February Brings the Snow and Others

February got off to a different start. And with it came more to do. With Alan the hall secretary being temporarily indisposed the lot has fallen on me AND Irene to take on a little more work and responsibilities in the community centre. For three Tuesday afternoons we have been cleaning the hall which takes about 3 hours. After today we hope to have appointed a cleaner and we can back, closer, to the business of being retired.

In all the busyness we did reserve one day to start the visiting season.

On the 6th we made a visit to Hopton Hall http://www.hoptonhall.co.uk/snowdrop-gardens-hopton-hall-peak-district.php which is near Carsington Reservoir in Debyshire. The object of the exercise was to admire the shy snowdrop. I made the mistake of telling our friend Lawrence what we had done. Now, Lawrence is a man of many opinions and naturally has an opinion about people who visit flowers.

Hopton is about an hours drive from here. The weather was uncertain, but we were able to time our arrival for lunch time. Having parked and paid we set off for the house and went into the farmhouse style kitchen where we were served by a very kind lady who wanted to make sure that our soup and chocolate were hot enough. I think that she was delighted that she had two people to serve.

The intrepid snowdrop photographer. Using her trusty phone camera Irene would take careful aim and later have the thrill of sending her first picture by sms.

The formal garden caught in the one bit of sun

Vivid colours to contrast the white

The house from the lake

Snow white clouds

The walk took about an hour and followed a path through woods, formal gardens and lakes. 

Then came the others. From the 10th of the month we had a revolving door of visitors.

First came Joe and Julia and a repeat of Christmas.

There was 'memory lane' or how to embarrass your children. The 1994 album had been discovered and Joni's childhood was opened up to Fiona. 

Next came presents and crackers and food which included amazing vegan cream and chocolate brownies.

Then there was wave to New Zealand.

And the evening ended with the traditional game of 'Chart Busters'.

Joe and Julia left on Monday and Tim arrived on Thursday.

The purpose of Tim's visit was to allow him time to rest. He was able to spend some time reclining, but we were able to have two short walks with him.

The first was a visit to Attenborough. Irene wanted to see more snowdrops but we were treated to a sunlit scene of blue crocuses.

Attenborough was still flooded as the next two pictures show.

It was possible to walk to the river along the paths that had recently been re-graveled

The next day we had a local walk up to Bramcote Hills.

I quite enjoyed the challenge of photographing the hill against the low sun.

Tim left on Sunday and Joni and Fiona moved in on Monday. The object of their visit was to give Fiona's parents a break as they continued to be homeless. During the week they had the offer that they had made on a house accepted to be followed by being turned down for a mortgage followed by them increasing the deposit. And, at the time of writing, the purchase is on track.

On Wednesday Irene and I tried to have a day off, but this consisted of taking stuff to the tip. We had planned to go to B and Q and on to Holme Pierpoint, but the traffic was impossible. I have been struggling to buy my seed potatoes. I had decided on 'Pentland Crown' as they were very successful last year. I certainly did not expect to walk into Trowell Garden Centre and find them for half the price as sold on the internet. To celebrate we enjoyed a slice of lemon meringue with cream and hot chocolate. It might have been cheaper on the internet, but not so tasty. 

Strangely enough, our next outing was to Trowell, but this time to the village hall. This was to be the first of my two visits there in less than a week.

On Sunday afternoon Irene and I went to see the Ilkeston Model Railway Club's annual exhibition. The exhibitors are always very friendly and it is good to see the work that they have done. We noticed two things in particular. The first was how clean the exhibits were; perhaps to the point of being sterile. The second was the number of birds that have suddenly appeared on models. Irene was interested in the modelling of washing on the lines. 

There were interesting features like a man painting a wall (see above) and another painting the line along the platform.

The main model had all kinds of mini-scenes such as the flock of sheep blocking the road.

There were also trains moving around, but unfortunately not on the club's own layout; to the frustration of the operators.

Two days later I was to return to Trowell Village Hall on a different mission. For some years there has been some dispute concerning a bowls mat held at the New Stapleford Community Centre. As the now Acting Secretary of the association I decided resolve the matter by a person to person approach. Having unlocked the Centre for use by the 'Probus' ladies I made my way to Trowell. I had nice chat with a lady there who told me that the lady I needed to see was at another monthly meeting with the 'Probus' ladies. So I went home and my plan was to catch up with my quarry at the end of the meeting in the community centre. I arrived to find that the meeting had finished early and only four cars were left in the car park. I decided to ask the lady in the car if she knew whether Mrs Lichfield had left. I found myself speaking to the very person I needed to see.

On Wednesday the weather was improved and having had a meeting in the centre and then done the shopping Irene and I set off for Nottingham. The plan was to go by the Castle and eat in 'Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem'. It boasts to be 'the oldest inn in England'

The price of the food turned out to be more than we wanted to pay and so we made our way into the city centre and ate a church cafe.

