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