ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 39TH OF 2026

Good morning lovely people tis time to clock the positive moments and silver linings from the last seven days. 

So last Friday we decided to swap out the summer flowers on the outdoor wreath and make it more autumnal I was fairly happy with it when it was done

Then on Saturday we went out to our Grandson's first birthday party, his actual birthday has fallen midweek so my d-in-law organised a meet up at a pub with a soft play centre.  It was lovely to see everyone and everyone enjoyed it. 

He enjoyed the balloon and got lots of presents

Sunday and we headed out for a bit of a nature walk to clock all the changes in the season, from the hawthorn berries

to the second harvest of blackberries that still aren't quite ready

the sky was a beautiful blue with the odd wispy cloud

some of the trees are already on the turn

and we found other berries, some quite poisonous in the arboretum in the next village

These strands of seeds were amazing

and this tree seemed to change colour according to how the sunlight was catching it

At the end of the walk this was our foraged goodies, apples from a tree in the arboretum, we took what we will use.  I found some beautiful autumn leaves including 3 oaks leaves and 3 holly leaves

Wednesday was the autumn equinox and we were up early due to me being at work and hubby volunteering so we got a photo of the sunrise, albeit that the clouds were covering most of it. 

It was also our grandson's first birthday and I got this photo to cheer me on through the day

On Thursday for good measure I got another photo of the sunrise on Thursday as I was up and about early. 

I've noticed the nights starting to draw in now and we are officially past the equinox in the UK so the nights are now longer than the days.  We've made some plans of things we want to do over the autumn and winter months and I'm ready to embrace the seasons. 

I hope you are all well hopefully back to fighting fit Kate and Helen. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 38TH OF 2026

     Evening all, apologies for my lateness time to clock the positives of the last 7 days

As you will recall I was midway through my week away last week so I will finish off our week away

We had a day out at Cragside, a little bit further afield but somewhere we've visited before and always a joy to go. 

We got pictures in the garden, the whole site is on a hillside so lots of walking up and down the hillside

The valley at the bottom had a distinct feel of Puzzlewood with all its moss. 

We found another fallen tree piece of art which we assume is the same artist. 

Wandered up to the clock tower near the formal garden. 

Spotted creatures in trees, can you see its face and arms and antlers?  

Glorious views of the building, currently undergoing work on the roof so it has a lot of scaffold around it, but we still managed a reasonable shot of the place. 

Inside the 14 tonnes Italian marble fireplace really is a sight to behold. 

The final full day we decide to stay relatively close, we managed to go to Dilston Physic Garden, a garden full of medicinal plants, sculptures and a place to enjoy a beautiful garden. 

We spotted this fabulous tree

Sculptures amongst the plants

Ratty and Moley from the Wind in the Willows

Celtic Knotwork

This beautiful dragon

Who was just as impressive behind. 

This person in the hedge

The rain started just was we were getting a hot drink from the cabin, but there was a covered seating area to enjoy so we headed there.  

After we had finished at the garden we decided to go to Corbridge Roman Town 

and then into Corbridge where we bought a very expensive slice of carrot cake to share in the evening.  

Overall it was a lovely week away, a mix of relaxing time, reading and enjoying the hot tub as well as day trips out and on the last evening we were treated to this beautiful sky.  

We came home on Friday, got everything away and washing sorted.  Picked food up in readiness for birthday celebrations on the Sunday. 

Sunday came around and my wonderful daughter in law had gone to town with her baking. 

I can confirm that they were all utterly delicious the main cake was lemon flavoured and so very pretty in its autumnal colours. 

My grandson looking very pleased with himself. 

Monday arrived and our son's 26th birthday, however with it being a Monday we were all working, thankfully we'd celebrated on the Sunday. 

Tuesday, said 26 year old, his lovely wife and our Grandson all came for tea, so that was a nice catch up.  Our Grandson is now officially crawling and it has become very apparent that our home is definitely not designed for a toddler.  He'd been to nursery so was rather tired so they headed home around 8 o'clock. 

Wednesday I was in the office, I'd had a very busy working week as I'd been away and no one picks my work up when I'm off but it meant the working week whizzed by. 

