Showers at Shibden

I met my daughter and granddaughters (and their dog!) at Shibden Park recently, for a couple of hours. We had a great time, exploring the park and the playground. There was opportunity for that ageless tradition of 'feeding the ducks' - and yes, we used proper bird food, not bread. It was a windy day and there were some very sharp showers but we managed to dodge the worst of them.

Then we had a ride on the little train, which happily has started running again with suitable modifications to promote hygiene during this time of coronavirus. They were spreading families out in separate carriages and staff were disinfecting the seats between trips. It is quite hard, I find, to remember to keep sanitising hands and so on. The little ones are better drilled in it than I am - but then, I rarely touch things when I'm out, whereas they were using the play equipment and so on.

My youngest granddaughter, in particular, has always been super-excited by this little train, ever since she was tiny - but for all of us, it was refreshing to do something 'normal' and joyful for a change.

We tried a 'selfie'... It wasn't especially successful as I had the phone on the wrong setting - doh! But then, these days, I am better a little blurred!

Happy Birthday Gran!

Among the many skills that my daughter and granddaughters have (apparently) been polishing in lockdown is the ability to make stop motion animation. I was thrilled to receive this on my phone this morning. (Equally thrilled that I've managed to upload it here for posterity!)

Feeling so blessed to have such lovely family and good friends. We may still be 'locked down' but I've seen friends today and received so many messages and cards. I'm excited to be seeing my grand-girls tomorrow - for the first time since early March.

VE Day 75th anniversary

The 75th anniversary of VE Day was celebrated locally in quite a muted fashion. I don't think people's hearts were in it really, given the social distancing measures in place. I had a wander around the village but there didn't seem to be any street parties, unlike in some places where people have held 'parties' with everyone sitting in their own front gardens. There were a few folk sitting in the back street next to mine, but it hardly seemed to qualify as a party. I did, apparently, miss the piper playing in the grounds of the church. You can see a video of that HERE.

There was some bunting around and a few decorated windows.

My daughter apparently spent the morning baking scones and cakes, using recipes she found in my late mum's old cookery file, which I thought was quite sweet of her. They had 'afternoon tea' in the garden later. She asked me if I had any mementoes of VE day and I've searched my old photos but I couldn't find anything. My parents were just a little too young to be conscripted during the war. They both left school in the later years of the war and took jobs in the General Post Office, dad as an apprenticed telephone engineer and mum as a telephonist. I seem to remember her telling me she was seconded to London for a few months and I think she may have been there on VE Day but that's all I know. Dad later did National Service in REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) but that was after the war ended. In all my rummaging, I did unearth this rather nice photo (below) of the two of them taken in 1947.

Someone else in Saltaire had obviously unearthed some old photos too, as there were a few displayed in a window with the details of who they were. They were nice to see.

'We'll meet again...' seems quite an appropriate anthem now, as then. For all the horrors and individual sufferings of this viral pandemic, I still don't think it comes near the struggle, sacrifice and privations suffered by the generations that had to endure the two World Wars.

A girl inspiring the world

Hebden Bridge and the Calder valley are so prone to flooding that the people who live and work there are perhaps closer than some to the reality of climate change. It was no surprise then that the children at the primary school my granddaughters attend voted for Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish climate activist, as the woman who has most inspired them. To mark International Womens' Day, they worked with local artists 'Sand in Your Eye' to create a giant portrait of her on their school playing field. Painted in the kind of paint used for sports field markings, it will fade and wash away within a few days but it has created quite a stir, even being shown on the local TV news.

I think it's great that the school's pupils have such awareness and are inspired. My own granddaughters, even at five and eight, are able to have a sensible conversation about the issues. I was, therefore, sad and shocked to read the vitriolic comments that have been posted on social media in response to the news items. It seems many people still don't believe climate change is a reality, nor do they think primary school pupils are old enough to make their own minds up about todays' issues. The level of venom directed at Greta Thunberg herself is unbelievable. It is very sad that people seem increasingly to feel that it's OK to direct such fierce hate at those with whom they disagree.

My daughter took the photo above when she was walking their dog up the steep hillside, and she's kindly allowed me to share it here. I took the one below, from the roadside. You can't see the picture so well from that angle but it does show the scale of the work.

