Yesterday we were in church for my eldest grandson's First Holy Communion






















For tomorrow we shall be here!

See you all in two weeks time :-D

Labels: Holidays, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 9:22 AM 25 Comments

JACK IS BACK!!!!!

Jack, a Red-Collared Lorikeet and member of my dear friend Anon's clan has gone walkabout over in the land down under.

A full description of Jack and his last sighting can be found over on
Bird Anonymous.

Wherever you are in the world please keep this little guy in your hearts and fingers crossed for his safe return.

We miss you Jack and Anon is doing everything she can to find you!

Labels: Anon, Jack

Posted by Miladysa at 8:20 AM 15 Comments

Labels: Ricky Hatton

Posted by Miladysa at 11:08 PM 10 Comments

Packer or Church Steps


I ventured into the nearest town today and paid a visit to Packer Steps pictured above. During her schooldays my mother would run up and down these steps at least four times a day on her way to and from school. At that time, as perhaps to some extent today, the steps were the link between two worlds, the higher and lower parts of the town.

I can remember making the journey to the top of the steps as a child while my mother told me what it was like to have to make the same journey in the winter months while the wind snapped at exposed fingers, legs and ears. I would listen closely fascinated by her tales and the smooth grooves that countless footsteps had etched in the stones. My imagination ran wild with visions of colourful characters who had travelled that way before me.

During my visit to the steps today, one day less than thirty one years since her death, I saw my mother standing at the foot of them, her silk headscarf was blowing in the gentle breeze and her pale blue eyes twinkled with memories.



















St. Chads Church


The steps first appear in historical records dated 1660, the church above was built in 1100 so they are probably much older than that.

For those prepared to tempt fate there is an easier way to reach the church, the leisurely route pictured above. This alternative route is considered unlucky by some and I for one have never attempted it not because I am superstitious but because my cousins used to frighten me with tales of a 'monkey man' who supposedly once lived in the tree tops. To this day I can not look at those trees without thinking he is in there somewhere watching me.

William Robertson wrote about Packer Steps and St. Chads church in 1876:

"The mother church of the parish is of great antiquity, and stands on a commanding eminence, the ascent to which is by a flight of 124 steps. The church was erected in the 12th century, and has undergone various changes, alterations, and renovations. The local legend is, that the site of the church was, in point of fact, the place chosen by spirits and fairies for the purpose. On several occasions, as the story relates, the materials brought together for the erection of the church, on an entirely different site, were removed from the place originally selected to the hill or eminence on which St. Chad's stands. That this removal was the work of superhuman agency, was the firm belief of our forefathers in those far-distant days; and we should be sorry to do or say anything which could in the remotest manner interfere with this time-hallowed belief, which has been handed down to us, and which, with vast numbers among us, is received with the greatest deference and respect.

The site ultimately adopted, under such supernatural pressure, led, of course, to the formation of the celebrated church steps; to ascend which is always considered a necessary piece of work to be performed by all visitors to our good old town. To come to Rochdale and not mount the steps is considered a breach of good manners, as well as a serious deprivation of a very agreeable exercise. The steps, in fact, are among our most cherished possessions; and they form a most important thoroughfare, with which it would be very unwise to intermeddle to the great prejudice of the inhabitants."

I have told their story to my children and grandchildren, now you know it too.

Labels: Lancashire, Miladysa, Photographs

Posted by Miladysa at 4:10 PM 20 Comments

Something came over me and I entered this competition which is being run by Nathan Bransford a literary agent with Curtis Brown.

End of play is today at 5PM Pacific Time.

Best get your skates on!

Labels: Competition, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 8:20 PM 14 Comments

Sidney tagged me with the Quirky Tag the other day, I am supposed to list the rules of the Tag along with six personal quirks and then tag six people. Here goes:

* I have a rebellious streak - hence I am not listing the rules of this tag or tagging anybody :-D

* I enjoy ironing.

* Shoes and make-up do not and never have rocked my boat.

* I never wear a wristwatch. Any watch I have worn in the past - whether conventional or battery powered ceased to work within a few hours of my wearing it.

* It is claimed that the females on the maternal side of my family are cursed. As a child I made a decision to take after my paternal side of the family.

