What is a blog-break? I suspect the term means something slightly different to each and every one of us. Usky’s blog-break is quite specific however; I don’t expect to be around for the next two weeks.

As some of you already know, I have been less than satisfied with my progress in the fight against depression. The recovery I’d expected has yet to occur and although I’m trying hard to e patient I considered the time was right to be pro-active. As a result I decided to book myself a therapeutic break in a specialist retreat; two weeks without outside influence and the opportunity to seek inner peace and tranquillity.

The downside

I’m not expecting to find Internet access where I’m going and I won’t be taking a mobile ‘phone so I’m afraid I’ll be saying goodbye to my friends here, temporarily at least.

The upside

I expect to return feeling healthier, more settled and better able to cope with the problems life will continue to throw at me.

So there we are that’s the plan. Usky will be absent for a couple of weeks and there will be no updates to my blog, no weekend teaser and no activity from Usky in Stepping Stones or the Photo Group.

I wish you all well and look forward to returning to you refreshed if not rejuvenated.

My tummy says it must be time for breakfast.... so I'm off to the kitchen to scramble some eggs.

Anyone care to join me?

Fancy a bath?

Make sure you lock the door.........

Yes, really, more clues... this is not a wind up!

There are two new visual clues related to this week's Little Something for the Weekend.... they're not on this blog though, so you'll have to seek them out.

No, I'm not kidding... two... yes TWO... visual clues relating to this weekend's teaser.

Did I mention this isn't a wind-up?

'Morning bloggers!

It's a damp and dismal morning here in Uskyland, so I thought I'd start the day with bright landscape...

Hope you all have a bright and breezy Sunday.

This week's Little Something for the Weekend is a bit of a tough one... so I thought I'd offer you a couple of clues.

Generous to a fault, that's me.

If you haven't seen it already, the first clue is here.

And now for the second clue...

"It may be a boat's best friend," said the lighthouse keeper to his daughter.

Would anyone like to dispute this claim?

The Royalist Hotel in Stow... circa 947 AD

Not the art of illusion...

Nor a new series of short avant-garde films...

Just an image.

What is the first thing you see when you look at this picture?

Very disappointed.

Extremely disappointed in fact.

I considered shutting down Something for the Weekend a while ago, but kept the blog running because people asked for it. Well this weekend has seen the lowest ever response... just five people taking part...

The time has come to say Goodnight Vienna to an old friend.....
and put A Little Something for the Weekend to bed for the last time....

It has been fun... I've enjoyed the interaction and the word games... more than that I've enjoyed the obvious pleasure some people have shown when they got an answer right... but just 30 visitors have come to this week's teaser and only 5 have commented... oh well... nothing lasts forever...

Get the bugger out then!

Share your 'bees' with us here in Blogland.

I see there are not very many entries to this weekend's teaser... so I thought I'd better give you a bit of clue.

Okay then, the following image gives a bit more detail for this week's Little Something for the Weekend.

I'm also prepared to tell you the image was taken on location in Gloucestershire near some water...

Come on guys... get guessing!
(on the teaser blog please)

Supporting the covered entranceway to an ancient pub, named for a certain English saint, were a pair of these...

Would you be a bold and saintly knight slaying dragons left and right, or would you be a feared?

As dragons go, I rather like him... how about you?

I've had a lovely day today....

I haven't had a day out for ages

But today I had a lovely day out....

And with a lovely lady too......

Oh dear.... should I admit to having had a day out with a woman of the opposite sex?

Well look anyway... I'm not going to tell you who it was I had a lovely day out with, so just accept I had a lovely day out...

While we were out and about I spotted this wonderful old Tudor house....

With wonderful old Tudor timbers...

And just look at the detail on the end of the beam...

What a wonderful little face isn't it?

Happy little chappie, huh?

This used to be a very important site many years ago...

There would have been buildings here once, though very little evidence of the structures remain now. There is plenty of evidence to indicate what the site was used for though.

I wonder how many of you can guess what industry stood here in the 16^th & 17^th centuries?

Different Bluebells, different days... hope you like them.

Is this close enough?

Or how about this?

