A very happy New Year to anyone who passes through these parts.

I love that you visit and if you comment, that’s an added bonus.  I managed three posts in December 2009… I managed even less visiting so I apologise.  My New years resolution should be to get out in the blogdom  more often!

Snow is the word… and you thought it was Grease!

Where’s the squirrel?

Ahhh! He’s there!

Mr Blackbird…. Are you coming in?

“Don’t mind if I do!  Any food?”

Just a few nuts…

I took some views from the house.  It looks pretty nice…. from my house….

I’d like to say a HUGE GREAT BIG Thank You to Nikki & Roomie.

Their Christmas gift was the gift of giving….

Free Wheelchair Mission

They donated a wheelchair in my honour… it went to India.

Many Thanks Ladies! xx

Anyone who knows me, even a little bit will know I don’t like snow.  Well, from the purpose of getting from A to B I don’t like it.  I have no confidence when driving in it at all and that alone should probably convince me not to drive.  Of course sometimes you just have to… That’s the only time I will drive in it… when I have to.

Today, I don’t have to.

I managed to see the beautiful side of it today as Andrea and I walked around the woods which are just at the back of our home.

I twanged a few snowy branches behind me, covering Andy in the cold white stuff! Her little red cheeks glowed against the white backdrop.

*All the photographs are clickable… well worth the click.

Thanks to Philip for the giggles below… thought I’d share!

It rained all day Sunday… and all day Monday. 

My poor dad didn’t get across the doors and neither did I on Sunday.  I telephoned him on Monday and I said that after work on Tuesday I’d come straight over to his from work and pick the dynamic duo up! (Him and Scruff.)

After work I drove along the motorway that separates my work from my dads house.  In the wind and rain and negotiating icy roads I picked the cute couple up.

We drove to my house where I cooked up a storm in the kitchen! Aberdeen Angus Sausages, with mushrooms and leeks cooked in a lovely beef gravy.  Served with Carrots and baby corn and mashed potatoes.

After tea my dad watched some football and then we trawled the internet looking for handbags for presents for his sister and daughter in law! (and daughter if I got my way!)

I fell in love with a Kipling bag…

Whilst all of this internet shopping was taking place Scruff was keeping busy being incredibly cute!

So despite the weather it’s been a pretty nice evening!

Nothing is harder than losing a loved one.

To have the constant pain of watching them fight, suffer and then to lose them…

My thoughts are with my lovely friend Gemmak who sadly lost her lovely dad at the weekend.

I remember sending her a text picture for him to see of St James Park when Newcastle were playing Sheffield.  He loved it!

I can only repeat Gemmaks own words….

“Wherever you are (Gemmaks) dad, let the jazz be cool and the red wine be a damn good one.”

Sunday mornings are all mine.  I usually get up out of bed bright (kind of) and early and I know that the morning is my own.  I won’t see another human being before 9.30am!

It’s hard to know how to fill the morning but I usually manage without the aid of any television or radio.  I realise now that I am more than enough amusement for myself.  Me and my thoughts can keep me occupied for hours.

I start the day with a coffee, usually in the conservatory but at the moment it’s so dark that early I usually see nothing more than my own reflection.  Everything that happens between that coffee and the next hour is all to help me build up for the ironing.  I have to prepare in stages, get the ironing board, check my e-mails, get the iron out, go wash up, get the clothes basket and put the kettle on.  You get the idea? I gently build up to it… so it’s not such a shock to my system. 

I noticed how many pyjamas I have and I tried to find a reason as to why I iron them.  The only thing I could come up with was that I think they look pretty when they are all flat in line with the seams!

I didn’t mind ironing so much when the kids where tiny…. I could fly through the basket in no time! Now it’s all designer this and designer that.  That material that is supposed to have the creased look can give me repetitive strain injury trying to get the creases out.

I was in the middle of ironing a T-shirt belonging to Andrea that used to say, ‘Music Makes the World go Round!  I couldn’t help but notice that it now said, ‘usic akes he or d g  ound’  I wasn’t sure how that happened.  I moved my head to one side and re-read the slogan just in case it made sense when my head was tilted.  No joy.  Having put my head in the washing machine drum just to check if the letters were still in there I decided to worry no more.  No doubt the letters would turn up later with some socks…

I only iron the necessities, no more… There is really no point in my stressing myself out unduly…

I was almost ready for another coffee after the ironing so I was heading towards the conservatory again, then I noticed there were lots of birds in the garden.  On further inspection I also noticed that all the feeders were empty.  It’s strange thing guilt.  I knew that there was no way I could go and sit and watch them eat nothing without feeling responsible.  I decided coffee could wait and so I’d start preparing the dinner instead.  I quite like making Sunday dinners; it’s about the only cooking I can do with confidence.  There are no complications in boiling a few vegetables up and roasting a nice joint of meat!  I had some lovely Rooster potatoes to peel and a few carrots.  No matter how hard I try I always manage to peel my nails.  The other thing I notice is how few peelings there is in sink after you peel what seems like a load of vegetables and yet the peelings don’t seem to look very much at all! Strange. 

