Harl

Many Scottish houses have an exterior finish of harl - a covering of small pebbles, stone chips, or shell chips as here, embedded in what was traditionally a base of lime render. The finish is supposed to offer good protection against the Scottish weather. All sorts of buildings are harled. The Great Hall of Stirling Castle (which is having its limewash re-done this summer), Crathes Castle, and my Dad's house, where I took this shot. We have the shell chip variety of harl. The chips are tiny - I used the macro setting on my camera. I'm rather fond of our seashells, and of sharing a building technique with famous castles.
We've been away for a while getting things organised for my Dad's return from hospital, and helping him settle in at home. Six months is a long time to be in hospital, and he still needs a lot of support. But he has a team of carers coming in to the house 4 times a day to help him make the transition to coping by himself. This amazing service is free. Thank you, National Health Service.

Had to Get Out to Ride

Today was the day I am/was planning to head South for the Holiday. After breakfast, I rested and worked on packing.
About noon, I stuck my head out of the door (probably to take a load to the car0 and I decided I just HAD to ride this afternoon - even if it means delaying my trip. Hell, It was over a month since i was last on one of my bike! I quickly donned a cycling kit, grabbed the road bike, and headed for the Wabash Trace Trailhead Park.
Figured the Trace might be a little soft (warming up this afternoon). Headed towards Manawa on the pavement. Was about 42 as I started riding.
Stopped by the mountain bike trail area (river-side boat landing). Trail Leader was in the area 9saw his truck, not him). Took a couple of photos. Today's blog photo shows the sand/silt that was deposited during the flood this year.
My original destination was the Trails Center. With the month off the bike had taken its toll on me. When I got to Indian Creet Bridge, I decided just completing the loop around the lake and back to the car would be enough.
Sunny, light breeze, 48 degrees on the way back home.
Gave me just enough drive to get the bikes loaded on the car rack. Basically finished packing. Now sleep time.

Tramworks

First day of digging up Princes Street, as part of the great tramworks scheme.

A slushy contender in the Maine event

Its has been a great time slogging through the back country of midish Maine. Hubert pitched me out of the car at The Forks. I spent the first few days slipping sliding, slopping and plodding on snowmobile paths. As amazingly beautiful as it was the going was incredibly tough. The snow was just to soft. I couldn't have had more than couple of pounds in each tire and still no traction. I never spent more time going forward with the bars turned or fallen off so many times in a day before. I could look behind me and see a zig-zagging rut with several pits where I hit the ground. That was the better times when I actually could ride. As fun as it was I've retreated to plowed roads. There is a cold front rumored to be coming in and I hope to get back off road.

Orange Pepper

This 'California Wonder' bell pepper is almost ready to be picked. Anyone have some good recipes using bell peppers?

Glowing Clouds over McFarland Lake

After making the "Celestial Fantasy" photo I continued driving up the Arrowhead Trail until I arrived at the swimming beach on McFarland Lake, which is one of the best places in Cook County (in my opinion) to watch the northern lights. This beach has a great view to the north and the lake is often very calm at night, which means you can get great reflections of the lights in the water. Unfortunately when I arrived at the lake the sky was still completely covered with clouds. I hung around here for almost two hours hoping the sky would clear, but it never did. Several times, however, the cloud cover got thin enough that the glow from the lights could be seen even through the clouds. This particular photo is from one of those times when the clouds were thinner. It is my favorite photo made during my time at the lake waiting for the sky to clear.

Looking at Summer

Magnolias, whip-poor-wills, lightning bugs, and the ever-present humidity; summer's comin'!

A Visit to (ssshhhhhhhhh)... You-Know-Who!

Yesterday was a furry exciting day! As a benefit for...
Ma and Pa took me (and one of my bestest pals hehee) to seeeeeeee... Santa Paws!!! Lytton Square in Mill Valley has a lot of colorful history that involves railroad travel and logging, but today, the square is a great place to hang out, drink coffee and grab a paper in the morning, or to use as a base from which to stroll around this ultra nice town. Below is a summer picture of the square.
Here are some peeps setting up Santa's throne! Later, the Humane Society will bring puppies to adopt. "Alphadog," a super nice pet store is partnering with the Society and also a great photographer, Allison Levinson, to take our pictures with Santa Paws.

