Gelly Babes

Sunday, 1 October 2017

Bess - What a Babe!

October 29th 2017

Bess

After all the busy summer activities we had almost s full quota of babes for a spot of culture, sadly Pam had taken to her bed after all the excitement of her newly found freedom and wasn't able to join us - but would have been in Sheffield anyway!

We all met on the dot of 5.30 at Wagamamas for food - thankfully we had our own resident foodie expert to guide us through the menu and Wagamama etiquette.

For some the evening began with a glass of Shrek juice - guaranteed to ensure a positive experience

Cheers!

The complementary white jasmine tea complete with sea urchin was not quite so well received

But cheers anyway!

The food was even better than it looked in the picture - quite delicious although a few of us did have to resort to the use of a fork for the last bits of rice which refused to be eaten with chopsticks.

Four drinks each - better make use of the facilities!

All ready for action

The stage is set.....

A wonderful one woman performance - very cleverly enhanced with other characters projected on the back drop - we recognised many of the places and learnt a great deal about a quite remarkable woman.

And thanks to Lynn who got us a backstage pass to meet Mitchell Todd the star of the show!

And here is a link to a slightly more in depth review than mine....

https://artsbeatblog.com/2017/09/29/review-bess-the-commoner-queen-guildhall-theatre-derby/

So next month off to Hardwick again armed with lots of insight into the life and times of the wonderful Bess

Thursday, 7 September 2017

30th August 2017

Aqueous August 2017

☔☔☔☔☔

An E mail from HJ at the beginning of August read:–

“Anyway... have

checked back through what folks could do for August and

dates between 25th and 29th seem favourable. However, it

is bank holiday weekend and my Phil has also booked

something up for us during the week. So, I think I may

have to bow out.

Jo.. as it is you who has been missing for much

of the time, perhaps you could organise this, so you get to

see someone!? At the time of request Pam, Maggie, Alison

and yourself could do the dates; Lynn would need to know

pretty quickly.

So having been asked by HJ to organise something for August I found a window on the 30^th and 31^st August. Lynn couldn’t do Thursday as she looks after the grandchildren so Pam, Lynn, Maggie, Alison and I decided to meet up at the Gate Inn car park at Tansley at 10.45 for a walk around Lumsdale. - A short hike up hill and then downhill all the way back to the pub in time for lunch.

The morning had started with rain but had cleared by the time we arrived and the forecast was OK. We waited for Pam until 11.10 and then set off up the Knoll towards the top of the hill leaving her a message to join us when she arrived.

Unfortunately there were not many trees to shelter under when the heavens opened and literally threw buckets of water at us.

Lynn discovered that her coat was not waterproof and Alison was feeling under the weather with shingles

With wet underwear and rain seeping through to the skin we decided to go back and dry off at the pub. Luckily Lynn had a change of clothes from the night before.

The drains coping with a mini hurricane Harvey.

Was the downpour anything to do with lucky 13 ??

the little house whose garden was full of mischievous little people and woodland folk?

Thankfully the pub allowed us in and we ordered coffees to warm and comfort us. Some of us would have preferred one of the exotic gins on display. Lynn appeared knowledgeable and recited poetry about Opihr Gin by John Masefield with star anise! Rumour has it that It’s at a good price at Tesco but you have to ask for it from out the back! Prohibition or moonshine?

Still no Pam and Jo’s mobile needed charging so no message either despite it being nearly time for lunch. Also no more photos! We ordered at 1.00pm according to the correct time on the schedule.

As the jackets potatoes were reported to be “still in the oven and rock hard – won’t be ready for another hour” (after everyone has finished their lunch!) we ordered delicious alternatives on a variety of different platters following modern trends of food presentation.

We had a hearty discussion about the new Bake Off programme on Channel 4. It’s gonna be OK! But the ads are annoying (Editor's choice.... record it and skip through ads; or skip through the whole thing altogether!)

Bird count:

As there were no birds out and about in the storm we resorted to birds that each of us had seen that morning at home:

Alison was very lucky to see a wren, a chaffinch, a robin, a great tit, a blue tit, a coal tit, a dunnock (not a sparrow) and a collared dove while eating breakfast. And also wins first prize for holding down 5 paper rounds during the school holidays when 7 out of 8 boys were away.

Lynn saw a jackdaw and heard something singing sweetly at 5.00am while her granddaughter climbed all over her and woke her up.

Maggie saw none and Jo didn’t either. Hopeless! We thought about going to the garden centre and looking for budgies, canaries and finches but then thought that was taking birding far too seriously.

The two Helen’s missed a treat of a day – one visiting sunnier climes; the other, as it turned out an uninvited babe, being billy-no-mates in the dry, at home!

Pam got in touch later to apologise for not getting there: Car trouble, which could turn out to be expensive to fix. We missed you Pam. Hope the car is OK.

We are all looking forward to seeing everyone going to see Bess at the theatre in September. Not so bad if it rains when you are indoors.

