Late last month, I was blessed with the chance to head to the home of JL, for Jewish New Year. She comes from Leeds, and had promised that we would have super weather. I couldn’t wait to go, meet her lovely family (Her parents just had their 40th wedding Anniversary), relax and have a bit of time out.

I can say that she certainly delivered on the promise of the weather. The first blush of autumn was certainly on the trees, but we were out in our shirt sleeves and sandals until 11pm – on the first of October. This rarely happens in Europe – let alone in UK or Ireland. In fact, it was so warm, I had to buy a sundress while I was there and came home with a touch of sun tan. All I can say is that it was perfect – and because it was such beautiful weather, we spent lots of time at the parks in and around Leeds.

One of the parks that we went to was a lovely park that was made out of a defunct Amusement park, called Golden Acre (Mrs. L’s favorite place). The park has several themed gardens around a pond, including an Experimental garden, a flower garden (complete with the biggest flowers I’ve seen in ages), and a nice cafe in the middle of it all. There was also a charming old guy who apparently comes every day to feed some of the friendliest squirrels I’ve ever seen. This little lady was so friendly, she posed for pictures – and got a few peanuts in return.

Other than spending a few says in Synagogue where the New Year was being celebrated with the blowing of the Shofar, eating Mrs.L’s fabulous cooking and chatting a lot with the delightful Mr. L, JL and I went out in Leeds and had some fun time doing a bit of shopping in the Leeds Arcades from the Victorian Era. More on that tomorrow, but for now, enjoy the sunset.