Catching up at Cromford

 Catching up at Cromford

14th August 2024

Amazingly some of us managed to find a day when we all had gaps in our busy summer schedules to get together for lunch and a catch-up.

Alison, Lynn, Pam, Jo, Maggie and Helen M bagged an outside table at the very busy cafe and settled down for a couple of hours of discussing recent holidays and putting the world to rights. 

Notable subjects up for discussion included: Olympics withdrawal and how we have all become experts in a variety of niche sports, the merits of going grey and the benefits of purple shampoo, the demands of grandchildren and nineteen year old cats, the horrors of airports and flying and the joys of being able to go on holiday when it isn’t school holidays, Maggie entertained us with a very intents story which proved that adult children are still children and we pondered the mystery of how the internet can read our minds!

We saw a kingfisher - well, those of us facing the right direction did and we were entertained by some young moorhens.

Someone forgot to take any photographs so here’s one from a previous occasion, wrong Helen and let’s imagine it was taken before Lynn arrived!

Someone did remember to take a photograph to be included though.

All the way from Edinburgh.

We didn’t go for a walk as we only had a two hour time slot before we had to get back for various reasons: grandparent duties, vet visits and an afternoon nap for those who had to get up at 4am.

And those of you who were there you will be pleased to see that the brachyglottis sunshine is already looking much happier.

Kedleston Cafe and Walk

 

Crikey it's hot in Kedleston

9th May 2024

What a scorcher of a day! Perfect for refreshments outside and no wasps. 

Good to have so many of us together; some haven't seen each other for eleven months! We must do better  was the general agreement but as we continue to be so busy, we just have to keep our fingers crossed. Welcome to Bob too. lovely of you to join us.  A good substitute for all the absent babes. 

                                  

Lots of catching up to do but we still managed to return to our old favourites.  We need to be careful when booking our holidays to try and support the local economy by eating out. A bit difficult on a cruise made harder by not being able to sneak a wine box or two on board. 

We chatted about how to stay healthy.  Apparently Statins are an absolute must.  A show of hands showed 5 on vs 2 not on!  And those young influencers? Who knew that cottage cheese without pineapple could be so tasty and good for you! But most of us are 'old skool'.. if it looks and smells ok, the furry stuff is cut off, and the egg test works, who cares about whether it's out of date or not. Well, Julia might.... 

I've forgotten the one we talked about the most... umm... it'll come to me in a minute.  Haha! 

Julia and Bob needed to escape to bathe in Bath.  Hope they get the right one.

Charlotte laid claim to needing to leave too... but , perhaps she just needed a different chair. 

So, the Croots crew (last blog, remembe?r) set off .. 

                                                         

Our sauciest moment up to this point.  

We wondered what awaited us! 

Ahh, perhaps they meant the wild garlic: a bit of an aphrodisiac so I've heard. 

Mmm.. take in that smell!

The walk needed to be brisk so that we could get back for lunch, so hardly any birding time.  However, I revealed a bit of a short cut.  Merlin the bird app, reveals all sorts of birds if it listens properly.  No good if everyone is chatting though or the birds are distant.  Good to get the Blackcap properly identified.  Nuthatch didn't need the app but it did try a bit of hide and seek. The app'll keep Pam entertained for a bit. 

We did the long walk, with a quick burst up to the Splash Pool and then along the river before a spot of lunch indoors, so we could cool off! 

So, were any of our absent babes having decent weather too?  Blue skies suggest some were. 

Jo reporting from Wiltshire

Where's the Westbury White Horse gone?

There he is.. have a piece of apple xx

Helen M reporting from Lake Como

Yesterday's view

Today's view!

Being photo bombed by a sculpture at Villa Carlotta. 

I think we all need a bit of cool down now in the Splash Pool! 

 

Bird list for the day.  Mostly seen, some App ID

Canada geese

Jackdaw

Greylag

Mute Swan

Oystercatchers screeching around

House Martin

Swallow

Green Woodpecker (distant call)

Chaffinch

Blackbird

Mistle thrush

Robin

Blackcap (with app)

Dunnock (with app)

Chiffchaff

Great tit

Blue tit

Wren

Song thrush (with app)

Tufted duck

Great crested grebe

Coot

and a black Kite from Italy! 

