A nice day for a run

Still in catching up mode, here's a look back to the Edinburgh Marathon Festival a few weeks ago. The marathon itself took place on the Sunday, and on the Saturday there were a succession of shorter distance runs. My husband ran the 10k, raising money for the British Heart Foundation. The start of the race is as you see above: on the flat, in Holyrood Park near the gates of Holyrood Palace, the Queen's Edinburgh home. Sneakily, the route then climbed up around Arthur's Seat...

Below, some of the variegated charity T-shirts at the start line.

I Know How She Feels

Excerpt from Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor. Sue says, "At times like this, I feel the small curse of my introspective nature and its obstinate demands, how it wants to be allowed, wants my unhurried and undivided attention, how the moments of life insist on being metabolized and given expression. As usual, having failed to stop and tend to this unmitigated part of myself, it has stopped me."

Hallaton-Allexton-East Norton-Hallaton

Led by Barry, with Maureen and Gordon. Fine, chilly wind, muddy underfoot, some ice. Just over 10 miles in all.



Such a beautiful morning as I drive past the Welland Lake on my way to Hallaton. I haven't seen the valley so flooded for a long time, but with the sun sparkling on the water, I could live with it.

The roads are clear of snow, but some glisten with hoar frost, especially the higher roads near Eyebrook reservoir, and through Horninghold towards Hallaton. I shall probably keep regretting that I didn't stop to take photographs.



I meet the gang in Hallaton, and we brave the cold wind and set off along the Horninghold Road. We turn left along a footpath which runs across fields, almost parallel to the road. When we reach Horninghold village we turn right and then left just before the Hall, which looks as though it has converted its stables into rather exclusive apartments.



The route takes us northeast as far as Muckelburgh Farm, where we turn to the left and head due north until we meet Allexton Lane, which is more like a mud-track. We discover a body behind a hedge - his legs are plastic pipes, and his body is just old clothes - a scarecrow taking five?



At the Hallaton road we turn right towards Allexton. Belton is clearly visible behind Allexton. Before reaching the village we take a bridleway to the left, due west, more or less parallel to the A47. It crosses the stream and arrives at the main road at a lay-by. We cross the road and find the footpath a little way to the left.



We take shelter behind a hedge and indulge in a snack break. We plod on and are faced with four yellow posts to show the way. A quick look at the map and we make our choice. All is well, apart from the mud-hopping we need to do each time we meet a gate.

When we reach a road into East Norton we walk down it - past this rather strange character in a window

a novelty hatstand

and an irresistible bench.

Taking a breather at East Norton

We have to cross the A47 again, taking the old road to cut a corner, then along the road towards Hallaton for a short distance.

Decisions! Do we continue for two miles along the road, or do we turn east along a wide track which follows the ridge? We take the consensus, and the track wins. At this stage the wind is getting stronger and there's rain in the air. But we carry on boldly going. There's a junction - a surfaced road leads down to a farm, but our route goes ahead - across more mud. We arrive at a farm, labelled as Fearn Farm on the map. It has an obviously non-functional sign saying "Teas" and a sign declaring in German that it's a Zollgrenze or customs frontier. No one inspects our luggage or passports, so we carry on our merry muddy way.

We're following the route of the Leicestershire Round and the Macmillan Way here, but these fields are the muddiest yet, and sticky to boot. We have another snack break on the bridge over the dismantled railway, before tackling the last field, and joining the road near Hallaton Recreation Ground, walking past the duckpond and the Fox pub and we've done about 10 miles.

They didn't leak when I walked through puddles hoping to clean them!

of the route.

Embracing the NOW

"Most of us spend so much time thinking about where we have been or where we are supposed to be going that we have a hard time recognizing where we actually are. When someone asks us where we want to be in our lives, the last thing that occurs to us is to look down at our feet and say, "Here, I guess, since this is where I am." Taken from An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor.

Authors You Love

I found the coolest thing! If you click on this link, http://www.literature-map.com/, you can list your favorite author and ones similar to him/her will come up on a list. It's a way to find new authors that write in a style you already love.
I typed in Diana Gabaldon and got back this list: Jude Deveraux, Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, Amanda Quick, Janet Evanovich, Lori Foster, Maeve Binchy, Phillipa Gregory, Catherine Cookson, Elizabeth Peters, Jack Whyte, Mary Stewart, and more. Some of these authors I've read, some I haven't.
On Diana Gabaldon's website she lists her favorite authors. Jack Whyte is one of them. I've never read anything by him, but if Diana recommends him, that's good enough for me!
If you could pick one favorite author, who would it be?
*Photos taken at the Appalachian Museum in Norris, Tennessee, I think. I'm drawn to old books like a moth to a flame. I've seen so many of them that's it's hard to look at a photo and remember where I was at the time!

Settlement

Last weekend I had to confess myself slightly disappointed at the rather poor second half produced by Gold Coast United in Brisbane on Friday night. There was nothing for it other than to get on the bike and find a decent ride somewhere. I set off on Sunday morning for the old fashioned Springbrook/Numinbah/Tomewin circuit. The start was a little slower than I normally like, and I wasn't sure whether that was lethargy or just an early morning westerly wind. Either way, the climb toward Salmons Saddle at Springbrook soon shook that loose.

I was far more concerned with the potentially treacherous descent on the other side. I have ridden up Pine Creek Road a few times and measured 24% gradients there. This sort of thing tends to make one slightly nervous about descending the road -- especially in view of the fact that I hadn't done it since the infamous crash back in July. As it was, the disc brakes on the Salsa Vaya worked beautifully and gave me another of those "what the hell are you worrying about?" moments when I reached the bottom, turned south, and set out on the next part of the ride.



