Sleepovers

It was a very busy Thursday with an early start cooking chilli, bolognese sauce and humus ahead of a visit from the grandchildren. We'd been to Furzey Gardens the day before and cooked on the motorhome for the girls enjoying a break between dance sessions and then had Joseph for a sleepover. Thursday was about Evie and Amelia and their sleepover.

We had Great Grandma over to lunch and got the children making toffee apples, first time I've tried them and in washing up I lost track of the time the sugar was boiling, so that it ended up burning. That meant having to start again but that was fine and the children enjoyed their treats. 

Jospeh had left by the time we lit the fire in the utility room but the rest of us had an evening of putting bits of wood on the stove, grooming Maisy and the cats, hunting spiders and putting jacket potatoes on for tea. The children all enoy a fire and seem to love the taste of the potatoes when done in the embers.

The next morning saw us out with Maisy and doing a litter pick too before taking the girls home after an enjoyable visit.

I hadn't tried to fit in any exercise on Thursday so I ran down to Morrisons, walked the threee miles back and then got on my mountain bike for a spin round Woodlands. The rain was minimal during that time, more a fine mist than rain but that changed as the day wore on and it was nice to light the wood burner again in the evening.

Catch up Wednesday

 Got up and walked the dog before doing a 5km run whilst Alison took Maria to dance. Once back I got on the mountain bike and rode down to Verwood to work on Joy's garden. I lifted the spent bean plants, runner and French, spinach and dug over the vegetable plot before sorting out the water butt running off the greenhouse and spiking the back lawn. 

Then it was back on the bike for the return home and lunch, butternut squash soup and salad. 

Next came raking the back lawn, feeding the birds, cleaning out the conservatory and utility room, fixing the number counter and oil lamp before making tea, mash, cabbage, peas, carrots, gravy and vegan sausages. 

I took Maisy out after tea before clearing up, washing and wiping, completed Duolingo and put chickpeas and kidney beans in to soak overnight.

On the face of it, a pretty dull day but one I enjoyed getting stuff done and being outside.

Wet weather and Furzey Gardens

 Another eventful day! Yesterday Alison and I had managed to fit in a walk together dodging the rain following an early 5km run. Maria started her half term dance school and it runs through every day of the week from 9 to 3.30 apart from a shorter afternoon on Friday when the students put on a show for parents.

Having dropped Maria off this morning the plan was to join family at Furzey Gardens taking the motorhome which would be the venue for later in the day back at dance. However, the wet weather diminished our numbers and then the others were unable to come along due to a small object being put in an ear by one of our granddaughters resulting in several hours in A & E. Alison decided to go along still and we enjoyed a very wet walk round the grounds before having some sandwiches on the motorhome listening to Frank Skinner's poetry podcast. 

We then took a trip back down the A31 and parked up near the dance studio so I could have a run round the woods, a nice 4 mile jog, whilst Alison was knitting. The view from the window was autumnal and full of copper colours. 

Back aboard Amy we drove to dance and Alison cooked a meal for the girls who, having finished the day at 3.30 at the holiday club were still going to be dancing the regular 4.30 - 7.15 slot as well. What a long day it was for them.

Sunday morning walk

We watched 'A Street Cat Named Bob' yesterday evening and enjoyed it, a simple enough story but uplifting which was welcome in these difficult times, exacerbated by the bafflingly divisive strategies being pursued by the Government.

After the clocks going back I was out of the house by 9 this morning, setting off in a break between heavy showers, to walk round Woodlands. In the end I didn't quite manage the whole the intended route but it was still 6 miles and a nice stretch of the legs. 

Maria is dancing to songs from 'Grease' now and will be off to dance exam practice shortly. Very lively for a late Sunday morning!

Riding and walking

Thursday is our day to have Amelia and we went for a walk with Maisy with Amelia taking charge of the lead for the duration. We ended up at the park before I had to collect the children from school. Having parked up I went for a walk around Cranborne listening to the audiobook about Putin which is very detailed but informative. There is no way I can follow the convoluted trails of money laundering and fake businesses fronting slush funds for the KGB but there is no doubt the chaos of post-Soviet society allowed a number of individuals to enrich themselves massively, retaining their position as the elite, or moving into the new elite.

Once home I got on the mountain bike and rode up Devil's Hill which is topped with small gravel lakes like the one in the photo. The area is popular with bike riders who ride noisily over the site on Sunday mornings on occasion, and with clay pigeon shooters.

