I've been having trouble with my computer lately, so this is a bit of a catch up post.
Last weekend we went to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway which is a small preserved line running steam trains. My husband prefers diesel to steam and that weekend they had brought in old diesel trains for a special event. Not being a train enthusiast myself, I went along with the intention of walking between some of the stations while he rode about on the trains, but we ended up doing both together and I really enjoyed it.
If you want to see what the inside of a driver's cab is like, this is me in one (the driver is a friend of my husband)
One of the stations is at Goathland where Heartbeat was filmed.
Some of the shops still have their Aidensfield signs and there are old vehicles from the series.
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This weekend I went to the Llangollen canal in Wales with my daughter and her friend to see the Pontcysyllte aqueduct, which is a World Heritage site.
We caught the train to Chirk where there is a smaller aqueduct, with a viaduct alongside it
The canal goes through a really long tunnel (421 metres). We could see the daylight at the other end which made us think it wasn't that long and a boat was coming through from the other direction with it's lights on so it wasn't too dark, but when it had gone past it was pitch black! Luckily my daughter's got a torch on her phone so it wasn't too scary.
Here's the boat, taking it's light with it!
Pontcysyllte aqueduct is the largest one in Britain at 1007 ft long and 126 ft high and was built in 1805. It's hard to show in a photo just how high it is, and it's only the width of a boat so it must be quite scary to sail over and have nothing at the side.
This is a view from the aqueduct
At the end of it is Trevor Basin
We were going to walk to the next rail station to go home, but decided to walk back to Chirk so that we could go through the dark tunnel again! There was another tunnel too but that wasn't anywhere near as long.
I've struggled a bit with this month's list but managed to get them all in the end
10
bales of straw as the sun was setting - as it's a bit dark you'll need to click on it, to enlarge for a better view
Brown
these are seed heads of a dock plant. When I was a kid we lived on my uncle's farm, and attached to their farmhouse was a unused hay loft. The door was high up in the outside wall with no steps up to it, so it was accessed by using a ladder. My cousin and I made it into our play house. We acquired some old vases for the wild flowers we picked and had pretend tea parties. We used to strip the seeds off docks for pretend brown sugar and put it in a bowl like this. We didn't have any other pretend food, just the sugar!
Whenever I see the dock seeds it always takes me right back to then
Windows
in Huddersfield
Petrol station
on the side of the canal at Bingley
Boats
Framed
Chopsticks
the background fabric is a satin maxi skirt that I made in the 70s. It's a bit tight for me now, but I can't bear to get rid of it because I love the fabric so much. I really ought to make something with it....
Transport
three different types of transport running alongside each other. Rail, road and canal
Playing
he might not class it as playing, but this is my son on his motorbike
Fantasy
I didn't think I was going to get anything for this, and then spotted this flying horse on the side of a lorry
Sharp
anti climbing spikes on top of a wall
Post card
posting a birthday card
You can see other people's interpretations over at Made with love,
plus next month's list if you want to join in
Yesterday I went with my daughter to Bingley in West Yorkshire. It's on the Leeds to Liverpool canal and has quite a few locks, which I wanted to see. We went for a walk along the River Aire and back along the canal.
First there is a flight of two locks
A three rise
and further along, a five rise.
It doesn't look as good in a photo as real life, but that is quite a drop, apparently the steepest flight of locks in the UK. A barge was just coming out of the bottom lock,and it takes quite a while to get through.
I was quite overcome, my daughter said "Oh you're not going to cry are you?"!
Call me strange but I just love locks..
On the way back another barge was starting to go through. This is it in the top lock.
Once it's in, and the gates shut behind it, the water can then be let out of the front gates into the next lock. As the water level goes down the barge is lowered down to the next level
and when it's full the gates can be opened to let the barge through
and repeated through all the locks until it reaches the bottom
I absolutely loved it and could have stayed all day
I've made this cute little dress for my niece's baby, using this free pattern.
It was very easy to make. (the colours have come out more peachy than the pink they really are.)
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I forgot to say at the time, but if anyone is wondering about all those froglets I showed you earlier in the year, I went back a few days later and there was not one to be seen. I guess they were eaten because some were still tadpoles so couldn't have legged it.
I've been sewing little girl clothes for my friend to sell at a family fun day.
The photos haven't come out very well in the electric light so I'll just show you three of the skirts I made from jeans.
I had fun with different finishes. This one had a frill made from another pair of jeans, edged in floral fabric and finished with ric rac
I made a matching tie belt for this one
These jeans had orange stitching so I chose fabric and buttons to match
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The other day I was walking through a field of sheep, when one of them 'baaed' and another 'baaed' back. I was thinking it was maybe a mother and it's offspring, but then there was another 'baa', and another, until they gradually all joined in and it was 'baa', 'baa', 'baa' all over the field and they began following me.
By the time I was half way across, some were right up behind me
I quickly tried to take some photos before I was trampled!
and when I'd climbed over the style, they were even trying to get through after me
They obviously thought I'd got some food - or one did and they all followed like sheep!
This is my selection of photos for this month's scavenger hunt organised by greenthumb at Made with love
Black
11
legs 11 - my husband just home from work
Something very old
I was walking past the church and saw this old bus being used as a wedding 'car'
Something bright
the sky when I went strawberry picking. These particular rows are finished, so they're not as interesting as strawberry clad ones, but I wanted to get a photo with the bird scarer in
Coins
£5 coins
Technology
the insides of my computer tower
Numbers
on the side of an old shipping container
Wheels
pulley wheels on an old combine
The great outdoors
the strawberry picking place also has fishing lakes. I was going to have this for my technology pic, thinking that the rods might be some high tech gizmos, but when I asked the fisherman if I could take his photo he started telling me how he fishes with split cane rods which are really old. Funny because he was quite young (and he was chuffed to bits that I wanted to take his photo).
Smile
on my first aid tin
Umbrella
Feet
