Extreme Knitting Redhead

'Defeating Dementia' Report Launch

2012-01-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

Oh my, what a week this has been!

Wednesday saw the official launch of a report entitled 'Defeating Dementia' which was commissioned by Alzheimer's Research UK. Mike and I had been invited to attend the launch in Westminster and had planned another trip to the British Museum for the morning followed by the launch in the afternoon to maximise our time in London. Anyone wanting to read the full report can download form the ARUK website.

Obviously ARUK wanted to get as much publicity for the event as possible and so there were numerous press releases issued, one of which focussed on my region and so my name was included as one of their Champions who would be attending. There were 6 other Champions there, all in different regions so lots of publicity there too. As a result of this the phone hardly stopped ringing on Tuesday!

As there was an embargo on the release until launch day, I did a pre-recorded interview with Danny Pike from BBC Sussex and Surrey, who I've spoken to several times before and he asked me for a follow-up interview the day after the launch too. Thanks Danny. Then there was Arrow fm with Lorraine White and there were arrangements to be made for an interview with Meridian, our local TV station on launch day itself. Phew!

In the midst of all this there came another call and this was totally unexpected!

It was Sue from ARUK to say that Sir Terry Pratchett's office had called to say that he might not be able to come to the launch. He was going to be part of the panel of experts and I was disappointed when I heard this as I'd been looking forward to speaking with him. Then she threw in "I know this is a lot to ask but........." they wondered if I would consider filling his time slot. It wasn't definite and they still hoped he'd be able to come but they needed a contingency plan and they thought that my mum's story would give an extra dimension to procedings, which were largely about research and lack of funding.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

After I'd finished laughing at the concept of me speaking in place of TP I said that of course I wouldn't mind as I don't mind speaking to a large group. At that time I had completely blanked from my mind the fact that 150 people had accepted their invitations and the audience would include 50 of the leading research scientists specialising in dementia, MPs and representatives from age-related research and charities. Anyway, it was only a contingency plan. Later that day I received another call to say that they had confirmation that he was going to come so I could stand easy but could I please still be prepared just in case.

As we got on the train on Wednesday morning I was looking forward to the day ahead. I had to leave the phone on just in case ARUK called about the interview with Meridian TV which was originally planned for the morning but was done at the venue in the end. The full story is here and includes footage of Jamie, who suffers form early-onset Alzheimer's, and Vicki Graham with a few words from me later on - Defeating Dementia launch. The actual interview took 10 minutes so they only used a snippet but it was a good overview.

I was sitting on the train doing a crossword puzzle when the phone rang. It was Sue. TP couldn't make it after all and would I still be able to speak in his slot? Gulp! Yes, of course I would. Gulp!

I'll have to write about our trip to the British Museum another time as I took loads of photos and it was wonderful. After lunch we headed off to Westminster and were glad we'd arrived early when we saw the size of the queue. You have to go through strict security to get in, for obvious reasons, and it's both nerve-wracking and comforting to see Police officers with guns on guard.

They'd reserved a seat for Mike on the front row so I could see him, which was nice. The napkins came home with us with some scrummy cakes wrapped inside which we ate on the train as we had to leave promptly after the event.

I looked at the table at the front of the room and there was my name 'Susie Hewer, ARUK Champion' sitting next to Prof Alistair Burns (National Clinical Director for Dementia, National Health), Rebecca Wood (Chief Executive ARUK), Prof Julie Williams (Prof of Neuropsychological Genetics, Cardiff University - Among her most important work is the discovery of susceptibility genes for Alzheimer’s disease – findings highlighted by Time Magazine as among the top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2009). Gulp again!

The panel was chaired by Shelagh Fogarty of BBC Radio 5 Live.

As I watched the room fill up I read through the guest list and then stopped because there were so many influential people in the audience and they were going to be listening to me. It wasn't talking in front of a crowd that troubled me; it was that when I tell mum's story I have to delve into the depths of the memories that I keep buried because they are too painful to remember. Sometimes something bubbles up to the surface when I'm speaking and catches me unawares so I have learnt to take a deep breath when that happens.

With a time limit of 10 minutes max for my speech, I'd been thinking about tailoring it to suit the audience and including some of mum's strange behaviour and the psychotic incidents and thankfully I managed to get through them without incident; although I did have to take a long pause when I recalled her saying the we should take her out and shoot her or put her in a home because she was getting more and more muddled. I didn't dare look at my fellow Champions as I knew that they would be reliving their own stories as I spoke.

From the look on Alistair's face, I must have been saying something serious when this was taken. I see that I was using my hands to illustrate a point which is something I always have to try and control.

What finally got me was when I was talking about mum's last few months spent in the nursing home and when I sat down I really struggled to hold back the tears. Mike said that my speech was really good and very powerful and that my genuine grief at the end really brought the issue home.

Several people commented afterwards that they were very moved and ARUK said that others felt it had given the report context and brought the event to life. The lady who is talking to me here made a point of coming over to thank me. She said she'd heard me speak before and that she works in geriatric care and appreciated what I'd said because sometimes she finds it hard to deal with the very challenging behaviour exhibited by some of the patients.

So from now on I wish to be known as Susie Hewer, understudy for Sir TP! Can you imagine how disappointed the audience must have been though, thinking they'd be listening to him and then ending up with me?!!!!!

In this line-up we have Rebecca, Julie, Julian Huppert (MP for Cambridge), me and Shelagh Fogarty. She did a brilliant job of chairing the meeting and made a big fuss of my marathoning and fund-raising antics when she introduced me, which of course got a few laughs! We had a long chat afterwards and she took down my details for future use on her radio show which was excellent. We also discovered that she is originally from Liverpool and was born only a stones throw from where Mike grew up. Small world.

Seahorse mittens

2012-01-23T16:29:00.001-08:00

Oh my goodness it's been a busy start to the year and I've been remiss in updating my blog as usual!

The Hippocampus mittens were finished weeks ago and they are gorgeous. They match my jacket perfectly too.

There's so much to write about but I'm too tired now and it will have to wait until tomorrow when I'm feeling fresher.

Afterthought thumb (and a sky)

2012-01-03T07:53:00.001-08:00

There were 2 options for the thumb given with the pattern, one slightly longer than the other which is this one that I tried first.

Although it looked lovely, I felt it was just that bit too long so I decided to rip back and knit the other version.

The lower motif is the same in both versions so at least there wasn't too much to undo.

I took this photo to show how I undo stitches when doing colourwork - by inserting a needle through the row of stitches I want to rip back to.

It's quick and easy and the only thing you have to worry about is getting your stitches onto the needle the right way round.

So here's the finished version.

It's a perfect fit and I'm really pleased with it.

Now all I've got to do is knit the second mitten.

OK, OK, so I said no more skies unless there was something special about them.

Well this one is so moody I just had to show it.

I love the dark outline of the bare trees against those gorgeous colours.

One year ends and another begins

2012-01-02T07:59:00.001-08:00

Doesn't time seem to go much quicker the older one is!

I've decided not to upload all my sky photos and just to be selective as they are really slowing down my page. So, although I will still be taking photos and squirreling them away in true geeky fashion, I won't be clogging up my blog with any (unless they are really special or as in this one are on a significant date).

This one was taken on 31/12/11 and 1/01/2012 was so dark, dreary and wet that I didn't even bother snapping it!

I did, however, go out for a lovely run first thing before the weather really worsened. 7 hilly miles with few people around; no doubt nursing hangovers. I also made sure that I ran on the last day of 2011 just for completeness and so I felt as if I'd earned my large glass of Macallan and ice

My serious training for 2012 starts tomorrow.

On Boxing Day I joined the Hippocampus Mittens KAL over on Ravelry.

I've never made mittens before as I haven't worn them since I was a small child but the pattern looked so gorgeous that I just had to have a go as I adore seahorses.

The yarn is Fleece Artist 'Trail Socks' which has been lying around for a couple of years so it was about time I used it. The colours are glorious shades of mauve and turquoise but sadly it doesn't show up very well in the photos. It will go beautifully with one of my favourite winter jackets.

There was only one bit of consternation when I didn't read the chart properly and made a sticky-out thumb gusset instead of the afterthought thumb gusset marked here by the 2 needles.

Thankfully I only had to rip back a few rows.

In other news, we had a trip into London to see the exhibition entitled 'The tomb of the unknown craftsman' curated by Grayson Perry at the British museum. It was an excellent exhibition and his pottery is stunning.

What a treat. Grayson Perry has a dark, satirical humour and it is well worth a visit if you are in London. The piece de resistance is a ship built out of cast iron and decorated with artefacts from the museum. The centrepiece is a tomb containing a flint, representing the tool used by the first craftsman on earth.

Some are put off by his cross-dressing transvesticism (sp?) and his overtly sexual imagery but if you can get past that then his craftsmanship is superb. I love the way he has forged his own path in the world of modern art as a lot of people are really dismissive of crafts such as pottery. The thing that must really irk him is even though he won the Turner prize and is now well established, the thing that people often focus upon is his alter ego, named Claire, rather than the work he has produced.

After the exhibition we trotted off to one of our favourite Indian restaurants - Veeraswamy. If you click on the link you'll see bits of the interior which was revamped a few years ago.

It was a successul visit on 3 counts:

i) The food, as always, was sublime!
ii) I loved these motifs on the stair carpet leading up to the toilets as I think it could be a good starting image for a rag rug for our front door. Using different colours though.
iii) Mike took some lovely photos of the dining room and has been inspired to paint a scene of the restaurant in oils!

He hasn't been painting in oils for very long (about 18 months I think) but he's obviously a natural as he has a really good eye.

Here's a painting, based on a Gauguin, he was working on before Christmas. I'm not usually a fan of Gauguin but I do love this painting.

Xmas Pudding Dash & skies 116 - 122

2011-12-17T08:11:00.001-08:00

Well, once again I have blithely wrapped and delivered/sent some knitted gifts without taking photos of them.

Hey ho, suffice to say that knitted handwarmers, aka fingerless mitts or gloves, are always well received especially when the recipient suffers from arthritis and the gloves are knit in light-as-air mohair which is warm but not too heavy for sore hands.

Saturday was the annual Christmas Pudding Dash in the beautiful grounds of Ashburnham Place. This was the 6th running of the event and I've done it 4 times now and each time in fancy dress to get into the festive spirit.

Here's the before picture (notice the slippers!). Sorry but I can't get it to flip the right way up for some reason.

Here's the after photo, taken back at home.

I don't know what my time was as I didn't bother with my Garmin - sometimes races are just for fun!

The medal is in the shape of a Christmas tree and I love it. Last year it was a snowflake.

Now for some more skies:

12th December

13th December

14th December

15th December

16th December

17th December

18th December

Skies 110 -115 and cake

2011-12-12T07:48:00.000-08:00

Why cake?

Well, I received an eagerly awaited email from that nice Lord Coe about the Olympics.

Unfortunately it didn't tell me that I would be carrying the Olympic flame which was rather disappointing. Sadly, Dione didn't get through either so neither of us will be carrying the flame for dementia which is a shame because we could have gained a lot of publicity from it for the charity.

So the only thing to do was to bake a cake (well, I did actually consider the wine option as well). Chocolate and orange with cream cheese and chocolate icing and filling. Jolly nice it was too!

Now I've really got to finalise my fund-raising events for 2012 in a slightly different way. Hmmmmmmmmm.

6th December

7th December

8th December

9th December

10th December

11th December

Running rejection - but there's always knitting and crafting!

