Catching up with Whitby

A rough sea in March

Whitby is another part of my life, family lives there for the moment, though now are going through the rigours of house sales and surveyors, and I can see my poor daughter on the edge of her nerves. The children will  be breaking up today, and they all go to Todmorden to see the schools they may attend.  There is a birthday reminder for Ben in my email, and my son's birthday has just gone as well, everyone spread out on this tiny island of ours, and I miss the birthday parties, chocolate cakes are the ones mostly on the menu, the girls love baking.

5 years ago, they are all growing so quickly

Yesterday the cottage once more came into focus, it will be let non stop for a few weeks starting this weekend, though we have booked it for September.  Panicking I phoned the lady who cleans the cottage, was it clean and tidy, she assured me it was and if she could remember would put a pint of milk in the fridge.  Her life will also be busy over the school holidays, as she and her husband clean cottages as the great summer squash of tourists descend on Whitby.  One of the funny things I had to do when signing the contract  for letting was state whether I wanted Goths in the cottage, now to me that seemed like discrimination and not the sort of question that should be asked, needless to say I said yes, Goths are very sensible people don't you know...

My bank balance will look a little stronger anyway, and that means my new camera is being focused on.  It was suggested that I tried a bridge camera, the one recommended (Nikon 510) has GPS, always wanted that, but not so keen on the videoing facility, but the macro side for taking pictures of flowers and insects seems alright.

Today my love says do you want to go anywhere?, and I am stuck though Coggeshall Abbey did fleetingly go through my mind, is that not a pretty vision of a house with the wistaria draped across the front, it is part of the abbey  When we were travelling through Essex the other day, I wanted to stop and take photos of all the fascinating pargetted houses we pass along the way, of course we did not.  But it brought to mind a book I once owned 'The Pattern of English Building' and sure enough it is still round in the secondhand bookshops on Amazon for a very reasonable price, so it should be arriving in the post any day.
Essex has many beautiful houses, they belong to the rich of course, but their integrity of character is always kept to,  and I cannot fault anyone who looks after old houses with love and care, even though I am a dyed in the wool socialist.
Did some dyeing yesterday, lilac, navy and emerald green, the hanks of wool dried quickly in the hot sun, cannot spin quickly enough though for more dyeing, wish I could get back to plant dyeing.

The secret of course is to go for a walk early before this cobbled street becomes full of people