The main object of our trip to the city was to visit the Nottingham Contemporary.

On display was the work of two artist. One was local (John Newling) 

Dishes containing detritus from
cleaning thousands of 2p coins

and the other Italian (Piero Gilardi).

All the above are made from foam

It would take up more space to describe what we saw but we are always challenged by the ways that such artists think. To find out more follow the link. http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/events/whaton

Before leaving we needed a rest. The one problem with the Contemporary is the lack of seating and so we sat on the wall outside in the sun. Looking up we were surprised at the delicacy of the lace pattern in the concrete of the building.

Before leaving we visited a more mundane building and took a photograph from the balcony of a shopping centre. It is no longer thriving.

Today we carried horse ... from the local stables to the allotment.

The month comes to an end this evening after Irene and I clean the hall after the 'Blood Donor' session. Apart from digging in the dirt we wonder what delights next month will bring.

My Word

My word is it that long since I wrote a blog entry. I think that it is a combination of being a Facebook user and having not picked up the camera for sometime. I suppose that my blog has become more of a photo journal than a wordy tome.

I shall now try to pick up where I left off to the best of my ability.

It has been a long, hard winter with few photo opportunities. However, there have been times when the snow has provides a picturesque covering.

Snow-capped teasels

Snow on Stapleford Hill

Snow on Bramcote Hill (Only blue and black are used)

Following complaints from most of the family, the 8th of January saw the arrival of a new modem and a new router, with four ports and a wireless point, from Virgin Media. This also included the installation of an attenuator. The system runs well now. During that same week I was to take an exercise test. (In May I get the results.)

On the 31st January I had a pleasant day giving Iona a birthday present from us. We gave her 4 pieces of 4x2 chip board, lengths of 2x1, an the Intercity train and track.

Iona Receives Intercity Carriage

The following Thursday I attended the funeral of Beryl who we have known for a long time. By the time of the funeral Irene and I had become much more a part of the Haven church and Beryl and her family have been known to us for almost 13 years.

On the 14th Jan we visited the Ilkeston Methodist Church that Lawrence and Jan had become a part of. We had lunch with them and a view of the new kitchen.

On Monday I spent the day with Tim and the girls in the construction of the railway. It was a happy and successful day.

Iona controls the Intercity

Decorating Joe's room got seriously under way.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I held my last ever parent's evenings.

On the 13th March we had a rare Saturday when we not able visit Nan and the weather was spring like. Purple crocuses and white snow drops made a carpet around the Attenborough rectory and a robin did its usual pose.

By the 16th March Joe's room was complete. The final touch was the new carpet and then we braved IKEA and bought a desk exactly the same as the one Sally bought for the room we used in Australia.

Even before mum completed her last day of teaching on 26th work on the allotment was in full swing by the 22nd. The beds had been organised and the work of preparing them was going on.

By this time I had dug the majority of the potato bed, but it remained too cold until after Easter to plant the three rows of earlies (Epicure).

During the cold weather there had been a good opportunity to develop the railway. This was to next wave was to be about setting boundaries and laying footpaths. The church is an exception where time was given to completing the grounds by adding graves and a wedding party.

At this time the Rector has a drive and a car. To the large house a garage cum workshop has been added and the wedding party can be seen posing between the lytch gate and the church. The minister's house keeper is standing by the gate between the rectory and the church yard, anxious that the dinner will not go cold.

The 26th March was the very end of our teaching careers. Mum came home loaded with cards, plants, chocolates and the gratitude of everyone at Jubilee House Christian School.

We celebrated the end by going to the dances on Friday night and Saturday night.

On Tuesday the audiologists decided that I should have a second hearing aid.

On good Friday it was the 'March of Witness' in Stapleford for us whilst our friend Lawrence played a Roman soldier in the Ilkeston event.

On Saturday we had a trip to York to bring Joe back for Easter. On Easter Sunday neither of the boys were up so the Easter table was left for later.

The church meeting was bitter-sweet as we were told of the death of Hugh. We have known them for 13 years and over the last two years mum has been a weekly help to Margaret and Hugh.

On Friday 9th April it was a sunny day and my friend Bob and I went for a walk and lunch at Attenborough. The pictures show two different aspects of the place.

On Saturday we took Joe back to York and bought a car load of things home.

Joni left for St Andrews on Sunday with Fiona. We expect a return an overnight stay very soon before he returns for his last few weeks in Keele.

Finally we return to Iona and Izzie's layout. I took more track down making it possible to have two loops to include a bridge taking one loop over another.

Before leaving Milton Keynes we had a brief walk, in the cold wind, to the local park with Iona and Izzie.