A Week of Weirdness

My life is always pretty weird but this week in particular has been extra strange, or extra interesting depending on the point of view. Spring has sprung and we have been having some lovely walks in the countryside in the sunshine. Most things are looking green now or starting to come into bud. The sun even has a little warmth in it now. That's not to say that the British weather is behaving itself though, oh no. Just when you think it's heading towards shorts and tshirt weather BAM. Snow....

Seriously this happened. Middle of April and I wake up to snow. The day before had been lovely and sunny. It wasn't just a little powder that melted before the sun rose either, it was a couple of inches that hung around until mid morning. I thought it was great of course, I don't see snow very often so I like to take pictures of it at any opportunity. I made sure to put some extra seed on the bird tables too since the local birds looked as confused as I was.

 

 This was also a week for projects, the main one being that I had a go at making my own shampoo. Not because I'm a health freak mind you, or one of those people that won't use anything unless it's organic, but simply because I can't find a supermarket shampoo that doesn't make my scalp bleed. 
That's a bit dramatic actually but the point is most supermarket shampoos don't seem to react well with my skin and I end up scratching until I bleed. I have tried the medicated shampoos, organic shampoos, sensitive skin, dandruff, healthy healing etc etc but no luck so far.
So, in desperation really, I decided to have a go at my own version using all natural products. I'd love to say that it's the most fantastic thing I've ever used etc but so far it's a bit of a nightmare really. My hair is pretty disgusting atm, greasy but somehow dry, stiff and generally not pleasant. I have been led to believe that it may take a couple of weeks for my hair to adjust though and since I've only been using the stuff for three days I'll give it a bit longer before I discount it. After all, the main reason I want a natural shampoo is to ease the itches and the last few days have been the best I've had for awhile so I'll have to take the good with the bad I guess and hope for the best.
   

 

My second project was to get feathers for this bottle that my sister got for me (from an undisclosed location as she may have borrowed it long term XD)

I was set on wanting pheasant feathers, don't ask me why, I don't have reasons for how my mind works. So the only way I could think of getting feathers from a pheasant, without shooting one or chasing one aimlessly around a paddock for a few weeks, was to find one that was already dead. Road kill to be precise. The less smooshed the better.

Sooo, it took awhile, to be honest I have been scoping out the local roadkill (and some not so local) for a couple of months now. You don't realise how inaccessible most road kill is until you want to start a collection of dead animal parts. I mean you can't just stop in the middle of motorway to go and poke at a dead fox without possibly killing yourself too or at least getting some stern words from a policeman. Eventually though we had success in the form of a recently dead pheasant that was in an area where it was possible to stop and I was able to scrape it off the tarmack and pluck it's tail without getting hit by a car myself.

 So was it all worth it? I'll let you decide what you think but personally I really like it but I'm just set that way.

Just to finish up this post I thought this photo was pretty good. If you don't follow me on instagram you wouldn't be aware that I carry a soft toy rabbit called Chester around with me everywhere I go and take photos of him. He has his own account actually @travellingchester if you're interested. 

Here he is with my sister's dog (who also has his own instagram account @one_dollar_please) when we went for a walk two nights ago. 

I think Dollar's expression speaks volumes in this picture. You know you're a true weirdo when a dog looks thinks you're odd. Poor boy. He does get subjected to many photos being taken of him and he is usually a good sport about it. Something about having to pose with gorse and a stuffed rabbit though seemed perhaps a bit much even for him. Although thinking about it I can't really blame him XD

I have no idea whats going on with the photo size and orientation in this post by the way. Or why the text it centered. I'm too lazy to change it so I'm just going to say that it's intentionally weird to round out a weird post about weird things on a blog called Today Was Weird! Did you have any weird moments this week. I'd love to know what kind of odd things you get up to so let me know in the comments.

Until next time, Stay Weird.

 

 

 

A Busy Day of Sightseeing

 This morning when we got up the sun looked so inviting that we decided we just had to go somewhere, anywhere really so long as it wasn't too far away and there was something to see. So we picked Ludlow, totally randomly, just cos it has a castle.

We are of course far too stingy to pay to go into the castle and even too stingy to pay for parking. We parked at the bottom of the hill and walked over the bridge and up the hill to get into the town. There are great views of the castle from the bottom of the hill though so we might be cheapskates but we know where to get a good view for free!

As it turned out it was market day in Ludlow which made for a good mooch. There are lots of nice stalls there and although I was tempted by quite a few things (fresh herbs and books mostly) I didn't actually buy anything. Dad didn't spend up large either but did buy a rubber cap for the base of his walking stick that he uses sometimes. He lost his previous one by testing the depth of a mud hole, he found out how deep it was but sacrificed the rubber base to the suction of the mud XD 

We bought lunch at the local shops and went up an awesome (and free) viewpoint on the edge of town to eat and enjoy the view. The sun was gorgeous when it was out and it would have been tshirt weather if not for the clouds scudding past. We weren't complaining too much though, the view was good and the food was excellent. I managed  to eat the entire cob loaf pretty much by myself, which perhaps wasn't wise but I don't care haha It was bloody good. 

After our meagre lunch ;p we moved on to Stokesay Castle which we did go into and even paid for the parking! We are members of New Zealand Heritage so we got into the castle for free and the parking was only a quid for the rest of the day so figured we could suffer it. Stokesay is a beautiful place and although we have been there many times before I still really enjoy it. I always feel like a character in a period drama when I'm there as it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how the rooms were used. 

