Sunshine!

What a gloriously sunny weekend we had! Since I was still fighting off my cold I decided not to go to the allotment and stay in and craft (with the window open, so it was still sunny), but my plans were foiled.

On saturday our new housemate, the lovely Amanda, took us out to Sowerby Bridge for mongolian stir fry at Temujin (nom nom nom) and a bit of a wander. We had a really nice walk around the town, naturally I spent half of it wittering on about interesting old buildings, but I think Amanda and Niall have learned to tune me out now :) The information board said that the town really started to kick off in the seventeenth century, and there were some amazing frankenbuildings that looked to be pretty old. We also found a gaggle of geese on the Calder, with their own little fleet of goslings, which were so very fluffy!

On sunday I did manage to get a ton of craft done, which will be discussed in my other blog, while watching ancient episodes of Time Team -Niall helped me with the pompom for one of the hats - I can never get the hang of them. Having exhausted our sitting power for the day we trekked out to the Early Music Shop in Salts Mill, where we had a wonderful time looking at lutes and rebecs and harps and recorders made from what appear to be drinking horns. They even have lute playing lessons - may be a thing to do in the summer :) It was so nice out we wandered around the park in Saltaire and had a drink at the Boathouse.

I did the whole trial thing on monday, hopefully that's done with now... and tuesday was Jen's birthday, so the usual suspects met up in Bradford in a semblance of a social life; it was great to see everyone again!

Photos: Geese on the Calder; a beautiful old building; magnolias in the sunshine in Saltaire; easily the most hilarious photograph of Niall EVER; the usual suspects: Bones, Me, Charlotte and Jen.

Adventures in Staffordshire (and a bit of Shropshire)

The wedding was in Stafford (well, Church Eaton, but close enough) and we were delighted to watch Chi and Mat get married :) Chi looked stunning, as usual, Mat scrubbed up pretty well and the church was beautiful. It was great to see some of my old school friends, who I haven't seen in nearly four years (not for lack of trying, I might add), three of whom were bridesmaids. Niall and I stayed at the Vine in Stafford, which I've always wanted to do (somewhat perversely, having lived there for most of my life). It's Stafford's oldest inn - early fifteenth century, I think - and is supposed to be haunted, naturally. Didn't see any ghosties, but I can confirm that the room was comfy, the service friendly and the food tasty. I had great fun clambouring around the Vine and St Editha's (where the wedding took place) looking at the archaeology - think I drove Toni a bit mad ;)

St Editha's in Church Eaton (not to be confused with St Editha's in Tamworth, which is also stunning) is one of those glorious conglomerations of building that are secreted away in the English countryside: it has a twelfth century tower with a fifteenth century recessed spire, an unusual seventeenth century vestry and a beautiful nineteenth century organ. Upon enquiring, I was also shown a stunning eleventh century Norman font, tucked away to one side. I also loved the monk figure blessing anyone entering the church! There's just something about churches that I love; probably something to do with them being the centre of a community for so long... that community makes an imprint on the building and interior in so many fascinating ways.

Images: The Wedding Party, post confetti :); Interior of St Editha's; that 12th century tower with 15th century recessed spire; the welcoming comittee; a really blurry picture of the gorgeous 11th century font.

Jungle in My Windowsill

Well it's been a mad few weeks and no mistake. First I got my new job (YAY) and then I got sick (boo), then we went to a wedding (w00t) then I got sicker (double boo), then Niall got sick (*sigh*), then we gained a new housemate (yay!), we stopped being sick (*phew*) and I knitted a jumper. Oh, and things have been busily growing in my windowsill - unfortunately, given being ill and working on the weekend my plan to be at the allotment hasn't entirely worked out, so I've no idea how that's looking (probably already drowning in weeds). My bulbs are up in the tubs in my front garden though, so that's ace.

So since then I've been waiting for this trial to start again (and the dreaded phonecall summons) and watching my plants grow, since I had to book this week off work (sigh). And growing they certainly are! I'm going to have to pot some of them on already, which is going to be tricky, since I'm running out of windowsill. On the plus side, Bones has been round again and we've been up to our usual tricks, plotting fiction and what-have-you. I even dug out my old murder mystery (the one I've been working on since high school) and got Krystyna to read it. I'm a bit stuck you see... my uncle told me that Raymond Chandler, that paragon of mystery fiction, used to say that if he got stuck he'd have a mysterious man with a gun burst in... worth thinking about, certainly :) Anyways, if I get unstuck, there may be a novel being written - who knows! Watch this space!