Merry White Xmas! - 2009

We remember all too clearly what this time of year is like in Australia but for all our friends and family stuck back there suffering the heat and droughts, our Beautiful Yorkshire photos this month will give a small insight in to how we are enjoying a snow-covered Christmas. The snaps below give a bit of an idea of what we have been up to in December so have a quick scroll and enjoy our Wetherby winter wonderland wanders.

Gail''s company's Purple themed christmas party was held in Manchester early in the month and while I chose not to attend, Gail and her workmates had a great night with good food and a disco.... I would post some pics of Gail at the party, of which I have an embarrassing selection, but have been instructed not to do so on pain of getting no xmas dinner.

The shots that follow here are of Gail and me the following week at Lotherton Hall, just north east of Leeds, it is an Edwardian mansion full of art and fashion and quite a nice day out, on a nice day. There is an amazing bird sanctuary and aviary there which is worth a day just on its own.

http://www.leeds.gov.uk/lothertonHall/Lotherton_Hall/Welcome_to_Lotherton.aspx will explain everything including the Japanese monk on the ox.

SNOW ANGELS......

Not too surprisingly for this time of year, as soon as snow falls to any depth it is easy to see where the christmas angles come in to land. This one arrived one afternoon right on our front lawn......

With some Gail help.

Out and about again, we sought out Kirkham priory which is a ruin just out of York on the river Derwent where there is, as you might guess, a little pub with a friendly crowd, an open fire and good food. http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/priories/kirkham%20priory.htm

These shots were taken on a perfect winter's day the likes of which makes Yorkshire so attractive to the christmas angels. The Stone Trough Pub

The necessities of living the good life in Wetherby do require some re-thinking and this shot sees Greg pondering his lot in Hazelwood's bar after attending what he thinks was quite a good interview for a job up north. It is a management role about an hours drive away but if he's successful as an applicant it would be a real great opportunity.

The afternoon of the interview we went to Hazelwood Castle, about five miles from home. It is a nice old place, some 1000+ years old and well haunted by all accounts. We had ourselves a late lunch and a good stroll through the wonderful old rooms and over some of the snow cleared grounds. There is also a chapel with two male skulls displayed in a niche, the ex-heads reportedly belong to the last two blokes to be drawn and quartered in Yorkshire. http://www.hazlewood-castle.co.uk is the castle's web site, do have a look at it for the history and nice pictures of the castle and grounds as the day was too bleak for snaps when we were there.

We are back in Wetherby for christmas day;

This is the view through our back doors from our christmas table, you can see it was a big snow shower today. Our first Snowy Christmas, not just here but our first ever!

Gail is beside herself and has ensured the tree is sparkling, the spruce tree wreath is hung on the front door and the mistletoe is prominent.

Quite the "typical Christmas" mood eminates around here. It is lovely.

AND FINALLY; This shot is taken looking out our guest's bedroom window, sort of makes you want to come and stay for a while, huh?

2010 is looking like another great year for us, starting in January with friends staying over at our home following our planned Australia Day PARTY extravaganza, then in April our wonderful friends Matt and Ret from Western Australia are visiting for just a couple of nights and we have had tentative enquiries from some local and not so local friends as to the availability of our 2010 hospitality.... It is so lovely to be able to share our time here with good friends and we are so looking forward to seeing them.

This year was such a huge time for the two of us, lots of travel, lots of experiences and the result being a huge list of blog stories captured in these pages.

It is always a delight to hear from folk who look at these entries and join us by reading of our adventures. I am chuffed to bits so many folk take the time and enjoy the experiences.

We are having a really great time here and we hope, especially at this time of year, that you are enjoying your time too.