2011-12-05T03:39:00.001-08:00

Well I didn't make it into the select crew of the Runner's World competition. No surprise there! I still felt a bit crestfallen though.

My running is going remarkably well at the moment and all the speedwork I did for the Liverpool marathon seems to have made a difference to my general ploddiness (I know it isn't a real word but it should be as it describes my running perfectly).

Knitting wise it's mostly secret stuff for Christmas although I have finally picked up my poor neglected Oregon cardigan at last and am about 4 inches down the second sleeve. About time too - actually it's almost exactly 2 years since I abandoned it because it reminded me of Mike being rushed into hospital. Now I'm back into it I'm really enjoying it as I'd forgotten how much I enjoy Fair Isle

There is one thing to show though - this little scarf made in Artesano alpaca which is a lovely snuggly yarn.

I had a competition for those people who have supported my fund-raising each year since I ran my first marathon in 2004. As I was trying to beat my marathon best time this year I asked them to guess my best time for 2011 and the person who guessed closest to my best time would get a scarf of their choice knitted by me.

My best time was a dismal 5:03 and the person who won was a lovely lady I've never met but who sends a cheque for ARUK each year and she chose a scarf like one I knitted several years ago. She really liked the yarn I'd used and asked for the same colourway. Thankfully I found it on the internet.

Now for something I've wanted to have a go at for ages - felting.

Mike and I went to a local art show recently and I saw Angela Dewar's work and liked it a lot. I saw she was doing day courses in felting for beginners and so I just had to try it. The original course was for a maximum of 10 people and was to be held in a hall in Sevenoaks which is quite a long way from home so I was more than happy when Angela had to cancel that and opt for groups of 2 people in her studio at home.

When we were greeted by Angela and treated to lovely mince pies and coffee upon arrival it was obviously going to be a good day.

First Angela showed us some examples of felting and I love the way she incorporates embroidery into her work. Then it was our turn to play - what fun!

First we created a piece of 'pre-felt'. I chose just 2 colours and had the idea that I would applique a heart on it.

This turned out to be an excellent idea as Angela then showed us how to cut out and insert felt into the flat piece. The heart is made by combining red and orange strands to give a subtle shaded effect.

Then I needle-felted another heart into the middle of the red heart.

I can see that this is a very addictive craft and I can't wait to experiment with it.

These photos show both side of the finished felt and I'm having difficulty deciding which side should be the front as I love both of them in different ways.

Now they are fully dry I'm going to experiment with some surface embroidery.

This quick project involves layering wool and metallic ribbon and is designed to be made into a cuff.

I love the way the ribbon creates a crinkly effect but I won't make it into a cuff for myself as my arms are too short and chubby.

Perhaps it could be a wall-hanging?

In this final piece Angela encouraged us to incorporate other items into the felt and I really love this idea.

I've used a strand of novelty yarn, just wiggled around and a snippet of coarse string mesh secured in place with a few strands of a lighter wool.

I cant wait to embroider this piece using bold colours.

We had such a lovely day and Angela treated us to a gorgeous lunch of homemade soup and bread. It must have been good as I told Mike that Angela's bread was a good as, if not maybe even better than my own and that doesn't happen very often!

Last but not least we have sky 109.

What a lovely apricot glow.

Skies 87 - 108

2011-11-28T08:05:00.000-08:00

How time flies and so many skies to upload!

14th November.

The fog descended during the previous evening and didn't clear all day.

15th November.

The fog just got worse and worse. Thank goodness we didn't need to travel in it as it would have been treacherous.

16th November.

Phew, the fog is nearly all gone with just a bit hanging in the valley.

17th November

Then we had glorious blue skies and it was so warm that I am still running in a vest and shorts and the horses still haven't got their winter blankets on.

Unseasonally warm in fact and that really isn't a good thing for so many reasons, not least that it has been the driest November on record in our area and they're already talking about water shortages looming large. Plus all the plants and wildlife are confused with things in flower that should still be sleeping and insects that should have died off still buzzing around.

18th November.

Another glorious day and I took advantage of it by running across the fields.

19th November

The sun is setting such a long way away from when I started taking the photos back in September. It's fascinating watching the changes.

20th November

21st November

22nd November

23rd November

24th November

25th November

26th November

27th November

I just managed to catch this partial rainbow in the morning as it was getting light. There had been a short shower followed by the sun rising and the rainbow only lasted a few seconds.

Although the days are bright, the temperature has started to fall and so it was time to light the woodburner in the evening.

Tinker was very pleased about that!

28th November

We had our first ground frost last night and I took this at the back of the house just as the sun had risen, at the front, as I liked the pink tinges it gave the clouds.

29th November

30th November

1st December

2nd December

3rd December

4th December

Phew all up to date again on the sky front.

Later will be news about running, knitting and other crafting.

Marathon training, Skies 78 - 86 & Esther (but not in that order!)

2011-11-13T08:11:00.001-08:00

It's been a hectic week and not all in a good way. I noticed that Esther was resting her offside rear hoof one day, the next day she could hardly walk on her front feet. She's never been laminitic before to my knowledge but her stance and soreness suggested it immediately.

So it was action stations all round - Mike turned into DIY superman and transformed one of the field shelters into a stable using things we had lying around in the garage as she needs box rest whilst I flew round packing out her nearside front hoof which she could hardly place on the floor and then making a deep bed in the stable so she had something comfy to stand on rather than bare earth or concrete, then it was time for the vet.

In the meantime I'd given her some bute to ease the pain which is why she looks much happier in the stable - also the deep bed takes the pressure away from the sore hooves.

The vet agreed with my initial diagnosis but was confused because Esther isn't so much overweight to bring on laminitis. She asked me if anything had changed in her diet recently and it hasn't so she decided to do some xrays to check what's going on inside the hooves.

They had to wear these very attractive jackets which weigh a ton because they are full of lead to protect them from the xrays. Esther was such a good girl throughout. The xrays didn't show anything too awful thank goodness and the farrier will be able to improve things even further when he visits this week.

Looking at the photos now it's amazing how much brighter Esther looks after just a few hours on the deep bed system and with a bit of pain relief. However, she's now got to stay in the stable for 6 weeks to let everything get back to normal and she's on a very bland diet of soaked hay (which removes all the nutrients) to allow her digestive system to recover.

Of course it's now a week later and she looks bright as a button and is raring to get out into the field. Convalescing is never easy but I think watching Kizzy out in the field doesn't help much!

Now for the skies. There are 2 missing as dealing with Esther's health took priority over taking photos:
4th November

5th November

6th November

8th November

9th November

10th November

11th November

13th November

Now for my training. Running wise it was sometimes great and then others rather lacklustre - I blame the weather for the bad days when the fog didn't lift all day and everywhere was damp and dreary! There were only 2 off days anyway so no worries really.

The other 3 days were focussed and most enjoyable, especially yesterday when the weather was beautiful. As it was Remembrance Sunday I wore my poppy and I made sure that I was home well before 11am so that I could share the 2 minute silence with Mike.

I'm concentrating on building a solid base ahead of my marathon schedule but I'm also doing 1 session of speedwork each week. I still secretly hope that I'll get chosen in the Runner's World competition even though it's highly unlikely as people still seem to think that I knit during all my marathons rather than just at London marathon even though I always stress that when interviewed. I write this because a reporter from a well known newspaper wanted to write about my achievements this year but lost some interest when he realised that I don't knit during every marathon plus another reporter from a knitting magazine asked me for some tips on how people can take their running out on their training runs. Hey ho.

So, again, for the record, I run all my marathons and I have only ever knitted whilst running at the London marathon and it is purely to draw attention to Alzheimer's Research UK and not because I can't bear to leave my knitting behind!

Some pie, a 9 minute special & Sky 77

2011-11-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well it's not really pie, it's a pear and almond tart with scrummy homemade raspberry jam on the base.

It was such a grotty, dreary day and I know it's really naughty during the week but we had a slice each after tea and jolly nice it was too.

I shall have to run a few extra miles tomorrow to burn it off!

For my run today I tried a short session that Terry, a fellow forumite on the Runner's World site told me about. It's a session he read about in the magazine many years ago and he incorporates into his schedule on the week leading up to a race - as a sharpener. After a good warm-up you run 50m flat out then 50m fast for 9 minutes. I did it on the treadmill so I could check my pace and I really enjoyed it. My pace was 8 minute miling for the flat out bits and 8.5 minute miling for the fast bits. I think I shall use this to check on my progress, perhaps once a month. It would be fab if I could run something beginning with a 7 eventually........

The sky this evening was pretty nondescript.

Cloud, cloud and more cloud in varying shades of grey.

Still beautiful though.

7 minutes less & skies 73 - 76

2011-11-03T01:52:00.000-07:00

Now sometimes improvements in your running are hard to come by even when you try really hard and sometimes they just happen quite unexpectedly when you aren't trying hard at all.

Yesterday fell into the latter category.

It was another glorious day but with the weather forecast being dire for the rest of the week I decided that I would head out at lunchtime through the fields on one of my favourite 7 mile routes. As a footpath warden for the Parish it gives me an ideal opportunity to check the stiles etc en-route whilst enjoying the glorious countryside.

As I headed off I felt strong but wasn't paying any attention to my pace as it does me good to just run for the love of it every so often. The route heads along the lane for just over a mile and then goes down a cinder farm track in Bodiam. I glanced at my watch at the 2 mile mark and was surprised to see it said 19 minutes as I'd already negotiated a couple of short, sharp hills.

Onwards and upwards across 4 stiles and 2 overgrown fields where I had to do high stepping in order to avoid the clumps of grass! I noticed that the Red Indian man was performing some sort of ritual outside his caravan. The first time I saw him walking along the lane in full headdress I thought he was going to a fancy dress party but he wasn't and he's the genuine article. He always looks peaceful and content with his simple life in the corner of a field.

I managed the descent through the first orchard without slipping (I have been known to slide down the hill on my bum in the winter months - and not by choice!) and then up the other side. Then a ploughed field which wasn't too bad yet as the weather has been dry. In the wetter periods a ploughed field is jolly hard work as our land is on clay and you end up with huge clods of it attached to your shoes.

I ran past the churchyard in Salehurst with sheep grazing and stopped to look at them for a few seconds. Then it was more hummocky grass for about a mile followed by a sharp climb on mown grass through another orchard. That one was tricky as there were still lots of apples on the ground and I kept slipping on them. The final stretch is a gentle climb through the woods followed by 1/2 mile on the lane and when I reached our gates I checked my watch and could hardly believe my eyes - I'd done it 7 minutes faster than usual and I hadn't pushed at all!

It's moments like that which make all the hard work worthwhile.

30th October.

A morning sky for a change.

I love seeing the mist hanging in the valley like that and that lovely pinkish glow on the horizon.

There's a light frost on the field too.

31st October.

Back to the sunsets.

1st November.

Lazy clouds sitting atop the hills!

2nd November.

Another morning shot as I liked the way the rising sun was illuminating the golden leaves at the back of the house.

I really must take some photos of my knitting projects but I keep forgetting as I have so much on the go at the moment!

The Battle Observer, Runner's World, the Olympics and my 2012 Challenge

2011-10-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

Battle Observer

Sue from Alzheimer's Research UK phoned me the other day and suggested we do a round-up of my fund-raising and marathon running exploits for the year and issue another press release. Her idea was to talk about the 4 marathons briefly, bearing in mind that we did press releases before each individual marathon anyway, and then mention my plans for next year.

