lost villages, crumbling cliffs,

Life here on the coast has now returned to normal. The rain has fallen, the sky is bright blue & the sun is shining. The rabbits are everywhere No more unpleasant occurrences. Peace reigns.

Yesterday evening the local BBC TV programme came from this part of the coast looking at coastal erosion. Reporter on ground talking to couple whose house was falling into the sea & an airborne reporter looking down at the mud cliffs & beach. As with much local TV things didn't go exactly as planned. The aerial shots where in 'bits', resulting in a bit of this & a bit of that. Really annoying especially as l was interested in the commentary, or the bits that came through like. What is gossip-worthy is that this particular couple had bought the property at a very low price a few years back knowing full well that there was only a very limited life span on their building. Over the past moths their plight has been followed by the TV cameras. The local indigenous population have lived with the shrinking coastline in this part of the world for centuries, well since the North Sea was formed l would guess. Over the millennia the people of Holderness have been loosing farm land, towns & villages to th sea, each time moving settlements further inland from the coast. Out there in the North Sea on rough nights, if you listen really hard..... you can hear the bells of those lost churches ringing for their long dead congregations.

The rain has perked up all things botanical. The new trees are splurting ahead with new leaves & stems shooting upwards, even the May blossom's scent is now permeating the scene. There's something magical about the may. The scent always reminds me of one of the pony fields that was surrounded by huge hawthorn hedges which would erupt into drifts of pungent smelling blossom every spring, then covering everything in petal snow as the flowers dropped. l will always remember that smell..........Quite overpowering.

the stuff nigthmares are made of...

You expect you off spring to show some semblance of a] common sense & b] responsibility. You bring them up, instilling in them the sense of practicality, sensibility, confidence, reliability & a least some vestige of common sense. l know that we all have to learn the hard way through mistakes & errors but when you are responsible for people younger than your self, you do need to behave in an adult like manner.

OK, l hear the cyber brains clicking away. WHAT has he done?

Let us just say there was an accident on the way back last night. Don't panic nothing serious. Something so stupid that all parents blew multiple fuses simultaneously. l suppose when you are a fully fledged adult you think ahead a few hours. If you are in excess of 4 hours drive away from base camp you plan to leave in good time thus avoiding any late night travel for example. When you are under 20, these things just don't priorities, just as long as you leave sometime.

Are you getting the picture?

The jolly camping party left Hawkshead at around 3.00pm, just as the weather was starting to deteriorate. Harry is, for the most part, fairly sensible, so l guess he thought they should be back at around 7'ish especially as he has exams on the whilst Jess & Geo are at back to school on Monday.

WRONG....

l rang Harry's mobile, not nosey mother, at around 8 to be told there had been an accident, nothing serious but Ben had run into the back of Harry.

At 9.30 no news. Parents start ringing round. Where are they? Contact made with errant children. They were now about 20 miles away. Last night it was torrential rain & high winds. Ben's car had a hole in the radiator. They were going to tow it back. At this point Hubby steps in. Being a Virgo he is always calm, however when he blows it is on a scale of Krakatoa. 'No way', he bellowes down the phone, 'it is too dangerous. Park up in someone's stack yard or drive, explain the situation come home'.

10.30 came & went.

11.00 came & went.

11.30 harry returned. Ben had driven back, filling his radiator every 2 or 3 miles after letting his engine cool down.

Nightmare of nightmares. I was not amused, Hubby was not amused, other parents were definitely not amused, Harry was thoroughly pissed off.

Today, after a few very strong coffees, we, the adults, have climbed down off the ceilings. Harry has completed his exams, uploaded his pictures onto the PC, & complained of feeling sick, headachey etc, etc. The 48 hour flu bug l think?

Let's hope they have all learned from the experience & climbed a rung on the ladder to being an adult.

And, where had they been? Had they enjoyed themselves? How had the camping gone?

from sunshine to showers all in one day!

What a fantastic morning. 7.00am & the sun was streaming in through the windows at the back of the house. Blue skies, twittering birds & hubby announcing that it would be a good morning for a walk with the dogs. No one about. .... Bye!......Have fun dear!

The flu bug has gone & l feel back to my normal self. My nasty temper has receded into yesterday's mists. Gone are my vicious one liners. I'm sorry to say that whenever l'm in bad form or felling absolutely crap, l become the little girl with the curl in right in the middle of her forehead, you know the one? When she was good she was very, very good & when she was bad she was HORRID!

