Staying Awake

Returning from the land of busy - a check in.....

2022-12-29T13:57:00.007+00:00

Hello. I'm here this morning, sending love out into blogland; taking the opportunity at this inbetween time after Christmas and before the New Year begins.

Previous year up to this one, I would want to stay in the darkness...with the artificial and candle light creating a cocoon; and the illusion that time is halted for a little while.

Only a few walks on hillsides or beside the ocean would tempt me outside.

I've always reluctant to go back out into the real world and life as it usually is.... which for me was always work and busy busy busy.

These few days are almost like that time in the morning when you are still in bed but awake, and know you can snuggle back down for a few more minutes.

This year I still feel that sense of time standing still, however the big change is that I am not working at the moment ..... so no return to that busy busy work-life without balance. A new way of living lies ahead of me in 2023... I will be working again and I cannot deny that it is going to be a challenge not to return to my old ways. However I am determined not to return fully to the "land of busy" and to make some time for self-care, creativity and reflection.

I will turn 60 years young in February and my healthy adult self is in the driving seat more often than not.... this journey continues in a more balanced way and with space and time for thriving.

I am curious and grateful to experience this next chapter.

Sending love to you dear bog friends for a peaceful and joyful 2023 - signing off now. xx

August 2022 - Whinlatter Forest

August again.... hello summer heatwave that feels good and yet not!

2022-08-12T11:19:00.001+01:00

Oh my. Here I am again back on the page and writing that "I have missed being here and where did the time just go?"

This seems to be a theme here.

It's very hot here today and I am glad for the sunshine, bitter sweet though it feels as it reminds us about climate change; drought and water shortage warnings; water company's making profit; soaring energy costs and thoughts of the winter ahead. Lately our world's have been rocked haven't they? We continue to reassess our relationship with nature both on a personal level, in our wider society and globally.

In this moment right now as I sit here on my day off from work, the sunshine feels good on my skin. It's much hotter than we are used to here, and we look to take care of the more vulnerable in the world in this extreme heat. Once again we are reminded of the fragility of life here on our planet.

I have been sitting here in what I call my "morning chair", drinking tea and having a slow start to the day. Just a little earlier I was writing in my journal and listening to this song "Apart Together" by Tim Minchin.

KCRW

On the way to a show

Heard the story of an elderly couple

Found dead in their mobile home

They'd been there a month they say

Seemed to be no decay

I guess the upside of freezing to death

Is that you tend to stay that way

Locked in each other's arms

Eyes closed and faces calm

They may have lain there 'til spring

If it weren't for the ping of their smoke alarm

God sure works in mysterious ways

Died of power bills left unpaid

Found by a nеighbour who heard the ping

Dropped around offering Double A's

I think this could last forever

Girl, let's fall apart together

I can handle the entropy

If you promise to stay with me

I give you my heart knowing things fall apart

Praying you will decay with me

Locked in each other's arms

Eyes closed and faces calm

In the morning a new life will dawn

So maybe don't set the alarm

Baby, I think this could last forever

Girl, let's fall apart together

As I listened to the lyrics and melody, it stuck me how many years I have sat in my morning chair pondering the day and my life, and making plans.

Here I am still.

I was reminded that this will end one day. Funny how we forget this. Necessary that we forget this and yet don't forget this. A reminder to count my blessings, to enjoy the moment and to share gratitude and wonder for this time we have, this life we have.

I thought I would come here and write on time passing and plans undone... and on how I am drawn to tragic stories and the bittersweet. On how I still wander... and that's ok.

Hoping that life is good with you all, lovely bloggers, and that life is kind.

Thank you for days like these.

2022-05-07T14:25:00.004+01:00

I've had a weekend away on a retreat, but working as part of the team that runs it. In exchange for my labour I got to enjoy the workshops, meet likeminded people and camp in the beautiful woodland. It was a lovely weekend and I have begun to put pieces together and to feel my way into the next stage on my life journey.

I am bursting with good, healing energy and gratitude right now.

Thank you for days like these.

