With David at Quiz night at the White Lion in Heptonstall

Trying a hand at weaving

Dressing up in the Piece Hall, Halifax

Heading for the gibbett

Hhhalifax town hall

Loom loom cafe Dean Clough Mill

Getting ready for turning on th Christmas lights in Hebden

Fireworks over my apartment 

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Hebden junior band

Ghost in my photo!

We changed the clocks during the night, so we all had an extra hour in bed this morning. I awake to a beautiful sunny day but I knew that would mean it would be chilly outside. I’ve just worked out that because my central heating thermostat is mobile I can put on the heat in the morning without getting out of bed as long as I remember to put it on my bedside table in the evening. My living room is looking very cheerful with the new plants I just bought from the garden centre. 

A quick trip to the market to see what was going on in town before the first annual Halloween festival got underway. Not sure I go for these fudge flavours.

I chatted to this lady for a while. this is broomstick knitting!

Stoodley Pike from Heptonstall

Kitty guarding the stocks in the village where my Wrigley and Nutton  ancestors were from

View from the Methodist chapel where John Wesley preached

The eye of the tree

Ruined church at sunset

Thirty two years ago – really?

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My laptop came back from the fix-it shop yesterday. 38 viruses had been removed. so much for Macs being virus-free. I’d been without it for just over a week so maybe you can imagine my frustration!

I went to Halifax to find a quilting store and called in at the Piece Hall for tea – just in time to sit in the courtyard and watch Nature’s amazing display. Then I was ready to begin my quilt project.

I always used to make a quilt at important junctures in my life. I’ve been wanting to work on a Doors quilt for a few years so now I’ve begun. It has even more significance for me because of all the doors that are current opening for me after my big move. It’s also particularly appropriate since my apartment was a former sewing room above the owner’s dwelling.

A red admiral butterfly feasting on the late blooming ivy by the Rochdale Canal

My first evening out to the city – in this instance Leeds. It was a balmy evening and the centre of Leeds was filled with people, dressed up to the nines,  eating and drinking at outdoor tables. The concert, by the BBC Philharmonic was in the historic Town Hall whose centre piece is an amazing organ, floodlit in neon blue, though it wasn’t in use for this particular concert. This is the building where the finals of the Leeds International Piano Competition are held. I was able to sit in my favorite vantage point – behind the orchestra. The conductor was Finnish and he produced a masterful Sibelius 5. The concerto was Grieg’s piano concerto performed by a Norwegian.

A fancy schmancy dinner at a  Burnley Spa with new-found friends

Yesterday’s 9 mile hike started and ended at my apartment. I’m still in awe that i can walk to these places from my living room. This hike was steep in places, made slippery by fallen leaves, but it brought into focus the lives of those people who climbed up and down these steps in the dark going to and from work in the mills on the rivers. The stone steps have been worn away by their clogs. This mill is Jumble Hole (honestly, that was its name!)

Well, diary,  it’s been a week since I left a message. Blame it on technology! I’ve been without my laptop for a week so I’ve not been able to write. Should be getting it back tomorrow with all 38 viruses removed!

Reflections

One of the joys of living in the very centre of Hebden Bridge is that when I step outside my apartment I find myself in the very centre of the hustle and bustle of the town and unexpected things can happen. Take this morning, for instance. I needed to go to the Post Office to purchase some stamps. Unlike yesterday when we had torrential rain until tea-time it was clear, but since the post office is only across the street – less than three minutes walk – I put on my sandals and off I went. Imagine my perturbation when I found men in high visibility jackets painting the door and a sign saying ‘Closed for Two Weeks.’ I mean – it’s the town’s only post office and the only place to purchase international stamps. ‘Where’s the nearest one?’ I asked. ‘Mytholmroyd.’ OK, it’s only a mile and a half’s walk along the canal. It’s incredibly liberating to be faced with such a decision. I mean, I hadn’t got anything else planned for this morning! I wondered if I should go back home and change into boots but basically I couldn’t be bothered, so off I set, to the accompanying choir of mallards and geese. Puddle-jumping certainly increased the excitement of the walk and once in the village I had to ask for directions to the Post Office, but everything got done that needed to be done.

Rather than walk back I thought I’d get the train. I passed by the church and on an impulse decided to try the door. Someone had told me it was worth taking a look inside. I was somewhat taken aback when the door opened and someone called, “Yawreet?” It was immediately obvious that major renovation work was taking place and none other than the vicar was there to show me round. I was invited to the rededication on November 5th. ‘With or without fireworks?’ I inquired. The church was severely damaged  in the Boxing day floods of 2015. This week the organ has been removed for renovation and they have installed a little portative one that needs to be mic’d. I was also told that the carol service is lovely. In 1922 the whole chancel was decorated in mosaic and the carol service is by candle light bringing out the glittering gold glass fragments. Back to Hebden on the train. It takes 5 minutes and I noticed that it was  market day. I took a quick glance around buying Brussel sprouts, Spring onions and garlic but I was very tempted by the Mexican and Indian food trucks.

After lunch I went to Cafe Culture at the Town Hall. A guest speaker was giving a talk with musical accompaniment about the roll of the music hall and variety shows during the 1st and 2nd World Wars. From what I could gather most of the attendees had come in a bus from Age UK – perhaps that’s a nursing home. One man in a powered wheelchair was complaining light heartedly that the bus had left him but he’d beaten it to the venue! Filled was ‘daft’ jokes which are apparently typical of Yorkshire humour, while Liverpool jokes are ‘witty’ , the guest serenaded us with banjo, ukelele and mandola (a Spanish mandolin).

Doing a George Fornby song

Arriving home I unpacked my iron that I’d bought in Halifax yesterday. It’s tiny – and it doesn’t have a handle. Still, it should do for quilting. I ironed all the fabric scraps that I had picked up at the Rag Fair on Saturday and am eager to begin my Doors project. Then I set about trying to figure out how to record myself on my keyboard – using a Sequencer. Consulting an online manual is not my strong point but I was quite thrilled when I actually recoded myself playing my ‘Andorran Landscape.’

When I got home yesterday there was a huge flowering plant sitting on my doormat and a couple of bags containing plates and cooking dishes. Anne had stopped by and left them for me. Lovely!