Newmillerdam

A while ago, a lovely lady called Diane dropped by and left me a nice comment. I went through to have a look at her blog which was amazing, detailing her "Adventures before Dementia". I loved looking at all the places she has visited, but then discovered that even though she lives as far on the other side of world as you can get, she was in fact born just a few miles away from me. And so for you Diane, today I persuaded the family to have a walk around the lake at Newmillerdam - between Barnsley and Wakefield.

When we arrived, a spooky mist hung over the water.

The water is starting to thaw, but is still mainly ice, causing confusion for the ducks.

We only did the short walk, because we were accompanied by the whinging kids who only agreed to come as long as I never used my phrase "around the corner" - a ploy I have used to make them walk that little bit further ever since they were tiny.

By the time we got round to the Boathouse, the mist had started to clear. There was even a promise of blue skies - perhaps tomorrow.

I hope you enjoyed your little walk around the lake Diane, and have a lovely time at your wedding.

An Eerie Walk

As the air has eventually warmed, but the ground has remained cold, we ended up yesterday with a very misty day. We had planned a trip further afield, but not knowing how the weather would turn out, we decided to stay a little closer to home.

Our walk around the lake at Clumber park was very eerie, especially as there weren't many people about either so it was spookily quite too.

The boys were drawn to the still frozen lake.

I was shocked to see how much damage had been done to the forest by the snow. Lots of big trees had lost huge branches and some had been totally felled.

Ive never seen the park like this before. Most people only ventured as far as the National Trust Cafe.

None of these photos were shot in black and white, but there wasn't much colour around.

More Card Making

Whilst Ive been feeling off it, Ive taken to making a few more cards - in fact it has become an obsession again!

Ive been recycling gift wrap etc. The musical notes were the wrapping on Christmas crackers.

Ive been adding glitter and beads, lace and bows.

I have to host a craft class at our WI and so I thought I might get them making these. They are very easy to do and look very effective.

A cheap date.

One of the things that Mr Heartshaped loves about me, is the fact that I am a cheap date. He knew exactly where I would like to go for our Wedding Anniversary meal.

We had to get up early to take the Dancing Queen to work (her last day and the shops have been MENTAL and so she will be glad to finish, and hopefully her mood will sweeten too!), and so we thought we would take advantage of the early start.

One of my favourite walks (and I realise that I do say his a lot about many different walks) is the one from Sharrow, just on the outskirts of Sheffield, through Endcliffe Parks and out towards the Peak District. I love the way you move from City to Countryside, I love the way you walk through so much Industrial history, I love the beauty and tranquility of it, and I love the many cafes en route.

This building belongs to the company of Wilsons & Co snuff makers of Sharrow Mill. They have been here since 1737. I think it is the most fabulous building.

The walk takes you through the Porter Valley, where the Porter Brook, one of Sheffield's rivers runs. The Porter Brook was one of the reasons that industry sprang up in Sheffield. The river has most of the dams and mill ponds remaining along the way, and several of the old mills and cottages remain.

Its hard to imagine how this area would have looked back in the early 1700's . I would love to step back in time to see it. Its also a brilliant example of how Mother Nature takes back what is hers when we have finished with it. Although the big thaw has begun, all is not what it seems. The ground is still very frozen, and a slight rain fall last night had turned the paths into an ice rink!

I love the way you happen upon a relic from the past.

This is one of the Industrial museums of Sheffield. The old Shepherd Wheel is being restored. I shall be having a visit when it reopens. The paint on the shutters may look fairly bright, but it is the original "Ochre" that it would have been painted in.

As it was early, there was hardly anyone around. We were lucky to hear a Woodpecker (but we couldn't see it.)

And finally our destination - The fabulous 1950's Forge Dam Cafe. It has been recently renovated (basically to stop it falling down!) but it looks more or less as it always has done.

It really is just a wooden hut with a corrugated roof, but its wonderful. They were playing Dean Martin when we went in - lovely.