Easter Weekend at home - it's April time again - April Love time.

2022-04-18T17:23:00.001+01:00

I'm stuck at home with COVID at the moment. Luckily I have not been too unwell, so have really enjoyed having some down time from work and social commitments.

It is really so true when they say that sometimes the universe will stop you in your tracks if you do not listen to what is whispering to you. I have been so very busy at work since January, and before too. I have been really feeling stressed and exhausted and overwhelmed at work. I have not been myself for a couple of months now.

I kept telling myself, just another week and get this and that sorted out, then I can rest. It seemed endless but I actually did get the most important things sorted out before I started to get ill with COVID. I would have just continued if I had not been ill. Instead I have been taking a break for the last week. On good days I have been busy cleaning the house or gardening, but mostly just resting and contemplating life which is very much needed.

I'd started enjoying Susannah Conway's April Love photo challenge already. I do love playing along and so here are some of the first few week's photos. It always helps me pause and reflect on how privileged I am in life. Despite my feelings of shame sometimes, and this stuckness I always feel with my work-life-balance, I do appreciate where I find myself in life and all that I have experienced on my journey.

Day 1 - Blue

Day 2 - Yellow

Day 3 - Flowers

Day 7 - Pattern

Day 8 - Inspiring Words

I hope that you are having a lovely restful Easter time wherever you are, and that you remain in good health. My thoughts are never far away from those in the world who are struggling with war or poverty and sickness so it was really helpful to listen to this Tara Brach meditation reminding me that my small actions each day to Choose to Love will have an impact in the world. Like a butterflies small wings.

Sing a long a Saturday - We deserve to dream

2022-04-16T13:10:00.001+01:00

'Believe in the beauty of your dreams."

Sing a long a Saturday - Solidarity with Ukraine

2022-03-12T17:21:00.000+00:00

Singalong a Saturday - The Unthanks

2022-02-19T10:43:00.002+00:00

Sing a long a Saturday - People Need A Melody

2022-02-05T09:22:00.003+00:00

We interrupt this blogging challenge..... FAIL. Sing a long a Saturday

2022-01-29T10:44:00.006+00:00

So I failed to keep the daily blog posts going.

It's ok I am not being critical of myself. Life is busy with my day job at the moment and I ran out of steam!

I have been looking for positive acronyms for the word FAIL, as I recalled a reframing of the idea of "failure" that I had come across once which was "First Attempt In Learning."

In my search I found some not so positive ones, and the one I have given myself for the UBC is "Forget About It Loser." Of course I am joking! 😂

I like this one "Forever Acquiring Important Lessons"; and this one "Flawlessly Ascending In Life". 😂 If only ha ha!

Have you any FAIL acronyms you would like to share?

Here is a great motivational song to get the energy going this morning.....

UBC Day 18 - Sing a long a Saturday - Faeland

2022-01-22T11:38:00.004+00:00

Sending love out there into the world today with this beautiful song and the beautiful lyrics. It's like a meditation or prayer.

Happy Saturday wished to you all.

UBC Post 16 - Hokusai Exhibition

2022-01-21T22:26:00.003+00:00

My friend and I visited an exhibition at The British Museum, which is currently showing 103 "lost" drawings by Katsushika Hokusai. This print above hanging at the start of the exhibition, is a portrait of Hokusai from his biography and by Lijima Kyoshin.

When announcing the discovery of the drawings, the British Museum website press release reported that

"Hokusai (1760-1849) is considered by many to be Japan’s greatest artist and has been recognised internationally since the Japonism era of the 1870s, two decades after his death. During his seventy-year career, he produced a considerable oeuvre of some 3,000 colour prints, illustrations for over 200 books, hundreds of drawings and over 1,000 paintings. "

"Over 100 newly-rediscovered drawings by Japanese artist Hokusai have been acquired by the British Museum. Created in 1829 as illustrations for an unpublished book, they came to light in 2019 and have now been purchased by the Museum. The acquisition was made possible thanks to a grant from Art Fund.
The existence of these exquisite small drawings – 103 in total – had been forgotten for the past 70 years. Formerly owned by the collector and Art Nouveau jeweller Henri Vever (1854- 1842), they resurfaced in Paris last year, the same city where they were last publicly recorded: at an auction in 1948. The drawings – which were made for a book called Great Picture Book of Everything – are thought to have been in a private collection in France in the intervening years and unknown to the wider world."

