Promoting our wonderful island

Hello Blogger Buddies. Sorry I didn't post yesterday, needed to catch up on a few things, and last night I decided to chill out and watch a bit of tele, which has given me the idea for this post.

So, this post is sponsored by the wonderful places visited by Julia Bradbury in her programmes, Wonders of Britain. I love finding out more about our beautiful island, reading travel books, looking up places on the internet, and reading maps. I think I have a pretty good knowledge about my country, then I learn something new and it makes me want to go there and see it for myself. The programmes about the Scilly Isles inspired me to go there, and numerous other places I have read about and visited have been ticked off my list. I like to pick up a book and read about places I have already been to as well, it  refreshes my memory of the trip and puts a smile on my face,  ahhh yes, been there.

My passport ran out a few months ago, I thought about renewing it, but won't bother at the moment. I like roaming around the UK, plenty of places I haven't seen yet. So, this is a shout out for good old Blighty, singing the praises of our wonderful homeland.

Julia is a very easy to listen to presenter, she injects enthusiasm for the subject matter with her body language and friendly disposition. I watched two programmes back to back last night, a wonderful couple of hours of free entertainment. I'll list a few of the places she visited here, with a few links, if you want to know more.

Wonders of Britain Series 1 episode 1   Beautiful Buildings
Wonders of Britain Series 1 episode 4  Industrial Revolution.
These links are on the ITV player and will not be available forever. 21 - 28 days. May be available on yoootooob (haven't checked) or may be repeated at a later date on the ITV site.

So where did she go.
Castle Howard, a stunningly beautiful stately building in North Yorkshire. The house is closed at the moment, due to open on the 21st of March. Visitors can walk around the grounds for a lower entrance fee during the winter months. Open every day except Christmas Day. I want to go there.

Eden Project in Cornwall. A brilliant place to visit, I have been twice, if I lived nearer I would go more often. It boasts the worlds largest rain forest in captivity, stunning gardens and world class sculptures. Always something going on, ice skating at the moment. Open most of the time, except a few dates in Jan - Feb. Check the web site.

Caernarfon Castle, a world heritage site, the most impressive castle in Wales. Check here for opening times and prices. I want to go there, it looks amazing.

Royal Crescent, Bath.  I have been here and I love it. There are thirty grade 1 listed houses arranged round a great lawn. It was built between 1767 and 1775. A must to see if you are in Bath.

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. This has been called The stream in the Sky. The structure has 19 arches with the River Dee running below it. You can cross on a narrow boat, or if you are feeling brave you can walk across. The views are out of this world. On my list to visit.

All photo's taken from the relevant web sites.

I'll come back tomorrow with a few more places to visit. No need to travel anywhere else, we have it all here.
Toodle pip.

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For the love of dogs

Hello, and Happy Boxing Day. Thank you for your Christmas wishes, I hope you all had a good day. Henry was well chuffed with his pressie. He knew straight away that he had to rip the paper off to get to the goodies inside. 

Oh yum,just what I wanted, a jumbo bone. It was demolished in five minutes.

Rocky needed a little help with his. 'I can't get at these chickeny things'. Oooops, maybe I should have taken them out of the plastic pouch first.

The pussies had chicken and tuna fish, they were well chuffed. Even Garcia from up the road called in to claim his share.

I watched a bit of TV but somehow managed to loose the signal on the set in the kitchen. I'm not familiar with the workings of these digital things, must have pressed the wrong button on the remote. Not to worry, help appeared on Skype. John from Don't unplug your hub blog, was able to talk me through re setting the channels. Fortunately his handset was exactly the same so following his instructions I managed to get it back again. Thanks John.

There hasn't been much on that took my fancy. I enjoyed Call the Midwife, Paul O'Grady For the love of dogs, Julie Walters about her life on screen, and Victoria Wood. One programme I really liked was Portrait Artist of the Year, on Sky Arts. Three finalist had to capture the likeness of Ian McKellen at London's National Portrait Gallery. It was fascinating to watch them paint, and to see the works they had created in the rest of the competition.

Another programme I enjoyed was Cirque Du Soleil, also on Sky Arts. The skill of the performers was amazing, I see it's on again tonight at 6pm will try and catch it. Pity programmes like these aren't on mainstream TV.

Hang on, I've got to go. A pair of large brown eyes are staring at me, I think Henry is trying to tell me something. Now he's parading round the kitchen, It's that time, another walk. Catch you later. Toodle pip.  

