Autumn slips in uninvited

I've just stumbled back in from a dog walk - we, Willow and I, definitely needed the air and now we have returned, she has fallen asleep at my feet and I am contemplating a brew - hmmm - yup, I agree with myself, I do need one.

Thank you everyone who commented so kindly on my last post, I won't go in to details how awful these last few days have been especially as it seems we have come through from the other side and I don't want to dwell on what has happened.

Has anyone else noticed the nip of autumn in the air? I know that trees have shed their leaves early this year due to water stress however, that metallic scent of decay that comes with the cooler weather seems to be swirling around first thing in the morning when I take Willow out for her first piddle before breakfast.

I am not ready for autumn. I never am.

I watch for the swifts and mourn when the skies have been left empty and then when the swifts go a few short weeks later - I can feel my heart crack. I have been scanning the sky today - nothing. They have left whilst I was sinking in the mire of moving house and truculent parents. 

It doesn't seem that long ago I was all nerves and white knuckles while I was learning to paddleboard with a dog who hated water (which as we all know turned out to be a fallacy and this woofing lunatic loves swimming after all!) 

Life

 Life has a funny (not so funny) way of turning things upside down. 

There are things you know will eventually happen but until they do - that day seems far away.... until it is not.

We have just helped my parents to move into sheltered accommodation - which is something they have been trying to get into for the last two years and now that it has happened - their lives, or rather their health has just evaporated. 

So - if I am a little quiet on here for a while - there is a reason. Or many reasons.

Shuttling aging parents to doctor appointments, hospitals and collecting scripts from the chemist. 

Dealing with the wound clinic, the memory clinic, the council.

Organising the council tax, change of address, getting the gas turned on, arranging for the tv aerial man to connect said aerial, meeting well meaning new neighbours and their very yappy dogs, dealing with the original rather unhelpful landlord, moving a greenhouse, emptying a shed - and so it goes on.

Helping those who used to be independent to get dressed.

Trying not to sigh or to snap when a simple question is answered and then asked again, then answered, then asked and answered, asked and answered ..... - all day......

The absolutely terrifying thing is - this sudden deterioration of their health and of themselves - has been so rapid that I feel like the wind has been taken out of my sails.

I'll be back, but not just for a little while.

Of sun and moon and rounders in the park

Yesterday was rather silly busy - and if I am honest - I was regretting getting involved. Well, I say involved, I had originally suggested then ended up organising a picnic and game of rounders as a birthday treat, then discovered that I had double booked myself and suddenly my parents needed help moving into their sheltered accommodation. I did not know where start!

However, it turned out to be such a laugh and to see folk who'd not played rounders since they had left school having such fun - it was certainly worth it. It was, I have to say - rather a scorcher of a day so we found the biggest tree we could and spread out our picnic feast on three blankets and then tucked in to some rather delicious food and birthday cake.

We chatted and caught up - this lovely group of folk were the volunteers I'd worked with at the walled garden and they, when I left, were made to feel 'surplus to requirements' so drifted away. I could not bear to see these lovely people feel cast off, so we now meet once monthly either to celebrate a birthday or just in a pub for a natter around a table. And they are genuinely a lovely group of people.

The rounders game was definitely a sedate affair - I did not want to be responsible for over heating any one and we stuck beneath they shady tree and fortunately Willow did most of the outlying fielding - she was marvellous at it. I also had to make sure I didn't over heat my dog too so she was doused in copious amounts of water and silly girl absolutely loved the attention.  What ever happened to the wee timorous beastie I brought home six months ago?

Then we hugged each other good bye at the end of our afternoon and Willow and I drove home with the air con on full - my hot and sweaty dog was definitely pleased about that! Shortly after we arrived home, Himself did too and within moments we had to eat, shower and dress up for .... Othello at East Riddlesden Hall done by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. What a performance!

The Shakespearean play was delayed by 15 minutes so that we could watch the eclipse and all the lads in the company came out in their costumes and watched through glasses or pin hole boxes like the rest of us.

The theatre group was excellent and there must have been over 600 folk sitting on the lawn watching them - and at a particularly poignant moment - a skein of geese flew overhead in the evening sky with their bellies lit up by the stage lighting and it was just.so.magical.

