Thankful For The "Bad", Too

I've finished An Alter in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor. While I don't agree with many things she believes, it still was a mindful book about seeing God in everything and everywhere.
Here, in this excerpt, she talks about praying that bad things won't happen to her and giving thanks for the semi-bad things. "While I pray daily to be delivered from the most awful things that can happen to human beings-land mines, wasting illness, killing poverty, civil wars-I give thanks for even the semi-terrible things that have happened to me, since they have shown me what is really real. They have made me tell the truth. They have quashed all my illusions of control, leaving me with no alternative but to receive my life as an unmitigated gift."
Over the weekend we traveled to visit my husband's mother. While there, I talked a lot with my sister-in-law who is struggling with breast cancer. I noticed a difference in her that wasn't there BC (before cancer). She is much more real now and more intense. I've always liked her but really like her now. She even said that this horrible experience has made the unimportant fall away. And it showed in our conversation. We didn't waste time on fluff but immediately talked about what was on our hearts. I liked that.

Wisdom from Dove Chocolate

"Sit quietly and listen to the sounds of Autumn."

Foxton - Gumley - Saddington - Laughton - Foxton

Led by me, with Barry and Gordon. Weather dry but grey - some mud underfoot. Views a bit hazy. 8.7 miles.

We parked at Foxton Locks long-stay car park, and began our walk by following the path to the Locks, this time visiting the inclined plane on the way down.

The grey shape is a heron making its getaway.

Info about the boat lift

"An effective means of transport from all centres to the sea" Richard BaldwinGrid reference SP 896693Height above sea-level 125m/410ftFigures below place names indicate number of lockson route and travelling time by boat.

The inclined plane

CAUTION - do not climb on this boat.

"I can remember the big wheels with wires around them, and the big chimney with smoke coming out of the top. I thought that when we went down the tank would tip and the water splash out. I think mother was afraid too, but we went gently down, the other tank passing us halfway; it took just over five minutes."
Mrs Daisy Dainty talking about when she went on the Inclined Plane Boat Lift in 1909.

From the bottom lock we crossed over Bridge 62, and walked along the tow-path as far as the footbridge. We turned east towards Gumley and followed the same route as here, all the way to Saddington.





There were wide, though hazy views today - hence no landscape photos. When we reached Saddington, we turned left along Main Street past the pub, and turned left into the Riding School, just before the church.



We joined a track/driveway and followed this as far as the Mowsley Road. We crossed and took the footpath opposite. The hedgerow was well-supplied with blackberries. Our path headed south and took us into the valley where we crossed Saddington Brook via a footbridge, and then walked with Mowsley Brook on our right.

A couple of hundred yards or so along, we took a clearly marked footpath uphill to our left, and used a redundant stile as a seat for our snack break, before walking the few extra yards to the Mowsley Road which goes along the top of the ridge. A right turn and a short distance took us to a bridleway on the left of the road.

The path turned almost due south and was clearly way-marked most of the way, though we strayed slightly joining a track which took us up hill to the village of Laughton (pronounced Lawton).

The view from the bench

Time to move, guys!

We continued a short distance along the road, and found the turning on the left. Our path veered off to the left from the track, through a stile in a hedge, and past a pond near the Mill Mound. We had no problem following the route as it took us to the highest point of the walk, at 168 m (562 ft) just by a T junction. We crossed the road and took a footpath which heads north east, quite steeply downhill before swinging a little more to the east andquite steeply downhill towards Gumley Lodge. Just past the house we turned right, hugging the hedgerow, then up gently to meet a small road towards Theddingworth. We turned left for a few yards, then took a footpath which cuts off the corner and took us to the Foxton Road. We turned right and followed this for another half mile or so back to the car park.

Harps of Gold

Christmas started for us as a family today with the annual 'Harps of Gold' carol concert in Edinburgh's Queen's Hall. The title comes from the English carol 'It Came Upon the Midnight Clear', which starts:
'It came upon the midnight clear
That glorious song of old,
Of angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold.'
The harps are the small Celtic harp, or 'clarsach', although we did have one pedal, or concert harp today. Together they make up 'Na Clarsairean' (Gaelic for 'the Harpers'). My daughter plays in this, together with fellow harpers right across the age range. The clarsach has a long history in Scotland - it's Scotland's oldest instrument. Carvings of it have been found on Pictish stones dating back to the 8th century.
(Apologies for the photo quality - I've deliberately made this less sharp because there are young people other than my immediate family involved)

McDowell Mountain Park

Yesterday I was up early to ride. (The day-time highs are running in the mid/upper 100s this week in Scottsdale!) Drove to McDowell Mountain Park for a singletrack ride. By the time I drove to the park, payed the entrance fee ($6 for the car - $1 had I arrived by bike), I was about 6:45.
The trails is mostly fine gravels with sections of rocks. No "dirt" as we consider at home. Lots of up and down with portions of flowing singletrack. I rode the "Long Loop" - just short of 8 miles.
During one f the climbs I heard a ominous sounds of rattling. Stopped and saw the rattlesnake. Backed off, and waited for it to slither away (and shot this photo). He was rattling a litlle as a hiked the bike pst him, at what I felt was a save distance.
After the ride, I high-tailed back to the room to pick up my camera to shoot the tee-off of the reunion golf tournament. Finally shower and breakfast.
Didn't do much anything the rest of the day. Worked a little on organizing my photos, napped, visited at the reunion, napped, etc.
Dinner was at Pinnacle Peak Patio. Was a relatively long drive for steak & beans.
The day capped with a Memorial for Reuel Baughman - one of my army friends.
Pavement ride with Pallette in the morning.

Truth Be Told

The reason my 7 year old, Lulu, is a vegetarian is because all this time she thought hot dogs and sausages were made out of pig weiners.
She told me this at dinner earlier, while we were all eating our sausages and she, eating her tofu dog.
No, said Sam, hot dogs and sausages and stuff like that are made out of pig intestines. And actually these are made out of chicken intestines because they're chicken apple, so they're not even part of a pig.
No, she said, they're pig weiners.