The Medieval Market in Vitoria

It’s all happening in Vitoria this weekend with the medieval fair and the Padel tennis tournament.  Yesterday, Nerea was able to amble round the market, tasting salamis and looking at the handmade jewellery and leather handbags before going to watch the jousting exhibition.  Yes, jousting, with real horses and everything.  Apparently it was like something out of Merlin!

Today she’s revisiting the fair after she’s been to watch one of the children’s cousins play in a Padel tennis tournament.  Apparently, the game resembles tennis played in a walled (squash type) court and is popular in Spain and Latin American countries

A bog hopping birthday blast

I like to be different so while others celebrate birthdays with wine, chocolates and theatre outings, I went bog hopping!

Andy and I were actually searching  for a geocache (what else?) on Walton Moss and were rewarded not only with the cache but with the dramatic landscapes of the flat, barren moss contrasting with the tortured sky . That my right foot was completely soaked before we’d even gone 100m was an irrelevance; those stunning “big skies” were worth it, even if the wellies definitely have to go!

Dry socks, toasted crumpets and tea rounded off a lovely birthday afternoon!

Birthday Book

It's my birthday (I know; how can I have reached the age of 29 already???) and I was delighted to receive Claire Balding’s new autobiography, “My Animals and Other Family” from Mr and Miss Glis.  It was a great choice as I’d intended to buy the book myself, anticipating a good read based purely on the enthusiastic and sincere presentational style (as seen on TV!) of Claire herself.  As I can never put a good book down, I've resisted doing more than reading the first chapter and looking at the photos, saving the rest for later.  As predicted, I’m hooked! 

Yesterday once more....

I heard the mellow tones of Karen Carpenter singing “Yesterday Once More” earlier today and was immediately transported back to the ‘70s, a school “disco” (terribly avant-garde for Layton Hill!!) and the yellow and brown floral maxi dress mum had made following my impassioned pleas that “everyone else had one”.  Thankfully the photographic evidence has long since disappeared as I was never too keen on either the wide belt or the nylon lace that adorned the bell shaped sleeves!!  But as I listened to Karen’s velvet voice, my nostalgia was tinged with sadness as I remembered her tragic, untimely death

The Power of Nature

I paid a fleeting visit to York, one of my favourite cities yesterday, and was shocked to see the extent of the River Ouse in spate.  It must have been at least 20 feet higher than normal and river side properties were completely flooded. It was evident that the clean-up exercise will take some time and although the city is used to flooding, it’s still very sad to witness the extensive damage caused. As a society we may have access to billion pounds worth of technology to help us anticipate weather but nothing can control the awesome power of nature

A pre-birthday treat

Being a woman of simple tastes (and needing to use up a day’s holiday), I had a very enjoyable pre-birthday home-lunch with a friend before hunting down a geocache.  The cache wasn’t in the obvious place so I was able to enjoy clambering up a tree and fettling in the undergrowth before finally getting my grubby mitts on a rubber rat!  Although we’d expected a “jokey” hide, neither of us particularly care for rodents, rubber or otherwise, so needing a little additional sustenance we rounded up the afternoon with tea and cake at a local farm shop.  An excellent day!

We're so proud of Nerea.....

Nerea, our darling girl, is settling well into her role in Vitoria, looking after Imanol and Jokin.  It’s lovely to video Skype with her as we can imagine she’s in the room with us.  It was evident (and hugely entertaining) from all the head tilting that Kiya and Molly could hear Nerea when she was talking to us through the computer but they weren’t able to work out where she was. Although she’s still adjusting to communicating in a foreign language (Spanish lessons will definitely help), Andy and I are terribly proud of her for taking such a courageous step.

Autumn is round the corner...

There are clear signs that it’s becoming autumnal.  No, it’s not the colour changes to the leaves on the chestnut trees or that Dr Who is back on TV.  It’s much simpler; the cats are back in the house.  During the summer, the sun seekers occupy every warm corner of the garden like golden pools of sunlight. But, once the temperature drops, they are to be found indoors, curled up on any available seat or cushion, preferably where it’s warm. Their life is incredibly simple; food, love and a comfortable place to sleep.  I admit to a degree of envy!

Ladies who Lunched...

The passage of time is always brought into stark relief when I get together with some of my school-friends.  And yesterday was no exception; a very enjoyable lunch in Kendal saw 8 of us reminiscing, sharing photos and generally re-living our youth.  And as our children range in age from 24 to 8, several of us have teenagers who are now the same age as we were when we were last together as a collective. So despite that sobering thought, it was re-assuring to know that we’re all still  looking forward to the future positively, living life to the full 

Viva Espana

I’m feeling excited but a little sad as Nerea gets ready for her next adventure; she’s off to Vitoria-Gasteiz near Bilbao next weekend to aupair for a Spanish family with 2 boys aged 8 and 5.  The offer came out of the blue via a school contact as she was actually looking for Gap Year jobs in New Zealand but it’s such a fabulous opportunity she couldn’t turn it down.  She’s going to take Spanish lessons and save so she can go to NZ next summer to meet up with Alex who will be teaching Rugby "down-under" for 6 months.  

A much loved child has many names

I recently overheard some parents deliberating pompously on how to prevent their children being nicknamed. I was instantly transported to my childhood kitchen where Mum was cooking while proclaiming that “a much loved child has many names”.  I’ve no idea what initiated the conversation or indeed how Mum adopted the phrase as it has Scandinavian origins, but my brothers and I were frequently called  “love”, “chick” or in my case, “princess” and were indeed “much loved”.  As an aside, when we were called by our given names, they were always preceded by “our”; an endearing feature of the Lancastrian dialect

Super Para Fragalympic!!!

We’re back from the Paralympics and what an amazing time we’ve had.  The organisation at the Olympic Park and O2 Arena was superb and the atmosphere was even better than we imagined.  We’re so thrilled we got tickets and took the journey south.  And we also fitted in a cable car ride across the Thames on the Emirates “air-line” and a river trip back into the centre of London past the sights, so all told, it was a fabulous break.   Oh and not forgetting the geocaches too.  We found a couple on the “To do” list so we’re very happy!

We're off to see the paras, the wonderful para-lympics

Our plans for cycling round the Zuiderzee are over; well for this year at least.  My dodgy knee, (which isn’t arthritis) just isn’t upto it; it’s taking me all my time to cycle the 10 minutes into work.  So we’ve had a re-think and are off to see the Paralympics instead, followed by a hunt for some alluring “find-meeee” geocaches.  It'll be equally as exciting if not as energetic (for us).  We’ve been longing to experience the Olympic atmosphere and having tried and failed many times to get tickets, to have finally secured some for the basketball is just brilliant