Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Following
I've been asked if you have to have a blog to be able to follow my blog! Fortunately the answer is no!! I've done some investigating and found a little gadget that allows you to follow me by email - it's on the right there underneath all of the orange blog titles. Just put your email address in the box and press submit and there you go. Quick and easy. I don't post every day so you won't be inundated with emails.
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Curbar Edge
After our healthy walking adventure the other day, Kathryn and I had arranged to have another walk today, weather permitting. And what an absolutely glorious day, completely betraying the fact that the first day of autumn has already been and gone. 23 degrees and set to get hotter.
I picked Kathryn up at 11 and headed out into Derbyshire. I've been along Curbar Edge many times, it's one of my favourite places to walk, but never done a proper 'round' walk there. We usually head off around the edge until one of the girls moans that they have had enough, then retrace our footsteps.
We parked on the road just a little way down from the curbar edge car park, and headed off over the fields towards the Wellington Monument, an imposing stone cross which hovers over the edge of the moor keeping a watchful eye on the town of Baslow below. We passed a herd of highland cattle but rather than avoid them like we did last time, decided to keep on going right through the middle of them. They look docile enough despite having huge horns that could do a lot of damage should they decide to use them.
Once at the monument we hung a right and headed off over the fields back to the road, and over onto Curbar Edge. There were lots of abseilers out today, many more than I've seen on a weekend. Curbar Edge is a prime spot with it's imposing gritstone boulders for abseiling enthusiasts.
We picked our way downwards through the boulders onto lower ground and headed back towards the road. We stopped for lunch sat on a rock in the blazing sun. I've recently started a Weight Watchers regime so the walking has come in handy as you get extra points for every 10 minutes of exercise you do - woo hoo. Consequently my lunch consisted of a piece of Leerdammer Light squashed between two pieces of wholemeal bread (no margarine), a banana and a small carton of pineapple juice. It was enough though and I shall use up my extra points for a nice big tea later.
We crossed back over the road and followed the valley back along towards the Wellington Monument, although at a lower level and finally traced our tracks back to the car. We'd covered about four and a half miles.
At the beginning of the walk we'd seen what looked like a small concrete sculpture just sat there in the middle of the field, in the middle of nowhere. As it was in the middle of the herd of highland cattle, we didn't investigate until the end of the walk when we passed it again, and thankfully the cows were elsehwere. It turned out to be a sail, inscribed on one side with the words:
Canvas to all points
graze the azimuth
from 1709 to 2008
Quit the tide
to see you right
I have no idea what that was all about so looked it up and it appears that the stone is part of a series of Companion Stones. There are 12 stones in total, all designed by artists and poets from the Peak District, and all situated as place markers throughout the national park. Like the guide stoops of old that were waymarkers, these also mark the way, but rather than to a physical journey, they mark the way to an uncertain future. Sounds all a bit deep and mysterious doesn't it. You can check out more here
I think I may have a little walking project to find the rest of the stones on subsequent walks, although, unbeknown to me, I had already encountered another of the companion stones back in January
Monday, 26 September 2011
Action shot!
This is me and the other ladies at the screen printing workshop that I took part in back at the beginning of September.
That's me in the foreground on the right there, having just cut out my little birdie stencil.
And that's not the only place I popped up recently. I found this video link on the home page of thealarm.com today. A complete co-incidence that the video was stopped at my name.
That's me in the foreground on the right there, having just cut out my little birdie stencil.
And that's not the only place I popped up recently. I found this video link on the home page of thealarm.com today. A complete co-incidence that the video was stopped at my name.
Thursday, 22 September 2011
An Unexpected Day
When I heard Simon coming down the stairs at 9 am this morning, I knew the phone call he had taken must be for me. I wracked my brains to think who on earth would be calling me at this time, or who would even know I was at home today, but came up blank.
It was Kathryn! What a lovely surprise! We'd been meeting up whilst I had my break from work to do a bit of walking and lunching, but stopped once the summer holidays kicked in as we both had family responsibilities instead. Turns out she'd bumped into Becky last night who told her that my hours had changed and I was at home this week.
