Lancaster

On Saturday my co-worker and I ventured out by car to the lakes.  Her home is south of my Aunt and Uncles but on the west coast.  She has grown up here in a place called Lancaster.  She informed me that the only things Lancaster is known for is the invention of linoleum and slavery.  After slavery was abolished, tunnels were dug to transport slaves into the cotton mills without being noticed.  She also gave me another tidbit of information.  This is were 400 women and girls were tried and hanged for being witches.
We stopped for a quick walk around Williamson Park.  This is a 40 acre lot with walkways and gardens.  It will be magnificent in the summer but not so much right now.  This gave me the opportunity to stretch my legs before getting on the train to ride up the coastline.  The scenery was beautiful until it was all taken away by the night sky.
We are just beginning to get the storm from Canada.  We are experiencing strong winds and lots of rain.  I'm sorry for all my friends and family who are struggling with the ice storm, wish I could be there for you if only to stay inside and bake Christmas cookies and decorate gingerbread houses.

Lord Ashton's monument to his late wife.  This is at the front of Williamson's Park.  There is also a butterfly conservatory behind this structure.

A beautiful stone courtyard in back of the monument.

I am in Egremont now, enjoying some quiet time with family.  I hope you all have a great Christmas.

Negative Nelly

Not much to share with you today.  I'm going to do some Christmas baking today and Ange said I could decorate her tree.  This will make it seem more like Christmas.  I am missing you all more than usual but looking forward to what the Christmas this year has to offer.  I am going back up to my Aunt and Uncles and then hopefully to London for New Years.
Sorry to all my friends and family.... I thought I took care of everything before leaving but I clearly forgot about your Christmas cookies, specifically the Chocolate Crinkles.  I now have backup (Ruthe) who has generously offered to make some of her own spectacular cookies for those who are suffering the most (Zach and Alex).
I don't know who the negative Nellie's were that told me winter in the UK was going to be grey and depressing but you were wrong.  OK, yes we have some of those days but this morning was not one of them.  I have a long walk to church but the gardens and park offer pleasant sights along the way.

Fuchsia is all over the place and in full bloom.  Holly plants are growing everywhere, much like a weed.  I only saw one with berries and it was full.   However, it was outside a home and I think If I had been bold enough to take a picture of it someone may have told me off.

People's Park used to be very run down and 'dodgy" but it is quite beautiful now. 

People's Park

Market

I just had to see the Christmas Market in Lincoln.  It is apparently the largest in the world. (No actual research was done to confirm this, but I do believe it.)  This is the same town with that incredible cathedral I showed you back in October.  Much like the climb to the roof top of the Cathedral, I can say that I've done it and I never have to do it again.  Start humming the 12 days of Christmas right about now.
-Thousands of people shopping
-Hundreds of craft tables selling
-Dozens of food vendors cooking
-Steep hills to climb
-Ideas for next year
-Swans a swimming
-Stores to explore
-MUSICAL BANDS
-Smells beyond yummy
-Rides to watch
-Balloons and Bubbles
-AND ONE CRYING BOY (I saw him at the start crying and hours later still crying).

There were many swans in the river but this one caught my attention.  He seemed to be the leader.

I found the contradiction of having a skating rink next to the river with the swans and boats very funny.  I was all ready to put on some skates but a closer inspection of the "ice" made me change my mind.  It looked as though it had not been flooded all day.

Some kind of snow princess handing out candy, she was scary and if she had offered me one of those bon bons when I was young maybe I would not have the sweet tooth that I do now.

Mistletoe

A beautiful bookstore/cafe.

Inside the Lincoln Castle there were many craft stands, this was one of my favourites.  There were some very large bubbles floating around and these smaller ones had some kind of gas in them that when they popped there was a poof of smoke.

The music was great, there was a fantastic rock and roll band, a great fiddler and his band and this one. I'm not sure what type of music you would call it but I really enjoyed it.

Then It was back to Grimsby, not as Grimm as you might think.  This is Abby Walk, it is a little gem in the heart of the town.

