ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 40TH OF 2026

 Morning all tis Friday time for 

Well last Friday my sister had invited me to join her to watch Sense and Sensibility.  We met up at a Starbucks formerly a hall, which is reportedly haunted.  It really is a beautiful building and had a proper catch up prior to our film. Hubby came too but he went to see a different film and our films finished around the same time so a win win. 

I've never read nor seen Sense and Sensibility so had no expectations, comparisons or plot and found it to be a lovely watch.  Apparently the one done in the early 90's is magical also, so I may have to treat myself to a copy of that for a watch. 

Saturday and we decided to head north to York for most of the day.  Around this year they host the 'Ghosts in the Garden' which are always fun to track down.  Some are really difficult to find and unlike other trails around York you are only given vague information as to where they are, which is fine except when you are trying to spot a lifesized bat, cat or mouse.  Weirdly we managed both the bats and mouse but the cat proved elusive.  Weirdly York has a permanent cat trail for people to follow and we saw a large number of those on our travels it felt as though the ghost cat was tormenting us if I'm honest. 

Around 2pm and 15,000 steps later we'd gathered 53 out of the 70 (albeit that there were at least 4 not accessible) and decided that as it was getting mighty busy (not helped by a huge food festival) that we would head home.

Here are some of our favourites from the day

The lamp lighter was new

The astronomer

The mouse we found

The beekeeper in the church yard

The first of two bats

and the second

The kneeling knight is our favourite

Plague mask 

The prisoner we nearly didn't find, you can see hubby peering in from the other side

and the builder on top of York dungeon against the sunny sky. 

Sunday and we went to my sisters so hubby could hang some ornaments and pictures for her.  I enjoyed the catch up and the cuppa if I'm honest.

Then we popped to see our son, daughter-in-law and grandson in their home surroundings, we haven't been for an age and watching him now crawling and getting more confident being stood is fantastic.  Watching the temper tantrum on a 1 year old however not so much but he really did make us laugh and is such a character.

Monday was a busy work day as was Tuesday.  On Tuesday evening we ventured to the local theatre for a touring show of Jane Eyre which we really enjoyed.  Hubby didn't know the story and whilst I had the basics it is some time since I read it.

Wednesday and I had a very busy day in work, but it was productive.  Then on Thursday I had a hospital appointment, where I'm now officially on the waiting list for a small operation, the wait is around 6 months so for now I'm going to put it down.  I'm grateful that they are now at least dealing with the issue.

We came home after the appointment to learn that Microsoft are shelving the publisher programme which left me rather grumpy, I've had to download an alternative for now but it isn't ideal if I'm honest, although I can at least still access the files. 

Then we spent the rest of the day in the garden prepping for the winter months.  We took down the arbour roof to give it some longevity as it doesn't get used in winter.  The tree stump in the house behind us is still growing, so hubby treated it.  I did lots of weeding, hubby put down some new slate and weeded the side of the house before we set too on the front garden.  We were going to trim the little conifers at the top of the garden but they had got to be anything but little if we are honest, so we took the brave or rather mad decision to take them out.  That will obviously be the royal we as the work was done by hubby.  It has let a little more light into the house and it looks a bit unsightly at the moment but at least we can make progress.

I also completed some layouts this week, the first in an age, I'm going to attempt to catch up (only 2 years behind). 

First up a trip to Brodsworth

Glimpses of our son and daughter-in-laws life (pre-grandson)

YSP trip

Stafford break

Stratford break and theatre

Flowers from a friend after my Mum passed away

Meal out 2024 style

Track day for son

Nostell summer visit

Sister's birthday

YSP with family

Chatsworth visit

Canon hall visit

Snooks in York - these were really fun to find and not a huge trail so most managed in day

Pandemic diaries at Millennium gallery

Robert Plant and Saving Grace

Chatsworth visit

I hope you've had a good week. 

Hugs 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 43RD OF 2025

 It's not Friday and it is definitely not Saturday but I'm still doing

So last Friday we went to Sheffield to see the touring show of 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' with hubby and my sister. 

As a child this was my sister's favourite story book (although she did confess to having not read the whole series when we were there).  It was a great adaptation which we all enjoyed and made for a fun afternoon.

Then we had a sneaky visit to see our grandson taking my sister with us, I had a feeling there was a barrier to visiting because the last time she was there at the hospital was when my Mum was poorly and then obviously when she passed away, so to help get over that hurdle we took her and had a flying visit where she was finally introduced to her Great Nephew. 

On Saturday we had an early start and headed northwards to York for the Ghost in the Garden trail.  We had fun trying to find them around York, too many to locate all in the day, hampered by our occasional wander in to a shop to browse, but it was a fabulous day out that we all enjoyed. 

Many of the ghosts were the same as last year, this Knight remaining one of our favourites from both last year and this year's visit. 

This was a new one and made us all smile, the ghost of a ghost

The ghost with the plague mask was also amazing

We also found a beautiful church off Goodsramgate that we'd never seen before and had a wander.  They had a trail for children of these carved mice which were cute. 

We also wandered the Shambles and managed a photo of the butcher throwing his waste onto the street which we missed last year. 

It was as always an exhausting day but one that we all really enjoyed. 

Needless to say Sunday was definitely a day of rest, we chilled and read and watched TV and genuinely didn't do too much which was a nice change from the busy couple of days that we had had. 

Monday and work beckoned, I was working from home and finally got to the bottom of the inbox before working on some budget review documents which I'm making progress with. 

I was in the office on Tuesday which made a nice change, three back to back meetings much needed but that did leave me lacking on time again.  So Wednesday was spent back at home doing a mass catch up and making good progress.

I saw a post the other day of how close Christmas is and I'm mentally going into slight panic mode.  I am one of those that is usually really organised and often head into November with little to sort if I'm truthful.  However, this year I've decided to embrace autumn, which is great apart from the lack of Christmas preparations.  As we head into the last week of October I do wonder if I will be in full blown panic mode come November or if this year I can just go with the flow. How about you, still trying to embrace autumn or uber organisation and embracing all things Christmas already.

I hope you've had a fabulous week (and a bit) and promise to catch up with blogs as soon as I have the time. 

Hugs