2015 remembered in 100 ways

Curry, Stramash, Modern Family, ski-ing, flagstones, mist, lime and soda, chutney, midget gems, Carlisle, mountains, Andy, Hebrides, reading, rivers, Nerea, work, weather, Molly, garden, Dolomites, beaches, Alex, walking boots, Kiya, cooking, rain, sparky apprenticeship, Bryn Dowsi, Scotland, cake, Monty, cycling, work, Robin and Cathryn, camping, Lake District, poetry, cheese, Misty, geocaching, Tom Jones, St Kilda, Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Wales, flooding, friends, snow, laughter, blogging, roses, family, blue skies, London, wind, baking, Edinburgh, dog training, Grandma, walking, The Angel of the North, Lewis, sadness, oranges, 21 today, Hadrian’s Wall, rugby, joy, heritage, paper bridge, nest box, Ice-cream, trig-points, Christmas, Newcastle, marmalade, The Archers, birthdays, Spectre, Richard and Mavis, iPad, Orkney, Dr Who, wellies, smiles, cricket, crumpets, woodland, Great-niece, train journeys, Birmingham, log burner, wine, Barra, ISS, Strictly, snowdrops, feet-tickling, Kitchenaid, school-friends.

A better balance

Over the last couple of months my drabbling has been haphazard at best. And, considering it’s something I enjoy doing, that’s actually quite sad. And my tardiness isn’t because I’ve been idling my time away on other social media. Far from it. I’ve been spending less time on that too! It’s only when I’ve had a few days off work and I’ve found a few hours to think, that I’ve been able to catch up.  Sometimes real life and work gets in the way but although that’s clearly a priority, I’m determined to get a better work/life balance in 2016

Christmas Stockings

I love Christmas stockings. Finding little gifts throughout the year which are then packed in a homemade stocking along with a Satsuma, chocolate coins, sweeties and nuts on Christmas Eve has long been one of my favourite things about Christmas.  Despite lots of goods being sold as “stocking fillers” they are actually over packaged items that aren’t worthy of inclusion in most people’s stockings so I avoid them, choosing instead to look for something personal or unusual. Randomly spotting something appropriate eventually affords me a rosy glow just before Christmas when I gloat over my eclectic haul ready for wrapping

 

When Eva met Frank

Despite the evidence of my own eyes outside the office window, I really can’t take seriously the names of our two recent storms. Eva is the beautiful, adorable niece of a friend and although I don’t doubt there will be/have been childhood storms,  the face we all see and associate with Eva  is one of delightful, sunny smiles. And as for Frank? He’s an elderly, greying spaniel who loves his tummy being rubbed. So you will appreciate why it’s hard to reconcile those benign images with the fierce winds and driving rain that are once again cloaking our water-logged region

"When I said bring a picnic, I didn't mean the table as well" 

Silence is red!

It’s not often that I’m lost for words but so it came to pass on Christmas morning when we’d settled down for our present opening.  After the other presents were unwrapped, a large box, previously hidden by other parcels, was dragged from under the tree for me to open.  Not being a family given to expensive gifts, I had absolutely no idea what was inside and so the shock I experienced when I ripped the paper to reveal part of the word “….CHENAID” was total.  Who’d have thought that the gift of a Kitchenaid food mixer could render me silent?

Requiescat in pace, Rita.

At the end of November, a dog walking friend was given bad news about her health. Just before Christmas she underwent major surgery which sadly resulted in other complications leading to her sudden and untimely death. It’s been a real shock for our local dog walking community as Rita was a lovely, friendly lady who, despite the sudden death of her partner a couple of years ago, still lived a positive and active life, enriched by the love of her wider family, her two dogs and the friendship of the river bank. Requiescat in pace, Rita. You’ll be missed

Shopping Excesses

Being back at work today, I decided to get a breath of fresh air at lunchtime and find something to eat that wasn’t cold meat or cheese!  To describe the town centre as hectic was an understatement. After the lead up to Christmas, just 4 days ago, I was astonished to see just how many people were scurrying about with bags of shopping, presumably spending their Christmas gift money, taking advantage of the post-Christmas sales. Not being a shopper myself, it was hard to understand why anyone would want to subject themselves to such an experience. It takes all sorts!

Trying to make a Collin Street Bakery Cake!

Although I made my traditional Christmas cake this year, I also embarked on a different culinary journey. Many years ago, a friend who knew that I loved fruit cake gave me her unwanted gift of an American “Collins Street Bakery” Cake. It was so delicious, packed with dates and nuts that I made several attempts to recreate it but sadly, with limited success. And then this year, Google came up trumps…..I discovered a recipe that purported to deliver a cake tasting like the real thing. I’m delighted to say it wasn't far off, (as far as my taste buds remember)!

