12th March, 2017....Early sunshine, late showers and superb TV!!!

Well...The Swan Wedding Fayre was a great success....not perfect without Gracie-hence 'this stall'- but great for the SteveHillman wedding factory!

Unfortunately, I've been in the grip of the worst migraine I've had to date...Sunday evening until Thursday evening...I went to work, but it was like watching from afar...I've decided to try giving up caffeine...there's not much else to give up-don't drink/smoke/eat meat/take meds...and I do feel a bit more human today, so we ventured to Furness Abbey early this morning for a bit of fresh air....

okay...so I gave in to the caffeine ban and had a spot of morning tea at Abbey Mill Café.....and caught up with my daughter....'don't take a photo of me...I haven't washed my hair' came the cries...but that's what Sunday's are about isn't it!!!

Spring seems to have arrived this year without us noticing......

...and the beck is quite high...

...soon be time for THAT wedding!!!!!!

Supporting Abbey Musical's production of Barnum this week....the SteveHillman Camera is off to photograph the dress rehearsal in a short while.....I have some colleagues in the production, and some of the crew were good enough to come into our school earlier in the week, and give the children a little taster...

...look out for Mr Irv, and his new talent!!

Our evenings have been spent watching TV on the sofa recently....there has been some excellent drama...what was The Kettering Incident all about...even five minutes from the end, we hadn't worked out what would happen.....

...and as for The Replacement.....superb!!

26th February, 2017...Storm Doris and the Bumpkin Billionaires!!

Well.....Storm Doris has been and gone, and I can't help think about my own Nan-her name was Doris- and she was what we, in the family, call 'a Puddefoot'! That was her maiden name, and the Puddefoots had a reputation for an element of stubbornness......DON'T!!! Anyway, as Doris has passed, we have managed to get a breezy walk down to Furness Abbey at last.....

...muddy, but refreshing........

....as was Abbey Mill Cafe's morning tea!

Although things have conspired against us this week and we didn't manage any trips away for half-term, we did manage to get to Blackpool Arena for a spot of ice skating....with 48 children in tow! I love skating.......

.......but one of my colleagues liked kneeling on the ice rather than gliding across it (sorry Mr Mac!)!

The Blackpool Pleasure Beach staff were excellent though, and it's well worth a trip to the rink! We've had our old pal Joel in school also....he's not living locally anymore so we don't see him much....but he's alive and well and as brilliant as ever!!

Couldn't allow him to juggle knives over kids though, so my poor colleague had to volunteer!!

Who says 'romance is dead'? My lovely husband knew I really wanted to see the kingfisher who nests along the banks of the beck at Furness Abbey, but we're never early enough or quick enough, so he bought me this gift on St.Valentine's Day.....

.......I always call him 'Bumpkin Billionaire' because of his humble 'Dalton-in-Furness' roots but 'world famous photographer' branches.....ha ha!

(Yes, that's very like The Hillmans!)

But he did do a rather cosmopolitan, international wedding earlier this week- Lovely Barrow girl married New Yorker, at Abbey House...

......and he has been invited to The Swan, to take part in next weeks wedding fayre (a good PR job by my brother Mike-thanks for that!)....and from his humble origins too!!!!!

Can't let this blog pass without mentioning another humble Dalton life....Uncle Danny was laid to rest on Wednesday....the word 'inspirational' was used quite a lot...

12th February, 2017...Arctic winds at Furness Abbey!

Brrrr....what is going on...it's freezing! Standing outside on dinner duty every day for forty minutes is killing me...don't know how dinner ladies do it.....especially my mad 75 year old mother!! The field full of herdies at Furness Abbey have got the right idea....keep your winter coats on!

We kept ours on too!

Hillmans seem to be 'last man standing' today....many family members, including Frankie , have got the dreaded 'lose your voice' bug....met my boss down here today...she has it too!

Just a lonely tea and coffee at Abbey Mill today!

Still looking lovely down here though, but the violet skies are definitely  pointing to snow!

Lovely family gathering this weekend, and the food at Oscars, and the newly refurbished Swan Hotel, was excellent!

The Swan had a really rough time of it after the Christmas 2015 floods, but the refurbishments are excellent and well worth a look. Well, we're on to phase three of the building works ourselves.....

...retaining walls built...excellent work by Brown and O'Neill builders.....

.....front door done....excellent work by Mike Doddings from Clear View.....

...drive work next.......then, who knows!!!