Gardening

Friday

Good looking lemon drizzle cake

Today we had catch up day.  Meaning laundry and baking ready for the Scout's Jumble sale on Saturday.  First though was the dreaded homework.  Tom had to write a story plan for literacy.  His idea of a story plan was one sentence?!  He put it in his book bag and was confident it was done.  I checked it and then spent the next two hours with him whilst he did it properly!  We had sulks, tears, frustration etc etc but we got there in the end.  His reward was to make a lemon drizzle cake for the jumble sale which he did well, although I don't think he can be left alone to make one just yet..

Mowing

Tom then asked to mow the lawn, which I allowed him to do - he loved doing it, in fact he spent a good hour or so out there doing it.   In the end we had to pull him out as we had made plans to meet up with some friends in Hawes.  They were actually friends of friends who we used to meet up with as part of Shell Weekends.  It had been 4 years since we last saw them, but it was like meeting up with old friends.  We had tea and a bun at the Creamery and then did some cheese shopping.  Jessica (who is 6) and Tom got on immediately, in fact she is a real bright spark, you wouldn't guess there were 2 years between them.  They got stuck into the pyramid puzzle straight away and that was them sorted for the afternoon.

Creamery selfie

We got home, had tea and then went for Friday night cricket over on the Community field.  We went loaded with wine and camping chairs etc, no-one else did???!!!!  Oh hum.  We had a good time and we even had some sunshine creep in.  This time the parents were made to join in so I was on catching practise and I had to take part in a match.  Poor Matt was frustrated, as he wanted to join in.

Saturday
The morning was spent doing even more gardening.  Weeds were pulled up, the edges strimmed and all the cuttings dispensed with.  We were very impressed, in fact he got a little extra pocket money for it as he worked so hard on it.  We went to Bernies for lunch, then to the Jumble Sale (as rubbish and awful as always, but we showed our faces)  We were hoping to buy some of Tom's lemon drizzle cake back, but it had already sold!.

All done!

We then packed the car with the garden rubbish for the tip and headed to Settle to the dump, then to a lovely little garden centre, Lay of the Land to pick up some plants for the hanging baskets (we are trying to grow our own baskets this year)  We all chose some plants (luckily they were labelled 'for baskets' otherwise we wouldn't have had a clue) and got some compost ready for the gardener to put together tomorrow.

Next we headed to Hart's Head in Giggleswick and met up with Pat and Bob for tea, very nice it was too.





Sunday

Basket ready for hanging

We wondering what to do - with Matt only semi-mobile and after much discussion, decided to go to Lakeside to get a boat to Bowness.  It is high season now which means the big steamers are on the Lake.  We've only been on the smaller boats before so thought it would be nice to ride a big one.  It was a nice enough day - clear, but cloudy.  It was nice to be on a bigger boat - more space, a bar and a different commentary.  On arrival to Bowness we found lunch at Village Inn.  A very funky venue and the food was really good.  We had a starter each for lunch (mussels for me and ribs for Matt), they were delicious and massive!  Very glad we didn't order a proper dish - we would have exploded.  Definitely one to return to.

Cruising the lake

We got the boat back to Lake Side and headed home.  Tom put the hanging baskets together and we hung them up.  They look good, hoping they don't die too early...  I was then made to go and play cricket with Tom on the astro turf before having tea and bed.

Devon & Cornwall

Descending the rock

Sunday
We drove down to Devon.  We did it in 6.5 hrs including a lunch stop which is brilliant.  No hold ups anywhere and decent weather.  We actually arrived to sunshine which was a bonus (it is always foggy in Devon) I took Tom down to the cricket field to play cricket for a while so he could have his run around and then we all collapsed after a rather good ducky dinner.

Monday
Today it dawned thick fog.  The usual weather for our visits.  It had been a while since I had done a run, so I put on my super stretchy leggings and went for a romp around Dartmoor.  I was sort of looking forward to it as it was a flat run, but I found I really missed the down hill sections that I get here.  It took me the same amount of time to do 5km of flat running there as it does for me to 5km of up and down running here.  I did sort of get lost at one point, I was planning to run to The Rock and back, first of all I couldn't see The Rock - not surprising as visibility was only about 5 meters.  I sort of went round a big circle trying to find it, got there in the end.  I then ran towards what I thought was Crapstone, only to end up at Leg O'Mutton.  Oh hum.  By the time I got back, I had done well over 5km.  I got back, had a shower and then the three of us headed out to the Dartmoor Diner for lunch (sort of becoming a tradition now - always good service and good food)

Dartmoor foal

After lunch, the fog had cleared so we went back to The Rock - completely visible now.  Tom had a clamber and then we played a new version of cricket.  Matt was installed in a camping chair and bowled whilst Tom and I took it in turns to bat and field.  It worked quite well.

