December dodgems

5th December 2016

Splashing about in Stretton

 

 

Despite attempts at a full babe meet for a well-earned spa day, we had to blow kisses and hugs to Helen M and Lynn, but we still ended up with a good turn out.

 

Events at Stretton Manor made for an interesting day.  Charlotte’s attempts at early morning mud surfing did not go to plan and underlines her driving directions about why we really shouldn’t use the lane ‘not for nervous drivers’.  Why the wealthiest milkman in the west had to pull into the exact spot where her land rover halted is a once-in-a-30 year mystery. Damaged pockets, but thankfully no one hurt … not at this end of the day, anyway.

Having taken the safe route,  Alison, Maggie and Helen J were chilled out ready for a relaxing day.  Whilst warming up over coffee we soon got down to important things such as:

Induckting our spa babe…

 

before turning our thoughts to problematic neighbours: Alison’s neighbourly cow showing signs of bullish behaviour, possible frosting over of relations with (aforesaid) man at top o’hill and Wayne and Waynetta’s ability to swear in iambic pentameter. With conversations over wedding fights, topless gardeners and nightclub kittens, we soon retired ‘next door’ for a little less steaminess.

 

Unwrapping a real present

 

Whilst Charlotte set off to sort out lunch, the rest of us slipped into

something more comfortable

 

Babes in de tub…

 

..where we floated about discussing the global economy. Fact: the new £5 note is not acceptable to banks after it has been through the tumble dryer. We also discussed a lot of other important world issues, such as how to get free flights to Madiera, behaviour on naturist beaches and the best home computer systems, but that bit didn’t take long to decide that we really didn’t know what we were talking about.  An hour and a half later, sporting our new eau-de-chlorine..

 

Wrinkly babes, all bubbled out

 

A good cue for Jo and Pam to arrive.

 

 

Obviously lunch time….

 

The tree is up, random generator presents given and Danish breakfast for all:  Christmas is reinstated at Gell.  No more bah, humbug! However, this isn’t enough to entice those embracing the third age….but freebie cookery days, plus a free pasta meal and a London show might have done the trick once upon a time.

 

After a luscious lunch of vegetable soup, spicy vegetable rolls and pates, (thank you Charlotte) it was time to inspect the estate.

 

Hurry up.. it’s playtime.

 

Leaving the warmth behind

 

Waggy teacher fingers work… well, on one dog anyway

 

 

Ready, steady, go…..Maggie.. don’t just stand there… go!

 

Enjoying the cooler December air, we learned a little bit about land clearance (get Ian to do it) environmental protections and inspections, deer problems and the desire to have as much energy as the dogs! And, if one goes down to the woods today, one may discover squishy mud, a stream and Charlotte’s second home

 

 

Or, Pam’s perfect pulley-van..

 

 

Aww.. love is on the log….

 

We rounded off a superb day with yet more treats.... tea and rum-drenched mince pies.  It was lovely to see Ian, but his Santa audition did not go as well as planned and he has discovered that it is a basic requirement to go down the chimney; not fall off the roof.. perhaps he needs to take a little advice from these fellas

 

The wise ones looking on… ho! Ho! Ho!

 

So with a bit of present exchanging, we all thanked Charlotte for a super day and wished her a rather large G&T on her train journey to London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October Omnibus

 October 2016

Clambering about in Clumber and Mooching around in Mapperley

 

 

Not wishing to conform to monthly meetings and keen to try out new things, the babes, via various means, met up on three occasions in October. The bar is now set very high for future dates.

 

The babes have often talked about our memories and this month has seen some rather interesting ways to keep them intact.  Some babes went for a long walk with thousands of others and a multitude of dogs in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society in the hope that at some point we can live in a world without dementia.  Jo, both Helens and Betty did just that in Clumber Park on 1^st October and thanks to lots of friends and family have currently raised at least £1000 for the cause.  This, inpart helped by Pam’s fantastic organisation of Phil’s ‘When I’m 64’  party, later in the evening, where a bucketful of money also helped towards the cause. 

Raring to go

But Lynn babe, has chosen a different way and with recent surgery, (with some fine neck-line embroidery) has managed to restore her memory and calcium levels at the same time. Marvellous!  Which leaves Maggie and Alison left to try  out an alternative way.

If only it were that simple!

Our third meeting was a bit later in the month, but we all eagerly awaited Helen M’s housewarming. Although one wonders what draws one to this little man? 

 

Perhaps a not-so-little house warmer?