Mini March Meetings

The first Mini March meeting

Thursday 21st March

With so much going on in our lives, it was difficult to get all of us together, so two mini-meetings were arranged... and then an unexepected treat!  The first cohort: Maggie, Alison, Pam and Helen J met at Croots for a long, lazy brunch. 

Our first deep discussion was about the state of some of our husbands (yes, more than one is getting his money's worth!)  What a carry on!  Thank goodness for quick thinking rapid responses, particularly from our NHS whether on or off duty and a nerve wracking drive in a vehicle one never wished to be behind the wheel of!   Clearly wishing our men folk good speedy recovery and the relevant babes a huge amount of hugs of comfort and sanity. Plus, we weren't entirely sure that the wearing of an overly tight sports bra causing sore nips and a tight chest needed quite the same attention,  but we shared the pain. 

The table is too wide! 

There is an upside to learning when to visit the Royal.  Even if you've managed to get into a car park, finding the recently vacated space can be tricky.  A weekly pass at £11, shared amongst family seems better than hourly rates.  Or, better still, go late afternoon and watch which barriers are permanently up; car park 5 seemed a good bet. 

Whilst on the subject of cars, we chatted about the highlights of driving the latest  computer on wheels , additional insurances which apparently don't include a roof slate  dropping  through a roof and cars which shout 'pot-hole ahead'... just don't swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid it though! 

What a lovely little mover....

And then the hot topic and dreaded mention of smart meters.  Alison can't get a signal with Octopus, not enough limbs or something, so she can't get her grid cash-back.  Helen has an asbestos board so is waiting for the government to cough up a new grant. And Maggie just dreams about having a smart one so she can practise being an even better domestic goddess. 

We covered the usual topics and have decided that the only places not to go on holiday are those where there is gangland culture... probably best stick to Yorkshire then! 

Maggie, stop posing, look at the state of the fields! Urgghh! 

The grass is always greener on the other side! 

The second, unexpected treat took place Tuesday 26th. Janice door- stepped Lynn and  tried to recruit her on a bikeability course, I believe! This would mean Lynn could join all those bikers who drop into the Whitworth tea rooms, if she had the right kit of course. I think I'm close to the truth, eh  Lynn and Janice? 

And so to the very select breakaway meet up on Wednesday 27th

Jo, Julia and Helen M met at a rainy Cromford Wharf at the allotted time of 1pm, planning for lunch and a short walk - needless to say the walk never happened as the two hour lunch brought us to the end of our parking period (and it was a bit grey and uninspiring!)

The café was very busy with people sheltering from the slightly inclement weather but we found a table in our usual spot and settled down for a good catch up.

Smile please

Perfect!

Once we got over the disappointment of having missed the bargain price for soup and a cheese scone on Tuesday we grudgingly dipped into our purses. Soup was off the menu for Julia who has an aversion to coriander - the soup was however light on coriander and heavy on carrot so might have been palatable.

There was certainly a lot to catch up on, skiing trips and all their skiing and non skiing related incidents - but all improved by an Aperol Spritz, trips to Majorca and Wales and Avocets at Slimbridge or was it the Idle Valley….

Future holiday plans were shared and Jo and Julia did their very best sales pitches extolling the virtues of cruising - it seems you don’t have to dress up, go to shows, talk to people you don’t really want to talk to and that you do get more than an hour in the places en route.

Grumpy husbands and their ailments were also a subject for discussion, the ailments may have been dealt with but the worry is that grumpiness is incurable!

Sorry Julia it looks good but some of us are full of soup - take it home for Bob!

With our parking time expired we said our goodbyes.

Carsington January 24

 Carsington not cancelled! 