Great idea I thought and so Mike decided to take a photo of me holding all 4 medals. First of all we went outside but it was so windy that each photo ended up with my hair covering my face leaving me looking like Cousin Itt from the Adams Family!

So we came inside and he took 2 photos of me in the hallway which he thought looked fine. Yeah, right! They looked OK on the camera but when I uploaded them I noticed that my vest had ridden up and you could see bits of myself through the lycra that I would prefer not to share with the world!

Eventually we got a decent shot and so off it went with the wordy bit. Sometimes we get follow-up phone calls or emails but nothing happened so I was quite surprised when I opened the local paper to see this fab article. It's wonderful when they get all the important bits about Alzheimer's Research into the article and ARUK will be delighted as we have had lots of coverage again this year.

Many thanks to the Observer and all the local radio stations for their ongoing support.

Runner's World

Each year Runner's World offer a number of runners the opportunity to train for a marathon (usually London but this year it was Paris) with a team of professionals.

Each year I enter but never get selected.

This year they've teamed up with Asics to offer this amazing opportunity to train for the Paris marathon in 2012.

Ever the optimist I've put myself forward again in the hope that they might help this fat but fit 54 year old achieve her dreams of pbs in 2012. A girl can but dream and I do actually run in ASICs shoes (Gel Nimbus)!

The 2012 Olympics

I don't think I've mentioned this before but the lovely people from ARUK put my name forward for the London 2012 'Moment to shine' campaign to become a torchbearer. They also nominated Dione who I've written about before. Both of us are Champions for ARUK.

Amazingly, out of the hundreds of thousands of nominees, both of us have managed to get through to the next stage. They have created a shortlist of 28,000 potential Torchbearers from all the nominations they received.

The stories will remain anonymous as the panels select the 2,012 most inspiring people to be one of the 8,000 Torchbearers needed in total for the Olympic Torch Relay. The nominees will have around a one in 14 chance of being a Torchbearer.

I felt very humble to have been nominated and it would be brilliant if one or both of us could make it through.

My 2012 Challenge

Which brings me nicely around to my 2012 challenge. You will see from the article in the Observer that I mentioned 'an Olympic effort' for next year. Well I was pondering what to do (more marathons, multiple marathons, ultra marathons?) when it just came to me that it had to be something that would be really hard for me to do. Anyone who has been reading my blog will have seen me try and fail to beat my marathon pb twice now so it was obvious what I should do - get faster across all the distances.

I can't believe I'm typing this but what I intend to do in 2012 is to beat my best times at 5k, 10k, 1/2 marathon and marathon.

No details yet but that's the plan. Oh my!

Skies 69-72

2011-10-30T08:16:00.001-07:00

Everywhere looks gorgeous at the moment as all the leaves are changing colour now; except for course for the Oak trees as they hold onto their leaves longer than the others.

First to fall are the golds and russets and then the pinks and reds start. I'm trying not to clog up my blog with photos of the trees that I've taken when out running as I want to concentrate on the skies!

So here they are for the last 4 days:

26th October

27th October

28th October

29th October

There is much excitement in Redheadland at the moment but details will have to go into another post when I get a minute!

Skies 62 - 68

2011-10-25T02:39:00.000-07:00

I can't seem to keep up at the moment. There's so much to do whilst the weather is so lovely that I'm spending as much time as possible outside. It has been really warm and everywhere is parched with many ponds drying up. Its hard to believe that the Western side of the country has been having torrential rain and flash floods!

Here are the sunsets or skies for the last 6 days:

20th October

21st October

22nd October

23rd October

24th October

25th October

Skies 52 - 61

2011-10-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

As I am so far behind with my updates I have chosen just one favourite photo from each day.

11th October

12th October

13th October

14th October

15th October

16th October

17th October

18th October

19th October

Going home to Sky 51

2011-10-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

The next day my legs felt fine but my throat still felt horrid and my head was a bit muzzy (no, not from the wine!). We still had time for a bit of a wander before we had to head off to get the train.

We started by heading off to wander through part of Liverpool One a massive complex of shops, flats and hotels. There were some really interesting plantings alongside the Hilton hotel but I must have deleted the photo - it's been block planted, using tough grasses and paving with fountains and water features.

We climbed a beautiful sweeping stone staircase up to a new level with great views.

I liked the curved shapes of the buildings and the use of the ubiquitous Betula utilis jacquemontii with its ghostly white bark.

There was this quirky statue, a tribute to John Lennon.

What a legacy those four young men left their city of birth. The tourism side alone must be worth a fortune to Liverpool.

We decided to take a walk up to the Walker Art Gallery and the Library via a different route to soak up some more atmosphere.

Liverpool has some amazing architecture and you really do need to look upwards to catch some of the wonderful details.

The gargoyles, the ornamentation, the stonework and brickwork all make it too good to miss.

It's always good to view things as a tourist as you catch the little details that draw you in to the history of this wonderful city (can you tell I have a great affection for Liverpool?).

Sadly the library was closed for renovations. Mike was disappointed as he used to spend hours in there as a teenager looking through musical scores, studying and learning from the great composers. We did however manage a quick look around the art gallery.

Time was marching on and so we had a stroll through the little garden behind St. George's Hall where I spotted this very sad little memorial promoting 'Road Peace'.

The inscription reads "Injured or killed lives unfulfilled........the reality of road crashes" and is covered in everyday items from those who lost their lives such as a teddy bear, a handbag, mobile phone, set of keys.

Then it was time to head back to the hotel to collect our things before heading home.

I could not leave this account of our visit without showing the monstrosity that is Mann Island.

My photos will give you a feel of how dreadful this development is and why I'm beginning to sound like Prince Charles

I found a like-minded individual's comments here and his photos show just how beautiful the view was before!

He's also printed a quote from the developer and this one made me snort in disbelief:

Developers Neptune say: “The development proposes a subtle but striking architectural response to this extremely important connecting site. The development respects the scale height and setting of the neighbouring buildings and proposes simple elegant forms.”

Are you sure? Do you really think that hideous black glass carbunkle of a building juxtaposed starkly with the magnificence of the Three graces shows any respect for its neighbours?

This final photo shows the view from Canning Dock now. What a travesty of the planning rules in a World Heritage Site!

I must add that I am not against modernist architecture at all and I really loved the modern design of the new museum and the Echo Arena. But I believe that the old and new should sit happily together and I do not think that they do in this instance.

After that little rant there's not much more to say except we collected our things and caught the train to Euston from Lime Street Station where we found sculptures of the wonderful Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock (scroll down the link to see them). Mike worked as a backing act for Ken Dodd in the days when he was a starving musician and played the keyboard to supplement his income!

It was a fast train with only a couple of stops en-route, one of which was at Stafford where Mike spotted this lovely car with it's eyelashes.

How wonderfully girlie!

My head was still too swimmy to concentrate on my knitting so I just messed around with a few puzzles and looked out of the window.

The journey home was a long one as once we reached Euston, after 2 hours 15 minutes, we then had another 2 hours 45 minutes of travelling to go before we finally reached our little bit of paradise.

We reacquainted ourselves with the animals and I noticed that Esther was getting far too fat so would need her grazing restricted even further!

The sky welcomed us home with a melange of purple, grey, pink and peach.

Perfect.

Marathon Day

2011-10-12T03:15:00.003-07:00

I had a great sleep the night before which was a huge relief. We were up bright and early but I still felt pretty grotty so had a quick coffee and a dose of ibuprofen before heading down to the breakfast room as soon as they opened.

The cooked breakfast wasn't quite ready so Mike had a crumpet whilst he was waiting and I'd just started eating my toast and marmalade when the fire alarm sounded. There was a short delay whilst people looked around to see if it was for real and then the waitresses came and asked us to vacate the building.

So we trundled down the fire escape and were directed to a car park opposite the hotel. Thankfully it wasn't raining and it was reasonably warm with only a slight wind. After about 10 minutes the fire engines arrived and the firemen went inside. People still kept coming out of the hotel. We stood around waiting patiently for any news.

Another 10 minutes passed and some firemen came out of the building and settled down in the engine. 45 minutes later bleary-eyed people were still coming out of the hotel, some of them barefoot (surely they had time to put on some form of footwear?!). Then eventually we were allowed back in but by this time it was far too late for brekkie or even a hot drink and we just went up to our room, got our things together and headed off to the station to get a very packed train to Birkenhead Park station.

It was then just a 10 minute walk to the start.

The race organisers must have been out and about getting everything ready for hours.

There was so much to do: water and aid stations to set up, portaloos to put in place, volunteers to brief and get into position, road closures, signage, entertainment.

Thousands of runners' bags to load onto the waiting wagons to be transported to the finish line.

It must be a logistical nightmare!

I was supposed to meet people from Runner's World at the first aid tent but there wasn't one, and people from Fetch at the information office which was on the other side of the park so that didn't work out either!

I just saw a couple of old chums and then Martin introduced himself as he made his way through the pen and that was it until we were underway.

So here we are again, another marathon, another start line, another big smile.

What would it hold for me?

Would my mind be able to convince my body that it wasn't suffering from some sort of virus and make it round at my chosen pace?

Was 1/2 a piece of toast and marmalade enough to fuel my run? (I often run on empty so my body should be used to it!).

We were about to find out.

Mike was meeting an old friend after the start and so when the wheelchair racers set off around 9:30am he headed off so that he could meet up with Dave and still have time to meet up with everyone else and support me in Sefton Park.

But the massed race didn't start. We all stood around in our respective pens getting colder and colder. No-one knew what was going on but it was obvious that there was a problem. After 30 minutes runners started leaving their pens to go to the toilet. I was getting quite anxious and I couldn't get through to Mike as his phone was going to ansaphone each time I rang him.

After 40 minutes a spectator found out from someone that there were vehicles driving on the course so the Police couldn't give the all clear until they were removed. They still didn't know when the race would start. I started to worry that Mike wouldn't know that the race had been delayed and would be wondering where I was. Then what would I do if the race was cancelled as I had no money to get back to the hotel but then, after a 50 minute delay, we were off.

I settled into a nice comfortable pace of 10:30 minute miling as we headed off through Birkenhead. Then all of a sudden I heard Mike calling my name and I turned to see him waving alongside Dave. I couldn't believe it and it really lifted my spirits.

The support was wonderful and I really enjoyed the route on the Wirral side as I went past lots of places I remembered plus there was a fantastic view of Liverpool across the water. The sun came out and it was really quite hot for a while so the strong wind along New Brighton seafront was most welcome.

Eventually we wound our way down to Hamilton Square and the entrance to the Queensway Tunnel. Now I'd driven through that tunnel many a time when I worked in Liverpool but I'd never run through it.

What an experience! There were lots of shouts of "oggy, oggy, oggy etc" as is the custom in any tunnel and everyone seemed lighthearted. First of all it went down, and down, and down which of course meant it would be going up and up and up at the other end but that didn't worry me unduly. Some people said they felt claustrophobic but I really enjoyed the cool, quietness of the pace.

But it wasn't quiet all the way. As we were nearing the tunnel exit we started to hear loud drumming. Actually we started to feel it rather than hear it first. As we exited the tunnel like moles blinking in the sunlight the noise from the Batala band acoustic drummers was deafening and incredibly uplifting. I clapped and cheered the drummers as I ran past. Many people said they felt very emotional at this stage and that the memory would stay with them for a long time.

There was excellent entertainment all round the course - bands, drummers, cheerleaders, dancers which were great for the crowds of spectators as well as for the runners.