I thought about her last week and meant to get in touch. Now that the kids are back at school we really should take up where we left off rather then let things slide. I thought about her again on waking this morning, but once out of bed had forgotten again, so was really pleased when she rang.
As the weather was nice we decided to go for a walk. I emphasised I only wanted a short, hour-long walk, as my brain wasn't really into walking mode at all. She said that was fine, and we decided to do a 3 mile stretch of the Dronfield Rotary Walk.
I got to her house about 11 and we climbed up Green Lane to Coal Aston. Weather wise it was perfect. We wandered around the route for a bit then rather than take the short cut home decided to go a bit further. We ended up at The Inn at Troway just before half 12 and had a well deserved beer and a snack.
An hour later, after much nattering and giggling we thought we'd better continue on our way, as we'd only done about half of the walk at this point.
We crossed the road into the field with the airstrip opposite The Inn and headed off down towards the stye at the bottom of the field. There was a huge herd of cows around the style so we stopped a little way from them. I don't usually mind walking past cows - I don't usually feel too nervous but we were mindful that they had calfs with them, which they can be very protective of, and I just felt that it wasn't a good idea to continue on that way.
We walked around the field looking for another way around without having to retrace our footsteps, but couldn't find another public right of way so resigned ourselves to the fact that we'd have to walk along the road. We decided that if it was a toss up between being mauled by a cow or mown down by a passing motorist we'd take our chances on the road.
Whilst making our way back to the edge of the field we saw a couple of farmers in tractors.
The first stopped and asked if we were lost. We explained what had happened and he told us just to continue on through the herd of cows because they were really docile and the calfs weren't so young. So off we set, very happy to be back on track once again.
The second farmer drew level with us, and stopped us, asking us what the problem was. So once again, we explained what we were doing and he said: 'I'm the gaffer here, don't listen to him. There's two bulls in that herd of cows, you (pointing to Kathryn) you're wearing a red anorak, I wouldn't like your chances'. He showed us another way out of the field without having to retrace our steps so we managed to get on our way.
It took us the long way round - right through the middle of Apperknowle (see map), and must have added about 45 minutes to that part of the walk, but we were having a good laugh at the conflicting advice and didn't really notice the time.
A bit further on we came across another field of cows that we needed to cross, but got some advice from a rather nice and handsome woodcutter that 'I wouldn't go in that field if Iwere you, there's all sorts in there'. So we erred on the side of caution once again and kept to the road for that bit.
I eventually rolled up at home at 3.00pm, so much for a short walk, but I thoroughly enjoyed the day and it was really good to catch up with Kathryn.
It was Kathryn! What a lovely surprise! We'd been meeting up whilst I had my break from work to do a bit of walking and lunching, but stopped once the summer holidays kicked in as we both had family responsibilities instead. Turns out she'd bumped into Becky last night who told her that my hours had changed and I was at home this week.
I thought about her last week and meant to get in touch. Now that the kids are back at school we really should take up where we left off rather then let things slide. I thought about her again on waking this morning, but once out of bed had forgotten again, so was really pleased when she rang.
As the weather was nice we decided to go for a walk. I emphasised I only wanted a short, hour-long walk, as my brain wasn't really into walking mode at all. She said that was fine, and we decided to do a 3 mile stretch of the Dronfield Rotary Walk.
I got to her house about 11 and we climbed up Green Lane to Coal Aston. Weather wise it was perfect. We wandered around the route for a bit then rather than take the short cut home decided to go a bit further. We ended up at The Inn at Troway just before half 12 and had a well deserved beer and a snack.
An hour later, after much nattering and giggling we thought we'd better continue on our way, as we'd only done about half of the walk at this point.
We crossed the road into the field with the airstrip opposite The Inn and headed off down towards the stye at the bottom of the field. There was a huge herd of cows around the style so we stopped a little way from them. I don't usually mind walking past cows - I don't usually feel too nervous but we were mindful that they had calfs with them, which they can be very protective of, and I just felt that it wasn't a good idea to continue on that way.
