Friday 20 April 2012

Going, Going....





I don't watch the news on TV, but I was stopped in my tracks as I was walking through the living room and my husband told me to look.  
Thorpe Marsh Power Station was being demolished!    
If you remember from the March photo scavenger hunt, Thorpe Marsh was the landmark from my childhood.  Would you believe that I'd only just written about it, then a couple of days later this happens?
It actually closed down in 1994 and most of the buildings were knocked down leaving the six cooling towers.  They've only demolished one of the cooling towers so far and apparently the villagers nearby were informed it was going to happen but were asked to keep quiet about it because they didn't want any sightseers.  
I took some photos the day after it had been on the the news, before they all disappear because I'll be very sad to see it go (although it may be a drawn out affair as that was a couple of weeks ago and there's still five standing).


From my weather monitoring days at school I think those are cumulonimbus clouds (and the visibility is good)


It was a great day for clouds, these were massive




Even though I love those clouds, this is my very favourite sky

Friday 13 April 2012

Check this out





I bought a couple of pairs of green gingham curtains from the car boot sale last Sunday.  I had nothing in mind to use them for but thought they'll come in for something some day.
I put them in the washing machine and it wasn't until I came to hang them out that I noticed they had tie backs as well.


I knew just the thing I could make, but after searching for hours on t'internet I couldn't find a pattern.  
Is it just me or does anyone else take an inordinate amount of time to work out how to make something from scratch?


Well after much pondering, this is what I produced



The tie backs made the shoulder flounces and I've done cross over straps and used the D rings which I took off the tie backs, to thread the ties through on the waistband, and they're long enough to tie at the back or bring back round to the front






It only used one curtain and a pair of tie backs so I've got enough to make another one for my Folksy shop.









Monday 2 April 2012

March Photo Scavenger Hunt





Thanks again to Kathy from Postcards from the P.P. for organising the scavenger hunt.


Here's my selection for this month


Morning
People leaving Sheffield train station going to work




Buttons




Square






Kitchen
This is in my old doll's house.  I didn't notice until I put the photo on the computer that the floor could have done with a mop over!




Theatre
This theatre doesn't look very inviting I'm afraid




Street name
I took this photo of a street in Teignmouth just because it was so narrow, and it only occurred to me later that I could use it here.  




Fancy






Landmark
My landmark is Thorpe Marsh Power Station.  
In the last year of Junior school we kept a record of the weather.  We took it in turns to monitor various things.  We had a rain gauge and thermometer, wrote down if it was rainy, sunny etc. and if it was cloudy, what types of cloud.  I can't remember what we did about wind direction, but for visibility, if you could see Thorpe Marsh Power station from the edge of the playground then the visibility was good.  In later years it's always amused me that we used it to gauge visibility because it's a great big thing that can be seen for miles and miles and our school was probably about six miles away.  It would need to be really bad weather to be unable to see it.  
I can still see it from where I live now if I go over the hill.  You need to click on this to see it.




Fashion




Words
I know it's not very wordy, but I just had to use this pub sign in Shaldon for something and it wasn't fancy enough for 'fancy' 




City
Sheffield




Half a face






You can see more entries over on Kathy's blog, and there's next month's list if you want to join in.





Sunday 1 April 2012

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside


On Thursday we took a train down to Teignmouth on the South coast of Devon.
The weather was fantastic and because it was only March it was very quiet.  After booking into a B&B for the night we set off to walk to Dawlish which is the next town along the coast.  The train track from Teignmouth to Dawlish runs right along the sea front with a path at the side
 You can just see a tunnel in the rock ahead for the train, at which point the path goes under the track then up over the cliffs.  This is the view from the top  looking over to Dawlish


Coming down into Dawlish and there's a train just coming from the station


A brook runs down the middle of the town which is home to black swans which are the town's emblem.



It was really odd when we got back to Teignmouth and the shops had shut up for the day because it seemed like Summer not Spring.


The next day we took the little ferry from the other side of Teignmouth across the river Teign to Shaldon.


The water was so still




We continued along the coastal path, which in contrast to yesterday's walk which was mainly flat with a few hills at the end, this was all up and down. 
This is looking back at Teignmouth.  The boats are where we crossed over in the ferry


 Some parts were incredibly steep but it was hard to capture on a photo.  In this next one you can see two people in front of the tree on the left.  If they were at the bottom of that hill they would be just specks.
The beach in that photo is Ness beach which can only be reached by a tunnel which is 60 metres long.  It's an old smuggler's tunnel but has lights in it nowadays.
On our way back we went to have a look.  Here is the tunnel emerging