Why did every motor-cyclist on the Gold Coast want to share my ride today? It's enough to make you think disparaging thoughts about people who are too poor to afford a Harley (i.e. all of them) but still want to be "bad dudes". The ride through the southern part of Numinbah valley is indeed, beautiful, but these guys made it a lot noisier than it might have been the day before. A couple of them also saw fit to pass right in the middle of corners on the descent from Numinbah Gap -- again I can thank my disc brakes for making a potentially tricky situation into an easy one. Somewhere near Chillingham I got a little tired of the noise, and decided to head for a dirt road that I've eyed off for a while.

I knew Settlement Road would be quiet. As it was, I didn't see another human along the way. What I didn't realise what just how lovely the switchback dirt road that snaked it's way though Springbrook's southern foothills would be. The forest here was pretty dense for the most part, but it occasionally gave way to some really stunning views. After climbing for a few kilometres, the road deteriorated as it went past a fence line, and I decided to call off the chase here -- but only after admiring the view toward Mt Hobwee and Bald Mountain.
After this, there isn't a lot to tell. The Harley wannabes virtually disappeared after I passed Chillingham (apart from one lot at Crystal Creek). The only thing noticeable out here was the north-easterly wind that had replaced the south-westerly that started the day. Oh well, this bike tends to cope with headwinds better than any other I've had previously, and I still had Tomewin to throw at it. The climb over Tomewin was quite enjoyable, and almost rejuvenating. It left me with plenty of energy for finishing off the ride home, and another 130km racked up.

Another great ride was had. I also now have something to look forward to on the horizon, but I'll reveal that in another post.

My Grandma's Quilt

Even though it was in the high 90's last week, I slept with a quilt on top of my sheet, blanket, and bedspread.  I had some kind of stomach bug and couldn't get warm enough.
Now this particular quilt was one made by my maternal Grandma.  I loved that woman like no other; still do even though she's been gone for several years now.
I had never seen this quilt until my Mama called one day and asked Laurel if she wanted something of Grandma's.  Of course she said yes!  That something turned out to be a 1930's feedsack quilt. I was quickly filled with envy. " I loved Grandma best, so I should have it!  She practically raised me, you know. "  I think I startled Laurel by my vehemence.  I REALLY wanted that quilt.
Well, I told her I'd trade her one of my Mama's (her Mee Maw's) quilts for my Grandma's quilt.  I showed her about four different ones, and of course she picked out my favorite; a new quilt made from old feedsacks.  "Well.......I don't know about that one."  
So we're at a standoff.  But they are both still at my house, and doesn't possession count for something?  I told her she'd get them when I died anyway.  She can fight over them with her baby sister.  I'm so mean!  

Define 'gaudy'

One of the plants I brought with me from Illinois to Austin is this big, white, perennial hibiscus, which completely disappears over the winter, then bulks up into a large floppy plant covered in flowers. I don't care if it is gaudy - it's one of my favorites.
The Blue River ll hibiscus has proved to be quite transplantable, spaded from its previous garden in Illinois soil, replanted & grown in a deck container for five years, and now living large in Texas earth. Like my hibiscus, I've tried to be a 'transplantable rose', not just surviving, but thriving here. The blog name is also the title of one of my songs.

French Tarragon

I finally managed to find some French tarragon. This fragrant herb is essential in many French recipes, which is what I'll be using it for.
Anyone have experience with tarragon?

From Riverbend Hotsprings to the Rodeo with Art Lamely, Sue Hemming, and the horses they road in on.

We get ready to leave Riverbend Hotsprings to meander up to Colorado.

The day before we left Art and Sue the couple we met in Hillsboro on horseback rode into town. We found them a spot to camp in at the Rodeo Arena at the fairgrounds.

Lucky is Sue's horseBig John is Art's horse

Benjamin is Sue's pack horse - he is not camera shy and liked to zoom in for a close up!

Josie is Art's pack horse - part mustang and is absolutely beautiful.

After they got settled in we drove Art up to the Walmart for supplies. We had gone to the feed store and gotten them a "three string" bale of Hay for the horses. The next day left Riverbend Hotsprings and pulled into the fairgrounds.

Art showed off his bareback skills for us with Big John who is part thoroughbred. Art is taller than Gary to give you an idea of Big John's size (16.2 hands)


Sometime during the first night in the corral, Josie injured her left rear leg. Art and Sue cancelled their Hot Springs soak in order to deal with that. After Art had strained their cash reserves resupplying at Walmart,we went down to the feed store and picked up anotherbale of hay and paid for some Bute (Ibuprofen) for Josie. We gave them a ride up to Socorro to scout the ride and pick up some mail Sue was expecting. They scoped out the lay of the land for the trip on horseback and it did not look hospitable. You look at the scenery a whole lot different when you're on horseback. They average 12-15 miles a day. There seemed to be a 5 mile stretch where you couldn't get there from here and not much water along the way either. We returned to Tor C and had some cocktails outside.

Tucson was enthralled with the horses and so wanted to play with them ("They want to play with me Mommy - they told me so!). He found a bit of lasso rope and started heading to the corral.

We enjoyed visiting and getting to know Art and Sue over the 3 days we spent with them.We got a phone message from Sue the day after we left. It seems Josie is on the mend and they will be getting trailered to Socorro by some other people they met in TorC.

We wish them the best on their Journey! Who knows - maybe we'll meet again!

Till Later!

Meanwhile, we keep on Trek'n

Melissa, Gary & Tucson