The May Day long weekend

Tabitha contacted me during the week to ask if we were doing Bishops' House on Saturday morning as it was the first Saturday of the month.  I hadn't even thought about it. We pretty much always do the first weekend of the month, unless we are away. I just hadn't really noticed that we were about to fall into May! Fortunately, the  calendar knew that we should be at Bishops' House and was nice and free.  So I put it in.

Saturday mornings, as I am sure I have mentioned before, tends to be the quietest of the four weekend sessions. The previous time we had been there we had only had four visitors all morning - and they came in close to us being relieved! I thought, given that this was a holiday weekend and lots of people had plans, that we might be similarly lacking in visitors.  Still, the sun was shining and the temperature was relatively warm (although the entrance room to the museum was still a tad on the chilly side - we were wearing nice warm clothes :-D). Lots of people were out and about in the park, walking their dogs and/or their children. And, as it happened, their visitors, who they brought in to admire the house.  Others were out doing the Sheffield Round Walk, or bits of it. They too called in. We had quite a lot of visitors, for a Saturday morning!

Then we ambled off home, via a garden centre for some potatoes and potting mix, and sat about outside in the late afternoon sunshine with a drop of wine and a bite to eat.

Not a bad Saturday :-)

Bishops' House, in the spring sunshine

On Sunday, we went shopping.  We headed to Marsh Green for some supplies. We called at the dairy for milk and things. We went to the pet food shop for cat food.  And we went to the DIY store to buy a new picnic table.  We had seen them in there a little while ago at not a bad price, and our outside furniture was beginning to look decidedly shabby.  So we thought we'd replace the shabby stuff with new stuff :-)  The Builder spent the afternoon varnishing every individual bit of it, while I pottered around outside doing a bit of weeding here, a bit of digging there, a bit of pottering over there.

We treated ourselves to lunch at The Nettle on Monday. They are usually closed on Mondays but we figured that with it being a public holiday they might be open.  And they were. And doing quite a good trade with passing walkers calling in for a pint or some lunch, and with people like us purposely going there for lunch.  Good!  The Builder assembled the picnic table, which I musts say looks really good. Steve's brother is going to take away the old chairs. Apparently he refurbishes them.  The old table has gone down to the greenhouse at the back to be a bench for keeping carrot boxes on.  And we are planning to get another picnic table is the DIY store still has any when next I get paid.  You can't have too many picnic tables !

Monday's activities were enlivened by a text message from Lindsey.  They had taken possession of a second rescue great dane (Charlie, around 15 months old) on Sunday afternoon.  She and Sam were getting on quite well.  She appeared to be settling in OK. Until Ross arrived, as is his habit, at about half past four on Monday afternoon, to spend the evening with the dogs and to watch a bit of TV and generally to be a human presence about the place (Lindsey and Ian are not routinely at home on Monday and Tuesday evenings, so Ross takes their place). He let himself in - and was knocked flying by Charlie who dashed at him, out the door, hot footed it down the driveway and vanished.  Lindsey and Ian were summoned back home by a rather stunned (and bruised!) Ross.  Charlie was nowhere to be seen, and didn't respond even when Lindsey and Sam went out looking for her.  I was following all this by text message  until things went quiet, I assumed because Lindsey had gone to bed.  Then I got another message, much later on.  Charlie had been found!  Her foster carer had come up to Mount Helen and gone looking for her, and Charlie had responded to her!  Much relief all round. They have acquired a stair gate to block off access to the front door, so not as much danger of Charlie storming her way out as hapless humans are coming in!!!

Fortunately, our new acquisitions are showing no signs of trying to escape

They seem to quite like it in their new home.

Not a bad weekend, then.  Quite a lot of sunshine. Quite a lot of food and wine. Quite a lot of pleasant activity. And one dog that was lost, found again.