Once the vegetables and the meat were sorted, I washed my ‘shrooms and I thought I’d get a bit technical and I’d have a go at preparing the stock. I know I’m making it sound difficult when really it’s just a couple of cubes from the box in the cupboard! I boiled the kettle and started to take the wrapper off the stock cube.  I was very taken by how much the cube looked like a toffee.

‘mmmmmm, toffee’ I thought.  ‘Don’t be stupid!’ said my common sense part of the brain.  ‘mmmmm toffee’ I thought.  ‘look!’ said the common sense part again, ‘You have just seen the box you took it from, it says quite clearly that they are stock cubes!’

The urge to put this stock cube that looked like a toffee in my mouth was overwhelming!  The battle raged….

As I wandered over to the sink to spit out the stock cube I couldn’t help but notice some orange peeling hanging from the tap.  There was also more peeling on the window frame and the handle and as I looked up I was quite amazed to see a couple of pieces hanging from the light fitting on the ceiling! So that’s were the peelings went to!

Once the peelings were gathered I was just about done.  I still had a few things to do and as I walked into the back room I noticed a cushion that wasn’t from the set on that sofa.  I picked it up and took into the sitting room where there were other cushions of its kind.  The problem was that I have two, two-seater sofas and one chair in that room.  I also already have 5 cushions. Trying to find somewhere to fit this 6^th ‘spare’ cushion in was causing me a problem.  After an hour of rearranging the sofas, chairs and pillows I quickly and quietly threw it back on the sofa in the other room and closed the door behind me. Say no more!

See? I don’t need people to keep me entertained! I have me!

The little holiday is well and truly in the past now! It feels like it was a lifetime ago.  The dark nights are really drawing in, 5pm and its pitch black dark!

That doesn’t give me the energy boost I need to do my housework or to get overdue chores done.  That just makes the chores become even more overdue and it makes me want to snuggle up in a ball on the sofa and watch trash television!

Talking of television, my dad has had his life enhanced by a wonderful programme on the Discovery Channel. (You and me baby… hehe, only the funky will get that little funny!)

It’s a programme called The Salvager and it’s about Rico Daniels who makes amazing finds in charity shops and reclamation yards and then turns his finds into usable, authentic treasures. It’s amazing what this man can do with a fruit crate or an old ottoman.  So, I’d like to give a big thank you to Rico for making my dad very happy. (He’d have a field day if he could get in my dads shed I’m sure!)

I have to tell you about Saturday! Saturday was the day I quietly wished for more excitement and I had my wish granted! Well, sort of! The first exciting thing that happened, I wrote about over here.  Don’t call me a traitor! I like to try different places and I love the lay-outs over there.

The rescue of Fly! 

Our second bit of excitement was on Saturday afternoon.  With shopping done and dusted and our pet shop visit done. (Acquired a lovely barbour coat for Scruff! – photos to follow I promise!)  We were en-route to my dads’ house but we always call in to the shop in my dads village to put the lottery on and to pick up any other things we may have forgotten. (There is always something!)  Dad and I went in the shop leaving Andrea and Scruff in the car, I never locked the car but I did leave the window open.

On our return to the car with our hands full of forgotten goodies I opened the boot (trunk) of the car and put everything down, including the car keys, while I rearranged the goods into the bags.  Having done all of that I triumphantly closed the boot!

I then tried to get into my car… door locked! I asked Andrea to open from the inside. Door locked. I then asked her to flip the magic switch in the foot well to reopen the boot. All locked. Blind panic was rushing through me as I realised that I had not only shut my car keys in the boot but it had also triggered the sensors and so the cars central locking system kicked in.

My dad, *rolls eyes* said, “That’s ok, I’ll just walk home with Scruff…” Yep, First sign of trouble and my dad bails out! I looked at him with my *like to see you try” look. “Go ahead!” I said flippantly.

Dad pulled the handle of the car door.  Door Locked!  Would you believe it! At this point I may have wondered if dad grasped the enormity of what I had done.  With images of Andrea and Scruff camping out in a locked car forever I had to think of what I could do. 

Just to add insult to injury, as if the situation wasn’t bad enough the car alarm started to ring out.  Every three minutes for an entire minute.  I waited for the clouds above to form a big arrow like cloud which pointed down to us.  Talk about attention grabbing!

We were creating quite a crowd… Andrea was mortified, my dad was bemused and Scruff was just happy to be there.  30 minutes had passed and I was still trying to get through to driver support.  When she finally answered and asked me a few irrelevant questions I then managed to tell her what I had done.