* When I hold coins in my hand I can taste them. I avoid handling coppers as much as possible.



Travis Erwin introduced me to The Women of Mystery and their most enjoyable Two For Tuesday Ritual. Participants list two sentences they have read and two sentences they have written.

Two I have read:

"The drought-stricken Louisiana town of Bristol Springs was turning into a living grave."

Night Brothers by Sidney Williams my Quirky tagger above.

"I can't give up on the feeling of your cue ball smashing midnight into morning"

Space to Forgive by the amazing RRN

"His beauty astonished her but it was his eyes that captivated what was left of her sanity."

A Second Longer

"At other times, especially in the cold of winter, when frost coated the ground and the nights crept in early there was a part of her that was certain if time could be replayed she was still capable of giving up her soul to him."

Bound to the Earth

Labels: Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 9:43 AM 19 Comments

Unicorn

















Church


















Pub and Lane

















Field

















Trees


















Sprog and Dog




Thief

Labels: Lancashire, Miladysa, Photographs

Posted by Miladysa at 1:06 PM 23 Comments

Happy frolics in the trees
Squirrels swinging in the breeze
Creatures exchanging pleasantries
In an English country garden

How do you imagine life for the inhabitants of an English country garden? Something like the ditty above? Introducing the reality.

Meet our prime suspect Sammy Squirrel:


How do you find him? Innocent or guilty?
***BREAKING NEWS... SAMMY IS INNOCENT
THE THIEF HAS BEEN CAUGHT IN THE ACT***



Meet Prince Glutton aka Mickey Magpie:


You will be amazed at the cliffhanger ending!


His Royal Highness Caspar Crow:


Keep your eyes peeled, not all the action takes place on the roof.

Labels: Lancashire, Miladysa, Wildlife

Posted by Miladysa at 11:53 PM 19 Comments

Q. What do we all have in common?

A. We are all human.

Q. Are some of us less human than others?

A. NO!

Q. Then why are some of us deprived of our Human Rights?

A.

No, I can't fathom it out either.

May 15th - Bloggers Unite for Human Rights

Q. Will you join us?

A.

Labels: Bloggers Unite, Human Rights, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 10:21 AM 16 Comments

I like to leave offerings to the birds and creatures that visit our garden, everyone is welcome as long as they respect one another. Mr Sparks is partial to having a quick word in the ear of any feline guest who may be considering breaking certain of the house rules.

Over the years we have had various unexpected visitors amongst the regular birds, squirrels, bats, dogs and cats. Sheep often stray down from the moor, foxes venture from the dell and I have even been lucky enough to see a badger in the wee small hours.

In the past few weeks or so something a little out of the ordinary has started to happen, items have been disappearing. The items in question are 'seed and fat balls' which the birds dine upon daily. Usually, the balls remain in place for several days at least. Not so recently, they have been disappearing whole over night and by whole I mean literally that including the net encasing them!

It took a little while for events to dawn on me and when I eventually realised what was happening I tried to get a little canny with the positioning of the balls, our culprit was not even fazed!

Last week we came up with the cracking idea of hanging the feed downwards from the horseshoe on the roof line of the garden shed - bound to do the trick right? Wrong, come morning the whole ruddy thing had vanished.

On Friday I thought I had it sussed, I arrived home from the market with a super sized ball - try legging it with that, pal! I thought. The super ball was hung from the horseshoe and guess what? Come Saturday morning the whole ruddy thing had disappeared, not a single crumb or fraction of netting on the flags beneath or upon the roof above! Now, whatever is taking these must be a pretty strong character to say the least.

It is not in my nature to cease placing the treats outside to solve the problem, I am curious as to who or what our nocturnal visitor is and being the kind of person I am that curiosity shall be satisfied. Last night we positioned an infrared covert camera at the shed in question, whatever moved out there would be caught on disc for us to identify Sunday morning.

Well, this morning the ball was still in place although there was evidence that the ball had been tampered with and a culprit had been caught in the act. Is this our thief or are others involved? What do you think?

I have also posted a short video clip of the birdsong in our garden. Apologies for the sound quality, for some reason my small digital camera seems to be picking up and exaggerating background noise. Please let me know if you recognise any members of our garden choir.