Then we were running through the streets I used to know so well. I chatted to lots of people I knew and waved to lots more. The volunteers at the numerous aid stations were amazing and very supportive. I felt fine and was maintaining my pace too. The hill at Upper Parliament Street didn't cause me any grief and I hit 15 miles bang on my target time. Then around 16 miles I spotted a man I know from Runner's World. He was slumped at the side of the road and looked awful so I went over to check if he needed help. He said he didn't but I could see that he did and so I asked another runner to go and fetch a first aider whilst I waited with him. It only took a few minutes and then I was off again. He emailed me later to say thanks and let me know that he did finish eventually but was over an hour slower than usual. He felt he was dehydrated from the New Brighton stretch when it was rather hot and windy.

For some reason though I couldn't get back into my stride after that. I still felt OK and knew I would finish but I'd somehow lost my oomph. Maybe it was the lack of brekkie or the virus or lack of sleep or a combination of all those things, who knows. I ripped off my paceband and threw it into a waste bin as if to move into a different zone. For some reason I also decided to throw away my water bottle when it was empty as if it was somehow to blame for things going awry. Stupid woman, now I'll have to buy a new one!

The thing is that once you accept that you won't achieve your goal of whatever time you can just settle down and enjoy the experience and that is just what I did. More runners I knew came alongside and chatted.

As I headed into Sefton Park I spotted my patient little team of supporters plus Mike and that really lifted my spirits again.

Mike took a photo of me and I got a quick hug and a kiss before I headed on my way again.

Lots of people complained about the Sefton Park section as it was a circuitous route but I actually enjoyed most of it because I got to see everyone 4 times without them having to walk too far. Mike remarked that each time they saw me I was talking to a different man! At one stage I was chatting to the Everton supporter, whose name I don't know, who was running round with Alan, who is blind. I often see them at marathons but hadn't met up with them since Abingdon in 2009 so we had a good long chat and catch-up.

As we finally left Sefton Park behind we headed into Princes Park a guy behind me exclaimed "Oh no, are we still in that f***ing park? Please just let me run through a nice industrial estate or something else!" It really made me laugh.

I was still feeling OK but just slower than I'd wanted but I didn't walk at all. Having said that my running was almost as slow as some of the walkers by then!

What was really nice was the 12 people I'd never met before who came alongside to say "hi" because they follow my blog. Thank you to everyone who took the time to come over and I hope you all had a good race experience.

Soon I was heading back down to the river Mersey and still the marshalls and volunteers clapped and cheered us on. I don't think I've ever been hugged by so many people during a marathon, it was fantastic! There was one guy on a bike who was riding backwards and forwards shouting support and encouragement and then my favourite missive came from a marshall at around 22 miles who shouted "Hurry up love, I want mi lunch!" to which I replied "You're going to have to wait a bit longer 'cos there are hundreds behind me!" It's little moments like that which keep you going in the final stages.

Then I saw those wonderful Liverbirds and I knew it was time for a final push and so I upped my pace for the last 1.5 miles. There's a wonderful photo of me on marathon foto. Just type in 'hewer', my bib number is 5481 and select the Liverpool marathon 2011 from the drop-down menu and it's the 2nd from the left on the top line. If you click on the magnifying glass you'll get a larger image.

My finish time? Was it a pb? 5:14:27 so nowhere near!

Do I really care that I'd spent 4 months doing a gruelling training regime for it all to go wrong on the day?

Nah, just look at that smile!

The best laid plans of mice and men etc. Marathon 24 done and dusted so onwards and upwards.

I shall end this section with 2 very apt quotes from Winston Churchill:

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

After I'd collected my tee shirt etc. Mike asked me what I fancied doing that evening as we were hoping to meet up with Phil, Kathy, Alexandra and Elizabeth. My request was something along the lines of "a really good curry, not more that 400 metres away from the hotel". A tough thing to ask you might think but a call to hotel reception, whilst I soaked in a lovely hot bath, found us booked into a wonderful Indian restaurant called Spice which was indeed just around the corner from the hotel.

A few drinkies were in order and the food was wonderful. It was lovely to see everyone again and I could hardly believe how much the girls had grown. They are certainly going to break a few hearts. I was secretly a bit sad that they were getting older as I used to hide notes for them from the fairies that live in our garden and they would spend ages looking for them. Sometimes the fairies left a gift for them and they would write them a thank you note when they got home (I saved all their letters 'cos they were so sweet). I hope they always believe in fairies.

Phil if you're reading this I need an nice photo of all of you to put on here please!

The day before the marathon

2011-10-12T03:15:00.001-07:00

Fuelled by a good breakfast, caffeine and ibuprofen I felt able to face the day. Besides, we couldn't miss this opportunity to visit old haunts and new attractions and we had a cunning plan; visit Tate Liverpool (where there was a Magritte exhibition) and the new Museum of Liverpool first as they are down by the docks, then wend our way towards the city centre taking in places we knew well.

Tate Liverpool

I worked in Liverpool in the 1980s at the time Tate Liverpool was opened and I took my mum with me to the opening night party and viewing. I remember we were walking around and giggling at some of the very modern exhibits and the one thing I remember clearly was one of us spotting a pint glass full of water that had been placed on a shelf. We giggled because we thought someone had left it there by mistake but upon closer inspection we found it had a plaque underneath stating it was a work entitled "Oak Tree". I found reference to it here - Glass, water, shelf and text sculpture. Just don't get me started on Marcel Duchamp's urinal!

The Magritte exhibition was a delight. I wasn't a huge fan before as I've never warmed to his bowler-hatted men but seeing his paintings up close made a huge difference.

I loved the detail in some of his amorphous shapes. The way he carefully shaded them to give them form and substance. The way he presented familiar objects in unfamiliar places. I loved his clouds and bird forms. I also found some of his imagery disturbing but you don't need to like everything an artist produces to appreciate their artistry. I was interested to read about his association with Edward James who set up the Edward James Foundation at West Dean college where I have been on many different courses.

You are now allowed to take photos in many galleries and museums so I snapped a few things that caught my eye.

On seeing these beautiful hat blocks designed by Philip Treacy I have to eat my words and agree with Marcel Duchamp’s declaration that any existing object can be declared a work of art!

They were stunning.

This mirrored cube intrigued me.

You can see me taking the photo and Mike, behind me and to my right but he wasn't actually behind; he was beside me!

When you looked through one of the different sized holes you had a rather psychedelic experience of row upon row of different sized circles in pink, white or pale wood depending upon your viewing point.

Finally this innocuous stack of plates really set your head spinning when you walked around it.

The plates appeared to wobble and move as you walked past and it was most disconcerting! Mike tried to film it going round but sadly couldn't capture the effect.

Then it was a short walk alongside the Mersey to the Museum of Liverpool.

The museum has only recently re-opened in this stunning new building.

Inside there is a glorious staircase (I think it had 84 steps) that sweeps round and round to the upper levels where you get magnificent views of the city. Although it isn't fully open yet there was enough there to show that it is going to be an excellent archive.

Then it was time for a wander through the streets we used to know so well.

This is one of the many replica Superlambananas that are dotted all over the city.

The original was created as a comment on the dangers of genetic engineering and was influenced by Liverpool's cargo trade of both lambs and bananas.

Behind me you can see part of the Three Graces. The infamous Royal Liver Building with the magnificent Liver birds atop the domes, the Cunard Building and the former Port of Liverpool building which housed the offices of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company.

They are an amazing sight to see, especially from across the river where you see them in all their glory. On the morning we left I took photos of a monstrosity that is obscuring the view of them but I'll save that for another post!

Our next stop was the church known locally as St Nicks where Mike sang the cantata Saint Nicholas by Benjamin Britten and Bernstein's Chichester Psalm many years ago.

I was struck by these beautiful modern bargello hangings made in really thick wool.

Outside in the grounds I noticed this waste bin with the Liverbird standing proud.

All the bins in the city centre were like this and I thought they looked very smart.

Then it was time for a wander up to see India Buildings on Water Street.

This magnificent building was built to house the office of the Blue Funnel Line, a fleet of ships, and is enormous as it was designed so that it could be used as a warehouse as well as an office space.

In my day, a large part of the ground floor housed the main Liverpool branch of Lloyds Bank and also the regional head office. In my role as regional marketing co-ordinator I covered 23 branches in the Liverpool area and so it was where I had my office base.

It may sound glamourous but to bring me back down to earth my office was situated next to the managerial toilets and all the men used to relieve themselves and then come and have a chat with me!

More wanderings found us in the world-famous Mathew Street, site of the original Cavern Club where it all began for The Beatles.

When I worked in Liverpool it was a really grotty street and the only Beatles in sight were statues but it's been titivated and is much nicer now.

I loved this bench.

How appropriate for a great fan of the Beatles, a composer himself, to be caught sitting here!

As we wandered around reminiscing it was amazing how our paths must have crossed - for example, I was a regular visitor to the Bluecoat Chambers for lunch when I was working in Bold Street and Mike had piano lessons there. His dad worked in Cranes music store at the bottom of Bold street and we had our first meal together on our first date in the street parallel with Bold Street and so it went on. It felt rather like the film Sliding Doors!

Time for lunch then off to visit Sharon (my SiL), Paul, Thomas, Emma and Buster the greyhound, seen here supporting me in Sefton Park.......but I'm getting ahead of myself already!

Sharon and Emma came to pick us up outside the hotel and the route back to their house, that I hadn't seen before, took us along roads I knew well from the past. When Emma found out I was going to run the marathon the next day Sharon explained that it was further away than Southport and Emma declared that I was mad (which is probably a fair assessment!).

As we headed up Upper Parliament Street Mike very helpfully observed that it was both a steep climb and went on for quite a while. I pointed out that the hills I run every day are actually much worse than that and told him to shut up, in a nice way of course.

At one point I realised we were very close to where I once had a flat but I couldn't remember the name of the road until we were right on top of it. Sharon did a quick left turn and we went right past the house where my flat was which I used during the week and then went home at the weekends. My landlord was John Hutchinson who was the drummer with The Big Three in the 1960s.

Spookily, Sharon's house is only a stones throw away. Yet another coincidence.

We had a lovely afternoon catching up.

Thomas has shot up and is nearly as tall as Paul and Emma has just started ballet lessons. She did some amazing poses for us and is very bendy!

Emma did this lovely drawing for me (sorry but I can't get it to rotate!) and it shows the hill I would have to run up with a rainbow and all of them supporting me, including Buster the dog (he came from a centre for retired Greyhounds and is a real softy), but what I like best is that I'm on the right, well ahead of all the other runners. The reality of the marathon was somewhat different!

That evening Paul & Sharon spoiled us with a lovely pasta meal that Paul had spent ages preparing for us then it was an early night ahead of the big day.

Next up, marathon day.

Sky 50 above the Mersey (Friday)

2011-10-12T02:39:00.001-07:00

OK, so the early night and sleep didn't help at all and I felt really grotty throughout the whole 6 hour journey. Ho hum, these things happen and you just have to get on with things!

The weather was fine when we arrived but the wind was very strong.

We unpacked quickly and headed out for a bracing walk alongside the River Mersey.

That certainly blew the cobwebs away but it wasn't at all cold so we enjoyed it.

It also gave us a chance to have a quick look around some of our old haunts.

Oh boy had things changed!

But that was just the start of our exciting weekend and we had to get back to the hotel to freshen up ready to meet up with my old friend Denny and her partner Russell who we hadn't met yet.