And in the late evening cool air, we left feeling that our souls had been refreshed - what a day indeed.

A teeny wee sun and moon shadow in my home make viewing thingy which worked far better than I had hoped!

During the play, Othello says ....

Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
Of sun and moon, and that the affrighted globe
Should yawn at alteration.

How very approriate.

Swindale - remote, wild and beautiful

Last week we had a few days away - we keep having these mini escapes and they are rather addictive! The weather was a little damp at home (we 'joke' that we live near Mordor* as it is usually overcast and driech a lot of the time) and although we need the rain, the urge to get out drives us to pack the van and head off. We stopped at Glasson Dock for a walk and lunch before heading up to Swindale a remote valley in the eastern side of the Lake District.
 

And it is remote.

There are a couple of places to park both big enough for several cars so we tend to choose the quieter. This time we used the one further up the valley. We arrived late in the afternoon as folk were leaving and after we'd eaten we donned boots and took Willow for an evening wander. It does feel isolated and wild and forgotten. There are houses along the valley, a number we think are privately owned homes with a couple of working farms - we suspect they are tenanted farms from the water authority with the RSPB very actively involved.

We discovered a nature trail that we'd not known about and gave that a gentle try - it was getting dark and we (well - me) didn't want to get to far out on an unknown path and have to stumble back when the light was failing. So I ushered back a reluctant husband and dog to the main track and we headed back to the van for a hot brew and to pour over the maps to see more about the trail for the next day.

After breakfast we set off with flasks of tea, nibbles, dog biscuits and cameras and re-joined the new trail - which was a delight! (especially to a dog who discovered revolting things to roll in - I was SO cross!) The path followed the now 're-wiggled' Swindale beck which had been straightened 160 years prior and within six months of returning the beck to it's original state had filled with salmon and trout and natural gravel banks, eddies and deep sections have given space for nature to return. The wild flowers and insects were lovely to see and (despite a stinky dog) we loved heading up towards the head of the valley.

We met a few folk about - a woman checking on her Dalesbred ponies (which were beautiful), a group of RSPB blokes checking on the terrain and a couple of lovely older chaps who were just resting for an early lunch just before heading up for the tops. They were chatty and fully of joy for the area. They pointed out a waterfall we had spied and encouraged us to check it out - and so glad we did!

There were multiple pools and drops each the more lovely or dramatic and I was tempted to shed my boots, roll up my jeans and dangle my feet in - I made it as far as my toes - it was definitely chilly mountain water! However a small, stinky and sweaty dog threw herself in with glee and swam and paddled until she smelt sweet again! Happy dog (happy me!)

The falls were the furthest point of the trail so we crossed the footbridge and returned back down the valley on the other side. This was more treed - so cooler but also boggier, can see why it is used by the water authority as a collection point for water. A bit of skipping over mud and forging through shoulder height bracken was called for but it was still a delightful walk.

I want to go back and do it again.

The one small thing that irked me - something that still makes me tense up - I'll explain. 

A quick back story - Willow is afraid of men, not all, but something triggers a reaction. 

A voice, a stance, a smell, a look - something makes her react. We are working through it and with patience and time I think we will get it to a stage where she will be wary rather than reactive.  A couple a weeks ago I had an incident with a man who despite me asking him to step back and his wife telling him to do the same, invaded both my space and Willow's and she tried to both be protective of me, of her space and her need to hide really rattled me and obviously her.

On this lovely trail, we met a family of four, mum and dad and two teenagers. 

And their puppy Archie. The dad was in charge of the dog - let me rephrase that - dad was holding the lead and had absolutely no control. The pup leapt up at us, charged at Willow and as before despite me saying please keep your dog away - he just let his dog bounce on its hind legs trying to leap on to Willow, I retreated and (this is where I can feel my hackles rise)  he...followed.... being dragged by the pup.

It was his teenager daughter who stepped in and sharply spoke to the dad before he stopped, and like the previous man's wife - I made a point of thanking her - but this is where I feel my blood boil - why do they think they know better, why do they not listen when I ask them to give her/me space? 

It is not all men - but it is always men.

And to change the subject - here have a picture of our lunch in the van 🌞

* - Mordor is a reference to a place in Lord of the Rings - always covered by tempestuous clouds and grey skies