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Not getting hooked on tv

Hiya. Let's talk TV. Simplesista asked what I watched. During the day I had it on in the background while I was sewing. Escape to the Country, looking at loadsa money houses that people were considering buying, like going house hunting but without the effort of making the journey to have a look. I've had the TV on today as well, but switched off, once you've seen one posh house you've seen them all, gets a bit boring. A Place in the Sun is another one, couples look at houses nearer home and abroad, usually France. They've done very well for themselves in a fast pace work life, now want to get out of the rat race and grow veg and keep chickens. Nothing wrong with that but I think people have a romantic idea about it. The Good Life, an old sitcom on has a lot to answer for.

Last night I was channel hopping, my attention span is low, ten minutes of one programme and I want to move on. Saw a bit of The One Show, a magazine type programme, Got bored with people promoting their books, and new films they have just finished.

Tried a programme called Living on the Edge, but knew I wouldn't last long with that. It was about reindeer making a long journey across remote Norway. A heartbreaking scene of a young reindeer who wasn't going to make it, then as soon as the Sami people talked about using every bit of the animals they killed, that did it for me. Can't watch that.

I saw a bit of Coronation Street, that is getting dafter by the episode. Someone from Emmerdale is in it now, she takes the part of a cougar, a middle aged woman who goes after a younger bloke. Nick fell under her spell and had to snog her. My goodness, she was plastered with makeup. That's one drawback with a big hd screen, everyone has tons of slap on. Looks like they have piled it on with a trowel.

At 8pm I watched All Aboard : East Coast Trains. That was quite interesting, a documentary about life on the railways. Saw most of that. Then it was over to BBC 1 for The Apprentice. I haven't been watching the whole series so I had no idea who the finalists were. This week the five of them were grilled by Alan Sugar's entourage. They all presented their business plan in the hope that they would secure a �250,000 investment if they won. To be honest, even though most of the contestants are pretty hopeless at business, you've got to admire them for their balls to put themselves through the millstone over the ten weeks it has been running. The interviews were pretty grueling. Someone was found out for lying on their CV, someone else made claims about their sales which were a bit suspect, and their business plans were pulled to shreds. I felt the interviewers were unfairly cruel. If someone spoke to me like that I would tell them to stick it.

Following that I put on Crazy Christmas Compulsives, a programme about people who take the festive revelry to extremes. Someone was snowman crazy and had hundreds of them all over the house, every surface was covered. It was at this point I dozed off and missed the rest of the programme.

I am struggling to find anything to excite me. Maybe tonight will be better.

Thank you all for your comments on the 'Brilliant', post. Most of you do understand the reasons why I live a frugal and simple life. To say I put myself on a pedestal is totally untrue. I tell my story as it is. My plan when I left school was to work and provide for myself. Not to take money from the state, not to get married and have to ask my husband for money but to earn my own. That's exactly what I have done. I've been lucky with my health, possibly a good gene, but I think some of my wellness may be down to diet and exercise. I can't be held responsible for those who have not been so lucky, or those who have lost jobs, or those struggling on a low wage. Of course I feel sympathy for people who find themselves in those positions, but it is not my fault. I can only write about my experiences in the hope that there might be something there that will be helpful. Thank you for reading.
Toodle pip

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Anything worth watching?

Hello. I'm amazed. I'm sitting here browsing through the TV Guide I bought today, looking for programmes I might want to watch over the Christmas period, and I'm really struggling. I do keep up with what's on, on the catchup channels, and I often struggle to find anything on there.

The amount of channels listed in this magazine is mind boggling, it's that long since I watched a TV, I wouldn't know how to access it all. There are nine pages for each day. The normal five channels, turn the page and there is Freeview, Sky, Virgin, and Freestat. I don't know how many channels I will be able to watch, I think they subscribe to most of them, my problem will be trying to find them. Which remote will I need to use, which buttons will I need to press. It's going to be a flippin nightmare.

I see that one of my favourites is back, Last Tango in Halifax. I will be on a rota with another sitter, and unfortunately it's on a day when I will be back here, so I won't be able to catch that on a big screen, it's my night off, ha ha.

George Clarke's Amazing Christmas Spaces will be one to watch. Also marked down is a programme about lottery winners, how it has affected their lives, might watch that. I see Victoria Wood is on, and Julie Walters on the same night, love those two. A treat will be Call the Midwife, will watch that, and Paul O'Grady, For the Love of Dogs. Love that man. I see Morecambe and Wise are on, a show which hasn't been on the TV for 30 years, will be worth a watch.

I'm sure there must be more, I'll have to work out how to get the other channels.

Going through the TV programme guide used to be my ritual every week when I had a tele many years ago. That bluddy box in the corner ruled my life. I used to have a video recorder and set it to record things that I wouldn't be home for, or watch one programme and record another one at the same time. My goodness I was so disappointed if I missed something. Looking through this magazine now has reminded me that 99% of what's on is of no interest to me at all.

