A Right Royal Wedding Day

Those of you who know the family will know that one or two of them are ardent Royalists! So it will come as no surprise to you that the family had their own Royal Wedding Day Celebrations. Below is our own "Princess" - complete with her own tiara and wedding garter.

Olivia celebrated the Royal Nuptuals with her new Wills & Kate Beaker, and inside it was a new cocktail - created specially for the occasion - Champagne and Ribena! Remember when you come across this wonderful creation that you first heard about it here on this blog site!

Even the garage front and fence were decorated with patriotic Union Jack's. Here you see most of the assembled guests toasting the newly married couple. (Note Raffi in the front left, complete with his red, white and blue ribbons!)

Mollie holds a decidedly sleepy Raffi - probably suffering the after effects of all the excitement! 

Not to be outdone, Pixie took to dresing up too!



Day Out in Settle and Austwick

It being the school holidays, and Garry & Rachel being in Dubai, we have the grandchildren for  a few days, then they visit their other grandparents for the remainder of the week.

Yesteday they were taken to the Jorvik Viking Centre.

Today it was the trip up to Settle and a visit to the Naked Man Cafe, where both Mollie and Tom enjoyed a "Full Monty"

Above is a photo of Tom before he devoured his Gingerbread Man!

 Here is Mollie about to attack her "Meringue" before attacking her "Full Monty"

 We came across this replica "State Coach" outside a shop called "The House That Jack Built" 

WE then moved on to Austwick, and the lane which Mollie and Tom call "The Rabbit Walk." There was plenty of evidence that Spring had Sprung. These Bluebells were in full bloom.

There were lots of sheep and lambs in the surrounding fields, and this cheeky little fellow was using his mother as a prop to get a better look a me taking his photograph!

A little further up the lane we came across this amazing fungus, which was growing from the base of a tree root.

This is the lower end of the lane.

There was plenty of blossom out on the trees too!

After walking up the lane we stopped for a delicious meal at the Gamecock.

We then took a walk down to the little stream which flows under the old clapper bridge (which is called Flascoe Bridge.) It took Ruby about 2 seconds to decide that the water looked very inviting, and she was soon retrieving a large stick which Tom was throwing into the stream for her. It was actually deep enough for her to swim in.

This is Tom about to launch himself on to the swing,

and here is Mollie having a swing.

Having jumped in and swum about in the stream lots of times, Ruby decided that it would be nice to have a rest on the bank and dry out in the sun. Here she is having a gnaw at her stick.



Tom found this ladybird, which finished up on Dot's arm!

"D Day" Draws Nigh

The dirty deed has been done! The new kitchen has been ordered, and now I am in the midst of working out the logistics of getting carpenters, plasterers, electricians, plumbers on site, ordering a skip and the thousand and one other things that are now becoming a bit more pressing as time goes on!

So let's sit back and take stock of what has  been arranged so far.

1. The kitchen has been designed.

2. It has been ordered.

3. A carpenter/joiner has been booked and given the job of overseeing all the necessary work.

4. Preliminary discussions have taken place as to the finer details - siting of mains sockets, moving of water pipes to be sunk into the exterior wall, re routing of telephone cables and repositioning of telephone, re fitting of radiator, fitting skirting boards, sealing skirtings to floor, fitting bi-fold door to pantry. etc.

5. A large builders skip has been ordered to be delivered at 08.00 hrs on Monday 30th May.

6. The start date for removal of the old kitchen units has been booked as Monday 30th May.

7. A plumber and electrician have been booked to do preliminary work on Monday 30th May.

8. A plasterer has been booked to re plaster on Tuesday 31st May.

9. The new Kitchen Units will be delivered on Wednesday 1st June.

Oh! - and just to add to the chaos and confusion we are having the grates in the drive repaired on Saturday 21st May and, believe it or not, during the time the new kitchen is being worked on we are having a new garden fence built in the rear garden. [On 7th & 8th June]

Other than this life is going to be very boring and monotonous!

A Day out at Pateley Bridge & How Stean Gorge

Ruby has always been the kind of dog who enjoys a day out. Particularly if it involves a ride in the car and a swim in the river or canal. So what better idea than to spend the day in and around Pateley Bridge?

Above, you see her sitting patiently in the car, waiting to set off.

The real reason we headed for Pateley Bridge, was that the Meriva was due for  service, and as Nidderdale Motors had been so helpful during the purchase of the car I decided to take it back to them for its first service. Again they were most accommodating and said if I had the car to them for 10.30, they would do the service there and then and I could collect it at 12.30.

So we de-camped from the car and I headed for the village itself, whilst Dot and Ruby went on a riverside walk (and as far as Ruby was concerned a swim!)

The park at the bottom of the village looked quite picturesque in the sunshine.

The following shot is looking up the Main Street, and in the next shot you will see the flower display in the centre of this shot.

Just past this flower display, on the opposite side of the road is a small alleyway which leads into the very picturesque King's Court.

We usually have a bite to eat in the Coffee House on the right of the photo above, but decided to have a snack (Coffee and some chocolate crisp), so we sat and ate the chocolate crisp and drank the coffee on the circular bench.

After her long walk and swim in the river Ruby was ready for a long cool drink!

How Stean Gorge is situated about about eight miles up the Nidd Valley, and is spectacular whatever the weather. It is known as Little Switzerland. The view above is looking down the gorge towards Pateley Bridge.