The great hall gets me everytime. I can just see the great long tables loaded down with plates of bread and cheese and a whole hog in the middle of the centre table, beer flowing, straw on the floor and dogs squabbling over the scraps while the lady of the house watches from the balcony before making a regal entry down the ancient stairs in her flowing gown. I should write books not blogs haha 
Stokesay just screams history and I could probably blah on at you all day about lord so and so and mistress whats her name but I didn't bother with the audio tour because I like to make up my own version most of the time. I like to know the general history of a place, how it was used and how things worked but when it comes to names and lineage and politics my interest tends to fade off.

After Stokesay we figured we might as well overload on old ruined buildings so stopped off at Wenlock Priory for a whistle stop tour. Again we skipped the audio tour so if you want the dates times and peoples names I'm afraid I will have to urge to ask google. As for my interest, as ever, I want to climb things!  wanted to get to those second storey corridors that I could see but alas, with other people around and a dash of better judgement, I kept my feet on the ground.

 With the sun still up and a tempting road sign promising places called Homer and Wig Wig, we took a little detour and found this old church. It was sat on top of a hill in a little village with this perculiar black and white gallery attached to it that caught our attention. We had a look around and had a bit of a mooch inside. It was nice as churches go. Small and empty XD Strangely enough we didn't find Wig Wig or Homer. An aim for another day perhaps. 
So that was our busy day, with multiple tourist attractions loaded into one day. I'll leave you with one last image for you to think about, something that gave us pause in the church grounds.

See you next time! 
 

Attingham Park

Since I've been to Attingham Park three times in the last week I thought I better write about it!
As with all National Trust properties it's a beautiful place and has a mixed history. Attingham as a property has seen a lot. The man who commisioned to have it built died before it was completed so it was passed to his son when it was finished. The son however changed the design of the house and had more work done. He furnished it extravagantly and lived beyond his means until he was forced to flee to Italy to evade his creditors. 
Furniture and fittings were sold and the building left largely abandoned for many years until, in the 1920s, Lord and Lady Berwick moved in and tried to restore some dignity to the place. The trust took over the building around the 1980s and have been restoring the building and adding to the collections since. 

The trust is also restoring the gardens and greenhouses. The gardens are always my favourite part of any property tat we visit and at this time of year I like to see the volunteers planting out the new seedling and also seeing the early flowers coming into bloom.

 
  At the moment in the gardens they have a focus on what it would have been like during the war. They have a pen of chickens on one of the vege plots and this cute sign to show you that, during war years, chickens were enlisted too! These chooks were super friendly too and wandered over to the mesh to eyeball us and see if we were going to feed them. 

 Every large garden should have a cat to keep the rats and mice down. This curious fella followed me and Dad through the green houses and out to the gate. I think perhaps he too was hoping we might give him some breakfast.

While I'm on the subject of animals I should mention one of my favourite reasons for visiting Attingham is the deer herd. They have so many that it's really quite a sight the first time you see them. I'm not sure on the trusts breeding policy but since it's spring I'm hoping I might see some fawns soon at the feet of the does. 

 
 For now though I am content just to see the hinds and the stags with their large antlers. They really are a beautiful creature.

Attingham is also a farm and has a few different herds of cows and sheep that graze the outer pastures. Today we saw this gorgeous little bull calf out the back of the property with his mother. I have a thing for cows, espeicially speckled ones .

 Not content with pets and farm animals, Attingham is also a haven for wildlife. Squirrels, rabbits and pheasants all call the fields and woods their home as well as wood peckers, crows and hares. There is even a pair of swans nesting in the reeds this year.

I really enjoy going to Attingham as there is always something new to see in the garden and there are so many animals to watch. If you are ever in the Shropshire area you should really give it a visit.
 

Er, So I Moved Country...

Hi guys! How's it going? Long time no see right... Yeah I kinda slipped off the face of the earth for awhile there, quite literally really since now that I've landed I'm on the other side of the world in England! No more NZ for awhile, I'm back in the mother land! Although I should call it the father land since this is where my father was born and my mother comes from NZ... Anyway

It's spring over here and today was a beauty day. Me and Dad spent the afternoon in Bridgnorth which is a lovey two tier town. No matter how many times I go there I always find something interesting to look at. Today it was steam trains at the severn valley railway station.

We spent some time sitting on the platform watching the comings and goings and enjoying the sun. It was warm enough to actually take our jumpers off which is quite a feat for England in early april. So we made the most of it and lounged until the clouds came over.

After the station we went for a walk up the hill and saw a gorgeous retriever who was very intent on something that it could see but well behaved enough to just stand and stare. It took me a minute to twig what it was so keen on but when I worked it out I cracked up.

 

Cheeky cat knew it was out of reach! We carried on towards the shops where we saw a great sign in a window, good humour on the shopkeepers part and pretty true too.

We were very lucky with the weather today as for most of the time that we were walking around it was sunny or at least patchy sun but on the horizon we could see dark storm clouds gathering. I was very glad to be where we were rather than under those threatening clouds.

Bridgnorth is such a historic town, and such a touristy town, that it's hard not to learn something new while you're there. Today I learnt that the steps leading to high town are so shallow as they were designed for donkeys! Apparently there was only one road wide enough to allow passage to wheeled vehicles so most goods had to be brought up the hill on the backs of donkeys. So they made a set of shallow steps that wouldn't trip them up.

So there you have it. A day trip in Bridgnorth sort of, more like a lazy afternoon but that still counts. Here's hoping I can get back into the blog a bit more in the next few months and keep you updated on my adventures around jolly old England. As a parting pic, have another steam train.