Happy Things Here and Now

Hello Lovelies,

would you believe I have two more posts worth of photos to share with you from our Yorkshire weekend? ...I know!

I'll get round to sharing more special places soon, but they do tend to make me slightly melancholy........Wistful for another time and place. And yet  I know my life is blessed right now. I have a wonderful family and a job I enjoy doing part time........I'm lucky.

 I feel the need to focus on the small things that are making me happy right now....so here they are.

1. Gardening.

I've been clearing away dead foliage and pruning leggy plants this weekend. There's still more that needs doing, but the garden is already looking more loved and I'm enjoying a few roses that I rescued from the prunings...........

2. Walking with Mr BM. Hubby's work is a bit intermittent right now. Not the best of situations, but it does give us time together in the week when I get a day off............

3. Yarn bombing on the sign of one of my favourite independent local shops :0)..........

Also in town, the park is looking extra pretty with new fountains in front of the museum..........

4. Baking for my boys........

THIS simple recipe to make some after school treats...............

5. Reading
After I finished reading longbourn ( I loved it ) I wanted to read Pride and Prejudice but it wasn't in the library when I visited, and the sweet cover on this classic caught my eye..........

I loved the embroidery design, look it even continues inside.......and you can see the back of the stitches :0)

I've never read LITTLE WOMEN before ( or seen the film) but I'm enjoying it hugely so far. It's so beautifully written and touching. Don't tell me what happens will you!

6. Piles of crochet circles.
Every time I open my bedroom cupboard I see these circles which are going to be a blanket....someday............

I've got over one hundred now and I was feeling a little unsure about my choice of colours in this project.

so I decided to join a few more together to check if all will be well..........

Yipee.......yes I think it will....phew.

I love these happy bits of yarn...........

and messing about taking pretty photos of them :0)

So many things to feel happy about and lovely blog readers to share them with.......thank you for coming to visit me and leaving messages which always make me happy.

Jacquie x

Yarndale and Yorkshire :: Part 3

Hello Lovelies,
how our day at Yarndale flew by in the blink of an eye.
I could hardly believe it when I realised it was nearly four in the afternoon and I needed to go and meet up with mum again.
I said goodbye to Jo and her daughter, then Jones and I walked back towards the park.

One last, rather wistful look at the auction mart...........

see you next year.

A last photo of the glorious crochet bunting ..........

and a goodbye to Jones.

Then a dash through the park and a scoot along the pretty canal tow-path.........

Past the place where two canals meet..........

To meet up with Mum by the old fire station..........

Mum's been painting and sketching in the villages around Skipton. Now we head out of town together, travelling east and climbing up towards the moors.............

we turn left and drive up a really steep road to the wide open spaces I love. And the sun comes out....

Wonderful

We stop the car a few times and I wish there was more time to go for a walk along one of the many footpaths we see,

But it's still just lovely to be out in the fresh upland air feeling the breeze and enjoying the views which look glorious in the late afternoon sunlight...........

All the time I'm driving along Mum chats about her memories of the years she lived in Yorkshire, the years of her marriage to my, much missed, late dad and my childhood. It's lovely to reminisce together here.

Then we are heading steeply down hill into the valley.............

To the wonderfully pretty town of Pateley Bridge............

Where the old Yorkshire stone buildings glowed in the sun...........

and hanging baskets and bunting lined the street.............

In must have been about 5.30pm by now and the shops were mostly closed............

So we just wandered about enjoying the glorious weather and gazing in through the windows of the art gallery. There were lovely watercolours of Pateley.........

and dramatic interpretations of the hills..........

This area seemed to be a magnet for cyclists and so many riders stopped at this Spar shop to pick up a milk shake or a bottle of Lucazade to refuel, then sat on the benches here resting a while, before doing battle with the next hill..............

The river Nidd flows very close to this spot..........

I loved the view from the bridge back towards the shops, with a glimpse of the pretty church and the hills beyond........

Pateley also claims to have  the oldest sweet shop in England and on the way back towards the car I was surprised to find it still open.........

I popped inside to pick up a treat for the boys and was the last customer before they closed for the day.

Climbing up the roads out of Pateley we were now heading west into the setting sun......

The light was amazing and I did my best to try and capture the layer upon layer of silhouetted hills we could see..........

So beautiful.

It was quiet painful for your eyes at times, driving into the light... but wow......the views made up for that......

everywhere looked glorious bathed in Autumn sunlight........

It was such a lovely evening to enjoy the countryside...........

After a few miles we came to Grassington..........

Like at Pateley, we saw the bikes that were part of the Tour de France grand depart decorations back in July...........

this sweet ladies bike reminded my of my own.

And like Pateley the tempting shops were closed.........

Never mind, it was enough to wander about enjoying the atmosphere............

I loved the cobbles and this old road sign.........

By now we were getting hungry, so we stopped for one last time at this pub restaurant........

It looked great with the ubiquitous bikes and masses of flowers. And this sign on the door made us smile.............

Translation = Welcome, the old door is a bit stiff, give it a good shove and get yourself inside :0)

And how lovely the inside was. So much character and a cosy atmosphere..........

There was even a Yorkshire Terrier at the bar.....did you spot him?

Mum and I enjoyed a fish and chip supper here before we headed off to find the room we had booked  for the night, back near Skipton.

and in our room there was finally time to take a good look at my  Yarndale programme and do a little crochet myself................

Phew, that's three photo heavy posts from just one day.........and what a day it was. One to remember for a long time I think.

Jacquie x

Early Autumn Light

Hello Lovelies, 

I'm back from Yarndale and I can't wait to share my photos and memories with you....it was wonderful.

But I still need to upload and sort my MANY photos into a few manageable posts.

So, in the mean time, I hope you will enjoy this post that I started last week and didn't get time to post before I went.

This photo was from Monday morning........sunrise at 7am on the last day of Summer.........

On Wednesday morning I noticed how low in the sky the sun was at 9.20am...........

Later that morning I had an appointment in the city, afterwards had a little spare time. It was such a beautiful day that I walked over the foot bridge..........

and looked down on the river, with it's blue sky reflections and trees along the bank just begining to drop their leaves..................

The gardens behind the war memorial still had some summer bedding............good old red Geraniums......

and beautiful yellow Roses................

I  loved these red berries...............

and the low sunlight filtering through the leaves...............

I really adore the light on a sunny Autumn day................

It shines into my camera lens..........

and creates shadows that add interest................

I love sparkles of sunlight reflected on water

 I'm walking towards the big Victorian bridge............



and I love all the details on this beautiful structure................

on the other side there is a little canal I've never explored before..............

There's a working lock but it's very quiet today............

 just when I was thinking I would not see any narrow boats one appears from around the bend.........

such a happy sight.

Next post  we can visit  Yarndale :0) ...........I do hope you will pop back and join me.

Jacquie x