Minute Weekend Update

I felt a little under the weather over the last couple of days and so I skipped the picnic yesterday in favour of one today. All the better for it, as the sky was then gray and low, while today it was clear and happiness-inducing and very autumn-like. Dunham Massey was positively heaving with people and when that is the case, deer are usually nowhere to be found. But once we set up our camp under a tree by the pond, one lone little darling wandered over and seemed to enjoy all of the ooohing and aaahing that ensued. And apart from the ghastly spider that I caught crawling up my shoulder and that I flicked into nothingness after I burst its eardrums with an earth-opening shriek, I really enjoyed myself too.

Birthday

I always feel a little sad as my birthday trickles into the evening. They don’t last half as long as they should birthdays, that’s what I think. I always try to remedy the problem by telling myself: ‘It’s my birthday month’, every time I am about to do something I normally wouldn’t. So for the entire September, I buy more books, more make-up, more candles, more flowers, more food, more magazines, just more, more of everything I come across because it’s my birthday month and I should have one long celebration that continues until the very end. It has worked really well for all these years but hasn’t managed to remove the sting I feel at about 8 pm on the day itself, when I sigh to myself and think that another year has begun and I wonder what it will bring and when and how and if?

Today I spent the day in two places, Dunham Massey and Quarry Bank Mill. I often go to the Massey but always with my dogs, which means I visited the gated gardens and mansion for the first time today. And I had a fantastic time. Every time I visit one such property I lose all track of time as I walk through the magnificent, still rooms and wonder what the people who lived there were like, and what they hoped for themselves and what they did every day as they woke up and saw that gigantic canopy all the way to the ceiling. Weren’t they afraid of spiders nestling in the folds of the fabric? I suppose staff must have kept everything super-clean every day, no spiders for them. I couldn’t take pics inside the house but I urge you to go if you’re local or find yourself around these parts. As you can see below, the weather was pleasant enough, with blue sky and a breeze making it all the more pleasant.





It wasn’t to be at the Mill though. After lunch, which consisted of a birthday cake I made myself (a truffle cake if you must know, which means chocolate, cream, Golden Syrup and nothing else),



we headed to Quarry Bank but it was lashing down already and thank God we were only doing the tour of the Mill anyway. There too, no pics, and I cannot begin to tell you how annoying I found it. It’s not every day that you get to see ancient looms still in operation, I surely would love to have captured the moment. I have noticed, however, that photography is possible, provided it is arranged before your visit. And that’s what I am going to do next time; I will ask to be allowed to take some snaps for some project I am doing and that will also give me an excuse to buy a decent camera. It’s my birthday month after all.

Visiting the mill was beyond fascinating. Cutting my fabrics for my home projects will never be the same again now that I have seen how they are constructed. However, walking through the partly dingy rooms filled me with a certain sadness as well. To think of those people, and lots of small children too, crammed in there, working to an ear-splitting noise every day made me feel uneasy and not that happy after all. But it was a speck on an otherwise great birthday. Oh and did I mention that I received a pair of fabo Prada shoes from my parents and then had pizza in the evening? Well, it doesn’t get better than that people.

Deary Me

The weather last weekend was a bit of a freak accident. I can rarely go around parks in a pair of riding pants and a strapless top, I can tell you. Today I added a couple of t-shirts and a jacket but it was still a total wash-out for the entire duration of our walk back to the car. Not in the beginning though, when we managed to come across the lovely deer and take a few snaps too.