This morning I walked up there as part of my 5.6 mile hike to Three Cross and back across Crane Valley Golf Course which is where I saw the lovely toadstool. I listened to Desert Island Discs, In Our Time and Shagged, Married, Annoyed on the walk before returning home and getting the road bike out for a quick trip to the supermarket. 

That will do for exercise today. Time to check the jobs that need doing round the place.

Furzey Gardens Oct (in the rain)

 

 

We had a wet weather trip to Furzey Gardens this morning having done the Covid enforced pre-booking and found our date of choice coincided with the arrival of Storm Barbara. However, the morning brightened up as the day went on and it seemed the autumnal weather suited the colours and textures of the gardens which looked superb as the leaves turn.

Listening to the rain hitting the leaves was incredibly evocative, reminding me of the days when I was so much younger and had to shelter from the rain watching and listening to the deluge. I grabbed a few minutes staring into the pond full of weed and lillies and fallen leaves, circles of droplets spreading out as the full drops fell.

We managed to find a little shelter so we could enjoy our small picnic and plentiful coffee but the rain had almost stopped by that stage and Alison picked up a few plants for our borders and one of the small logs I'd scraped to form a rustic pot a few months back.

My afternoon run was truncated as the pain in my foot grew after a mile and I turned for home. I think it will mean sticking with the cycling for a while, as well as walking.

Allotment - cycle ride

 

I had a lovely start to the day taking the children to school and taking them in together leaves Joseph and I a few minutes to spare before walking down to the First School. We spent the bonus time looking through the art book I'd thrown in the back of the car to pass the time and hope that repeated exposure will both inspire and inform him. You never know what might click. There was a painting of a snail, looking nothing like a snail but it was lovely to hear Joseph explain how it might be understood, in his own words. 

From there I was on the bike for a ride to the allotment and it was another pleasant autumn day. I was able to take out some spent planting and mesh and bean sticks before digging it over, as well as sowing a row of spinach to over winter. That's spinach, garlic, broad beans and chard all in for the winter and early spring, as well as the lettuce coming on well, alongside the new beetroot plants.

It was a very enjoyable ride home along the main Wimborne to Cranborne route. I don't usually take this road due to fears about the amount and speed of the traffic but I felt the urge to tackle it and what a lovely cycle it proved to be, the photos above showing the clear skies and countryside.

Once we'd had lunch we took a trip to the garden centre looking for some hedging plants to replace the laurel which is dying back in places and then we were out in the garden. I trimmed the hedges lightly and mowed the back lawn, hoping that is the final time for the year. Maisy and I got round the goat farm walk and I got the stir fry going using tofu, rice noodles and veg togethter with some broad beans and cashews. All very nice.

 

Maria's birthday weekend

It all started after school on Friday with Summer and Tiger coming over for a party tea with Maria ahead of her 13th birthday on Saturday. With the social distancing measures in place we had organised four different parties for Maria and here we are on Sunday afternoon having survived them all and Maria having had a lovely weekend.

As well as two groups of school friends visiting, we had dancers from Studio One and family over which meant Alison was incredibly busy getting the party food ready for them all and in ensuring they were suitably entertained, something made easier by the growing maturity amongst the girls who were all lovely.

I was very impressed with Maria still managing to get her homework done on Sunday morning, two lots of English, times table rock challenge, Hegarty maths and art, which she did whilst Evie was writing up her research into the Great Fire of London. The children all had some quiet time for reading and Evie and Joseph enjoyed reading about some modern art which they started making notes about. 

Evie and I had already been out for a litter pick too and collected plenty of fag packets and Red Bull cans. Meanwhile poor Alison was still cooking, this time a Sunday dinner for all of us before taking Maria to her exam class for the forthcoming grade exam in Jazz.

Time for winding down and relaxing ready for the final week before half term when Maria will be at dance as usual but also from 9.30 - 3.00 each day for Summer School. Bring it on!

Allotment - garlic is up!

I was back on the bike this morning taking a ride down to Verwood to return the tool I'd borrowed for aerating the lawns which meant finding a way of carrying it on my back which I managed successfully although it kept brushing against the encroaching shrubery lining the roadside.

From there I went on to the allotment in Wimborne and ended up riding 20 miles today which was a real pleasure in the autumn sunshine. I was listening to the Chris and Rosie Ramsey pdocast to begin with followed by the Putin biography on Audible and my own playlist on the ride home. 