My version of Collin Street Bakery Fruit Cake

200g shelled pecans

200g candied cherries

200g candied pineapple

200g dates

100g flour

100g butter

100g sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2tsp vanilla extract

2tsp lemon extract  (optional)

1    Grease and line a loaf tin with baking parchment. Preheat oven to 130⁰C

2    Save a couple of nuts and cherries for the top of the cake. Chop the rest of the nuts and fruit into medium-size pieces.

3    Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

4    Beat in eggs.

5    Sift together the flour and baking powder fold into butter-egg mixture.

6    Stir in vanilla and lemon extracts. Blend in fruit and nuts.

7    Pour batter into prepared tin, placing saved fruit and nuts on top.

8     Place in oven and bake approx. 1.5 hours in loaf tin

9.    When done, remove from oven and cool in the tin before turning onto a cake rack.

Happy Christmas

Despite having had 364 days notice, the year really does seem to have accelerated to Christmas with unseemly haste. It seems impossible to think that it’s over five months since we were on St Kilda and that the incomparable Monty has been with us for almost a third of a year! As usual, our little family is having a quiet celebration with just the tree to decorate when I arrive home from work and mince pies to bake later this evening to the accompaniment of Christmas Carols. I do feel very fortunate and blessed at this special time of year

Resilience

Christmas can be a stressful time for many and for those who are suffering from the ravages of flooding, the new year probably can’t come quickly enough. But the response to recent events has been heartwarming (but unsurprising). Nerea has been working in Glenridding, which has been flooded three times in as many weeks. Despite the apocalyptic scenes, she says the local community have rallied round to support one another and help themselves through the unenviable process of clearing up, all the while dreading more heavy rain.  When times are difficult, it is remarkable how those affected show such resilience.

Carlisle in crisis

Once again, Carlisle has seen some apocalyptic flooding of houses and buildings in the City Centre. Other parts of Cumbria have also suffered, with Glenridding, Appleby, Cockermouth, Keswick and Kendal all sharing the misery. Despite £38,000,000 of investment in flood defences, weather conditions conspired at the weekend to breach the defences and create flood levels that were higher than any previously recorded. After a sleepless night, Andy and I went out on Sunday morning to witness an unbelievable scene. For those affected, it must have been a terrifying experience followed by the grim realisation that the clean-up will take months

Facing adversity with courage

Just recently, several friends have found themselves facing life changing events including close family bereavements or serious illness. And despite the inevitable shock that any bad news generates, they have all shown remarkable resilience.  I know it’s very British to adopt a “stiff upper lip” but I think it’s more than that: these friends are courageous, selfless and supportive. Maybe some people develop, albeit subconsciously, coping strategies that they can draw on when times are tough. And that doesn’t mean being unemotional or in denial but using inner strength and bravery to face the situations before them. And that’s impressive.

London...

I had a meeting in London last week involving a horribly early start. But by early afternoon I was finished, a little bit sooner than anticipated. As I had several hours to wait before my low-cost ticket train departed, I decided to take a couple of hours off and complete a multi-stage geocache I had started some years earlier (yes, really). I love walking round London as there is so much to see (and lots of caches to find en- route) so it took me a while to reach my final destination. Happily, I enjoyed success at the final stage!

Work Life Balance

Mr Glis and I endeavour to maintain a reasonable work life balance although sometimes, work just has to take priority. But at the moment, we both feel that the pointer really has tipped the wrong way and so far, the scales don’t seem to be in any danger of re-balancing. Sometimes it feels like a novelty to spend an evening together. With jobs in the house and garden that need two of us screaming for attention, the dark nights and dreadful weekend weather haven’t helped either, although I’m ahead of schedule for making Christmas Cards.  So that’s all good then!

Wellies!

I need a new pair of wellies (again) as I ended up with a very wet foot at the weekend as I paddled across a rain sodden park with Molly and Monty. I must have a particular way of removing my boots as it always the left heel that cracks leaving me with a perfectly serviceable but redundant right boot. And the “quality” of the boot doesn’t seem to make much difference, because over the years, I’ve owned boots in a range of prices but they have all succumbed to the same fate. Maybe a boot remover is the solution

Night Geocaching!

Last week I stayed overnight in York, one of my favourite cities. Travelling after work and meeting colleagues for dinner meant I’d a limited window to find any  geocaches. But throwing caution to the wind after I’d said farewell to my colleagues, I decided to re-visit a cache in a residential area that had given me some grief in the past. With hostile residents behind closed curtains, I furtled about in several wrong places for a short time before following the GPS and finding the cache in a very obvious but public place. Despite my denials, I am obviously addicted!

