Blackhall Beach Haul

I have a habit of collecting interesting things I come across if it is lawful and I won’t be depriving the environment of something rare that another person might appreciate seeing and wondering about. I already have a collection of beautiful interesting objects taken from some of the places I have enjoyed visiting. Just samples really, I like to hold the object and remember the time and place, thoughts, mood and occasion when I first considered the artefact as it was when it first caught my eye.

Bits of broken pot, porcelain and glass containers more than likely went down with one of the thousands of ships that have been wrecked by storm, war or disaster in the waters just offshore. The bare bones and bits and pieces of thousands of ships and seafarers are bound to be washed up eventually. Some of my collected artefacts are quite likely Roman (I think). Some of my lovely pebbles and stones have come from as far as the West Coast of Scotland and are millions of years old. Carried to the North East Coast of England by glacier.

I was more than likely the first person on Earth to pick those pebbles up, the first to see them in fact. Not many people have ever actually looked at any of those billions of pebbles on the sea shore I fancy. What people see when they look along the shore is the sand, pebbles, seaweed and rubbish, never a pebble except for a fleeting moment so small as to barely register. xx


My boyfriend found the marble on the left at the waters edge and gave it to me. I found the one on the right 20 yards away being carried by a small wave and grabbed it to give to my best friend.

I keep mine in my purse and have made it a special item of personal treasure. A reminder of a lovely day and a treasured memory. xx

Sea Glass Marbles






I always knew he was out there somewhere and we would eventually meet.

I’m so glad I am the sort of person who can enjoy a book or film many times over and still feel the same feelings as I felt the first time around but with a much greater appreciation and understanding of the plot.

Each new day is a bit like that. Life is what we make it, what we feel in our hearts is all that matters. Love is true life. xx


Crimdon Sea Smoke

10th December, very cold sea shore walk along Crimdon Beach. There was frost on the sand and what looked like misty smoke coming off the sea and hanging over the waves for as far as the eye could see. Wild natural beauty, bloody well cold though. Me fingers were numb. My boyfriend told me I should be the one to wear our gloves as I was going to take some photo’s. He would keep his hands in his pockets. I’ll get him a pair of gloves soon. x

I got the gloves to wear.

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Don’t forget about copyright, please ask if you want to use them. xx

A Handful of Cabbage

I remember my first school dinner. We had to sit still as a massive Sunday dinner was dished up in front of us. Meat, vegetables, roasted tatties, Yorkies. I couldn’t believe it, It was only Monday.

We had to shut our eyes for Grace which took ages. I heard a commotion during Grace and when I opened my eyes I saw my plate was just an untidy pile of cabbage, no meat or Yorkies. My poor 5 year old heart sank. I could see where my food had gone, kids either side had loads of meat, roasted tatties and Yorkies.

The table was a mess and some kids were still thieving from each other. Handfuls of meat and Yorkies grabbed from the plate to their right while the kid to their left was dumping handfuls of unwanted cabbage onto their plates. Chaos and such a disappointment.

I managed to grab some boiled tatties off the table, I love cabbage and was very hungry so was still happy after a fashion. Then I put loads of what I thought was salad cream onto my plate of cabbage and lumps of boiled tattie except it wasn’t salad cream, it was from a dish full of Horse Radish which was untouched in the middle of the table . That was the first and only time I ever made that mistake.

Next day I kept my eyes open during Grace and put the plate on my lap. Kids learn fast when food and survival are threatened, well I did. The teachers all had their eyes shut I noticed. School dinners were the best thing about school for me. That and needlework. I didn’t like any of the rest of it.

Years later, In the 1970’s, I watched a frantic game of Mah-jong being played by professional gamblers and was taken right back to that first ever School meal in the Infants. That game of Mah-Jong took place in the bowls of a ships Chinese laundry in 1976. The players all seemed to be playing at once, there was no stopping to study the tiles or even waiting their turn. Arms, tiles and money flying about and everyone shouting at the same time. The air was so thick with smoke from whatever it was they were all smoking I was surprised they could even see the little pictures on the tiles. My eyes and throat were burning. Anyway that’s another story which ended in tears. xx

Novice gardener

Making a start on a neglected front and back garden

I just never have any time to do anything. Not properly anyway. The forces of nature are causing my garden to mutate into a wilderness. What must the neighbours think.

