Islands in the Stream

I seem to have had the same song running round in my head for several days.  It’s “Islands in the Stream”, composed by the versatile Brothers Gibb during the early 1980s and sung by the delightful Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. It had a recent reprise following an episode of Gavin and Stacey when it was comically duet-ed by characters Bryn and Nessa as the accompaniment to a line dance.  It’s all the fault of the BBC as they created a link to this and other comedy dance sketches from the Strictly site! I  (really have) got somethin’ goin’ o-n

Paperless caching?

I really  neeeeed an i-phone with a geocaching app!   In an effort to reduce paper waste, last night saw me cutting and pasting myriads of geocache co-ordinates and descriptions into a single Word document.  We like to have a fair few caches to choose from when we head off to the hills but with the weather dictating where we go and a dearth of any portable internet devices, we’re reliant on paper information for a variety of all weather cache locations.  But £35 a month for a fancy phone that aids geo-cachers?  I don’t think so! Back to the keyboard!

Wales again

We’re off to Wales on Saturday for our 18th annual pre –winter spot of R and R with Richard and Mavis,  although in our world, R and R involves scrambling up mountains or bog trotting in the rain rather than lying by a pool with a glass of something chilled and alcoholic. Our alcoholic haze occurs later in the day relaxing by the log burner!  I also spent some of my youth in Snowdonia on geography field trips and expeditions for my Duke of Edinburgh’s award so over time, we’ve accumulated a collection of very fond memories of the area

Apple cake

I  made a delicious baked apple cake for a dessert this weekend using some apples I’d been given by a friend. I’d not made this particular recipe before but was tempted as it used ground almonds which always make for a moist cake.  It was actually quite deep so the finished product was large enough to have as pudding on Saturday, tea on Sunday and give Grandma the rest for her and her friend to enjoy on Monday. The only revision I’d make to the recipe for the future would be to add cinnamon as we love it with apples

Baked Apple Cake

4 Bramley apples – peeled, cored, and sliced
juice of half a lemon
9oz (275g) soft light brown sugar
3.5oz (100g) butter, melted
3.5oz (100g) ground almonds
7.5oz (215g) plain flour
1tsp baking powder
5 eggs
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to Gas 4, 180C
Grease and line a 9” spring clip tin with baking parchment.
Prepare the apples, put the slices in a bowl and stir in 2oz brown sugar and the juice of half a lemon.  Leave on one side.
Melt the butter and stir in the eggs, 5oz sugar, sifted flour, cinnamon, vanilla extract and baking powder.  Add the ground almonds.
Sprinkle a further 2oz of sugar over the base of the tin and arrange the apple slices in overlapping layers, covering the base fully.
Add any remaining apple slices and juice to the cake mixture and mix well.  Pour the cake batter over the apples, spread flat with a palette knife and bake for 50 mins.  You may  need to cover with a sheet of foil or parchment about 30 mins in to stop it becoming too brown on top.
Release tin and cake onto a plate so the apple base is uppermost

Brother Nigel

Brother Nigel

Portrait of Brother Nigel

Last Monday we celebrated the life of Brother Nigel.  A joyful occasion tinged with sadness, Nigel was held in huge affection by all who knew him. His last months, facing the inevitable outcome of his illness with his wife and family, were a shining example of courage and faith from a man who was truly an Augustinian.  The sung Mass, concelebrated by Catholic and Anglican priests, and the Augustinian Bishop of Lancaster, Michael Campbell, was a wonderful tribute to a great man.  Nerea felt touched, humbled and privileged to serve on the alter during the Mass in the school chapel


Photos courtesy of Austin Friars School

House Shout

Photo courtesy of Austin Friars School

Stafford won the House Shout (again) on Friday with excellent renditions of “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines” and “I just can’t wait to be King”.  The House Shout, the annual climax to Friars’ music festival is a hotly contested competition with each of the 3 school houses singing a common song plus one of their own choice.  Despite dodgy choreography by Stafford during the “Ups and Downs”, their performance definitely had greater variation  and musicality than either Clare or Lincoln.  With Nerea being a Staffordonian, naturally we were part of the cheering masses celebrating in the school chapel

Me! Cake decorating!!! It's true

Yesterday, I went to an excellent Christmas cake decoration class during my lunch hour.  A colleague had volunteered to demonstrate  simple cake decorations in advance of Christmas.  Now although I love baking I’m absolutely not into the finer arts of icing and modelling so I had very few expectations of what I might achieve but I was amazed at just what the other attendees and I created.  A simple snowman, pile of snowballs and a parcel now adorn the shop bought cake (provided!) and I’ve plans to make other more technically challenging models like Santa for my own homemade cakes!

