Skip to main content

2021 - A Year in Review

Well, this is why I should do regular blogging - because trying to catch up on a whole year at once takes forever!  But it's kind of fun looking back. 

It feels like a long time ago that we were homeschooling in lockdown, back in January and February!  As the restrictions eased and the weather improved, we got out to some new places and some old favourites.  We visited family (and they visited us!), kept busy at work and school, followed England's football fortunes in the Euros, and made some furry friends.

A local alpaca farm

Of course, these are the edited highlights.  We had a few ongoing issues as well - some have resolved themselves, so that I look back and think, "Oh yes, I'd almost forgotten we spent ages dealing with that," while others are still chuntering along in the background.

Big events

We had a summer holiday in Somerset - we stayed in a dinky little AirBnB cottage and visited Wells Cathedral, Glastonbury Tor, the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Blue Anchor Bay, and Taunton.

Picnic on the beach

Playground at Fleet Air Arm Museum

Rainbow path in Taunton



Wells Cathedral Close


We had a weekend in Wales in a big blue camper van - and I did blog about that!

We bought a convertible Mini (the MG died)

It holds all four of us!

And we smartened up the house a bit, with new windows, a new front door, and a few licks of paint.


Toby

Had his first overnight trip away with school, to an outdoor activity centre near Buxton

Achieved Merit on his Grade 1 keyboard exam

Went to basketball, dodgeball and zorbing clubs, and tried karting.

Took some friends to Nottingham for his 11th birthday, to see Ron's Gone Wrong and eat at Taco Bell.



Applied for secondary school (eek!)


Theo

Got a bike and pizza for his 7th birthday





Enjoyed playing guitar

Tried to make things explode


Got covid - entirely symptom-free

Graham

Learned archery and joined a club

Celebrated his birthday in style


Went for long bike rides with friends

Was very busy at work



Martha

Wasn't able to open the cafe until May, so I painted a labyrinth and sold afternoon tea boxes instead.





Kept on reading

Got given some flowers


And grew stuff, as usual (lots of tomatoes this year!)

The wider family

Exchanged Christmas presents with my parents in February - but we still couldn't let them in the house!


Visited John (my brother) and Katie in Glasgow, where they've recently moved.


Met up with Mark (Graham's cousin) and Andy not once but twice this year - possibly a record!

Smashed up a sideboard for Graham's mum, and enjoyed a trip to the Media Museum in Bradford with Colette (Graham's sister) and Karl.



Finally got together for a meal to celebrate Graham's dad's life, only a year and a half after he passed away.

And my grandma sadly died in October, at the age of 92.


And we got outdoors...

...in floods and ice and snow...




...in mud...




...and in sunshine.



There's been some ups and downs, but lots of smiles too.



Let's see what 2022 brings!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mr White Watson of Bakewell

Once upon a time, back in 1795 or so, lived a man who was always asking questions.  The kind of questions like, "Why is glass transparent?" or "Why do fruit trees grow better in that place than in this place?" or "What does the earth look like underneath the surface?"  This last question was one that he was particularly interested in, and he went so far as to work out what the rock layers looked like where he lived, and draw little pictures of them.  Now he was a marble sculptor by trade (as well as fossil hunter, mineral seller, and a few other things) so he thought it would be even better to make his little pictures in stone.  That way he could represent the layers using the actual rocks they were composed of.  Over the course of his lifetime he made almost 100 of these tablets, as he called them. Then he died.  And no one else was quite as interested in all those rocks and minerals as he was.  His collection was sold off, bit by bit, and the table...
Post a Comment
Read more

Erewash Valley Trail: Strelley and Broxtowe

I'd had another four-week gap between walks (who invented half terms and inset days?), and was itching to get out on my explorations. The weather forecast optimistically predicted sunny spells. Unfortunately the weather hadn't got the memo; it was overcast for my entire walk, and then the sky cleared as I was driving home. Oh well. I arrived at the Nottingham Canal to find bulldozers buzzing up and down the towpath. The car park I'd intended to park in was closed for renovation, but there was a layby a little further up the road towards Cossall, so that was fine. The first part of the road had nice wide verges - easy walking - but after the canal bridge it was called Dead Lane, which felt descriptive. It was tightly hemmed in by hedges and I had to flatten myself against the hawthorn when cars passed. Cossall Road Dead Lane The bridleway to Strelley was mostly paved road, but blessedly traffic-free apart from a couple of bikes and a bin lorry performing manoeuvres. Tim Brin...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Churnet Way: a wonderful walk

The loop from Oakamoor to Froghall and back was one of the most enjoyable walks I've done in a long time. It had a bit of everything: woods, ponds, rivers and railways; steep climbs and sweeping views; an unusual church, an ex-industrial wharf, and, as a final bonus, car parks with toilets. Of course, the sunny weather helped too. I parked in Oakamoor and set off along a quiet lane called Stoney Dale. This is the route of the Churnet Way, which deviates away from the river for a couple of miles. After a while I turned right and climbed up through the woods on a gravelly path, then dropped down to the B5417. a spring in Oakamoor   Crossing the road, I entered Hawksmoor Nature Reserve. It has some fine gateposts commemorating John Richard Beech Masefield, "a great naturalist". I found a photo of the opening of the gateway in 1933; unsurprisingly, the trees have grown a lot since then! A track took me down through the woods to East Wall Farm. Lovely view! Nice duck pond as ...
Post a Comment
Read more