Sea Air ~ The Yorkshire Coast.

Goodness I’ve only been away for a couple of weeks and the whole posting format has changed! Anyway where was I? After a few days of non blogging and becoming gripped by season one of Ray Donovan , we headed for a cottage in the seaside town of Whitby. Famed for its smokey kippers, semi precious ‘Jet’ gemstones and its connections with ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’, Whitby really is the perfect place to take in some rather bracing November Sea Air.

The Steps up to the Abbey, there are 199 of them.

Mostly we just spent our week eating yummy food , drinking lots of booze and discovering many a beautiful beach. Luckily from November until the end of April most of the beaches in the area are dog friendly so our labrador Hugo was in his element. Happily he seems to have gotten out of the habit of surreptitiously sipping sea water when he thinks we’re not looking. 🙂

I will leave you with a few pictures from my trip and blog in a little more detail soon……

Hugo on the beach at Whitby.

The ancient Abbey.

Dracula’s bride perhaps…..

 

Fortune’s smoked kippers.

Wild Ocean.

Beautiful Staithes.

Rock Lobster ~ staithes.

Unusual kit car, Robin Hoods bay.

 

On the beach, Robin Hoods bay.

 

Fishing boats.

Thanks for dropping by. More posts coming soon.X

 

 

 

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Five from my Bookshelf:)

I’ve been a very bad book worm of late and quite neglected my reading ( except for the lovely blogs I follow 😉 ), so I have had to raid my book shelf for some old favourites that I have enjoyed in the past.
DRACULA: I remember reading Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale whils’t staying in a cottage in Staithes near Whitby.Bats venturing out at dusk there really added to the eerie atmosphere as I followed Jonathan Harker, Mina and Dr Van Helsing on their quest to destroy the  mysterious and evil Count Dracula.
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN: More vampire’s again in this swedish chiller.( I do love Vampires:-D)Twelve year old Oskar is a loner, bullied at school and unsettled at home.When he meets the secretive Eli a romance tentitively blossoms between them.But she has a dark past … and present.She is a 200 year old vampire forever frozen in childhood,and condemmed to a diet of fresh blood.A heartbreaking tale  of friendship~the swedish subtitled film version is excellent too.

A LION CALLED CHRISTIAN: Love this true life story about a lion cub bought from Harrods as a pet in 1969 who quickly outgrows his owners flat and London lifestyle.Happily the tale doesn’t end in Christian being placed in a zoo.With the help of the Born Free Foundation his owners  reintroduce him into the wild…..and there is a touching reunion.x

ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND & THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: ok I have actually just reread these magical stories by Lewis Carrol.I would love to have a Mad Hatters Tea Party oneday with everyone dressed as the characters.Could I be The Cheshire Cat ^^?
THE EXMOOR FILES How I Lost A Husband And Found Rural Bliss: Not everyone is a fan of the Mail on Sunday columnist Liz Jones but I have to admit I still can’t help but read it every sunday.I loved this book she wrote about her move from London to the country so she could home her rescued animals.Its an amusing read but Liz being her own worse enemy hasn’t helped herself since then.Often complaining about her neighbors in print didn’t really ingratiate her  with them.The saga continues in her sunday column.

Are you a fan of any of these books?

This post represents day 11  in the #BEDM challenge on Rosalilium.

Vampire Reads.

I was looking in my bookshelf over the weekend as I need to reaquaint myself with Breaking Dawn before part two of the film comes out next month–Whoop Cannot wait!) and I realised that I do own quite a few Vampire novels.There is definantly something addictively attractive about the vampire myth and now the nights are drawing in and Halloween looms, getting cozy by the fire with Edward Cullen or Vampire Bill or Casper Varn sounds like a spookily good plan. : )

One of my favourite classic gothic stories is of course Dracula by Bram Stoker.It is written in the form of letters and journal entries and concerns a young solicitor ( Jonathan Harker) who is summoned by the mysterious Count Dracula to his castle in Transylvania to finalize a property deal. Little does he know that the count is a blood sucking vampire who will travel to England and unleash a terrible evil on his fellow countrymen including his true love Mina. Can the renowned Dr Van Helsing and his band of slayers help them…..

I love to read Charlaine Harris’s ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ series which you may have heard of as it is the inspiration for the HBO tv show True Blood. Sookie is a waitress who can read minds ( though she tries to keep this particular talent to herself as people don’t like her for it) and one night she meets Bill who is tall, dark and handsome and the only person ever that she can’t hear thinking.So far, so good! But it turns out Bill is a vampire and Big Trouble. Sookie’s life is changed forever. Dead until Dark is the first book in the series.

‘Let the Right One In’ by John Ajvide Lindqvist is a vampire novel I have to recommend.It tells the story of a twelve year old boy Oskar who befriends the mysterious
Eli only to find she has a dark secret-she is a 200-year old vampire,forever frozen in childhood, and condemmed to live on a diet of fresh blood. This is essentially a story about friendship and acceptance and the Swedish subtitled film version is absolutely brilliant too.


Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Graveyard Book’ is a real treat to read. Ok it is really for children but I loved it. It is the story of ‘Bod’ who is really quite normal….except his home is a graveyard, he is being raise
d and educated by ghosts and has a guardian who definatly looks and acts like a vampire.Bod has plenty of adventures in the graveyard but the real danger lies outside in the real world….for that is where the man called Jack lives and he has already killed Bod’s family.A spooky yet charming read.

Of course I must include ‘Twilight’ in my list.Stephanie Meyers bestselling saga is a classic romance between a mortal and a vampire.Twilight is the first book in the series and is written from the perspective of Bella Swan who has just moved to a gloomy rainy town called Forks.At school she meets Edward Cullen who has porcelain skin and is incredibly handsome and there is an instant attraction. But Edward is a vampire who has managed to keep his identity a secret and never fallen in love….until now.But the closer Bella gets to Edward the more she puts herself and her family in danger. Ooooh I can’t wait for the next film installment!

I am currently reading ‘The Dark Heroine’ by Abbigail Gibbs. I have only read a couple of chapters so far but it is holding my interest and looks to be another mortal meets sexy vampire romance. 🙂

I would love to know your favorite Vampire Vampire Stories??