Northumbria

 A long overdue holiday post from August and time in our ‘happy place’ shared with Mum H.  We did all the usual haunts of Hexham Abbey, Barter Books, Holy Island, Grace Darling Museum, Sea Houses and an additional extra Cragside  near Rothbury.

Hexham Abbey 

Say Cheese!

A finger labyrinth which was very meditative.

Prayer Chapel.

Barter Books 

Funny story - Mum H picked up this book and it fell open in the middle and so began reading from that point onwards 😀. Mum did in fact purchase the book and when she finished reading it she then passed it on to me to read.  The book in question was the autobiography of the now famous Catholic singer Susan Boyle and her rise to stardom.

I read the first few chapters of this book and since I was on a 'no spend' rule I decided to place it back on the shelf.  I had thought I could borrow it from my local library but it wasn't available.  I'm trying to reduce extraneous clutter on the bookshelf and I have books that I would like to re-read and then donate, so who knows I might purchase this book at some point and then donate to charity once it's been read.

Silly Sausages 😂

Holy Island and Sea Houses 

Stained glass window in St Aidan's Catholic Church.

I do love a good prayer table, they are great for marking the seasonal/liturgical year but also a visual focus during your prayer time.  Sometimes words elude us and just sitting with an image becomes our prayer.

The Anglican church a short walk from the Abbey ruins on Holy Island.

A well deserved coffee break in our favourite coffee stop on the island 'Pilgrims Coffee House.'

Once we'd finished our visit to the island we travelled South to Bamburgh for a visit to the Grace Darling Museum, followed by our final stop in Sea Houses for gluten free fish and chips.

Every time we spot a lone seagull we all say, 'its Uncle Bernard stopping by' 😊

Lots of happy memories from a summer filled with adventures and time with family.  I really enjoyed writing and art journaling a reflection of each day - it was a relaxing wind down activity whilst we all hung out in our YHA room in Alnwick.