I shall be taking my sewing with me, that will keep me busy. And of course I will be chatting to you.
Toodle pip.

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Food for the brain

Hello, Getting on with things a bit earlier this morning. It was a big ask yesterday to point you in the direction of a video that takes an hour and a half to watch. Not everyone has the time to sit through something that long. There is a natural break at the point where the first story appears to finish, and a second story emerges. You could split it that way and still enjoy the whole thing, because the two stories run parallel, drawing it to a very emotional conclusion at the end.

You know I am a nosy person, I have said it many times, but I am not nosy for the sake of it, it's not that I want to know everybody's business. It's just that my little brain keeps asking me, what's that all about, I want to know how things work, how they fit together, why things happen, and what makes them happen. The internet is an ideal tool to satisfy my curiosity. I wasn't interested in learning at school, the only lessons I liked were practical subjects like cookery, sewing, art, and cross country running, and writing stories. I hated being forced to sit for a couple of hours my head jammed up with a mass of numbers that made no sense at all, or listen to the teacher drone on about some battle or other that happened a million years ago.I didn't need to know that stuff. I wanted to know about life, how and why things happen, right now while I am a part of it.

I walk around my village in the evening, and now it is getting dark early I see people watching the tele. The screens are that big these days, it's easy to see what they are watching, and the same tele's in the same houses are on, night after night. There seems to be a lot of run of the mill stuff, which is neither taxing to the brain, or even remotely interesting. I suppose they call that entertainment. I ask myself if I am perhaps missing out, should I get a tele. But what would I learn from Strictly Come Dancing, or the X Factor, or the many quiz programmes it seems to be awash with. And don't tell me I can learn a lot from cookery programmes, my mum was there to show me how to knock up a meal.

No, tele on the whole does not add to my learning experiences at all. I have an appetite and I need to feed it. Just like my body needing food, my brain also needs sustenance in the form of stimulating information which I can dissect and consume.

I do pick out a few programmes for their entertainment value, to watch on the computer, but I am paring that down now in favour of  something that will give me food for thought. Even Coronation Street has been given the boot, where do they get those barmy stories from, and so repetitive as well. Same old same old is not what I want. I need fresh, new ideas to feed the old grey matter.

I've been checking out a few crafty web sites which I am happy to share. You never know, there might be some new ideas here to give you inspiration.
Contemporary Quilt is all about erm,... quilting. There are lovely pictures of amazing quilts and details of events which you can visit.
Effie Galletly is a landscape artist and quilt maker, her works are inspired by the landscapes and structures of the Western Islands and the West Highlands of Scotland. She runs workshops on the Isle of Lewis, which were very successful in 2013.
Gillian Travis is an award winning textile artist living in the north of England. Her web site is choc a bloc full of interesting stuff, I will have to bookmark this one. Her work is colourful and contemporary, inspired by her extensive travels, all are documented on her blog.
Anne Kelly is a textile artist who lives in Sussex. She collects recycled fabric and paper to create a range of work which is mostly framed. She has a blog, and teaches at her workshops.

There's a few to be going on with, Now here's the question....what do you read up about on the internet, what subjects feed your desires for more knowledge?  What are you studying, what subjects  are you keen to learn more about? Are you feeding your brain with the right fodder, or are you slumped in front of the box, content with chillin after a hard day with your nose to the grindstone? Hey, that's more than one question, never mind, I'm being nosy again, ha ha.
Toodle pip.

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Busy at Epworth Show

Hello bloggerettes. You don't see many of these at an agricultural show. A robot came to visit Epworth Show today, and the crowds loved it. Standing over eight feet tall, he entertained the audience with his banter, and anyone who was unlucky enough to get too close got a soaking from his squirty eyes. He was such fun chatting in his alien voice. 

All the traditional attractions were there as well. The funfair.

Lots going on in the produce tent. Gorgeous flowers.

Fruit and veg on display.

Cupcakes in the junior baking section.

Make a miniature garden in a tray.

Crafty bags.

 Flower arranging skills on show.

The usual vintage tractors.

 Veteran and classic cars.

Girls disco dancing troupe.

Birds of prey on show.

And here is our stall in the craft tent.

We did very well today. Sold a load of STUFF, didn't take much STUFF home with us, thank goodness, now I have some space in my spare room. Made loadsa money for the cat rescue.

I hope you all had a lovely bank holiday weekend. We had a shower in the middle of the afternoon, but apart from that the weather held out. We got a bit busy when it rained as everyone came into the tent, good for our sales. A jolly good day and well worth the effort.
Toodle pip.

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Genius idea for keeping fit.