11th January 2024

Having cancelled Carsington in December (owing to extremely windy weather), we rearranged for a chilly, but dry January. The plan was sent out in advance, as one does, but travel arrangements were hastily rearranged when Jo realised she would be arriving at the crack of dawn! Helen M forgot to send her message to Helen J who, by the time she received it, was actually back home. Don't we just love the dodgy signals up there! 

So, the only person completely in tune with what was going on was Pam.  Except.... she'd forgotten her binoculars and Jo had forgotten her flask. Luckily I was prepared and they both were furnished with the appropriate items. 

As I started to say, Pam was on form and gained the first bird of the day; a robin.  We headed towards the Visitor Centre bird hide and stopped to admire a pair of brightly coloured bullfinch.  The arrow on the sign pointing to the exact spot where they were flitting about.  At this point I realised my camera was in Jo's car boot.  Jo kindly popped back to get it and missed the nuthatch.  Ooops... 

Imagine the bullfinch please....

Jo takes a fabulous shot of the bird hide showing blue sky, but there was a lowish drizzle across the water which made it difficult for good views of birds not right infront of us. However, we bagged a lot of great crested and little grebes, mallards, and jackdaws doing strange things on the bird feeders. 

Notice how high the water is.  No hosepipe ban later on then? Hmmm

Wonder how the tufted duck got its name?! 

There was a teal in here somewhere.

Because we'd faffed about a bit, we decided to head towards Stone Island rather than take a longer walk. 

We've seen all these already!

Time to move on

We looked at a mound of mud which is dutifully signposted as a 'barrow'.  In fact it is the Hognaston Bronze Age Barrow, obviously named because all the plants around it are a lovely wintry bronzy sort of colour.  

Pam impersonating a 'michelin' woman! 

We arrive at Janet Ede hide and I immediately regretted not collecting the promised telescope. But by the time we'd managed to open the windows, with the catches carefully designed to be out of reach, the possible Great Northern Diver had dived.  A later check with my new chums from the Derbyshire Birders fb private group, confirmed that the GND had been around early in the morning, in that exact spot! If only we'd all been up at the crack of dawn... ho hum, another time.

It might have looked like this!

By this time, Helen M had worked out where we were and came with news of Lynn's absence.  It was quite fitting that very early on we had talked about post-menopausal-waterworks-coming-of-age problems but were saddened to learn that Lynn's issue cannot be fixed by a few 'tena ladies' and crossed legs! Hope the de-humidifiers work Lynn and that we see you soon. 

Various combinations of carrot and parsnip soup, cheese scones and bacon butties filled our rumbling tummies and Julia arrived as we all settled into our hot drinks. Our main topics of conversation were about the etiquette of being a good grandparent, missing conversation in a second language (hope that's not going to be a future GB special day!) and the scarily developing technologies in cars ( but we did agree that if you need glasses to drive, they need to be worn!).  When our usual topics cropped up, we briefly thought about Janice and Alison on slippery slopes and Charlotte in the sun.

Talking and listening!

Most of the group decided it was time to get home, leaving me to try for a few more birds but I only heard about ones we'd missed.. why do birders do that?! I did find a couple of butterflies though.

Terrifying!! 

28 birds to start us off for the year.  Hope that's a good omen.

black headed gulls

blackbird

blue tit

bullfinch (colourful bird of the day)

canada geese

coot

cormorant

crow

dunnock

goldfinch

great crested grebe

house sparrow

jackdaw

little grebe

long tailed tit

magpie

mallard

moorhen

nuthatch

oystercatcher (HM)

redshank (flying near Stone Island)

pheasant

pochard

robin

teal

tufted duck

woodpigeon

wren

Christmas 2023

 Christmas cards and Charity 2023

🤶🤶🤶🤶🤶

'Tis that time of year again when some teachers prove they can't read or follow a simple set of instructions. Haha! But, I've worked around everyone's funny little ways and we have our blog. Yay! The cards are in order of when I saw them, either in WhatsApp (well done) or in my email (ooops). 

