December Diva-ation

December Diva-ation

to Derby Cathedral

Wednesday 17th December

 

The December gathering proved to be rather problematic as everyone is so very busy, even Helen J's organisational skills were tested to breaking point! However an email from Jo about the Dale Diva performance at Derby Cathedral did bring three of us together to join in the Carol singing.

 

The two Helens met at the Brewery Tap for a light bite of very delicious mushrooms on toast and a good gossip before making our way to the Cathedral in what we thought was plenty of time. We spotted Gina waiting for us at the head of the queue and quickly joined her only to be told that the Cathedral was full! Not o be defeated we held our ground and when it was announced that there were three more seats we quickly made our move with elbows at he ready to deter any other claimants!

 

After thinking that we were going to end up standing at the back we were soon escorted to seats very near the front. We had a jolly good sing and thoroughly enjoyed the event - especially the Diva's two performances.

 

The very sparkly Dale Diva

.

 

 

There was also a very moving and lovely performance by The Open Road called "An Old Solider's Dream of Home" written by Phil Baguley (pictured far right with guitar). Inspired by Phil's Great Uncle Alfred who was killed during WW1.

 

And even a surprise performance from Russell Watson! All in all a very lovely evening and the concert can be heard on BBC Radio Derby on Christmas Eve and Christmas day ( the person you will hear singing out of tune will be me!

 







. 



December Ditty

Six Gelly Babes in search of December

Composed by Gelly Helen J

(sing to the tune of 10 Green Bottles, with occasional repetition of a line in order to make it work)  Happy singing!

There were six Gelly Babies planning what to do

Six Gelly Babies planning what to do

December trips not easy, daylight hours are short

There were six Gelly Babies planning in the dark.

 

There were six Gelly Babies suggesting what to do

Six Gelly Babies suggesting what to do

Possible jaunts in south Derbyshire, Notts or Derby too,

There were six Gelly Babies confused as to what to do.

 

There were six Gelly Babies deciding what to do

Six Gelly Babies deciding what to do

A nature walk in Elvaston, then drinking in a pub

There were six Gelly Babies agreeing what to do

 

There were six Gelly Babies excited about meeting up

Six Gelly Babies excited about meeting up

Then one Lynn baby found something else to do

Grandparenting duties  too hard to refuse

Leaving five Gelly Babies still keen on meeting up.

 

There were five Gelly Babies re-jigging all the plans

Five Gelly Babies re-jigging all the plans

Then one Pam baby had now run out of time

Marking seemed more preferable to watching all the coots

Leaving four Gelly Babies querying what to do

 

There were four Gelly Babies struggling now what to do

Four Gelly Babies struggling now what to do

With Maggie’s back now painful, walking hard to do

A trip round the nature park a silly thing to do

Leaving three Gelly Babies questioning what to do

 

There were three Gelly Babies slightly now bemused

Three Gelly Babies slightly now bemused

Then Helen M baby had lots of stuff do,

Selling her Art on ebay; money to accrue

Leaving two Gelly babies not sure what to do

 

 

 

There were two Gelly Babies wondering  what to do

Two Gelly Babies wondering what to do

Then Jo made a decision, to give this one a miss

Leaving one Gelly Baby thinking ‘what a to-do’.

 

There was Helen J baby with time now on her hands

Helen J baby with time now on her hands

To write this silly ditty, maybe bringing smiles all around

Trying to be creative and hoping you all agree

 

So Helen J baby is planning now for Jan

Helen J baby is planning now for Jan

Agreeable dates most welcome, ideas for our next jaunt

Wishing you all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year too!

 

Gelly Babes November Nocturne

17th November 2014

The Day (and night) of Reckoning

or

five go mad in a camping barn!

 

In celebration of Pam's milestone birthday this months gathering involves a sleepover! The venue - The Reckoning House camping barn at Mandale Campsite, Haddon Grove.

Www. mandalecampsite.co.uk

Those of us with lots of time on our hands arrived at about 3pm to prepare things for Pam's arrival. Sadly Lynn wasn't able to join us - perhaps next time. The barn is in a most idyllic spot and although quite basic was perfect for our requirements (once one of our number had accepted that you don't get five star facilities in a camping barn!)

Pam didn't quite manage to arrive before dark but with the help of a the rest of us flashing our torches she eventually joined us and the first cork was popped.

 

Ready, steady, cook!

 

Your starters for five

 

Srummy!

 

After the delicious starters (starter of the evening: spicy gourd) we had Pam's present opening.

 

The Wash Green warbler

A cushy number - what not handmade!!

A perfect match

A musical note

 

and one for Helen J!

 

Cheers!

 

and again!

 

The food was delicious, vegetable curry (with compulsory cauliflower) and dhal from Maggie's kitchen, chicken curry carefully created by Jo, fish curry made by my own fair hand and rice and naan bread provided by Lynn all sprinkled with ample scatterings of coriander all washed down with lashings of Prosecco.

 

Eat my face!

Yes Jo this one really does have carrots in it!

 

Day 2

Who on earth brings a silk kimono to a camping barn in November?

Morning all

 

After tea and coffee in bed courtesy of Jo and discussions of who snored the loudest we all joined the queue for the shower and gathered ourselves for breakfast. Sadly Jo had to leave us as she had to go to work but we ate her share of the mushrooms and scrambled eggs and did her share of the clearing up!

 

Early morning rainbow

 

Onwards and upwards

 

The four surviving babes headed for Lathkill Dale for a walk and a spot of bird watching, with Pam proudly flaunting her new binoculars!

