Another one over

I think its safe now to think about taking the decorations down, such as they were.  Despite the inspirational stately home visits, in the penthouse it was mainly greenery and candles with of course cards everywhere.  
Before you ask, yes the £5 stocking rule still applies though this year Mr FF failed miserably and ended up buying me a couple of magazines which even as an offer exceeded the budget.  I of course did brilliantly, knitted him a hat with a couple of balls of pure Falklands wool I'd found for less than £1, a book about Pompeii £1, a British made leather belt that he liked very much from the charity shop £1.99 and stuck for something to spend the last pound on I gave him a big bag of savoury snacks, normally food and drink are not allowed, snacks were this time.  Job done.
We had a calm quiet time with the nicest walks ,Mr FF out with his groups, or just he and I wandering round the town and over the river,  gazing at the really  expensive houses or sometimes up onto the moor.  New Years day there was the traditional plunge into the baths at White Wells, we walked up to see people taking part and shivering a lot.  There is a little video here from the Yorkshire Post taken this year, you get the idea of how horrible it is, by mid day when we arrived the water was filthy and 4 degrees, but Yorkshire folk, you know.
In a few days we are heading back to Scotland, sadly for the funeral of one of Mr FF's walking friends who had been ill for some time.   Afterwards we are staying a couple of days with Pam and Andrew in the village where we lived.  It will be the first time I have been back since we moved to the penthouse.  
I hope you had a wonderful time, that normality is returning and that 2020 is everything you want it to be.  Happy New Year.

The festivities go on

Having so late in life discovered the pleasure of excessive stately home Christmas decorations yesterday we visited Harewood House which is not so far from the penthouse.  We met up with our friends Roger and Christine, started with coffee and chat then took a walk round the beautiful grounds, I am not a fan of formal gardens but for some reason I loved this one.  

The parkland is glorious, we walked round the lake through the Himalayan garden then took the little ferry back across the lake to the bird garden, which I felt was unnecessary and rather depressing, I am not a fan of captive creatures in small spaces.

The decorations in the house were not as opulent as Castle Howard, obviously everything was on a much a smaller scale and there were a lot of animations that I didn't particularly enjoy, talking statues that kind of thing, which involved the rooms being quite dark.  We need to go back again at a normal time of year to see the property fully.  

Fortunately I did see the painting of Seymour Worsley, the Scandalous Lady W.  If you haven't seen this BBC film you must watch it.  I watched it in 2015, have been waiting ever since to see the portrait, now I need to see the film again.

The below stairs part of the tour was delightful, you could just imagine the hot and steamy work involved to prepare elaborate meals.  There were a lot of cupboard doors that could be opened to reveal beautiful glassware, china, pots and pans. I came away thinking that I too probably need about 4 dozen individual size cut glass decanters.

And no library, there are 3 in Harewood House, should be complete without a Christmas tree of books.
This weekend we will travel to my brothers for the Santa drop and to attend the carol service in the village where he and I were born.  Another Christmas, another year almost over, I hope you have a happy and peaceful time.

Christmas at the Castle

We are just back from a couple of nights staying with friends in North Yorkshire.  They had been to visit us while we were in Lazio and wanted to give us a treat as a thank you, and what a treat it was.  They took us to see the festive decorations at Castle Howard.  We started with coffee, then a tour of the house gazing upon the decked out bedrooms, study, the long gallery, dining rooms, a massive tree under the dome, it was fantastic which coming from someone who is always so bah humbug about Christmas is praise indeed.  We had lunch, took a walk round the beautiful parkland and the walled garden, it was a bright sunny day and everything looked as it should under blue skies.  We left at dusk just as the trees along the drive were coming on, it was beautiful though my photographs probably don't do it justice.

Oddly I came home quite inspired to make the penthouse feel festive.   I am currently sourcing battery candles, for safety, and these two red birds came home from Castle Howard, they've settled in well on the minimalist tree we put up in our hall.  71 and suddenly there seems to be a turn around, it may not last. 

A new family member

Whilst we were driving through France on Armistice Day we were blissfully unaware that our youngest niece was giving birth to her first baby.  We didn't know until we were home the next day that baby Isla 7 lbs 1 oz has arrived safely on 11.11.2019.  She and Mum were in hospital for almost a week as baby was jaundiced but after they settled in at home we visited.  Isla is adorable of course and while we were there very well behaved, apparently the nights are not quite so calm and daddy when he came home from his first day back at work was looking more than tired.
I quickly knitted up a little gift for the baby in a lovely soft cashmere and silk yarn.    I've used this pattern many times, its something for when she is a bit bigger.   I love knitting for children and have plenty of plans, fortunately she has other great aunts who knit and crochet so Isla will know the delights of hand made garments and already has hats and blankets.
Isla is welcomed into a large extended family with grandparents, great aunts and uncles, aunts and uncles, cousins and half cousins who all live within an hour or so.  She will be loved and treasured.  Our other grand nieces Amelia and Esme were quick to visit and apparently delighted though the younger, aged 8, was a bit apparently rather disappointed the baby didn't actually do anything.    
On the other side of life we have had a couple of deaths here in our building since our return, one sudden and quick the other after a long illness.  It makes me very aware of the passing of time, things move on, new lives take over and suddenly here I am the older generation.  We all get our turn and its up to us to make the best of it.  I had an letter this week from friends in Canada who had settled into retirement, only for the husband to be offered a fantastic job that suits him well, brings in a great wage and has turned their lives around, they plan big celebrations this Christmas.
So after a couple of weeks back we are rested, settled and getting out and about.  Next week we are staying with friends for a few days, today Mr FF is out with his walking group.  Have a good weekend doing whatever makes you happy. 