I've made a start on the decluttering, but it is going to take a while. I can't do it all in one go, the task is too daunting, so I am going to chip away at it bit by bit. When it's finished I will post some new pictures.

I got a bit preoccupied today, I thought of a way to make exercising on the cross trainer a bit more interesting. I am not spending as long on it as I ought to, because it's boring, and I should be upping my game. Anyway, I won't tell you about my genius idea because it will spoil the video for you. See what you think. So simple, why didn't I think of it before.



I had to put the heating on to strip off and make this, ha ha. Don't worry the heating was soon switched off when my many layers went back on. Brrr, it's blowing a gale outside.
Enjoy your Sunday. Toodle pip.

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Sing your heart out

Something to share with you today. Something quite amazing, something chuffin brilliant. I am not a fan of talent programmes, they build people's hopes up and then they knock them down. Not everyone can get through to the finals, not everyone has talent, in fact some of them have no talent at all, but they are prepared to put themselves in the firing line in the hope of a big break. Instead all they get is a lot of ridicule. The programme makers know that. They include them because they will increase ratings, a terrible example of exploitation, a cruel way to make money. I don't watch talent programmes because I feel for the people entering, also I don't have a television set, a good enough reason I think.

Last night, while pottering around on yooootoooob I happened to come across some of the better auditions, and these people definitely have got talent. I absolutely love the way first impressions go completely out of the window once they open their mouth. Remember Susan Boyle, and Jonathan and Charlotte? Absolute gems of inspiration.

I am beginning to appreciate good music, and find myself being drawn to fabulous voices, the type that can actually sing. I have picked out these for you to listen to, see if you agree with me, that these are absolutely amazing. There are some surprises here, you will be blown away, and you will need your hanky. There is raw passion here, and it shows as they give it their all. Enjoy your Sunday.











Well, what do you think? Stunning eh! Catch you tomorrow. Toodle pip.

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What a bloody mess

Lots of rain today but at least it's not cold. All the cats are in, asleep in different parts of the house, they have their favourite spots. Heidi has decided she rather likes the snugliness of the new quilt, I had to move her because I want to work on it.

First I cut four pieces from the duvet cover, ten inches wide, for the binding. I folded it in half lengthways and ironed it flat.

Next I machine stitched it to the four edges putting the folded edge onto the patchwork squares.

At this point the middle and back are just pinned down, these will get enclosed in the binding when I fold it over to the back and sew it together. I did think about using the machine again for this, but I think it will spoil the look of the front if I don't get the stitching just perfect, so now I am in the process of hand sewing the binding to the back. Time consuming but a much neater job.

The show last night was fantastic. It's billed as a Rock and Roll Pantomime and is said to be one of the best touring production shows. It's in it's tenth year and once again Steve Steinman plays the evil Baron Von Rockula, owner of the Live and Let Die club. In search of a new bride the Baron must convince Pandora who auditions for the new singing position, to cross over to the dark side, and live forever in Rock n Roll Hell.

The cast of singers, dancers, and band, were brilliant. The stage sets were amazing, fireworks, flame throwing, and flashing lights. It was full of classic rock hits that got us all up on our feet . It's the only way to watch, impossible to sit in your seat, just got to dance. Steve Steinman has a powerful voice, he does some Meatloaf numbers which were just perfect.

The lead guitarist did a solo at the front of the stage right above where I was sitting in the front row. Throwing his head around in a frenzy, his wild long hair thrashing around, his face made up to look like a vampire, when all of a sudden there was a splurge of blood pouring from his mouth, it ran down his chin and onto his chest, it looked amazing. Later on in the show, the two lady vampires bit into the neck of Pandora and emerged with blood dribbling down their chins and it went all down Pandora's white dress. The effects were amazing.

After the show some members of the cast came into the foyer to sign autographs. I didn't see Steve Steinman however, someone said he did make an appearance but he didn't stop long. A bit disappointing I thought. These two girls were fantastic dancers.

The leading lady singer had an amazing voice, by herself as solo, and doubling up with Steve.

Now this chap was brilliant. He was the comedy character, he played the drunk when he first came on stage, he was acting the fool, so funny. Then he got to sing, and he had an amazingly powerful voice. I think he should have had more songs to sing.

The dancers looked so happy and put such a lot of effort into it, they did their vampire impersonations so well. Looks like she has taken her fangs out now.

There was a stand set up to buy merchandise, which wasn't doing a big trade as the theatre was only about two thirds full.

They've still got a lot of dates left to do and seem to be criss crossing the country from now until well into next year. If you are a fan of rock and roll I can say this is a great show to see.

Must get on, want to finish the quilt. Catch you tomorrow. Toodle pip. Oh, and before I forget again, welcome to the new followers. I see there are now 666, you little devils, ha ha.

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