The news from the allotment is centred around the emergence of the garlic which I planted just over a week ago, very excited to see that, and the plating of a final row of garlic and to rows of broad beans. The best thing about the broad beans was finding that the bed dug over earlier in the year was easy to turn over again and full of worms which left the job of raking it level and worked to a finer tilth as a fairly straightforward task. 

I put in 20 seeds in two rows which will over winter and the remaining seeds will wait until spring before being planted. 

At the same time, there are other plants growing productively. The spinach and chard has had a further lease of life and I brought home a good number of leaves and there are the beets and lettuces which were planted in early September. The lettuce is ready to eat, more or less, so I'll be using that from next week. 

I removed the french beans and the fine mesh which had protected them successfully after so many of the initial sowing, which had emerged, had been eaten by the rabbits which continue to visit the plot. The mesh gave the seedlings the chance to grow and strengthen and the cropping was strong from the few plants which had that protection. Alison and I had no experience with these plants previously and have been delighted with the beans which are delicious and easy to prepare and cook. We'll be planting many more of them next year.

There are other jobs to be done but the autumn and winter seasons will allow plenty of time to get the tasks done, especially compared to last year. I'm looking forward to planning even more and being able to develop the aesethics of the plot more fully. The produce comes first but it is worthwhile making the area attractive too and we've already added lavender and borage hoping to attract more bees and other insects.

Library

The skies over Cranborne were a real mixture of blue skies and drifting clouds, as seen in the photo taken on the path to Pentridge. I had a walk whilst waiting for Maria to finish school and listened to 'In Our Time' which was fascinating as always, this week focusing on the life of Alan Turing.

I'd been for a short bike ride this morning, just 5 miles in total, cycling down to Verwood library and back, having joined for the first time in years. This was inspred by listening to Stuart Maconie in his book 'The Welfare State Made Me' which was so flusome in its praise of libraries. It reminded me of this valuable resource and so I took myself down and picked out four books to tuck into over the next few weeks.

Alison has been making lots of cakes ahead of Maria's various parties which start tomorrow with friends over from school, followed by dance friends, classmates and family in three separate parties on Saturday. This means we avoid breaking the guidance on social distancing which remains relatively relaxed for us in comparison to other areas of the country.

20000 steps

I'm tired again after what seems a long day starting with a rushed school run due to Maria taking her time getting ready. I'd already taken Maisy out and when I got back I got goiung with the cooking using pulses soaked overnight, chickpeas and kidney beans, which gave us two tubs of hummus and two of chilli.

Having got those done, I ran down to Verwood and back so I could get Joy's lawns mown, front and back, as well as make a start on forking the lawns to allow the air to get in and to improve drainage. I did the run there as a HIIT run, running at speed with slower recovery periods in between. The run back was just a gentle jog across Crane Valley golf course.

After some lunch Alison and I were both out in the garden, in my case aerating the back lawn and trimming the hedges. I had to stop to do the school run and so left a  little bit early to allow time for another short walk round Cranborne during which I listened to the audiobook about Vladimir Putin and his early career in Dresden with the KGB.

Still time for another dog walk and home learning before looking at information about autumn sowing of braod beans, something I'll be doing at the allotment shortly, and autumn sown onion and leek seeds which will need to be sown at home and kept ready to plant out in the spring.

It's been nice finding time each day for Duolingo still and I'm making some progress with Spanis, although I am leaving the Gaelic for now - too hard in terms of the difference with English. It is serving just to make the Spanish and French too confusing.

Kingston Lacy

The first task this morning was to crack on with the gloss work in the front room and between us, Alison and I got finished pretty speedily and to go effect. The room looks very nice, clean and relaxing with the green walls contrasting with the crisp white of the woodwork. The smell of the gloss was very strong but we'd already booked a visit to Kingston Lacy to take us out of the house and were there by 11. It's another aspect of the pandemic which it is easy to overlook, to normalise, but having to prebook, pop a mask on and to keep to the left on pathways and so on, it really is quite extraordinary. It is necessary though and, sadly, likely to remain in place for months to come, if not even more strictly.

Once we'd had a walk round the estate we had a sit down to enjoy a small picnic whilst enjoying the trees which shelter the sheep and cattle in the wide fields which surround the house and formal gardens.

It was time for a bike ride today and I got the mountain bike out for a 10 mile jaunt which took me around Woodlands its surrounds whilst listening to Stuart Maconie who was narrating his audiobook, 'The Nanny State Made Me', a polemic which resonates with my experiences and views to a huge extent. He expresses so much of how I feel with a clarity and passion which I feel envious of.