 

What a lovely pair of bins1

 

You were very clearly told not to go down that hole!

 

Spot the dipper

 

 

What - no risk assessment!

Bateman's House

 

Spot the buzzard

 

Made it - recovering from a muddy scramble up from the Dale

 

Our bird list for the two days:

Blackbird
Black-headed gull

 Buzzard
  Collared Dove
Coot
 Crow

Dipper (GB first!)

 Jackdaw
 Mallards (bit frisky)

 Moorhen
Robin
 Tawny owl (for those of us softly sleeping)

Wood Pigeon

 Wren

plus, of course, that extremely  rare porcelain Wash Green Warbler!!!!!!!!!! 

 

Lovely Lathkill

 

What a lovely two days we had - when can we do it again?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Gelly Babes October Oisiveté

21st October 2014

A Few French Fancies

This month we were without Helen J so it is quite amazing that we managed to get anything organised but we muddled through! A different sort of gathering this time. Very wet and windy so probably a good job that there was no walk planned this month.

 

 

We met at the Mistral at 6pm, minus Pam who was busy organising the entertainment for later, but we did have a guest appearance from Gina, which was lovely.


Honorary Babe!

 

Thankfully the Mistral had hidden us away in a dark and cobwebby corner so we didn't cause too much disturbance to the other diners with our gossip and laughter!

 

 

What were you spraying Lynn?

 

What a lovely tart!

 

Moules frites and a beer - perfect!

 

It occurred to us towards the end of the meal that we had no idea where we were going afterwards or what time we had to be there - Helen J we really do need you to organise us! But we eventually worked it out and found our way to the school hall ready for the cabaret with Flossie, organised by Pam as part of the twinning visit.

 

It was really good to see some old faces, and some young ones too for that matter. The show started with a very entertaining talk from Laurie about his bike ride to Die, followed by some (slightly surreal) performances in both French and English. After the interval came the main event Flossie Malavialle who entertained us wonderfully with an eclectic mix of French and English songs and some very amusing Franglais banter.

 

 

Flossie Malavialle

 

This is a link to a song from her latest album
   "Can't breathe" by Martyn Joseph:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0qvd6Nqfa0

 

A very different gathering for us but very enjoyable and the next one will be different again - watch this space!

 

Oh and no birds to add to the list!

 

 

Gelly Babes September Symposium

Rufford

29th September 2014

 

 

A full complement of babes today and once again Helen J's request for good weather was fulfilled, she certainly does have friends in all the right places.

Lynn and I arrived early and spent a happy hour drinking coffee and catching up until the flying shed arrived with the rest of the members of our happy band. First stop for a 'Banter of Gelly Chicks' was the wonderfully sunny courtyard for a picnic lunch and a good gossip.

  

Hard boiled egg anyone?

 

First Anniversary Apple Cake courtesy of Helen J

After making full use of the all the facilities on offer we set off for our leisurely stroll, starting with a bit of a history lesson in the ruins of the Abbey

Looking good for an old ruin!

 

All agreed that Bess of Hardwick was quite a woman and might even qualify as a babe (although Helen J seems to think she was a bird)

Don't try this at home!(Or anywhere else for that matter)

  A lovely leisurely stroll down to the old mill with a game of 'guess the celebrity I saw on holiday', not sure who wins out of Graham Norton, Chris Packham and Kevin off of Eggheads. We took full advantage of the facilities with a well earned cup of tea - well talking does create quite a thirst. Once again we were able to sit in the sunshine, this time looking out over the lake for a bit of light bird watching.

 Time for tea

 Cheers!

 Marvellous! The immortal words of Lynn 

Dab chick, Tufted duck or Golden eye? check the app!

Sitting ducks

The stroll continued around the lake and votes were taken for duck of the day and goose of the day. The duck category went to the tufted duck - sadly the little white crossbreed was disqualified and the winner of the goose category was the greylag which got the vote for being simple.

Goose of  the day

Geese of the day

Of course the day wouldn't have been complete without a quick catch up on the state of everyone's dental health and the prize for dental story of the day went to Helen J.
Our walked continued through the sculpture gardens which added a bit of much needed culture to the day.

 

 Musical statues - and some not so musical

A spot of meditation - or possibly medication!

 

Caption competition - what is Lynn saying? my guess is:

'If you don't do as you are told Jo Kenworthy you will stand there until I tell you to move and you won't be allowed to look at the lovely sculptures! And if you don't stop smirking Maggie you will join her - yes I have got eyes in the back of my head'

 

 

Caption Competition 2: 'Honestly Jo they were out here - the others don't believe me!'

 

Sculpture of the day

After exploring the gardens we all felt the need for another cup of tea, so back to the courtyard to enjoy the beautiful early evening sunshine and birdsong and diaries out to plan our next jaunt, with a few chorus's of 'Tit Willow' to add to the atmosphere.

Todays birdlist:

Black Headed Gull, Blackbird, Canada Goose, Chaffinch, Coal tit (first 2014.. worth waiting until the end of the day for.. well done Lynn), Coot, Crow, Dove, Dunnock, Great Crested Grebe, Greylag goose (goose of the day), Goldfinch, Herring gull (a surprising first so late in the year for 2014) , House Martin, Little Grebe (first 2014), Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Robin, Sparrow, Starling, Swan, Tufted duck (duck of the day), Wood pigeon, Wren

Plus feral pigeon, domestic goose and little white duck, none of which are countable on official bird lists.   And.. lots of squirrels.

Total of 63 birds so far for 2014.

And last but not least swan of the day