Merry Christmas To All...

Are we ready for Crimble...NO..well, nearly :))

• Pickles made...Check
• Christmas cake made AND given drinks... Check
• Shopping list made...Check
• Venison (YES!!!) ordered...Check
• House tidy...err no
• Decorations up...err no

It IS the intention to have as much HOME made 'stuff' as possible - so lots of baking, cooking and all to be done in the inimitable style of the late and much

lamented Floyd - pass the vino please ::)))

A little bit of R & R

We are here in the 'wilds' of Staffordshire at a wonderful friends place.

Right now I'm sat in the dark in the front room, in which the only electronic entertainment is a radio glued to BBC Radio 3, looking through a curtain-less window the size of a good shop front, at a fabulously clear pre dawn sky with an amber full moon looming over us all.

The grandfather clock is tick tocking, the cup of tea is steaming and there is not a movement anywhere, in the house or the fields that lead up to the trees on the ridge in the horizon (not a long distance horizon - don't think Salt Plain Flats!!)

We come here to be with a kind, gentle (some would say eccentric) man and to be looked after with peace, dignity and good food :)

Ahhhhhhh

Little boy getting bigger...mobile & a smiler :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Weymouth,United Kingdom

OUCH !!!

It's last day of school hols here - back to work tomorrow, which will be a relief after the past three weeks!!

We packed up at Hinderwell on the Saturday morning & my arm ached - by the time we collected mother from Cousin Jen's it hurt....and, having decided to come back via Scarborough and the coast road, it was absolute AGONY by the time we travelled there.  Couldn't turn, had to hold my left arm behind my head all the time - nothing touched - heat pads, co-codimal - ibuprofen...Suzie drove  - we abandoned mother, came home and I reckon I spent the best part of two and a half weeks on the bed (with the exception of visiting Dr's &  Oesteopath - Paul - HIGHLY RECOMEND HIM )...

Right now on stronger pain killers, ice packs and shiraz :)

We did have a good time though....next hols will be Easter at Westfleet :)

Holidays…Train Time…

Friday 12th

Went to Grosmont and caught a steam train to Pickering - The NYMR (North Yorks Moors Railway).

Again…family connections made this all the more of an experience – Granddad &, I am led to believe, Great Granddad Wood were born, raised and worked on the railway in Grosmont – Dad was born up the hill at Egton – went to school in Egton – then granddad moved about a bit with the railway till he retired when they lived in Loftus…

My challenge now is to tie up all the pieces and raid ancestory et al and put them altogether.

Anyway – we had a great day – started off with breakfast at Sandsend:-

Then off with mother across the moors to Grosmont

If you haven’t walked the Moors and want to see the depth and extent of the scenery – travel on this train

And our next challenge is this…

They are called camping coaches AND Mother has stated a wish to sleep in one!!

Holidays…nearly done :(

Thursday 11th

A day of chat and nostalgia again…Cousin Christine popped over from Yarm – again a place littered with references to our families earlier lives.  Another lovely lunch followed by the comment of the year from my mother:-

‘I was on the bus from Stockton when this monkey bit me….’

As can be imagined – lots of staring and open mouths…transpires she was working in a shop in Hartburn and a bloke had a monkey on a lead – told her it was a good monkey – then it promptly bit her!! All before I was born…they live in this caravan

which they had persuaded a friend to pull up from Slough – 1953!!

Anyway – back to Serenity whence the normal order of life returned and I STUFFED Suzie at doms

Holidays..day 5 ‘Saltburn…’

Wednesday 10th

A wet morning……again

Never mind – a day spent with Mother visiting Saltburn-by-the-Sea…A place born out of the mind of Henry Pease in the 1850’s…should have stayed there!!

Our reason for going was to see Cousin Ann – probably the only relative I know from Granddad Wood’s side of the family – she is my dad’s cousin – his uncles daughter…(think that’s right!!).

After a sumptuous casserole, Suzie and Me left the two ladies to have a chat and wondered around the grand surroundings of Saltburn…didn’t take long. There’s THREE reasons for coming here:-

the beach on a HOT day… Surfing (if you like mixing it with a whole raft of seaweed that’s dragged in with the tide..and like the cold…)

The pier (which to to Saltburn’s credit has had dosh spent on it)

Oh, and the Vernacular Railway….

Then it was back to Serenity, a tent that had been half blown down and a night of more wet and blustery stuff that just DIDN’T SEEM FAIR

Hols…day 4 ..and SUN!!

Tuesday 9th August.

Today was spent, in the main, on a wander around this wonderful place…

We (well I to be honest) had decided that we would experience Whitby through a day of cups of tea, chips, walking, beer & ice-cream…although the last is yet to happen!!

Parked up by the Abbey and wandered down across the bridge, mooching at the shops (charity of course) then down to the West Beach…where Suzie played Queen Canute…

Unfortunately – The North Sea was having none of that nonsense and GOT US…

Ah well – lots of sock shops…

Sea swell was high – some great splashing around the piers…

We ate chips and watched the bridge open…

We had the beer in the pub I reckon dad would have gone in…

Some of us (!!) got wet again…

And we had a look at Kiln Yard…those were the days RIP Auntie Doris, Dad, Auntie Dorothy, Auntie Mary….

Lastly ‘The Steps’…How Many Suzie??