On our way out we saw the this 60m high wheel which looked lovely illuminated.

Now Denny is the one who gave me the idea of running and knitting at the London marathon when she suggested I should act my age and stay at home with my knitting! It was also Denny who sent me the Knit your own Royal Wedding book suggesting that I should knit her a corgi.

So Albert had his first outing to an Italian restaurant in the Albert Dock (named after Prince Albert, hence his name).

We had a very pleasant meal with lots of laughter and catching up.

Mike enjoyed the local lager whilst I had to be sensible and restrict myself to a couple of glasses of wine!

We then headed off to The Pump House for a nightcap before heading back to the hotel.

That Night

The sleep you have on the Friday night before a Sunday marathon is the most important sleep of all. You often have a patchy sleep the night before due to nerves and excitement so it's really important to get a good rest beforehand.

What I haven't mentioned is that the hotel room was very warm and didn't have a window that opened. Even though it had air conditioning, the minimum temperature you could change it to was 19 degrees which is way too hot for us.

We'd asked to be moved but there were no rooms available that night (probably because there was a Rhianna concert at the Echo Arena nearby) so the maintenance man brought us a fan to help cool things down.

Well, with the noise from the air con unit and the noise from the fan it was like trying to sleep in a factory! Mike drifted off eventually (helped by alcohol I suspect!) but I tossed and turned and became more and more anxious. My throat was very dry, sore and swollen and my head was pounding.

The last time I looked at my watch it was 3am and we were up at 6am. I looked like death and I was very teary. We went down to reception and asked to be moved to another room and they eventually found us one. They also refunded the cost of that dreadful night as they have a policy that guarantees a good nights sleep. I think they took one look at me and realised they were about to have a weeping woman on their hands.

The new room was wonderful with windows that we could open and it was much cooler even without opening the windows. Phew!

Sky 49

2011-10-12T02:00:00.000-07:00

Purple haze!

We had an early night on Thursday before the long journey up to Liverpool for the marathon.

I was feeling rather grotty and my throat was all closed up and sore as if I was coming down with something. I hoped that sleep would restore order and I would feel OK in the morning.

Sky 48

2011-10-06T06:14:00.001-07:00

I didn't think it could get much winder than yesterday but it certainly did!

This photo was taken at about 5pm as insurance in case the sunset didn't come to anything exciting.

As it happened, it brightened up a bit and the day ended with a tint of mauve.

Time to trek up to Liverpool now. I've got a newspaper to read and some puzzles plus some yarn and needles to knit some fingerless gloves.

Please let this wind drop before the marathon on Sunday or we will all get blown along the riverside!

Sky 47

2011-10-05T00:32:00.001-07:00

A windy, windy day and the sky looked like this for most of it!

Not long until the Liverpool marathon now and I shall have to photograph the Liverpool skyline instead.

Sky 46

2011-10-03T22:52:00.001-07:00

Much more seasonal weather today - cooler and a bit drizzly with a strong wind.

No sun visible so no sunset.

I took this mid afternoon and you can see the leaves starting to turn on the Ash trees.

Sky 45 and an audience with the sheep

2011-10-03T22:37:00.000-07:00

Possibly the last of the gloriously unseasonal weather today. The wind is starting to blow and the forecast is changing and sounding more autumnal.

We took a walk across the fields to see the sheepies and this is about the best of my sky photos taken from Plake field and looking into Damson field.

The sheep looked up as we came near and some scattered. As is my custom I said hello to them and for some reason I started singing whereupon lots of heads were raised and they all started coming towards us.

I took this first photo with the flash and I love it as it makes their eyes look like torches!

Mike joined in with the sing-song and we gave them a varied repertoire ranging from Away in a Manger to some Cole Porter, interspersed with lots of giggling. However, when we launched into the Beatles they showed their disapproval by walking off en masse.

Sky 44 (Sunday)

2011-10-03T02:46:00.000-07:00

Another scorcher but probably the last for this year as it looks as if the weather is changing next week.

I'm secretly rather glad as it's hard to get on with all my planting when it's so hot!

Last night we ate outside again and then adjourned to the sunbeds until the sun went down.

The pinky contrail looks rather like Harry Potter's scar doesn't it!

Today I'm disappointed because a felting course I'd booked has been cancelled.

Hopefully it can be rescheduled as I was really looking forward to it.

Sky 43 (Saturday)

2011-10-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

Oh my, I've had a fantastic couple of days from a plant lovers point of view.

On friday we went to a wholesale nursery nearby that was having an open day with plants at trade prices. We came home laden and it was a good job it was sunny so we could have the car roof down!
Then today, as Mike was working, I had a little jaunt up to Great Dixter as there was a plant fair there, plus I got to have a look round the gardens which are interesting at this time of year.

Not only did I come back laden with unusual plants, I found the solution to this awkward shaped bit of garden by the side of the house.

At the moment, now it's been cleared, Tinker is using it as his own personal dustbath.

Whilst this keeps him very happy, I would prefer to make slightly better use of the space!

The next 3 photos give an idea of what I'm thinking of.

I remember when the late Christopher Lloyd dug up the roses in this part of the garden and announced that he would be trialling 'exotics'.

People were up in arms about it but I was right behind him as I find single cultures boring and dull, preferring a diverse mix of plants and shrubs.

So I shall spend the Winter months plotting and reading and preparing to sow interesting things to put together my own interpretation of a jungle in East Sussex!

As for the evening sky - wow!

It was a glorious display.

We ate outside again, making the most of the unseasonal warmth - yesterday was a record-breaker with the hottest temperature ever recorded for October in Gravesend in Kent at 29.9 degrees. It wasn't far off that here in East Sussex.

This morning I ran just 8 miles very early ahead of very little else before the marathon next week.

Sky 42 (Friday)

2011-10-01T06:32:00.000-07:00

What, it's October tomorrow? No, surely not, it's far too hot!

After I'd taken my sunset photos last night we had a change of view and sat at the front of the house on the rocker later in the evening.

We listened to owls hooting, things rustling in the undergrowth and acorns dropping from the oak trees.

We could hear the horses munching grass in their field.

Then we did a spot of star-gazing, with Saturn and the Milky Way in full view whilst we drank coffee from a flask.

We spotted a couple of satellites and Mike saw a shooting star.

The only thing that interrupted our evening was the cars speeding along the lane and the distant sound of heavy plant machinery. We guessed that they must have been doing some roadworks in the next village and that the traffic had been diverted along our, usually quiet, lane!

Sky 41 (Thursday)

2011-09-30T06:48:00.001-07:00

Oh my it was hot on Thursday.

The weathermen are talking of records being broken over the weekend as we head into October.

We were out again in the garden again in the evening and the ducks helped us finish off the remaining pasta and sauce whilst we polished off a nice bottle of Rose wine!

As the sun began to set we adjourned to the sunloungers, complete with a crochet blanket blanket each - it's amazing how quickly the temperature drops once the sun has disappeared.

I clicked away with the camera until I got some shots that pleased me. I was very pleased to catch a small flock of rooks heading across the dusky pink sky. I looked up the collective noun for them and found a building, a clamour or a parliament of rooks! Why do we need anything other than a flock?

Then when it was too dark to read we went inside and shared out blankies with Tinker.

I had a good 'deep tissue massage' from Mary Massage Lady in the morning. She said my legs are in very good shape and I should do well. If that isn't the kiss of death on my marathon goal I don't know what is!

She's advised me not to do any knitting, crochet or heavy gardening next week so I don't aggravate my sore neck.

Sky 40 (Wednesday)

2011-09-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

It was a wonderful, balmy evening and we ate outside before Mike headed in to watch a football match.

A flock of seagulls headed back to their coastal home after a day in the countryside following the plough.

I stayed outside and watched the day melt away and the night come in.

The amber glow turned to apricot and then finally to pink.

Sky 39 and some new residents

2011-09-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

Another glorious day yesterday.

Almost too hot at midday but I'm really not complaining!

As we watched the sun go down we decided to walk across the fields to meet our new residents.

Melissa had phoned earlier to ask if was OK to put some sheep on the fields and of course we said yes.

I'm not sure what breed they are - not the usual Romneys as they don't have the black face or stockings. I think they must be Suffolks but I must ask next time I see her.

I think Suffolks are the ones that are good in wet conditions as they don't suffer from the dreaded foot rot.
By the time we'd walked back the sky had taken on these lovely dusky hues.

Today is a non-running day so I have to do what's known as cross-training which means I'll be pedaling away on the static bike and using the rower then doing lots of stretches.

Sky 38 and my penultimate intervals

2011-09-27T04:17:00.001-07:00

Another dramatic but not colourful sky last night.

We stood awhile watching the horses munching and the bats flitting to and fro.

The nights are really drawing in quickly now and there always seems to be a sense of urgency at this time of year to get things done before the winter takes hold.

Last night I finished my crochet granny blanket and all that's left to do is block it.

It's certainly going to be warm and snuggly as the yarns are all pure new wool with alpaca in some of them.

It's a great way of using up odd balls of yarn leftover from other projects.

My intervals today were 5 x 1K with 400m recoveries inbetween. I managed them all at 7mph and felt fine afterwards so I must have been doing something right in the last few weeks. I have another session scheduled early next week which I may or may not do depending upon how I'm feeling.

It was a glorious autumn morning earlier. All misty, with water droplets on the numerous spiders' webs which shone like diamonds in the watery sunshine.

This stunning Euonymus Alatus has been growing in a pot for years now, just waiting for the moment when I can plant him out in his permanent place. His time has come!

I love this shrub in every season - in Spring it has pretty white flowers, in Summer the winged fruits develop, in Autumn the leaves put on this beautiful show and in Winter the leaves fall to reveal the most beautiful bark.

There are so many spiders webs around at the moment. Apparently the combination of a dry spring and a wet summer has created a real abundance of spiders this year. It's been estimated that there could be in excess of 2 million spiders in an acre of rough grassland in autumn.

My research hasn't stretched to counting them, but going by the number of webs that can be seen at the moment it must be a pretty good guess!

This afternoon Esther and Kizzy are helping to mow the grass in the orchard! Their efforts serve a dual purpose - they are more environmentally friendly than a strimmer and the way they graze helps to aerate the soil.

I'm trying to reduce the fertility of the grass to allow more wild flowers to grow there and it seems to be working. I could, of course, just introduce some yellow rattle which I will be doing later this year. But the ladies increase the success rate of this parasitic plant by munching the grass down.

Sky 37

2011-09-26T01:27:00.001-07:00

What a lovely day it was yesterday.

Apparently it's now officially an Indian Summer which seems odd as we've just celebrated the Autumn Equinox!

I was interested the read that the term originated in America as I had always assumed that it came from Britain's association with the Raj.

I love the way the setting sun looks like an eye.

This morning I went for a swim.

A local posh school is allowing local residents the use of its pool on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 7am and 8am for just £3 a session. As it is only 1.6 miles away I can run there, do some drills and then run home so it's an excellent way to stretch out my legs on a Monday morning after my long runs on a Sunday.

After I'd got over the fact that I was in there with 2 prepubescent boys and a young girl, and I was old enough to be their granny, I just got on with my kick-boarding drills. My breathing technique in the front crawl certainly needs more work though as I seem to have started holding my breath underwater and then exhaling and gulping in air every 3 or 5 strokes. This is not a good plan and results in me swallowing copious amounts of pool water!

