8th February, 2015....February Mega-Blog!

No Steve Hillman weddings, and beautiful late winter weather can mean only one thing.....a whole weekend of being 'out and about' in our small slice of Furness!

 

We did pay a sneaky visit to Furness Abbey whilst everyone else was sleeping this morning.....and the eerie, drippy fog photos tell their own story!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was 8am.....and it never really cleared today.....and I didn't get my customary text from Mr. W downtown to say the weather was different there, so I'm assuming the fog lingered in the town centre today too!

 

 

It was a lovely, sunny Saturday though, so we headed to Abbey Mill for a late breakfast, and had a good chat with the Herbie family who were also down here providing a bit of entertainment for their grandson!

 

 

And poor Jackie had to be interviewed by JG from the Evening Mail over some stolen picnic benches...here she is trying out her 'I'm really cross' pose! Not easy when a camera is being pointed at you!

 

 

My 'Reactolite' lenses are now labelling me as an 'uncool' person, according to my son (and he's the 'king of cool')!

 

 

 

Bird watching's not 'cool' either according to him, but we did laugh at this cheeky Jay who follows us now, looking for scraps!

 

 

We walk past this house on the way home from our jaunts....we have done for seventeen years now, since we've lived up here, and I've always admired it....now it's FOR SALE....arghhhh...I need to win the lottery....teaching doesn't pay anywhere near enough to secure it!

 

 

We met up with an old friend of ours on Friday, whom we knew from the days when he was working on placements for getting in to teacher training....so pleased to find out that he is now a fully trained and highly respected science teacher in this town....GO BUPE!!! He's a truly lovely guy!

 

 

Great views for the school's balcony too!

 

 

So....nana came walking and blogging with us today...she's a mobile 'weather forecasting' unit, and as she predicted, the misty fog didn't lift very much!

 

 

 

And she, like Frankie, did NOT like walking across the railway lines...the trains always honk out a warning but they both still panic!

 

 

 

Always time for a quick Abbey Mill latte though! Yesterday evening, with three cameras and the binoculars, we headed up to How Tun Woods because we could see from our office window that some strange weather was afoot......

 

 

......and we were right! The sun came out from beneath a layer of cloud, but above the mist that was rolling in from the Irish Sea, and this was the result!

 

 

 

 

Superb, but rather surreal!!

 

 

I'm reading a rather good book at the moment....those of you who know me know I was left with a chronic pain syndrome a few years ago, which I have managed to largely heal myself, so imagine my surprise when I discovered that so have many other people, using similar techniques linked to brain plasticity, and that there is actually a science behind it....a book to share with my good friend Wedgie!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1st February, 2015...tea, scones and walking the Nile!

Wow...where did that blast of freezing cold air come from! Thursday was BITTER! And the poor Steve Hillman bride yesterday....not the best day to be wearing a wedding dress...fur bolero or not!

 

 

Lovely down at Furness Abbey this afternoon though..and very busy!

 

 

 

 

This was the view from right at the top of the amphitheatre...it's like we are living in the Alps!

Some hungry birds down here today!

 

Abbey Mill's Jackie was run off her feet...but happy with it!

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sure there's a bit of 'explorer' in me somewhere. I would have been happy to Walk the Nile with Levison....what a program that was!! Often, those 'trekking' programs look 'set up', with lots of cameras and body guards in the back ground, but his was incredibly scary at times, and some of the countries he walked through were depressingly mired in conflict, often not of their own making. Fantastic, though sometimes grim, viewing!

 

 

 

Afternoon tea 'chez Hillman' today, though I fear I have made too many scones again!!!

 

 

 

 

And then we walked up to the golf course to take a look at the stunning views from there of the Langdale Pikes.

 

 

I went Youth Hostelling in the Langdales in a snowy February when I was about eighteen. We laugh about it now because the gear I had was a Peter Storm cagoule and leggings, and a pair of Army and Navy Stores boots. You just wouldn't do it now!!

 

 

 

Steve Hillman really annoying with that camera....Mrs. G is that you?!!!

 

 

Black Combe and Millom looking lovely from up here.....

 

 

....as are the first snowdrops of the year!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

25th January, 2015....Stunning photography at Furness Abbey!

A strange week of weather....Hawcoat had some snow on Wednesday morning but there wasn't any in town. Some beautiful sunrises and low winter sunshine, frost and todays gloom. The perceptive camera of Steve Hillman has captured it all.......

Stunning!!! We've been asked by lady who writes a wider Barrow blog if she can use some of our Furness Abbey photographs, so that's plenty for her to choose! Gloomy down here this weekend though....

We had a chat to Abbey Mill's Jackie about plans for The Abbey Tavern now it has been purchased by English Heritage. It will be incorporated into the fabric of the existing museum, but not for at least two years. In the mean time, it is becoming more and more run down...it's such a shame...

What about Wolf Hall...!! That was the best bit of 'period' TV I've seen in ages. The characters told a stand alone story instead of having to re-tell the history (in case you didn't know it), and Mark Rylance was stunning as Thomas Cromwell. I loved the little OCD touches...him straightening the table cloth and wiping the goblet!! I don't know if Thomas Cromwell himself visited Furness Abbey during the Dissolution, but he would be kicking himself now knowing he missed the Abbot's grave and treasure!

I met up with my long-time friend from Canada on Tuesday afternoon. She left Barrow almost twenty five years ago, but sadly had to return for a funeral. It wasn't the best place to meet up but it was lovely to see her, and hear the life story of her father-in-law, another 'born and bred Barrow' person. The old peoples home where she worked isn't even there now, which was a shock to her, but we picked up pretty much where we'd left off....and she still can't use technology...phones, computers, cars!!!! Barrow Girls Grammar School is not there now either, so it will keep our secrets at least!

Ruth was the queen of the 'zip-up collared cardigan'!!!! She wore it so well!!

Doesn't Abbey House look beautiful in the morning light!

Only soft, grey light down here this afternoon.....Frankie is sporting the 'hoody' look so well! We walked further along the Roose path today...some weird old trees to look at....it's well worth setting off from Flass Pits (is it still called that?) and walking right through to Abbey Mill.

Especially with this waiting for you at the other end!