I was interested to learn that the drawings, were made, for an Encyclopedia. Encyclopedias were popular at that time in Japan due to people not being permitted to travel out of the country.

These drawings made for "The Great Book of Everything" only survived due to the book not being published. If it had been the drawings would have been destroyed in the process of making prints.

The Press Release goes on to discuss how these drawings

"are especially significant as they come from a period in the artist’s career where he was previously thought to have created relatively little, due to a succession of personal challenges. Within the previous two years he had suffered the death of his second wife and recovered from a minor stroke. And just months after these pieces were finished, Hokusai pleaded destitution in a letter – in part due to gambling debts incurred by his ne’er-do-well grandson. The reason why these drawings were never published remains unclear, but they mark a turning point in the seventy- year-old artist’s career, demonstrating that he was in fact entering a new burst of creativity that would soon give birth to his famous print series, Thirty-Six Views of Mt Fuji (c. 1831-1833).

The print below is one of the most famous of Hokusai's works known as "The Great Wave", and part of the Museum's wider collection from this artist who was 72 years old when he designed this print.

You can view the drawings and other work by Hokusai on the British Museum Collection Online.

UBC Post 15 - Thich That Hanh

2022-01-21T21:43:00.003+00:00

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth.

Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes.

All is a miracle.”

― Thich Nhat Hanh,

The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation

UBC Day 14 - Here, There and Everywhere.

2022-01-18T23:14:00.000+00:00

I went to see this exhibition when I was in London last week. It is currently at The British Library and only a very small collection from the new book by Paul McCartney.

It was good to see the photographs and especially the handwritten lyrics to "Here, There and Everywhere", one of my favourites. Such a simple and beautiful melody and lyrics.

My friend and I also went to another exhibition(for another post) at The British Museum, which we had managed to book to see in one of the extra slots added in the evening, due to the demand.

It was quite eerie walking out through the empty museum afterwards. I do love this space. I often used to visit here when I had time when coming to London, as it is near the train station. I have never been there at night before however.

My friend took these photos as we enjoyed the experience of the Museum at night and I spotted the almost full moon through the glass roof. Stunning!

I feel really blessed in my life to be able to have the freedom and finances sometimes to visit London and enjoy the many free or reasonably priced museums and exhibitions. Being there last week I realised how much I have missed the big city with all of the interesting things to do and see.

There is lots to do here "up North" too, with Manchester and Liverpool only a short train ride away and in the small towns too there is always something happening, and lots to learn about.

UBC Day 13 - The history of Protest 1- Peterloo

2022-01-17T23:15:00.003+00:00

UBC Day 12 - Right to Protest

2022-01-16T22:23:00.004+00:00

In London yesterday, protesters gathered to march against new powers to be introduced in the planned Police, Crime, Sentencing and court Bill. The government is intending to continue with the restrictions on gatherings to protest introduced during the lockdowns, also the bill increases stop and search powers and includes provisions that threaten to criminalise the Gypsy Traveller community for their way of life.

There have also been further proposed amendments to the bill which are further restricting people from protesting. The new additions to the bill would have outlawed the Suffragettes’ tactics - this link really explains all the concerns and highlights how the government is attempting to make additions to the bill and also push through several other pieces of legislation that will further restrict our rights. The link also provides a further link to the Liberty Website where you are able to sign a petition or email your MP.

In further posts, am going to highlight a number of examples of historical protests that have changed history and enabled those without a voice to be heard. Both the link about and the quote below which is from an Al Jazeera news article, discuss the long tradition in this country of protest and point out how active democracy is and should continue to be a healthy part of politics and human rights.

