A Blast from the Past

Going for walks is still quite a novel thing for both myself and Chris, because Chris was a retained Firefighter he was always on call, so we are making up for that now that he is retired from it.

Both Chris and I grew up in the same mining village and one of our favourite playing areas was called The Blast, not the easiest places to get to although easier now than when we were children.

This poster gives a brief outline of what it was.

Basically the sea has cleansed the land and it now looks close to a seaside beach.

Stunning scenery from afar.

 

So we found a pathway down but boy was it steep, I managed to get down but thought I may need to crawl on my knees to get back to the top.

Below you can see the steep pathway from the cliff top.

A small covering of grass, that was once an orange pool of muddy water.

The iron gate in the cliff face would have been covered in waste from the mine and this wouldn't have been visible at all.

 

Now what is worrying is that in the above picture, there used to be a pathway that locals called the nanny goats path so as you can imagine it was a skinny rickety thing and at one point we had to walk a plank to get across it. No health and safety back then.

If all of that isn't incredible enough there were men that took old bicycles and sacks across this and down onto the blast to collect the coal that escaped with the waste. Once they had filled the sacks they had to get them back up to the top of the cliff and they only way to do this was back up the nanny goats path these men were all called Blasties by the local folk.

Look we found coal amongst the pebbles, infact there is still quite a bit of it left, a memory of Dawdon Pit that closed its gates in 1991 the year my youngest daughter was born.

 

We also found patches of the grey slate like pebbles that the Blast was covered in.

What is quite exciting for us is that the sea is claiming back the land, we even have sand now.

You can see this difference in the next photo of where the sea has cleansed the land.

 

I will leave it there for now but there is so much more to show you, I'll keep the rest for another day.

 

 

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Room Finally Finished

Well it's all but finished, I'm waiting for a new unit for the alcove and something for the wall, new blinds oh and a door, but mostly it's cosmetic and I can live with it like this until they are in place.

This was my dream fire, I long way better than my old one.

Most nights you will catch me with my back to it hitching my skirt up to get a warm.

The pictures just don't do it justice.

It's so lovely to get back in this room and get some order back in the house.

Poor Chris has worked like a Trojan to get it in order for me.

 

 

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What makes us Hoarders

Something that I giggle about often, hoarding. Why do I do it? I strive to be minimalistic, I don't think that is will happen in my lifetime.

I remember visiting my Grand parents home and always coming away with carrier bags full of groceries I believe it made her feel good to give. You had to take the stuff as she would be offended otherwise, yes my Nanna was a first class hoarder of groceries.

When I lived at home with my Mam and Dad we lived in a remote part of the village so my Mam had a walk in pantry that was full to the gills, within the Pantry was a chest freezer, again full to the gills, with home made bread and pies and meat for our meals.

So here we are 35 years on and my Mam who now lives alone and is 82 years this year still has a full to the brim pantry. I took Mam a dinner up today and came away with 2 carrier bags of goodies.

My Husband Chris always says if we ever go to war he is going straight to my Mams house and boarding us all in as there is enough food there to last us all for around 6 months without ever having to leave ha ha!

So does this pass down the family!

I always have extra in but not to the extent that both my Mam and my Nanna had.

Now I know that most crafters are guilty of hoarding and after reorganising my craft room I am guilty as charged of this, I had to take a deep breath and give loads away to brownies, girl guides and a local school.

Are you a hoarder? What do you hoard?

Do you have like my a under stair cupboard that you throw things into never to see light of day again?

 

 

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It Never Rains but it Pours

I thought it was about time I gave you an update on our home renovations.

Although we thought things were going fine, the room had lovely new plaster and it was drying beautifully.

We soon realised that all was not as it should be on the outer wall.

 

It just wouldn't dry out in parts and we soon came to realise that we had a problem on the outside wall.

Silly I know but for some reason in the back of my mind I was thinking porous bricks, the house is around 108 years old.

Sure enough when we got the builder to look at it he confirmed it was indeed porous bricks and pointing needed.

So although the fire and surround are being fitted today we are at a total stand still until the outside work can be done and unfortunately that is weather depending.

 

 

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Big Minion

Meet Eddie, he is the unsung Minion, as soon as he saw the Minion Crochet hats he asked if I could make him one,

 

Doesn't it suit him, he will be a Best Man at my Daughter Natalie and Adams wedding next year, that is Adam stood behind him.