Incidentally, there's a fair chance I might one day in the future end my days in the buildings behind! It is a development of flats for older people and a residential care home. Being quite near my daughter's home, it would save her a lot of trouble if I moved there! I'm not nearly at that stage yet so I have no plans to move. It's just something we joke about... for the moment!

Still in a jokey frame of mind - I was amused to see a mannequin dressed in scuba diving equipment outside a shop in the town. I know they've had horrendous flooding several times in recent years but even so...  Actually, it is advertising a Dive School. I don't think they are seriously trying to get the locals to stock up on wetsuits.

Cookie chaos

I had a really lovely Christmas with my daughter and family. Our Christmas dinner was roast beef, for a change from the traditional turkey, and very tasty it was too; vegetables cooked to perfection and very tender beef from the local butcher in Hebden Bridge. Then we all lolled around, as you do, in a contented glow and played board games and charades, with much hilarity. I forgot my camera so I only have a few phone snaps and nothing worth sharing!

On Boxing Day, though it was dull and drizzly, we had a walk with our extended family plus Cookie, my grand-dog. He's still only a puppy but he's pretty well-behaved. He runs ahead sometimes but he keeps running back to check where the family are and he comes back when you call him. We were, however, in an unfamiliar area so my daughter mostly kept him on his lead. Leads are for playing with and getting tangled up in, of course! Motherhood is quite an art with two lively kids and a puppy!

Cookie seemed to like the new, soft bed I bought him for Christmas, anyway. It'll probably get chewed... Most things do! He is settled in with the family quite happily and even I, unused to dogs and initially not keen on the idea, have adjusted. In fact, I think he's a real softie (or perhaps it's me that's the softie!)

Bring me sunshine

Well, that was a bruising result in the General Election. I spent most of the 'morning after the night before' feeling numb and disbelieving. I think at the moment what hurts most is that lies and obfuscation seem to have won the day. I haven't the heart, nor is this the place, to go into detailed analysis. I do, however, fear for the future and for my grandchildren's future. I hope (pray) my fears are proved wrong. 

On a more positive note, my extended family went out for a Christmas meal on the evening of election day and we had a very happy time. Back at my daughter's house afterwards, I noticed these two pictures pinned up in the kitchen. Both were created by my granddaughters at school. Both brought rays of sunshine into my life.

Elodie's sunflowers were a response to Van Gogh's famous picture (left) and I really love her version. Inspired by but not a copy of; she has really interpreted it in her own way. It's interesting that from quite an early age she seems to have particularly enjoyed making paintings from her careful observations of actual objects or other images, rather than from her own imagination (though she also does that too, of course). In this painting, I particularly like the freedom she's allowed herself in some of the paint strokes. 

Madeleine's figure drawing is maturing, as it does. There's an interesting article about a child's development in art HERE and it suggest she is quite age-appropriate. (She's just five.) Her figures have 'a clearly differentiated head and trunk, with arms and legs in the appropriate locations'. There are details: hair, fingers, fur on the dog. She has also included a baseline, with the figures lined up along the bottom of the paper rather than free-floating in space.  Clearly, she feels the dog is an important part of the family now, though they have only had it for three months. She has drawn her daddy with his arm in plaster. He broke his wrist a few weeks ago!

Puppy in the woods

I had a day over at my daughter's house, looking after my grandchildren - and (rather scarily!) my new grand-dog - as the girls were off school for half-term and their parents were both working. When my daughter got home, we took the puppy, Cookie, for a walk in the woods. That's a very new experience for me, as I've never had a dog, ever. They are training him and taking him to puppy classes, so he's beginning to learn how to behave. He is allowed off the lead a little now, though cautiously, as he's still a bit unpredictable. He responds quite well to his 'mum' and 'dad', though less well to me. I suppose he isn't used to my voice and I'm not used to him so I guess my anxiety is discernable. The woods around their house are beautiful and the view from their front windows, over the Calder valley, is currently stunning with all the autumn golds.

It's not often I get a photo of me these days. My daughter takes the credit for these two, taken on her phone and used with her permission.

