Dog sitting

It's been another busy day but I have been hampered by a sore back which started twingeing after I visited the allotment at West Moors. I took Juno and Rag out at 6.25 this morning so it was still almost dark and had breakfast with everyone else as they got ready and off to school. Having cleared up I had to charge the motorhome battery before it got going which gave me time to pop the dogs out again. This time the van started and I took myself off to harvest some veg, as you will see in the first photo with yet more tomatoes, a squash and a butternut squash, plus some late season beans. 

From there I went to Morrisons where I was shopping for the food and materials needed for the cider press event on Saturday, including vegan alternatives such as cheese and milk, marshmallows and biscuits, plus foil for the jacket potatoes and ingredients for the soup I will be cooking.

It was then that my back went but I had to unload the van, vacuum downstairs, essential with the two dogs at the moment, make some tomato sauce for the pasta tonight, put together some nut burgers and bake some bread, before launching in to soup making. It seems to have come out ok so far but I know there's a lot of work to do ahead of Saturday.

I ended up getting in the motorhome again after some lunch as it was easier to take the dogs up to the village green to run around. That was a successful trip and saved me aggravating the back further and the dogs looked very good sitting in the front, ready to drive off.

 

Wedding at St Neot

There are a lot of photos for one post but it is a fair reflection of the wonderful time we had celebrating Jordan and Carleen's wedding which took place at Trevenna Farm in St Neot. It was great driving down in the motorhome because it meant we were able to bring Joe and Kate and the girls along too and the drive proved a breeze for a change.

The venue was fantastic. The staff, the location, the food, the facilities, everything was just right apart from Morag being unable to attend. She was missed of course but it was also lovely to see so many family members with their children, so many generations now, and to meet up with friends too. I'd got to know a few of them through the stag do a few weeks before and it made for a terrific mix.

Jordan and Carleen had a beautiful service which gave time for reflection and was nicely modern in approach. It felt perfect for the times and their wishes. I had the unusual experience of remaining fairly sober throughout, just a shade close to being over the top on Friday but I felt well enough for a run up the hills the next day before getting ready for the ceremony.

It was a magical event and a reminder of the great time we spent at Rachael and Jon's wedding 11 years earlier.

Saturday catch up

Having caught up with Dave recently, he has sent some photos through from our time at Exeter University and from my wedding, none of which I have seen previously and which bring back many memories, particularly of trying to look cool. There are two girls in the first photo of whom I have no memory whatsoever and it just goes to show how so much of what happened over the three years went by without leaving any mark on me.

I had a good run yesterday alongside with Juno before meeting with Yuliya in Chapel Lane where we were collecting apples ahead of the cider press event next week. I was down the lane later collecting yet more apples and getting jobs done in the garden which continues to look pretty fine even as the year rushes to an end.

Under reddening skies

The first photo is from yesterday evening when Juno and I took a latish walk and enjoyed a lovely sunset with the day still warm but by this morning it was colder at 6.30 with the same field slightly hidden beneath a shallow layer of mist. The sky was lovely and red in the east but there is no rain forecast till much later in the day.

I was soon on the bike to the allotment where I weeded and harvested, another full box of red tomatoes and more runner beans, before moving the tool store so I can create a little more space for planting, although it won't be a raised bed.

It was great to ride in the sunshine and I took it easy for over 14 miles in total. Time to cook up most of the tomatoes and get some pizzas made for tea.

Autumn

There are plenty of mushrooms around now as the days become ever shorter and we head to the autumn equinox. It is defnitely colder in the mornings now, as well as in the evening, but lovely and warm during the day, perfect for getting on with lots of activities. I've been collecting sloes for the sloe gin which is now being left to mature alongside the blackberry vodka, getting out with Juno for walks all over Woodlands, running with a couple of 5 mile plus runs over the past few days, getting the garden ready for the winter, although not too tidy as previously mentioned.

The next few days will focus on getting Joy's hedges done and working at the allotment where there is a lot to harvest still but also jobs like digging, composting, moving beds around and so on. It's going to take a few weeks to get it all done, ready for the plots to be left to themselves for a little while.

