The Best Views in England ...

We all think we have nice views, but I reckon we are up with some of the best. I am not up early, like Jack is, every morning. This morning the little birds were singing their hearts out and it was pleasantly warm. I wanted to get some work down before it turned into what was forecast the hottest day so far of the year. It was 9 degrees already at 4.30am. Although the lilac has taken a beating with the last couple of evenings heavy showers of rain, the air was filled with perfume from the lilac tree. It must be a good year for both that and wisteria as you dont have to go far to see the houses clad in lilac ,delicate lilac each bloom made up of so many confetti like little heads together. The moon was still out and moving over Craykeland, a local bluebell wood which our farmland surrounds. Looking East over the Moors as if the sun was waking up rising from the sea. It is okay taking photos but nothing beats looking at it with the naked eye. As I came down Wass Bank the morning was truly waking up. After the rain with everything refreshed the colours were amazing. I am sure an artist would have been delighted in being able to capture that. My favourite colours are blues and greens so I was in my element. We are surrounded by woods so you could take a hundred photgraphs and still want to take more of the sun shining through the trees and the shadows it casts. So how about coming to stay with us and getting up early to see it all for yourself. Pack up your breakfast and take it with you. Maybe if you are quiet and stay still for a while you may see fairies. This morning but I did find some of their scarlet cups on a mossy branch. Whether the fairies drink the dew out of the cups or pick them up and carry them to the stream they were not about to tell me this morning.

see fairies and syke like

Early birthday present ....Kitten love

My birthday isn't until the 23rd June. I was supposedly born on the most romantic day of the year, but as I was told about 25 years ago which I hadn't known till then, it was a full moon. The Summer solstice and the night of a thunderstorm  ...so  if you find me a bit weird  I will put it down to that.

When I was small my Dad used to ice my birthday cake. My mum wasn't the best cook in the world in fact she was not very good at all .My Dad could plough a field and bake a cake and my Mum certainly left the icing to him . I have had ponies on cakes, sweet peas, even a goldfish. We often use the same cards from year to year. I remember when I was 7, I got a card and I liked it so much  it had a horse on rather than a pony .It was a bay horse with black man and tail eating in a field full of buttercups.  I had it until I was at least 12 I just got an extra x[kiss] on it every year.  That is what saddens me about life today it is so materialistic . One year I got a goldfish ,one, not a whole tankful but it swan round in a glass bowl. In fact as June is a busy month on the farm and hay making is more important ,the year I got my goldfish, on the actual day I got a carrot in the shape of a fish and a stick. I think it was the wooden end of an old washing up mop as my Dad hadn't had time to go to Malton to get a fish for me. So I had to stir the water round very quickly to make it look as if the piece of carrot fish was swimming . Children don't throw wobblies in those days ,it was a day when the rest of the family sang happy birthday to you  as you blew out the "preloved" candles on the cake. You had to be quick as the candles had to be used by others on their birthdays too ....and you were grateful. People say Covid will have an effect on people make them realise what small acts of kindness are and how the world will change and people will be appreciative  . I really wish this was true but I can't see it.

Duchess our cat is 15 years old now as April past. She was born the day Camilla and Charles got married .We had the Duke too , Marmaduke, but unfortunately he died . And I know she may last another year or two, the cat I mean not Camilla, but a time will come when she is no longer here. I have being saying for a while I was wanting another cat.

So I was delighted on Friday when my Dad rang me to say he had got my birthday present. He had gone down after tea to shut his greenhouse up and there on the path was a kitten. it had appeared from nowhere. Farm kittens are usually wild and sizzle, unless you get them early. If the mother cat sees you looking she is crafty and will move them. But this one was so quiet and let my Dad pick it up .How he managed to get it up to the house and into a box I don't know, as he walks with two walking
sticks but he had.  We reckon it is about 3 weeks old as I knew one of the cat had some about 3 weeks ago and as much as I had tried to follow her to find out where they were she kept giving me the slip. And so now you can see  my early birthday present. The verdict is out on a name so maybe you can help . My Dad thought Felix, but I am sure it is a girl, but he said they always had a Felix . I had a Belinda when I was young and loved it until a cow laid on and killed it. Then I thought of Rose and Daisy... and I can't really just call it cat with no name