And another, Eddie is normally sporting a wheelchair but that doesn't stop him from enjoying life to the full.

 

This crowd of friends are just lovely, they all get on so well and look after each other and both Chris and I had a wonderful evening with them all tonight, Stephen was the host (Lauren's Partner).

 

Me and my girls.

 

Chris and his girls

 

Even Grandson Jack got in on the act

 

Fabulous evening.

 

 

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Make a Chocolate Santas Sleigh

I thought it was time to repost this as it was so popular.

I stumbled upon this idea tutorial for a Christmas Sleigh gift and thought it would make the most fabulous place settings for the Christmas dinner table.

Well who doesn’t love chocolate? Not many that's for sure. 

The idea for the place setting only came when I gave my daughter a peek at what I was making for Jack and she cried “I want one too Mam” so what was once to be only two or three soon became eight that I needed.

I ran out of bits for my place setting so I still have 1 left to complete but I was itching to show you all.

Aren’t they sweet? (pardon the pun) I even found some little chocolate Santa’s to drive the sleigh.

As you can see we have candy canes, KitKat, miniature Cadbury chocolate, Kinder bars, chocolate coins and in the adult ones Dime Bars. I tied it all together with ribbon from Ribbon Carousel

Come on get out those glue guns and set to work on a treat to remember at the Christmas dinner table.

Click here for the link to the tutorial for them

Crochet perfect for Traveling

I always struggled when holidaying wondering what to take to occupy my crafty mind and twitchy fingers on evenings and last year I learnt myself how to crochet.

A ball of yarn and a crochet hook and your ready to go.

Chris had a few worries on what I was making, he thinks the top picture needs tassels, and the bottom left he thought I was making a Sun hat. The bottom right picture is a cactus which is growing on our balcony and on an evening it looks like Jesus is watching over the beautiful sea.

All will be revealed to what I am making when I get back from my travels.

 

(For the record, that is my knee in the top picture)

It is a beautiful sound waking up each morning to the waves crashing on the shore.

Jak X

 

 

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Its Started–Wedding Stationery

My youngest Daughter Natalie and her fiancé Adam are to be wed next year so there is lots of preparations to do.

We went and chose the most beautiful wedding dress but of course I can’t show you that yet, we also sat down and started to look at her wedding stationery, we have mocked up a few ideas and we now know what the invites will be like but in the mean time we needed some save the dates making and sending out.

I finished them last night and she collected them so now I need to start the invites.

And…. if you have been feeling a little tired lately and unsure what to do this maybe your answer, just look what our local garage did.

Pretty impressive yes?

He has added another design since I took this so watch this space.

Jack Glass Blowing and Special Gifts

We have had a wonderful day out today, you may remember me visiting the Sunderland Glass Center as I wrote a post on it. We took Jack and his Mam Lauren along with us today and it was very special, Jack even got the chance to try his hand at glass blowing. (see video at end of my post)

We also had a little tour and Chris’s Friend gave both Jack and myself a beautiful hand crafted gift each.

This one is mine.

and this one is Jacks

Dave makes these to sell and they cost £20.00 but all are unique and would make beautiful gifts, just let me know if you would like to purchase one and I will pass your details on to Dave.

Mine actually holds 16floz that is 3/4 of a pint.

Handles can be made in many colours one of which I saw was a gorgeous pink.

here is the video of our Grandson Jack blowing the glass.

Ryhope Engines Museum

Something Chris has been promising himself to visit for many years and is practically on our doorstep.

This is one impressive work of engineering that is a must to visit, my Mam and Dad took our children many years ago and I remember just how much my Dad enjoyed his visit.

I’ve added a video below of the beam engines in all of their glory, the sheer size of these is immense and has to be seen to be believed. the smell of the oil and machinery all added to the experience and the pride of the men keeping this is working order.

As you can see even the building is mighty impressive.

The Museum is open every bank holiday weekend and we were definitely blessed with the weather for our visit yesterday, quite often they have a vintage car collection on display too so that is always a bonus.

A few of the photo’s took alongside our visit.

The Blacksmith’s workshop.

 

A mans dream, the oil cans.

One of the smaller engines on display.

Just look at all of that grease, Chris was drooling at this stage.

Just the oily rag missing from this photo.

One of the display models.

So pleased that we went to visit, More information can be found here http://www.ryhopeengines.org.uk/index.html