Night caching!

Nature's Bounty!

Following the recent storms, the last few mornings have seen us taking very soggy doggy walks in Rickerby Park. The River Eden regularly floods the park and usually, the debris left is made up of small logs, dead green matter and plastic waste, such as feed sacks from agricultural land up stream. But this week some absolutely huge tree trunks have been beached way above the normal bank line of the river. Some of them must weigh hundreds, if not thousands of pounds and yet the flood water has effortlessly moved them as if they were matchsticks. Nature is awesome

Don't forget to celebrate the small things

Current challenges at work mean that the minute anyone is back at their desk, any holiday benefits are almost immediately forgotten.  Factor in bad weather, dark nights and some sad news from a couple of friends and mid-November has suddenly felt very gloomy. So, it was a much appreciated moment yesterday, when, as I was wheeling my bike out of the shed, I was tapped on the helmet by a rose in bloom. Just taking a moment to stop and admire the fragile flower that had withstood all the recent storms was a timely reminder to celebrate the small things.

Foel Fras!

Despite visiting North Wales annually for over 20 years, almost by accident, we  discovered a new walking route from one of our favourite places, the Roman road high above Rowen in the Conwy Valley.  Because we’ve climbed many famous hills from multiple directions, it’s easy to overlook some of the more obvious routes. We’d done that in this case. Although the weather in the valley was extremely misty, we were confident of a cloud sea and so it proved to be once we reached the rocky summit of Foel Fras, with superb views to the Carneddau and the Glyderau

Wonderful Wales

Our week at Bryn Dowsi was as happy as ever.  We discovered Penmon and the summit of Foel Fras as well as revisiting old favourite haunts of Newborough and the Sychnant Pass. We also fitted in the new Bond movie on a damp afternoon when we weren’t inclined to enjoy the great outdoors.  Although the week began with stunning weather it slowly deteriorated as the week progressed. As it wouldn’t be Wales without at least one walk in torrential rain and howling winds, we chose to enjoy the full wet and windy Welsh experience above Capel Curig. Until next year......

My determined daughter.....

I’m so proud of my daughter. She is absolutely flourishing as a trainee electrician, working with Dave from Sprint Electricals in Wigton. She’s been installing floodlights in a railway siding, re-wiring houses, prepping a portacabin for a building site and re-wiring a farm shed. She’s had early starts and late finishes, worked at weekends and been out in all weathers without any complaint; in-fact, only yesterday she was telling us how much she was loving her work.  She takes part in the banter with the guys on the construction sites and clearly holds her own! I’d have expected nothing less!

Monday Morning

Although it’s Monday, this morning’s early dog walk in Rickerby Park didn’t have the usual Monday morning feel. The dawn proved to be particularly lovely, turning the sky into a quilt of red and pink. There was the additional bonus that it was light enough to see where we were walking, the end of BST bringing some short term benefit!  And to make it even more rewarding, we were also treated to the sight of a jumping fish and two otters playing in the River Eden as we walked along. We were sorry to leave and get ready for work!

Time to clean up your act, Birmingham

Birmingham city streets are filthy. Hunting for a few geocaches earlier this week, I was appalled at the litter that had accumulated in every nook and cranny. Urban geocaching can take finders to some less than salubrious places so I’m not overly precious about grime but I can honestly say I’ve never seen so much litter in a city centre, not even in London. The rubbish piles were in marked contrast to the new, shiny Grand Central station but sadly, I couldn’t help thinking that it wouldn’t stay fresh and clean for long. Do the residents have no civic pride?

An early start.....

Visiting Birmingham Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable market proved to be an unexpected sensory experience! At 5am in the morning it felt very surreal to be in such a noisy, bustling environment, surrounded by crates of vivid, red skinned, pomegranates from Spain, sacks of gnarled French walnuts and boxes of fragrant Brazilian mangos.  The sellers and buyers made noisy deals over boxes of bright yellow lemons while fork lift trucks and wooden carts loaded with produce were constantly on the move. Few bacon butties and mugs of tea have ever tasted as good as my restorative breakfast in the market cafe!

Fairfield Horseshoe

Mr Glis and I enjoyed a stunning autumnal walk round the classic Fairfield Horseshoe at the weekend, joining a Wainwright bagging colleague and his pals. It’s a perfect walk from which to see most of the Lake District, in good weather; We were lucky! 

We took the anticlockwise route, crossing Sweden Bridge on our approach to the infamous “wall” that then accompanied us upto Hart Crag. On Fairfield summit itself, we helpfully re-directed some Korean walkers who were unintentionally heading off to Ambleside via Patterdale before making our own uneventful descent via Great Rigg and Heron Pike. A wonderful day!

