Take me back!!

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Out and about

What I didn't expect are in the shots to follow? Was the huge divide between working class and rich properties. There were chickens, cockerels and dogs loose and in abundance. And the road kill - monkeys and mongoose!

Corrugated tin seems to be the preferred roofing material - noisy in the rainy season I bet

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The spice market

We visited a great market with gorgeous traditional Caribbean outfits (couldn't resist a top for our great niece) exotic flowers, fruit and veg, rum punch and spices in abundance.

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Out and about in the Caribbean

 

Having never been to the Caribbean before, my expectations were of brightly coloured wood clad properties in tones of lime green, fuchsia pinks, canary yellows, varying shades of white and bright blues.

 

 

Along with some oldie worlde french architecture, lush great foliage, exotic flowers, huge palm trees and soft sandy beaches. I was not disappointed and I got some fabulous shots. The whole way of life in the Caribbean is very relaxed and steady, there are not timetables at bus stops and lunches are long. The easy going relaxed approach is very pleasant and I corrected myself many a time when I started to rush, to just relax with the pace.

 

  

 

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On board the Clipper

Being on a small ship we did not escape the queueing to get on board but it is soon forgotten.   I enjoyed this so much and really hope M will agree to do it again. It is my kind of cruising.


This was our cabin view for the week

I gained a new friend, that is as arty farty as me  (Yes, that's you Carolyn) when it comes to pictures and the ship offers some truly gorgeous pictures.  we had fun snapping it from different angles and at different times of day to catch the light.








There is a lot of pomp and ceremony when we are going under sail and at the beginning if the cruise we were racing beside a smaller clipper - brilliant fun!

I had hoped that the dolphins would be visible at the front of the ship and that we could lay in the bow nets whilst they were leaping. we saw them but it didn't happened as I hoped

The food and staff on board made the trip perfect!

 

 

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Winter in Barbados

Luck was on our side when we opted for our winter break this year as just after we left it snowed and cleared again the night before we go home.

 

Together with our friends M& J we flew to the Barbados to relax for a few days before joining a seven day clipper cruise around the Winwood islands.

 

The first morning in our hotel we gained a new feathered friend and a very friendly little chap he is - no doubt accustomed to charming the residents of the hotel.  I am sure if we had stayed a few days more he would have been eating out of M's hand and he would certainly have gained a name.

 

On our first day we took the underwater submarine tour. This was booked as a surprise for J as he had done it before and was insistent that we should all do it and that we would enjoy it.  of course we all had great fun pretending that it was not something that we would want to do and even feigned fear of going on an underwater trip.  Can recommend it as id was very good. We have read that the night time trip is even better but we had dinner reservations for the evening at the cliff so could not do that.

 

The Cliff restaurant was great, fabulous food and wine, it's right on the water front and the tarpon and the sting rays appear each evening for a feed. 

 

Our table was the one on the bottom left.  

 

One day of relaxation and then off on our cruise!

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Christmas

Well that's another Christmas gone! They pass all too quickly but we had a lot of fun along the way!
At one of our dinner parties, Woody confirmed a new friendship with Franky, and shared his toys and favourite place - in front of the fire.

Our friends, M&S, and Frankie's owners have threatened to make him one of our part-time residents as from this year. We are looking forward to it as he is such a gentle boy and at only 18 months old very playful and if we can co-inside it with one of Woody's visits - he'll be happy too.

Earlier last year Woody's mum, J, admired this little vase that I have, so I set able finding one for a table gift for Christmas. 

Not quite the same but I came up with this.

As a centre piece it looked great and each made a perfect gift.

The table looked great too with the table settings purchased from my recent trip to New York with mum.

Looking forward to a break in January!

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Christmas is Coming

I love Christmas decorations and the first couple of years after moving in we made room for a large Christmas tree (approx 7 foot) to the left of the fireplace in the Kitchen. For quite a few years now we have been away over the festive period so haven't bothered with the hassle of one - seems extravagant to pay out for one and not be there to enjoy it.  So no tree again this year but we have got quite a few dinner parties so needed to do some decorating to give that festive feel.

A nice little welcome at the front door

I have gone for a touch of purple on the mantelpiece in to the lounge this year and have utilised the trees baubles in glass jars.  I collect mouse figures (will feature those another time) and my latest mouse purchase temporarily has pride of place on the mantle.

At the windows in the kitchen I have added some berry garlands and a pretty berry heart, simple but effective.   I hope to get this next picture again but with a snowy or at least thick frost background.

More baubles in a bowl on the dining table

M doesn't like me to go too mad in his study with the decs - so have kept it low key, although I did manage to catch him out with Ruddy our little cuddly reindeer, who I placed on the study armchair.  He is movement sensitive and starts shaking his arms and legs around with the greeting HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS. I stepped forward to encourage Ruddy's little greeting the other day only to realise M had turned him off. He'll be back on for visitors this weekend!!  A few years back he was kidnapped at our family party, yep we were sent ransom instructions - so he is part of the family now.  I'll probably need to place him somewhere higher this weekend to ensure our canine visitors are not tempted.

The garland on the fireplaces in the study are so subtle you almost miss them!

Again the decs in the study window are my version of subtle!

More pictures after this weekends dinner weekend !

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November

November is my month in the year to look after the flowers at the high alter in our church. A few years back I used to work on a farm so getting greenery together for this was a doddle.  I no longer work on the farm and as you have seen we have a postage stamp of a garden and the pickings are therefore, small so I have to buy some bits, a small price to pay to be involved in village life.

with Sunday being remembrance day the display was OK - poppies are not real though, we drag them out from the cupboard year after year.

This month has also bought the departure of our dear friends and now ex neighbours D&G (that's not short for Dolce & Garbanna). They are heading off to a barn conversion in Norfolk and we have already set a date for visiting them in December.

They have promised to return regularly for the odd village event like the harvest supper or the odd quiz and we hope they will stay over with us when they do.

Our new neighbours are already friends from in the village, they are downsizing, so we are very happy, especially as they have said we can continue to use their drive as a parking overflow when we have visitors.

A few weeks back we took D&G to Andy Thorntons in Halifax. It`s a hugh old mill and reclamation yard and fascinating to look round.

The last time M and I were there we bought the four pots that we have out the front of the house and this time we were looking for a small type urn like thing or pot in a stone shade for in the middle of the box plants in the back garden - we were unsuccessful!

D&G were open to persuasion on anything that took their fancy for their new home, unfortunately, nothing grabbed either of us and we came away empty handed.  We had a leisurely lunch on the way back and can recommend a visit for a pleasant day out.

For many years the village has had a sewing group. We meet up for two hours every fortnight during the winter months with our sewing, knitting etc for a chin wag an a cup of tea.  According to locals this was originally started up many years ago with the farmers wife's and they could not spare the time to do this in the planting and harvesting months.  There is only one of us that is a farmers wife now, but we still stick to the winter months and every one of us look forward to the get together.  Seven of us took a coach trip last weekend to the Christmas craft show at the NEC.  We had a good time and enjoyed an early Christmas glass of bubbly on the coach but there were not enough sewing stalls for our liking so we plan to go to another in March, any excuse for another glass of bubbly!

We were due to meet up this week but we left our sewing behind and instead met in the pub for a meal to toast CHEERIO to D and again a good time was had by all.

We all wish you the very best in your new home D!

 

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