ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 16TH OF 2026

 Hello lovely people tis Friday time to clock the silver linings and positive moments from the last 7 days

Well we had a blue skies and windy day the other day and I was immensely grateful to get the washing, washed and dried in a single day, it has been a while since that last happened. 

Then on Sunday we ventured to YSP, mainly because we really wanted to visit the new exhibition in the chapel by the artist Nicola Turner called 'Time Scythe' she did some work for the latest Wuthering Height film, so I was intrigued to see her work in person and loved that this extended the book experience, I read a while ago about enhancing experiences and I've been mindful to try and do that where possible.  

I also watched the Wuthering Heights from 2009 with Tom Hardy over the weekend, more akin to the original book and finished the retelling of Wuthering Heights which was extremely good.  

The exhibition was amazing and has been made in situ

I loved how it spilled over the balcony

and spilled outside

We had a lovely walk around the park and saw some beautiful cherry blossom

and bluebells, but these definitely seem to be appearing earlier each year.

We also grabbed a selfie

My order for a crochet kit for a cardigan arrived, time will tell whether this was a sensible (or crazy) purchase, but up to now I'm feeling quite positive about it. 

Tuesday evening we went to Cast in Doncaster to see Macbeth.  It was a strange version it has to be said if I'm honest and the first half felt quite disjointed, but the second half was better and overall it was an interesting watch. 

Thursday I had physio in the morning, grateful for the progress I've made with the issue with my heel I'm hoping to make some more progress before I see him next. 

We then had a lovely afternoon, I spent it fighting with a granny square, I've never made a granny square before and so the video tutorial has been an absolute blessing, hubby in the meantime was silversmithing and it proved a lovely gentle afternoon. 

Then in the evening we went for pre-theatre dining at the local college restaurant, we both selected the same starter which was grilled prawns on a polenta cake

my view for the evening

then we both chose the beef olives for main it was served with Romanesco and parsnip crisps

and then we chose differently for dessert, hubby went with banana fritter with rum and raisin served with a ginger ice cream 

and I went for the chocolate dessert, which was a chocolate cake with a thick mousse like topping and shavings of white chocolate it was absolutely stunning to eat 

and then we went off to the theatre to watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang which was a fun watch

And that is my lot for this week, I hope yours has been good. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 11TH OF 2026

 Good evening apologies for my tardiness today but time to clock the positive moments and silver linings of the last seven days 

So last Friday we had a slow day at home tootling around the house hubby made some bread which is great and topped the freezer up 

I also started the new book he'd ordered me which I'm really enjoying up to now, it is a beautiful copy as well and the font is a sensible size, something I genuinely celebrate these days. 

In the evening I watched the previous episode of Bridgerton and episode 6.  I've been slow timing the series like we used to when a TV series was weekly and you couldn't get it on demand. It is proving a worthwhile watch. 

On Saturday we went to Ikea to meet family for a breakfast, we hadn't realised there was a 'deal on' and the queue was immense but we queued regardless and still managed to get served before the breakfast ended and it was lovely to catch up with our son who doesn't get to do this very often as he works on a Friday when we normally meet up. 

We had a quiet weekend which was lovely and then back to work on Monday working from home on Monday and Tuesday.  Tuesday evening our son, daughter in law and grandson popped over for tea which was lovely to see them all.  

He is so gorgeous

and his smile lights up the room 

On Wednesday evening I had finished work and we headed for pre-theatre dining at the local college restaurant, the meal was excellent as always and then we went over the road to watch a dystopian version of Macbeth, done by a local theatre group it was great and we both really enjoyed it. 

Thursday was a day I wasn't particularly looking forward to if I'm honest.  I had a physio appointment first thing and I always come away hobbling but hopefully it will mean more progress can be made with my achilles tendonitis. 

Then the dentist as I had a very painful tooth, thankfully it was a repairable cracked tooth and whilst the dentist at first thought it might not work, once he got on with it he felt that he'd been able to do the necessary repair, so that was a relief, I came out with a very numb mouth but very grateful he had managed to resolve. 

Then I headed home to complete the outstanding items that I needed to sort before I could commence my annual leave, thankfully it only took a couple of hours which was great and then I could relax and commence work on my crochet. 

This is the work so far and I'll be honest I've undone it a number of times, I keep 'losing' stitches, but I think it is because I keep missing the end ones.  I've got fed up of undoing it so I'm going to start the second ball of wool and attempt not to lose any stitches, if I'm successful I will continue and unravel this, if I'm not I will throw caution to the wind, carry on with this monstrosity and accept that I'm crocheting a triangle, however, I've got to give me some credit for attempting to learn this with You Tube only. 