Here are some pups waiting (pantingly) for Santa Paws to arrive!
...along with her housemate, below!
I can't wait!
A bit of trepidation...as Santa...arrives!
Look at the antlers on this little fella!
Here is a collage of some of the action outside and then inside "Alphadog."
And an uncut movie of me whispering to the man in red and other scenes on the square! Happy Holidays everypup! So many of you bloggers help other doggies throughout the year, day in and day out - we feel we can only try to help a few to have some happy and comforting moments in their lives over the length of this season. Mama got her residual check (remember this post) and is sending half of it (finally) to The National Canine Cancer Foundation.
Thank you to those of you who bought the book. Okay...on to visit some great friends! Hugs xox

Busy, busy days

I didn't post at all last week, because my life right now is super busy; busier than I like it to be. But what do you say when your daughter wants you to keep her four boys for four days so she can have a little r & r with her husband? Yes, of course.
And what do you say when your son calls from Ft. Benning and says that he's coming home for the weekend? Yes, of course!
And what do you tell a twelve-year-old daughter who wants to enter things in the fair which means taking those things there one weekend and picking them up the next? Okay, I reckon.
So now with all those things behind me and my birthday coming up on Wednesday, I'm heading for the mountains! It'll be a short trip, but I don't care. I HAVE to see the mountains in the fall and get apples at Mercier's Orchard in Blue Ridge, Georgia. Check them out on the internet.
After tending to so many family needs these last two months, I'm going home to be pampered by my parents. It's nice to be little again every now and then.
P.S. The photo is one taken last Christmas of us and our five children. It's a photo of a photo, so the quality is pretty poor.

Happy Birthday America!

Lots of sun and blue sky up here on Rainier are adding to our celebration of America's 237th year of existence. The forecast for the holiday weekend looks great, and conditions should be great for summit bids. We are expecting a very busy weekend so climbersshouldshow up early at the ranger station to improve chances of getting their preferred camping spot. The popular camps such as Muir, Schurman and Ingraham Flats will be busy places. Climbers are encouraged to have a backup plan since there are many places on Rainier that will not be crowded at all. Looking for moderate routes? Try the Tahoma, the Kautz, the Success Cleaver or Couloirs, or the Wilson Headwall just to suggest just a few. Skiing conditions still seem to be holding strong but some booting is required from most trailheads these days. Check out recent route reports from the DC, The Tahoma Glacier and Ptarmigan Ridge among others.



On this fourth of July remember that you have the freedom to bring celebration items such as watermelon, spareribs, and refreshing drinks into your national park. You even have the freedom to share your goodies with rangers or other people you meet. You do not have the freedom to bring fireworks, explosives, or share your edible goodies with any non-human species such as foxes or marmots.

Come on out and enjoy the natural wonders this country has to offer.

Bicycle Advocacy Luncheon

Yesterday I attended a luncheon meeting at the UNO Alumni Center. Feature speakers were John Burke, CEO of Trek Bicycles and Andy Clarke, Executive Director of the League of American Bicyclists.
John Burke addressed the importance of the bicycle in the solution of the community problems. Big emphasis was on the obesity/health issue and concerns for the environment.
Director Andy Clarke talked about the League's Bicycle Friendly City program and what makes a city bicycle friendly.
The luncheon was sold out. Those that did not have a reservation were able to participate in the meeting.

Snowy Edinburgh

Well, what else can I call it? The view is from Blackford Hill, north towards the Castle. Photo courtesy of my daughter, who was on a sledging outing with friends on Monday when her school was closed. Tuesday was another snow day, but with studying done at home (the year of Highers exams), and it was back to school on Wednesday once the ground staff had cleared enough pathways round the campus. The problem is that the snow keeps falling. Edinburgh airport is closed, the Forth Road Bridge is closed, trains are cancelled or delayed. The city is quiet, muffled.
But for some there's a bright side. Capitalising on our huge dump of snow, my daughter's school has hastily introduced a 'house snowman' competition for tomorrow, to go with all the other house competitions that happen throughout the year.

Crossing the Line

I saw the first hummingbird of .. on Thursday morning – it stopped at a Salvia ‘Nuevo Leon’, then moved to the still blooming Coral Honeysuckle/Lonicera sempervirens. I lost sight of it for a few seconds, before catching its final dip toward a Salvia greggii. He was lucky to find something blooming!

