November

Babes being Babes

Friday 13th November 2020

It may have been business as near usual for the Whitworth cafe, our original destination, but normal business for a group meet up was curtailed by the latest lockdown.  So to play absolutely safe, obeying all advice and the law, we stayed at home amusing ourselves with a Lockdown Two task.

Lockdown Task Two was to find a photo of when we were young.  After some scrabbling around in the spare room, looking under the bed, the wardrobe or even up in the loft, Babes as babes emerged. The challenge is to work out who is who. They are sort of in youngest to oldest order... but I could be wrong!

Babe #1

Sitting pretty in her pram, surrounded by her siblings and mother, 

this one clearly enjoys being  centre stage! Taken in Salisbury by Great Aunt Rose.

Babe #2

.  Sitting high. Maybe building a future for herself,  or has she just drunk a lot of juice 

and stacked the beakers up, neatly tidying up after herself?

Babe #3

Proof she exists.  An original babe. 

No air brushing then, but of course she doesn't need it!

Babe#4

These two have discovered something of interest in their new garden.  

The babe in the barrow, doesn't appear to be having 'wheelie' good fun.  

Babe #5

 

Clearly enjoying a ride on Morecambe beach with her nana. 

I won't give the date away, 'cos that would make it too easy but the sepia-look may! 

Babe #6

This one loves to keep herself occupied, even whilst having a photo taken.  

Looks like she's been disturbed whilst having fun playing in the garden.

 

Babe#7

Honest dad, I really don't know who has eaten all the chocolate!

Babe# 8

A flower fairy in the garden.  Isn't she 'posying' beautifully.  

Wonder how long the white gloves stayed clean? 

    

Babe #9

Scrambling around in the outdoors, an early indication of her hardy prowess.. and she's not even wearing any shoes! 

Babe #10

 

Taken on Aunt May's new kodak camera.  Aunt May was an original influencer and also taught this babe to knit and crochet.  This babe's hidden talents have resurfaced over the last few months! 

YOUR SECOND TASK!!!

So, who is who?  Send your answers secretly to me and I will reveal the winning line-up very soon!

👶

The Continuation of Covid Capers at Carsington

 Carsington Cafe

14th October 2020

With some of us unable to meet last week, a second October meet up was arranged.  Same setting, slightly different venue, slightly different babes, slightly different weather! We missed Helen who was braving the east coast, Jo doing a lot of cuddling, and Alison and Maggie has probably been called up to accompany an emergency humanities field trip... as if!

Staff at the restaurant were wonderful and allowed us one table outside and one inside, so we tried out both, because under the latest restrictions, we still can. 

 

Charlotte proved to be better at group selfies than Helen

We all had to sign in.  Some of us chose the NHS app; others, the old-fashioned way

I'm sure Lynn was sticking her tongue out concentrating!

Our outside chat was largely catching up on when we all thought we may have had Covid but none of us are sure but that darn flu has had several different lasting effects. 

Whilst the sun lasted, so did we, but then it went in and so did we!

Same view from inside and outside! 

Masks, wearing glasses and going back inside do not go well together.  Indoors was a bit foggy!

Julia asked a very interesting question and Charlotte answered.  We now know a lot about 'hosting' students from around the world and the peculiarities of managing this through a global pandemic! It was fascinating and hats off (not masks off) to you Charlotte, you've been very brave!

 

Charlotte in full flow! 

Pam discovered what a swiss ball is and perhaps in the future, we could all have a go on whoever has managed to pump theirs up!  Then as Charlotte was hot-lunching, she suddenly disappeared in whirl.  Hope you found your elegant scarf? 

So, we chatted about Les' extraordinary collection of vehicles and 'stuff'  and are secretly hoping for a ride in the fire engine before it gets sold!

With time pressing, because none of us could pinpoint the exact second we arrived in the car park, we battled with the queue at the pay-on-exit machine hoping that we weren't going to be charged a full day; we didn't!  

