Peace on Earth - maybe!

It is relatively quiet in our house at the moment. We have returned home from the wedding I had to play for at Tadcaster, and thankfully there was no adverse weather - In fact there was bright sunshine!

At the moment Hannah & Ben's three dogs are at Sarah's, having spent the day with her and Olivia, whilst I was playing the wedding at Hazlewood Castle, Tadcaster. They were going to go for a long walk, along with Sarah's dog Raffie, who is son to Macy. So they could be quite sleepy when they come back!

They will be arriving shortly, and in addition we have Mollie and Tom sleeping for the night, so things are bound to liven up when three dogs and two grandchildren arrive on the scene!

All the Latest News From Ruby

Hi there folks! It’s Ruby here.


I’ve just been doing a check on the gardens to see if the family are keeping them tidy. On Friday her ladyship spent a lot of time in the garden trimming edges, pulling up weeds, re planting and generally tidying up, and Lord Malcolm came out to trim some of the bushes with the electric trimmers.

There was great excitement when her ladyship discovered that the pond was laden with frog spawn.





The next door neighbour was cleaning out his pond yesterday, and he had lost all his frog spawn, so we offerred to let him have some of ours.





On Saturday afternoon there was much mowing of the lawns, both front and back. It all seems fairly ship shape, so after an exhausting inspection (by me) I took the opportunity to have a relaxing afternoon in the sun, and get in a bit of sunbathing too!




Later on in the afternoon we were visited by Mollie,





who had been taken to Keighley by Hannah, supposedly to be measured for her bridesmaid dress, but in reality to have her ears pierced. I’m just glad that none of the family has come up with the idea that it might be a good idea to have my ears pierced!

One Dog + Three Grandchildren + A Stream = WET WET WET

A break from the film reviews today, because we took our three grandchildren out for the day – to Austwick yet again!

We called in to Settle (as is our routine – to the Naked Man Café), but as it was Market Day the little town was heaving with the local population as well as holiday makers, so we got some take away sandwiches and drinks, and had a picnic at the top of Buck o’ Brow.

After eating her fill Olivia soon discovered what a comfortable pillow Ruby makes.

We then travelled on to Austwick and visited our usual spot – Flascoe Bridge, where we introduced Olivia to the delights of the stream and the rope swing! (Mollie and Tom had discovered these last week when we were up here. At first Olivia was a bit dubious about having a go on the swing……



The dam we helped build last week was still in place and the water the top side of the dam was now about two feet deep – in fact deep enough for Ruby to swim in with ease. So we spent some time throwing her sticks, a ball and a small triangular piece of wood in for her to swim out and recover.

Eventually Olivia had a go on the swing,

and even dared swinging over the water!

Ruby joined us for some group shots on Flascoe Bridge,

although I think she was more interested in the stick she had recovered from the stream!

After swinging again, Olivia managed to fill Nana’s wellies with water, so she too had to empty them out!

Tom posed for an individual portrait – as a pixie!




Ruby rounded off the day with her usual wide eyed innocent look, as if asking, “What, me wet?” after having shaken herself partially dry and soaked my trousers!

All in all a most enjoyable day out, especially as one dog and three grandchildren spent a great deal of time in the stream. It was a good job we had the foresight to take along changes of clothing for the children and towels for the dog!