Sending you all our very best wishes for xmas day and right through 2010!

wet water 12/09

The morning after I finished November's blog entry, We went out for a morning stroll to find the results of recent heavy rains. Flooding of the Wetherby Ings and the town's car park is not uncommon, we get it about once or twice a year. Global wetting I guess, but it is always spectacular to see it. Spectacular because we are high up and out of any risk. Houses on the Wharfe River banks see their yards and sometimes their ground floors flooded.. These two fish usually sit proudly about 3 meters above the water . . . . . . . .The bandstand downstream from the bridge is about 20 meters back up from the river bank usually. There are picnic benches and tables, all here under about a meter of fast flowing water. All the resident ducks have moved on. The Wetherby weir on normal days has a drop of about two meters, here it is just creating a small disturbance as the water is dammed trying to flow under the bridge just down stream. In the foreground is all the flotsam from the banks of the river, stopped by a huge tree trunk now resting against the bridge. You can see the tree in the magazine pages at the end of the November blog. It had been slowly moving down the river for a few months, first stuck on top of the weir, then it fell over the weir and got stuck again, now it is jambed under the bridge. A journey of about six months. All very interesting, don't you wish the rivers of NSW flowed like this!

Festival, fireworks, parties and pests 11/09

Hi there and warm greetings to all of you from both of us. This shot is us at a great party in Wales, well nearly in Wales, on the boarder actually. So what has been happening here in November you ask? After all, I did say last month it was high time we should be slowing down after a rather frantic year of global travel and hosting visitors. All of that stuff was a delight as past blog pages have shown but a good relax was well in order. Our cool autumn days in Wetherby are now all but over and the early chill winds and biting frosts of winter are creeping in with the shortening days. As I write this it is 3:30 in the afternoon, sunset is nigh and despite some sunny breaks today my little weather monitor tells me it's 2.5 degrees outside. This sort of early darkening afternoon does encourage one more towards fireside reading than to outdoor romping. Thankfully I have this blog to compose so I will set about recalling all the excitement November provided us. The Wetherby festival (four weeks of music, culture and comedy) came to an end with a final evening show hosted in the crypt of the St James church. Yes the crypt. Where bodies were kept. A subterranean space with a small stage contained beneath ancient Gothic, stone vaulted ceilings. Enter via the dark leaf strewn pathway at the base of the damp towering spire, under trailing and dripping branches, on past gravestones and down a dark, dank flight of moss covered stairs.... We entered a warm, bright and lively space to find a gaggle of folk swathed in various attire, many in costume milling around a bar and all the usual hue and cry of a well fuelled party in full swing. We were there with our tickets booked to be part of a show titled the Sleazy Speakeasy. Hardly the flavour one would expect in an Anglican church premises but never the less a highly rewarding, crude and hilarious night was had. As well as some really fine blues music, a virtuoso comedic musical routine by the hostesses, and a bit of average stand up comedy, we were entranced and enthused by a visiting group known as The Devil's Jukebox headed by the wiry and inexhaustible Dr. Ezekiel Bordello. This team of five ( including a washbasin bass player) produced some of the best, most entertaining and raunchiest honky-tonk/whoopie-band music and lyrics we have ever heard. www.myspace.com/thedevilsjukeboxuk . (I have just checked this myspace site and some dumb kid rapper has dumped his video in as a viral friend and the devil's jukebox music is overplayed by some daft rap muck. If you want to hear the juke box music you have to scroll down the site to friends messages, find the 22/10/09 4:45 entry and turn off the (c)rap singer.) A wonderful night and yet one more reason we keep being surprised by how much fun we can have in little Wetherby. Yorkshire and "the North" has for so long had the reputation of where there is always "trouble up 't mill"and " its nowt but grim oop thare". Those post industrial days have long past and we attest that it's grim oop 'ere no more!. The 5th of November is Guy Fawkes night and Wetherby celebrated on the 7th (Saturday) with it's annual firework display. It was every bit as good as last year's and later that night after Gail returned from work, the neighbours came over and we launched our own small firework display and supper. Never to be discouraged a bit by the cold and rain Gail would not be thwarted in dragging us out to the front lawn to set off her hoard of explosives. Regrettably there is no photographic evidence of us huddling wet and cold in the doorway as Gail ignited her charges. The following weekend we headed due west and almost into Wales for a 40th birthday party in a small country pub. Karen is an Aussie who also works for Alliance Medical and with these two things in common we have become friends and attendees at each other's parties. The night was great, food great, company great, and conversations varied. Gail and I slept over in the pub, lovely modern room, but were not quite up for the on-party lunch the following day considering we had to head across country to get home.