Hubby, [l must have been truly unpleasant], brought out the tender palms from the garage this morning & even potted up one into a large pot...l have been asking him to do this for about a week now. Wonderfully this evenings rain, yes it's precipitating again, has gently watered the pots. The front of the cafe is rather a sun trap so l can grow a few choice tender specimens in pots. l have a Chinese banana, this is planted in the border, several palms, an olive tree plus a deodora[?] a poisonous plant also known as angel's trumpet. The scent on an evening is wonderfully exotic.

The Lordling brother in law rang today, [doesn't speak to me unless cornered,] trying to persuade Hubby to take ice cream to his polo 'do' next month. The thought of TV cameras didn't appeal nor that 'celebrities' would be there. It all just fell on deaf ears as far as hubby was concerned. Ooooh.

Harry has not yet returned from his awfully big adventure, though Ben spoke to M this morning saying that they were having a great time & had been on a 3 hour walk yesterday. l hope they're not going to be toooo late as Hazzer has exams tomorrow!

l think that eccentrics must run in my family, as you know my father is one, l am heading that way, & the other one is my Godmother. Well what a card! She is now 92 years old & lives down in Norfolk in a nursing home which she finds incredibly boring. She has always been a ' Lady who Lunches' & is now restricted to only going out a few times a week not everyday! Before her accident she lived in a rather nice bungalow in Wells next the Sea, but unfortunately she got that super bug & was lucky to survive. Whilst she was recovering in hospital l sent her champagne & chocolates. 'Sooo much nicer than flowers or soap', she said.......................

rain drops keep falling on my head...............

The rain is lashing down like stair rods on the veranda roof. This is a proper lean too filled with wellingtons & smelly dogs, just in case you get muddled up between conservatory & veranda. Haven't seen rain like this for, well months. This morning's dog ablution exercise saw that the dust had been slicked down good & proper, no a mamby pamby token dusting of dampness. Boy oh boy, this is proper rain!

For those dear readers who are following Harry's adventures in the big outdoors... he actually rang last night at, oh, about 8.30ish. They had found the place & were just blowing up airbeds. Clever boy! M rang this morning padding out the details of the trip so far. Jessie had rung last night just as they boarded the Windemere ferry, whilst Ben rang this morning , just to check that mother had done the pigs & sheep correctly, & added more juiciness. Tea had been cooked at 11pm consisting of sausages & beans, yes it had been wet during the night & Geo had been horrified that a bird had pooped on the tent, as Ben informed M, ' well you did want to park under a tree'...

The Lollipop Shoes seems to have generated rather a lot of interest now hasn't it? Our friend in Brittany twisted my arm yesterday so l did a brief review of the book on her blog spot. Basically its not a bad read but doesn't have much depth to it & l wouldn't re-read it, saying that, l would imagine it will make an interesting film, because it did seem to read as though that was JH goal.

The dreaded 48 flu bug has returned yet again, this will be its 3rd visit this year. Becki went home early yesterday, l rallied then have been in the prone position or is it horizontal position for most of the day. For those other hypochondriacs out there, the symptoms are as follows. Hot flushes [not those sort l'm toooo young], felling sick but not being sick. decidedly not hungry & lethargic. Almost like a hangover without the alcohol.

Hubby says that the ice cream parlour has been busy today, despite the heavy showers, so that's ok, then no worries on that score. l think there's more rain tomorrow. It's often the case, say Hubby Dearest, that at this time of year, just at the start of silage time it will rain...and rain...and rain.... well he's right there for once! All that dry weather last month & now look at it, we'll soon have mud & puddles!

The picture, Lixtroll .... what is Gordon looking at?

harry's big adventure..........

Harry & his mates have just gone. So much excitement caused by the thought of 2 nights away camping in the lake district. There are 4 of them going in 2 cars. One car full of tents, tilley cookers, wellington boots & dryzabone macs, the other full of kids. I think that they have packed everything 'just in case'. This will be the first time that any of them have been away from home on a non school trip. Oh to be a fly on the wall.

The route will take them via Leyburn through Wensleydale to Kendal then on to Hawkshead which is to be their base for the weekend. Lets hope they don't get lost! Harry booked onto the campsite yesterday evening, which was frightfully grown up of him, he even paid his deposit using his brand new switch card. The little bird has flown...... thanks goodness!

From what l gather they are planning to do some walking, Harry has climbed Snowdon with the CCF whilst still at school & Geo has done her Bronze D of E award, so between them they should be fine, lets hope the weather isn't too inclement for them. l think Sunday's forecast is for rain, they may be lucky tomorrow.

