This month I've been...

Celebrating...at Mum and Dad's Golden Wedding party. This was taken before most of the guests had arrived. It was a lovely evening full of fun and laughter.

Admiring...the beautiful autumn colours. The photo of the rudbeckias was taken yesterday after a heavy shower which is why they're so wet.

Harvesting...elderberries to make elderberry gin. It should be ready just in time for Christmas cocktails :-)

Auditioning...fabrics for my latest journal quilt. I'm a tad behind as this one is for June!

Tidying...my fabric drawer after pulling out all those fabrics. So satisfying but, alas, unlikely to stay this way for long!

Starting...a new crochet blanket. The pattern is Maybelle Square by My Rose Valley. The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK.

Continuing... to crochet my other blanket. Stylecraft Special again.

Walking...in Tatton Park.

Listening...to the bellowing of a stag as he marked his territory.

 

Strolling...through the woods today and hunting for interesting fungus.

So that's been my month so far: a curious combination of lethargy and busyness. Apologies for not having been around much and for not visiting your blogs either. I'll try to do better into November. However, there's still a few days of October left and I'll be back later in the week with a Halloween treat. x

Golden celebrations

50 years ago today, this lovely couple walked down the aisle together.

Happy 50th Anniversary, Mum & Dad!

Tonight we're having a party with about 60 family and friends. There will be balloons, banners and booze, karaoke and dancing, and enough food to feed everyone for a week! A quiet weekend to follow, methinks. x

Who do you think you are, Ann Grey?

Have you been watching the TV series, 'Who do you think you are'?  It's one of my favourites, probably because I researched my own family history several years ago in the days before ancestry.com and other internet sites. I spent hours at the archives and records offices, winding my way through miles of microfilm of census and church records, loving the detective work.

Fascinating though it was, mostly you only uncover names, piecing together families. The real excitement, as they show in the TV programme, is when you uncover stories about those ancestors which bring moments of their lives to life. I thought I'd share one of those moments with you. A warning though: this is not a happy tale!

When my Uncle Aaron died, my only request was to receive any family memorabilia: photos, certificates, that kind of thing. Amongst the small box of items were a handful of memorial cards. There were a few relating to my ancestors but most of the names were unknown to me. One of these was Ann Grey.

The card read:
In Memory of Ann Grey, Who unfortunately lost her life by an explosion of Gunpowder, May 29th, 1871.

I was intrigued! What was a 72 year old woman doing with gunpowder? It sounded like the kind of incident which must have been reported in the newspaper, so off I went to the record office.

Jackpot! There was a long article detailing the opening of the inquest into the incident.

A former miner, John Ainscough, who was the landlord of the Royal Oak pub, had been asked to transport two kegs containing 125lbs of gunpowder in his horse and cart. A young man, Eli Corner, had tried to lift the larger keg into the cart but it fell and powder was scattered over the road. Two other men, Howarth and Makinson, offered to assist in gathering it up. Shortly after, there was a huge explosion. It was said to be so loud that people from across the village ran to help, believing an accident had happened at one of the collieries.

Miraculously, although badly burnt, the four men survived. Only two lives were lost: Ainscough's 5-year-old granddaughter, Mary, and Ann Grey who both died later from burns.

As the report of the inquest continued, the first witness was called.

Peter Gregory, son of William

At this point, I almost fell off my chair. The witness was William Gregory who stated 'The deceased, Ann Grey, was my mother'. I couldn't believe it: William is my great great great grandfather! That made Ann Grey my 4x great grandmother! Just as amazing, I was now experiencing my family history through the words of one of my ancestors.

'Corner went on his knees and began to stroke the powder into the barrel, and Howarth got a shovel and afterwards a brush to get it together. I walked away and was about 30 yards off when I heard the report, which was a very loud one. My mother was standing at the top of the steps to the house, and...came to the foot of the steps. When I heard the report I came back and found my mother on the floor with her clothes all on fire...My mother never told me how it happened. A lad has told me a pipe was found'.

Photo courtesy of Wigan World

After another witness gave evidence, the inquest was adjourned and reopened six weeks later at the Running Horses pub. Ainscough, Corner and the two men had all recovered enough to give evidence though 'all bore marks of the hurt they had sustained and all were bandaged'.

Each gave evidence and there was much discussion of whether Corner or Makinson had been smoking, or whether the shovel had hit a stone and sparked.

'The Coroner briefly summed up. With regard to the ignition of the powder, there seemed to be some doubt, and conclusive proof he thought would never be obtained. The great probability was that the ashes from Makinson's pipe had caused the ignition but, upon this point, the evidence was not clear, and there was just the possibility that from Corner's pipe live ashes might have fallen. Unquestionably, gross negligence had been displayed.'

