The beautiful North-West

I grew up here, so I sometimes take for granted how accessible beautiful countryside is. My grandparents house (where I spent my childhood weekends) is literally on the edge of the West Pennine moors. In the summer, I used to walk with my Grandad, usually in the golden hour before sunset. We'd take the dog and wander onto the moors, and watch the sun set. So for me, the countryside, the rolling hills, the greenery it's "normal". I sometimes forget how lucky I am to live here, in the North West of England, were "the countryside" is literally minutes away.

However, every now and then, I remember.....usually when we drive for 5 minutes and I'm confronted with views like this:

Happy Tuesday!

C
xx

Adventure weekend

Well, we've been busy this weekend. It started on Friday when I got home from work and demanded that we go for a walk in the sunshine. I mean look how beautiful Entwhistle is.....

Then on Saturday we went fishing. The original plan was that I was going to read for my PhD, but I picked up the wrong pile of articles and ended up just lazing in the sunshine instead. It was such a hardship!

Apparently fish enjoy sunbathing too, because they were all swimming close to the surface. Which meant it was a tough day for the boys, Cassius caught the only fish of the day..

This morning we loaded up the car and headed to Fell foot park, on Windemere. It was gorgeous again, and we decided to take a boat out on the water. I took the risky decision to bring my camera, so glad I did.....

Gary being all manly.

And Spider-Cas!!! ;)

And one last picture, because it shows how handsome my son is...

Hope everyone had as good a weekend as we did!

C

xxxx

A New Addition

Today we had a party at my Gran's house for Cassius's birthday. It was also the first time I had met the newest addition to the family - baby Frankie.......so obviously we took our cameras.

Meet Frankie

He was so good whilst his Auntie Claire mauled with him taking his picture.

And of course I couldn't resist a picture of those teeny tiny baby feet.

We had a fun day, Cassius enjoyed his party. And I enjoyed my first newborn shoot. ;-)

C

xxx

Spring!!

Gary and I had a lovely day out today in the sunshine, and I just had to share these few shots. Spring is most certainly here!! 

Happy weekend!

C

xx

Fun in the Snow!! ;)

As you probably already know, it snowed quite a lot on Friday night. When we got up on Saturday there was a fair few inches on the ground, perfect snow for sledging and snowball fights. It wasn't long before Cassius was out in it with his friends. And of course I followed with my camera......

I got this shot in a quiet moment, when they were, briefly, all in the same spot.

 

Obviously though, the stillness did not last long!

Little B had wandered off, and when I spotted him hiding in the bushes, with that light...

             

Snowball fights are fun, but sledging is where it's really at.....

             

 

Of course, sledges don't come with brakes... ;)

T proved to be much better at controlling a sledge, perhaps the added responsibility of having her little brother on board helped....

Never wanting to be outdone by the kids, the parents got in on the sledging action...

And then, obviously they had to have a snowball fight too...

It was a fun break from my marking, and thanks to the whole "don't get the camera" excuse, I managed to avoid all of the snowballs. ;)

Have a great Christmas!

C

xxx

The Haunted Manor House

OK, so some of you may know that I (Claire) have been temporarily working in an admin job. After just two weeks, I remembered why I gave up work and went to uni. Office work SUCKS!! I mean no offence by that statement, it's just I seem to no longer be able to fit into an office situation. I've had far too much freedom, for way too long, to be able to go back to that. Anyway, that's not the point of this post.... So the other day was a Halloween theme day in the office, and we were asked to decorate a cake or biscuit and bring it to work for a competition. After first ranting that this was silly and I'm not a six year old child, I remembered that in fact I AM a six year old at times, and decided that I wanted to do the BESTEST CAKE EVER!!!!!!!

Of course at this point it was 8pm the night before and I had absolutely NO CLUE what to do, and was standing in the baking isle of the supermarket, about to go into full six year old meltdown, with screaming and stamping feet and everything!!

At this point the wonderful, amazing and even more childish Gary took over, the result was the Haunted Manor House - what do you think?

I didn't win the competition, but we enjoyed the decorating, and it gave a few of the people I was working with a laugh. So in my opinion it was a success. ;)

Enjoy your weekend

C
xx

Bye-Bye Boo

When I woke up this morning all was right with the world. But within an hour nothing was.

You see, our dog Archie, has had arthritis for a few years now. Last winter he was bad, and he never fully recovered over the summer. Yesterday he was in pain and off his food. This morning he couldn't even get up. Gaz and I took the painful decision to take him to the vet and have him put to sleep. Put to sleep, just writing that is making me cry.

Archie was the best dog anyone could ever ask for. He was sweet and loving and loyal. He was also impulsive, kinda dumb and pain in the bum at times. But you could never stay mad with him for long. He'd turn those big brown eyes on you and you're heart would melt. EVERYONE loved Archie, the groomer almost cried today when we told her, he even managed to make the vet fall in love with him in the short time he was there. He had this way of being that made everyone who met him smile. Those of you who did meet him, know what I'm talking about. For those that never got to meet him I feel sorry, you missed out.

We have our happy memories of him, the times he played ball with Cassius when Cas was little. Archie NEVER gave back the ball, you had to catch him for it. I remember watching a four year old Cas desperately chase Archie round the yard at the farm. Archie would wait until Cas was within reaching distance and then run to the other end of the yard. Exuding a stupid happy grin, and Ner ner ner attitude.

For me and Gaz there are those times we were home alone with him. When he just wanted to be near you, would be happy just to sit beside us whilst we did whatever we had to. He was a happy dog, and a dog that made us happy.

Now the house feels empty, pulling up in the car outside and not seeing his big fluffy head in the window or hearing his excited bark........ that HURTS. I think it will for a while.

All that is left to say is - Bye-bye Boobear. We love you very much, and things will never be the same without you. Run free........