Actually most of my neighbours have concrete drives at the front. Not sure if I would like one myself. I have had plans in my head for ages about what I want to do with ‘my land’. I walk around the area a couple of streets away where the houses are bigger and have room for a drive and a nice garden and get my ideas from them. I even have some of their plants growing on my windowsill. I didn’t pinch the whole plant, the ones I really like are too big so I took cuttings.

It should turn into a bush when I let it loose into the garden

At my age (63) I don’t want to over do things and the time to dig is in the autumn so I missed that bit. I don’t know where the saying ‘hard work never killed anyone’ came from but I guess it must have been a fairly right wing politician. Hitler or one of them types. It’s obviously not true anyway. ‘Dirt never hurt anyone’ is another saying that’s not true. Probably a slum landlord came up with that one.

Apart from getting killed outright or dying from an infection from the dirt I want to avoid a bad back, losing an eye and stabbing my feet with the spikey shovel. I will come back to that when I remember it’s proper name. I just want to enjoy the health benefits of having a nice garden whilst avoiding the unhealthy side effects of hard work. I wore gloves, glasses and boots for safety. The strimmer is pretty quiet or I would have used the ear plugs I use when Vacuuming.

Fork, that’s the one I was thinking of. Not sure what your supposed to dig with, fork or shovel. I tried both briefly just last year as a test and found they are both hard work. I will just use one till it breaks then switch to the other one.

Some tools and Slow Coach the Tortoise. He does move but I don’t know how, him being plastic like. xx

I have made a start. The first thing I did was cut the grass at the front. I bought a cordless strimmer and it didn’t take long. Just a tidy really to stop kids from knocking every few hours wanting to cut it. They are not cheap either them kids and the flex on their strimmer is not long enough to stretch back to their mam’s gaff so they expect a tenner and free electric. I was £10 up by the time I finished the front and it only took 15 minutes. There is a tree stump trying to take up all the space to one side. I will deal with that another time.

I left the side garden and Sycamore tree stump for another day.

My next priority was to get my Tatties in. I didn’t have time in the Autumn to dig the back garden and don’t have time nor energy to do it now. My solution was to skim the greenery off the top of the soil with the shovel, make little holes with my mini shovel and pop the Tatties in. Some nice new compost on top should make them feel at home and keep them warm and cosy. I planted 27 of them today. We shouldn’t starve to death this year like we did last year. Hoarders stripped supermarket shelves of anything remotely edible last year.

It was still hard work but I paced myself. Took 2 hours but doing it properly would have took a lot longer.

That’s all I am doing for this week. There is a magnificent Nettle patch down one half of the garden. Rather than see them as an eyesore as Mr. Grumpy Pants does, don’t ask, I see them as a fantastic easy grow crop of leaves that can be harvested for a herbal drink and a nutrient rich tasty bit of greenery for the dinner plate. I also know that lot’s of different types of Butterfly like them. I bet I have the finest Nettle patch in the whole street.

I feel like I have taken all day but I have made some progress. I think gardening is fun because it gives you something to look forward to. I can see a fantastic garden in my mind. I am sitting there in the nice warm sun with a good book and a nice cup of Nettle tea in amongst a lovely garden with a mix of veg and flowers. Oh look, there are hanging baskets on the fences and wind chimes and over there a shed with a little patio like on Little house on the prairie. I can see Ma Baker sitting in a rocking chair now. Upside down clay pipe in her toothless mouth and Tommy gun on her lap. Better leave it there.

I have lots of good things to look forward to this year. It’s all very exciting.

I have to take it apart again

I bought this thing 4 weeks ago and it’s still not right. At least I found the lost bits though.

Pig sick. It’s just a good job I didn’t have proper tools or I would have done the nuts up tight and it would just have to stay back to front and inside out. I still think they put L on the right leg and vice versa. My right leg is on the right side and not on the right looking from the front.

They assumed there was only one possible way to put the top on as well. It means they think everyone is stupid and would only see what was obvious without doing any thinking. Thinking about stuff gets me into a lot of trouble and confuses people. I should know better. Never mind. It might still work, it looks quite like the picture as it is. At least the top is actually on the top, just a bit back to front.

The thing will be built soon, There can’t be many more ways to join the bits together, just need to find the spanner again then get another spanner for the other end and do it properly. I’m all enthusiastic now, the end is in sight. xx