We blew kisses behind masks and reminded ourselves that we meet in Whitworth in November.

 Oh, we do love to be beside the seaside...

Saltburn looking good Helen M! 

Bird watching was abandoned in favour of chatting but we did add to last week's count of 21 with 

whooshy sparrows. 

buzzard

crow

which brings this year's total to a measly 48 with a running total of 103.  Maybe some winter visiting birds next. 

An addition later in the week... wonder who will notice? 

Covid Capers at Carsington

Carsington 

October 8th 2020

As the grey clouds and rain cleared six intrepid babes and two very excited dogs followed  Jo’s instructions and gathered at the Sheepwash Car Park, social distancing was very carefully observed. Unfortunately Lynn and Helen J weren’t able to make it but at least that meant that we didn’t have the problem of walking in relay teams to keep to the rule of six.

Betty and Bob were very disappointed that Eddie wasn’t able to join us but then he is only a pupppy and might not have been able to keep up so perhaps he will make it next time.

We made the decision to set off walking and see how far we got, there was much to catch up on as we hadn’t managed to meet for some time, no foreign travel tales to tell but lots of explorations of various corners of our own fair island to share.

No one felt important enough to occupy the big chair or was it just that they weren’t certain how recently it had been sanitised!

The pace setters seemed determined that Betty and Bob shouldn’t always have pole position and of course humans don’t have to stop and sniff stuff and leave their scent at regular intervals.

A stop for elevenses was a good opportunity to remove layers and bobble hats as things had warmed up considerably. This was the point of no return and we had to make the decision whether to turn round or complete the circuit, feeling full of beans we voted to carry on.

Bob seems to be taking social distancing extremely seriously - he could certainly teach Betty a few lessons!

Spot the birds - we had to keep reminding ourselves that we had been set the task of a good haul of birds for our bird list - if only some of us could be bothered to get our binoculars out of our backpacks! At least some of our feathered friends are easy to spot with the naked eye, although perhaps Julia needs to make a return to Specsavers after she posed the question ‘are those people or birds?’ 

We were also careful to follow the advice of a friendly twitcher and watch out for migrants - hopefully he was referring to the feathers types.

Thankfully we had Maggie’s flask to help us identify any birds that we were unsure about. Although Jo took cheating to another level and shamelessly chatted up all the birders that she came across.

After almost losing Pam at the visitor’s centre we made it back to our starting point for a late lunch, much to the relief of Alison who is a firm believer that lunch should be eaten at midday.

 Maggie was a little worried that she might have to jog to make her rendezvous with Chris but we all stepped out and we’re back in good time but no sign of a white Skoda!

Please can I have a bit of your sandwich.... hard to resist that face!

Here is our bird list for the day:

Mallard

Canada geese 

Greylag geese

Great crested grebe

Tufted duck

Robin

Magpie

Coot

Moorhen

Pochard

Black headed gull

Black swan

Cormorant

Jackdaw

Bluetit

Little egret

Common gull

Lesser black backed gull

Mute swan

Siskin

Pied wagtail

Chiffchaff

Black cap

Bird of the day is the black swan.

A lovely day was had by all and really good to be able to catch up with everyone. (Hopefully  Maggie isn’t still waiting for her lift home!)

Wettish Wirksworth Wanderings

We've Mist Each Other

8th July 2020

The rules and weather kept changing, so a last minute decision was made by Pam, leader of the pack for today.  Helen J and Jo met at Pam's for a quickish tour of their lockdown garden which has produced enough space for a new shed and a chance for Pam to try out willow basket making in the winter months. Setting off down the path, a cheery chap waved us off.

Wonder if he would like his beard fettled too? 

Pam chose the direct path up the hill, through fields of meadow brown butterflies until we could hear Julia, Maggie and Alison who had been instructed to meet us by an old landslide in Little Bolehill by a very pretty cottage. 