 

With coffee and nibbles ready and with Betty who could barely contain her excitement, the babes  settled in for a grand tour of the house. 

 

Upstairs is up there…

 

 

It came as a bit of a disappointment that whilst there was evidence of underfloor heating, standards had not been kept up throughout the house.  Despite various visits, the babes …
 

 

Could not locate the right button

However, it was soon time for our first walk and Betty knew just where to lead us.

 

We know our place

 

 

Betty ‘nose’ the best route..

 

But it was soon back to Helen M's …. where discussions inevitably centred around Pam. Will she or won’t she?
 

Proof…Pam and Lynn are not one and the same!

 

And so it came that all seven  of us tucked into a super lunch and all agreed that this was the best soup kitchen we had all ever visited together.  Chez Mitchell’s gets a 5* rating… and special thanks to Mike for putting up with us.

 

No, Maggie, these are all for me!

 

super seven have soup for lunch

 

Eventually, we had to say cheerio to both Lynn and Pam but not before wishing Pam a heartfelt birthday for tomorrow.

 

Dutifully wrapped...

 

 

And so, the remaining babes set out for a spot of autumn watch at Mapperley Resevoir where the colours triggered memories of learned famous lines from some well established authors….

 

Red and

 

Orange and
 

Gold and
 

Silver………

 

Obviously, Shakespeare’s first attempt at writing a sonnet about a rainbow….If only he'd had Alison for his helper, things may have turned out so differently.

Whilst squirrels were high on Betty’s chase list, Maggie, with hardly any encouragement at all, decided to try and call a few birds on her new app…

 

 

No, Maggie, It’s definitely a red kite, Jo says so...

 

Meanwhile, after much waiting and swopping of binoculars and turning the volume up to full, the kingfisher was finally noticed…

 

 

It’s on that branch behind the leaves…..

And the swan ?

 

'Mutely' agreed that apps aren't always necessary.

 

 

But sometimes a bit of imagination is need to boost our bird list.

 

OK, so while we didn’t really see a crane or a red kite,  , we did manage:

Blackbird

Black headed gull

Buzzard (three together)

Chaffinch

Coot

Cormorant

Crow

Dunnock

Fieldfare (1^st this year)

Great crested grebe

Jay (1^st this year)

Kestrel

Kingfisher(GB first)

Magpie

Mallard

Mute Swan

Tufted duck

Wood pigeon

Wren

19 for the trip.  Now 55 for the year and our running total of 85 means that we have reached our target for the year.  Marvellous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

September Swapsies

19^th September 2016

Double Stile Denby

 

 

 

Today, attempts at getting a full set of babes together was highly successful, albeit not necessarily with all the regulars.  Honorary babes Jane, Cheryl and Charlotte admirably filling in the empty spaces left by Maggie, Jo and Pam, all otherwise busy decorating, working or festivalling.

One would think that the prize for making the best efforts to get to Denby would be Jane travelling from Wales, or Charlotte from Staffs.. but no, Alison managed to arrive in Denby (via Mickleover) having left her car in Ashbourne.  Time travel is a wonderful thing and one which the babes need to investigate further.

As we all know, some babes are not as tech savvie as others, and whilst plans to extract Jane’s mobile number from her worked, it was a pity Helen J had forgotten to instruct Jane to make sure her phone was not ‘on silent’. Fortunately, Cheryl knows Jane’s little ways and managed to get her to the car park in time for their lift. Telepathy is also something which needs further investigation.

 

 

Betty just loves meeting new friends

 

Meeting at Denby Lodge, the babes settled in for a light lunch and a good chat.  After a bit of putting the world to rights, Jane entertained us with one of her stories as a young lass and how, nearly homeless for the night, she ended up sleeping in a bed reserved for a famous archbishop surrounded by gladioli with said famous archbishop looking down on her.  Something was moving in a mysterious way, even way back then!



The September Seven in their finery…

 



Check out fashion statement #1: painted toes and open-toed sandals.

 

 

 

Now, fashion statement #2: the slightly more sensible

one sock in, one sock out look.

 

 

All footwear is fine for the moment.

 

But perhaps, paws and hooves are better equipped for what’s ahead.

 

The odd glass of wine at lunchtime is fine,  but ….

 

Really Jane …. seeing double?