I've got my next couple of planned learning waiting in the wings, so to date, I've started to knit, I'm growing vegetables, I'm trying to learn how to crochet (it isn't great on my poor hands that are subjected to an immense amount of typing in a week and get RSI at the best of times, I've also found I can't read and crochet at the same time which I could with the knitting).  

My next learning project is back to dressmaking.  I genuinely dislike most of the clothes I can buy in the shops so I'm going back to my dressmaking days in the hope I can turn out something that I'm genuinely happier with.  I will let you know how I fair in due course and I'm also going to attempt to go back to calligraphy something that I used to practice and have all the kit for, I'll update you in due course of how I'm fairing. 

I hope you've had a wonderful week. 

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 44TH OF 2025

 Good Afternoon tis Friday time for

So last week we headed to Stratford for a couple of days and to enjoy some excellent Shakespeare plays. 

We travelled down on the Thursday, we hit a lot of roadworks all I can say is HS2 is definitely making that journey harder at the moment, I really feel for the people directly affected by the same. 

We had a matinee show to enjoy on Thursday a 'first encounters' (aka as abridge) version of King Lear in the Swan theatre. 

It was very good, but we believe we have only seen this play twice now and both have been abridged which is a shame I think I'd like to see it done in all its glory.  

Stage at the end of the play. 

The promo poster

We had a quick change and shower at the hotel and then hot footed it to Zizzis before heading to the RST for 'Measure for Measure' 

As a play this is complex and one where the ending leaves the female with no words, we did wonder with how it started how they were going to finish it and we were not disappointed.

Then Friday we had the day to ourselves, we enjoyed exploring Stratford as usual and given how epic Measure for Measure was were doubtful that it could be matched or surpassed.

This time we were at 'The Other Place' and an hour before we set off I realised we had 'pub type' seating, which basically meant that we were incredibly close to the actors, pretty much in the pub. 

This photo I took when we were in our seats, like I said close. 

The whole run of Macbeth set in the Glaswegian bar is sold out and I genuinely had no idea why, but the lead actor was apparently the lead in the series Outlander, which I think was the main reason. 

The play was bloody and grimy and all things Macbeth, but I don't think I've ever cried to Macbeth before if I'm honest, but then I've never seen Lady Macbeth's death scene played out on the stage (ever) which was startling enough but then for Macbeth to lay her down on the stage and do his 'tomorrow and tomorrow' speech with such emotion was enough to get the tears flowing. 

There was a standing ovation as it finished and I can honestly say it was the best Macbeth I've seen in quite some time, in fact for a non-traditional version this is definitely my favourite. 

On Saturday we were heading home and decided to pop to Kedleston on our way back, we were hoping to see Helios (a Luke Jerram installation of the 'sun') which was there but when we arrived it said it was sold out.  Disappointed as we were we need a comfort break and a cuppa so headed in to get our cards scanned and the amazing man behind the counter provided us with two tickets and said to hurry as the slot was 12.15pm as it was already 12.40pm.  

We hurried into the house which not only housed the sun installation but was also celebrating Diwali 

Helios was stunning and the surface had movement on it like the real sun

Seeing it from the other side of the marble room hanging was amazing

Kedleston hall is lovely anyway, the glass chandelier still designed for candles was amazing

The outside view gives you some perspective, it had a feel of both Wentworth Woodhouse and Nostell priory. 

Then we had a wander around the very old church, the stained glass windows were stunning. 

We were glad to finally land at home and after we'd unpacked enjoyed relaxing after our busy couple of days. 

We caught up with our son and daughter-in-law and soaked up all information to do with our grandson and then we were back at Monday (already). 

Although this week was short (only two days) because on Wednesday we had been invited to my cousins wedding which was amazing.  She looked stunning and as she is into her metal music and all things gothic we knew it would be different. 

Here is a photo of her on her way to get married, the most beautiful black wedding dress you ever did see. 

I hope you've had a wonderful week too.  

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 28TH OF 2025 (I KNOW IT'S A WEEK LATE)

 Evening all I'm on mass catch up this is last Friday's rocking post

Well as you may recall we'd had a mighty busy Thursday two weeks ago and so as a treat on the Friday we had a long walk up to the next village along which was lovely.  We went over the fields, checking on the blackberries to see if they would yield a reasonable harvest this year (the jury is still out but with the dry weather I'm not so sure at the moment).  

We also came across a sloe bush which had lots of fruit on it. 

When we got to the next village we headed into the pub's beer garden and hubby went and got us drinks as you can see he enjoyed his pint of Old Peculier.  

Then we had a steady walk home, it was nice to enjoy some downtime. 