Tuesday, 1 August 2017

Teversal Treats

28^th July 2017

Making the best of the weather forecast and avoiding all roads leading to Biggin…well, Y Not? The Helens and Betty met at Teversal car park for the first walk of the day. We had planned to have a quiet stroll but excitement was just around the corner and we spied our very first GB snake!

The Teversal Treat

Luckily, Betty was far too interested in sticks ‘n’ stuff so the Helens cracked on and no more wildlife was seen. A pit-stop at the café and a quick google confirmed our suspicions that the snake was perfectly ‘armless.

Meeting up with Alison and Lynn at the Carnarvon Arms, with the rain re-starting, it was clearly obvious to everyone that the only place to have lunch was outside. Whilst waiting for our sharing platters to arrive, the rolling out of birthday present exchanges continued and it can now be revealed that Helen M’s drawers smell sweetly of roses.

The hot heads!

We didn’t have a heated discussion but there was a lot to talk about. Helen M has acquired a second home which might be handy for a Bolt-on trip for the babes. Although the site is family only, it is lucky that Helen is blessed with having many sisters!

Having properly and fully retired, Alison, now wondering how to make ends meet has taken on a newspaper round. Double shifts over two weeks should be just enough to get by. If she had become the local postie and adopted the local cat-in-the-road, she might have developed her own TV show. A pity someone got there first.

Other snippets included the laughs and lows of looking after cared ones, the thrill (or not) of walking on glass platforms high above the ground and the latest gin flavours…. Anyone for lavender? Or, smells of the Galician coast?

With the weather not looking good, Lynn bade us farewell and the rest of us set off in convoy following the blue van, arriving for our walk around the Row Ponds at Hardwick

Betty, pondering whether to risk a paw in the water

Undeterred by the rain, we found our second snake of the day

But, luckily Pegasus had got there first

And, this was when we realised that a serious error of judgement had been made by yours truly. Binoculars left in the car! Argghh! But, at least that meant we could see anything we like. Although lapwings are close to being placed on the endangered species list, courtesy of a curious incident with a blue van; at least we heard a water rail….

Well, there was a bit of squealing coming from inside …

Moving swiftly on, we found plenty of other things to entertain us…

Betty’s hide ‘n’ seek skills are definitely improving

A pity this can’t be said for some of the babes…

Wildlife list so far….

The youngest at play

Surely, not more ‘goings on’ by the lake?

Some jokes just grate, don’t they?!

With a little checking to see whether we were in the right place;

We’re sort of round here…

At least we could see some blue sky

Honest, gov….

We soon found ourselves near a curious little place , complete with hideout, a wire cage and a bit of 1900’s history: a duck decoy lake.

A very drake place (get it?) for mallards and wigeon

So, we honked the horn and frightened them all away…

quacking good fun

And before heading home, we stopped off for a well earned coffee at the Hardwick Inn, admiring the very, very, well behaved dog in the garden.

And, despite not having any binoculars with us, we did see a few birds…

black headed gull

blackbird

canada geese

chaffinch

collared dove*

coot

crow

great crested grebe

grey heron

grey wagtail

magpie

mallard

moorhen

mute swan

nuthatch

robin

spotted flycatcher**

swallow

treecreeper

woodpigeon

wren

21 in total. * is first for the year. ** A GB first! 56 for the year. 93 since records began.

Saturday, 20 May 2017

Chatsworth Chatterings

Chatsworth

18th May 2017

After three days of monsoon weather the day dawned bright and sunny and we had a plan! Sadly Lynn, Alison and Jo were unable to join us but undaunted two intrepid Helens and Betty arrived at Chatsworth farm shop for coffee in the sun shine and a good chat whilst waiting for Pam to arrive.

Quite a view to go with our coffee

After a minor delay Pam joined us for coffee and we did a quick rethink of the original plan as Maggie had forgotten quite how long invigorating can take! After a good catch up and fortifying Pam with coconut flapjack and with our new plan and timetable in place we headed to the car park at Calton Lees to meet up with Maggie.

Raring to go - well Betty is - where's your waterproof Pam?

Having spotted a nuthatch before we even left the car park we knew it would be a good walk! We set of on our new route following the track up from Calton Lees with lovely views, lots of lambs and some very desirable properties and gardens to lust after. Lots of travel stories from everyone to catch up on and at last Maggie has seen the benefits of being able to travel when the ferries aren't heaving with people!

Nice place but shame about the garden!

Not quite as tasty as a muddy puddle

What's that coming over the hill - is it a monster?

I've heard that human people pay a lot of money for these treatments

When we got to the top of the hill we were almost defeated by a massive gate and an even massiver stile but a very nice man and his dog came to our rescue. More lovely views and sheep to drive Betty mad - she can't understand why she isn't allowed to play with them especially as the lambs are just about the right size.

Down through the beautiful parkland heading towards Endsor and refreshments

Little and large

A spot of retail therapy?

Cheers!

We were able to sit outside the café in Endsor in the sunshine for oatcakes and a seemingly bottomless teapot and more chat on many wide ranging subjects; holiday plans, Mrs May and Mr Corbyn, weddings, mayoral inaugurations and the joys of retirement to name but a few.