On the Trail

On the Trail, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Temple Crag looms in the distance, towering above Second Lake.
Big Pine is one of the best hiking areas I've yet seen. There are many trails, lots of lakes, and spectacular mountains.

Vignettes Around the House

I've spent some time on the couch during the Thanksgiving break reading, relaxing, and just looking around at the house. I'm a VERY visual person and like filling our home with beautiful objects both large and small.
I'll spread the photos over several days so as not to give you visual overload. I've been on an England kick lately. I love English country decorating and have incorporated bits and pieces of it into our house.
Little Tom of England is a children's book about an American boy and an English boy and how they learn about each other's culture. It's mostly filled with English history which I absolutely adore! It was a cute book. My legs are underneath those books, and right across from me in the blue ticking chair is my favorite reading buddy Princess.

Bad Hair (Wordless Wednes...) Day

My Way of Seeing the World

Yesterday I mentioned reading the book Traveling Light by Deborah DeWit Marchant and that our photographs are very similar. Here's what she says about what motivates her photography, "I sought the familiar in confined spaces: the sky reflected in a window or the shadow of a tree on a sun-painted wall. I tried to connect with some sort of common
human experience. It wasn't the fantastic or the awesome that we shared, it was the simple daily things. The sights on my everyday paths were a deeper source of beauty than any extraordinary place. Soon, everywhere I looked some proof of humanity's moment in eternity captured me. A doorway, a cluttered shed, a rundown porch."
I've always been enamored with trying to capture small pieces of daily life. These are the cumulative pieces of our existence. I'm also reading The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. She says there are two different ways people look at life; one if seeing the big picture, and the other is noticing the small details. I'm definitely in the later group, so I guess that's why I take photos of bits and pieces. Above are a few examples of what I mean.

GEORGE FINDS HIS ARTISTIC SOUL...

We visited Galley Hill Apple Farm this morning. It is only about a mile and half away, easily within walking distance, however we decided to take the car because walking back home with about ten or fourteen pounds in weight of apples (if previous years are anything to go by) wouldn't have been fun. The sun was shining, there was no wind, the air had a lovely autumnal feeling - a perfect day to go apple-picking.





The orchards are beautifully laid out and the apples practically fall into your hands. A much easier picking experience than when we harvested our own apple trees! The fruit is beautiful to look at, crisp, crunchy and sweet, or sharp depending on which you choose of the ten or so varieties on offer. They also do pears and blackberries, earlier in the year they had fabulous soft fruits.

Upon our return George headed for the wood and his beloved composter! His project for the day being to construct a gate to keep the hens out and the paper awaiting shredding, inside. Now normally, as you know, he would recycle one of the old ones, or make something bog-standard to fill the gap.





Today, however, something amazing happened. He got in touch with his artistic, creative side and the end result is lovely. It still needs a little work...



it is wibbly and wobbly, but it is beautiful. The chucks are not chuffed, they are so used to being able to wander in at will.





Jonny - do you remember how pale and ill sick-chick used to look? It is getting more difficult to tell her apart from the other two now. We think it is down to all of the fresh spinach which they eat!





Much love,





Mum

xxx

Missing mountain

In August I vowed to take a photo of one of my favourite stretches of the River Spey each time I was home. This is the shot from late October - yes, I'm a bit behind. If I hadn't decided on this sequence of photos I wouldn't have taken this shot, as the weather during our visit was grey and flat. Nothing remarkable here, just a little breeze dusking along the water, and the bad weather-to-come sign of Ben Rinnes having disappeared from view.
At least the gean trees (wild cherries) along the river bank shone out. Now the leaves will be gone.

The wooden cabin is a fishing hut, where the wealthy people who come to fish for salmon take shelter if the weather turns nasty. There's one thing at least money can't buy!
I am feeling pent up in the city just now. Life is streets and pavements and the orange glow of sodium lights. We had hoped for a walk at the weekend on our way down to Moffat to hear our daughter play in a concert, and drove up to the lonely road beside Talla Reservoir. But on an afternoon of gales and heavy rain, with the light fading by 3.30, and the reservoir dangerously high, we turned back when the car began to lift off the road going through a flooded patch. A wild, isolated road over high moorland, with no mobile phone reception, is not a place to get stuck. So the walk had to be postponed. Still, the Moffat concert made up for it. Rutter, Bach, Vivaldi and Corelli (the 'Christmas' concerto) in the stout red sandstone church was a good way to keep the elements at bay.