We had a lovely visit from Dave Slater yesterday, the first time I've seen him for 19 years, and the first time of meeting his wife, Bernie. We were good friends at university and it was good of them to come and see us as they travel back to Manchester having spent a fortnight in Cornwall. We had a very late night getting to bed at 2.30 this morning and I was up to take Alison to work at 8.00 feeling the worse for wear. However, a morning run certainly helped. 
 

It’s a beautiful day

 

It was quite a day yesterday as we watched the coverage of the royal funeral for the duration, the state service followed by the more intimate service at Windsor. Certainly memorable and deserving of great praise in the execution of the formalities, the people involved, the broadcast itself and as a tribute to the queen. Quite what comes next is uncertain and it would be tricky over the coming years with so many storms on the horizon for the country. 

Today sees a return to routine with the children safely off to school and Alison at work for the morning leaving me with Juno and the shopping, as well as some time with Joy who will be going to church for tea and biscuits later. The early hours were sunny after some initial mist at the golf course where the jays were very noisy, searching out acorns and where we set off a buzzard which had been perched overlooking one of the greens.

Plenty more cooking ahead and I'll need to crack on with the green tomato chuney soon, alongside the sloe gin. I did some more tomatoes yesterday and they are nicely preserved for a few weeks in jars having been slow roasted with garlic and herbs. They smell lovely.

History

We are all at home today with it being a bank holiday and an opportunity for people to watch the funeral of the queen. Bridie and Joseph are coming up with Joy, so we will watch the proceedings together, an event we will seldom witness, especially as this monarch served 70 years. After listening to history podcasts for many years, as well as having studied history a good deal, it has been fascinating to see the traditions acted out in a modern setting, the reality of the lengths to which they go in ensuring the legitimacy of the regent, archaic language such as liege-lord on the record across the kingdom as each nation is visited in turn, the central place of the church in it all. Then there is the queue which as become a thing in itself, an experience almost divorced from the reason for it, enough to have served in the line for hours, a modern pilgrimage which celebrates the media focus, to be able to say I was there.

That isn't to say that the people paying their respects are lacking genuine emotions toward the queen. There is no question that for many people it is a moment for gratitude and a recognition of a life lived well in the public spotlight with barely a step out of place. It will be interesting to see what comes next with the accession of Charles at a time when the country is facing so many challenges without a unifying purpose. We seem further apart than ever. At least the war brought people together in suffering, a shared sense of standing for a moral good, the deprivations necessary after the sacrifice of total war. Today the deprivation stands in contrast to obscene wealth where a society has  been created to maximise inequality, where the suffering of the poor, the young and those with little stake in society is simply accepted. No inheritance tax here, exclusion zones around palaces and estates, experiments in trickle down economics once again.

I've begun to understand there is little point in getting too wrapped up in it all. What can I do? On a personal level, I and my family are incredibly fortunate and it seems wiser to be thankful for that and to enjoy the things which bring pleasure. Hence the photo showing the tomatoes about to be roasted for lunch and for putting in jars for the winter, the squash for later and the bread baking, 30 pence a loaf rather than the £1.20. Our fortune is being able to enjoy the allotments and having the time to do these things. Time. I read that the working time directive is going to be abolished, a brexit benefit! More hours at work and wages which fail to meet the cost of living, the working poor. What kind of life is that?

 

23,000 steps before 3pm.

I've ended up at almost 30,000 steps today and am feeling pretty tired now. Juno and I were out at 6.20 as the sun was beginning to show and walked a couple of miles in the chilly morning air. Alison was off to work for the first time in three years which was quite something and that meant I was off to see Joy and to do mow her lawns. 

I listened to a variety of podcasts as I ran down to Verwood, and with the return home, I ran 5.5 miles. I actually managed to go more quickly on the way back which was uphill and shows how I need to do a couple of miles before feeling warmed up. Anyway, the lawns are looking good and I just have to get on with the hedges down there next.

Once home I had a bit of a rest and a chat with the postman before taking Juno to the woods and having lunch. It was then time to get on the bike for a 6 mile ride to Verwood and back to grab some shopping and to pop into the library for a couple of books. 

Having rested for a few minutes I got on with making the tea, a vegetable curry and aubergine side which was lovely and then back to it with a trip to the allotment before collecting Maia from dance. The squashes are great and the tomatoes are amazing, as you will see in the photo. I got some greens and some runner beans too and enjoyed being the only person there as the sun went down.