That party was followed the next week by the East Keswick "Call my Bluff" Wine and Cheese Night. East Keswick is a small village near Wetherby and it has a very active Village Hall committee who ensure lots of fundraising activities are planned through the year to raise funds and improve their hall. This night the proceeds were given to the Children in Need charity but the group has provided the village with a great venue and a heap of really great nights out. An invitation to join our wine night buddies on their upcoming, black tie, new year's eve is a temptation.......

The format for the wine and cheese night was that tables of 8 were given, as the night progressed, 8 bottles of wine and 7 cheeses. The "Expert Judges " propped up on stage, delivered three alternate descriptions of the particular item being tasted and the tables had to choose the one correct description. A simple plan but the night descended into most enjoyable pandemonium and a surprisingly close competition between the tables. Our table of only six was, perhaps due to the volume of available wine , less accurate in our choices of described attributes. I can say however that the wine and cheese was all of excellent quality and covered many of the world's finest grape growing and cheese producing regions. None of which either of us can remember.

Other photos taken this month include some visits by our wild creatures, a bunny Gail has taken a real shine to and a relative of Manuel's hamster I failed to teach how to swim underwater.

Also captured on film by Gail was my attempt to bring a loft full of ceiling batts home from the hardware store, during the year's strongest windstorm and using only a mini. It's not easy being green. It is also interesting, in a painful next day sort of way, how many of my muscles get no use at any time in my life other than when installing roof insulation.

It is a bit early, but the chrissy lights have been lit in town for a fortnight and I knew you'd like to see them. It is a quirky thing but this year the lights were again put up for free by the good village folk of Wetherby volunteering their time. But Oops!... What, no "Turning on the Lights" ceremony??? The local hairdresser was most dismayed and gathered up funds from other local traders sufficient to pay for a minor local celebrity to come and turn on the Wetherby lights... I don't know who this celebrity will be nor when the lights will be formally turned on but one thing is for sure, they will have to turn them off first....

Finally for this month, I scan into these blog pages this month's issue of Yorkshire Life which features a 4 page picture spread on Wetherby. Click on them to read the words, it is a gentle tour of our little town.

So that's it for November, Do enjoy the December season of festivity and family gatherings. We will be sure to enjoy our time here with good food, friends and fond thoughts of those far away. I will write again in January, two oh one oh, until then ho, ho, ho, Happy Xmas and a Merry New Year!

Alice in Wanderland -

October, 2009. At the start, not that exciting a month really, Greg had a lunch with a mate, went to a meeting in town, Gail planted some tulips, went to a two day update MRI course in Bristol, we walked to a pub or two for lunches but nothing where a camera was taken out until Gail was scheduled for a days work on the Dexa van at Bridlington Hospital. Dexa is a bone density exam, a different protocol from MRI and a new skill in Gail's learning. From previous experience the thought was it would be a short day. Bridlington is a harbour-town on the East coast of Yorkshire, north of Hull, south of Scarborough and as I hadn't been there I decided I'd get up in the morning with Gail,( 4:30am, crazy stuff), leave her at the Dexa van for the day and take myself off to the harbour for a walk and a good look around. Bridlington is known for it's wide beaches, at low tide, no beach wase evident on my arrival, and is a typical english sea-side town with games parlours and rides along the sea front. Early morning does have a charm though, if a bit bleak. A short drive north out of town to the Flamborough Headland there is some spectacular scenery, beach, cliff top and scenic walks as well as abundant birdlife.

Quite a lovely day out and Gail did call me back early as there were only a couple of patients that day so a stroll tyogether and a late lunch were in good order. On returning to the Bridlington shore in the afternoon the beaches were indeed impressively long flat and wide but I wonder at the speed at which the tides would rise and steal your bucket and spade away. The surf fairly pounded the sea wall at high tide.