Great Blue Heron Rookery

This week we went to visit a Great Blue Heron rookery with 17 active nests. This was my first time seeing a heron rookery and I was fascinated by it. The birds were pretty active, with the adults changing places on the nests quite frequently. It wasn't until late in the evening when we finally noticed some babies in one of the nests. At one time we could see three individual baby heads sticking up out of this nest. It sure was a fun day watching these birds and I can't wait to hopefully go back in a couple of weeks and see the babies when they are bigger!







Above is a photo that shows almost the entire rookery which has 17
nests. If you look closely you can see several of the nests have herons
standing in them. This sure was a beautiful place to watch the sunset!

Badby - Hellidon - Charwelton - Fawsley

Led by me. with Barry and Maureen. Quite hilly, good underfoot - one ploughed field but dry. Weather dry and sunny with some wind. 834 feet ascent. Excellent views. 11 miles. Included the highest point in Northamptonshire at 738 feet/225 m. Peak bagged!

One of two ancient chestnut trees in Badby. They are trying to preserve them, but warn you not to park or hang around underneath them.

Leaving Badby by Bunkers Hill.

We crossed the A361 and followed the Gated Road to Catesby. It climbed gradually, and we took the second footpath on the left - a bridleway.

After less than half a mile we could see the motocross track on Arbury Hill to our right, and walked to it across the field. The summit is wide and flat and we're not sure we we found the very highest point.

Ha! I worked out the self timer. Another peak bagged - a molehill with quite a view.

Then it's back to the bridleway, and past the tunnel airshafts. Yet another dismantled railway. We walk past a large house and arrive at the minor road to Hellidon. We turn right then left into a very large ploughed field with little evidence of a path, apart from the signpost. Another smaller and easier ploughed field leads into a grass meadow and we see a small lake close to Hellidon village

There are swans nesting, and the trees show signs of approaching summer at last.

We find our way into the village which is glorious in its spring outfit.

Spring and autumn together?

We stop to chat to a man who's repairing the stonework of his cottage, which dates from the eighteenth century.

A fire insurance plate - if you didn't display this the firefighters would leave your house to burn.

We leave the village at the road junction opposite the Red Lion and make our way up Windmill Hill.

Hellidon from Windmill Hill

We find a place for a break - sheltered from the wind and with lovely views. The sun's shining and all's well with the world.

We follow the Jurassic Way as far as Charwelton. heading south east until we meet the minor road just before it crosses the old railway. We go slightly astray because the field is ploughed, but we're near enough. We pick up the Jurassic Way signs and emerge on the A 361 in Charwelton, just opposite the pack horse bridge.



The footpath crosses a couple of fields from here and takes us to a small road leading to the church. It's open so we have a look round, then take another break on a sunny bench.



We leave the Jurassic Way now and take a path through a gate and to a gap in the hedge on the left side of the field, then across the corner of the next field. We cross the road and follow a footpath up a small hill, and over some open fields full of sheep, and pass Fawsley Farm - (or Fawsley Grange) on our right. We come out on a farm road which joins a minor road at Little Fawsley. This road takes us into Fawsley, with its Hall - seat of the Knightleys, and the church which contains many of their tombs and monuments.

Fawsley Hall - hotel and spa.

Fawsley church

All this - and a box collecting for a food bank too.

We follow the Knightley Way - very well signposted through parkland, pasture and Badby Woods, where wood anemones are in flower and bluebells are beginning to bloom.



All that remains is the walk downhill into Badby - well, there's steep short pull at the end - and then finding the car. Another delightful walk, and fine weather. Not quite fine enough to take layers off yet, though.

Wildlife - a couple of birds I think were wheatears - very noticeable pale/ white rumps as they flew up, quite strong markings on an open meadow.

Exit route?

I'd promised fellow Scot Alison, now translated to Kansas, clouds for today. But I couldn't resist this topical photo on the day when the UK government took a majority stake in RBS - the Royal Bank of Scotland - in response to our own little corner of the global financial crisis.
And what's their emergency exit route?
There seems to be an opening at the other end. A glimmer of light beyond the thick vegetation. I certainly hope so for the sake of the RBS staff.