I went for a walk - on a winters day

After our first sprinkling at the weekend, on Sunday (and with all the presents wrapped!!!) I decided to walk down the lane for a wintery walk. Can you see Wentworth Church peeping over the horizon?

I love the fact that I don't have to get in the car to go for a walk.

We now have much more snow than this!!!!!

Operation "silk purse"

You remember my neighbour who put out over 100 "Interiors" magazines for recycling - and I recycled them into my house? Well on Saturday, whilst scraping our car windscreens, she mentioned that she had some more - would I like them? Well yes I would. (Thirty of them, the cheapest of which is £3.50 - the maths frightens me!).
These are so very well timed as I am about to embark on my "operation silk purse" project.

I have rescued some kitchen carcasses. My friend is moving house and having a brand new kitchen. To save these from being landfill, I decided that I could use these to give me more storage in my kitchen. Whilst I would love a brand new kitchen, I know that I would get bored with it after a while, and I just don't have the funds at the moment either. I also prefer rooms to "evolve". I loved the kitchen on the Sophie Dahl cookery programme.

I have a very strange long "L" shaped kitchen, caused by sticking an extra bit on the back of a garage extension. We have had a table and chairs in here, but it didn't get used much as it became a dumping ground for bags and coats, and you couldn't move for trainers!

My kitchen is well used. I cook and I bake, and it often gets very untidy. Its not as dark as these photos look - just a very dull day.

So I aim to turn this "sows ear".....

...into a "silk purse" - hopefully on a budget of £200.

I am liking the current trend for having units that don't quite match - the picture above even has different work tops! This will fit in very well with my plan to get new doors for the carcasses and a couple of tins of paint!

I'm saving the project until after Christmas, but meanwhile, I have plenty more mags to look through for inspiration.

The first snow of winter.

Like most of the UK, we have awoken to our first snow - and fairly early it is too. I don't think my kids have ever seen snow in November. We don't have much at the moment, but the sky looks full of it, and as the Dancing Queen is working until 8pm, and I am on taxi duty as hubby will be working too, its causing me a bit of stress!

Once Ive taken my daughter to work, and built a snowman, like a true Virgo, I shall be wrapping the gifts I already have, so I can see what I need to still get, so that I can have all the present stuff out of the way by next week. Ive written almost all of my cards too. When it gets to Christmas, I like to spend my time eating, drinking and making merry - not in the shops! Enjoy your weekend. xxxxx

Sheffield Christmas Lights

After we had dropped the DQ off at the station on Sunday evening, we decided to go and have a look at the Christmas lights that had just been switched on in Sheffield. We had missed the big switch on (by Joe McElderry I believe), but the German Market was still in full swing in the Peace Gardens. There cannot be a single market trader left in Germany as every northern town and city seems to have a German market on at the moment!
And people were still skating on the ice rink.

My favourite tree is the one in Tudor Square - just outside of the Millennium Galleries. Its lovely.

And the more traditional tree outside of the town hall is magnificent too.

We like to welcome you to Sheffield - whatever your creed. I always think that this is a lovely touch as many nationalities and faiths now make the city their home.

The lights in Barkers pool are simple but effective.

And the Christmas windows in John Lewis are suitably festive. The young man was so glad that they were closed!

I love what they have done with the columns of the city hall.

I'm going to go back on one of the late night shopping Wednesday's as it was such a lovely atmosphere - and John Lewis will be open then!

Silhouettes

After our walk around the village of Wentworth on Sunday, we headed back home. En route, I decided to try and take photographs directly into the low sunlight. I really like the way that they turned out.

When I retire, I am going to treat myself to a good camera and learn how to use it. I love digital photography. Its a cheap and very interesting hobby. I see the world differently through the camera lens.

Sunday Morning

Our walk on Sunday took us to Wentworth as we didnt want to travel too far.

