Munros nearly done

Wild campsite- my tent on the right

I am just back from a very wild camping trip in Scotland and the midges were the worst I have ever seen. Yours truly sits here itching madly. I will be blogging about the event on my other blog here http://keswickrambles.blogspot.co.uk/ fairly soon.  This is just a very quick posting this time as I have still not unpacked from the trip (we arrived back here only yesterday late). Now I need to find all the dirty stuff and put the washing machine on...

The best news though is that after 19 years plodding up the 3000 foot Scottish hills I have only one last Munro left to do.... wow!

Sorting out the garden

Yesterday and today I made a start on restoring the greenhouse to pristine condition, the garden needs doing as well but DH has been making a good job of clearing away loads of dead leaves and old plant stems. So its coming along and I bought a new vinyl cover for the greenhouse table too and cut it to shape so it all looks clean and tidy. We had our first lunch of the year inside.

Are you sure you plumped up these cushions, woof.

Bella showed a great deal of interest when I replaced the cushions on the Ercol sofa and plumped them up as you can see.

Its much more like spring here at the moment and I have a few more jobs to do like planting seeds or there will be no tomatoes this year. Is it me, or are the cost of seed packets soaring? I could not believe that some of them were nearly £3......

Advent day 24 phew.....The Moot Hall

Christmas card showing The Moot Hall, Keswick

Well its Christmas Eve and now well into the evening with torrential rain pouring down, but I still have one last job to do.  I always decorate my mantlepiece above my wood burner with some greenery and lights so that's the last job.  All being well we will venture into the abysmal weather and go for a drink in an old coaching inn with friends.  At least that is the plan at the moment.

I hope you all have a peaceful and prosperous Christmas with loved ones around you wherever you are in the world.

If ever you fancy seeing the above building it lies in the middle of our dear little town's Market Square and was built by German miners in the reign of Queen Elizabeth the first.

Day 15 Advent Challenge Bought the tree, yippee!

Yes, we went to Whinlatter and chose a Nordman Fir for the first time, our usual tree is a Norwegian Spruce but they all looked a bit bushy round the bottom without much stalk.  It's being conditioned in a bucket of deep cold water in the garden with the old end cut off to expose new wood which will take up the water more easily. I will leave it there a couple of days though because that's how long it needs to condition. You see one of my skills is Flower Arranging or at least it used to be, as I have a City & Guilds in it, although it was a few years ago now and I don't often 'arrange'.  But I like to at Christmas and will try harder this year. (The reason people have 'needle drop' on their trees is because they rush them into the warm house before they are given a really good cold drink.)  It's going to be very cold here tomorrow and may snow again so the tree will be in it's element outside too.

The ducks used to have pate in them and they sit on my dresser in the kitchen and I usually try and buy another one each year but Booths Supermarket are not displaying any this year ...... I wonder why? They have been putting them out on the Christmas shelves every year for many years but none this year, blast.... I especially wanted to buy one because a friend admired them in the summer and I thought I would buy one as a gift for her, eat the pate first mind because she usually comes up in the Summer. If you see any, will you let me know where?

Tonight we are starting to design the cards and we have already chosen a photo we like and bought some lovely bright red card for the backing.........

Day 10 Advent Challenge Thin Ice!

This is a view across the lake towards Derwent Island taken on Tuesday, with posts showing which are usually lapped by water.  I did stand on the edge of the ice where it was safe, but no way was I going further out......Last night a big thaw set in and the lake has started to return to normal.  I am pleased temperatures are rising as on Wednesday it was - 14C here but today its 7C or 45F if you just happen to live somewhere hot like those lucky members of the family! But the weathermen say it is going to come back again........ We shall see. The days are not long now until Christmas and I need a push on this stuff below.

Currently, my present buying and wrapping has been sluggish I must admit.  I have two brothers and their wives down south to buy for yet and I am on a 2 day outdoors First Aid Course all weekend because I have to renew my certificate every 3 years and it's nearly run out. So tomorrow and Sunday I shall be up to my eyes in triangular bandages and CPR.  They pitch some of the training outside to make it more authentic too so I am glad the ice is receding as I didn't fancy grovelling about in the snow on my hands and knees assessing casualties............wish me luck, I am going to need it.

Day 8 Advent Challenge relaxing by the fireside and dog psychology

Well today has been all about working on the website for Border Miniatures and putting on the new kits and castings which are available. It should be done soon, but I am taking a break from it to continue with this challenge because I need a warm up. As you can see from the photo, I have a wood burning stove in my den downstairs and it's going full blast today as the temperature is 28F or -2C which ever you are used to. Upstairs on the Border Mins machine is a tad colder, hence the need to sit here at my cosy laptop and blog away..... Bella has moved into the hall because she was getting too warm, and because that is where I keep a basket with old newspapers inside it for lighting the fire with and she likes to snuggle down amongst the papers and get comfy as it is one of her favourite places to snooze around the house. She has this thing about finding little hiding places and often when she is in the hall (the basket is in a recess under the stairs) I walk past looking for her; she smugly keeps her nose down until I realise where she is.....  Another favourite hiding place is behind my Horn sewing cabinet when the door is open, she sneaks behind it and lays down with just her nose showing underneath the door......and thinks I don't know where she is. mmm

Day 2 Advent Challenge and the nature of jealousy

Well the few photos of the George Hotel - Tennis Club Dinner were fairly blurred... must have been the plonk and it was not even my fault as the camera was passed onto others too......So they can't go on the blog as I do have some standards to keep up.  Which leaves me with a slight dilemma, however, this afternoon will be the usual doggie walk for Bella and I might just pop into White Stuff for a sniff about as they have offered me wine and nibbles and 20% off for one day only.

I am quite a regular customer since I discovered about 5 years ago that some of their things a) fit me and b) seem to suit me and as I was driving back from Booths Supermarket this morning after posting DD's parcel off I saw at least 2 ladies of a similar age to myself trudging up through the snow with a White Stuff carrier clutched in their grubby paws.......jealousy set in....You know before I saw them with their carrier bags I had managed to convince myself that going into White Stuff for a third time this week might be seen as obsessive behaviour by the shop assistants. But once I saw the carrier bags I changed my mind and also my neighbour's daughter works in there so why not... I will let you know later how this irresistible pull of gravity towards White Stuff was overcome or indeed succumbed to. But the photo below shows the purchase I just had to make earlier in the week and they are lovely and warm when worn over the top of my silk gloves which I usually use inside my outer gloves when I am out hiking on the hills. These little mitteny thingys are just for shopping trips and things like walking Bella in the park I wouldn't dream of wearing them to go up Scafell Pike.....

Why do I hear you ask? Well other Mountain Leaders might think I am turning into a softy and after all I am married to one too so he might make disparaging remarks. No these little 'girly' pleasures have to be kept off the hills. We are going out tomorrow and he has bought himself another set of crampons, yes I know that now makes three sets he owns.