"During this time, Western governments started to swiftly move away from supporting active democracy, and tacitly created conditions for citizens to only participate in democracy passively. Eventually, popular participation in governance was reduced to the casting of a vote for one of a few preselected candidates every four or five years. The message that was being sent to the citizens was that after casting their vote, they should just stand aside and let elected officials do their work. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is nothing but an extension of this sentiment. It clearly tells the British public: after casting your vote, do not dare to interfere with the actions of those in power. But this is not democracy. The public should always maintain the right to correct the course of their governments through protests in democratic countries. The UK has a long and successful history of disruptive protests. For example, British protesters – using the very same tactics the Johnson government is now trying to ban – convinced then Prime Minister John Major to abandon the pointless and environmentally destructive road-building programme that began in the early 1990s." Al Jazeera

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USMC-09611.jpg

UBC Day 11 - Rumi - When I Die

2022-01-14T21:50:00.007+00:00

When I die

When my coffin

is being taken out

You must never think

I am missing this world

Don’t shed any tears

Don’t lament or

Feel sorry

I’m not falling

into a monster’s abyss

When you see

My corpse is being carried

Don’t cry for my leaving

I’m not leaving

I’m arriving at eternal love

When you leave me

in the grave

Don’t say goodbye

Remember a grave is

only a curtain

for the paradise behind

You’ll only see me

Descending into a grave

Now watch me rise

How can there be an end

When the sun sets or

the moon goes down

It looks like the end

It seems like a sunset

But in reality it is a dawn

When the grave locks you up

that is when your soul is freed

Have you ever seen

a seed fallen to earth

not rise with a new life

Why should you doubt the rise

of a seed named human

Have you ever seen

a bucket lowered into a well

coming back empty

Why lament for a soul

When it can come back

like Joseph from the well

When for the last time

you close your mouth

Your words and soul

will belong to the world of

no place no time.

UBC Post 10 - Missed a day! Another winter walk.

2022-01-14T21:40:00.001+00:00

This is the first of two posts today, as I missed a day yesterday! Not surprisingly given the busy working week.

On one of the last days of the old year, we went for a walk in this beautiful place, Cockerham Sands.

It is a really beautiful area, very flat with amazing long distance views all around. To the North you can see the hills of the Lake District, to the East the hills of the Trough of Bowland, then across the estuary in the South and South-West, Pilling, Knott End and Blackpool Tower behind.

The sun was starting to go down and we watched the sea birds, geese and swans going about their evening business on the mud-flats. The tide was out and this landscape seemed endless.

We were walking together but quietly today. In thought, as we thought about saying goodbye to 2021 and the difficult personal and global events that have challenged us. I wished for peaceful times for you and for the world. Happy New Year to you lovely human.

UBC Day 12 - Sing-a-long-a-Saturday - Six

2022-01-14T21:06:00.001+00:00

UBC Day 9 - Thinking about the year ahead.

2022-01-12T22:37:00.000+00:00

It is 5pm and I am taking a break from work for a half hour before working late again. I thought I would come here and use the break time to write my daily blog challenge post. It could be a late one tonight.

I have been thinking a little about my year ahead and what I want to focus on.

With the help of my Osho Zen Tarot Card Deck I spent a little time starting to think about where I am at right now and where I might want to get to as the year goes on.

It's only guidance and a way of helping me think about things, not prediction!

So these are my cards for the four quarters of the year. From left to right, Jan-March, April- June, July-September and October-December. As I looked at them they all seem to apply to right now so I think that they are a good set of cards to get me focused.

Card 1, Projection from the suit of water(emotions): "Every mind lives in it's own world. The man and the woman are facing each other but they are not able to see each other clearly. Each is projecting an image they have constructed in their own minds, covering the real face of the person they are looking at."

In this first quarter of the year I want to focus on my relationships with others and stay balanced, clear and honest. I want to ensure that I stay mindful and "fully aware of my own expectations, desires and judgements." This card also suggests that when you feel "a judgement arising about another , turn it around." "Does what you see in others really belong to you? Is your vision clear or clouded by what you want to see?"