“I’m so sorry but I’ve locked my car keys in the boot… along with my daughter and the dog… not in the boot you understand but they are locked in….”  I was going to continue with more irrelevant words when she shrieked… “You’ve locked your daughter in the car!!!”  Something occurred to me about this lady who answered telephone on the driver support line… wasn’t she supposed to make me feel calm.  Having her shriek at me made me feel like the worlds worst mother, along with the clouds up above forming their flashing, fluorescent cloud arrow.  I tried to placate her.  “Oh, no, erm, yes, erm, well she is 14.” I proclaimed! “ …and the window is open..” (I said that almost smugly!)

Whilst this conversation continued a taxi pulled up along side us.  The taxi driver got out of the car and with his hands on his hips he asked what the problem was.  I was on hold, listening to some rather clonky music.  I presume my lady support line person was away freaking out somewhere, proclaiming me the worst mother in the world!  I told the taxi driver about the sorry mess we found ourselves in.  He ‘shushed’ me with a hand movement, walked over to the open window in the car and began issuing instructions to Andrea. 

“Pull down the bar in the middle.  Open the flap.  Pull those handles at the top of the back seat and it will pull down.”

Andrea followed his calm instructions and clambered into the boot from the back seat and retrieved the keys!

Bugger! I had forgotten about those back seats collapsing.  So after I thanked the taxi driver we were ready to go… 45 minutes later… home.

I’m sure the taxi driver was rolling his eyes as he left our plight area.

I did wish for excitement!

Have I saved the best until last? Well, you tell me!

Day 3 Dartmoor National Park

The entire area is to be explored.  You really don’t have to go far to find something that takes your breath away, a view, architecture, countryside…

First stop was at Postbridge to see the old Clapper Bridge.  I have been here five or six times, the first time I had no children and over the years we have taken one child to play pooh sticks on the bridge, then two…

A road between Postbridge and Two Bridges is where the legend of the Hairy Hands comes from.  Did we drive on that road on a night? You bet we did!

Once we had walked over the bridges and taken in all the surrounding beauty we high tailed it out of there to find breakfast.  After carefully negotiating and navigating the precarious roads on the moor we arrived at Widecombe  in the Moor.

Widecombe is wonderful and Andrea and I were especially impressed by the public toilets, namely the all in one, sink, soap dispenser and hand dryer! We want one for our house but judging by how long it has taken for my husband to do the staircase, (unfinished incidentally!) we reckon installation my be a long wait…. hands would dry on their own!

All of the times we have been to Dartmoor there has always been one thing that has eluded us.  The famous Jays Grave.  We knew the tale, of Kitty jay and we knew it was there somewhere but we had never been able to find it.  Until this time when we found it by accident!  I know it may seem a little macabre as  it is a very sad story but it is also a very interesting story.

The views you find on the moor just literally take your breath away…

You have to climb a tor! Or you at least have to watch someone climb a tor! Or, they could watch you while they climb the tor!

We climbed Hound Tor. (I use the term ‘we’ loosely)

It’s like being on the top of the world!

The Medieval Settlement is very close to Hound Tor so we walked all the way down the hill to it.

and then we walked all the way back up again! (I am not fit!)

That was pretty much the whole trip.  I’ve missed a few bits out but I’m sure I can revisit sometime, in my mind and I will take you all with me.

Ok. Where was I?  Ahhh yes… I remember now.

Day 2 Clovelly

Clovelly is a quaint and picturesque fishing village built into a cleft of a cliff.  It’s beauty is breathtaking.  I’m always surprised to find it very warm there.  Almost tropical when you compare it to outside of the village. 

That was the day I wasn’t star mam and I was the one who wore ’stupid shoes’. 2 inch high heeled brown leather ankle boots are not what you want on your feet when you are walking down (or up)  a steep cobbled hill!

Despite the  stupid footwear I still managed to make it down to the harbour, to feast on cray fish tails, crab and welks. ( I had a bit of a tummy ache later I can tell you!)

The village of Clovelly is said to have been the inspiration for The  Water Babies, written by Charles Kingsley.

Lovely isn’t it!

I never managed to get all the way to the waterfall.  I let my two travellers go ahead without me.

I did however, manage to get tired, emotional and a little less elegant than ever whilst making my way down to the harbour!

(Stupid shoes 0 – Pebbly Beach 1)

The Donkeys that live in the village all work very hard.  They are used to get goods back up the hills after they have been taken down on sledges… (snow optional…sledges still work!)

“Hey! Share your bucket you grumpy donkey!”

After Clovelly it was off to Bude, a lovely seaside town famous for it’s surfing! The waves are certainly high enough!

Dusk… still time for a visit though and this time it was off to Tintagel!  Famous for King Arthur, his round table and Merlin! Andrea caught up with Merlin and had a chat…

A funny chap that Merlin!

That was Day 2!

I think I have left the best til last so you have Part 3 and Day three to look forward to! That was Dartmoor Day!

LOOK! Sensible shoes!