It was a bit difficult to tell who had recently been to the hairdressers as three were wearing hats, but it can be revealed, although she didn't, that Julia is sporting the latest trend, 

the bobble hat hair cut! 

To help unload the weight from our rucksacks, a few birthday presents were exchanged.  Some of us were not entirely sure it helped keep the weight off our backs but in one of the presents, this fact might have been helpful a few months ago:

Leading the way with her trusty stick (well at this stage it was), Pam led us up the lane towards some bucolic (not bubonic) views

Socially distanced sheep

I love to kick ass!

At this point, we had all been very good about keeping 2m apart but as we hadn't received the wisdom from the other Dales, we sometimes found it a bit of a challenge

Can't do it, 'cos we haven't got 9 red squirrels to show us how

So, we did our best until we were distracted by a rather lovely wildflower bombed verge which tested our knowledge and Helen J's latest plant app.  However, it can now be revealed that we saw a lot of red poppies, pink corncockle and a family member of the Brassicaceae....

probably a white honesty... so the app says!, not the phlox, pox or stocks.

A difficult decision was then needed.  Whether to continue up to Alport Heights-in-the-mist or have lunch.

Decision made.  It's that way.

Through yet another narrow gap without touching anything!

Each with our own lunch and a log or wall perfect for resting our flasks, we discussed the challenges of shopping safely, sourcing plastic-free goods but safe in the knowledge that our current clothes will come back in fashion at some point.

However, Jo, is still a little hazy about rules for taking a group photograph during a pandemic. So here they are:  Do not ask for someone else's camera. Do not ask the farmer to take a photo. But she gets there in the end.

This is not a selfie, this is a pile of logs

This is a selfie with a different pile of logs.

This is a group photo without Jo but on Jo's phone!

We spent so much time laughing that we decided to give Alport Heights a miss and set off down yet another very muddy path..  Fleet-of-foot Alison shows us how to get downhill and stay dry whilst three of us end up with soggy bottoms, but only one of us landed on one...

a graceful recovery, but not sure about the trusty stick now.

Jo demonstrates another way to avoid having soggy bottoms.  Just tuck your trews into your socks!

Fungi supper... again!

A familiar view comes into play as we zig-zag down the cattle-trodden fields to the relative safety of a narrow lane. 

Where it all began...

Then the delights of Gorsey Bank, a complete discovery for some of us!

A conversion into one house!

A place to converse, or even, convert.

And finally, we are on the flat checking up on whether are any signs of life beyond the fence. Pam looks wistful and misses Julia's impersonation of a bear.

Grr... no Pam, you don't need to help out anymore!

At this point we get a full update on the state of Alison's thumb. Whilst it is a lovely shade of goth black it will hopefully be sorted  by the time she gets to ski next year. The rest of us are not thinking of travelling quite so far and mobile units are back on the agenda, or perhaps we should let the train take the strain. 

Ooh... look where this train is going! 

And whilst we are on the topic of Wales...

Wet here too!

And through Jane's window

Another lovely  garden.

Meanwhile over in Staffs.  Not entirely sure who this little flower was, the app was applied and it turns out she is not recognisable at all.  She's bloomin' lovely though and what

a lovely set of cushions!

Up North, in the other Dales, where the weather looked a bit kinder.

Guess which one has had her locks lopped!

And in another type of Dale...

Dry indoors having a lovely grandma kind of day.

Awww...

26 birds for the day (Wirksworth take note!)  Thank goodness we didn’t specify which Dales the birds needed to be from.  Well done Helen M… you are bird of the day

blackbirds (2)

blue tit

canada geese

chaffinch

chicken

chiffchaff

coal tit

crow (2)

curlew

goldfinch (2)

great tit

greenfinch

house martin

longtailed tit

magpie

mallards

mistle thrush

nuthatch

oystercatcher

pied wagtail

red kites

robin

song thrush

swallows (2)

swifts

wren (2)