We had an ice cream and then played a bit more before returning back to Crapstone.  Oh must mention, think it is prime foaling time at the moment, lots of bonnie looking leggy foals all over the place, all very cute.

Tuesday

An awesome lunch

We headed to Penzance.  Believe it or not, it only costs £15 for a return ticket for all 3 of us to Penzance (2 hours each way).  It was too good to not take up.  I hadn't been before and Matt only once when he was very little. It was a very pleasant ride down to Penzance, it really didn't feel like 2 hours at all.  All very lush and green, gentle undulating hills and tantalising glimpses of the sea.  The train was empty meaning it really was a very lovely trip.

Hiding in the tropics

On arrival, we headed to a cafe Matt had seen on trip advisor for lunch.  We sat down, looked at the menu and took a deep breath at the prices.  A fish finger sandwich for £8?!  Really.  Oh hum, there wasn't another cafe nearby and with Matt on his crutches and all of us hungry we decided to stay and ordered.   The food turned up and we weren't disappointed - wow, Matt's fish finger sandwich was immense - he was a very happy bunny, although now he has stated he could never eat a fish finger sandwich again as it was soooooo good, all others will  pale into insignificance!  Tom had an avocado, smoked salmon and cucumber sandwich which was just as big and delicious.  Luckily I ordered soup, meaning I could help Tom with his sarnie - there was no way even he could finish it by himself.



We left the cafe with very happy bellies and then explored the prom of Penzance.  Found a very cool shop full of pirate and sea side themed goodies.  Tom bought himself a Killer Whale which he named Kai with his holiday money.  We continued around the Prom (the only Prom in Cornwall), in the rain, past the huge triangular swimming pool (not yet open) and to the small amusements where we spent some time loosing £1 each.

Our train home

Then back up through Morab Gardens - a sub tropical garden which really was full of sub tropical species and very interesting for it too.  Next was a stroll along the high street, where we picked up some cakes ready for our trip back on the train.

It really was a very pleasant afternoon and I would like to return, hire a car and do some exploring.  Go to Land's End (just because you should shouldn't you?!), St Michael's Mount and visit the little villages and beaches.  In the sunshine, I believe it looks really nice!!!!

We got the train back to Plymouth, bus from the train station back to the park and ride and then drove home.  Matt had over done it and was exhausted.  Oops. He struggled to eat tea, and flopped on the sofa.

Wednesday

Pointing to old people?

Today was Grandparent day.  Tom spent the day with Granma and Pop Pop - they took him on the boat across the harbour to Mont Batten for the day.  Matt and I had a very quiet day so Matt could recover from yesterday. I went for another run across Dartmoor and didn't get lost (no fog today) and then we headed to the Garden House for lunch which was very pleasant.  The afternoon was spent sorting out more Malaysian holiday - just an airport hotel at KL to go now and a couple of tours and we will be pretty much sorted.

Date night!

Matt and I had a date night in Tavistock in the evening at the Cornish Arms, nice food but very very  slow service, meaning that we headed back home to have cheese for pudding as we couldn't bear to wait any longer at the restaurant.  Tom, G & PP went for a Chinese in Yelverton.

Thursday
The long drive home.  It took an hour longer than on Sunday - due to a couple of traffic queues.  Oh hum.  Other than that it was pretty uneventful.  Couldn't face cooking so went to The Old Post Office for tea.  Then easy telly and bed.

Thanks to Granma and Pop Pop for their hosting, great food, drink and company as always.

Half Term Hurray!

Friday dawned glorious sunshine, fab.  Smiles all around.

Tom was picked up from school from Bee - William's mum.  William is in year 1, but the two have become firm friends due to cricket.  Tom helps William out where he can at school etc, it's lovely to watch.  We had William for tea last year sometime, so Bee I think felt she had to ask Tom over.  It turned out really well, obviously Tom is old enough to play well without constant supervision, and I think Bee got a vision of the future.  She said he had been the easiest 'child home for tea' ever!  He did, however, eat her out of house and home!  Spag bol was on the menu - he finished it all and then had cheese and biscuits because there wasn't enough!  That's my boy!

Friday night is cricket night.  Last week Mac told us to bring deck chairs, wine, bbq etc, not needing to be told twice, we did so, so we turned up at the start (after an hour at the Old Post Office as we were child free), caught up with Tom and then enjoyed a very social evening drinking Rosé in the sun.