It's fair to say I had mixed emotions. Excitement at having uncovered some amazing family history but also sadness at what had happened to Ann. It just goes to show though that, no matter how ordinary your family, extraordinary things can happen.

Hope you enjoyed that snippet of family history - something different for a change. Normal service will be resumed next time with a day out from my holidays. More than a week gone already :(

Adjustment

I'm a private person. That seems odd when you consider that I write a public blog but I'm usually sparing in what I reveal here about my personal life. I've actually sat on this post a couple of days wondering whether to say anything but sometimes you do just want to share.

Last week my bright, beautiful, funny, kind, warm-hearted and sunny-natured daughter was diagnosed with a medical condition which means she will have to take medication for the rest of her life. A potentially life-threatening condition. It's been a lot to take in and Chickpea has adjusted to the news far better than me. My mind and heart have been all over the place. The day after the news, I thought I was doing fine but, when a colleague asked how she was getting on, I had to walk off so that I wouldn't break down in the middle of the office. I've had to resist the urge to ring her every few minutes to check how she is. Which is ridiculous because, as she points out, nothing has changed except to have given something a name. She is very much of the 'que sera sera' school of thought. I love her more than words can ever possibly say.

So we're going through a period of adjustment. Working out what is the new norm and settling into a pattern. The sun continues to rise and set and we will get through this. x

Staircase & Stockport

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was meeting some friends in Stockport for the afternoon. It's not generally the first place which springs to mind when planning an outing. However, we're always looking for somewhere new to try and I'd heard about a couple of interesting-sounding museums which were worth investigating. Our destination on this occasion was Staircase House which dates from the 1600s, though there's been a house on the site since the 1400s.

Surprisingly, the House isn't named after its most famous feature but after a cafe, one of the last businesses to operate there - the House has been used both as a family home and as business premises. You might be thinking this staircase looks very new for such an old house, and you'd be right. In 1995, a fire swept through the House and badly damaged a lot of the interior and it's taken them years to restore it.

Carpenters rebuilt the staircase, incorporating as much of the original wood as they could.

The rooms are decorated to represent different periods of the House's life, like this 1650s kitchen.

I really liked this blue dish, complete with fake fish.

One of the best aspects of the house is that there are several interactive elements. In the Counting Room, we practised writing with quill and ink.

In the bedroom, we dressed up in period costume. Well, ok, I did - my friends were less keen on putting on thick wool coats and hats on a very hot day.

Another lovely dish on the chest in the bedroom. Like most of the furnishings and decoration in the House, it's a reproduction which means that you can touch and handle almost everything on your tour round.

 You can also sit on the chairs and be thankful you don't have to sit on hard wooden seats every day. This reproduction was 'dated' 1683. Not the most comfortable, even with this pretty tapestry cushion.

By coincidence, Chickpea and I went to a fete last weekend and, as we passed by one of the stalls, I remarked that one of the chairs on the stall looked very similar to this one. It turned out that the stallholder was the person who made it!

All of the lovely curtains and bed linens were embroidered by volunteers.

They've done such a wonderful job.

A really interesting place to visit. We easily spent over an hour there and didn't even listen to all of the audio guide (which was a bit too long).

Back outside it was still hot and sunny. At the front of Staircase House is the market and the Market Hall. Beautiful Victorian architecture.

There were some lovely stalls and, in particular, this one selling plants. I saw some real beauties and, if it hadn't been such a very hot day, I might have bought a few. As it was, I rationed myself to something from the indoor market which I'll be telling you about next time.

I thought this building toned in beautifully with the awnings on the stalls and had such lovely detailing. Unfortunately, as so many shops in town centres, it was empty. You'll also have noticed that the street around the market isn't exactly teeming with people. However, it was mid-afternoon by this point so maybe the rush happened earlier in the day. I hope so because the market hall in particular is a real gem of a building inside and out, and it would be a shame if it fell into disuse too.

One of the other things I enjoyed about our trip to Stockport was a glass of Dandelion and Burdock. I'll be hunting down some of this brand because it was soooooo good. It was one of my favourite drinks as a child but I haven't had it in years. It made us reminisce about visits from the 'pop man' who used to bring round all kinds of pop in his van. That and the milkman who brought orange in milk bottles. And does anyone remember the craze for homemade ginger beer in the '70s when neighbours would pass on their 'starter' for you to feed up to create your own? Funny the things you remember :)

All in all, we really enjoyed our day out in Stockport and there are some surprisingly pretty parts amongst the urban sprall. We'll be going back in a couple of weeks as we still have a date with the Hat Museum.

**********************************

Hope you're all enjoying the weekend. I'm having a long one as yesterday was my birthday :) After shovelling potatoes and carrots on a market stall on my 17th birthday, I vowed never to work on my birthday ever again and have pretty much stuck to that ever since!

