of the best houses in the country for a visit. We went with Rosie, Mike and Dan and had most of the day there. The weather was lovely and it is well worth a visit.

They don't allow you to take photos in the house but the gardens are a photographer's dream. The rest of the photos are here

A family visit to Plymouth April 2009

Just after Easter, we went to visit Rosie, Mike and Dan for a few days. Luckily the weather was fine and we were able to have one of Mike's magnificent barbecues. We also visited Lanhydrock and Charlestown, finishing our stay with a cholesterol raising breakfast at Cap'n Jasper's at the Barbican. For more photos see here.