I then got home, had a quick shower, got dressed and headed to La Cascada to meet up with everyone who didn't make it to my cheese and wine evening last week.  I didn't drink though - I didn't want another hangover and anyway Matt can't drive with his foot so I had to be responsible.  I did well too.  John Manning came over to 'babysit' Matt and I found them very jolly with lots of empty bottles of beer and a half eaten packet of Manomasa crisps.  Think it was almost midnight before we finally got to bed.

New shoe

Saturday
After speaking to the girls and looking at Matt struggling with his foot, I managed to persuade him to go back to A and E and ask for a boot.  We didn't have to wait long, less than an hour.  All the staff agreed that he did need a boot and he looked much much happier once he had it on.  He can put wait on the bad foot, so walk in a fashion.  He also doesn't need to be so scared about people knocking it by accident as it is protected.  He has also accepted that he can't drive the car which is a relief as I was pretty sure he couldn't.

We went to the Water Witch for lunch (very nice it was too - always good food there) before returning home.  Now, I was going to take Tom to Ingleton swimming pool as it opened today, but a thunder and lightening storm came overhead, so instead we went to Stacksteads where we met up with Matthew and Lynne and spent over 2 hours in the pool having fun.

Broken Foot!

Oriental language specialists

Saturday 20th

Conference-bound

So Matt was in Cardiff for the weekend - attending a translation 'conference' (even Matt couldn't tell me it was work, however, translation is on the whole done at home, it is a much needed social so FB friends and colleagues can meet up.

All legs.

Boy and Giraffes

Bear playing

Boy relaxing

Lion

Bears

We didn't have football today so I asked Tom what he wanted to do.  He wanted to go to the zoo (we were meant to go at Easter but ran out of time).  So off we went.  Wow, he chose the right day - it was completely empty - we heard Liverpool accents from a couple of other families, but I'm guessing there were less than 100 people there - not a good sign, this zoo has received a lot of bad press recently, if people stop going then it will fold and what will happen to the animals?  Surely it is best to support it and make sure the animals have the best chance.

We have always liked it as the enclosures the animals are in are as natural as can be - lots of natural terrain, the big cats have to climb big wooden poles to get their food, there is a big enclosure where birds, lemurs and other creatures roam free.

Anyway, Tom and I had a great time, there are 2 new giraffe babies and a rhino baby which took up a lot of our time.

The snow leopards put on a good display, we watched lions leap up the wooden stakes, the penguins were quite funny, the vultures were mega ugly and huge and the bears came out to play for us.  All in all a good day.  Thanks Dalton Zoo.

So, poor Tom has been suffering from hay fever since the start of the month, he was so under the weather that he got a cold on top of it.  On the way home, he looked completely goosed.  We got home, had some tea and he was in bed and asleep before 7, bless him.

Not much left!

In a way it was good for me though as I was holding a cheese and wine party.  The huge cheese hamper I got for my birthday was smelling ripe and I needed help eating it.  I invited all the girls, only about 4 came, but it was enough and we had a good evening.  In fact it didn't finish until after 2am, Janine and Steph who didn't know each other before the night were best friends by the end of the night.  They ganged up against me for my music taste, but it was all in good jest and a great evening was had by all.

Oh - I got a call from Matt.  He was at Denzil's, he had had an incident on the motorbike.  His foot had got squished whilst filtering traffic at a traffic light.  It was sore, so Denzil put him in his hot tub for 2 hours and it was feeling better.  He was determined to continue home on Sunday.



Sunday 21st

Driving!

Not the best day.  I was very hungover and extra grumpy due to lack of sleep.  Oh dear!  Yes, I know all my own fault.  Once up we walked over to Meadow Falls to see Liz (she did the 3 peaks yesterday and I guess was very tired as she didn't drop round for drinks)  We took her some special foot balm.  It was quite fortuitous for Tom as he got to ride their lawn mower which he loved.  Couldn't stop giggling as he almost bumped into trees etc.

We then headed to the playground so Tom could expend some energy whilst I felt sorry for myself.  We were killing time as I guessed that Matt would get home around 1pm and would want lunch.  I was right, he got home pretty much dead on 1pm and was happy to hobble round to Bernies for lunch.  Just as well as I NEEDED a chip butty - nothing else would do.  I had one, and boy did it taste good.  I actually felt human for a good hour or so after it.

Can't remember what we did for the rest of the day.  Matt was hobbling around, (his foot is very swollen).  Tom wasn't 100% nor was I, so I guess it was a quiet day.