I had a lovely day and went for dinner (lunch) with Mum and Dad and Chickpea. The place is known for its enormous desserts and ice cream flavours - we all got a different scoop so we could try out as many flavours as possible.

In the afternoon I wandered around in a tiara, only taking it off to mow the lawn.

If only the birthday glow had lasted. Today I suffered the torture of taking Chickpea to look for shoes for the party she's gone to tonight. She ended up going in some shoes she already had - aaghhh! I'm going to pick her up in the early hours so tomorrow will be a quiet day of sleeping and resting. Hope your Sunday is a bit more exciting! x

New Year's Day

As Mum provides Christmas dinner, it's my turn to provide dinner on New Year's Day. I don't normally do formal table settings but this time I fancied a change. I went for a green and silver theme inspired by a green table cloth I already owned and the silver runner I picked up for a bargain price in the sales. I also did these little tealight displays using some glass jars which originally had some kind of pudding in them. The napkin flower was courtesy of Kirstie Allsopp as demonstrated in her latest series.

In honour of the New Year, we rolled out the glitter ball!

When Mum and Dad arrived, it was time for a cocktail, White Christmas Dream. Not something I usually do as you can see from the fact that this isn't a cocktail glass, but I came across this recipe and, by chance, had all of the ingredients in the house. To serve one person: 30ml vodka, 30ml amaretto, 30ml double cream, pinch of grated nutmeg. Yum!



For dinner, it was minted lamb stew with carrots/peas/soya beans, roast potatoes, broccoli and green beans.

Dessert was a new recipe which I'll tell you about next time.

Before settling down with coffee and mints, we headed into the garden to use up the last of the sparklers from Bonfire Night. Even Mum and Dad enjoyed whirling these around!

Then a couple of games. First up was High Five. I bought this set last year but you could easily make your own. You need a set of cards with the letters of the alphabet and a set with categories (TV programmes, countries of the world, flowers etc). Draw a card from each pile and each team/person has a minute to come up with 5 of the category beginning with the letter. My team won!

And then our all-time favourite, Cluedo. I think my brain was too addled by tiredness, cocktails and wine by this point and I was finding it hard to remember which was my character let alone who they might have murdered where! Dad, however, was on fire and won every game.

And that was my New Year. A perfect one of family, good food and fun. Hope you all enjoyed your New Year's Day, however you spent it.

Back to reality and work tomorrow.

Christmas & Boxing Day

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. Here's a few photos from mine.

Father Christmas has been! Mum and Dad come round to watch us open our presents so I give them a ring and Chickpea opens the presents from her stocking in my bed while we wait for them to arrive. Then it's downstairs to open those under the tree.

As always she has quite a pile to open - these are all hers! Father Christmas was kind to me too :-)

After present opening, it's time for breakfast and I'd provided a selection of danish pastries and croissants. Mum and Dad leave to prepare Christmas dinner and to open presents with my brother. We follow a couple of hours later.

Cheers! Christmas dinner at 1.30 at Mum and Dad's. As almost every year, there are 5 of us for dinner: me and Chickpea, Mum and Dad, and my brother.

Turkey, stuffing, chipolatas, roast potatoes, carrots and broccoli, gravy and cranberry sauce. Crackers pulled and bad jokes told!

Me and Chickpea dance to Christmas songs while waiting for Christmas pudding to arrive. Well, except for Chickpea - she hates Christmas pudding so just has a dish of white sauce!

Later, we go next door to wish Mary and her family a merry Christmas before sitting down to watch TV. We usually play our favourite board game, Cluedo, but I think we were too exhausted this year.

About 9pm we said our goodbyes and walked home. Another lovely and familiar Christmas Day comes to a close.

Boxing Day morning arrives and, yes, I was one of the crazy people who was at the Next sale at 6am. I bought mostly house items and accessories this year. The rest of the sales will wait until tomorrow when we go into Manchester for our other Christmas ritual: theatre at the Royal Exchange.

Later in the morning I visited those who are no longer with us. We would always visit Nanna and Grandad and Auntie Lilian on Boxing Day so I've kept up the tradition.

By special request, baking cookies to take to Ben's (Chickpea's boyfriend) house. I also fitted in a bit of knitting and browsing through my new cooking and craft books.

Later, a buffet at Mum and Dad's and watching the Tim Burton version of 'Alice in Wonderland' on TV (not sure I was that impressed).

And last but not least...this wasn't on Christmas Day or Boxing Day - it was yesterday - but I couldn't resist showing you Toby, Ben's dog. Isn't he gorgeous? We were invited to their house for hotpot so spent the afternoon and evening with Ben and his parents - I think this is the start of a new tradition :-)

And so we close where we started, hoping that you had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed both old and new traditions with your friends and family.