👑👑👑👑👑

Charlotte

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and hoping that the World becomes a more peaceful place in 2024. Much love Charlotte and Ian. Xxx

My chosen charity is still supporting Satyam and Sofia through their education here. Sofia has been with us 6 years now. She is 18 and studying A level Art, History and Spanish. Satyam is nearly 17. We have supported him for 4 years. He is in Year 11 and just chosen his A levels: Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry. 

🐑🐑🐏🐑🐑

Helen

Happy Christmas to all with love from Helen and Mike and Betty.

xxx

I have struggled to decide on a charity this year as there are so many deserving causes in these troubled times. I continue to support Mind throughout the year in memory of Andrew, but for Christmas I have decided on Crisis and Betty has sponsored a guide dog puppy!

🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮

Alison

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. 

Love from Alison. Xx

My charity this year is The Smile Train. It operates in less developed countries on children with cleft palates, giving them the opportunity to live a normal life. 

🏂🏂🏂🏂🏂

Helen

Here's to lots of lovely meet ups and good turn outs in 2024! Love Helen xxx

My chosen charities this year are UNHCR as they continue to support refugees who return to their homeland in need of start up funds and UK refugees in need of help to navigate all the red tape. Plus, closer to home, the Teenage Cancer Trust for their support of teenagers affected by parents living with cancer. 

🐪🐫🐪🐫🐪

Maggie

Wishing all the Gellybabes a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

With love from Maggie x

I have made a donation this year to the International Rescue Committee who are providing food and medical supplies to families in Gaza and other areas of conflict around the world.

🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁

Pam

Warm wishes to all the GB friends for the Festive Season. Looking forward to the meet ups in 2024. 

This year I have contributed to SHELTER as there are so many desperate people without suitable homes and a crisis with homelessness. 

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Julia

Happy Christmas to you all! Hoping to see more of you in 2024 and looking forward to our Christmas get together. Much love,  Julia xx

This year my Christmas donation has gone to MSF because of the medical assistance they provide around the world. 

🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

Lynn 

 To my dear friends, with love at Christmas time. 

And my donation this year will be to Ashgate Hospice xx

❄❄❄❄❄

Jo

To the Gellybabes. Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Looking forward to getting together in 2024. Love from Jo xx

My charity is The Children's Society. 

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

We've done it again.  It has been hard to choose which charities to support as there is so much need across the UK and world wide.  Here's to a more peaceful year in 2024.

🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

🎇🎇🎇🎇🎇

Time ticks by...

 A gathering of good memories

8th November 2023

Our November meet up was a gathering of good memories of a dear colleague, Mike, aka Mick Law.  Six Gelly babes, three 'other halves' and a host of past Gell staff, ex-students, family and friends met at the rather damp and windy crematorium near Aston-on-Trent to send Mike on his way. 

It was a beautiful service, arranged by Biker Mike, who should give himself a pat on the back! We didn't learn much more about him than we already knew: a loving, calm, gentle man (in its truest sense).We all have different memories of him but will all remember his rather charming smile.  In fact the only thing we learnt, was how he was known to work colleagues as Mike, but to family as Mick.  Blame Mike North (who?), apparently!

Afterwards we descended to the Clock Warehouse in Shardlow for further chat, meeting family, a warm up and a snack on a very wobbly table. There was some head-scratching about the history of the place and which canal we were viewing.  A quick geography lesson proved someone was right! 

Trip to Liverpool anyone? 

Now, for those of you not present (and we did think of you all), apart from a bit of cropping, spot the difference in the photos!

Bit more fuzzy??? 

Having obliged us with taking our photos so we didn't have to do a selfie, Bob showed us how to properly pose.

No sideways glances here! 

Then Chris had a go with the 

hands-in-pocket look.

After lots of laughter and failing to find the dark grey safety tip from my brooch, lost on the tarmac, we bid farewell and wished for a full turn out in December. 

But, before we close, let's return to the start of the day.  As we entered the chapel, we were each given an acorn by Mike's grand-daughter.  Mike didn't feel there are enough oak trees around and asked for each of us to plant or drop one somewhere. 

So here's to Mike's legacy:  from one tiny acorn, may a huge oak be born.