The serious business of ice cream

Saltaire Festival 2019
Another activity that needed intense concentration... the serious business of eating ice cream. Not just any old ice cream either... These were carefully curated concoctions of whippy ice cream in a wafer cone and sprinkles and raspberry sauce and a chocolate flake and a spoon! (They were most definite about what they wanted.) Not a drop was spilled.

The serious work of childhood

Saltaire Festival 2019
There were a few activities laid on for children as part of the Festival, perhaps not as many as in past years but my granddaughters certainly enjoyed themselves.

Here they were engaged in creating 'cameras' out of egg boxes, with plastic lids attached as 'lenses' and 'shutter buttons'.  They drew pictures on small pieces of paper to store inside as 'photographs'. Both of them settled down to the task with intense concentration, producing cameras that they seemed quite pleased with (even though the plastic lids kept falling off!)

Then there was the opportunity for a 'framed photo' - taken with Gran's camera, of course.

Day of Dance

Saltaire Festival 2019
Mid September in Saltaire means it's the annual Saltaire Festival. The first Saturday dawned fair and warm, delightful for the crowds who gathered. Teams of Morris dancers were dancing at various places throughout the village. There were at least six teams, including the border morris side from Otley, Wayzgoose (above), with their colourful traditional costumes. They make a lot of noise with their sticks, all rather exciting. Our local Rainbow Morris were dancing too, and Four Hundred Roses, the ladies who dance an interesting fusion of folk and belly dancing.

I didn't take many photos as I had my two granddaughters for the day. My focus had to be on them, making sure hats and toy dogs didn't get lost and drinks and snacks were constantly available. (Toy dog nearly did get lost!) When there are crowds, I get anxious about losing sight of them. It's a bit like keeping an eye on two fireworks! The girls are not really old enough or familiar enough with the village to find their own way home. All was well, however and we had a super day. They were enthralled by the dancing.

Ducks and bread

We had a super day out at East Riddlesden Hall, my local National Trust property (despite twice getting drenched in sudden heavy rain showers. The kids thought that was fun!)

They have some thoughtful activities to keep children amused over the summer holidays. Of course, the ducks are always there and they sell proper duck food in the shop, so you needn't worry about giving them unsuitable fare. My granddaughters were brave enough to hold seed on their hands and the ducks all came running to peck at it. Such a quacking and jostling going on! It was really very funny to watch.

The girls then had a happy time inside, hunting round the house for tiny wooden mice that were hidden in each room. When they had found and counted them all, they got a sticker. In the gardens, there were wooden bees hanging from the trees, each having an interesting fact about bees. The girls had to memorise at least one fact and, when they quoted them on the way out, they were given miniature pots of bee-friendly wild flower seeds to take home, adorned with a tiny bee. They were both rather thrilled with that.

Even better was the activity in the barn, where they were shown how to mix yeast, flour and water to make bread. Much kneading and shaping went on. When the dough was prepared, it went into a plastic bag to take home to bake. By the time we'd played in the adventure playground for a while, then had coffee and cake and were ready to go home, the dough (stored in the car boot) had already doubled in size. They later made pizza with the dough... and they had a great time making it.

All the staff/volunteers at the Hall were kindness itself and took pains to chat with the children and make them welcome. It was a truly delightful experience. Well done, National Trust East Riddlesden.

(And yes, my granddaughter does have pink hair! Temporarily anyway. A summer holiday treat.)

Sports Day

I went to watch my two granddaughters in their school sports day, just before the end of term. One is now seven and the other four. The younger one attends the local primary school part-time at the moment and will begin full-time in September. The seven-year-old has now done two full years there. It is lovely little school, with fewer than 150 pupils. It is friendly and caring, and they have a strong ethos of helping each other. The little ones, when they first start, have one of the older children as a 'buddy' and that really seems to work, giving them confidence, particularly at break times. It's the kind of school I wish all young children had the good fortune to attend.

Sports Day, too, was organised largely in cross-school teams, with about 12 in each team, from the tiniest up to the eldest. My two were in the red team. Here you see them engaged in a game that involved transferring tennis balls from one large box to another, right down the team line, as quickly as they could. I loved how they both threw themselves into everything. The four year old, in particular, attacks life with her whole body! I'm so thankful for them both.

