Last Saturday evening Puppy Honey came round to see Coco for the first time! They both did really well together and Coco remembered she is still only a puppy herself!!! Unfortunately it had been raining all day and was still like that so they were not able to go out and play in the garden. Typical British summer weather!
Coco had managed to wear Honey out so she went to asleep under the breakfast bar!
Coco investigating Honey, as you can see we were all around just in case things did not go well. You can also see the wet floor as well from all the rain.
This is normally the view you get of the Library at Chatsworth from the doors as you are not allowed in for various reasons. However DH and The Boys saw a Library Visit in July at Christmas and bought it for me as my Christmas present. So DH and I went last Friday. Warning: Picture Heavy Post!
We got a tour of the house before we got to visit the Library. The above pictures are of the main hall, known as The Painted Hall, for obvious reasons.
After that we were shown into a side room where the Library Archivist told us all about the history of the library and had several books out for us to look at which are unique to the Library here, mainly written by various Dukes of Devonshire or their wives.
A lot of family letters have been put into volumes as well as books written by family members. One book containing handwritten poems by various guests who had stayed at Chatsworth.
Of the eighteen thousand books in the Library, the majority were bought by the Sixth Duke of Devonshire, William George Spencer Cavendish (1790 – 1858) who was known as The Bachelor Duke for never marrying, although he did have several affairs. He was the only son of the Fifth Duke and his wife Georgiana and became the Sixth Duke when only twenty one years of age. He loved books and spent many years travelling around to various estate auctions buying whole libraries. Not only is there 18,000 books in the Library there are even more stored in the attics at Chatsworth, which the Archivist and her team are slowly going through.
It was the Sixth Duke who created the Library as we see it today, adding shelves to the room which was originally called The Long Gallery and used for exercise on cold, wet days. I think it is much nice as a Library.
We got to go into the Library and sit on the chairs, whilst we listened to the Archivist tell us about the creation of the room.
One of the Treasures of the Library is a First Edition of Pride & Prejudice (one of my favourite books). A lot of people think that Jane Austen had Chatsworth in mind when describing Darcy’s home, Pemberley although Chatsworth is mentioned in the book.
The Books in the Library are not in alphabetical order and do not follow the Dewey Decimal System either. They were originally but in topic order and large to small! Over the years this had changed so many times by the different Dukes & Duchesses that the original order has been lost.
A Contemporary of The Sixth Duke was Charles Dickens who stayed at Chatsworth on several occasions.
A lot of the fiction stories in Dickens times were printed as Novellas on paper weekly and then when the story was completed were then printed as a book. The Bleak House book in the Library was printed into a book but they kept some of the Novella booklets and put them in the book too.
It was a lovely morning and great to actually go into the Library and also sit down!
DH and I then went to The Deveonshire Arms Hotel for lunch in their new Conservatory, which was great although it was raining by the time we got there so we could not sit outside!
The weekend was a busy one as DH was out at a swimming event on both days so I got lots done at home and Sunday I actually managed to have a lie in!!! Monday and Tuesday were busy and I have been up to Eldest’s garage today to help out there. Tomorrow I have home jobs to do, washing & Ironing and grocery shopping. Starting to also get things organised for our vacation.
This was Eldest’s room the last time I was camping in there with my sewing. Things have changed since then when he came back home. His desk was made smaller and put onto the other wall, so I have got Youngest’s old desk out and that is now where the one above was.
I am still sorting out things in it and I have another few things to show you which I got as my Birthday present but one issue I have at the moment is my fabric storage. At the moment it is in large clip boxes because A. It kept the fabric clean when it was stored under our bed and B. The Boxes stacked. However they are not ideal and are stacked on the floor. The problem I have is how many different sorts of storage there is and wanting to get the best solution for the room and the fabric. When I mean lots of storage solutions it does not come close, there are hundreds!!!!
Do you go for chest of drawers with several draws in, or do you go for shelves with baskets on them? Do you go for furniture which has a top which you can use as a cutting table or use it for more storage? Don’t get me started on colour!!!!
As you can see from the picture above we have an issue with the room in that we have two sloping parts of the ceiling so we have to be creative with where the furniture goes.
I do need to find the fairy lights and put them back up!
I started this post yesterday but ran out of time!! I have been busy with work today and tomorrow DH and I are out at my Library Day at Chatsworth House, can’t wait!! At the weekend DH at a swimming event both days so I am doing home jobs on Saturday and hopefully getting some sewing done Sunday, say it quietly though, things have been going awry!!