On the Saturday evening we headed to Nostell Priory to see the Dukes theatre group perform Macbeth and as always we were not disappointed, it was an amazing production that we thoroughly enjoyed and the grey clouds didn't turn to rain. 

On the Sunday we went to a wedding fayre with my niece who is getting married next year, it was OK but nowhere near as good as the last one we went to if I'm honest which is disappointing.  Then we popped to the local retail park with my sister and had a quick mooch around before dropping her off home.

The week as always tripped along quite merrily on the Tuesday hubby had a 2.5 tipper of wood delivered and so he was very busy putting all that away and despite the vast quantity one of the stores is only half full, so we may need another bag before autumn sets in.

And that lovely people was the week I missed, I simply ran out of time to get it typed and posted - apologies.  

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY 39TH OF 2023

 Morning all tis Friday time for 

Well after what seems to have been a very long run of no holidays we ventured off last Friday for Warwickshire, staying just outside of Stratford upon Avon in a village called Barton. We'd booked predominantly because we had theatre tickets mid-week, but the area has a wealth of things still to offer even though we've technically been here quite a lot in recent years.

The journey down was OK, we never do the motorway and the worst part of the journey is hacking our way around the edge of Leicester but hubby appears to have got his head around it so we managed fine on the junction with what feels like a million lanes. 

We stayed in a lovely romantic retreat just the two of us and were met by the owner and some of her chickens when we arrived. Thankfully we'd been sensible enough to do the food shop before we got to our venue, so we didn't need to head out again which was great. 

Our first full day being Saturday and the sun was shining so we headed off to our first 'must do' place of Cotswold Sculpture Park. It is privately owned and only open from April through to the end of September, so missed out last year. It was about an hour's drive from where we are, but it was definitely worth it. 

Me and hubby spent a number of hours browsing the sculptures, the trail much longer than we had expected. All of the sculptures are for sale so people do come and buy them, but we are simply just browsers of art rather than buyers.

Here are a few of our favourites. 

Blogger is misbehaving so it has them in the wrong order, but these metal dragonflies were created by the owner and are dotted around the park, made of parts of engine, it did make us wonder if he owned a scrapyard at some point. 

I loved this piece, the brightness isn't really visible on this photo, but it really was beautiful 

an Ed Elliott piece

Hubby photographing the trembling vole (note the flying owl behind him)

I loved the level of detail on these bearing in mind they were only about 10 inches tall, this one called 'putting the world to rights' and made of frost proof earthenware

This goat with his traffic cone on his back was known as 'party animal' 

and we met Myrtle the Turtle originally created to raise awareness of plastics in the ocean, made from old tyres. 

another stunning piece and as you can see we had some sunshine

this one raised a smile

and this one has to be one of my favourites 'hareoplane' - zoom for a closer look

and this iconic piece at the entrance to the trail

we enjoyed a cuppa and a rock bun before heading back to enjoy an hour in the hot tub, this is definitely the life. 

Sunday and we ventured to Upton Hall and Gardens, a freebie with our National Trust membership. Only 30 minutes from our abode, we grabbed a timed ticket in readiness and headed for the cafe for a cuppa before our venture around.

The house itself similar to many other country houses but filled to the brim with some amazing artwork. Initially we weren't sure if we'd engage in the artwork, but there were a few that drew us in and got us talking.  

We particularly liked the oil painting on copper sheet, weirdly I didn't know that was such a thing, apparently it allows for more detailed painting which we could see from the finished article. 

Afterwards we walked the terraced gardens which with the word terraced meant walking down which meant a hike back up. We went down to the mirror pond but with the over abundance of vegetation it had a more swamp like feel if truth be told. Overall though a lovely jaunt to a lovely home.

Monday and we were treated to a blue skies day and some white cloud, we decided to head to Batsford Aboretum, not top of my list if I'm honest, but many places close on Mondays at this time of year and I didn't really fancy walking around another National Trust home. 

Strangely enough though we had a lovely day, whilst it too was fairly steep in places, the oversized map leant us to finding all the items on the same. Ranging from the hermits cave at the top of the Arboretum, technically out of fashion when it was created I genuinely can't imagine someone paying somebody to be a hermit

We grabbed a selfie on our travels

and admired the buddha statue

We had a lovely lunch in the restaurant before heading back and completing the trail. 

As we were only a few mile away we decided to head over to Rollright Stones. A stone circle near a burial ground and other ancient monument it isn't our first jaunt there but it is some years since our last visit. 

Legend has it if you can count the stones accurately 3 times your wish will be granted, I counted them 3 times, the first time there were 61, then 59 and then 60 - no wishes for me today. 