Sky 36

2011-09-25T03:36:00.001-07:00

Although it was another gloriously sunny day, the sky yesterday evening was nothing to write home about.

But that's not the point of the exercise so I've posted it anyway.

I'm impressed that I've managed to keep it up for 36 days!

This morning I ran just 11.5 miles and it felt as if I had so much more time for everything.

Sometimes I forget how much this running malarky eats into my days - my 20 mile runs take me 4 hours, then I have to shower, change and have some brekkie, which is quite a chunk out of a Sunday morning no matter how early I get up and out.

Sky 35

2011-09-24T01:08:00.000-07:00

This evening saw a very moody sky!

No fireworks or brilliant displays of colour just silvery grey clouds.

Sky 34 and a little visitor

2011-09-23T01:46:00.000-07:00

I'm still crocheting the edging on my blanket but not much more to do now.

I'm halfway round the second mesh then it will be another double crochet round in brown, then one or two in pink then a final round in brown with a picot edge.

Then a jolly good blocking to sort out any wavy edges.

When I went to open the curtains in the lounge this morning I noticed something large and black along the bottom of the skirting board.

From a distance I thought it was a spider as it's that time of year when they are particularly active indoors but it looked a bit too long in the body. Closer inspection revealed it was a Devil's Coach-horse. Now what on earth was he doing in our lounge?

Anyway, I got our spider catching equipment, which consists of a large plastic glass (that sounds wrong!) and a piece of cardboard and I put him outside where he gave a threatening display for me.

I remember the first time I saw one I thought it was a scorpion and ran off to get my mum!

It was a beautiful day yesterday and the sunset was glorious too.

Today is the September Equinox, also known as Mabon or Harvest Home heralding the days during which night conquers day.

It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, there are in the colours of the sunsets.

Sky 33 with Sky Tadpoles

2011-09-22T02:15:00.001-07:00

I've tried taking photos of what Mike refers to as 'sky tadpoles', the start of Contrails, before but they haven't really shown up.

This time they had taken on a pinkish tinge so hopefully they'll show up OK.

It was a textbook sunset last night.

The giant amber globe disappeared off the horizon.

The sky lost its blue tint and headed towards greys and purples.

It ended in this beautiful glow.

I'm always impressed when an artist manages to capture this subtle shading.

This morning I did my intervals and realised I won't be doing many more sessions like that before the marathon!

Sky 32

2011-09-21T01:59:00.001-07:00

A dreary day from start to finish and with a sky to match!

Only Esther brightens the scene with her flaxen mane and tail.

Sky 31

2011-09-21T01:53:00.001-07:00

I am so fed up of this wind!

The horses are often silly when it's windy and get spooked at every opportunity. I suppose its only natural as they are prey animals after all.

Mustn't complain though as at least it was bright and there were lots of interesting clouds throughout the day although they were blown away quite quickly.

I like the grey cloud just above the tree line as it looks as if it could be a hill.

Sky 30 and time to taper

2011-09-18T23:33:00.000-07:00

Oh boy was I lucky with the weather for my last long run on Sunday! I was out by 6:30am and it felt autumnal - fresh and bright. I was a bit chilly for the first 10 minutes until I warmed up but then it was perfect weather for running.

I plodded for around 18 miles and loved every minute of it as there was lots to see; buzzards circling overhead, a herd of red deer, a weasel, horses, cows, sheep, blackberries to pick from the hedgerows, a lane I hadn't run down before to explore. Heaven.

At one point I passed another lady runner and she stopped and asked me how far I was running and then commented upon my Alzheimer's vest. I explained that I raise money for ARUK and she thanked me. Apparently her husband suffers from a rare form of dementia and he can't speak or understand speech any more. He is only 62 and she said that life is hell for them. My heart went out to her and it made me even more determined to carry on.

The hours flew by and I was back home for some well-earned breakfast. I'd only been home for about 15 minutes when the sky went black and the heavens opened. It rained until mid afternoon so I was very lucky indeed.

Now it's time to reduce my mileage and let my body recover from all the hard training before Liverpool.

It was a very dramatic and moody sky last night.

Big black clouds swirled downwards as if to engulf the trees.

As the sun disappeared over the horizon it shot bands of gold and apricot at the oppressive clouds as if to try and hold them back.

The clouds darkened in response and continued on their mission to blur the edges of the skyline.

Sky 29

2011-09-18T23:31:00.001-07:00

Another vile day with wind and rain until around 5pm when the sun came out so we were able to have our meal outside.

The sky was rather subdued.

Sky 28

2011-09-17T04:53:00.001-07:00

The sun went down with a wimper rather than a shout yesterday.

I do like the contrast of the dark tree line against the sky.

Mike spotted this animal skull when he went for a walk across the land yesterday morning. We're not quite sure whether it's a badger or a fox as both are frequent visitors round here.

Sky 27

2011-09-16T00:26:00.000-07:00

It was a glorious sunny day yesterday so it was no surprise that the sky was beautiful.

The crochet blanket is all sewn up now so the task of finishing off the edging begins. It may take some time as it's massive!

I'm about to start some knitting projects some of which I can't share on here yet as they are secret. 2 aren't though and one is to finish that last darned sleeve on my poor neglected Oregon cardigan (I am ashamed that I posted that nearly 2 years ago!), the other is to start Botticelli from Rowan book number 44. I've had the yarn for ages but other projects have taken preference.

This weekend will be my last long run before I start to reduce my mileage for the Liverpool marathon. I've got a pain in my right piriformis (in my bum for those who don't know what a piriformis is!) so I've booked myself a massage with Mary Massage lady to get it sorted out as I don't want it to develop. I got my number and race pack yesterday so it's getting very exciting now.

Sky 26 Woof, woof!

2011-09-15T01:01:00.000-07:00

By Royal Appointment, I present to you Albert the corgi!

Why Albert? Well it is a name with Royal associations after all and also there's a link with Liverpool, namely the Albert Dock in Liverpool

He was a fiddly little blighter to stuff and sew together but he's actually rather cute.

I had the perfect strand of purple wool for his collar.

He will be off to live with Denny in Liverpool when I go up there for the marathon.

The sky was wonderful last night and it was hard to choose the photos but these 2 are my favourites.

I love the way you can see the full golden orb disappearing.

Just as I was heading back inside I heard a loud honking overhead and I nearly dropped the camera in my haste to catch this skein of geese heading home for the night!

Sky 25 & stuffing a corgi!

2011-09-14T01:15:00.001-07:00

I had a bit of a King Lear moment today as the wind kept whipping up and the sudden gusts nearly knocked me off my feet!

"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world!
Crack nature's moulds, an germens spill at once,
That make ingrateful man!"

King Lear, Act 3 Scene 2

Eventually the wind blew the grey clouds away and we had a lovely watery sunset leaving behind this glorious afterglow.

Have you ever tried stuffing a tiny knitted corgi? No, me neither! What a faff trying to stuff wadding into 4 tiny legs. It does look cute though but I won't take a photo until I've embroidered his face.

I had a really good interval session yesterday and ran 10 x 400 meters at 7mph which for me is a first as I don't think I've ever held that pace for more than a nano-second. Today I'm trying out an aqua-aerobics class as an accompaniment to my new swimming regime.

If all this training doesn't translate into a pb at Liverpool then I really don't know what will!

Sky 24 & knitting corgis!

2011-09-13T01:05:00.000-07:00

Another blustery day from the tail end of hurricane katia but at least it wasn't raining all day.

Many parts of the UK, notably Scotland and the West were really battered so I think we escaped quite lightly.

I love to see those wonderful rays of light emanating from the sun. It looks just how a child would draw it.

I was bored with my crochet joining last night so just before bedtime I picked up my copy of Knit your own Royal Wedding that Denny sent me and made a start on a corgi to send to her.

Fiddly but quick and fun.

Sky 23

2011-09-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

Each night I try to catch the rooks and jackdaws as they flock and perform aerobatics before they swoop into the trees to roost.
I want to capture that special shot of when they all swoop across the setting sun, but they're just too quick for me!

I'll keep trying though.

Shades of grey again.

Sky 22 & my last 20 miler

2011-09-11T07:44:00.000-07:00

Oh my I'm glad my last 20 miler is out of the way! Sometimes you have a run where nothing seems to go right and this was one of them.It started when I got out of bed and the wind was blowing a gale and there was driving rain. This put me into the wrong frame of mind immediately but by the time I went out it had stopped raining and the wind wasn't as bad.

I seemed to have been engulfed by a wave lethargy and I just trudged onwards rather than with a spring in my step.Then it rained and the wind became stronger. That certainly didn't help my mood. Then the rain stopped and the sun came out and it was really hot so that gave me something else to grumble about!

It was a real struggle right until I reached around 14 miles and then everything seemed better and I was fine.

Oh the joys of long distance running!

Here are the photos from yesterday.
This photo was taken around 6:15am at the front of the house.

This was taken at the same time but at the back of the house across the horses' field. I liked the apricot glow on the trees.

Although it started well, the day was dreary and wet again so it was no surprise that we didn't have anything decent to watch when I took this final photo of the day at 7:15pm

Sky 21

2011-09-10T00:12:00.000-07:00

It was dull and dreary again for most of the day until around 4pm when the sky suddenly became this beautiful blue, dotted with fluffy clouds.

It settled down to this so there wasn't a dramatic sunset. Still beautiful though.

Marathon musings & Sky 20

2011-09-08T23:46:00.000-07:00

It was a rather dramatic sky last night. No glowing colours, just shades of grey.

I've been thinking about my previous marathons and what I should do next year.My first marathon was Loch Ness in October 2004 and that was such an emotional journey but it showed me that I had hidden strength, both physical and mental. I didn't write a blog then which is a shame as it was one heck of an experience. I looked back through some of my running photos and found London marathon 2010 whilst crocheting.

There have been so many different marathons -this year there's been London whilst knitting, Brighton and Salzburg. All quite different.

There was the Steyning Stinger. A tough off-roader with mud, gale-force winds and rain!

Then there was the Kent 50 miler. Did I really run 50 miles? Sometimes I can't believe it!I've run marathons on consecutive weekends, I completed 7 marathons in my 50th year, I've run 2 ultras of 35 miles and 52.4 miles, I've run 3 marathons whilst knitting and 1 whilst crocheting, and this year I'm running 4 marathons for my 54th year and trying to beat my marathon pb of 4:50 which I set at the London marathon in 2006.So what the heck do I do next?People have asked me why I still campaign for Alzheimer's Research after all these years. I know it may seem obsessive and I have already been made a Champion of the Alzheimer's Research Trust so could perhaps be forgiven for resting on my laurels. But the thing is, research is still vastly under-funded and although I know I've helped to raise awareness about the disease (when I first started out on this journey, no-one talked about dementia, except in hushed tones!) I still feel there is still more I must do.I think I need a cunning plan, in the words of Baldrick!

Sky 19 and a training update

2011-09-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

Another dismal day yesterday with the brightest bits being just before sunset.Doesn't Esther show up well against the dark background of the trees. She's such a Barbie pony with her flaxen mane and tail.

As the sun disappeared it looked as if someone had just dusted a powder puff in the valley as it's such a subtle colour.It's now only just over 4 weeks until the marathon and the tough sessions are starting to bite. I've found some of the cross-training quite tough - being on the static bike for 45 minutes is not my idea of fun and I've really missed my runs across the fields and through the woods.I've managed most of my interval sessions on the treadmill quite well and overall I reckon my speed has increased over the shorter distances. The proof of the pudding will be if I can translate this into a speedier marathon. It certainly won't be for the wont of trying!We slower runners and/or charity runners are often referred to as a 'fun runners' and it's such a derisory term that it irritates me beyond measure given the amount of effort I put into my training. I feel rather like Hancock in the "call me asshole" scene and I want to say "call me 'fun runner' one more time............" Of course I never do though!

