Friday 18 April 2014

Sorry about the gap in posting.




I haven't posted on my blog this week because I have had a relative staying and we have been gadding off each day into our beautiful countryside.   Sometimes you need to do that in order to appreciate just what a beautiful area you live in.   And the weather was kind to us, although you wouldn't think so from my photographs.

On the first day we went over to the Lake District to have lunch with friends who live in Windermere.   Lovely lunch, lovely company, lovely sunlight and a really splendid journey both there and back again.   Coming back we decided to come up the Kirkstone Pass, along the side of Ullswater and out on the Penrith Road.

My niece was driving quite a large hire car with which she was unfamiliar, so it was a bit of a hairy drive, although I was most impressed with how well she handled it.   Half way up there was a giant hold-up when a bus and a lorry met on what is a very narrow road.   Over quite a long time, with wing mirrors folded in and inching along very slowly, they managed to get past and we were able to continue.   The view out over the hills and the Lake were spectacular.   I just wish the photographs showed just how sunny it was.

Yesterday we went to Barnard Castle, to The Bowes Museum (built by the Bowes family to which Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, belonged) to see an exhibition by Gavin Turk.   Large neon signs mounted on the walls of a pitch dark room - very impressive.   Outside, mounted on the top of the wall of the museum frontage itself was a number, Seven Billion,Two hundred and one million, nine hundred and sixty four thousand and two hundred and thirty eight - this being the specific median population of planet earth as the exhibition opened on January 24th 2014 at 6.30pm.   He says this is "a symbolic threshold inviting visitors to transcend through a fixed point in time bearing testimony to each individual's solitude, power and transient existence as part of a whole."

This kind of thing always leaves me wondering whether it is a case of 'the emperor's new clothes', although I must say I did find it quite interesting.

Much more to my liking was the Manet on show, the work which showed the execution of Maximillian in Mexico.   The work had been cut up and some parts very badly damaged.  Degas rescued some parts and the bits which were restorable have been stuck on to a new canvas - it is most impressive and I sat looking at it for a long time, marvelling at the workmanship and the way the onlooker was so drawn into the painting and to the figure of the man about to be shot.  Brilliant.

Then it was lunch in the lovely cafe at the Museum and out into Teesdale.  I love this area, mainly because it is so much bleaker than here in the Yorkshire Dales.  I took one photograph:  The River in the valley bottom is the Tees, just South of High Force.
We called in Middleton in Teesdale, a lovely village, ablaze with daffodils, but jolly remote, as are all the villages up here.

Now my niece has gone.   This afternoon, on another brilliantly sunny afternoon, I wandered round our fields, stopping to converse with two ponies in a field next to ours, looking at the marsh marigolds in the beck, laughing at the baby rabbits playing hide and seek with Tess, (who is useless at catching them) and thinking how jolly lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place, be able to walk through our own fields, and have such a lovely life.   I really must make the very best of it and enjoy every moment.

Oh, and it is good to be back in blogland!
 

19 comments:

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

I missed you!
But such beautiful photos as evidence of your wonderful week.
As to baby rabbits, thank heavens Apple is useless at catching them as well, for we have a garden full this year! xox

Cloudia said...

So good of you to share your lovely circumstances with us.


Aloha

Terra said...

What a lovely visit with your niece, which gave you a reason to explore. My husband and I spent about 6 weeks in the UK, and found driving narrow country lanes difficult (since we are from the USA and drive on the other side here). I agree with your taste in art.

angryparsnip said...

What a wonderful time and your photos are so lovely.
Tess lives the life I know my Square Dogs would love.

cheers, parsnip

Thickethouse.wordpress said...

I'm so glad the reason for your silence was such a happy one! I have only ever spent one day in the Lake District and we saw so many things that I can't quite separate them in my mind, though I retain a feeling, almost a memory, of great beauty. I love your first photo. Thank you for sharing this happy visit with all your readers.

Heather said...

Wonderful photos of your outings with your niece - thank you for sharing them with us. What a beautiful country we live in, made all the more lovely by the recent spell of fine weather. I hope it lasts a bit longer.

Acornmoon said...

You do indeed live in a beautiful part of the world. It always brings back happy memories reading about the places we visited years ago. Happy Easter to you. x

Frugal in Derbyshire said...

Am I the only one who is GLAD that our cat is good at catching (and eating)rabbits?!
Some good photographs there. And fancy seeing the Manet..I'm jealous!
Gill

A Heron's View said...

I had forgotten that you were having visitors. So I put your absence down to you having a pre easter paschal meditation.

Lovely photo's amid the sunny weather.

Dartford Warbler said...

You certainly do live in a beautiful place. One of the loveliest in Britain and we do miss it!

So pleased that you had a good time exploring with your niece.

Em Parkinson said...

I'm struggling to post or visit at the moment; just too much to do and too tired by the end of the day. So glad you've had a good time with your niece. x

Golden West said...

I agree with you wholeheartedly, Weaver - it is so important to count our blessings and not take a single day for granted!

Terry and Linda said...

Ah! How lovely to see the castle. I am a huge student of England and they history of England. Barnard Castle. The castle passed down through the Balliol family into the possession of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. King Richard III inherited it through his wife, Anne Neville. How stunning lovely to see it on your blog!!!
✿♥჌Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Barbara said...

So glad to hear that the reason for your absence was a happy one!I was missing you.
What lovely scenery from your travels!

Cro Magnon said...

Those of us who live in idyllic countryside should always be aware of how lucky we are. Your tour looks wonderful; I'm becoming ashamed with myself for never having visited the area.

Linda Metcalf said...

You are a very lucky woman. I have traveled to the UK 4 times and the Lake District is a favorite. I'd give my eye teeth to live there.

MorningAJ said...

I LOVE Bowes Museum but it's a few years since I went. Do they still demonstrate the silver swan?

John Going Gently said...

I was worried about you for a minute there

Hildred said...

I came back to find that you had come back too, Pat - my reason for being away was the same as yours, - our youngest son here to visit and much visiting around and a wonderful evening out to hear Louis Lorie play Chopin and Wagner. I fear I am not as faithful as you about posting, but once Easter is over.... Hope it's a happy one for all.