We walked around the field looking for another way around without having to retrace our footsteps, but couldn't find another public right of way so resigned ourselves to the fact that we'd have to walk along the road. We decided that if it was a toss up between being mauled by a cow or mown down by a passing motorist we'd take our chances on the road.
Whilst making our way back to the edge of the field we saw a couple of farmers in tractors.
The first stopped and asked if we were lost. We explained what had happened and he told us just to continue on through the herd of cows because they were really docile and the calfs weren't so young. So off we set, very happy to be back on track once again.
The second farmer drew level with us, and stopped us, asking us what the problem was. So once again, we explained what we were doing and he said: 'I'm the gaffer here, don't listen to him. There's two bulls in that herd of cows, you (pointing to Kathryn) you're wearing a red anorak, I wouldn't like your chances'. He showed us another way out of the field without having to retrace our steps so we managed to get on our way.
It took us the long way round - right through the middle of Apperknowle (see map), and must have added about 45 minutes to that part of the walk, but we were having a good laugh at the conflicting advice and didn't really notice the time.
A bit further on we came across another field of cows that we needed to cross, but got some advice from a rather nice and handsome woodcutter that 'I wouldn't go in that field if Iwere you, there's all sorts in there'. So we erred on the side of caution once again and kept to the road for that bit.
I eventually rolled up at home at 3.00pm, so much for a short walk, but I thoroughly enjoyed the day and it was really good to catch up with Kathryn.
Sunday, 18 September 2011
There are three things on my mind ...
(you're no longer one of them*)
Working out how to make Weight Watchers points work for me so my stomach doesn't feel as if my throat has been cut;
Craft stuff. Christmas bunting and a swallow and stars themed wedding card
and
Andrew Kaufman.
He writes you know!
Modern Fairy Tales!!
He's a little (well a lot) off the wall.
And his books are allegorical.
A good place to start is The Tiny Wife. Because it is very short and bitter sweet.
A thief enters a bank and demands that it's customers give him, not their money, but the most precious, sentimental possession they have with them. Each loss of possession has a profound impact on their owners, and strange things start to happen to each of them. It's a modern fable which examines modern relationships. Read between the lines.
* (Prefab Sprout - Desire As)
Working out how to make Weight Watchers points work for me so my stomach doesn't feel as if my throat has been cut;
Craft stuff. Christmas bunting and a swallow and stars themed wedding card
and
Andrew Kaufman.
He writes you know!
Modern Fairy Tales!!
He's a little (well a lot) off the wall.
And his books are allegorical.
A good place to start is The Tiny Wife. Because it is very short and bitter sweet.
A thief enters a bank and demands that it's customers give him, not their money, but the most precious, sentimental possession they have with them. Each loss of possession has a profound impact on their owners, and strange things start to happen to each of them. It's a modern fable which examines modern relationships. Read between the lines.
Saturday, 17 September 2011
We hadn't been out to celebrate Becky's GCSE success yet, so went to The Inn at Troway for tea last night.
As always, the food there is divine. We passed on starters (just as well as I couldn't move at the end of the meal) and Jenny and I opted for the goats cheese and roasted red onion hash browns with hummous and chickpea relish. Oh boy. The hash browns were to die for, and the nicest way I've seen goats cheese served yet. The humus was made with beetroot - so was bright purple and the chickpea relish complimented the rest of the meal just fine. All served on a slab of slate. Simon and Becky ordered the homemade steak burger, cheddar cheese, crispy bacon, sticky onion jam, bread cake, chips, Caesar salad.
Puddings there are always really lovely and I managed to persuade Jenny to share the apple and blackberry crumble with me. This is made for two to share, and comes with custard, clotted cream AND ice-cream. Meganom indeed. Becky had a slice of chocolate cake served with white chocolate ice-cream. The cake was a hybrid between a moose and cake texture, looked like a brown cheesecake and again, tasted heavenly. Simon had lemon creme brulee which he said was very nice.
