A room without a roof

Happiness comes in many forms.

Meeting up with these beauties brings me real joy - look at them!

Vix did a post about Our Day Out here.

 

New frocks that cost a fiver...

unexpected tulips in my garden...

borrowing my neighbour's gorgeous ginger fella...

 and seeing Nina's art work (she painted the foxes) in her school mural:

these things are happiness on a plate.

Oh look - more Nina. 

With Uncle Gary.

Two of my favourite people.

Lemon drizzle cakes (made by me)...

huevos rancheros for brunch (not made by me)...

and a Fanny that plays records.

These are Good Things, clearly.

 

 So is a visit to Chatsworth House... 

 especially when there are hats to try on...

with my gorgeous niece. 

Always good to have a weekend away - how about Stratford upon Avon?

Beautiful sunshine, blue skies, and this man...

Yes, there are lots of reasons to clap along, if you know what happiness is to you.

Hope everyone is well, I'll be popping by soon. 

xxx

We move like the sea

There's nothing like a blast of sea air to blow away the cobwebs.

And a visit to Tynemouth means great company too.

My sister Sabena and her partner Gary; two of my very favourite people.

Jumping for joy on the beautiful Longsands beach. 

Some more successfully than others...

There is a market every weekend at Tynemouth metro station too, which Sabena and I browsed around...

while Gary took the kids to the match at St James' Park.

I am woefully out of practice at blogging, and feeling sadly adrift from my lovely community of bloggers whose support and company I value. Real Life has its distractions at present, but I'll have a good go at catching up with you all - I miss you. 

1970s hand made maxi dress - Mooch vintage shop

Boots - community fair

And it's hard to find a good spot in my new garden to take a decent photo!

xxx

Down to believing

Looking back, my last post seems elegiac. Unintentionally so, at the time, but there is an air of weary melancholy about it all the same, a sense of mourning and loss. 

I didn't know - then - that I would be absent for so long. Or that when I returned, life would have changed so much.

 I've composed this post repeatedly in my head. I didn't know how to write it, and still don't. So I'll try and keep it simple and brief.

Simon and I are in the process of separating. I'm moving out, the kids will live between both homes, and we'll do our very best to share their care and upbringing in a loving and decent fashion. (They seem to be doing OK, so far.)

 

On holiday in Crete in May

I confess to feeling daunted. 

I'm starting again, alone, from scratch, at 52. 

Fifty-fucking-two. 

On my birthday in June.

The To Do list runs over several pages and keeps getting longer.

 The logistics of managing the schedules and possessions of three kids across two households will be a challenge.

 My impending poverty is alarming. Church mice will be offering to buy my drinks.

It's a little overwhelming. 

 

Love - that elusive joker - seems a world away.

But...

I guess it comes down to believing.

Believing in the support of good friends, and the fact that I know that money doesn't buy what is truly worth having.

Believing in resilience, resourcefulness, and the possibility of new beginnings.

In my own judgement of my worth, and trusting the truth in my misshapen heart, scratches, scars and all.  

So I guess it comes down to believing, and whether we do or we don't.

And I think, I hope, that I do.

xxx

 

   

Lead on to Leeds

A long weekend.

 

A change of scene, and a destination easily accessible from South Yorkshire and the North East were required.

Solution? The West Yorkshire city of Leeds.

Here's the gang, all set to explore.

Past and present.

There is much evidence of Leeds' industrial history. Its wealth was largely built on the wool and linen trade in the 17th and 18th centuries, and further industrialisation through the development of mills and the Leeds-Liverpool canal brought great prosperity. 

The city's current affluence owes much to the financial, legal and service sectors. 

 

There are imposing Victorian buildings wherever you look, built to represent the city's wealth and success. 

 

 

This is the Town Hall, complete with lions and a Henry Moore sculpture. It was opened in 1858 by Queen Victoria.

 

 

This used to be the central Post Office in Leeds, now a restaurant. 

The Leeds City Museum.

The Corn Exchange, opened in 1864, is a beautiful building inside and out.

The spectacular domed glass roof was designed to allow in as much light as possible so the corn merchants could clearly see the quality of the produce on offer.  

It is still a centre for trade, albeit no longer corn-based; it houses a selection of independent shops and cafes. 

The lavish Victorian arcades are testament to the fact that a love of shopping is not a modern phenomenon. 

The setting for the shops might be stunning, but the same can't always be said for the merchandise...

Kirkgate Market is the largest covered market in Europe, and home to the original stall where Marks and Spencer started trading in 1884.

 

  

And because we all love a bit of gruesome medical history, we also went to the Thackray Museum, housed in the old Leeds workhouse next to St James' Hospital.

It wasn't all about history though.

 

There was also fun with wigs...

 

 

and plenty of pit stops...

and a wander around Park Square, an elegant city-centre Georgian square which now also includes a peace tree planted by the majors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 2003.   

We love our weekends away with Sabena and Gary, and Leeds didn't disappoint.

 

Discussions about our next destination have already begun!

 

xxx