Ypres Excursion.

I'm not sure that our excursion to Ypres would have been any less poignant had we visited at any other time, but the fact that it coincided with the anniversary of the beginning of the First World War just one day after there had been so many tributes in remembrance, made the air a little heavier.




Admittedly I don't know much about the First World War and don't know of any relatives that were involved but it didn't make the trip any less moving or interesting. The visit to the town of Ypres was kind of staggering given that it was completely destroyed and was rebuilt from paintings and photographs as reference. We didn't stop off at the Flanders Museum as after visiting Tyne Cot cemetery and Hill 62 though as we all felt a bit overwhelmed.





I'm afraid these photographs are a phone job as I had a bit of a battery problem with my J1 in the morning. I think it's served pretty well though even if the pictures have come up a bit skinny.

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Gran had a raw beef sandwich when we stopped for lunch, didn't sit well with me but she said it was tasty.


The Menin Gate.


Kind of a shame that the main square had been taken over by fairground rides (that no one was even using) that day. It would have been good to get a proper picture of the rebuilt Cloth Factory.





Rich in recent history, and a pretty town, Ypres was worth the trip both thanks to the beautiful weather and the timing of our visit. I believe lots of events relating to the First World War centenary are coming up across the next few years if you were planning a trip to Belgium at any point.

Shaw House Summer Fête.

I feel like I started off the month really well with my photography but have kind of drifted a bit as the heatwave has taken hold. Like, I took much fewer photos a couple of weekends ago when we went to visit Shaw House for their summer fête than I would usually - maybe it's that, or maybe there just wasn't that much there to take pictures of.



Shaw House is another new Newbury discovery and I must say I was a little disappointed with it. It could have been much more than it was, the fête itself was quite nice but didn't make as much of space as they it could have. There were lots of nice places to picnic if we'd planned ahead though and we were able to get a couple of Pimm's for just £2.50 each, and there were nice wigwams to max-relax in.

At one point I believe Shaw House was a fancy boarding school before health & safety regulations decided it couldn't be anymore. I first took notice of Shaw House when they held their open garden events earlier this year when it was signposted everywhere. We gave them a miss but will definitely check them out if they hold them again, especially after reading about Jenny from Sunny Sweet Pea's great open garden experience.


If we learnt nothing else from our visit, it was definitely driven home that Moon is a 21st century man.


In all fairness the café was cute and reasonably priced, we just didn't fancy being indoors when it was 28° out.
I'm kind of sad to see that most of the inside of Shaw House is now mainly used as conference rooms. I really see it as a shame, but then maybe there isn't all that much history there to tell.

I'd love to hear about any historic buildings near you, have they made the most of them there?

Family Finds.

Last week I was having a huge clean out of drawers and under my bed (making sure there wasn't hidey-holes under my bed for the cat to poop or throw up in) and I found a mass of old family photos that I haven't seen in a long time. They were great to add to the hundreds more that I found a couple of weeks previous to that when I cleaned out a box in my wardrobe that I haven't touched since we moved here.

I thought I would share them with you because I thought some of them had a lot of photographic merit and were really nice on top of just being good family photos. My sister also dug out a few of my Dad that my Gran gave her before I moved home and they're so great, as well as some letters that he wrote to my Great Grandma thanking her for Christmas and birthday presents, it really made me feel close to him again. There were also a few of my Grandparents before they were my Grandparents and back when they were just my Dad's parents. I don't care what anyone says, Grandparents are the coolest.


Papa, Gran and Dad, Belfast, June 1960

See? The coolest.

Santa and Dad, Belfast, 1964

This is a photo of my Dad visiting Santa at around the age of four, apparently he was taken there by a neighbour, I don't blame his face. I'm particularly fond of the sinister hand to the left of the photo. Someone actually thought that this would make a great child portrait, and it does in way I suppose...

Dad, Fairways, Dorking.


Papa & Mum, Fairways, Dorking.


Dad & Benny, Fairways, Dorking.


Grace, Grandma, Papa & Me


Dad & Me


Me in Snow, Fairways, Dorking & Brockham


Being read a book by Papa, Fairways, Dorking.


Me, Fairways, Dorking.

Always in the best outfits, and the worst hats.

Left: Me with my first and only hamster, Sassy. She was really old for a hamster when she died and Suzie was sad and alerted everyone when it happened; despite the fact that Suzie had tormented her for almost the entire time we had her.
Right: The first time I dipped my toe in the sea, Newcastle, Northern Ireland.

Lucy, Me & Gran.


Lucy & Me

Both, Legoland.
Left: Being a total boss.
Right: Someone involved in the making of this image didn't know their left from their right.

When Suzie was as ridiculous-looking as Dolly is now. Nowadays she's still a beaut but is looking a bit more mature.

Lucy & Uncle Barry, The Rayburn Room, Cyprus Avenue, Belfast.

I wonder if it looks like I've had a menagerie of pets, because that is simply not the case. We've had a hamster, two rabbits and two cats, three if you include Dolly. All of them were ancient and Suzie is still going now. Sadly, Felix, the cat pictured, either ran away or was taken from us. He was the best cat and used to hang out around my shoulders, he was massive but was such a softie and would take a helluva lot of guff from Suzie when she didn't fancy playing mother to him.

Felix, The Coach House, Capel.

This is probably the weirdest photo I found, the more I look at it the more things I notice and the stranger it gets. I like it but mainly because it's weird.

Lucy & Dad.

This is probably my all-time favourite family photo, everything about it is perfect.

Gran & Papa, The Coach House, Capel.


Lucy & Rebecca the Rabbit, The Coach House, Capel.


Lucy, The Coach House, Capel.


Dad, Fairways, Dorking.
I perhaps realised three things during making this selection to share with you.
1.) I was nearly always grumpy when I was younger, or very serious at best.
2.) My Gran takes some of the best photos; most of the ones she's handed down to us are rejects from the ones she keeps in frames or albums at her house and they're still awesome.
3.) I'm quite glad that my life so far has had such a mixture of normality and oddness.