Maria's off to dance shortly, 2 3/4 hours so I'll be making tea and walking Maisy soon. 

Decorating the front room

It's been another busy day with a 10km run at the start in an hour which I was pleased with as I was not pushing it this morning, having felt so lethargic yesterday on the 5km run. It was overcast but a lovely morning to be out and about on local roads trying to take in my surroundings instead of kind of blanking everything out.

Alison was out shopping with her mother for groceries which gave me time to make a start with the next part of painting the fromt room. I had to give the chimney breast another coat and then use the roller for the remaining walls which took longer than I'd expected after Friday when I thought I'd broken the back of it. However, I was able to get on with the edging not long afterwards, as well as the windows which were quite tricky. All that's left now is the woodwork which needs glossing and we'll make a start tomorrow.

Alison and I got out for a nice walk round the goat farm in the rain but were both suitably attired to make it enjoyable rather than an endurance event. 

We've got the room back together now too after getting the vacuum cleaner out and making sure we've caught up after our visitors over the weekend.

Tired grandparent!

 

 

The girls were awake early after their sleepover which encouraged to get out not long after breakfast to enjoy the morning sunshine. Maisy and I had already popped out for our walk and come across the two roe deer pictured above. They were just down the road in the field next to the Methodist Church and, although alert, decided not to flee as we stopped and I took the photo.

Amelia, Evie and I got the two litter pickers, two rucksacks and Maisy ready for our little expedition where they collected litter along the roadside as we made our way to the woods where we then collected wood for lighting the wood burner next time the girls stay over. The girls were brilliant in looking out for each other and staying safe as we walked along the road and Amelia was able to walk Maisy most of the way.

The rest of the morning was full of play before our other guests arrived for Sunday lunch and then it was time for Maria to go to Studio One for her Jazz exam practice which is just one of 5 sessions she is doing each week, including drama on a Monday.

I managed a slow and tiring 5km run in the afternoon. I didn't enjoy it particularly which I think reflected the fact I made myself do it having felt pretty shattered after clearing the kitchen and keeping things ticking along with the girls.

Saturday walk and bike ride

Friday was busy and I got a number of things ticked off my to do list or at least started on them, one of which was painting the front the front room. I'd done the ceiling and coving previously and have now done most of the walls, there's just one remaining to complete along with the edging to the coving, skirting board and dado (?) rail. It's a green paint that Alison chose, Galway I believe it is called. 

There was time to go for a run too and this time I put the announcement feature on the app so I knew how long I was taking for each half mile, as I was hoping to get 5km done in 9 min miles or better. To my surprise I got the whole run done in good time, averaging 8 minutes and 12 seconds per mile which was way ahead of what I'd expected and the quickest I've been for a long time. I was entirely on the road for the run but even so, very pleased.

Alison and I noticed the field of horses as we were walking Maisy this morning. They were so still they looked as if they'd placed there by a child playing with models at home. Good to see them socially distancing too.

I then got out on the bike and rode just under 11 miles round Edmondsham, Wimborne St Giles and Knowlton Church. The photo of the ruins of the church look quite evocative beneath the autumn skies. Little bit chilly but lovely to see the hedgerows full of berries and plenty of starlings starting to flock together for the colder months.

 

Busy Thursday

A recovery 5km run after the HIIT yesterday followed by lots of chores and cooking, lentil soup and vegetable biryani, ahead of looking after Amelia for the day ending with drive to dance and return home for Amelia. 

It was lovely to take Amelia out with Maisy and to splash in puddles, give the dog some treats with Amelia taking the lead before heading to the park and a bit of time on the swings and slides. Lovely and a bonus in allowing Alison a bit of time. She'd usually be the first port of call so it was nice to be together alone for a change.

Lunch went down well too, Alison's flapjak in particular.

River Stour and allotment

 

 

We had a busy morning rushing to get the usual chores done and then down to Verwood for the next hedge cutting section for Joy. We keep being held up having to wait for the garden waste bin to be emptied as it doesn't take much to fill it even when I get inside to squash the cuttings down. It was made more difficult by the fact Joy has a wasp nest in this part of the garden and we had to skirt round it carefully. I was pleased to find that the wasp in the car which seemed to have attached itself to my jumper had not managed to sting me. There were plenty of jaspers swarming around angrily as we raked up afterwards.

From there we had intended to visit the National Trust property at Kingston Lacy but Alison remembered you had to book prior to visit so we went down the road from the allotment to park up next to the River Stour and walked to bench downstream to sit and enjoy our picnic.