Those are two great things for me to work on this quarter, particularly taking responsibility for meeting my own needs, identifying my desires and making sure I put them first. Instead of going along with what someone else wants, for fear of upsetting them. Again clear communication and clarity of vision is the key.

I'm going back to work now so will finish this post later.

........So I have come back after working until 10.30 pm and I have decided that I am just too tired to write any more about the other cards right now. I might do a series of posts instead so watch this space.

UBC Day 8 - Week Two - Gosh this is really hard now!

2022-01-11T18:48:00.005+00:00

So I have just stopped work for a break.

It is 6.20 pm and I have been at work since 8.30 am this morning. I really should be back on my laptop as I have two reports to finish.

Instead I thought I would give my frazzled mind a few minutes break and my tummy some food. I made this soup yesterday in between working, and I have just enjoyed a bowl with some salmon and cream cheese bagels.

I do have an appointment online at 7.30 until 8.30pm so that will take some of my energy and it might be that I don't have any more energy to get back on the job after that.

I hear you.

How I would love to be free and I would love to, as it says above, to see the steps before me. It is a good time to take stock of how I would like to go forward. I love my work but am worn out and frazzled by it most of the time.

I quite like this graphic below, I found on social media. Perhaps it is time to show myself more kindness and remove any judgements I might be making about deciding to change my job.

Anyway this Ultimate Blog Challenge lark is getting really hard now, particularly after a long day or any day really at work. I am glad to be here though sharing these thoughts and settling my mind.

I think my mind is one that can't come up with things quickly, I am quite a reflective person and have perfectionist tendencies. Everything I try to write or organise, takes a good amount of time and particularly when there is a lot going on. I can lose my confidence and my writing voice as my mind is swirly with anxiety. The letters on the pages of my work lap top are jiggling around and my mind is also jiggling around just here and now writing this post. It is interesting that as I am typing my mind is less swirly and jiggly.

What can I do about all this? I think a prayer to my Higher Power or a meditation would help me build on this calming feeling that is coming as I type. It might create some mind space for me to continue with a little bit of one of my reports later tonight after my appointment.

UBC Day 7 - I do like to be beside the seaside.

2022-01-10T22:32:00.002+00:00

Yesterday's wet and windy walk along the coast was certainly bracing.

On days like these, as I walk away from the main seaside resort part of town, I am reminded of the wildness and wonder of this coast. The huge expanse of deep water with it's crashing waves is a force to be reckoned with.

I am reminded of the ships that have gone down in these dangerous waters and of the people swept away by the tides.

I connect with the sea birds and learn more about their fascinating ways.

My friend said that he loves seagulls as they always seem as if they are having fun and playing as they ride on the air waves. Their calls always sound like laughter to me.

I hope that as I get older I am still able to come and walk down here on days like these.

On a recent cold and challenging walk in the countryside we passed an older man who had a physical disability, out walking on his own with a push along walking frame. It seemed a long way for him to have walked on his own but he seemed quite happy and capable of looking after himself.

On Boxing Day we passed an older lady who seemed determined too to get along the bank of the river before the high tide. She stopped to chat with us for a while and looked quite ill-prepared for the mud and incoming tide however quite independently carried on despite my misgivings about her welfare. My family are always telling me not to go wandering about the countryside on my own, and do I listen? Not at all.

I hope I continue to be adventurous as I get older myself.

I will remember these encounters when in the future or present, I feel lacking in motivation or the courage to get out and about in Nature.

UBC Day 6 - Healing the burning times

2022-01-09T13:38:00.002+00:00

What an amazing way to enter 2022.

I visited this exhibition yesterday and took along a dear friend who I knew would connect at some level with the content.

It is so much more than just another exhibition, as it includes a memorial room to honour all of the women and some men, who were executed or persecuted as witches during what is now being called the "burning times" though not all were killed by burning. It is not a historical exhibition as such, though it does inside the memorial room make reference to the facts of this period in history.

This quote below is from the website of the Silver Spoons Collective where you can visit to read more about this project and the resulting exhibition and the healing work that is happening with regard to the intergenerational trauma from the European Witch Hunts of 1450-1750. Half of the money raised is being donated to charities working to stop modern day witch hunts in Africa and India.

