Ravendale House

Watching the news these days can be a very depressing business. Sometimes you just want something to make you smile, and to that end I share with you this cute little picture that I came upon the other day.

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There’s nothing we like better than an interesting ‘project’ to get stuck into. Over the years we’ve embarked on many, but perhaps as a result of getting old or just becoming more discerning, we haven’t had a good project on the go for a while.

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On Saturday we did something we’ve never done before, we went on board a Royal Navy minesweeper. HMS Grimsby was visiting her adopted port for the weekend and was open to the public between 11am and 3pm. As that is only half an hour down the road from here, we thought we’d have a look.

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When I was growing up in Halifax back in the 1960’s our house had a solid fuel fire with a fire-back boiler. I don’t know if such things even exist these days, but anyway, one day the fire-back boiler burst and water came flooding into the dining room.

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The last 10 days have been ferociously cold, with snow and ice thrown in for good measure. I’ve been doing my best to keep the birds well fed, and have also had a new feline visitor, though I’ve only actually seen him that one time.

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I once tried to explain to my dad, who must have been in his late 80’s at the time, what the Internet was. I likened it to the biggest library in the world, that had every book ever written, or the biggest encyclopedia in the world, that contained every fact known to man, and all of it just a ‘click’ away at your fingertips. Whether he really understood I don’t know.

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I’ve always been a huge fan of the Antiques Roadshow, I suppose we all harbour dreams of finding a valuable heirloom in the attic, but if we can’t find one ourselves, how nice it is to watch and share in the good fortune of others.

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It occurred to me the other day that in all my ramblings I’ve only ever written about ivy in passing, and I think it probably deserves a post of it’s own. It’s simple really, my advice on ivy would be, “Don’t do it!”

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Yesterday was a pretty normal day for the beginning of January, dull, cold and very, very, windy. At 11.50pm I was in the bathroom getting ready for bed.

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The next best thing to a heartwarming story to start the New Year, is having a good old clear out of drawers and cupboards. And so with that in mind I’ve spent the last few days delving into the darkest recesses of sideboards, kitchen cupboards and the like. Let’s face it I’m hardly going to do any gardening, it’s been blowing a gale here.

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