Armistice Day

We left Lazio around 7 on Sunday morning for the long drive home and made it into France that evening.  Monday was a national holiday in France to mark the Armistice, an agreement to end the fighting of the First World War as a prelude to peace negotiations, begun at 11 am on the 11 day of the 11 month in 1918.  
We agreed that we would stop at the appropriate time for the 2 minute silence and fortunately found it convenient to do so in a small town in the Alsace where we watched the formal and respectful ceremony that involved lighting a flame beside the town war memorial, the laying of wreaths and much singing of the national anthem by a choir of school children.   It was very moving and for some reason my thoughts turned to our very different journey home last year when the yellow jacket protesters blocked our route and went on over many weeks to cause disruption and riot in Paris defacing buildings, damaging property and looting shops in their own capital city.  Today it seems there is much to complain about in such a hostile way, I wonder how it felt to be a 15 year old boy leaving the UK to go off to die in battle in a foreign country.  
Before we checked into our hotel later that day we took a detour to Arras, the site of a national war memorial designed by Edwin Lutyens that has etched into its stones the names of nearly 35,000 UK and commonwealth soldiers who were declared missing as well as 2670 graves in the beautifully maintained cemetery beside the memorial.   

As well as the official wreaths from the town mayor, the war graves commission and the like,  many ordinary people from all over the world had been to pay their respects.  Family of the fallen, generations who never knew the soldiers but knew of them, left poppies and flowers and notes of thanks.  I was touched to see someone had left a poppy for both their grandfather and the grandfather's brother, they had died together.   I'm glad we too found the time to pay our respects.

Their name liveth for evermore

Done

That’s it for another year.  Mr FF has finished walling the vegetable garden, no escape next year for the tomatoes and hopefully no access for the porcupine once the netting is in place, yes of course he’s made provision for fence posts.   His work is done.

We had several days of torrential rain that kept us indoors, more is forecast soon and we decided it was time to leave.  Of course the weather picked up again once we were set on home but really it’s time to go, winter is coming.
I’ve been moving my terrace pots, planting some of the contents in the garden, hoping others might survive the winter in a sheltered spot.  I’ve collected up the solar lights to put in the cellar though hoping for a final dazzling display as they wait in a bucket on the terrace.

I’ve sorted my homeward travel knitting, made a list of things I need to bring out next year, the arrangements are all going well but my goodness it’s depressing.   Let’s not think about cats and goodbyes and several days of travel, let’s be grateful for a wonderful summer, a beautiful home and happy hot exhausting days, it’s been perfect.

More cats

A family of four kittens and a mother arrived at Anna’s house at the bottom of our road in the summer.  Anna fed them until she disappeared to Rome for a few weeks, we’d have been more than willing to take over for her but she didn’t tell us she was going.  The cats moved up to Giovanni’s house and again were fed until he went back to Rome for three weeks again without a word.  So three of them pitched up here and were obviously starving.  Foraging under our outside table for crumbs and huddling pathetically at the back door did the trick, I started feeding them, firstly down at Anna’s in the hope they’d stay there but now on our terrace as they have definitely moved here.

The larger grey is a younger version of Grigio

They are waiting here every morning at the terrace door and sleeping in the feeder house. Enrico is fine with them, he comes from a similar background, but Grigio isn't so pleased and likes to box the kitties ears now and again.  There are two grey and one grey and white, the littlest isn’t in great condition, a bit too thin, but the other two are well and now allowing me to touch them.
We told Mario there are at least five cats here now hoping he would understand the feeder will need regular top ups when we leave.  He just said five was too many, he needs to tell that to the people of the village who allow their cats to breed so profusely.  It’s hard enough leaving Grigio and Enrico to exist over winter, now it’s a much bigger problem.  None of the five are greedy with food and none are aggressive but there is always the worry that other strays will get wise to the feeder and come regularly, it could become very competitive.  We never know what’s happening to the cats when we are in the UK, when we came back this year the opening to the feeder house wasn’t even up against the wall so despite Mr FF’s careful design any large animal could get to the food and probably did.
I am at the miserable stage now of knowing we will be leaving soon, ready to be back in the UK, not wanting to leave the cats and knowing there will be several months of worry and concern about them.