Who's a good boy, then?

We’ve made some progress with Monty. On Friday, we met several doggy people and their beasts by the river and as Monty was having a wonderful time chasing around with them on his extender lead, we took the unplanned and bold step of letting him off.  We were armed with plenty of treats and although nervous, we were pleasantly surprised and relieved when he came back. Since then, he’s been off his lead several times in Rickerby Park and so far, he hasn’t disgraced himself, thank goodness, although we recognise we still have a long way to go with him

Alnmouth

I was home alone with the dogs on Saturday as Mr K was out with his hockey gels. As I love the beach, I threw caution and a bad back to the wind and drove to Alnmouth on a glorious morning which sadly, became progressively mistier the closer I got to the coast! That’ll teach me to abandon the Cumbrian Coast!  I parked up at a convenient spot and set off with Molly and Monty for a misty, but still lovely, walk along the shore, discovering a mini causeway  and having some sea weed fun fights with Molly and Monty

Poetry please

Friday evening proved that good company, good food and poetry can indeed ease the discomfort of a bad back.  Having suffered for most of the week, I was unsure of whether I’d be able to face the evening but dosed with painkillers and armed with a cheesecake, I set out to the gathering  hosted by Mary in her Hesket Newmarket home. The theme of the evening was about beginnings and endings, Mary having only recently moved into her house and as always, the group found a wide range of relevant and thought-provoking pieces to share. And my back held out.

Sit!!

We attended our second dog training class last week with Monty and other dogs in attendance. There was a lot of barking and a couple of “teeth–bared lunges” from some (surprisingly, a mute Monty behaved well) but all told, there was very little over-exuberance. Monty was an enthusiastic, good-natured participant and responded well to the tasks he had to undertake but we still have some way to go as he clearly has a number of behaviours to un-learn. An upside, however, was his evident enjoyment of treats as a reward mechanism, which is definitely something we can exploit

Afternoon Tea Treat

I enjoyed a wonderful birthday treat with Nerea last weekend when she took me for Afternoon Tea to Armathwaite Hall, a beautiful country house on the shores of Bassenthwaite.  We were seated in the bay window with views giving onto the lake and enjoyed tea from a bottomless pot served with warm quiche, dainty sandwiches and a selection of cakes. Because Nerea had mentioned that it was my birthday, I was also presented with a slice of birthday cake.  I enjoyed my afternoon enormously as tea is such a delightful meal, and in such elegant surroundings it was very special.

 

The Great British Bakeoff

I watched the final of the Great British Bake Off with more than the usual amount of interest as at the beginning of the series, several friends entered into a sweepstake style syndicate to predict the winner.  I settled on Nadiya as there was something about her and her baking style that I really liked so, as she was crowned Queen of the Cakes, I was declared sole winner of the £35 prize (funded by syndicate entry fees!). Although I should really buy cake ingredients with the prize money, it’s going to form a curry night kitty for the syndicate!

Picture from BBC

Non specific back pain!

I am really suffering with a bad back at the moment. The pain, lack of sleep and limited mobility was so bad yesterday that I phoned the doctor and got an appointment.  He thinks it is general “wear and tear arthritis” in my back and pelvic area with related compensatory muscular strain and prescribed painkillers and anti-inflamatories. Or put simply, it’s because I’m getting older. That isn’t any real comfort to me as I struggle to stand up or take the dogs for a walk! Anyway, I think it’s time for new trail shoes and wellingtons and insole shock absorbers

Remember Fenton?

We attended our first dog training class last week and were impressed. As we were only covering basics and domestics, the dogs didn’t attend, which was definitely better than trying to listen to information with a bored animal.  Let’s hope our expectations are fulfilled for although Montilicious has settled in well, he’s completely unreliable at coming when called. Remember Fenton? Monty proved this conclusively on Sunday when he made a bid for freedom after someone left the gate open. He completely ignored all my calls and was only captured when a neighbour offered him biscuits.  We have work to do!

“I feel it in the air, the summer's out of reach” (credit Don Henley, Michael W. Campbell)

Autumn is upon us! It’s not the trees donning their coats of red and amber or the mist cloaking the river in the early morning that signifies the end of summer, but my need to wear gloves as I cycle to work. Until now I’ve resisted the need to dig them out of the bag where they’ve spent the summer, but yesterday, I simply couldn’t face the painful warming-up process that my chilled fingers endure after I arrive at the office. So, it was gloves on and a brain sing of Don Henley’s "Boys of Summer" along the riverside track