ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 48TH OF 2024

 Morning lovely people tis Friday time for

Well last Thursday we travelled down to Stratford upon Avon for our annual festive trip to the theatre.  It was technically bought by my husband for my birthday and we had booked a different hotel than normal.  We travelled down up hill and down dale the scene very wintry looking as you can see, but the roads were clear

The first play was the matinee performance of Othello, it was incredibly well done and very sad but I enjoyed it nonetheless

Then we checked into the hotel, a quick spruce up and we headed to Zizzis for tea followed by a return visit to the RSC

Part of the Red Shoe display in the RSC

and the opening set in readiness in the Swan theatre

It is based on the Hans Christian Andersen story and is very very dark and definitely not Christmassy but we enjoyed it nonetheless. 

On Friday we travelled back up and in the evening headed to Barnsley for their 'Bright Nights' technically their light switch on but lots of places to visit and things to see. 

There was a fabulous exhibition in the Town Hall Archives by a local illustrator called Brian Wildsmith, his body of work over his lifetime was amazing. 

Outside we saw the steel nativity 

And the lights around the Town Hall

I loved the living dress in the church, it was so atmospheric, a nod to Barnsley's textile industry

The college had lots of family activities on including a silent disco and the Cooper gallery had further work by Brian Wildsmith

As well as holographic art in the garden, you put your hand in and the holographic butterfly landed on your hand, it was weird because I could 'feel' the butterfly even though it was technically not there. 

Glassworks had an animated display, a nod to a rediscovered Christmas carol called 'Christmas Eve' which was sung live by a local choir. 

And a giant slinky outside the shopping centre.

Saturday and we had a lazy start to the day, before heading to Nostell Priory to watch A Christmas Carol in the afternoon, it was incredibly well done and we really enjoyed this festive delight. 

Sunday and said 24 year old and his lovely wife popped over, it happened to be Stir it Up Sunday, so wishes were dutifully added to the mix before it was cooked

We also got the decorations sorted, I know they are early but given that I had a week off it seemed sensible to sort to leave us free time at weekends. 

I enjoyed reading in front of the fire earlier in the week

Thursday we had a return visit to Chatsworth, I'd booked these in advance and it seemed silly not to use the time. 

This is one of my favourite views

Chatsworth was looking wintry and the deer could easily be seen in the distance.

We stopped and had a cuppa in the stables

We spotted mice that we hadn't seen previously 

I got a few different quirky shots, which I think are lovely

We got the stair shot for a change which is usually full of people

We found this musical mouse

hubby posed in front of one of the trees

And we enjoyed a wander around the garden. 

A fun filled week which I've really enjoyed as hopefully you can see, I hope your week has been grand too. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 47TH OF 2024

 Good Afternoon lovely people I'm later than normal, time to clock the silver linings, positive moments and those little things that make life a happier place to be time for 

So last Friday we set off mighty early for a very very long day at Chatsworth, so we could enjoy the market, the house, the garden and the light trail (11 hours we were gone). 

We had a wander around the market, got a scollen and Christmas scone from the scone man and had a Yorkshire tea and 'breakfast'. 

We wandered the stalls before heading into the house around noon.  This year the theme is based around a children's book written about an ancestor of the Duke's he was interested in science.  It's a lovely Christmas story and has a lion and mice in it which meant we were on spot the characters duty as we wandered around. 

These were the first mice we found on our way around, diving into a pile of sweets. 

Christmas selfie in front of the tree in the painted hall

One of the beautiful trees on our venture around

The story was played out with these little stages

Two of the mice, (I loved these two), diving into the copper kettles to steal the t-bags, but it was only on getting home and zooming in did I realise that the 'orange' on the one on the left are actually armbands!

Mice on the stairs stealing the oranges

One of the many stunning wreaths around the house, if you zoom in you can see Mice who have been stealing the macarons. 

Mice in the presents

Hubby in front of one of the stunning trees

And one of the mice sat reading the story book in the library

Another favourite, lumberjack mice and the two handed saw cutting through the cheese on the main table. 

At the end of the trail the two lions, one made more festive

and the other sleeping as always

The garden was still a riot of autumn colour, I loved the crazy reflection of the plants on the grotto garden and thought it looked like a fairy town from a distance

We enjoyed our other scone before heading off around the light trail

The giant star was a big attraction

The clacking lights in the quarry garden had me amused

And finally the light installation on the house was stunning and set to music. 

Then we headed for a last wander around the market

before setting off home, utterly shattered.  

We woke on Saturday and overall I had quite a tough day, when times are hard and things are tough we tend to lean on those closest and for me without my Mum it often ends up being my sister.  But as we traverse life without my Mum now I am reminded that everyone is fragile in the aftermath of such a loss and so when I leant a little on my sister last week as I was struggling, she leant back and I realised to a degree her need was greater.  So we headed over on Sunday morning to give her a hand, she had started the great kitchen paint a few weeks ago, but had got half way through before she started accessorising.  So me and hubby went over, he put up a shelf for her and I gave her a hand to finish the painting and before we knew it it was done.  

We headed back home for a few hours and then she came over for tea, we sat and had a meal and then enjoyed the evening together reminiscing, putting the world to rights and sitting in front of the woodburning stove. 

As a thank you for our help (and she really didn't need to), she bought hubby a couple of bottles of beer and for me she bought me some beautiful flowers. 

Monday night and we had a family chat with my son and daughter-in-law and my niece and it was just lovely, just what I needed to be honest.  Sometimes it is good to talk. 

Then later in the week hubby treated me to these

As always finding the positives in the week always lifts me and reminds me of how fortunate I am to have people who I love and who love me back and that together we can all make life a little easier on each other.  

I hope you've had a great week too. 

Hugs