Great End

Grains Gill and Great End from Hind Gill

There’s something truly dramatic about Great End.  As Wainwright says, "This is the true Lakeland of the fellwalker, the sort of terrain that calls him back time after time, the sort of memory that haunts his long winter exile.”  From the South it’s merely the end of the Scafell chain but from the North it’s a huge, wall of rock forming an immense, forbidding  backdrop to Sprinkling and Styhead Tarns and Grains Gill.  Although the face of the rock is pitted and scarred, there are scrambles and walking routes to the top giving wonderful views across the whole of Lakeland.

Autumn mists and mellow fruitfulness

Autumn is well and truly established now.  The trees are losing their leaves at a rapid rate and there is a real chill in the air when we open the back door first thing in the morning.   This morning, there was a mist over the river creating a mysterious atmosphere as I rode along the river path.  But, I wasn’t fully able to appreciate it as my fingers were chilly.  For the first time in many months, it now feels cold enough to need gloves when I cycle into work and before long, I’ll need my lights.  Winter is approaching

Exercise!!!!

I’ve reached the conclusion that exercise is bad for the human form.  I’m currently suffering from a variety of bruises, cuts and aches that can be directly attributed to various physical activities.  My lower back and knees are aching from my daily dog running (other dog owners walk; I run!) and recent steep mountain descents.  My calves and shins are covered in bruises and serrated cuts from unintended interaction with my bike pedals.  But worst of all, this physical suffering is contributing to insomnia.  I’m now awake at 4am with a gnawing pain in my hips. So much for well-being!

Chilean Mine rescue

Watching the “made for TV” real-life drama of the Chilean Miners play out before our eyes caused me to reflect on the strength of the human spirit.  So often during times of crisis or danger, we hear of amazing tales of endurance and courage, of true fortitude.  What deep instinct is it that causes men to crawl down mountains with broken legs, or retain their dignity while enduring terrible conditions of captivity and poverty? The shining example of the trapped miners themselves has demonstrated that human resilience should be celebrated.  The inner drive to survive is truly an amazing thing

Civic Tea

Yesterday, we had tea at the Civic Centre with the Mayor of Carlisle, Cllr. Mary Stythe.  Although it sounds impressive, we’ve actually known Mary for many years so it was a lovely gesture of her to invite us and some friends to share in the celebrations during her final year of council office.  We had a tour of all the civic offices and the council chamber before Nerea and her friends tried on the official robes.  The Civic Centre building might be a hideous 60s nightmare but I’m still very much in favour of the ancient traditions of local government

My love affair is over

My love affair with Strictly is over.  I was prepared to give the new format a trial despite unpalatable changes, including the vacuum left by Brian Fortuna but when the beautiful, talented dancer and choreographer Kristina Rihanoff was pared with Goldie, I didn’t hold out much hope for my long, meaningful relationship.  When poor Kristina was voted out first this weekend, the sparkle died and with it, my romance.  The changes have been a step too far and there’s no hope of a reconciliation. It feels like time to move on and reclaim my Saturday evenings with a good book

AUTUMN CACHING

Yesterday, we had a glorious day out geocaching in the Lakes.  The colours of the trees and the bracken were just turning and in the slightly hazy light, the views were mystical.  We’d originally planned a different route than the one we actually undertook but our caching partners wanted to purchase a retirement gift for a colleague so we re-considered and headed for Thornthwaite Gallery.  One beautiful painting purchase later, we were off up to Lords Seat and Broom Fell before returning through Winlatter Forest. Sometimes I can’t believe our luck to live so close to such a wonderful area

Letter from the UK?