I could hardly walk to the car by the end of the meal, and I can't remember the last time I felt so stuffed. We all like The Inn - it's only a 10 minute drive from the house, set out in the countryside on the Sheffield/Dronfield border - it's a really nice relaxed atmosphere but the food is really good quality.
Highly recommended!
As always, the food there is divine. We passed on starters (just as well as I couldn't move at the end of the meal) and Jenny and I opted for the goats cheese and roasted red onion hash browns with hummous and chickpea relish. Oh boy. The hash browns were to die for, and the nicest way I've seen goats cheese served yet. The humus was made with beetroot - so was bright purple and the chickpea relish complimented the rest of the meal just fine. All served on a slab of slate. Simon and Becky ordered the homemade steak burger, cheddar cheese, crispy bacon, sticky onion jam, bread cake, chips, Caesar salad.
Puddings there are always really lovely and I managed to persuade Jenny to share the apple and blackberry crumble with me. This is made for two to share, and comes with custard, clotted cream AND ice-cream. Meganom indeed. Becky had a slice of chocolate cake served with white chocolate ice-cream. The cake was a hybrid between a moose and cake texture, looked like a brown cheesecake and again, tasted heavenly. Simon had lemon creme brulee which he said was very nice.
I could hardly walk to the car by the end of the meal, and I can't remember the last time I felt so stuffed. We all like The Inn - it's only a 10 minute drive from the house, set out in the countryside on the Sheffield/Dronfield border - it's a really nice relaxed atmosphere but the food is really good quality.
Highly recommended!
Monday, 12 September 2011
More Elephants!
As a footnote to my blog below - as coincidence would have it, I bought a silver elephant charm for my bracelet last week. How's that for timing eh?
I will be keeping it close to me for a while!
I will be keeping it close to me for a while!
Here we go
So I watched Eat, Pray, Love last night. Wasn't going to, I'd read a rather scathing review a few months back and though it was just gonna be one of those hippy things that rich ladies do to 'find' themselves. But it wasn't. It's a true story and the main character came across as very authentic. Lots of it resonated with me and I sat and cried my way though the film.
Timing is everything and I'll never cease to be amazed that things are dropped into our lives when we need them. Sometime we think we need them earlier than the actually get here, but if we can hold on, things usually work out in the end.
So, it's not always feasible to just up sticks, leave your family and those who love you behind, as attractive as it might seem at times. But, there were a few things that really struck me.
Sometimes we all need a bit of space, and a chance to get rid of all of the internal clutter that builds up over weeks and months. I know this. I've known this for a while, but I'm shit at doing it until things come to a head. It's just the way I am.
Sometimes there are opportunities staring us in the face and we just can't see them for looking. Now this IS going to sound really hippy and I feel a little foolish putting this out there but I need to get over feeling like that, because I think it's important at the moment.
So here goes.
In one part of the film last night, a wise man was talking about Ganesha - the Indian elephant deity. He said that Ganesha was the remover of obstacles, or gives us the faith to see beyond obstacles to a way forward. Well it struck me that I have a house full of bloody elephants, and it's about time I made them work for me.
The girl in the film was also presented with a picture of another deity. This one was headless and basically meant that we should look with our heart and not our minds. Now I'm already a fairly intuitive person, but if I didn't need to have a mind, then I wouldn't have been given one, so I think it's all about getting the balance right. But I do tend to overthink things
Anyway, I woke up this morning feeling like a mental pathway had opened up. I feel a bit more balanced, and have realised that what I need is a bit of a spiritual and mental detox.
Now I'm not about to go off and convert to Hinduism or anything like that. I've had my share of formal religion in the past, but I think there are a lot of truths in various faiths. I also think that ultimately, we have a spiritual dimension and all of the resources inside of us to live a happy and fulfilling life. We just don't always know how to unlock them and make them work for us.
