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.

'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

Zombies and swallows

 Waking early and stumbling out of the van dressed like a zombie dog mum is not one of my finest hours however, the fresh blue skies, the crisp air screaming down to the bottom of my lungs and the promise of a hot brew on my return, makes the first morning piddle walk for Willow (NOT me!) worth it....

Clasping said promised brew, now fully dressed and feeling a little more human having fed Willow who inhaled her food with one undignified dog-slurp, I'm savouring the scent of toast being made.

The breakfast view is amazing. It might not be to everyone's taste, but to us - the marshes rolling gently down to the estuarine tidal reaches of the Lune with the historically interesting village of Sunderland Point perched on a small spit of land just across the waters - is enough to fill our hearts. 

The vastness of the skies and the drifting of whispy clouds fills my eyes as I stare at birds flitting across my view. I am watching out for barn swallows - we'd heard a tantalising warbling trill and started to scan the skies. The males arrive first by a few days - they are identifiable by their longer tail feathers - then the females appear. 

Shelducks, ravens, wood pigeons, egrets, black headed gulls, martins, mallards and the much anticipated swallows fill the skies and marshes in front of us and we find it difficult to tear ourselves away for our walk... but pressed by Willow, we do.....

I want more gentle adventures like these.

With thanks to Himself for letting me use some of his photos - in particular the final one - which is an absolute corker and he is rightly proud of ❤️

Not quite back to square one but ...

Could we have bettered our day out yesterday? Well we were going to have a good try and having moved the van further into the Lake District, found a quiet spot with a goodly selection of pathways radiating outwards in all directions - just perfect!

Boots on, lead clipped, lunch box and flasks filled with a route planned, the three of us set off again. Our walk yesterday - gently came up to over seven miles for us and probably loads more for Willow and today was going to be similar. 

The first bit was lovely, we walked past a little tarn (Wharton Tarn) which seemed to have attracted loads of bird life so Willow was on her long lead, she is still unproven with stock or wild life and I want to be able to haul her back quick-smart if something should happen.

The path then went up and over into a series of farmed fields, although regular keep your dog on a lead signs, there were thankfully no 'bull in field' or 'ewes with lambs' about but again, Willow was on her lead. 

Finally we found a route where she could come off, a wooded area with deer fencing and it gave my arm and hand a rest while she happily snuffled and trotted back and forward on little fast collie feet.

Our path took us above Tarn Hows and despite the sharp chilly breeze, the light and the view were wonderful. We dropped down on to the circular path that follows the edge of the Tarn. This is where things went from lovely to not so good. 

People. Kids on bikes. dogs - on leads - off leads. Prams. Trampers. Mobility scooters and a very overwhelmed Willow.

She went from a reasonably well-behaved-on-a-lead dog to full on stressed steam train, pulling so hard that she was choking herself, I had to hang on for dear life. In spaces where there were small gaps between visitors I would walk her back and forth to bring her 'back to me', trying to reconnect but she was not having any of it and so I had to admit defeat and we frog marched (or dog marched) around at a rather unpleasant gallop.

We got off the path at the first possible exit but it soured the rest of the walk as Willow took nearly all of the return trek to 'come down' off what ever stressed planet she was on. It was like we were back at the very beginning again and it was awful.

Not only did she completely give up all the on-lead progress we'd made, she returned to her previous bad behaviour, trying to steal food, snatching from hands, not listening, not staying or sitting when commanded - her little mind had been fried by too much peopling and we just had to put up with it until we returned to the van.

Once back, it took her a bit to decompress and she eventually fell into a rather twitchy sleep. Now home and in her familiar routine she's come back to earth however we are gently but firmly having to start again. By the end of Monday she seemed to re-find herself and today we have our calm (well calm-ish whirling dervish dilly) collie, happy with her cranky cat and her bed and toys. 

We still have work to do......🐾🐾

South Lakes adventures

Quietly sitting with a mug of peppermint tea, the radio wittering away in the background and both Pan and Willow having post breakfast naps is a far cry from our weekend jollies.

Why do weekends vanish so quickly? They must be made of delicate stuff as they seem to evaporate just as you get in to them - hey ho - makes them all the more precious.

We packed up the van, bundled in an overexcited dog, walking boots, camera and waterproofs and headed .... north. No plans, no prebooked campsite just plenty of maps and poo bags. Zeb (van) led us to the South Lakes after a couple of hours of gentle country lane meanderings.

How's that for a sunset view while you eat?

There is something utterly soul cleansing about cooking then eating a meal as you watch the sunset over water and that is exactly what we did.

Mushroom tagliatelle and salad

Willow has been in the van for one night 'adventures' when we have visited the boys but this was going to be a first vanlife dog jolly and she decided that this was going to be her forever life. (us too sweet dog, us too)

Early morning shadows on the sands

We awoke to a lovely warm spring day and having eaten breakfast and strapped on boots and leads, we set off following tracks and lanes up into the wooded knolls above a coastal village where glimpses of a far off sea just made my heart sing. Willow could not get enough sniffs or sticks and almost burst with trying to do everything at once.

Walking on the old railway track between Storth and Arnside

We had, some years ago, going to walk through a little stony stepped path known as the 'Fairy Steps' while we still had Moss and on that particular day she was a bit weary, the weather was a bit rubbish and the detour to the steps was just a little too far, so we didn't go.