Every Saturday night the village just over the A1 highway, Boston Spa, has a jazz night. It is called Jazz in the Spa and is a Saturday evening thing we have been meaning to go to ever since we arrived in Wetherby. This month we took ourselves off with a bottle of wine and some nibbles to see what the deal was. It so happened that this night was a long awaited event where a famous Dutch 6 member band, Freetime Old Dixie Jassband, were doing a dixieland set. Dixieland is not our favoured jazz style and the audience was a little older than we expected but the night was a hoot. Held in the Village hall the place was packed, I'd say a couple of hundred folk. The band was great and solos by the Trombone, the Clarinet, trumpet, drums , banjo, double bass and sousaphone (a very dutch oompah band type instrument, like a fancy tuba one wears rather than holds) were all very good, especially the particularly rock'n roll heavy metal sousaphone tirade. Of course the title of this month's blog indicates Gail's old schoolmate and matron of honour, Alice, arrived for a short week of wandering through Yorkshire.

The photo here is at Leeds Intergalactic railway station where we met her and immediately escorted her into the Queens Hotel for a resuscitating Margarita. We then drove home, dumped the luggage and headed off to Sicklinghall, a couple of miles from home for a typical roast beef and Yorkshire pud dinner... The roast was sold out regrettably so Alice needs to return next year to fulfill this longed for treat. A good solid meal and significant wine was enjoyed in lieu.

Because of our somewhat busy travelling year this year Gail had run out of holidays so Alice and I spent a few days out and about without Gail. The photos show some of the adventures we all had together but not shown here were the days Alice and I spent touring Wetherby, Harrogate and Leeds. Also not photoed were the two nights of comedy at the annual Wetherby Festival. Alice and I had a fantastic funny night with David and Carolyn our neighbours at the stand up comedy night which was truly and achingly funny. Gail joined us for the Knicker lady, a historic tour through ladies underpants which was regrettably less so. http://www.wetherbyfestival.co.uk/ will give you some idea of the other events the festival hosts... It is quite a tour de force for little Wetherby.

Alice visited us because it is mid term and she is currently teaching in Istanbul, Turkey. Small world story, she works with a bloke from Knaresborough, so that nearby market town was a definite port of call during her stay. This snap shows Gail and Alice posing on the wall of Knaresborough castle overlooking the Nidd River and its victorian rail viaduct.

That same day took us up into the dales, through Patley Bridge and over Lofthouse to Masham where we had a good old pub lunch in the Black Sheep Brewery.

Because of Alice's interest in all things historic we visited Pontefract the next day and toured the castle grounds before heading off to the Yorkshire sculpture park. Pontefract is covered previously in this blog's pages for June when we visited for the Licorice festival. If you remember I included a description of the Towton massacre back during the war of the roses. In an attempt to put some scale to that story we went to the site of the battle and walked the ground where so many had died. It is now a barren plowed field with a remnant tree or two, but being there and placing the documented events on the real earth brings a tragic realisation to the place.

So it was wonderful to head off from historic places to the ever changing Yorkshire Sculpture park and roam the manicured fields and parks we didn't visit last time with Noeline in August. The weather stayed fine and as you can see from the snaps we had a great wander and found some enchanted rabbits among the woods. I will not bang on about the park again as I did that not so long ago but I do want to show you a few more of the sculptures and grounds.

All too soon Alice had to leave us to return to her studies, these required a three or four day trip to Malta mind you, not really a hardship by all accounts. It was decided that as Gail had Alice's last day and the next few days off, we would drive Alice to Manchester stopping on the way to take in some sights.

As it turned out Plumpton Rocks, which Gail and I have been trying to see for years, was closed so we headed off for lunch at the Wine Press pub, near Littleborough, picture.

The pub sits on the west side of the Pennines on a reservoir built in the early 1800's to supply water for the Leeds to Liverpool canal. The top up of the canal was needed in the days when industry was thick on the ground in these parts and the canal full of barges travelling up and down, constantly draining and re-filling the locks.

After a burger and wine and a short stroll Alice was sufficiently prepared for her return trip to Turkey and despite us circling for a while not knowing at what terminal to deposit her (Manchester is a notoriously driver unfriendly airport) we finally found the right gate at Terminal 2 and shoved her off. I am sure she will be back soon as the time was short and there is so much she has yet to see.

That is all for this month. You will see things are quietening down here as the days cool and activity slows but I will continue to capture any entertaining events as the winter months close in over us.

See you next time!