Thursday and we had a very busy day, I deep cleaned the utility room, hubby popped the fans and some things into the loft.  We then sorted the freezers out updating the list and sorting the contents out so I knew what was where.  In the afternoon we went out and picked up some items we needed.

Thursday evening we went to the local theatre to watch Hound of the Baskervilles but nothing like I expected and it was laugh out loud funny which I doubt was the original intention when the book was written.

And that my lovely people is my week (and a bit).  I hope you've all had a good week, the autumn 'switch' seems to have occurred this week, not sure if it is the same where you are. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 37TH OF 2026

 Good evening, I'm late today but we've just come back from a week away, so time to clock the positives from the last 7 days.  I'm going to split the week as I may not have much to share for the week ahead as it will be a catch up week. 

So last Thursday night we headed to the Crucible in Sheffield to watch King Lear, this was our first unabridged version of this play and it was mesmerising. 

Then on Friday we set off for the Durham area for a week's break. The journey up really wasn't much fun, an awful lot of traffic and people trying to get to their destination as fast as possible.  We were relieved once we had arrived.  

However, we had to be back out again in the evening to go to Kynren for their evening show.  It was the main reason we had gone to the area and is something we've said for a number of years that we would do but never managed it.  So finally we got to enjoy the show.  

We arrived early and had a wander

We enjoyed speaking to the people in the Viking Village. 

This horned sheep is an endangered breed, but I loved how quirky it looked. 

The woodwork was stunning

then in the evening we took our seat and were told the history of Britain (there or thereabouts, there were definitely mythical elements, but it was fun nonetheless)

and it finished with fireworks. 

As we had taken all our food for the week, we decided to have a chilled out day on Saturday, where we sat, book read, used the hot tub and generally relaxed and it was very much appreciated. 

Sunday had forecast a wet day, so we headed to Bowes museum to see a Vivienne Westwood exhibition on its final day. 

I loved the shoes

the jacket on the left was her take on some medieval armour

they deconstructed the pattern to show how many pieces it was made of. 

I was also amazed at this outfit cut on the bias. 

We also enjoyed a Norman Cornish exhibition.  He was an artist from Spennymoor who captured scenes of his local area, without realising at the time that he was capturing social history. 

This sketch was a chipshop van that trundled around the streets, it is parked up now in the Beamish open air museum, near the replica of his home that has been built. 

There are lots of people sketches, particularly in the pub

the way he caught the facial features was amazing. 

On Monday we headed out to Beamish as it was forecast for a nice day.  We've been to Beamish before on a couple of occasions, but we've never done the 1950s town which has only recently been built. 

The tram goes around the whole town, so we got off in the 1900s town as usual 

The 1950s town is a short walk away.  We were wandering around a terraced house with Norman Cornish artwork in it, when I realised it was a replica of his house from Spennymoor. 

There were some new built houses in the 1950s town, these kitchen wall cupboards reminded me of the home we lived in when I was young.

and this satchel was similar to a haversack my Dad used to use to go into town and get the week's fruit and vegetables each week. 

The fireplace below is very similar to the one we had in our home when I was little and the one my Grandma had in the pub. 

They've even build a cinema which we assume is a repurposed theatre.  The size of the cameras to play the films were huge. 

The outside of Norman Cornish's house. 

There were also buses running around the site as well. 

We had a lovely day, had some tasty chips cooked in dripping and the sun shone for most of the day definitely a win win. 

Tuesday and we fancied going somewhere new so we went to Wallington Hall.  The photos of the exterior really don't do this place justice if I'm honest. 

The house itself is an absolute gem, the paintings in the original internal courtyard are sublime. 

You can see how the paintings are situated in the courtyard. 

The rooms around it are beautiful as well and then we headed outside for a wander. 

First off these dragon heads which you can see as you approach the house and carpark. 

Selfie time

Then in the woods we found this tree that had obviously fallen during a storm, which had been ornately carved. 

On the side were more faces

so we grabbed another selfie.

We wandered the woodlands which was lovely and then went over to their second hand bookshop and found a few books before we headed back to our cottage. 

I'll cover Wednesday onwards in my post next week. 

If you've made it to here, well done and I hope you are having a good week. 

Hugs