In which walking, gardening and friends feature

Yesterday was absolutely delightful.

We met up with some of our favourite people who we don't see nearly enough. We met at their new home and wow what a lovely house they have. Willow, who can be a little shy, very quickly settled and soon wandered around as if she owned the place!

We had lunch in their garden and were surrounded by butterflies, bumbles and could hear a frog croaking in the little water feature.  We all stopped mid mouthful to listen 😊they were delighted - they've been trying to encourage wild life into their space which had been a barren gravel only 'garden' when they took it over and now it is filled with perennials, climbers, pots and planters in the most delicious shades of blues, whites and lime greens.

We walked after lunch and although we do know the area, it was lovely being taken around and shown around 'their patch'. Willow decided that she definitely liked walking and playing ball here.

And I have to leave you with what must be my favourite photo at the moment, Moss and the lady who's garden I work in on a Tuesday. There is a ball down there 'somewhere' and they were discussing (as you do with a ball obsessed dog) how to retrieve it!

This week has been filled with things to do from our jobs list including getting solar panels up on the roof - we are trying to work towards a carbon zero home - not easy for an old house but we will do what we can, all the climate news is definitely scary and we need to act.

glimmers

 Three gentle moments during a rather unexpectedly cool and damp day.

That one moment my back is turned and a small finger sized yellow courgette suddenly becomes a huge baseball bat of a thing!  Fortunately the yellow variety stay tender and sweet even when rudely oversized and almost marrow like!

The ballcock from zinc water tank - discovered by a dog who insisted on carrying it around with a silly look on her face - precious.

And a sigh of relief as I hear the water barrels filling up.

What little things have made you smile today - go on share, let's spread the gentle joy of glimmers.

'och aye the noo'

 A Scottish mini holiday - yes please!

What a lovely few days we have just had. We went up in our van, staying with my brother and SiL, where we parked up on their drive and used the van as our accommodation. They have a traditional one bedroomed Scottish farm cottage so being able to use our van makes so much sense.

It was also the first time Willow met her 'cousins'. Two boisterous Labradors, one yellow and the other fox red. There was definitely one or two argy-bargy-snarly moments as they sorted out the pecking order and our nearly 2 year old little shy rescue dog firmly put her self second with the 5 year old Lexi at the top and 2 1/2 year old Freya (the biggest) at the bottom. Who would have though it!

Once the pack formalities were sorted, the rest of the holiday was a mad dog filled few days as they ran wild in the fields, hurtled around the woodlands and swam in the lochs. Well, the Labradors certainly swam at every opportunity, Willow decided paddling was the way to go😄

We talked into the wee hours, ate far too well and celebrated a birthday with so much cake!

It was really good to go up and I was a little sad to leave but we are returning sometime soon which I am really looking forward to.

These little micro-adventures are definitely good for the soul (may be not the waist line though😄)

PS Willow definitely suffered a little PHD (Post Holiday Depression) and I have been told that the Labradors seemed to be looking for their little pesky Welsh cousin. 

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

 Just back from a day out working - I feel very dusty and rather weather beaten and desperately in need of a shower - well, I feel to need a mug of tea first and may be some lunch ..... hmmmmm decisions decisions decisions!

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments, it confirms that blogging is a far kinder and friendlier space in the tinterwebs. I'd sort of slipped over to IG coz of the whole 'vanlife' thing especially as our youngest son is about to set off for a stint in his converted landie. He and his partner are off to Spain meandering around, living off grid and exploring for the summer.  And since February, we'd been pretty feral in our own van travelling all around the north of the uk. IG seemed a good way to find out interesting things and to share lovely adventures however as I mentioned yesterday I was saddened how quickly I discovered the shallowness of the majority of IG users - not all - please don't get me wrong, I have found and met up with some lovely folk. But also IG itself seems to have programmed to pit the users against each other and have to fight hard to be seen - I do not have that level of neediness to constantly make content / videos / follow a 'hook' / play a trending track or follow a viral trend .... 