It won't be long before we'll have seen the last of these for the year, so I'd celebrate them one more time before they're all done....

Bluebells

You took a mystery and made me want it
I got a pedestal and put you on it
You made me love you out of feeling nothing
Something that you do makes me love you...

Wouldn't you just lay odds there's a picturesque little glade at the end of this woodland path?

And when you find your beautiful shady glade... what would you do in it?

I know what my answer would be...

The New Victoria Theatre in Princes Way, Bradford was built by William Illingworth on the site of William Whittaker's Brewery which closed in 1928.

The New Victoria, which was designed as a vast ciné-variety theatre with 3,318 seats on three levels, Stalls, Circle and Balcony, opened on Monday the 22^nd of September 1930.

The theatre had a very large stage with a proscenium arch and a moving platform which could deliver an entire orchestra from the back of the stage to the front.

The orchestra pit itself included a Wurlitzer pipe organ on a rising platform.

The theatre boasted twelve dressing rooms and was capable of staging very large live productions quite apart from its use as a cinema.

The New Victoria also incorporated two flats for management, a restaurant seating over 200 people and a large and elegant ballroom.

New Victoria Theatre, Bradford

Several generations of Bradford people must have happy memories of this great cathedral of entertainment, which has dominated the city centre for more than eighty years.

The New Victoria is an architectural gem and has a rich and varied history which surely prompts many anecdotal stories. What a tragedy then, that this once grand institution has been allowed to slowly decay and fall into ruin...

No weekend in Bradford would be complete without a wander around the city centre with a camera.

This is one of my favourite buildings... and I don't just mean in Bradford.

City Hall, Bradford

I've blogged the history of the building previously, but essentially it took three years to construct and was first opened for business on 9 September 1873 by the Mayor, Alderman Matthew Thompson.

The original building has been extended twice, first in 1909 when committee rooms and a banqueting hall were added and again in 1914 when the entrance was redesigned and a grand staircase added.

A truly beautiful building... in my eyes at least.

In the dead of night... on the loneliness of Saddleworth Moor... that place of mystery, mayhem and death... strange lights appear in the darkness...

Is it an unexplained object flying in the sky?

Some UFO from a galaxy far, far away?

Is it Soupman, with fluorescent tights searching for his Lois Lane?

Have E.T.'s pals come to whisk him away from the unpredictability of human kind?

Has Mr Spielberg been playing with his organ again?

No of course not...

Well?

It's been a long and tiring weekend and I'm extremely grateful I don't have to go to work today. Still it was lovely to see my daughter enjoying herself with her friends, but it was probably less than wise to try and keep pace with so many young folk at a 21^st Birthday Bash! No fool like an old fool, eh?

The morning sunshine is really glorious today... and I have things to do in the garden, so I'll be enjoying some of it at least.

Hope you all have a great day.

Watch out, watch out...
Usky's pink bits are about!

Just a light burst of flash to lift the highlights for this back-lit azalea.

You just know this guy's one of the dodgy ones don't you?

Looks like the avian equivalent to Flash Harry to me!

Anyone out there got the faintest clue what this plant is?

These lovely little bell things seem to like growing on rust... who said rust was useless?

I posted a couple of close-up images of "Granny's Bonnets" (aquilegia) here a few days ago and Wendlane commented she couldn't remember what the plants looked like...

Here's a look at a couple of varieties from my garden. Granny's Bonnets are not to everyone's taste, but I like them...

Sadly greenfly, whitefly and other pests seem to like them too!

Blue skies, golden fields and warm, sunny days.... what more could you possibly ask for?

Hasn't the weather been stunning this last few days? I do hope it lasts... I seem to recall we had a couple of weeks nice weather this time last year though... and then all that rain... ...and we don't want a repeat of that do we?

Positive thinking, that's the answer... we've all got to stay positive and will the summer to last through to the autumn.

Life is full of choices isn't it?

You ride your pony down to the river... but how do you know how deep the water is?

Do you trust to luck?

Do you spur the horse on?

Do you chicken out and turn back?

Do you send your mate to see what happens?

What would you do in this situation?