The Iron Men – Reprised

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Christine Lucas

Two weeks ago I blogged about taking Riley to Crosby Beach and Sir Anthony Gormley’s Another Place. You can read the first installment here.

This May bank holiday Monday dawned wet and miserable, (as is usually the norm!) I did not want to stay stuck indoors at home, however warm I would be. I wanted to have an adventure, getting wet and sandy would be par of the course!

Another Place, Crosby

I managed to get David to agree on another trip to Crosby Beach, even if it was drizzling. Riley was excited to tag along! Indeed he was sitting at the front door waiting for me to come and collect him! 🙂

The journey to Crosby Beach, and the coastguard car park took 30 minutes from Liverpool. I thought the journey would never end. Poor Riley get’s car sick and it was something I was hoping to prevent.

Finally we arrived under a grey leaden sky. The tide was out but the rain showered down like arrows! We paid £1 for two hours. It seems all the car parks are pay and display now.

The car park is only a stones throw from the beach and it was not long before Riley’s lead was off and we were running across the wet sand, throwing the ball for Riley to chase.

We got soaked to the skin, Riley even more! Let’s just say we had to give him a bath afterwards!

Riley

Another Place

The figures of Sir Anthony Gormely’s Another Place were even more atmospheric in poor light and bad weather. Somehow they looked wistful.

I took my GoPro along with me and filmed Riley having fun. Below is a montage, I hope you enjoy!

I’m sure another trip will be on the cards in future!

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

12 Hours of Day #5

Posted on April 23, 2017 by Christine Lucas

Sharon from Sunshine and Celandines messaged me on Friday informing me that this Saturday was another Photo an Hour. Though I had nothing planned, I thought it would be good for you to see into an ordinary day of mine. So here goes! 🙂

Photo and Hour – 22nd April 2017

8am to 10am:

Most of my Saturday’s start at 8am. Today was no different. I crawled out of bed sleepy eyed and had breakfast with Artie sitting at the bottom of the bed, with wonderful spring sunshine streaming through the bedroom window.

Morning light

Dressed for the day

After breakfast I got dressed and put my ‘face’ on for the day ahead.

10am to 11am:

Saturday is shopping day, so David, mum and I headed towards Asda, or in Liverpool it’s ‘the’ Asda! :p The alarm for the hour sounded when we were heading into the frozen section of the supermarket, so we turned and smiled for the camera! Cheese!!

10 to 11

11am to 1pm:

Since the sun was shining, (though it was cold), David and I decided to take Riley to another local park, Sefton Park. We walked around the boating lake and played fetch on a field full of daisies and dandelions. 🙂

Riley

Selfie!

1pm to 2pm:

We arrived home for lunch at 1pm. I sat down with a Tassimo Costa coffee, the last of the hot cross buns and the final chapters of Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See.

Lunch

David’s curry base

2pm to 3pm:

While I took to doing some housework, David started preparing the ingredients for his curry base. He’s cooking Sunday’s dinner, so I left him to it! 😀

3pm to 5pm:

While dinner cooked I pottered about the yarden. I enjoyed listening to the buzz of two bees visiting the lithodora and red campion. Both were hairy-footed flower bee’s, the cream one is a male and the black is a female.

Male Hairy-footed Flower Bee

Female Hairy-footed Flower Bee

5pm to 7pm:

Saturday’s dinner was a Quorn Sausage and Lentil Cassoulet. I adapted the recipe from Donal Skehan. I used red lentils instead of puy lentils, perhaps I should have used green? Halfway through the meal I gasped, ‘I’ve forgotten to take a photo.’ So I apologise for the half eaten picture of the meal.

Quorn Sausage and Lentil Cassoulet

Artie

6pm’s photo comes courtesy of David. I was upstairs doing something or other. When I came down, David said, ‘there’s a new picture taken for the hour.’ I scrolled through the gallery and there was a picture of Artie, David had taken. Though Artie doesn’t look that enamoured :p

7pm to 8pm:

My last photo of the day. With the sun setting, I pour myself a glass of pinot, David switches his PS4 on. An evening of Classic FM and reading is ahead.

Evening’s entertainment

Thanks to Janey and Louisa for setting up the challenge.

How did you spend today’s photo an hour?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

A Walk on the Beach

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Christine Lucas

For the last day of the long Easter weekend, the weather didn’t bode well. We awoke to more rain. However, David and I decided to head out anyway. We took a 50 minute drive to Formby Point. In the back seat of the car was Riley who doesn’t like long journeys. We got to the car park with no hiccup and walked through the squirrel woodland towards the dunes and the beach beyond.

Squirrel Forest

Which way should we go?

David and Riley

At the beach we let Riley off the lead and played fetch with his favourite toy. We all had so much fun and it didn’t rain!

Riley

Jump!

Chase!

Christine and Riley

Before we left the beach for the car, we witnessed a wonderful show of nature. A starling murmuration billowed over the waters edge. It was amazing to watch!

Starling murmuration

Sadly its back to work tomorrow, but it’s days off like this that make the commute worth it. Roll on the next holiday!

How have you spent your Easter break?

Thanks for stopping by,

Christine, David and Riley x

A Walk in the Park

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Christine Lucas

David and I took Riley on an hour long walk around Liverpool’s Calderstones Park. The park is named after six neolithic stones that were once part of a megalithic tomb. You can still see some of the spiraled designs etched by ancient hands on the sandstone.

Calderstones

Our 2.4 mile walk also passed the Allerton Oak, which is an estimated 1,000 year old oak tree!

Allerton Oak

During the course of the walk, David and I enjoyed looking for signs of spring, while Riley had a much needed run! I’ll finish with a gallery of pictures for you to enjoy.