Thanks for all the Christmas cards everyone,  I am so lucky to have you each in my life.

Donna Nook

Just another day in England.  You know the kind where you drive to the coast to see Grey Seals by the hundreds.
There is a small town called Donna Nook (http://lincstrust.org.uk/reserves) about a 45 minute drive from Grimsby.  It's here that the Grey Seals come to give birth from October to December.  So far this year they have had about 1300 pups.  I have been so excited to visit and take some pictures.

Crazy winds at the sea.

Onlookers at Donna Nook.

The coastline.

Mom and her pup playing.  This one is about 2-3 weeks old.  They are born with a yellow coat, stained from the amniotic fluid and within a couple days they are nice and white.  After 2-3 weeks they begin to molt and their adult coats show.

The mothers are not just kissing their babies, they are smelling them so they can tell them apart from the others.

This is a new born, you can still see the umbilical cord.  This is probably one of three born the night before.

Just laying around.

Lunch time.

Posing for the spectators.

This would not have been possible without Ange (the lady I live with) she drove and at one point she believed me when I gave her directions on how to get home.  I was right this time. LOL

I expected to be seeing buildings and learning about the history of England, I never imagined to be witness to something like this.  It was AMAZING, I said this so many times today that I got sick of hearing the word escape my mouth but I was in wonder.

Waltham

I had an exceptionally stressful week.  OFSTED is a governing body that overseas the education system here in the UK.  They came into our school with only 24hrs notice and observed the teachers/management/custodial/students and rated everything from 1-4 with 1 being excellent and 4 being "you're fired".  This school has been a 1 which stands for outstanding for the past 7 years (that's when it was last observed).  Since then the management of the school has taken over two other schools who rated at the lower end of the scale.  If we had not done well this week it would have not only impacted our school but those we support.  While the marks are confidential until they are published, it seems we did very well.  I personally was not observed but the stress was overwhelming.
So today was just a recovery day.  I went to Waltham, a small village nearby that still has an operating windmill.  Around the mill are a few shops.  One of which was a sweet shop.  Not much to show you today.

I couldn't get it all in, and I was starting to feel silly trying to do so.

Next week hopefully I will have some more interesting shots to show you.

Well, Well

I haven't much to tell you this week.  I worked all week and enjoyed most of my time with the kids.  I feel like the year 9's are finally comfortable with me and I know they like me which if you ask me is quite an accomplishment.  There are still one or two year 8's that challenge me but I am making progress there too.
I really wanted to give you some pictures this week but my plans fell through.  I want to keep it a surprise and believe me it will be a surprise.  You will have to wait two weeks and as long as the weather is not terrible you should have some great pictures to view.
For now this is it.  My Apologizes in advance.

New "Wellies"

I told you this was not very exciting.

This is downtown Grimsby, near the fishing heritage museum and main mall.  The weather looks nice but there was a strong wind and it seemed about only 8-10 degrees.  Better than snow LOL, LOL, LOL.  This was the exception to the rule for weather, it has been very grey and there always seems to be a light rain falling and sometimes it is very rainy.  I think the thing I find strange is how quickly the weather changes.  One second sunny, the next rainy.  I always carry an umbrella.

Happiness is ............

A WARM PRETZEL.  I know you are looking for some great pictures but I am sorry and you will have to wait.  I spent the day yesterday at Meadow Hall shopping centre. Its aptly nick-named Meadow Hell because of the amount of people.  It was the size of Square One in Mississagua.  The food court was two floors with the upper floor having about 12 sit down restaurant/bars.  The entire time I thought about my "shopping girls" (Marjorie, Theresa, Beth and our beloved Lisa).  I am missing our shopping day together this year and missing you more.  Don't worry about me sitting around and feeling sorry for myself, I am enjoying this opportunity and making the most of it.
The best part of the shopping(aside from the laughter with my friends) was always the discovery of a pretzel shop.  And to my surprise, Meadow Hall has Mr. Pretzel.  It was freshly made, dipped in butter and salt and made me very happy as I walked and reminisced about our years of shopping days.
Love you all.