More of our feathered friends can be found in the company of Anon, Melissa and Lana.

Labels: Birdsong, Lancashire, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 11:21 AM 29 Comments

Flagstone ~ Noun
A flat slab of hard stone for paving [Old Norse flaga slab]
Collins Essential English Dictionary

Labels: Lancashire, Miladysa, Photographs

Posted by Miladysa at 5:08 PM 21 Comments

Keshi had this tag on her blog and I thought it would be a fun one to do and it was!

Earlier today I decided that these songs world make a great soundtrack if they were ever to make a film of my life. Of course, being the kind of person I am I would probably have a completely different one for tomorrow's version!

Hope you enjoy the music!


Opening credits: Look of Love – Dusty Springfield

Waking up: Song 2 - Blur

Average day: Step On – Happy Mondays

First date: Song For Whoever – Beautiful South

Falling in love: When a Man Loves a Woman – Percy Sledge

Love scene: Fall At Your Feet – Crowded House

Fight scene: Move On – David Jordan

Breaking up: Goodbye My Lover – James Blunt

Getting back together: Who Am I – Will Young

Secret love: I Don’t Want To Talk About It – Rod Stewart

Life’s OK: Beautiful Ones - Suede

Mental breakdown: Valerie – Amy Winehouse

Driving: Cigarettes and Alcohol - Oasis

Learning a lesson: Cryin - Aerosmith

Deep thought: Vienna - Ultravox

Flashback: Love Is All Around Me – Wet Wet Wet

Partying: Cum On Feel The Noize - Slade

Happy dance: Relight My Fire – Take That

Regretting: Non, Je Nes Regret Rein – Edith Piaff

Long night alone: Miss You Nights – Sir Cliff Richard

Death scene: Life’s a Gas – Marc Bolan

Closing credits: Caruso – Andrea Bocelli

Labels: Miladysa, Music

Posted by Miladysa at 1:58 PM 16 Comments

Anon was all of a flutter when she read about our recent crow invasion and I promised to post a photograph of a rookery close by. The rookery has quite a bit of fame locally due to its age, historical records report that there has been a rookery in the same area for close to 800 years. Each year, local bird watchers like to count the number of nests, I believe that there were 27 last year.

This is an artist's drawing of the local Hall from 1618, in the 18th century the building shown here was replaced by a much grander version, you can see a photograph of the present building here. Those of you who are familiar with the RoYds series of posts may recognise this building as the inspiration for Haltham Hall, the home of Mabel Theawicke. On the right hand side of the drawing you can just make out the trees which house the rookery today and on the left the moors above our home.














After I returned from the rookery I decided to take this photograph looking from our home towards the cottages beyond. Admittedly there is a lot of hedge but I just love the way the rooftops and chimneys are peaking above.

















And for Melissa, a view 'over the hedge' from an upstairs window :-D

















Finally I took this photograph from our doorstep looking towards the moorland above.

Labels: Lancashire, Miladysa, Photographs

Posted by Miladysa at 11:00 AM 20 Comments

"If this was anywhere else in the country, it’d already be a tourist attraction."

Stones On The Moor
Photograph by Sean Hansford



It is not as though it was my intention to take a break from blogging, far from it but then, life has a way of ensuring that good intentions go astray often at the least expected moments. There has been so much going on and in my mind worthy of a post and yet at the same time there has been so little opportunity to actually sit down and write one!

The village and surrounding towns have been buzzing with the news that they have found a stone circle up on the moors which is believed to be fully intact and at least as old as Stonehenge. The fact that local people knew about the stones is never mentioned in the newspapers only that an archaeologist on holiday was traipsing across the moors when to his utter amazement he stumbled upon the stones and could not believe his eyes. English Heritage was brought in to confirm his findings and now it is official.

Well blow me down with a feather! Who would have thought it? I suppose the fact that one of the stones has been regarded as a fertility stone by local women since anyone can be remember will be overlooked and no doubt other local folklore also?

"people who think they know everything really piss off those of us who do! ;)" Wolfie

Labels: Lancashire, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 10:30 AM 22 Comments