The Pig and Pastry

What could be more welcoming on a grey October morning, than the Pig and Pastry on Bishopthorpe Road? This is the local cafe I mentioned in a previous post - where I met with friends on Friday morning. As well as a cafe, it's also a deli, and there's a lovely warm, friendly atmosphere. It isn't in the centre of York, but isn't too far from it either - and I'm lucky enough to live just round the corner. I think this could well become a regular haunt :-)

I took these photos this morning. I need to investigate the range of cakes and pastries they do further next time I go in. The pastries being put on display, fresh from the oven, looked sooo tempting. The Pig and Pastry is relatively new on the Bishopthorpe Rd parade of shops, but is already extrememly popular!

Pig & Pastry, 35 Bishopthorpe Rd, York YO23 1NA. Tel: 01904 675115

Swing in Davygate

There was a bit of swing going on this afternoon on Davygate. In the mood, na na na na naaaah! Not that they played that (when I was listening) but it reminded me of that a bit.

In the background is St Helen's Graveyard (a little bit of preserved graveyard off Davygate) and you can see the copy of the painting "Lady Cockburn and her three eldest sons" by Sir Joshua Reynolds, part of The Grand Tour in York.

To follow on from my last post, I had a really good time at the Pig and Pastry by the way, and met a very interesting new friend :-) The Pig and Pastry might become a regular haunt - rather good, and not at all far from the new chez Ruby.

Bits of the Minster #3

For me, this was the obvious shot of the Minster to take, and is the first one I took, in fact. I probably didn't put it on first because it seemed obvious.

It's difficult taking pictures of something that everyone takes pictures of, because of the need to make it different, and capture something original. Photos taken from an odd angle to make the thing look different can look as cliched as those taken as a straight shot, which is why I wasn't too thrilled with the one above. It's sort of a mixture of "straight on" and twisted angle, to get the lampost in as well. But having left it to "rest" for a week or two, I don't mind it as much this morning.

About this morning. I am excited. I'm going to meet the friend of a friend that I mentioned before. We shall be having coffee (and possibly a cake :-) ) in the Pig and Pastry. In fact I had better go and get ready now ;-)

Alternative transport

Best granny-mobile ever. Look! It has a buggy board on the back for grandad!

My kids were really excited to see this today, as it made them remember when we used to have a buggy board to go on the back of the push chair, for one of them to stand on. It might even be in the shed in Bury St Edmunds still.

The above photo was taken in Rowntree Park, less than an hour ago. It's worth pointing out that the pair are actually heading towards the skate park :-D

Harvest Festival

Little J's school had their harvest festival today in St Andrew's Church, Bishopthorpe. Next year I shall know to camp outside the night before to get a place near the front. A good thing about where I sat though, was that it was right behind Kay, one of the only 4 people in York that I know so far, making me feel a little less like Ruby-no-mates. She's the mum of one of Little J's new friends, and we had exchanged a word or two in the playground.

Then during the service, the vicar got up to say his bit. I admit, I was only sort of half listening to him but I suddenly became aware of him saying " ... and then you just say to yourself, 'Oh God! I can't be doing with this!' " I noticed Kay in front of me leaning across to the lady next to her, and whispering: "Did he just say Oh God?" So I leaned forward between them and said, "He did! He said Oh God!" And we all sat looking at one another in a nice, companiable, astonishment sharing session.

Afterwards, Kay invited me back to her house for coffee, and showed me round the village of Bishopthorpe. She's going to introduce me to another one of her friends next week. So it seems I will soon be knowing five people in York :-)

Big Fish

It was misty in York this morning. I had a perfect idea for a misty photograph to post, but could I be bothered to go out into the cold morning with my camera? Could I heck. Bad blogger, Ruby! In fact I've been having a bit of an "I wish it was the weekend and I really can't be arsed to do anything" day.

I have cheered up now though, having forced myself to get a few things done, and just having eaten a nice smoked salmon sandwich for lunch. That's not related to the picture above, by the way - in case you were thinking I might suddenly launch into something like: "At the fish farm this week ... " ;-)

The picture is in fact another one from this weekend, when we visited Burnby Hall Gardens in Pocklington. We were all feeling a bit tired when we arrived, having just spent three hours at the hockey tournament, but the sight of all these huge, very tame fish in the lake cheered us up instantly. Especially the kids, who were feeding them (tubs of fish food are available for £1).

There's definitely something a bit magical about Burnby Hall and Gardens. It's like a setting for fairy stories or something. Wanna go back there soon. But in the meantime I have the thought of a return visit to another very special place to keep me occupied. The countdown has begun. 16 days before a week's holiday in Bury St Edmunds :-D It's going to feel strange going back as a visitor.

A newsagents on Stonegate

A newsagents like they used to be, on Stonegate. I like this shop. Like quite a few shops in York, it's just a proper independent shop. It doesn't consciously try to be one, but it carries on the tradition of the way these kind of places have always been. I admit to being a bit of a Borders fan, and I like WHSmiths as well, for the sheer variety of things they have in there. But shops like this make me remember my childhood, and the very similar place in Leeds I walked past on my way home from school - where I would often stock up on penny bubblies, get a quarter of Yorkshire mixture, and buy my favourite comics. Worth nipping in to support them by buying a paper and a mag whenever I can, I reckon.

The man who wasn't Anthony Worrall Thompson

I don't know many people in York. Not many at all. In fact, outside of my family, I know only four other people so far.