The Fairy Steps

We rectified that this weekend and took Willow. It is such a narrow cleft with steps carved in the gap and was, believe it or not, used as a coffin route. Himself and the dog are slim whippet shaped creatures and slipped through fairly easily - I am more your Labrador type and did find it a little claustrophobic - how on earth coffins were manoeuvred through such a narrow gap we could not fathom. We wondered if they actually lowered them over the cliff edge with ropes and only the coffin bearers traversed through the narrow ginnel.

This made us smile

At the top of the ridge, we sat, drank in the view and I was quietly pleased when a small red and white foxdog leant up against my back and rested. These small moments of trust are so precious.

I know she's a petite collie, but that must have been a huge tree

Along our walk, we met a few folk out, not as many as we had anticipated but those we did meet were very kind about a dilly dog even comparing notes on our loose lead training. I was heartened by a couple of people actually saying they'd used this style of training and that yes it was a long process but it was worth it and to persist.

Waiting for permission to come through the slip stile

It was a lovely day and if proof was ever needed - a small dog first devoured her food as if it was a last meal EVER then fell in her bed and into a deep sleep. Which is amazing - she is such a light sleeper and seems to have one eye open at all time, she was completely out for the count and it was so sweet.

Zzzzzzzzzz

And this was just day one!

Fields and footpaths

This morning we walked with the sound of bird song filling the hedgerows. The usual silly memes which are rehashed every year round about now call this a false spring or a fake spring and yes it does feel very springlike. Garden edges and lane sides are filled with the promise of daffodils while snowdrops are still abound, they are beginning to fade a little and crocus are shooting up only to be flattened by the wind or the rain. Even if this is a false spring - I'll take it, I have had my fill of a wet winter.

My mind is a whirl of debate and discussion as I try to drag myself out of my head and listen to the birds and the scrunch thud of my boots on the stony track. Willow also in a world of her own, follows scents - lead free - occasionally throwing a look over her shoulder to check I am still there. And I am.

The sky sinks lower as the clouds drag their bellies over the hill, a passing walker clutching a brolly quips up that she thinks that it will rain again - she is beautifully dressed with not a hair out of place as she happily strides down the muddy track to meet the main village road. Whereas I am togged up in my dog walking jeans, mucky wellies, old coat with a scratchy beanie perched above my eyebrows making my forehead itchy.

As we reach the furthest point of our 'dog loop' I impulsively lengthen it by turning left through the marsh field where Willow and I pick our way between the deeply muddy puddles, dark chocolate brown earth glistening with retained water. Ducks are startled by our appearance having thought the marsh field was theirs and theirs alone today. With wings clapping and a chorus of disapproval - three or four take to the air, curl round through the damp air around our heads watching as we slip and slide around the path and then with a noisy clatter land back at their original spot to continue whatever they'd been doing before we appeared.

Willow - who a few short weeks ago would have been startled in fear at the sound- now just glances up, watches briefly then returns to the serious business of following a sticky scent which is calling to her. I am relieved when we finally reach the stile and hop over back on to the stony track. We are not far from where we'd turned off however it added much needed interest and stimulation for Willow Walnut Brain who is loving learning things new.

I can hear little voices through the stand of trees between us and the primary school - play time - which seems to have a fair bit of screaming and shouting involved. Instantly we turn away, choosing another lane to make our return journey. This one narrows to a footpath edged by wildflowers and in summer is beautiful. Now, in simplified late winter garb, it is bare earth with tiny shoots, snowdrops, tete a tete daffodils and crocus drifting down between brambles and moss. At the end we reach a tumble of stone cottages jostling for space along the lane and it is time for Willow to put back on her collar and lead.

As we walk back home, I can feel a pin prick of rain on my face, glancing up I can see the clouds are definitely promising more rain, we only just get home in time, boots off, kettle on when the cat comes in with fur sparkly and wet. She stalks off to dry by the wood burner and in a few minutes, Willow, now towelled down and in bed watches me as I open the laptop and sip my tea.

photos from the weekend - 

Top - Willow in her walking harness - loving her first 'proper' miles and miles walk - most of it off lead, one very tired little doggums that evening
Bottom - wild and windy moorland walk behind the village, with a small dog who wanted a cuddle.

The spark

Cool grey air swirled around us, leaving misty droplets on my eyelashes and making Willow' coat twinkle. The horizon was greyed out and all the villages in the valleys just did not appear.

We walked out of the village, up on to the ridge, sploshed through the playing fields and then along the road before dropping down into the neighbouring hamlet. 

The weight of the mist dulled sounds giving a strange eery feeling - almost liberating!

I stopped briefly to chat to a farmer who had been reroofing one of his sheds however two of his helpers had called time, jumped in their van and were driving off. The farmer was feeling deflated and muttered things about the unreliable state of agency staff. He looked cold and dejected but defiant... He was off to ring the company who'd come recommended and give them a blasting.

When we returned home, Willow was absolutely famished and fell upon her food which such gusto I am sure she inhaled the entire meal in milliseconds.

She now has fallen asleep with twitching paws - think she enjoyed her walk.