Seven and four

Children seem to be 'about three or four' for a very long time and then, when they start school full-time, they suddenly grow up quite a lot. My older granddaughter is just seven and has become taller, willowy and more markedly introverted, although still very sociable. She is getting more proficient at reading and writing and loves nothing better than sitting cosily with a book (preferably still with plenty of pictures) or having Lego spread all around and making detailed creations. 

My younger granddaughter, now four, is still very physical, bouncing around. She has a wonderful way of launching herself at you for a hug. She's very loving and remarkably empathic for a small child. Here, she was only pretending to be asleep, cosily wrapped in her new mermaid-tail blanket and cuddling a new soft toy that she identified to me as a 'mer-cat', a wondrous creation with a cat's face and a mermaid's tail. Mermaids, unicorns, ponies, puppies and kittens are everywhere in her world, and she always has some small soft toy in her hand. 

My heart is full; they are both so beautiful and I am so lucky to be blessed with them. These photos were taken on Christmas Day, in a rare moment of quiet (and with my new camera, yay!)  

A grand time with my grand girls

I had both of my granddaughters to stay at various times during the school holidays. It's good to spend time with them, together and separately. I'm usually too distracted to take photos and anyway it's hard to catch them when they are not larking about these days but I managed to get a few snaps with my phone. This is the older one, who will be seven in a few weeks' time. She is growing up so fast; starting now to lose her baby teeth, so that's a big milestone. They both love playing with 'My Little Ponies'. (An enduring toy. My daughter loved them too, thirty years ago!) I took her to Leeds, to the Royal Armouries Museum, where she enjoyed dressing up in costumes, and consented to pose by the elephant statue. 

She also introduced me to her favourite restaurant, Yo Sushi. She polished off several plates of sushi and seaweed, finishing off with a rather rich chocolate confection. I was impressed with her chopstick skills.

Another day we all went to Halifax's Piece Hall, where there were giant deck chairs to pose in, though the bright sun shining into their eyes was an irritant!

Handmade Parade - a family affair

My daughter and granddaughters were involved in the Hebden Bridge Handmade Parade at the end of June this year, the 11th annual parade. They've been working to make and decorate their own costumes and help construct the flags, banners and large-scale pieces, assisted by professional artists. It's a wonderful community effort. Everyone joins in collaboratively in a large studio workshop in the town, in the weeks leading up to the parade.

The theme of the parade this year was 'Roll Up, Roll Up!' - a travelling circus comes to town, with crazy rides, huge animal puppets, weird and wonderful sideshows and lots more. In the glorious sunshine, it was an absolute riot: wacky, noisy and very good-humoured. I really enjoyed it.

The girls were in a team called Dodgem Dogs. Their costumes were meant to look like they were dogs driving in dodgem cars. It was quite hard to spot them in such camouflage and I nearly missed seeing them! Just managed a couple of photos. The one below was taken by their mum after the parade ended.

Trains and boats, no planes

My family have just returned from a holiday and we arranged to meet up for a day, before they all started school/nursery/work again. Lo and behold, it turned out to be a dry and sunny day, even beginning to feel a little warmer. We met at Shibden Hall Park, near Halifax, as it is about equidistant between our homes and has lots for the children to enjoy. Away from the paths, it was horribly muddy, so we all got a bit grimy. Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun.

There is a miniature steam railway that makes a circuit of part of the estate. The girls love riding on that and loved waving to all the people we passed. We had a picnic (first of the year!). Then we bravely decided to hire a rowing boat. My daughter turned out to have some unexpected skills in rowing and navigated us safely around the lake, and the girls managed to stay on board!

My older granddaughter found a painted stone, hidden as part of the craze that is spreading around the country for people painting small stones with nice pictures or positive messages and leaving them for others to find. (Locally it's called 'Calderdale Rocks!') After that, she started searching for them and found three altogether. We took a photo of each one and then she hid them again for others to find. All rather sweet and it kept her amused. They had a longish stint in the adventure playground (both the girls are quite brave in climbing, sliding and jumping) and then a well-earned coffee and ice-cream on the café terrace in the sunshine concluded a most enjoyable day out. I feel so blessed to have them.