Bits and pieces

It was a wet start to the day on Wednesday and so I took Juno for a run with me in the rain rather than a more sedate walk. We managed our three miles and got soaked but it was better than a slow walk which left us just the same. I was down at the village hall not long afterwards and had a go at a second coat of wood floor restorer polish which has brought the surface up nicely. The photo shows the before in fact and I will have to get one of the after. It wasn't too hard to get done with a mop and ought to last a good while but it will be easy enough to put more on should the need arise.

From there onwards we spent some time with Glen and Harry, it being Glen's 29th birthday and Alison had done a lasagne for us which was lovely, especially for lunch. Once they had gone off for a rather more drunken set of activities, Alison and I made a start with the garden and it is looking in pretty tip top condition. 

We have carried on today and the hedges are done around the whole place, the lwans have been cut, including the one outside, the apple trees pruned and just a general, within reason. We are very conscious that being overly fussy will not benefit the insects and birds and animals which visit us. A bit of mess is a great start to helping the local wildlife and so we have left seed heads and piles of wood and twigs and grass and so on. We found a newt under some logs in the front garden and we have at least one toad in the back, along with many, many frogs. 

I've been making bread regularly given how much cheaper it is to make at home than to buy, as well as making differing types of soup and making use of our abundance of squash and tomatoes. 

With it being a better day today, I did also manage an hour on the bike and took off towards Wimborne St Giles and back, 11.5 miles, and stopped to watch the river and birds, as well as a heron at the watercress farm. Interesting spots included a drifting red kite which took the same path as the road I was on for a bit, a green woodpecker and a flock of swallows enjoying a feed before migration which must be close at hand.
 

Monday morning

An early post today but already been plenty busy with a lovely dog walk as the sun rose and Monday cooking underway. I got the blackberry jelly done yesterday with something over a kilo of blackberries from the hedges across the road and that is setting nicely. I've got to get a few more berries today to use in the blackberry vodka, something I did last year and which was lovely, more akin to a liquer than spirit.

Juno and I were out early and walked a couple of miles but were a bit too early for the flights of canada geese overhead, heading across from Verwood and onwards. They look and sound spectacular in the silence of the early morning.

The kidney beans and chickpeas are on the go too, ready for a chilli later, some to be frozen, which will go with the jacket potatoes at teatime, alongside some roasted tomatoes and granola, making use of the oven being on, looking to be as frugal as possible with the use of energy.

Time to make some more plans for the cider press event in a few weeks time. That is looking like it's going to be fun.

Arcade Fire O2

A momentous day. Alison and I have hoped to see Arcade Fire for years and had decided that no matter where or how much, the next tour they did, we were going to go. Then came the news about the lead singer, accused of sexual attacks which he claimed were consensual encounters. He is supported by his wife who is very much a huge part of the band and we were therefore very conflicted in whether to go ahead or not. We took the easy option in many ways, having already bought train tickets, booked a hotel room for the night and having paid for the tickets at the O2. I'm not sure that having done so, that warrants our decision which owes more to wanting to see them still, despite the accusations. Where does that leave us in respect of those making the claims and our feelings of support toward them? I am afraid I chose to do what I wanted, not necessarily what was right. The fact that thousands of others have done the same  doesn't make it right.

We were greeted by plenty of rain but were impressed with London, the ease of using the tube, the work done in and around the O2 to provide a fantastic neighbourhood in which to grow up and the sense of space. 

However, we quickly picked pu on the news about the Queen being unwell and the statement released at lunchtime which essentially, reading between the lines, indicated she had already passed away or was about to do so. That kind of news is never shared as simply an update. So we headed to the hotel and checked in so we could watch the coverage and rest ahead of the gig. By the time of the announcement we were in a pub at the O2 and saw it online first. The people around us were oblivious but the music was then turned down and the TV news turned up, the national anthem being played brought people to the realisation of what was happening. There was an immediate sense of something dramatic taking place, history in front of our eyes. What surprised me was how quickly the moment passed. There was barely a pause before the noise and excitement of the evening was centre stage once more.

Arcade Fire played a jazz funeral song, akin to the start of the James Bind film, Live and Let Die, before a period of silence in memory of the Queen. They then played a great set which we both loved. The atmosphere was incredible, the venue really great, huge but not so much that it felt distant. The events of the day and the misgivings were forgotten for that period of time.