 

And so, we continued along footpaths and across dimply fields, where it started to become apparent to the ‘barefoots’ Cheryl and Jane that perhaps the fashion of ’sock n shoe’  would have been a more sensible choice for traipsing through nettles and brambles. And whilst admiring

 

the occasional view…

 

We arrived at Denby Cricket club, a beautiful setting, but oh dear, perhaps they need a new groundsman as

 

this poor ‘duck’ seems to have lost more than his ‘wicket’…

 

We learned  several facts about Denby’s famous residents: Mr Joseph Bourne Snr, founder of Denby Pottery and builder of the chapel, the Drury-Lowe family and of course, our very own babe, Helen M lived here for a while..

 

The ‘blue plaque’ proves it…

 

Our walk now started to become a little more challenging, with Helen M eager to lead the way

 

Put the right  leg over

 

Then the left leg over..

 

 

Much easier without bag, dog and slightly longer legs…

 

And, as if one stile wasn’t enough

 

We meet the double Denby

 

complete with brambles, stingers, tree stumps and nowhere for Betty to crawl through….

 

But, super ’stilish’  babes that we are, we came finally found habitation, with Cheryl declaring that this is where John Flamsteed was born. 

 

The round window, perfect for large telescopes.

 

But, Cheryl is not an experienced babe and is not aware of the need for precision is such matters, as John Flamsteed was actually born next door…

 

The blue plaque proves it…

 

As if dimply fields, single stiles and the double Denbies were not enough…

this was just a….

 

bridge too far ….

 

But luckily, the dimply bits in the field seemed to have served their purpose, and with a bit of balance and luck, we safely overcame the final obstacle.

 

To round off our lovely walk  we dropped into the Flamsteed Memorial Park to learn exciting facts about John Flamsteed such as being born at precisely 7:16pm and that he was a true ‘star’ of his time….

Aspiring astronomers…

 

Our bird list did not add anything new to our list, but for the record we saw: blackbird, chaffinch, coot, crow, kestrel, mallard, magpie, robin and sparrowhawk .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August Amber

26th August 2016

Walking in Sunshine



But for now we are young
Let us lay in the sun
And count every beautiful thing we can see
Love to be
In the arms of all I'm keeping here with me
(In the Aeroplane Over the Sea: Neutral Milk Hotel)



 

What a glorious day for walking in sunshine in celebration of the life of Andrew; a beautiful service with loving words, a few tears and some laughter.  
We are proud of Helen M for telling us Andrew’s story in such a tender way and also thankful to Mike and Alex for allowing us to have a glimpse of family life; the Mitchell way. And, really glad that Andrew has ensured that the babes can now have meaningful discussions about Game of Thrones!

With the smell of coffee beckoning, we soon found ourselves at the pub. Early conversations centred around the Virgin-Corbyn saga which somehow prompted  Charlotte and Lynn to act out the classic two Ronnies ‘Social Injustice sketch’ of ‘I look up to you… ‘. Re-worked further, when lining up for the buffet, Maggie demurely stated "I know my plate" after Alison had chosen a larger piece of crockery to accommodate all those fish goujons. You can’t beat a babe who knows her gags!

When the coffee pot arrived at the table, we knew it was time to get down to some serious, quiet talking.  Only, we’d not factored Charlotte into this scenario. What with hitching-hiking tales across Europe including escape plans from dodgy drivers, one really can’t imagine why Charlotte was chosen to be the promotional girl for this retro-drink....

 

 

We thought, briefly, it was owing to Charlotte’s fizzy personality… but maybe the position of the logo suggests otherwise.

Wild camping means different things to different babes. Helen J believes it to mean erecting and striking one’s tent in a howling gale. Jo thinks it means camping in a friend’s drive. However, apparently, a group of Irish travellers feel quite at home wild camping in Ashbourne’s supermarket car parks. Whilst Alison scoffed at these freeloaders, Lynn had to admit that she had done the same in Ireland. Not wishing to be hypocritical, the babes felt that justice had been done!

Concerns about goings-on in Ashbourne led Maggie to worry about the length of time the bunting seemed to be hanging out. But Charlotte reassured her that they are taken down for cleaning in between all the different events.  Thank goodness the babes have a super-domestic goddess to do the worrying for them.

 

As recommended by Maggie

It was a real pity that Pam was unable to join us

Oops… spoke too soon…. there’s food on the table...

 

‘It’s so bad, it’s good’!

 So, with promises of a spa day at Charlotte’s to warm us up during the winter months, we left with hugs and each, quietly acknowledging that the day really belonged to Famille Mitchell and one very special son.

 

“I'm waitin', waitin' on a sunny day
Gonna chase the clouds away
Waitin' on a sunny day”

Bruce Springsteen