Coming to live in York after my eleven years in Bury St Edmunds is bizarre, in ways I had never imagined. In Bury St Edmunds I knew a lot of people, and if I didn't know them, I very often knew them by sight. It was that kind of town. In York, I never see a familar face. Just recently, however, a strange phenomenon has begun to occur - I keep thinking I see people I know. Everywhere.

Today on King's Staith, for example, I was sure I saw the man from the Waterstone's Bury St Edmunds children's book department. He was leaning against the railings, talking on his mobile phone. I was all ready to run up to him, shouting, "Hello! Hello! What are you doing here?" but then I got nearer and it wasn't him at all. And I have lost count of the number of times I've thought I've seen Hoffy, and other people from around Bury. It's as though my brain expects me to see people I know, and is compensating by making strangers look familiar.

And then there are the celebrities. I saw Eddie Baird from Amazing Blondel in town the other day (wasn't him, pity) and at Little J's hockey match on Sunday, one of the dads, for a few marvellous moments, appeared to me as Anthony Worrall Thompson (above). Imagine that! "Ruby, come and eat this specially prepared Sunday lunch with all the trimmings ..." How 'bout YES!

I think I need to start getting to know more people in York ;-)

A Grotesque Old Woman

One of the things I'm enjoying about the The Grand Tour in York, is that sometimes there has been a cleverly fitting, or even ironically fitting choice of location for the paiting.

"The Grand Tour" consisits of reproductions of priceless, famous paintings, hanging all around the city, and was a joint project between York Art Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Here we have "A Grotesque Old Woman" by Massys (1465 - 1530), and we are told about the painting that "it was probably intended to satirise old women who try inappropriately to recreate their youth." The location is - slap bang between two York beauty salons on Grape Lane.

You gotta larf :-D

The Park in Early Autumn

It was a bit of a golden autumn afternoon here in York today. Not that we were in York for most of it, and not that this picture was taken in York either, but the York connection is there as my youngest son Little J is wearing a York hockey shirt.

The picture shows Burnby Hall Gardens, Pocklington, where I spent this afternoon with Ruby Senior and both my youngest kids. Little J had been in a hockey tournament all morning. Won 2 matches, lost 2 matches, and did a lot of leaping about in the process, as he always does. So here, you can see him having a well earned rest by the lake.

Burnby Hall Gardens is famous for its water lillies, of all different kinds. I shall revisit next year in the right season. I'd never heard of this place - it's gorgeous, and it seems to be a genuine well kept secret of the area.

Autumn Fruits in Little Betty's

My favourite shop window display in York at the moment is in Little Betty's, on Stonegate. Betty's is a very famous, widely celebrated cafe/cake shop in York, with other branches around Yorkshire too. I love the main shop opposite Borders, and have a very nice blog friend who works there :-) I also love Little Betty's. Walking in Little Betty's is like walking back in time.

The above marzipan fruits etc from the current window display look so autumnal and are just the sort of thing that makes me love this season - I was pretty much brought up to associate the time with creating, hoarding, and getting excited about festivities to come. At some point, I think I need to have a celebratory autumnal visit to the cafe upstairs in Little Betty's rather than just looking at the lovely things is the window.

Bits of the Minster #2

What a lot of clever people got it right. It is indeed the Minster that you see when you come out of the Shared Earth shop and look left. I avoided putting down the Shared Earth shop address in my last post, 1 Minster Gates, incase it made it too obvious, but it was anyway :-D !

Technically speaking, it's only a bit of the Minster that you can see, so this photo fits in nicely to my Bits of the Minster series! On the top left in the photo, you can see the Shared Earth shop sign. The shop jutting out there on the right is an antiquarian book shop which I intend to go and visit sometime soon. Ruby Senior has a couple of antique books on the shelves here gathering dust, so we're going to take them in and see if the bookseller is interested. On the bin in the foreground is a poster advertising the York Ghost Tours. I've never been on one, but that's another thing to do at some point - there are lots of ghost stories associated with York. And at the top right of the picture you can see a signpost indicating the way to the Museum Gardens, and the National Railway Museum. Things to blog another day.

Shared Earth Shop

On our Monday evening walk round York, my daughter wanted to go into the Shared Earth Shop. It was one of the only shops open at that time (around 5.45pm) and was brightly lit with its door enticingly open, so we could see all the colourful bits and pieces inside. So in we went. My daughter scampered off immediately, so I strolled around looking for a nice photo to take. I just had my camera pointed to take this shot of all the bags, when she stepped into the doorway there, to tell me to look at the little trinket box she was holding. So above, you can see the Shared Earth shop bags, with a bonus view of my daughter!

I love all the bags here. A year or so ago, the "real bag vs disposable bag" issue was not as big as it is now. But now, just about all the shops are stocking proper bags, and encouraging us to use them, rather than buying plastic. Is this the same in other places?

Tomorrow I'll post the sight you see when you come out of this shop and turn to the left. Can anyone guess what it might be?

Camera Date at the Castle Museum

On Friday I made a date with my camera and went to York's Castle Museum.

My camera is a Nikon D50 - a beginner's digital SLR. I've always used it on automatic. Why? Well, sort of because:
a) I initially found it quite big and intimidating after years of little point and click cameras
b) you can get passable results just using it on automatic
and c) because I have a mental block about anything too technical.

Anyway, on Friday I sat in the Museum grounds by the old mill, put down my writing notes, and tentatively plucked a daisy growing on the ground beside me as a subject for my first manual endeavours. After about half an hour of reading my camera manual, I figured out how to override auto-focus and I focused on the daisy myself!! Whoo-hooo! The result is above. Only an OK photo, but the sense of acheivement was quite huge.

Next camera date, I shall be overriding something else - wonder what?!