New stuff in the shop

We’ve just added three new books to the shop, all very different.
First up is The Boulder by Francis Sanzaro, published by the Stone Country Press. What does it mean for us to be involved in bouldering? How does it’s movement and sporting challenges relate to other activities like Parkour, dance, gymnastics, martial arts, or even art disciplines like painting. Are you doing it to engage in a sport? Simply play on rocks? Compete with others? Enjoy movement. Possibly all of these and many more reasons besides.
The boulder explores the philosophy of bouldering, what it can mean for boulderers and how we can use and examination of this to improve both our bouldering and what we take from it. For many readers, discovering bouldering will no doubt have changed your life. But surely starting out in a new found activity isn’t the end of the story? There are many life changes to be found as you learn more and more about what bouldering is doing for you. I would expect most readers to be helped along this path. It’s in the shop here.
Next is Fiva by Gordon Stainforth, which is only recently out but fast accumulating a big reputation for a brilliant read. Gordon was previously more famous for his excellent photography books. Eyes to the Hills was one of the first mountain books I borrowed from my library as a 15 year old novice climber. We don’t tend to get many mountaineering stories in the shop, but Gordon’s big win with this book at the Banff Mountain festival in November prompted us to check it out and we were impressed. I won’t say too much about it other than it describes a death-on-a-stick epic on Troll Wall in Norway. If you know anything about how serious the Troll Wall is, the Fiva route sounds particularly toe-curling just to read about. Much recommended by us if you like reading about proper adventures. It’s in the shop here.
Finally, and with some satisfaction I can finally report that we have the first stock of the new Scottish Sport Climbs guidebook by the SMC. I wrote a reasonable chunk of the text myself, and since I first had a draft of ‘my’ crags completed in November 2004, I can appreciate as much as anyone how long it’s been in coming. A more substantial introduction to the book is coming in another post in a minute, but for now the book is in the shop here.

Cotton Candy Ice

Yesterday afternoon we were in Grand Marais to pick up some groceries and possibly shoot the sunset. We were contemplating just heading back home without shooting sunset, though, because the cloud cover was so thick. But, just as we were deciding whether or not to head back, the clouds right along the horizon started to clear. So, we headed over to the campground to photograph the shoreline looking to the west. I sure was glad we decided to try it, because sunset was glorious! Especially when photographed over this shoreline ice that Jessica said looked like cotton candy. We also ran into fellow photographer and friend Bryan Hansel, who was coming out of the library when he noticed the same thing we did and headed to the same location as us. It's always a wonderful experience to witness a sunset such as this. Even better when you can share it with others!

Sloe Mornings and Delays

The blackthorn hedge may be spiky and vicious but isn't this blossom beautiful? Another reason I am happy to see the blossom is the thought of all those wonderful sloes in autumn and the delights of making sloe gin ready for Christmas gifts.

Blackthorn Blossom (become Sloes, in autumn)

A Surprise Flower in the Garden, pink, blue and lilac all on one tiny stem

I don't mind surprises like this one!

Honeysuckle Leaves Drenched with Moisture

Can you see the spider?

I love the collection of droplets clinging to this plant

Drenched, but beautiful, these flowers were found in a forgottenflowerpot

they survived the winter and are doing their own thing.

I had time to meander around the garden this morning, it was cold and misty - perfect for playing with the macro lens of the camera.





The delays? George is suffering from a trapped sciatic nerve, so the polytunnel won't be completed for a while. He has had this before; he suffered badly for a few days and then it cleared up and he was mobile again...





... otherwise he'll be off to the chiropractor whether he likes it or not.

Fairy Doors in the Wood & Lily of the Valley

A fairy door!

The first blog post I read this morning made me smile. Jane of The Maple Syrup Mobhad takena wonderful, magical walk around the woods and her experiences inspired me to do something similar. I decided to take a walk through our little woodland, but this time I would look about me with the eyes of a child (which immediately makes me think of the old Moody Blues Song) to see whether I could see anything different.

Almost immediately, I saw a fairy door in one of the trees.

Once I had spotted the first one the rest were easy to see.
Some were firmly closed...others were just slightly ajar.
This one has a lovely little pathway leading up to the doorstep...
while this one was very well hidden.

The lily of the valley fairy

by Cicely Mary Barker

I know there was magic about in the woods today. For one thing, I could feel it in the air! However, the thing which clinched it for me, and which made me very happy, was brought to me by the Lily-of-the-Valley Fairy because I found another small patch of Lily-of-the-Valley flowers - smaller than the first ones which I found a few weeks ago - but it looks healthy! They are some way off flowering, but I have hopes.

Borrowed image

I know that to so many of you Lily of the Valley are invasive, a nuisance - but to me they are a very welcome reminder of my mother, I also happen to love those sweet little bells and their fragrance.
I went into the wood to discover my inner child - I had a lot of simple fun - the fairies of the wood gave me the gift of the one flower which really matters to me.
I dare you to give it a go!

Reset

Things came to a halt over the weekend and none of us could really motivate enough to get in a car and drive 2 hours at 6am on Sunday for cyclocross racing, so we slept in till 9am instead.
I went for a road ride and boy is my endurance shot. I did what normally takes me about two and half hours or so and it took me a little over three.
Saturday, Lulu and I walked in a parade - the Oakland Christmas parade. Which I'd never even heard of until Lulu's brownie troop mentioned walking in it. I've lived in Oakland and Berkeley for almost 17 years and I'd never heard of it.
And I must say, it was quite grand.
Scraper bikes and all.

And today I spent some time in the garden. Pruned and primped the perennials and cut down some smallish eucalyptus trees and rode my bike and sent off some resumes and picked the kids up from school and took them to tennis lessons and made a nice dinner and even cleaned up the dishes.
Tomorrow morning when I take the kids to school, I'm going to bring the open top mug full of coffee and walk real slow and talk to everyone I see.

Round 'Em Up

I need light and colour in my life and as today has been dull, cold and gloomy I have decided to do a post about some beautiful visitors who dropped by to see us earlier in the year.

The iridescent beauty of this blue chap was quite something.

The white one was a little grumpy when faced with a camera!

They walked up the road to us when they made their escape from Claythorpe Watermill, which is just a few hundred yards along the road.





They turned up in the wildlife section of our garden, so we let them enjoy themselves, in safety, while we rang the watermill to let them know that their peacocks had come to visit us again and needed to be collected.





I was a bit slow off the mark with my camera, luckily my brother, Ian -theowlwood.blogspot.comhad his handy.





The final one I would like to share with you is a lovely photograph of them being shepherded home...

Their keeper arrived on his motorbike and gently 'drove' them back to the watermill. They seemed resigned to the fact that they had to go back - I swear one of them muttered "It's a fair cop, Guv" as they were rounded up.





I have no doubt they will return, they seem to like it here.





Regular readers may recall we have had a couple of visits from the wallaby who lives at the watermill.