Sky 18

2011-09-07T04:36:00.000-07:00

It rained all day.The wind gusted at around 30-40mph all last night and throughout the day.A few ducks spent the entire day staking out the kitchen by sitting on the patio, which was all very well except they pooed everywhere!

In the evening the rain abated and the wind dropped a bit but the sky remained brooding and ominous.Thankfully it was a non-running day and I just went swimming for an hour.

Crochet update

2011-09-06T01:03:00.000-07:00

I've double-crocheted around all of the squares now and am busy joining them together in strips of 5 (just 5 more to go) then I'll join them all together.Then I'm going to do some sort of edging but I'm not sure what yet. I've got plenty of the brown chenille left so that will be the main colour but I may introduce a stripe in a bright colour for added interest. We'll see. I'd better have a look through my notebook and pattern collection and Nicky Epstein's book for inspiration.I've always had a soft spot for granny squares as they look so jolly!

Sky 17

2011-09-06T00:53:00.000-07:00

When I got up in the morning it was glorious and sunny, albeit rather windy, but within half an hour the rain was pouring down and the sky was black.

At least we had a partial rainbow which always lifts the spirits.

However, it turned into a very dreary day and when I went out to check on the horses the sky was boring so I took a photo of Esther and Kizzy doing synchronised grazing instead.

So, for completeness, this is what the sky looked like at 7:15pm.

Sky 16

2011-09-05T03:35:00.001-07:00

I really wasn't sure if this was going to turn into anything of interest so I snapped the clouds just to see.

Then when we went round the front of the house I loved the look of these fluffy clouds picking up hints of some of the colours from the setting sun.

Then finally a pale yellow/amber glow.

Sky 15

2011-09-05T03:34:00.002-07:00

Yesterday it was the Autumn show for the local Horticultural Society so I had to show willing and enter few categories. I'm not really into showing fruit and veg but always enter the handicraft and baking sections.

This year I one a first for my display of conference pears and for my patchwork cushion, along with several seconds, including one for my miniature flower arrangement which I was proud of as I'm not very good at flower arranging.

When I'd staged my exhibits we headed off to an attic/downsizing sale at this lovely house.

Isn't it stunning with a nice price tag to match! I would have loved to have a look around the gardens as they sound amazing in the Estate Agents blurb.

I came away with a few goodies, notably 4 preserving jars (50p each) and 2 jars of pretty shells at a bargain price.

As soon as we got home I washed them and set them out to see what I'd got and I certainly wasn't disappointed as they look beautiful. Of course now I need to think of a new shell project to make use of them!

This first photo was taken at 6:15pm to show the cloud formation before sunset.

This is how it had developed an hour later.

This week has been a step-back week in my running schedule which is just as well. Last night I just couldn't get to sleep which is most unlike me. Tossing an turning, listening to the clock strike each 1/2 hour. The last thing I remember was it striking 1:30am and when the alarm went off at 5am I was like a zombie.

It took me longer than usual to get out the door for my run and when I did I was sluggish. Never mind, I had a nice run in the end with half of it on the lanes and half across the fields with plenty of wildlife to watch. I was slower than the slowest thing but no complaints as it's another 15.5 miles under my belt.

Sky 14

2011-09-05T03:34:00.001-07:00

Oh what a cracking end to the day!

I took so many photos that it was very hard to select the best so it's going to be a photo overload.

I love evenings like this when we just wander down the garden to see the ducks on the pond, watch the rabbits scurrying across the fields, the horses munching continually on the grass, the fox jumping up at the branches of the plum tree when he's devoured all those on the ground, the badger who streaks across the lawn towards the apple and pear trees, the bats swooping overhead.

It's heavenly!

So many sounds as well; the hum of farm machinery desperately working into the evening, against the clock, to get the crop harvested before the rains come again, the occasional baaing from nearby sheep or a distant moo (not many cows round here at the moment after the last foot and mouth outbreak), the hoot of an owl, and every so often the noise of a strange flying machine which we think looks rather like a pterodactyl with a sleeping bag underneath!

It's owned by a farmer from a nearby village and we often see it circling overhead like a giant, but rather noisy bird of prey. If you zoom in on the orange bit you can just see him.

Sky 13

2011-09-02T02:07:00.001-07:00

Unlucky for some but not for us as we had a good session picking blackberries whilst the sun went down.

They've now been simmered and are draining through a jelly bag. I love the sharp undertones of bramble jelly.

Mike took this one just before the sun disappeared behind the trees.

Whilst I tried for the arty shot 5 minutes later when it was a bit darker. It didn't quite work but never mind!

Sky 12

2011-09-01T00:13:00.000-07:00

It was another dull day but in the evening it was glorious.

We were naughty and drove off to get a take-away from a village nearby and sat outside eating and drinking wine (my last until after the Liverpool marathon). Most enjoyable!

I love seeing the sun disappearing through the trees.

Mike tells me that the blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.

However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue.

Sky 11

2011-08-31T00:29:00.001-07:00

A rather dreary day so no chance of a dramatic sky.

It was nice to see a couple of balloons heading home in the evening and one came right overhead which is unusual.

We used to see them frequently at weekends as they would land and take-off from Bodiam Castle down in the valley.

However, a few years ago the National Trust started to lock their car park gates in the evening and then didn't open them until 8am. This was to stop people parking there overnight but also had the effect of stopping the ballooners landing there as they like to fly early in the morning.

Sky 10

2011-08-30T04:55:00.002-07:00

A bright silvery glow...........

gently fades............

and bathes the candyfloss clouds with a pink afterglow

Sky 9

2011-08-29T06:33:00.001-07:00

Look Kizzy, she's taking photos again so we'd better get in on the act!

What are you up to then?

Oh, not much really Esther.........

Just taking photos of another glorious sunset!

Sky 8 & another 20 miler

2011-08-28T04:32:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful sky last night but I had to start taking photos even earlier; 7:45pm to be precise.

The contrails took on a pinkish glow and looked like threads of candyfloss criss-crossing the sky in their own version of abstract art.

This 2nd photo made me think of Lord of the Rings or could it be an alien space ship?

Then finally the dark clouds look like faraway landscapes with mountains coming down to meet the silvery, shimmering body of water in an inland loch.

Today I was up before the lark and out running just as the sun peeped out, spreading it's pink glow across the sky. It was rather autumnal first thing which was great for running but it did start to heat up quite quickly.

16 miles passed uneventfully and at a good pace but then I certainly felt the last 4 and slowed down considerably as I headed towards 20 miles. Probably just the result of the bug I had last week.

That was the 2nd 20 miler of my schedule. My long run next Sunday will be around 17/18 miles and then there's just one more 20 miler to do before I start to cut back my mileage for the Marathon.

Sky 7 & Grannies

2011-08-27T07:34:00.001-07:00

Taken at 8:36pm.

We hadn't seen the sun all day so it was no surprise that it wasn't a spectacular sunset.

As I stood outside on the patio, a massive badger came scampering up from the orchard. I tried to catch him but it was just too dark for my camera skills.

Badgers are regular visitors and they snuffle around for windfall apples/pears and plums. There are quite a lot of them about and the downside of that is that they dig for worms in the lawn, distribute the contents of the compost heap all over the place and they establish their latrines in the most inappropriate places!

The granny squares are finished now as I have used up all my spare dk wool.

I spent ages arranging them into a pleasing colour sequence which was quite difficult given the number of different colours involved.

Now comes the task of joining them together which always seems onerous.

I'm edging them all with double crochet using some chenille type brown yarn so that the colours really pop and if I've got enough left I'll do a few rows around the edges of the finished blanket.

To join the squares together I am using a flat seam. I experimented with a raised cable seam and a chained seam but didn't like the effect in this instance.

20 miles planned for my long run tomorrow so I'm hoping the weather is kind to me!

Sky 6

2011-08-26T06:47:00.001-07:00

Thanks for the comments Linda and Phil.

We often see the International Space Station along with loads of satellites. I wonder how many satellites there are in circulation?

Yesterday's weather was mixed, alternating between warm and drizzly.

The photos are being taken earlier and earlier and it's amazing how quickly the sunset seems to move round. I started taking shots at 8pm and the last one was at 8:20pm.

You can just make out the horses in the first photo.

I love that deep purple-grey against the apricot-pink explosion as the sun hides behind the hills!

Feeling much better today and normal training will be resumed tomorrow (hopefully).

Sky 5

2011-08-25T01:15:00.000-07:00

OK, now I'm becoming obsessed.

I decided to take photos at 5 minute intervals to see how the colours developed as the light faded.

Thankfully I haven't uploaded all of them as I don't want to appear to be a cloud geek!

I love the way the pink is intensified by the darkening grey clouds.

Hopefully this obsessive phase will wear off and I'll just post one truly beautiful sky each day.

I've noticed that the horses seem to gravitate to this part of the field around sunset. I wonder why?

5 more granny squares crocheted yesterday but still no running or cross-training as I'm feeling grotty.

Sky 4 & a training blip

2011-08-24T01:09:00.001-07:00

What a gloomy day it was yesterday.

The view didn't change all day with fog sitting in the valley and a grey sky.

It poured with rain intermittently just for added interest. Still, mustn't grumble as the garden needs it and it will make digging in the front much easier.

This was taken at 7:30pm and it just about sums up the whole day!

Yesterday I felt really grotty when I got up which is most unusual for me. My head felt all swimmy and whoozy and my tummy hurt so I took a day off training. I thought at first that I might have overdone the swimming on Monday as I did push myself hard but now I wonder if I've perhaps picked up a bug. Still feeling a bit grotty today so no training again.

It will probably do me good to have a couple of days rest as my body will be well recovered for the rigours of the next few days - 10 miles at marathon pace one day then another 20 miler on Sunday.

Tinker was unimpressed with the weather and spent most of the day following me round and squaking.

He isn't particularly keen to go out at the moment though as it's the season for harvest mites, to which he has a severe allergic reaction.

This year seems to be worse than usual and he's forever scratching and biting at his toes and ears, poor love. We've tried every remedy on offer but nothing seems to help. Thankfully their season will soon be over.

On the crochet front, I've nearly finished all my granny squares and reckon I need about 20 more. Then of course there's the small matter of joining them together!

Sky 3

2011-08-23T02:28:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful sunset.

I love the way the clouds show up in the different layers, accentuated by the beautiful colours that gradually intensify.

These photos were taken between 8:10pm and 8:30pm.

Sky 2

2011-08-22T04:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was hot and humid but the sky had been a beautiful bright blue all day.

As the sun disappeared behind the trees I realised just how quickly Autumn is creeping in!

This first photo was taken at 8pm as the sun just dipped behind the trees.

We will watch the sunset move from the centre of the valley to the middle of our furthest field over the next few weeks.

The other 2 photos were taken over the next 40 minutes.

I love the way the colours intensify into a warm apricot glow.

Seahorse & Sky 1

2011-08-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

Each January 1st I threaten to capture the beautiful skies we have here each day and as usual procrastination has ruled and I've done nothing about it.