As today is #TBT as well here are a few more of my sewing space before!!!
Angel Treacle who always got on the bed when I was sewing! Fast asleep in this picture.
I am not very well! Mom thinks I have been eating something I shouldn’t have again! So I am feeling very sorry for myself today!
Mom says I had better get well soon as she needs to sort out my things to take away on my vacation which is coming up quickly! I got to go with Mom and Dad last year and that was when I hurt my leg and had to have my operation, so they decided I would go on my own vacation to the Kennels this year!!!! It is the same place that Angel Treacle & Kelly used to go to and it is the same family who run it still. I have already stayed there for a long weekend and loved every minute of it!
I do know that Mom has bought me some new toys to take with me!!!!
Our weather has gone from being nice and warm to horribly wet and quite cool. Mom says everyone else seems to be sweltering in lots of heat and we in the UK seem to have gone back to March!!! It has been raining here all day today and it is supposed to be like this for the rest of the week. I hate getting my paws wet!
Mom says she is also going to get me a spa appointment for the week after everyone gets back from vacation, so I can have a bath to freshen me up!!! I do like going to the spa now.
I hope you are having a wonderful Woofy Tuesday. Coco xx
We had one of those weeks last week where everyone had something go wrong or an issue! You know how when the Universe decides it is bored? Well the weekend did not go well for DH and The Boys.
They had tickets, which was their Christmas presents from me to them last Christmas, to go to the Festival of Speed at Goodwood on Saturday. Anyway they set off on Friday and stayed nearby so that they could get to Goodwood early Saturday and enjoy all of the day. Friday night we got a message that the event was cancelled due to bad weather (mainly high winds)!!!!!! To say they were all gutted was an understatement.
Of course that made me feel guilty as I had my Spa appointment still, which I did go to and was great! Anyway DH and the Boys went to see some other museums and popped into London too so although it was not the day they planned they were together. I have got a picture of the three of them but not allowed to put it here by decree of the Boys!!!! They still had their rooms at the hotel so decided to stay and start back early Sunday morning.
I went to bed early and dropped off to sleep but then was woken up at 10.40pm by a phone call from DH. Eldest’s work alarm had gone off, the cameras had gone down and they thought they could hear someone inside! They were three and a half hours away so I got up and drove over! One of Eldest’s fire colleagues was there with his keys. Fortunately no one was in there and nothing had been touched and we think it was the high winds which had caused the problems with the cameras and made it sound like someone was inside. The Police came and checked everything too. Anyway DH & The Boys decided to check out and come home so I went to Eldest’s Girlfriends home, Youngest’s Girlfriend drove over too so we sat there drinking tea and chatting until they arrived home at 3.00am! Needless to say we did not get up early yesterday!!!
I did get to watch both Championship Finals on Saturday and Sunday and it was great to see two new Champions. So Wimbledon is over for another year. I did get to see quite a few matches over the two weeks, so much so that today it was a bit of a Monday blues as there was no tennis to watch!!!
We are now on the run down to our Family holiday and I am writing lists to make sure that I don’t forget anything!!! I am sure the next three weeks are going to fly by! The Boys will be home sitting the week they are not with us! Can’t wait!!!
I hope you all had a good weekend and good week to come.
Having abandoned the book I was reading earlier in the week, I have only just started this one. I have so far read all of James Rollins books and loved them. These are all about Commander Grey Pierce and Sigma Force who are a covert arm of the US Defence Department. This novel spans over 50,000 years of human evolution and begins when an Archaeologist finds an underground Catholic Chapel in Croatia hidden for centuries but it contains the bones of a Neanderthal woman. In the caves surrounding it there are paintings depicting the Neanderthals fighting a shadowy form. The investigation will take the team half way around the World and it will have far reaching affects on human kind.
This is a résumé of the book as I have only got to Chapter Two but all of Mr Rollins books move really fast and the adventure keeps you on your toes!! It is 688 pages long so it will keep me busy for a while!
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DH and The Boys have headed off to Goodwood Festival of Speed ready for an early start tomorrow morning. Coco and I are tucked up at home as it is raining today, in fact it has not stopped all day. I got all my home jobs done yesterday and grocery shopping and am doing the ironing today so have a clear weekend. I have a Spa appointment tomorrow morning which I am looking forward to and back in the afternoon to watch the Wimbledon Ladies Final.
I hope that whatever you are up to this weekend you have a wonderful time.