The second that struck me on waking this morning is that I have been given an amazing gift. The gift of time. My new working hours mean I work a week on and then have a week off. I already have loads of things I can fill my time with. the last two have been filled with a crafting frenzy and decorating Jenny's room. But I need to be a bit more mindful of what I do and I need to spend a bit of time just replenishing my reserves. It's a unique opportunity for me to get a bit more balance into my life and a bit of head space so that I can start to feel like I am moving forward again.
Sunday, 11 September 2011
It's all a bit mental
It's been a really, really strange month.
Not sure how to describe it other than a feeling of mental oppression. I feel closed and shuttered off - although I have thrown myself into work, crafting, and make a point of meeting up for lunch with folks while I'm at the hospital, so I'm not cutting myself off from people or anything. I just feel like I'm not able to process as much mentally as I normally can.
The house is in a serious state of upheaval still, but hopefully we are nearing the end of that for the time being. But I feel like things are crumbling and decaying around me. This isn't true, but it's just the feeling I've had since we came back from holiday.
I don't think I'm depressed, but it feels like something somewhere is seriously out of kilter.
I don't think I'm ill either, but I wish there was some sort of scanner, where they could scan the inside of your brain, and identify what it is that is causing the problem. They could just say 'here it is, this is what's the matter - do this, or take some of that and you'll feel better'.
A check up from the neck up. That would be good !!!
Not sure how to describe it other than a feeling of mental oppression. I feel closed and shuttered off - although I have thrown myself into work, crafting, and make a point of meeting up for lunch with folks while I'm at the hospital, so I'm not cutting myself off from people or anything. I just feel like I'm not able to process as much mentally as I normally can.
The house is in a serious state of upheaval still, but hopefully we are nearing the end of that for the time being. But I feel like things are crumbling and decaying around me. This isn't true, but it's just the feeling I've had since we came back from holiday.
I don't think I'm depressed, but it feels like something somewhere is seriously out of kilter.
I don't think I'm ill either, but I wish there was some sort of scanner, where they could scan the inside of your brain, and identify what it is that is causing the problem. They could just say 'here it is, this is what's the matter - do this, or take some of that and you'll feel better'.
A check up from the neck up. That would be good !!!
Saturday, 10 September 2011
A little birdie told me ...
I had a really fun morning over at Fred Aldous in Manchester today. I signed up for a course in screen printing run by The Ministry of Craft - which was only 3 hours long, but more than enough time to learn the basics and to make a couple of prints.
The courses are held in the basement of the building and it is so funky. The open plan space is sectioned off into medium sized working spaces with walls made from the cardboard middles of rolls of material. It looks so cool. I meant to get a photo but forgot, but as I intend going back again, hopefully I will remember then.
There were 7 of us on the course - all beginners, ably taught by North West Designer Nell Smith . The class was really relaxed and friendly and completely non-threatening.
Here's the fruit of this morning's labours!
The courses are held in the basement of the building and it is so funky. The open plan space is sectioned off into medium sized working spaces with walls made from the cardboard middles of rolls of material. It looks so cool. I meant to get a photo but forgot, but as I intend going back again, hopefully I will remember then.
There were 7 of us on the course - all beginners, ably taught by North West Designer Nell Smith . The class was really relaxed and friendly and completely non-threatening.
Here's the fruit of this morning's labours!
Friday, 9 September 2011
Sunday, 4 September 2011
My latest addiction!
Had a lovely salad in the works canteen on Friday - and the spicy potatoes were absolutely gorgeous. So I thought I'd have a go at making some myself.
Dead easy. Dice some new potatoes up small and boil them for 10 mins. Heat some garlic infused olive oil in a small fying pan, and sprinkle in appox 1 tsp of Schwartz Grill & Sizzle special blend Cajun spice mix. Add the drained potatoes and fry for about 7 - 10 mins. Leave them to cool and add them to salad ingredients of you choice.
And that's tomorrow's lunch sorted!
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Kissing
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