24th January, 2016.....Furness Abbey sunrise and a family weekend!

I can tell that January has been a dry month for the SteveHillman Wedding camera....he's having to keep exercising his skills by chasing any weather phenomena that might provide even a remotely interesting photo...snow last Sunday, then the beautiful sunrise on Monday morning (you know, that time when most of us were at work!!).

 

 

 

 

Okay, okay...the photos are lovely, but I'd done an assembly and a guided reading lesson by then...how is that fair!!!

 

 

Anyhow, at least we got to see the sun, which was a change...thank goodness our Sunday snow was nothing like they are having in the USA at the moment! Abbey House and Oscar's provided the stylish venue for our family meet-up last night.......

 

 

...good company....

 

 

....lovely food....

 

 

 

 

....and pesky Hillman children, as always!!!!

 

 

We've all done our separate and different things over the years, but 'The Family' have always been there as a support and a thing to come back to, and when we bought the house we're in now, 19 years ago, the older couple we bought it from ( who are sadly no longer here) said that it had been a family 'hub' for them...it had that sort of feeling....the house has retained that status, with so many of our family gatherings over the years....who says houses don't have personality!!! Spooky!!!

 

 

 

Still incredibly wet and muddy down at Furness Abbey today....the light is quite poor...flat and grey, with little sign of Spring yet.....

 

 

 

 

 

Frankie always finds plenty to amuse him though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17th January, 2016...A snowy Sunday..!

There was some heavy grey cloud hanging around in the sky yesterday...it looked malevolent but we pressed on with our walk to Furness Abbey regardless.....

 

...and Frank found some icy puddles, so we thought that would be 'it' for wintry weather...

 

 

 

...then yesterday evening, those clouds let down a fine powdering of snow...

 

 

...but when we woke up this morning....

 

 

woah...Hawcoat, at least, was covered! Boots on and out we went!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We met this lot whilst out walking.....

 

 

...Hillman children don't feel the cold....

 

 

 

...some real snow to try out my new boots....

 

 

...and a bit of snowballing!!! We headed off to Furness Abbey in the afternoon....

 

 

 

 

..along with the rest of the town!!! Amazing how a bit of snow can bring everyone out...Abbey Mill was packed solid and cars were parked all the way up to Manor Farm and beyond! It did look lovely though!!

 

 

 

 

Next year's Christmas card photo I'm sure!!

 

 

We are amateurs at this 'snow' lark....we watched The Revenant last night...now that is REAL snow, complete with minus twenty Celsius, Sioux Indians, wolves and bears....all my nightmares rolled into one, but it's an excellent film!!! Oh no...large white flakes have begun to fall from the sky again as I'm writing this....love snow but hate it falling on a work day!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Brrr!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10th January, 2016...Happy New Year...it's raining again!!

Happy New Year!First blog of 2016....first walk down to Furness Abbey in 2016....mainly because rain has hampered every planned walk for the last ten days! And it's still terribly soggy underfoot down here.....

 

 

...yes there's only two fo us today...the boy has taken to his bed again with bad tonsils...he has a major panic if I mention that he might need them taken out, so he's living on paracetamol and Strepsils for the moment!

 

 

 

The old guy was 54 yesterday....'why do we have to get old and fat' he says, but he's always up for a spot of afternoon tea chez Abbey Mill Café!!!

 

 

 

The beck has a lot of 'white water' at the moment, and there are even small tributaries developing because of the amount of rain and hail.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

My New Year Resolution....to buy the house next door and join it on to ours...we love our plot and it would be brilliant to extend it....'Pie in the sky' shouts Steve Hillman, but if you know me, you know that my motto is 'Never say never'!!!

 

 

Actually, there was one evening that it didn't rain last week, and we managed to get out and capture a lovely sunset over Hawcoat.....

 

 

 

 

.....we've been promised a 'cold snap' in the coming week.......hmmm....we'll see......