Sophisticated tastes

We were going to have lunch in the garden centre café. It was heaving with people and had a long queue, and there was little on the menu that appealed. (My grandchildren are never very enamoured with the usual fare on the 'children's menus'.) However, M spotted an ice-cream van and so (on the grounds that life with Gran is meant to be an adventure and slightly naughty things are occasionally allowed), we had an ice-cream for lunch! (Plenty of fruit, veg and protein was consumed at other times during the day, no worries.) There were many products specifically aimed at children but, rather to my astonishment, she chose an Almond Magnum. You can see she enjoyed it and not a drop was wasted! She's a surprisingly neat eater for a small child.

More snow! and a milestone

More snow! We had another flurry of quite heavy snow late last week. It didn't last long but it came just at the time people were trying to get to work and school one morning and so it proved hugely disruptive all across this region. I was shocked to wake up to this view from my bedroom window, but at the same time very pleased to know that I didn't have to go out at all.  Loving this retirement phase of life  :)

I wasn't going to bother to post this photo but since then (and thankfully after the snow went) I've been at my daughter's, caring for the older of my two granddaughters, who finally and feverishly succumbed to the nasty flu-type bug they've all had. She's getting better now, thankfully, but it's rare that children have a fever for six days running, in my experience. Anyway, I hope that my family will get back to normal now that they have all had and recovered from the virus in turn. So far, I don't appear to have contracted it and I'm hoping I don't, despite several exposures to it. We grandmas rock!

I keep thinking winter must be over and I'll be able to get out and take some more springlike shots. I'm running very short of pictures. But no... we now have a forecast for more snowfall over this weekend. Sigh...

I have just noticed that I have now passed the '3000 blog posts' point. This is number 3005. Who'd have thought, way back in 2009 when I started, that I'd still be blogging some nine years later? Certainly not me. I had no idea that I'd find it such fun and such an absorbing hobby. Many thanks to all my blog friends, especially to all my long-term readers.

Snowy sunset

I drove back from my daughter's at dusk the other day. There was a light covering of snow over the very tops of the moors, illuminated by a pleasingly colourful sunset. I'd no tripod with me, so I tried balancing the camera on the car but, apart from the middle of the roof where I can't reach, it doesn't have a flat surface anywhere! It was worth stopping to watch the show, anyway. What a glorious world we inhabit. We've more snow forecast for this week, though the weather doesn't always live up to the predictions.

Glory of a different kind in the afternoon.... I took my grandchildren to play with Lego, at a 'Bricks for Kidz' event: a community centre hall with masses of boxes of Lego in all colours and shapes, and lots of busy children. My oldest granddaughter loved it and built some colourful houses and boxes. You could see her little mind working out patterns and how to make the structure stable. The little one spent a long time simply and happily transferring handfuls of bricks from one container to another! There were also lots of stalls where you could buy Lego and tables where adults were showing off their creations - from working Lego train sets, through fantasy scenes from Dr Who and other films and games, to a huge and detailed model of the Houses of Parliament that must have taken months to build. My favourite was a seaside scene complete with beach and sea, with lots of little people swimming, surfing and lying on sunloungers. Why didn't they have things like that when I was a mum? It used to be hard to fill winter weekends in those days!

Going caving

I met up with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters at White Scar Caves recently, to do a spot of caving! White Scar is up near Ingleton, on the western edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, deep underneath Ingleborough, one of the famous Yorkshire 'Three Peaks'. It is the longest 'show cave' (ie: those that the general public can enter) in Britain, as visitors can walk about half a mile inside the system, though experienced cavers have, of course, explored much further into the whole system of tunnels.

The system was first discovered in the 1920s but some of the guided walk we took was opened up much more recently. There is a trail of natural tunnels that have had concrete paths laid, metal walkways with streams flowing beneath and some long staircases; some sections require you to double over and creep under low overhangs. The hard hats were mandatory and very necessary. I'm not a great fan of being underground in enclosed spaces... You'd never get me actually potholing, even when I was younger. But the visitor trail is safe inside, even for little children to walk through, and the caves are very interesting. It does sometimes flood, but they have a careful monitoring system and would not allow you inside if there was any danger. The children had to wear woolly hats under their safety helmets. Even then, the littlest one managed to knock hers off (there was no chin strap) and lose it in the abyss!