We saw lots of goldfinches, the banks were populated with plenty of teasals which were very popular, stonechats and a little egret, as well as the expected robins and blackbirds, pigeons, rooks and crows.

From there it was a short journey to the allotment where we harvested more spinach which continues to do well as you'll see in the photo and Alison cut back the raspberry canes. I finished digging over the bed we'd used for potatoes earlier in the year and got it ready for the garlic which eventually arrived from Suttons, along with the bulbs we bought last week. The soil is in great condition, lots of worms, easy to work and a great colour, plenty of organic matter in there and with good drainage.

We look forward to harvesting the bulbs in early summer and it is good to be able to be growing even over the winter months. There are other things to go in still including leeks and broad beans.

I also got the lawn cut and squeezed in a high intensity interval run, three miles at an average of 9 min miles which was good as the bits in betwen the speed work are slow recovery jogs. I say speed work. These things are always comparative. It was quicker for me, if not many other people.

Moors Valley ride

 

It's a beautiful looking morning in the picture above but it is a little misleading, as there was rain around with plenty of grey skies. However, it was a great morning for an early autumn ride with puddles and mud aplenty. I did something over 10 miles on the mountain bike before popping into Joy's to deliver a stew for her dinner and then onto Morrisons for a bit of shopping.

The afternoon was spent painting the ceiling and coving in the front room which we are going to decorate over the next few days, a bit at a time. 

Monday rain

It's good to be back home after a weekend down in Plymouth and after a rest last night, I was busy with the housework and rushing to get out before the rain. I'd not been for a run or cycle for a couple of days despite having been for an 11 mile hike on Saturday, and I felt I needed to get out. So it was on with the Kermode and Mayo wittertainment podcast and the old running shoes to complete a 10km in just a shade over an hour, a bit slower than I'd like but it was very easy at the start.

I've got a list of things to get done over the next few days but so much depends on the weather. Let's get on.

Princetown to Plymouth walk

One of the 57 challenges I set myself in May was to walk from Princetown, home of Dartmoor Prison, to Plymouth and yesterday was the day I set off to achieve the goal. I kind of did it, to the extent I am going to count it, although there was dramatic conclusion to the walk which saw it end a few miles short of the destination at Bickleigh.

Paul had indicated he'd like to take part in the hike when I shared the list many months ago and so it came that on Saturday the two of us and two of his friends, Kev and Ewan, were driven to Princetown to start the walk in the midst of Storm Alex, the first of the year's named storms which dumped heavy rain over the south of the country along with strong winds.

In all honesty we expected far worse from the heavens and despite the wind and slanting rain, it was not the torrent we'd thought would greet us. In fact many sections were completed in the dry, a big plus when you've prepared for the worst.

It was a stunning walk and the moors looked suitably sombre in the grey skies, cold northerly breeze and stinging rain. However, it began to soften with fields and evidence of habitation and small groups of other walkers and cyclists dotted along the trail. We stopped in Meavy for a pint at the Royal Oak, scrumpy under the shelter of a gazebo, avoiding the temptations of the fire which burned invitingly inside.

Burrator Reservoir looked beautiful as we dropped down from the higher moor, even though the skies continued to be gloomy. There was time for another pint in The Skylark as pressed on, 11 miles into the hike and glowing with the effort.

Sadly, we had to get a lift back from Bickleigh as a phone call from Stornoway Hospital came through, a big shock and requiring urgent attention. Thankfully things have become far rosier overnight and I can now look back on the adventure with greater pleasure.

In the garden

We made the most of a better weather day ahead of the foecast storm with a trip to the garden centre to get some garlic bulbs for planting in the allotment, as the ones from Suttons have been delayed (ironically receiving an email later in the day to say they had now been despatched), some bird food and a salvia shrub. It was nice to get out with Joy and Amelia and we were also able to get some time playing the mud kitchen. Even Maisy got treated to a cup of mud tea.
 

September workouts

Having clocked up not far short of 300 miles each month for quite some time, usually 200 miles on the bike and 100 miles of running, There was a big drop off in September with just 33 miles on the bike and 77 miles running for a total of 110.

It was the decline in getting out on the bike that really told which reflected the poorer weather, being busy with the return to school and the fact there were 6 days when I did not exercise at all which is unusual for me. Most months there would be no days when I didn't run or ride.

I am going to try and get back to the previous pattern although I do think I ought to take a break every now and then.