Do you have a favourite genre or do you just read anything? I have found as I got older I prefer mysteries and adventure.
As those of you who follow my Blog know, reading is a favourite hobby of mine and something which has been with me since I was small. Every Saturday Mom, Dad and I would walk to our local Library and take out our books for the week and several more when we were going away on holiday. Also any money I was given for my Birthday was spent on books and my Christmas list always had more books on it than anything (and still does!).
When I moved from the Children’s Library to the Main Library a whole new World opened up with different genres and I loved the romantic books and the History romance novels but now I cannot stand them!!
I got this book last year when I was at Waterstones spending my Birthday book vouchers and it was in the “Three for Two” section. I thought give it a try may be good. Well it wasn’t! I got to page 84 and I was bored, I skipped a few chapters and tried again and it was still very, very slow. I read the last chapter and thought no I am not going to finish this! I have a few other books in a similar vein and think I will be donating them to our local Charity Shop!! I think I am going to stick to mysteries and adventures.
Obviously as you grow your tastes change in many things but I think more so with books. Murder mysteries are definitely a favourite of mine, I love medical mysteries too like the Kathy Reichs books. I do love Historical novels but stories around factual events or Historical mysteries but then again I can read one and really enjoy it and then something similar and I don’t like it. I think it all depends upon the writer.
I have also found with some authors that I like one book of theirs and then try and read another one and really don’t like it! Have you got any authors like that? One of them for me was Philippa Gregory. I loved her book “The Other Boleyn Girl” but then tried to read another of her books and could not get on with it! You know that I love Stephen King books but I have never got on very well with his “Dark Tower” series.
Do you ever find as well that you love the series of one set of books but that not get on very well with the other series? I absolutely adore “The Hobbit” which I read was I was eleven but although I read “Lord of the Rings” and enjoyed it, it was not as good as The Hobbit for me.
I have quite a few books on my TBR shelf and I am going to take quite a few away with us when we go to Scotland in August.
This will be one of them because it is quite long. Youngest bought it for me at Christmas and I am sure it will be a fascinating look at our Late Queen’s life. When I have sorted my holiday books out I will show you what I am going to be reading! I have started a new book which I will show you on Friday for Book Club,
I got my work done this morning and I have been at Eldest’s since late morning and got his work done. I was hoping to get home as I have lots to do but I am now dog sitting!
Mom took this the other morning before I had my spa day. I think it is not fair to be taking pictures of people just after they have woken up and got snout bed hair!
Whilst I was having my season, my Brothers, Sisters and Mom all got together for a meet up now we are all one year old! I was not allowed to go! Here are three pictures of the meet. Mom thinks the Airedale on the left in the above picture looks like me.
Our weather has turned this week and it has been cooler but raining quite a bit, so this is where Mom found me this morning after she had had her shower.
We survived the pool although we did roast even with all the fans going! The swimmers had a wonderful time and lots of happy faces with their medals and PBs’. We also got home early too which was a bonus. They had the picnic and fun day yesterday and the weather held until everyone had left and we had cleared up.
DH, Youngest’s Girlfriend and I got to see the new puppy yesterday, Honey, before we went to the Fun Day! Here she is:
Being cuddled with Mummy!
Daddy’s got me, better behave!
Although in the pictures she looks big, she is quite tiny!
Youngest’s Girlfriend with Honey.
We can’t wait for her to have all her injections and then she can come over and have a play date with Madam!! I am sure that will be fun to see.
Busy week as always here and next weekend DH and The Boys are off for a car weekend so keeping fingers crossed that the weather is going to be good for them. Have a wonderful week you lovely lot.
Because our weather is so unpredictable the majority of our pools are indoor, which is great in winter but not in summer when it is baking outside! So much so I am taking three desk fans with us to try and keep us cool and Sue, who I will be with all day inputting the results, is bringing her fan too! I also have to take cushions for the seats. They are fine for a couple of hours but again for a whole day they really are not comfortable!! I am also taking lunch for us too because by the time they finish the morning session there is only about half an hour before the afternoon session starts! It will be a long day!
Eldest and Girlfriend have got a new puppy!!!! Coco is going to have a playmate when the new puppy has had all her injections. Her name is Honey and she is a Labrador and they have got her from someone they know who has the Mom and Dad. They visited a few weeks ago and she is ready to leave yesterday. I will let you have pictures when we visit tomorrow!
Happy Saturday Everyone.
Hugs & Love Susie, Coco & the Swimmers!
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