Ramblings

Well, no-one is more surprised than me that I've managed to upload another post before Christmas! It has taken a while this morning - technical difficulties that I struggled to fix on my own as R has gone into London today (the shared drive can sense my fear and incompetence), combined with fatigue following a busy weekend and a general feeling of 'Blah!'. Nevertheless, here it is ..... and there is only one photo that I forgot to rotate clockwise, so I'm taking that as a win.

Over the past month or so, there have been a few walks, a few crafty bits, some yummy food, a couple of concerts, a theatre trip and a weekend away. All in all, not a bad month considering. It's quite dark outside today and I'm sitting typing this at the dining room table, surrounded by washing festooned on a clothes horse - it being too damp outside to be bothered pegging it out, only to have to bring it in hours later just as wet and colder than before. We do have a tumble dryer but owing to energy prices, I try to use it sparingly, so the clothes horse it is. If you haven't got one, I would recommend it. Mine was a street find in Bristol on a visit to see E. You can find some real gems on the pavement there when students can't be bothered to take stuff home at the end of the year. I honestly don't know how I managed without mine. Anyway, you don't really need to know about my laundry arrangements, so let's crack on ...

A visit to Blenheim Park  to walk round the lake - here you can see the Palace from the end of the drive:

The 'Harry Potter Tree' - used in a film flashback when James Potter suspends Severus Snape from its branches:

A trip here. We actually popped in on the way back from somewhere but I can't for the life of me remember where that was at the moment!

The mosaics looked very impressive. Sadly, we couldn't get up close to see them properly. They were in a locked room and are only open to the public on special days. We had to be content peering through the window.

A concert at St. John's Church. It was excellent and the solo violinist was spectacular. I have to admit that I sat through most Of Schubert's Mass in G agog at the height of the baritone. He was really very tall!

Another New Era production. L and E's old (as in she used to teach them, not a reflection of her age!) English teacher played the part of Ruth and was very good indeed.

Spending a happy morning making a Christmas wreath at my neighbour's house. Whilst great fun, it did mean that I had a decoration on my door in November though. Can you see my eye twitching?!

An annual highlight of my December is my yarny advent calendar from Barbara at Coastal Ripples

I love opening the daily bag and adding the yarn to my Cosy Memory Blanket.

Here is the blanket before I started adding this year's yarns. I work mainly on this during the winter months as it is very warm to have on your lap. I'm hoping that it will soon be big enough to stay out all year on a single bed. Then I can continue to add to it to make it fit a double.

Lighting the advent candle that we bought at Canterbury Cathedral earlier in the year. I confess to forgetting that I had lit it a few days ago and burning through several dates!

A trip to London to celebrate L's birthday. We pottered around Brick Lane - sadly the beautiful plant shop is now a cafe. I was very disappointed but I feel that R was relieved; it's like Kew Gardens round here already!

We had lunch here:

I told you that I forgot to rotate one!

R had a major birthday last week. I asked if he would like to go away to celebrate and was met with a very sad lack of enthusiasm. I managed to drag him away for a weekend to Dorchester - upon- Thames. To be honest, it's only about 20 miles away, but we had a lovely time and it felt as if we had been away longer. Saturday started with a trip to Harcourt Arboretum. As well as all the lovely trees, they are home to a number of extremely tame peacocks:

We ate our packed lunch under the gazebo:

Admired the fairy ring:

Then drove to nearby Dorchester to book into our hotel for the night. The George is a 15th Century coaching inn, situated immediately opposite Dorchester Abbey. Agatha Christie and Ian Fleming were frequent visitors and the Agatha Christie room and the Aston Martin room are dedicated to them. I'm not a huge James Bond fan but R tells me that he actually drove a Bentley in the books. It was a glorious 2 days. Being both vegan and gluten free (me), we are not the easiest guests, but they accommodated us magnificently and I would heartily recommend them if you are staying in the area. After checking in, we set off for the first of 2 walks that I had downloaded: a ramble around the historic buildings of the area.

View from the car park of The George with Dorchester Abbey peaking over the roof. Our room was situated just over the balcony on the right hand side:

The room was beautiful and, once we had turned the radiator off (I think we are acclimatised to our arctic house!), it was very comfortable.

After an early dinner, we popped across to the Abbey for a performance of Handel's 'Messiah'. It was excellent and the bonus of having nearby accommodation was made clear during the interval when, instead of joining the long queue for the loo, we nipped back to our hotel room instead!

Despite it only being 20 miles from home, it was lovely to just walk across the street to bed at the end of the concert. The following day, after a yummy breakfast, we checked out and, leaving Bridget in the car park, set off on our 2nd walk entitled 'Wanders towards the Wittenhams'.

The Dyke Hills and a double rampart of earthworks that once protected a late Iron Age settlement:

A bridge near Day's Lock where the Annual International Pooh Sticks Championships are held. Taking place in March, it has raised money for the RNLI and local charities for over 25 years. I suppose it is bigger than the actual Pooh Sticks Bridge in the Ashdown Forest.

Our picnic view from the top of the Wittenham Clumps; it was quite a climb:

We were home by early evening, just in time for dinner and a catch up of the Strictly Come Dancing final!

Well, that's me all caught up. Anything exciting happening at your end? I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones and best wishes for 2024.

Toodle pip for now. x