"The Medicine Spoon Memorial is a creative and collaborative art memorial led by artist Caren Thompson. It intends to honour and acknowledge the women who were persecuted as witches in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales during the European Witch Hunts of 1450-1750.

The memorial will individually honour and remember the 4000+ women whose names lay forgotten in trial records. For over a year, Caren has been inviting others to join her in this creative journey of remembrance. Opening the project up to others has been a beautiful opportunity to heal the sisterhood wound as over 1000 women from around the world have stepped through through the doorway of collaboration and co-creation.

Using the symbol of a medicine spoon printed on to pieces of pre-loved fabric, a wise woman's (witch) name is written onto the fabric and decorated in whatever style or medium the co-creator wishes to use. The completed name has then been returned to Caren for stitching together as a vast collection of prayer flags."

I cannot begin to put into my own words here, how I experienced the Memorial and the Exhibition though the women who have worked together on this project and who were present to curate, kept asking me that question.

As the exhibition consisted of the most beautiful installations from each of the women, and offered visitors the chance to immerse themselves and respond to questions the art and other creations provoked, I did take part in writing responses and took away some questions to work on at home.

I do intend to go back again to visit and maybe take one of the workshops available.

For me it is a work in progress as to how I will continue my own personal healing journey.

Perhaps I will write more about it here in this space.

I hope that some of my UK readers will be interested in visiting the exhibition if it goes on tour later in the year.

UBC Day 5 - Anne Williams

2022-01-08T10:12:00.003+00:00

For the past few nights I've been watching a TV "biodrama" "Anne" , which is about what is known as The Hillsborough disaster.

The above picture shows the book written by Anne Williams, who was the Mother of Kevin, who was 15 years old when he died. Kevin was one of 96 people who attended a football match on April 15th 1989.

In the drama series it shows Anne becoming fixated on establishing the truth about her son's death and the campaign by her and the other bereaved families for "Justice for the 96". This was after the inquests disallowed crucial evidence about the safety measures in place at the football ground and the way that the police handled the event on the day and how they responded to the disaster which began to unfold as the match started. The initial verdicts of "accidental death" were not accepted by the families and Anne gradually established that her son and 41 other victims could have been saved if the response had been different.

One of the scenes in the drama, shows Anne and Kevin's Dad Steve, attending the inquest and being shown a photo of Kevin being given the kiss of life on the pitch by a Police Officer. Also being told that a PCSO had also tried to help Kevin after this point and had initially reported that she heard him speak. During the inquest this evidence was not considered as accurate and it became increasingly clear that there was a cover up of the handling of this event and the disaster itself by the Authorities. Anne always questioned this and eventually spoke to both of these people, and it did become clear that the Police Officer had been pressured into changing his statement despite his clear belief that Kevin was still alive when he first saw him.

It was even established that a third ambulance was present in the ground at this time despite this also being denied. One of the most shocking things I became aware of was the fact that there were also 44 ambulances outside the ground, and that other supporters had moved Kevin to a place where they thought he would get the help he needed.

"Following a tireless campaign led by bereaved families and survivors, in 2012 the High Court quashed the original accidental death verdicts and ordered new inquests which would go on to become the longest running in British legal history.On April 26, 2016, the jury returned verdicts of unlawful killing in relation to each Hillsborough victim, vindicating all those who fought so courageously for the truth for so long."

The series shows the impact of the events of that day on Anne and her family, but also on the other families, and the survivors of the disaster. Another striking aspect of the programme and of Anne's story was the impact on her daughter Sarah who was only a young child at the time of Kevin's death. Sarah has gone on to write a book about her Mum and Kevin which I am really keen to read, given that Anne's book is no longer available.

This event and the campaign for justice, though I am not connected to Liverpool and not a football fan as such, has always been in my mind and heart. The response of some of the tabloid newspapers to the disaster and the fans involved was cruel and involved them lying about the fans bringing the disaster on themselves which was again later proved not to be true.