Monday

The aftermath

Matt asked me to drive him to Kendal Hospital as his foot was still really hurting.  I suspected he had broken it.  I took Tom to school and then took him along.  They did an x-ray, they weren't sure, it could be a hairline fracture or it might not.  To be sure, they put him in plaster, told him to keep it elevated and report to fracture clinic in Lancaster tomorrow.  Not a great outcome but at least he was being looked after

Tuesday
Took Matt to fracture clinic in Lancaster.  The Consultant wasn't sure if it was a hairline fracture or not either.  He took the plaster off and asked him to walk on his bad foot.  He could put weight on it, but it hurt.  He gave Matt a choice: a tubigrip or a boot or plaster.  Of course Matt chose a tubigrip, you would wouldn't you?  His foot is still very swollen.  He has been given a 6 week appointment to see the Consultant again but if it heals by itself he can cancel it.

Craven Wanderers Award Night

Arten Gill Viaduct

Friday 12th
Matt didn't have much work on and asked if I was up for a walk.  I haven't had much work to do at all since April - think the fact I redirected all my enquiries this time last year has killed my business this year.  I'm not great at not having much to do, and seem to sway between being bored, bored, bored or working on mad capped ideas to try to generate more interest for my businesses or the PTA.  It would be better just to have more cake orders, but I guess its going to take time.

Young Belties

So, we packed some fruit and headed over to Dent Dale for a walk.  We parked just above the Dent Head Viaduct and then followed a walk that Matt knew.  I was a little worried if I would be able to do it OK as I had been suffering from a cold and cough, but I surprised myself and did fine.  The walk was lovely - started off as rolling hills full of sheep and moved into shepherds' lanes, then directly under the viaduct and back to the car again.  It was a lovely walk, very picturesque, it didn't rain and we saw some Galloway Belties which is always a bonus.


Saturday 13th
Today was Tom's last football match - hurray!  Matt was playing cricket for Ingleton at Windermere and was worried he wouldn't be able to get back in time for it, so Tom and I headed out with Caitlin and Rich to Skipton.  The kids all did well during the match.  Caitlin got Star of the Week which was well deserved as she kept at it and didn't give up.  At all.

Above Arten Gill

We got home earlier than we expected, guess what - Matt was at home!  He could have come after all.    We said goodbye to him and then had lunch at Bernies.  We had a quiet afternoon at home before heading over to the Bickerstaffs for a drink before the Craven Wanderers Award Night.  Now we went to this last year and it was awful, so many speeches, it went on and on and on and on.  This year they sped it up significantly - phew.  We also knew to drink lots in order to enjoy it, so we did that and actually had a good time.  Tom was off as soon as we arrived, we didn't see him all night.  He didn't get an award, but to be honest we didn't expect him to, he unfortunately didn't start shining until the last month of the season, whilst all the others in his team shone for pretty much the whole season!

Matt, Craig and Rich seemed to disappear off to The Old Post Office for a couple of pints quite early, Janine and I stayed quite late, mummy dancing until Tom got hold of me, got me my bag and coat and told me it was time to go home.  It was almost 11pm, so I guess I couldn't say no (this was the second time he had my bag - earlier in the night he had grabbed my bag and me and told me I was being irresponsible leaving my bag unattended!!!!)  Matt waltzed in about 10 mins after us.  It had been a good night.

Sunday 14th

3D movie time

We were both a 'little' fragile on Sunday, so decided to head to Rheged for the day.  There was a photography exhibition that Matt wanted to visit, and a 3d film set in the National Parks of America which we thought Tom would enjoy, so we booked in.

We had a good look around the photos, whilst Matt managed to not spend a lot of money on new equipment (well done).  We then had lunch: I had to go for a full roast as I was in dire need of food, food, food.  Then to the 3d film which was very lovely.  We came out, had tea and a bun and then looked around the shops before giving Tom some play time in the adventure playground and return home.  The best use of a hungover day.

Birthday

So Tuesday was my birthday.  It wasn't the most exciting of days, but then they rarely are now, unless you plan something yourself.

My day consisted of a Drs appointment, hanging around in Bentham for an hour and then an acupuncture appointment.  Now, the acupuncture appointment was actually quite lovely.  I didn't realise that the lady I see also does aromatherapy massage and cupping.  So I had a lovely hour of pampering: massage, cupping (doesn't hurt if you are wandering) and then some acupuncture.  Came out feeling lovely.

Had a normal afternoon and then a PTA meeting after school, followed by cubs for Tom.  Matt was out playing cricket in the evening.

We did go out for tea on Monday evening as we knew Tuesday would be too busy, unfortunately my dinner didn't agree with me so I had a bit of an upset stomach for the day too.  Oh hum!

Anyway, thank you for all your lovely presents.  I'm looking forward to spending my White Stuff vouchers, got a glass highland cow which I named Derek and a massive cheese hamper which means a cheese and wine party is in the offing.