A couple of weeks ago we went to East Riddlesden Hall (Keighley) and watched an open air production by The Duke's Theatre Group. We loved it - not the first time we've spent a glorious summer's evening in a field full of people with picnics whilst bats fly over head and there is a stage full of thespians doing amazing things - this time it was Romeo and Juliet and it was really good. 'Romeo' had the best head of hair ever (and he knew it! He was cruising the audience leading up to the performance selling programmes and he tossed his heavy fringe like a Shetland pony tosses its mane!)

Leaving the performance at the end of the evening was rather a magical ending to a lovely production as the gardens were filled with twinkling lights -  we do enjoy these evenings, we take a small picnic of tea and biscuits or cake as we have already eaten by the time we get there and sipping a brew and chewing on a buttery shortbread whilst Romeo was breaking his heart over the fair Rosalind then falling instantly in love with Juliet, is rather good.

Silly question time ... Have you heard of / eaten American Breakfast Biscuits?

They are basically a type of scone but made with only three ingredients.  Tinned coconut, self raising flour and sugar. I tried them for the first time last night and although they are not quite scones they were tasty and a good vegan alternative.

So - one tin of coconut - mix the liquid and solids til it is a lovely creamy consistency, add two flat tablespoons of sugar, then sift in 325gms SRF, mix well. If a little wet, add flour until a gently soft dough, flatten slightly, use a scone cutter and bake at 220 for about 10 - 14 minutes. They rise to a soft 'bread roll' type shape and eaten warm with rapidly melting butter running down your fingers is rather yum indeed!

And a final picture of a happy dog from Saturday - we'd been for a lovely walk before heading home and she had thrown herself down with a happy huff and promptly had a power nap - silly girl.

“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”

By William Shakespeare

(from Romeo and Juliet, spoken by Juliet)

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name.
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy:
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot
Nor arm nor face nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O be some other name.
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

Talk about into the deep end ....

Yes, it does seem like I have been missing in action and I suppose to a certain extent that is true. I've not written anything here since the 1st May - is it really that long ago?

So, instead of trying to fill you in with EVERYTHING that has been happening, I'll just give a few snippets.

Hi - my name is kate although I also go by the alias hawthorn and yes I do choose to write them both with lower case initials. I also prefer to write in pencil and when I have to be all 'grown up' and use a pen and unless legally required - I refuse to write in black. (school related trauma here!)

I love taking photos.

Last week were were up in the lakes on paddleboards - Himself has been cogitating over the last couple of years about them and when I let slip I wanted to get out and get back to wild swimming (something I did for years until I came to the uk) he took that as the nudge HE needed and literally 48 hours later we had SUP boards and all the accoutrements required. Talk about being swept up in the moment.

The first couple of sessions - learning to paddle board in the rain and trying to teach a dog how to be a safe passenger without panicking all whilst trying to negotiate a swell on the sea .... were not the best and probably poorly judged.

But we have persisted. Although I still feel apprehensive as we cross the lakes with very deep dark water below me, the sense freedom it gives my headspace has been worth the angst leading up to each set off.

The turning point from fear and uncertainty to tentative joy was when quietly sitting on board, with the dog whilst surrounded by puffins, guillemots and razor bills at Flamborough Head. It felt I could reach out and touch the sky.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from that moment - I was still too on edge to stop concentrating on the board to wrestle my cell phone out of my buoyancy jacket - my hands would not let go of the paddle. 

Apart from my own gentle pride (relief ?) that I am finally getting less apprehensive, my delight is in how Willow has blossomed. When we first had her, she was very water-aversive - not even trotting through a puddle out on a walk. We had been carefully introducing water into all walks but not really having much success. Until now. Despite falling in several times, having to be hauled out of the sea, out of Coniston Water and Ullswater - she now leaps onto the boards, plays in the shallows, will actively choose to walk into a river for a drink or a wallow if she is hot. We are so pleased.

So - I am back. 

If you have read this far, thank you. I had been tinkering with instagram and it didn't  quite hit the mark, it seemed very 'I'll follow you if you follow me' only to be unfollowed almost immediately. Felt very shallow and self serving.

With that - I shall leave you with a sunset - we've seen some cracking ones this year - hope you have too xx