What the Heck is a Silent Disco?!?

Some friends of ours had a spare pair of tickets to a silent disco and asked if we wanted to join them. What the heck is a silent disco, you ask? We had to ask, too. It is a disco, where everyone wears headsets, you can pick one of three channels, and boogie down. If you don't want to dance, you can take the headset off and have a conversation, or simply watch the hilarity unfold. Sorry the videos are so dark, but it was a disco, after all! 

The disco was held in a 100+ year old traveling circus tent that was really quite attractive. 

Center of the tent

Mirrored walls of the tent

And as the crowd had a few more alcoholic beverages, they got a bit more vocal as songs they liked were played.

And a bit more rambunctious. 

And hilarious!

PS I've finally figured out the only way to successfully add video is to first upload them to YouTube. We hope you enjoy! 

The World of James Herriot

When a friend heard I was moving to North Yorkshire, she told me I had to read All Creatures Great and Small. I had heard of the BBC show from the 70s, but didn't realize the show was based on a series of books written about the life of a Yorkshire veterinarian. I finished reading ACGandS just as our house was being paked up for the move - and completely loved it! 

Living room

Thirsk, the town James Herriot (real name James Alfred "Alf" Wight) called home for most of his professional life, is only a 40-minute drive from where we currently reside. I have been wanting to visit his home since we moved here, and last month I finally did! The home in which he lived and worked has been restored and maintained to look like it did during the time period in which his books are set (1930ish).

Dining room

Alcove and later TV room

Kitchen

I have only read the first in his series of books, which are all loosely based on his life and work stories he detailed in his journal over the years. I loved the kooky farmers and small animal lovers he depicted; folks who would call him out to their farm for ailing cows and rich landowners whose dogs overate and became Ill. The treatment rooms in his home are very close to how I imagined them while reading his books. 

Veterinary supplies

Small animal exam room

I learned that he always said to his beloved wife that the stories in his diaries would make a great book. One day, she apparently dared him to write such a book, and the rest is history!

James Herriot's diaries from which he wrote his books

As you exit his home there is a purpose-built building which houses many of the sets from the much-loved BBC television series, based on his novels. 

All Creatures Great and Small TV set dining room

ACGandS TV set vet clinic

Next to the set pieces sat his original car depicted in the book - a terrible, broke-down, unsafe vehicle that nearly got him killed many times over. The volunteer at the museum explained that a fund had been collected a few years ago to restore the car... And what a pity! I would have loved to see it as the piece of junk he had to deal with on a daily basis. Oh, well!

James Herriot's original clunker of a car

The Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park

On the rare sunshiny, warm days in England, you drop everything and get your butt outdoors! And that's exactly what we did on a recent Saturday afternoon trip to the Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park! 

Landscape View

It is on land owned by a family who runs a nursery. They started the garden as a way to showcase all of their many plants, trees, and flowers that can be purchased at their nursery. I think now the entrance fee probably make up half of their income! 

A carpet of flowers

Bluebells

A fuchsia variety?

Gorgeous flowers were everywhere you looked. And tucked in flower beds, lakes, and fields were many sculptures by Yorkshire artists. 

Kinetic sculpture in the lake

Faux stone circle

Water lilly sculpture

Water feature and conical sculpture

It was such a warm and relaxing day, we walked, basked in the sun, and took photos for several hours.

Relaxing in the sun - photo by our friend Brian

The garden is open for several weeks each season, in which they show off the best the season has to offer. We were there at the tail end of their spring season, and they were very proud of their rhododendrons, which I believe are the flowers in the photos below. Those of you who are flower people out there can tell me if I am correct or not! 

A type of rhododendron?

Another type of rhododendron?

It was, all in all, a very lovely day!

Gangsters and Molls Party

A friend of ours volunteers in her village, and helped set up a recent village fundraiser dinner. She and the committee decided it would be much more fun if the dinner had a theme and attendees could dress accordingly. The theme was gangsters & molls and people really got into it! 

Bill and I had just returned from Paris, and I had totally forgotten about obtaining costumes. On the day of the party, I bought Bill a gangster-like fedora and a black tie and I borrowed a bejeweled headband and made sure an old dress still fit. Sadly, Bill's hat was not large enough to fit over his mass of hair. 

Almost gangster-y and moll-y

Below is a picture of Patty, complete with fake mustache and inflatable tommy gun, and Julie, in flapper dress and red feather boa.

Patty and Julie 

Regine, one of the organizers of the shindig, wearing the feather headress, and Verity in pearls and an inflatable sawed-off shotgun. Who knew there were so many types of inflatable guns available? 

Regine and Verity

Brook, wearing the pimpest hat ever, and his lovely wife Cindy, in flapper gown, feathers, and long beaded necklaces. 

Brook and Cindy

A fun time was had by all!

Last Moments in Paris

Due to the rain, instead of spending our last hours touring the gardens of Versailles, we took the train back to central Paris and walked up and down the Champs-Élysées. The street has a lot of the typical chain stores (sephora, the gap, etc.), as well as the high end flagship stores (Louis Vuitton, Mont Blanc, etc.). I was surprised by how many people were inside the Louis Vuitton store actually purchasing the bags that cost tens of thousands of dollars. At least the buyers were getting free glasses of champagne while spending so much on their bags!

Champs-Elysees

At the top of Champs-Élysées is the Arc de Triomphe. It is so much larger than I had anticipated. If you've never been, look closely at the dots at the top of the arc - those are people's heads. And that white bus on the right-hand side of the photo? That's a double-decker bus. 

Arc de Triomphe

As you can tell, the sky was dry as we walked up to the Arc, but it was threatening more rain at any second. When we walked back down the Champs-Élysées, the sky opened back up and we had to duck into a store for ten minutes as the umbrella wasn't even cutting it. 

Arc de Triomphe

After doing a bit of window shopping, we walked back over to our hotel's neighborhood in search of dinner. We found a small cafe whose menu out front was both in English and French. Once seated, we realized this restaurant really catered to the tourists, and Bill and I prefer to find places where the actual residents would eat. Nevertheless, we had been seated, so we decided to take them up on being tourists, and ordered the snails and bone marrow as our evenings' meal. Yeah, bone marrow? Kinda fatty and gross. Well, perhaps it would be good if we had been at a better restaurant, but I am not willing to order that again. Snails are okay... it's basically just a delivery system for butter and garlic, in my opinion! 

After our small, but caloric meal, we paid and went in search of a friendly, quaint bistro. We found a terrific place just down the road and spent several hours people watching and wine drinking on their heated outdoor seating veranda. Fabulous end to an amazing trip - J'aime Paris!!

Bone marrow and snails...