Kevin at 15 years old, and the other fans who died many of them also young people, just went to watch a football match that day. Anne had been reluctant to let him go. It was his first time going with his friend Andy who survived and like other survivors has struggled to recover from what happened. It was not an accident, and could have been prevented.

Unfortunately Anne died in 2012 just after the High Court Ordered the new inquests. She did not live to hear the verdict of unlawful killing, and know that the justice that she had worked so hard for for so long had been given.

UBC Day 4 - Naming the hills, trees and birds.

2022-01-07T18:15:00.003+00:00

So on Sunday last week(2nd January), myself and my friend went for a walk on this here hill. I captured this shot just with my mobile phone camera, and I can't get over how lovely it looks. A lone cow right in between these two little hillocks. I can't decide also which version of this photo I like the best. I zoomed in and just can't get over it! What timing! How lovely of the cow to pose so beautifully for me!

In the distance on the left of this last shot, is a hill I can name just by looking at it's shape.... it is called Hutton Roof Fell. I am learning to recognise hills from a distance and can name a only a few so far but am building up my knowledge.

The hill we were walking on is apparently called "The Helm", and it is just outside Kendal. As it reports on the white card pinned on this fence, on The Helm live and graze seven cows and seven Fell Ponies.

It was fun counting the cows and ponies. We could see the seven cows but only five ponies could be seen on the day we were walking there. A couple of the ponies seemed very tame and almost approached us after staring for some time. Perhaps they are used to humans walking by and offering them apples. Sadly I had no apples with me today. Next time maybe.

I had some time off work for a week in November and went up to this lovely place in the photo below. It is called Tarn Howes and is in the Lake District National Park near Coniston. Are these Ravens or Crows or Rooks or Jackdaws? Or another species of bird similar to the Raven? Apparently a Rook has a rounded tail compared to a Raven which has a wedge shaped tail.

I had a lovely walk around the Tarn after walking up through the woods and next to the waterfalls. Tree spotting was a lot of fun here. Again I need to get better at identification.

It was a lovely walk up alongside the waterfalls. I could have spotted Otters along the stream if I had been more observant. I did spot a Robin, and captured him on camera though at a distance. See if you can spot him in the photos below? I doubt he is visible without enlarging the photo a little more.

I ended the day with a coffee beside Lake Coniston and a walk along the shore as the sun went down.

I feel so blessed to be only an hour and a half or so drive away from these beautiful places.

UBC Day 3 - At the end of the day.

2022-01-06T19:39:00.005+00:00

So I returned to work today after the two week Christmas and New Year break. Though I did work in between just for a day, it felt like I had had a good two week rest.

However it does mean that posting daily for the Ultimate Blog Challenge really becomes even more of a challenge.

It is the end of the day and though I did promise myself a daily walk, it is cold outside and blogging here feels more tempting. Plus I have a tooth ache again so exerting myself in the dark street tonight isn't perhaps what my body needs right now.

I am giving myself the night off exercise tonight therefore. I have walked every day since New Year's Day so far, and did a fair bit of walking during the Christmas Break too so one night off I will allow myself. So long as it does not turn into two or three or endless nights after work saying, "oh I am too tired tonight I will give myself the night off."

On nights like last night and the night before, I enjoy the sunset and clear skies...

Did you spot Jupiter too up above the smiling crescent moon?

Here are some more lovely views from last night and the night before....

I must remind myself of all of this beauty, when I feel too tired to walk when I finish work.

I'm staying warm and cosy tonight, just one or two jobs to do in the house to keep things ticking over. Sometimes in the run up to Christmas work took over, to the point where the house and my own self-care was suffering. Not going to do that again....New Year's good intentions and all that.

My sister is doing well after her operation and though in some pain she is hoping to be home tomorrow if all continues to go to plan.

It's already nearly weekend, I am so happy for my two day working week this week! Thank you to those blogging friends who are visiting and commenting. I will reply back to you personally and continue to visit you too when I can. Grateful to be here and blogging again. Good night.