L.A.T.C. II (look at the colours (again))

Only three weeks until the longest day. The bluebells are out, and we have had a spell of lovely sunny weather. Walking through the woods in the morning, you are stunned by the carpet of blue created by the bluebells, and the gorgeous aroma, until Chess has done his thing that is.

Saturday, and it's half term. We are off to centreparcs on Monday with Rachel's father. And finally the Lady Gaga concert on Friday. We have had to wait so long Maisie has grown out of her intended outfit, so we had to dedicate Friday (an inset day at school) to shopping and a haircut - all for Maisie. We went in every conceivable shop in Chesterfield, only to return to the first shop we visited, buying the first outfit tried on. It was fun though, Maisie looking very grown up in her outfit (I'll take photos on the night) she is obviously a natural at shopping, must get that from Leanne.

We have a temporary lull in the good weather, and it's raining. We have lit a fire (only 3pm) and the dog has firmly established himself on his bed, the photo is his response to the question "Want a walk Chess?"

Horsing around

Mixing with the hoy paloy at Chatsworth horse trials. Leanne got very excited when Mark Todd was spotted, we saw Mary King and Zara Phillips riding. It was amazing watching the cross country - so scary, particularly when the riders came close to parting company with the horse.

We have been walking past what we thought was a sculpture for months, only to discover its a cross country jump. Oh well - still like it without the horse.

At one point there was a loose dog on the cross country course, we were encouraged to catch it, then over the loud speaker was telling us there's a loose horse, leave well alone. We heard it's progress announced - first the carpark, then on the path, then towards us aargh, then the trade stands...eeek. Then a motorbike buzzed past with a horsey person on the back. Drama over, naughty horse led back to the trailers.

An australian won the main international event, with a little grumbling we stood for the national anthem of Australia, when it was eventually over, we trudged happily back to the car to sit in the traffic on the way home.

Ice cream, tiptoeing through the tulips and a rather nice bench

We love Chatsworth, and as we have a membership, I suspect there may be a large number of photos. The Ice creams are huge and delicious - yes it's warm enough to eat them outside!

The tulips are out - Chess wasn't that impressed but we were.

The swan detail on the bench was our discovery of the day.

Today we went back for a walk in the field containing the scary sheep. One of the sheep was laying down, having a bit of a kip, Leanne however was convinced the sheep was dead - we had to study the sheep for quite some time to watch for signs of life - such a city girl.

Scary sheep, horse chestnuts and sushi

I just love spring, and I particularly love horse chestnut leaves when they first appear, they seem to be hanging out to dry.

We have been frustrated that the nearest sushi outlet is in a shopping mall in Sheffield, and it's very expensive. You can get a dried up version from Tesco, which almost satisfies, but we have decided the best solution is to make it. Maisie and I made a large batch of salmon and avocado sushi rolls and ate the lot - It wouldn't win any sushi good looking prizes but was delicious!

Chess met the scary sheep in Grindleford, he was terrified, and I have to say, I was a little intimidated. It completely beat us in a staring competition and we avoided the path altogether.

A weekend in Leeds

Leeds - the Knightsbridge of the north. We went straight to Harvey Nichols to check out the food. I have to say I was a little disappointed in the New Zealand section - 3 Whittaker's peanut slabs. Oh well - I guess they are at least made in NZ unlike that great british institution Cadburys...sold out to Kraft, shame. We left without purchasing anything.

Leeds was lovely, the art gallery stunning (especially the cafe). Some excellent gritty northern drawings, the required number of Henry Moore's scattered about and a weird installation of drawings in the Henry Moore Institute.

Chester

Our Easter weekend was spent in Chester. Marita, Leanne, Maisie, Alex, Chess and Rachel. Erika is back in hospital so we had the whole house to ourselves, handy for visiting her.

We had glorious weather which allowed various walks on the wall, a paddle boat on the river Dee, and a visit to the marvellous Cathedral.

Alex and Maisie surprisingly soon bored of walking around the wall, apparently there was too much history involved. The paddle boats beckoned. I'd hoped they would go off into the boat by themselves, but my presence was requested. Looking forward to being paddled around the river, the boy who took our money informed us there was quite a current and it was harder work than usual. Maisie quickly volunteered to be in the back (the part without the pedals).

Alex and I set off with great enthusiasm, narrowly missing such obstacles as ducks and motor boats (why didn't we get one of those) , it was fun...then, after 5 minutes of furiously pedalling, we had gone about 50 meters upstream, and I was ready for oxygen. Leanne, Marita and Chess were following our (lack of) progress with enthusiasm, so we had the bright idea of picking up a passenger, dubiously Marita climbed aboard. This did not make pedalling any easier! After pedalling around aimlessly, for a while longer, legs had turned to jelly, Maisie volunteered to pedal, I was delighted - yay, time for me to sit in the back and command we go look at something, somehow, whilst I was still in fantasy land, Alex and Maisie had swopped seats and I was still expected to pedal - they don't make youth like they used to.

Time to return the boat, we somehow negotiated to the bank, a nice young man helped me onto the bank on my knees - not so bad except that Chester is particularly touristy, and on Easter Sunday, in the absence of a band in the bandstand, I was it as far as entertainment went!

The Cathedral was far more leisurely the next day, and impressive. The audio tour made it interesting enough for Maisie and Alex, and the promise of lunch at the old refectory helped.

I was disappointed that my lunch was not cooked or served by monks, but it was very satisfying eating in the refectory. Weirdly there was an older lady playing the piano in the background, we managed to sit right by the piano - not really that weird, except her choice of music…show tunes! I had 'somewhere over the rainbow' stuck in my head the the rest of the afternoon.

Girl Guide Jumble Sale

The scout hut was packed to the top with jumble, we were briefed on not selling the scout stuff or each others coats, there was an air of anticipation, the crowds outside were getting tetchy. (some had been there since 9.30am for a 10.30 start!) The woman on the door was ready with the old margarine pot for the 20p admission and we were off.....
Some bloke came straight in and bought the model elephant for 50p, I suspect he'd been peeking through the door. There were dealers pretending to be old dears, but we were wise to them, starting high with prices, sometimes even £5, we wouldn't be taken for mugs (which were incidently 5 for £1)
We were queens of the bric-a-brack, high pressure selling to ensure as much stuff got out the door as possible, free carrier bags with every purchase (while stocks lasted) , towards the end things were a bit desparate, there was still piles of stuff on the table, we didn't care, we just slipped the extra plate or cd into the bags...bonus gifts to be discovered later!

We scored 2 plates, a glass bowl, a coat (fairly sure it didn't belong to anyone on staff), a piggy bank, a frisbee, and a bag, more than we donated I suspect, but a good cause, £260 raised in total for the guides.