I’ve planted plenty of butterfly & hummingbird plants, but they’ve been slow to bloom this year. If the rain stops and the sun heats up we may rapidly cross over that line from Spring to Summer this weekend. I’ve already cut back the once-blooming pink rose to under 6-feet and shortened the iris stalks to make the plants look neater. Another wave of flowers are budded and ready to take their turn.

Last winter’s cold and ice killed the Salvia guaranitica, the Pineapple Sage/Salvia elegans and the hybrid Salvia ‘Black & Blue’ to ground level here in NW Austin. All three Salvias were hummingbird favorites last summer, but the Pineapple sage is still struggling up from the ground, the Black & Blue has only buds, and the Salvia guaranitica in the photo above just started to open in the last few days.

The first Larkspur flowers showed color on Monday, weeks after they were blooming in South Austin gardens. Larkspur/Consolida ambigua self-seed each winter, and usually grow quickly in April. This cooler, wetter spring seemed to delay their growth at first, then allowed them to grow way too tall and top-heavy. Recent thunderstorms toppled some, and the heavy wet soil is making some plants rot at the base. Whenever we expand our planting areas I move a few seedlings to the new beds, leaving it up to the Larkspur if they want to grow there.

The first flowers opened on the double yellow, fragrant Oleander from Plant Delights. I bought the rooted cutting [Tony Avent thinks the variety may be 'Mathilde Ferrier'] in March .., and grew it on the deck at our last Austin house. It’s lived in a series of containers, with the most recent transplanting done in February .. by my friends the Divas of the Dirt.

This week brought the first flowers on the Achillea 'Moonshine', also called yarrow. Both yarrow and lambs ear look good now, but they're frequently a ratty mess by late summer. I just cut them back severely and hope for new fresh foliage. Those buds to the right of the yarrow belong to a lemony yellow reblooming daylily, ‘Happy Returns’.

Around the side of the house, the shelter of the brick wall has persuaded one Canna 'City of Portland' that it's already summertime. I grew this Canna in Illinois and brought a few pieces with me to Texas in 1999. Since it multiplies easily, it's definitely a Passalong plant... I always have some to share.

This bright pink, tidy native is the Cherry Skullcap/ Scutellaria suffrutescens. The plant is generally evergreen here, although the tips were frozen back this winter. Skullcap grows slowly into a mounded sub-shrub that can take sun, heat and is drought resistant. Ta-Da!

Okay, so it’s only a two inch ‘Juliet’ tomato, and it’s in a container not the ground, but it’s still a tomato!

We also have a “real” tomato almost ready to eat – an ‘Early Girl’. This is actually the second to turn orange - we lost the first to the critters, which is why we've given up on vine ripe tomatoes and I’m bringing this one inside. In another few hours, if the squirrels haven’t taken out a chunk out of it, some bird will have pecked a hole in it.
Where’s the satin pillow?

Ketton Circular

Barry led this walk, and Gordon, Eddie and I followed. Just over 8 miles, fine weather, apart from a few spots of the wet stuff, and relatively dry underfoot for a change.

We set off from Ketton, parking near the phone box, in a lay-by beside the A6121.



We turned left, following the Macmillan Way, past Hibbins House, once the home of a family of stone and memorial masons. The house has several carved decorations.

We walked along the Green, turned right at Manor Green and on past the Coach House to where the path led along a grassy lane and eventually on to a quarry track with a wide bridge above the moonscape of the quarry - used for extracting limestone which is used in the local cement.



The track is pretty clear, and we followed the joint MacMillan Way/Hereward Way northwest for a couple of miles, across various arable fields. There's a lot of rapeseed at the moment. We turned to the north near a minor road, and followed the path across the A606 and downhill. Empingham church can be seen to the left.



Towards the bottom of the slope a path crosses the main route, and we took a right turn, up to a stile in the hedge and then across a couple of fields. There was a horse near Shacklewell Cottage, and we found a reasonable spot for our snack break.

Barry and friend

The path took us back up to the A6121. We walked alongside this on a wide verge for about a third of a mile, before crossing over and taking the footpath to the right. When we emerged on to another wider track we turned right, and then left, at Shacklewell Spinney. The path took us back to the Macmillan/Hereward Way, where we turned left and retraced our steps for a mile or so into Ketton.

Ketton Quarry Wildlife Reserve

SSSI

For future reference a wander through the Wildlife Reserve could be added on to future walks from Ketton.