Alastair Cooke’s “Letter from America” was something of an institution all my life. My family not only enjoyed the insightful social and political commentary but also the mundane observations of American life; New York pavements, holiday celebrations, hurricane warnings. That the perceptive insights into the culture of the USA were made by an outsider, an Englishman who never left, largely contributed to the programme’s success and longevity.   American Brian Fortuna, TV presenter and linguist would be the ideal presenter to reprise and modernise the original “London Letters” idea (from which “Letter from America” developed), but with a 21st Century twist

Reluctant Readers

Since watching Gareth Malone’s recent series featuring reluctant readers, I’ve been thinking about children’s literature and writing for boys in particular.  My understanding of small boys and poor reading habits is limited as Nerea is a voracious reader and after the age of 7, male children didn’t really feature as part of her social circle, but I know enough to appreciate that many boys do not read.  Gareth’s programme touched on various factors behind this but access to quality, interesting reading material was certainly an issue.  As an enthusiastic story telIer myself, I feel the need to do more research

When you know you can't dance

I had an idea yesterday that there’s a gap in the TV reality market for a programme “So you know you can’t dance”. The delectable Brian Fortuna would be the show’s mainstay, with a plethora of FFs (everyone welcome, including those with limited mobility) dressed in “firm foundation” and sequins, boogying on down to Beyonce. It’d be far more entertaining and sincere than watching some celebrities on Strictly pretending that they really, really love the other contestants and that they and their partner are there merely for the “journey” and not because they actually want their hands on that glitterball.

Cake Bake

I need to get the mixing bowls out again this evening as we have a home hockey match tomorrow and I usually make cake to sustain the teams after the game.  My usual recipe is chocolate cake with chocolate chips  but perhaps I should make carrot cake instead; at least I can pretend that it’ll count towards “five a day”!  I find baking a very therapeutic and satisfying experience after a busy week at work so usually have something homemade in the cupboard for Andy and Nerea to munch on.  If only eating the results wasn’t so detrimental for me.

Happy Childhood

Reading the quotation "It's never too late to have a happy childhood" on my calendar set me thinking, which is always a dangerous occupation. My own childhood was overshadowed by caring responsibilities for my sick mother.  It wasn't unhappy; it just lacked a spontaneity that made me determined to ensure my daughter's upbringing was carefree and contented. Thankfully, Andy and I were able to provide such an environment for Nerea and in doing so, I shared in many joyful, childlike experiences I'd missed during my own childhood.  So I definitely believe it's worth embracing your inner child at any age

Strictly Come Criticising

Strictly Come Dancing?. Well, accepting that there's a huge Brian Fortuna sized hole (that man had such an impact during his all too short tenure), I didn't completely dislike it.  I'm hoping it's like wearing new slippers; they're not as comfy ad the old ones but over time, you settle into them.
I liked the new set and some of the celebs seemed worth following (Ann Widecombe was a hoot).  But the props must go and soon, thankyou. And the costumes? Kristina's stripey number - Err....A dominatrix and Rupert Bear?? Oh purlease.  Wardrobe; please note.  Must do better

Taylorgill Force

Glis and Molly

Caroline

Taylorgill, Seathwaite

Thursday had been forecast to be the best day of the week, weather-wise, so my geocaching friend and I decided to have a day walking in the hills. We decided to trek upto Styhead Tarn where several geocaches were waiting to be found, through Taylorgill, which involves a bit of a scramble.  Caroline is new to fell walking so was understandably nervous at the start of the Gill but once at the top , was totally exhilarated at her achievement. It was then easy going to the tarn for celebratory chocolate and the successful hunting of the illusive butty boxes

Please don't sue me

I had something of a shock when on dipping into Brian and Ali's thread on Digital Spy after a lengthy absence, I saw my name mentioned in connection with these Drabbles. I hastily scrolled back and eventually found a post which indicated that the poster had received a Google Alert, presumably because I'd made past references to Strictly et al.  I'd no idea that my Google Blogger musings could be discovered via Google (yes, I am that dumb) but thankfully, a hasty mental replay through my posts reassured me that I hadn't libelled anyone (yet). Discretion when scribbling certainly pays