What is it about Brass Bands? - I have a Love/Hate relationship with them. I love them because they truly are the sound of the north - especially Yorkshire. They sound wonderful . But I hate them when they reduce me to tears in crowded places - which they regularly do. I was OK with "Jingle Bells" but "In the bleak mid winter" had me blubbing!



Santa had arrived in a blaze of Glory the previous week.

He had a small queue, but I think he will get a lot more popular.

The deli is gaily dec'd - I noted that they do some brilliant local cheeses now - so i'll be popping them on my shopping list for Christmas.

We took a wander down the church path.

Whilst it may be cold now - I know it won't be long until the daffodils are lining the path.

The Estate office is having a facelift - i'll show you this when its done. I once applied for a job here but didnt get it. When I spoke to the secretary afterwards, she said that they didnt think I would stay as it was quite a lot less pay - but I so would have.

One of the reasons I wanted the job, was that you get to live in the village if you want. There are a couple of houses that I would love to live in - especially at this time of year. I also love the history of the Estate and the Fitzwilliams.

I'd love a look inside here. It is still lived in. There are two like this in the village. I don't think that they ever were windmills - but I may be wrong.

It was lovely to wander through the lanes. It can get a bit busy in the centre of the village - especially at this time of year, but the lanes around the edges can still feel miles away from anywhere.

Heart Shaped

Many thanks to little Violet who thought about me whilst on Marazion Beach and she found a wonderful heart shaped pebble. Its perfect and I love the way that a vitual stranger - or now more like a virtual friend, thinks about me when she is on holiday.
And thats why I love Blogging. xxxxx

Estate Green

A few more doors spotted on a walk around Wentworth on Sunday - all painted in "Estate Green"

I love the "distresssed" look and have distressed a lot of items over the years - my hubby to name just one!! (His words not mine!)

Sheffield Sharks

As a pay off to my hubby and the young man for all the traipsing around gardens and stately homes etc that they do for me, I in turn accompany them on occasion to watch sport. Now I'm not interested in sport at all. I have not one competitive bone in my body and my standard - often very unhelpful phrase when their teams lose is "Its only a game" - because it is!

I don't go to watch the football any more. Its over priced, cold and boring. I do my bit at cricket in summer. I do enjoy watching the Ice Hockey, but I love going to watch Basketball. Its indoors and warm. Each quarter is only 10 mins long - so it holds my interest. You sit very close to the action - which makes for a good atmosphere. Its fast and they make it entertaining. Its great for families - they play music, give you big sticks to make some noise, and have a commentator. We go often to watch the Sheffield Sharks as we have a friend who plays for them. Recently, the scoring has been very close - infact last week it was anyones game literally down to the last second. I thought the young man was going to burst!


(Photo from Sheffield Sharks website as I forgot my camera!)

Beauchief

Ive never walked around the district in Sheffield called Beauchief (pronounced Bee chif) before, but inspired by a blog post that Rowan did a while ago, I decided on a misty Saturday to have a look around. It stands in glorious ancient woodlands above the river Sheaf (where Sheffield gets its name from). Beauchief is an area that I have raced through many times en route to the Peak District - which is usually where we love to walk. However with day light hours being very limited, closer to home seems to be a better plan.
Hubby and I had never heard of Beauchief Abbey and were surprised to find some of it still standing and being used as a place of worship.

It is currently having renovations done - I am going to return when it is open for a look inside.

Not many leafs are clinging on, but the ones that are brighten up the gloomy day.

The bare trees remind me of Rob Ryans work.

We took our ordnance survey map as we were unsure of the way, but the walks are very well signposted.

We were surprised to happen upon Beauchief Hall (again I had never heard of it). It stands magnificently, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but within very easy reach of the city. It was originally a family home, then a boys school, and in recent times has been owned by an IT company for their head office. But it has just been sold and it looks as if it might be made into apartments. It looks gorgeous and is in a stunning location, however I don't know if I would dare live there as it is reputed to be very haunted - read here!

I'm glad I made the effort to get out on this misty murky day. Once again I discovered something new on my doorstep.