This is the view looking up the gorge. You can arrange to do all sort of adventures here, such as wading through gushing water, traversing on ladders and beams, abseiling down 60 feet, sliding through spouts and sitting under waterfalls, rock climbing, caving and canoeing. You can even camp adjoining the Gorge!

We thought the Red Indians had landed when we saw these teepee's in the field!

The is a super cafe here and we always call in for a meal when we are in the area. The food is highly recommended, tasty and extremely good value for money.


On the way back to Pateley we noted how low Gouthwaite Reservoir was. At this part you could have walked across the reservoir from one side to the other!

Raffi and Macy visit for the Day

Hi there fellow woofers. It's Ruby here with an update on what has been happening at the Family home.

It seems that "The Lady of the House" and her youngest daughter had bought tickets for the Harrogate flower show and they went today, so I had a couple of visitors.

The first one (below) is one of the youngest of the brood. In case you don't recognise him it's Raffi, but he has had his coat cut and trimmed so he is looking particularly smart at the moment.

Below is a photo of Raffi and me. I am keeping a careful eye on him to make sure he doesn't get into any mischief!

He enjoyed having a chew on my new stick, whch I colleted when I was out for a walk round Cottingley Hall Grounds with the Lord and master.

Macy (his Mum) came along too, and here she is posing for her photograph. Raffi was too interested in the scents in the garden to bother posing with her!

We did however manage to get one photo of the pair of them, busily engaged in a joint chew of some of the wood chippings.



An Enjoyable Christmas Present!

Oh don't we lead a wild and exciting social life?

No prizes for guessing where we went for a meal tonight!

For Christmas Hannah and Ben had bought us some vouchers for.........

The Aagrah,

so we took the opportunity of enjoying our usual meal. Popadums, followed by Peshwari Naan Bread. Dot had her usual Veggie Mechrani and I had my usual Chicken Korma, with a bowl of Pilau Rice and a bowl of Lemon Rice to share. House White for Dot and, you'll never guess what my tipple was....

A Diet Coke!

Dot decided she would like a Latte to finish off with.



So, thank you Hannah and Ben. We really enjoyed your Christmas present!

More Social Events - Two Birthday Celebrations

On Saturday evening (9th April) we were invited round the the Bingley Rugby Club to join in the celebrations of Son in law Garry's 50th Birthday. Instead of getting birthday presents he had requested that donations were made to the Bradford Cancer Campaign, and was hoping to raise sufficient to assist one patient for a year. If he achieved this he was to receive a special Damart limited edition rugby club shirt, which had been designed and worn at one of the charity matches which had been played in support of the Cancer Campaign.



He managed to raise almost double the amount required. Thanks to all those of you who supported this worth while campaign, and well done to Garry!


On Friday evening of this week (15th April) we joined our grand daughter Mollie at Crossflatts Cricket Club, to celebrate her 13th Birthday. Greg and Olivia ran the disco and all the teenagers seemed to have a very enjoyable time. A contest between the teenagers and the Bentley sisters took place, as to who could dance the best, and the Bentley sisters declared themselves the winners!

Barbecues and a Kitchen

The Social Calendar of the family has been a little full over the last two weekends. Hence the lack of any blogging since my previous one!   

Last Friday (8th April) we were invited up to East Marton to join Chris Simpson (of Magna Carta fame) to help celebrate the birthday of his good lady - Cathy. Since his semi retirement, Chris has purchased a narrowboat which he has christened "Seasons" - after one of his most successful recordings.

When we arrived there were already about half a dozen people gathered around a barbecue. One of the local canal dwellers - a wonderful character who seems to survive on a regular intake of alcohol - was there, and during the first quarter of an hour he managed to consume a full bottle of white wine. 

We took Ruby with us, and she enjoyed an extended swim in the canal, after having being made a fuss of by all the people at the barbecue!

                   

Earlier in the week I had given three different talks ["Down Memory Lane - Radio & TV Music of the 50's and 60's", "The Musicals of Rodgers & Hammerstien", and "Classical Music used in Advertising"] to three different groups of people, as well as played for two funerals and also played for a "sing along" morning assembly at the local Primary School, to which all the parents had been invited.

The BIG NEWS of the week is that the lady of the house has finally succeeded in persuading me to purchase a new kitchen (so from now on you will see me in threadbare clothing!) The picture above gives you the general idea of what the units look like. It is a Magnet "Shaker Cream" kitchen.

HP Guinness Sauce - I kid you not!

I've resisted the urge to blog about this for a few days, as I first noticed it on a fellow bloggers site on April 1st, but it appears to be a genuine product.

To quote from HP's advertising blurb......

HP Guinness Sauce is delicious, rich, tangy and spicy sauce made with the highest quality ingredients. Combining the strong and smooth taste of Guinness with the flavour of HP, we bring you the ultimate sauce adventure. Complements perfectly sausages and red meat dishes. It's a taste everyone will love! HP Guinness brings food to life!

Mouthwatering served with grilled or BBQ meals like steak, beefburgers and pork sausages. Or use in recipes to add flavour and pazazz!

Before the addition of this HP Guinness Sauce, over 25.5 million bottles of HP Sauce have been sold each year. It will be interesting to see what the effects of this HP Guinness Sauce has on their annual sales!

I wonder if it was actually launched on St Patrick's Day? (March 17th)