Weekend wanderings

 You know when you've made plans (the more of a 'guide-line' style of planning rather than a hard and fast one) and then have to alter them, sometimes they turn out to be far far better.

Well, that is sort of what happened this last weekend. Our original plan - well loosely based guide line of an idea - was to pootle out on Friday evening when I'd returned from work. Spend the night out in the van and wake up Saturday and walk until the afternoon and then pootle home.

Then Youngest rang and asked if we could meet up on the Saturday evening- so we altered our plans a little and went out on the Saturday morning and walked one of our favourite routes - the Coronation Meadows near Slaidburn. We go annually if possible to see the 'unimproved' meadows with their wonderfully flowering fields. Each year is different - as it is very weather dependant, so a wet and dull year fills the fields with lush green growth and blousy flowers and dry hot year makes for shorter stockier stems and intense but short lived flowers. 

It felt as if we were the only ones out as we made our way through the meadows - it was glorious. All to soon we'd reached the far end and entered less floriferous fields however they are just as wonderful and are gently being allowed to become naturalised and insect rich habitats.

 Our walk finished far too soon, so we returned to the van, refuelled ourselves and set off along the riverine path towards Newton by Bowland. Oh Moss was in doggy-paradise. The water was just what a hot and dusty dog needed.

Then having returned to the van for a second time, we jumped in and trundled through the country side to meet up with Youngest.  We found a lovely quiet road with a large pull off space so we parked up. While we were just about to get out of the van a woman with a dog and small child on a pony came up and asked to borrow a cell phone - her dog was struggling in the heat.

Himself handed his cell over and I hopped out to offer some water for the dog. It was a large broad faced bulldog with an incredibly short nose and he was struggling to breathe. He lay on the floor as I poured water into a bowl for him and he soon drained it - however due to his squat face most of the water shot out of his mouth sideways so he lay in the puddle with his legs out backwards. The woman was unable to get hold of her husband however, during that time, the dog had cooled down and had a enough water to be able to stagger home. 

We'd wondered if we should offer her a lift however we had to factor in that she had a small child on a pony to get home too - she did say that it was not too far and that she would continue back very slowly. It took nearly 10 - 15 minutes for this dog to recover enough to continue walking - the owner was very worried and then very grateful once her dog had come to a bit. Hope she/they all got home ok.

Youngest landed and we spent a lovely evening chatting and walking along old sea defences - we were 'accompanied' by a silently hunting barn owl, curlews, oystercatchers, swallows and swifts.  Youngest stayed until it was almost totally dark then left to collect his girlfriend from a party.

We then set off to our final destination - a favourite stop for a night.

There is something wonderful waking up, clutching a mug of tea and watching the tide go out. Our plan was to walk a slightly extended 'dog loop' for a certain dog then pack up and head home in time to make scones and have afternoon tea in the garden with my folks.

So, yes, our loosely planned weekend took a slightly deviated path and was delightful. Simple pleasures and gentle days followed by mugs of tea with scones, jam and cream in the garden - a good weekend indeed.

I know we have walked through the Coronation Meadows several times and I know I have blogged about them - however I can only find my first post about the walk - so if you have a couple of minutes spare follow this link ...2016 it is also one of Moss's early walks with us and we were still getting to know each other🐾💗

edited to add: I have just found another Coronation Meadow story  2017

Following on

 June has been fairly flaming hot - which is glorious - it warms me right through to my bones, although, I am still wearing heavy work trousers, T-shirt and lightweight fleece and boots daily - yes it is warm but it is delicious.

June is also my birth month and this year must have rated as the best birthday weekend I have had in a very long while.

It was filled with family and camping, sultry sunsets and mesmerising reflections, thoughtful gifts, delicious cake and wonderful walks.

Moss is an oddity - she feels the heat yet does not stop (the hard-wiring in a working collie brain won't let her - I am yet to find the 'off switch') so at work she has access to plenty of water and I have to make sure she takes a break.

Initially she took over a tray of water designed to soak freshly pricked out seedlings - it stays permanently full of water (and the occasional dog) in the lobby of the glasshouse. Then my boss bought her a paddling pool ..... I can see staff favouritism occurring here .... where's my pool?

Please note the snarky side eye as I snap yet another photograph .... 

I shall leave you with a small selection of photos from June - and we have only really just reached half way - still time to enjoy the long warm days it as we head to July.

You can also read my latest work post HERE

Space to breathe💙

My days are full, as are my weeks and by the time I sit down in the evenings all good intention just melts into the settee as I feel myself relax and more often than not - nod off.  