The burial chamber is a little way off but a stable path down to the site makes it easy to reach. There appeared to be a lot of items left on this which we didn't see last time ranging from crystals to coins. 

Then we headed back along the path and over the road to see the King's stone

Tuesday and we fancied something different (again) and this time headed to Compton Verney now deemed an art gallery it is still based inside a stunning home.

We admired the ceilings in the play room for the kids

The Sphinx like creatures on the bridge designed by Capability Brown or as we always refer to him Bloody Stupid Johnson which only Terry Pratchett fans will appreciate.

I believe it to be the first thatched ice house that we have found on our travels

and the adornment on the front of the pillars reminding us of home and Wentworth Woodhouse, this being part of an intriguing National Lottery Heritage funded project

We headed inside and wandered the art gallery on the ground floor, full of Italian paintings, artefacts and sculptures

I found these sculptures somewhat strange, they said they represented the 4 continents, Europe, Asia, Africa and America.

This is Africa

and this is a very angry looking America, I'm confused why so angry other than the fact they've depicted her with her boobs showing - I mean the mind boggles.

We also found this very strange picture, which from a distance I thought reminded me of a Dali but wrong nationality apart from wrong century, it was only on closer inspection we saw elements of what is technically pergatory although it was described as the edges of hell, where some were redeemed according to the story it was depicting. 

We then went and grabbed a cuppa before continuing on, the primary reason for visiting Compton Verney was the promise of an exhibition by Quentin Blake, it did not disappoint and we were actively encouraged to take photos which was an absolute joy here are a select few

This one from a book about a family attempting to teach birds how to fly as they were taking over their home

This one done as a series for a hospital for children when the Doctors and nurses are shown as dragons

This one raising the plight of migrants crossing dangerous seas

and a magical beast

Another hospital painting showing the kids what they will be able to do when they get better 

Back to the birds again learning to fly

and another nurse shot

It really was a joy to behold 

We then headed to the American birds exhibition which didn't really float our boat and the illustrator and artist has been identified recently as a slave owner so there is a degree of distancing people are doing from his work. 

The final two floors were around British folk art, the design of the display had been assisted by Mark Hearld one of my favourite artists unfortunately there was little in the way of his work to be seen but we enjoyed the display nonetheless

This was the main artwork created by him

and I enjoyed the room that had been covered in a wallpaper designed by him

We then headed back to the cafe for more tea in fabulous little tea pots and cake to share, one a sticky ginger cake and the other an orange jaffa cake, both were light as a feather and very rich and went down a treat.

We headed to the gift shop on our way out and hubby found a book on soldering which pleased him no end and he bought me the gift books so I can find out a little more about the place.

We then managed to get to the chapel although the sky was looking somewhat threatening.

We managed a quick dash across the lawn and over the bridge back to the car in the nick of time 

Wednesday and a decidedly slow start for us book reading, catching up on our tablets and a chill in the hot tub before heading into Stratford-upon-Avon. We had a mooch for a bit before heading to the RSC in time for a tour of the theatre at 3.30pm. We had a brilliant hour with Bob the tour guide, showing us inside both the RSC theatre as well as the Swan theatre next door. It is crazy to think that the stage is 19 metres in height when you consider that the furthest seat from the stage is only 15 metres. It is also crazy to think that under the stage there is a 7 metre space which technically goes below river level (and has been known to flood). 

The Swan theatre is lovely and even more intimate to the main theatre. Then we headed over to the costuming department, looking at all the crafts created there from weaponry to hats to shoe/s and boots to clothes and jewellery absolutely stunning! 

Then we had a naughty tea at Zizzis before heading to the Swan theatre to watch Merchant of Venice 1936 set in London at the height of the fascist movement it was a mesmerising watch. 

Thursday and our final full day, we had booked for Sezincote one of those 'must sees' if I'm honest but the tour time was tight and we needed to be back in good time. Thankfully it all went swimmingly. 

The house itself has a distinct Indiant feel to it, being influenced by a prior owner who had spent a huge amount of time in India. They simply put a 'skin' on the outside of an existing home

The tent room was very pretty

The bronze elephants adding to the overall feel

We ventured in the garden and enjoyed walking down the stream and along the stepping stones under the bridge

We then headed back to where we were staying, enjoyed the hot tub for the last time before getting showered and ready for an evening out at the RSC to see Macbeth

It was nice getting dressed up

and this is the stage set at the RSC

it was an unusual take on the play, it was difficult to place the time it had been set if truth be told and they played to the fractured personalities and mental health issues far more than normal and whilst hubby still remains sceptical on this version I can see the merits of this different version. 

Overall a brilliant week away, just need another one now to get over the week away.

Hope you've had a grand week.