And our Anniversary meal - a great big breakfast. And I was ready for it I can tell you!

Wedding Anniversary

Today Mr and Mrs Heartshaped have been married for 19 wonderful years - it doesn't seem anywhere near that long, but time does fly when you are having fun. I still fancy the pants off him!

Back in the day, he had hair, she had a lovely figure - how times change!

I had forgotten that we had a heart shaped cake.

Heres's hoping that the next 19years are just as good!

Christmas 2010

We are not regular church goers, but when I had kids, I wanted them to know what Christmas was all about, and so we have always attended the Christingle service at church on Christmas Eve.

I was delighted that when I gave them a choice this year, they still wanted to go. It was a lovely service - the vicar always gets stressed though about the fact that there are 200 kids aged 0-11 with lighted candles!

We also get a visit on Christmas Eve at the end of our road from this chap. Again, the kids insisted on going and where more than happy to get mistaken for "children" and come away with a bar of chocolate!

At around the same time, I realised that I was coming down with describe as "Man Flu". I thought that I would struggle to cook lunch, and planned to lounge on the settee shouting orders to enable others to do the cooking, but then, just after the present opening, the DQ was struck down with a nasty vomiting disorder. Not only is she a Dancing Queen, but when she is ill, she is also a Drama Queen and very demanding of a lot of attention. And so it became a joint effort to get food on the table, as well as nurse the sick DQ who could only manage a small portion of mashed potato. My poor mum arrived and was horrified to find a house full of germs. If she could have worn a mask,I'm sure she would have! She ate lunch (which miraculously turned out very well) and got out at lightening speed!

Today, DQ felt a lot better and has had to go to work, (but she has text me to be prepared as she's feeling queasy again!) and I'm still streaming, coughing and sneezing and thanking the lord for Lemsip Max strength and Tena Lady! Hubby has also to go to work till 11pm, so I feel Christmas has been a bit of a wash out! So, I'm planning on a re-run at the end of the week when we are hopefully a lot better and no one has to work!

Hubby, the young man and I managed a short stroll around Wentworth this morning - its a bit of a tradition around these parts, and you tend to bump into folk that you haven't since since last year!

It was just far enough and great to get a bit of fresh air.

And I don't know if it was my imagination, but it didn't seem as cold as it has been, although the earth was still solid and the ponds frozen. Perhaps its only -5 now!

And these chaps were causing traffic chaos as they danced through the village.

Hope yours was a lot more successful!

Merry Christmas

Hi All, just a quickie to wish you all a very merry Christmas. I know that you are all in the thick of it! I just wanted to say a big thank you for letting me share your lives, giving me inspiration, making me laugh (and cry!). You are all very special people.

Enjoy the next few days.
xxxxxx

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse

Quite magical considering this happened last above 400 years ago.

Watched from my bed with a nice early morning cuppa.

Anniversary or Wedding Card idea

For my sisters wedding anniversary, I decided to make her card and gift tag, armed with a selection of very cheap and recycled bits and bobs. I bought an old wedding photograph at an antiques fair for 50p. I photographed this and printed it several copies of it. Using cold tea, I tinted some plain paper and white ribbon. Once the paper was dry, I printed out a few phrases, and cut these out too. I used some silver tissue paper for a backing. To get a neat "hand torn" look, use a fine paintbrush (I used a lip brush) and paint plain water where you need to tear. This makes it easier.



I used prit stick glue to glue the printed picture and the phrase onto the tissue, then when this was dry, I sewed a few beads and pearls on before gluing onto a plain white gift tag (which had also had the cold tea treatment).

I also glued a tag onto a card too.

I think that these would make nice wedding invites, especially if you used your parents or perhaps grandparents wedding photographs.

Many thanks to Carolyn for the inspiration.

Black and White..........

with just a touch of red.

(Please note, he wasn't dead, but his "gentleman's vegetables" had just taken a bit of a battering!)