The last few days have seen very iffy weather, typical for the start of first cut silage. At least it is now damp & drizzly, that may sound strange, but the farming side of the business needs rain big time, whilst the ice cream side need global warming & hot sunny weather. No pleasing us then. The colours seem to have intensified over the past few days, whether it's the change in light l don't know, but things seem greener if that's possible.

Hubby's little bro has been in contact via his father, wanting us to take ice cream to his 'horsey do' next month, something to do with bollywood, chukkas & the like. Don't know as we are at The Deep in Hull doing an educational foodie thing that week. Don't hold your breath so watch this space.

The other evening's visit by the soroptomists was very well attended, l think there were about 45 of them? The walk was obviously a wash out due to the rain, but they enjoyed the talk, coffee & ice cream. Hubby even decided to come & help with the visitors. Normally you just don't see him on evening visits, once he has turned into a couch potato for the evening there is no shifting him from the remote control.

I must confess that l bought the latest Joanne Harris book, The Lollipop Shoes, in Tesco on Monday. Normally l only by groceries from the supermarket, but l had forgotten to pre-order my copy from amazon, so you see l had no real choice. my only come back is when at the check out l'm asked for my club card, l announce very loudly that ' l have shredded it because what l choose to buy is my business'.

The book itself is quite a good story, building up to a climax, well it would wouldn't it, at the end. The plot isn't too difficult tot follow, a good book for holiday reading as it isn't too taxing on the brain..

short but sweet

this will have to be a quickie, so to speak as l have the pleasure of 40+ soroptomist coming in, let me see....an hours time? Apparently a full member turnout is expected after having read about us in the local 'posh' monthly magazine. Tonight's agenda is supposed to be nature walk, ice cream factory visit plus refreshments, well... it's mizzling at the moment so prob. no walk. Trouble is l'm not sure that my brain is ticking over on full power, l have eaten too many red grapes & my stomach is making a rather nasty gurgling sound. Hell.

Harry's off to young farmers this evening, practising for the rally at the end of the month. We are selling ice cream at the rally & we have heard that the usual suppler is not happy that we are 'in' this year. Oh well, it's not what you know but who you know as they say. Ice Cream Wars The X-Box Game!

Been away from the spot all afternoon, enjoying the sights & smells of Hull & surrounding areas. Delivering into Hull Truck Theatre amongst other places. l often think that Hull must have been a fascinating place before it was flattened during the war. There are odd snippets of interesting architecture protruding out of the drab concrete buildings that are common place in all our big cities today, towers & turrets on Victorian buildings, amazing picture palaces now nothing more than bingo emporiums.

For those of you out there who are travelling to the Game Fair @ Harewood House at the end of July, we will be there as part of the deliciously yorkshire food area. l will take the blackberry slammer but will alter the name just for the show to........purplecoo.

such at lot of things........

l'm a bit late this evening but l have been having great fun.



Being a country sort of person l love falconry & this evening, in fact they're still out there, a friend of a friend of a friend has brought his Harris hawk & been hunting rabbits. l'm sorry if you are not keen on this sort of thing, but it's quite amazing to watch the skill of the falconer with the bird. So far nothing has been caught; the bird is having a blond moment apparently, even birds of prey get them, amazing or what? The chap is a true countryman with a fantastic turn of phrase, my favourite being as' mad as a box of frogs'. l just love it! Being keen to get visitors out on the permissive footpath so that they can learn about the countryside & what lives in this environment, we have decided to hold a couple of 'hawk walks' over the bank holiday at the end of the month, with Hawk Man bringing a selection from his 30+ birds & conducting the walk using a some sort of owl. Should be good.



Other firsts today, well l have seen my first swift of the year, whilst last night just off the beach the first terns were diving for sand eels. May rolls forward bringing with it all the accompanying animals & birds. l think that May has got to be my favourite month as it sees the return of so many migratory species together with the lush greenery of hedgerows & trees adorned with glorious blossoms.



l don't believe it. Today we have had not one but two heavyish downpours. Rain l had forgotten what it looked, smelt & felt like. The small birds have been taking advantage of puddles to give themselves a good wash! On the downside, there has been a strong westerly wind which
appears to be drying everything up. As you can see from the pictures, the change in weather has brought some fantastic skies. Here we get the large open sky thing, with no hills or mountains to hinder the views. Big Sky!



l have noticed an interloper on yesterday's blog comment. Fear not, l know who it is because the picture of all the little dahlings is posted on that someone's myspace!