The weather has been good too so we have spent nearly every waking hour when we are not working either out walking or camping or in the garden - days flash by then almost a month goes by when I realise that I've not dropped into my blog and I've hardly checked others. *note to self - find time.

So, thought I would dip the toe in the proverbial waters of blogging and say hi - I've not disappeared, I've just stepped sideways.

May was beautiful - we managed a lot of walking, in beautiful places and we even slipped in a bit of camping or rather 'vanning'. There is something healing waking up and watching the tide go out.  

I must have needed the break - I fell asleep one afternoon in the van, leaving Himself quietly watching the world go by. I've never done that before.

There is something cleansing, something cathartic about being near the coast. It has been a very very long time since I have been anywhere near the edgelands - I have missed them.

June was filled with heart breakingly wonderful days too - more to follow - soon, I promise 💙

you can also find me HERE where I waffle several times a week x

Where've I bee(n)🐝 recently

You see, the thing is  this ..... no hang on, I'll say at the end.

Last Friday my lovely colleague and I went off on a training day. We are learning how to be bee🐝 keepers. Where we work we have a small apiary and the original bee 🐝keeper just did not come back after the autumn.   

Fortunately for the charity a very kind and extremely knowledgeable lady stepped in and monitored the hives over winter and spring while the charity decided what to do. 

It was very obvious that the bees🐝 needed to be looked after and I found myself putting my hand up (carefully and after much thought) and for good measure, a colleague was 'volunteered' along with me so that I would not be🐝 solely responsible.

So, with plenty of discussion both at work and with our lovely but temporary bee keeper🐝 we were initiated into a bee🐝 keeping course which, 'thanks to' the lockdown meant our classes were all on zoom (appropriately named I though). 

We muddled through, both the course givers and the students. Technology failed, we had lagging, the internet was intermittent, the course givers struggled with modern systems, but we all survived the seven week course (mostly due to reading books and absorbing as much info from our temporary bee🐝 keeper who we gently pressganged into being our mentor). 

As restrictions lifted,  we finally got an onsite visit to the association's apiary. It was a bit of a logistical nightmare clearing the day however we managed.

There were six of us in total and I have decided that bee🐝 keepers or beeks as they affectionately call themselves - are a species unto themselves. Enthusiastic, mostly retired, bumbling characters. Full of knowledge and desperately keen to share - even if it meant all of them told us the same thing at the same time at increasing volume to ensure their story was heard....

Two of the experienced beeks were stung - the bees🐝 were inside their protective hoods, one of the beeks did a flappy hand dance and ran off to his car while our mentor, when she removed her bee🐝 suit back at the car - found it was full of stings - probably 18 - 20 little stings stuck into the fabric on her back. We were quite cheerfully told that this can be normal - you can't be a beek without a few stings ..

We were there for several hours as we observed the inspections - my colleague taking a greater part in the process while I took photos. I was very quickly nicknamed ...The Lassie with the camera. We were congratulated on our calm manner 'especially as we were novices' and all I could think of was the retreating back of the bloke who'd been stung. He was a loud, animated and full of jovial banter - may be the bees🐝 had heard all his stories before.

It was an interesting day - full of new folk, new stories, new skills to learn and we have been invited to go back - so we obviously did not disgrace ourselves!

Oh - yes, so what was I going to tell you at the beginning?

I am rather allergic to bees............................. 🐝🐝

Bluebell walk

We have rituals that are so special to us that when we miss them - we truly deeply miss them. 

Last year, no thanks to lockdown, we were unable to walk up a favourite hill and immerse ourselves in the bluebells.  We first went as part of a works outing in 2013 - and we fell in love with not only the flowers but the hill itself often returning to include it in our walks around the Dales. 

There was a gentle sweet scent on the air, drifting around on the gently warm breeze.  We found a spot just off the footpath, with a gently sublime view and we ate our lunch in companionable silence, apart from the bird song and crunch of dog biscuits as Moss tucked into her snacks.

It was a lovely walk and as we arrived back at the van Himself noticed a sharp shower flying up the valley towards us, so we quickly stepped out of our boots and retreated inside, lit the kettle and sat listening to the rain hammering down on the roof - safe and warm clutching a mug of tea. 

It felt good to have been out, it felt even better to have beaten the rain and kept dry 🚶🏼‍♀️🚶🏽‍♂️🐾🌻🌼🌹

Hello

 If you wonder where I am at the moment - I am here .... Kitchen Garden Diaries 

I have not abandoned my blog - far from it, my stories are there, they just need to find their way out and through my fingers on to the keyboard, in the meantime - please pop over and see where I have been working since January - hope you enjoy xxx