Day 12 Advent Challenge ITC Outdoors First Aid Course - in the dark

It's quite difficult to do anything when your outside in the dark let alone assess casualties, so I was rather glad when our course today headed for the inside again away from the soggy wet wood we had been grovelling about in.  The last exercise of the day over and we had all passed with flying colours of course, phew that's a relief.  I should now be able to start thinking about the Christmas presents I still have to buy and where I put all the decorations, not least of my problems will be buying the tree.  We always buy a fresh tree, nothing artificial is ever countenanced here. So where do we buy ours? Whinlatter Forest is the place and we usually go up Whinlatter summit first so Bella gets a little exercise too.

Meanwhile, I was given these goodies at our EG Christmas Lunch the other day, I might just have time to have a play with them and make something else too, who knows. I do like to put some home made decorations on the tree and I have a small collection now of little embroidered and sewn items which I use. I am going out to lunch again tomorrow with a friend and we hope to go here as there is a new Orangery part to the cafe and we have not been able to get inside it yet.....It's always packed with people and it's only small, so maybe we will be lucky on a cold Monday in December, fingers crossed.

Day 11 Advent Challenge First Aid is exhausting

I feel a bit like The Tailor of Gloucester from Beatrix Potter's famous book.  We are certainly being given the treatment on this First Aid Course. But to return to this book, it always reminds me of Christmas and it must be my all time favourite Christmas Story, forget about 'The Snowman' and if you have not read it go for it....I just love the way she treats her subject matter and how she involves a naughty cat Simpkin! Did you know that you can read the story online and also see the actual fascsimile of the book with all the illustrations?  I know that the book is deemed public domain in the USA so if you are over there you can view it but I think UK readers are not supposed to. Anyway, for any american followers of this blog, you can legally read the book on the Gutenberg site. For other readers of this blog, go out and buy it for the children or grandchildren or even for yourself, it's magical.....

I am too tired to do much more tonight so I think I will go for a lovely shower as I have been crawling around on the floor most of the day dealing with fake casualties, so until tomorrow take care, when you are doing a first aid course somehow people seem much more precious......

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 9 Advent Challenge Gotcha!

This was the best I could do with Robin because he is a secretive little bird and refused to stay for long or to pose, this is also taken through the window of my den so it is not as clear as it should be. But I did get my Advent Robin. He is very fluffed up because this was when the temperature was about -9C, so he is a very round robin ha ha....

Today was the Embroiderers' Guild Christmas Lunch at the Horse and Farrier, Threlkeld and a jolly event it was too.  I had a Parma Ham and melon starter which was very good indeed and then traditional turkey followed by Key Lime Pie. Then we had their own mulled wine which was delicious, followed by coffee, mince pies and mint chocolate. To be fair I took a doggie bag for Bella and brought her home 3 slices of turkey and a chipolata sausage wrapped in bacon too.  Needless to say this was enjoyed once it was all chopped up on a plate, she is a well brought up little dog and does not wolf her food but she did grab the sausage out of my hand when teased.........then dropped it onto the floor to try and chew it demurely......  No photos of this event except for a rather fetching reindeer all lit up in the window.

I found a rather good countdown reminder about the last Christmas post on the Post Office website and placed it at the top of the blog to remind you and me about those ticking away days....... Also you will see below it the list of all the mad bloggers who have accepted the Advent Challenge. I am enjoying looking at their postings every day and hope you will pop by them too. The good thing is that everyone of us has a different approach to this thing so it is lots of fun.....

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 7 Advent Challenge late again ;-)

I thought you might like to see the effort some people make in my home town to decorate the shop windows. For instance someone posted a gingerbread house on one of the advent blogs the other day (can't remember who) but anyway it made me realise that there is an art to this gingerbread stuff, so feast your eyes on this....

A whole trainload of gingerbread, wow that must have taken ages to make, it even has two trucks loaded with goodies......mouth watering..  This is the famous window of Bryson's bakers in the Main Street Keswick and they are always up for a challenge at Christmas. Last year's was very sparkly with a white Disney effect castle and other stuff, but this is better.



By the way Derwentwater is frozen over again, and we went down for a closer look and it is white with snow and ice and completely covered.  The ice is too thin at the moment to walk on like last year but I did venture out a little way for a photo and maybe I will show you it tomorrow....I don't think you will forgive me if all I ever show is photo's of ice and snow...... Anyway the other news was disappointing but inevitable I suppose given the freezing conditions (tonight it's going to be - 11C) as the Cumbria Patchworkers party tomorrow has been postponed because there are 20 of us quilters and some of us live in very remote areas of Cumbria with frozen solid back roads so its off until January now. Never mind we will have Christmas all over again when everyone else is sick of it.....

Speaking of sick of it this was the visitor to one of my bird tables today, not what I wanted of course...

I want an Advent robin as you know and one did fleetingly and tantalisingly land on the bird table for a couple of seconds, so I grabbed the ever ready camera and it flew off..........annoying bird. But there are still many days and blog posts to go yet and I am determined. DH has been reading this stuff and his comments were "I don't have to make a meal of it", a photo and a few words would do, says he. So tonight as it's a bit late I will take his advice.