So without further ado I am going to try and capture a sky a day for 12 months from now on. I will try to take each photo of the same section of sky just to see how wonderful the clouds and the colours are throughout the year. However, if there is a wonderful sunrise then I might just sneak that in too!

This was taken last night at 7:55pm.

My shell frame and seahorse have now taken up residence in the bathroom and I'm rather pleased with the result.

I have such a wonderful collection of shells it seems a shame not to use them as I doubt I'll ever decorate a grotto, which is what I dreamt of doing.

Marathon training is into the long mileage phase with an 18 miler today. It was very hot and humid but enjoyable all the same.

Playing hooky

2011-08-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

So much to do and so little time in which to do it!

Several weeks ago I attended the first ever ARUK Volunteers' Day in London where I got to meet like-minded people whose lives have been touched by dementia and who want to raise money to help defeat it.

It was lovely to meet some of the new team at ARUK because, as they are based in Cambridge, most of our contact is either by phone or email.

Training for the Liverpool marathon is well underway now and I seem to be adapting to the speed sessions in my schedule. I still find it strange though to be doing less miles.

My cross-training, which I do 3 times a week, alternates between the static bike, rowing machine and mini trampoline plus I've got the last of 6 sessions of swimming training tomorrow. I hadn't swum for over 30 years and when I've started this course I remembered why - I'm not very good and I really don't enjoy it! Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time and perhaps I'll try harder and start using as a cardio-vascular workout. At least it will burn a few more calories which can't be bad. In truth, as the weeks went by, I have really started to feel better about it and my freestyle and backstroke are quite good.

Now for some woolly loveliness.

I'd been rummaging in my collection of wools and realised I had far too many odd balls of double knitting wool.

Not that that's always a bad thing as they are useful for stripey scarves or mittens but I have enough of those already.

So I've started crocheting some granny squares for a generously sized lap blanket. I'm probably about 1/2 way through them I would guess. They are great for hooking whilst watching TV or sitting in the garden watching the sun set whilst quaffing a glass of wine.

My main focus at the moment is to get out into the front garden and get it cleared and planted. This has been thwarted on several occasions because as soon as I was able to make a start the rain's arrived and made the clay too heavy to dig. Then the very hot phase came and it was too hot for planting! Sod's Law in action again.

As I haven't been knitting at the moment I thought I'd throw in this photo taken in Folkestone. The shop had been decorated with knitted and crocheted flowers as part of the Folkestone Triennial exhibition.

They looked amazing and I chuckled when a lady passed by as I was taking the photo as she hadn't realised they were knitted and thought they were plastic!

The patchwork was finished weeks ago.

Here it is all joined together waiting for a decision on any additional highlighting stitches.

I felt that the outer blue and cream hexagons needed to be edged so I outlined them in blue herringbone stitch.

Then I did the same around the centre of the flower but this time used green to compliment the red hexagon.

I attached some medium weight iron-on interfacing to the back as some of the fabrics I used are prone to fraying.

It's also a good trick to give things extra body.

Of course I couldn't sew it together straight away as I'd run out of piping cord!

Whilst waiting I was able to cut lots of bias strips out of dark blue fabric as a contrast against the cream hexagons around the edge.

Anyway, now it's finished I'm rather pleased with the result.

This beautiful little cactus has been flowering his socks off for weeks now.

I love cacti and admire the way that they just look plain for most of the year and then all of a sudden they explode with this vivid colour.

The other thing I love about it is that it matches the dining-room curtains beautifully!

The other plant I have to share is this lovely cane begonia.

It is grown as a foliage plant as it has wonderfully angel-wing type leaves spotted with silver.

However, every so often it produces a massive bunch of flowers and this time they look amazing.

Here they are in a close-up. Aren't they splendid?

I've always had a soft spot for foliage begonias and I have about 10 different varieties at the moment.

All of them have memories of either people or places.

Last but certainly not least is my latest shell project.

I had a tatty repro type picture frame that I'd bought in a charity shop and I decided I wanted to decorate it with shells.

It was a ghastly orangey mahogany colour with varnish over the top so the first thing I had to do was give it a couple of coats of paint to hide it.

Then I spent ages playing around with my shells. When I was happy with the arrangement I attached them to the frame, gradually adding more until it felt just right.

I added the bits of driftwood for extra interest.

I was going to do a bargello pattern as a picture and put it behind glass but then I came across this sweet little stone seahorse.

Mike suggested he could be recessed within the frame and stand out in relief so he cut me a new piece of board for the backing.

I've been playing around with different ideas for the background - one of which was to mosaic it with mirrors but I think I'm going to do a colour wash in bright blues which is the accent colour in our bathroom where it is going to live.

The hexagon patch

2011-06-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

We have loads of patchwork covers that my my mum made years ago so I've never bothered doing any.

Then, the other day, I was rummaging around and I found the old templates complete with some ready cut and already used paper pieces. I played around with the shapes and I was hooked!

So I cut out lots of hexagon shapes using the front and back pages of The Times magazine, looked in my fabric store for suitable bits and I was off!

I chose fabrics that would tone in with the colour scheme in the music room and found some of the curtain material (the blue/cream pattern), some odd and ends of red furnishing fabric and some cream curtain fabrics.

People say that English paper piecing, as this method is known, is very time-consuming but I didn't find that at all. I was completely absorbed in cutting the shapes, basting them over the paper templates and then playing around with them to make a pleasing pattern.

It's going to be the front of a cushion cover.

Now I've got to sew each hexagon together, which will take some time, and I think I might outline the red and blue hexies in either cross stitch or herringbone to give them definition.

It's a hoot

2011-06-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

At last, a photo of my Owls sweater! Please excuse my just-washed hair-do but this was a very hurried shot.

I decided to only give alternate owls their eyes and I quite like the effect (although I do have enough to give the other owls their eyes if I decide to).

It's such a clever and simple design, as all the best designs are and a very quick knit indeed.

On the training front, this week saw the start of my 16 week schedule for the Liverpool marathon and it is radically different from usual high mileage plans. This plan has less runs but each run is much more focussed. On the non-running days I have to cross train doing something such as cycling (I use a static bike), rowing or swimming (I haven't swum for about 15 years and am absolutely rubbish so I may not be doing this!). The idea is that you are not just running 'junk miles' for the sake of clocking up lots of miles and the cross-training keeps you fit whilst giving your running muscles a break.

As I've always ended up injured when I've done speedwork plus high mileage it has to be worth a go. We'll see anyway.

At the moment I'm playing around with patchwork hexagons for a cushion cover and I must take some photos of them. It's great fun and uses up those small bits of fabric that you can't bear to throw away but are too small for a major project.

Wildlife

2011-06-08T03:38:00.000-07:00

I just had to snap these little darlings before they got too big.

Mrs Duck didn't bring them to show us until they were quite large this year.

I think the threat from magpies, crows, rooks etc etc has been worse this year as there have been several nests raided.

I love watching them grow!

I started to cloud prune this conifer a couple of years ago as it was getting too tall and growing too close to the overhead telephone lines.

One morning, several weeks ago, I noticed a pair of Woodpigeons doing a reccy on it and I wondered if they were looking for a nest site.

Sure enough, yesterday was a hive of activity with Mr and Mrs Woodpigeon going back and forth with beakfuls of nesting material.

I love this one with the little head peeping out from the undergrowth!

I must make sure that I don't trim the tree until their little ones have fledged.

They do seem to nest slightly later than other birds as I remember last year we were cutting one of the hedges in August and had to stop as we found a woodpigeon sitting one her nest (probably a second brood).

I must take a photo of the Owls sweater which was finished in April! In my defence, I was waiting to find just the right buttons for their eyes and I've only got a few more to sew on then it will be ready to make an appearance.

At the moment I'm spending every moment I can in the front garden to get things planted plus, yesterday I started my next marathon schedule for the Liverpool marathon. It's an 18 week schedule and it's very different from what I usually do. I'll write about it next time.

Salzburg

2011-05-28T01:56:00.001-07:00

So finally, after years of dreaming about it, we arrived in Salzburg and what a magical city it is. Birthplace of Mozart, it is a place that had called to us both so we were very excited to be there.

As the capital of one of the World's oldest Archbishoprics, Salzburg is home to dozens of churches and you can see the spires and domes of the Cathedral and church of St Peter (on the right) in this photo.
The first thing we did upon arrival was to dump our cases in the hotel and go for a walk to soak up the atmosphere.

The sun was shining and everywhere looked so beautiful.

You really can't walk far before encountering a place of interest but as soon as we turned the corner from the hotel we found Residenzplatz and saw a whole line of Esther's (see below for a photo of her with Mike).

The ride in a carriage seemed very popular with visitors and we encountered them all through our stay.

It became a ritual for me to say "Guten Morgen Haffies" to them every morning! My 8 months learning German stood us in good stead even though I can barely string a sentence together and it was great fun to put my studies into practice.

Mike became quite adept at asking for another beer and to pay the bill.

In the middle of Residenzplatz is this beautiful fountain, considered to be the most beautiful fountain in the city of Salzburg: four snorting horses seem to spring forth from the spouting rock. Giants rooted in the rock carry the lower basin, in which three dolphins balance the scalloped upper basin. The upper basin holds a Triton, a jet of water shooting into the air from his conch-shell trumpet.
Archbishop Guidobald Thun, a fountain enthusiast, commissioned the fountain to be built. It is considered to be one of the most significant baroque monuments in Europe today. The work is attributed to the Italian sculptor, Tommaso di Garone.

Behind the fountain is the glockenspiel clock, situated in this tower.

The 35 bells play classical tunes (usually by Mozart, Carl Maria von Weber, and his teacher in Salzburg, Michael Haydn) at 7 AM, 11 AM, and 6 PM -- with charm and ingenuity often making up for the occasional musical inaccuracy. The bells are immediately followed by a resounding retort from perhaps the oldest mechanical musical instrument in the world, the 200-pipe "Bull" organ housed in the Hohensalzburg Fortress across town.

It gets quite noisy in Salzburg!

Next to Residenzplatz is Mozartplatz, complete with a statue of the great composer himself which was unveiled by Constanze after his death.

So here it is; Mozart's Geburtshaus - literally, Mozart's birth-house. We were very lucky in that there weren't many tourists around as apparently they have over 3500 visitors a day in the main tourist season (and it isn't a large space).

We took so many photos that I could spend an age uploading them so I've been selective to give a flavour of the place.

Suffice to say that there is something of interest at every turn and we certainly burned off all the calories from our kaffee und kuchen - that's coffee and cake which is a very good tradition and we upheld it with great dedication.

These amazing hinges within the confines of Residenz Palace caught my eye.

How wonderfully ornate!

I kept spotting beautifully crafted hinges and grills and became a bit of a metalwork geek.

There were so many wonderful shop signs.

Apparently, each shop had to display a sign that showed exactly what their trade was so there are some very elaborate examples, particularly in the Getreidegasse, or 'grain lane', the busiest shopping street in the old town.

Mozart's geburtshaus is situated along here and I ran down there on my way to the finish line in the marathon, which of course was the other reason we were there.

There was a well organised series of street musicians with Oompah bands and solo artists performing throughout the old town.

They really helped bring the city to life and the traditional bands were very popular with the locals too.

We saw a couple dancing to a folk tune and an elderly lady was singing and dancing happily too.

Apparently Salzburg has a reputation for being a drizzly and cloudy city but we were blessed with the most beautiful weather (for most of the time - wait and see what happened the day before the marathon!).

It was so hot and we were walking about in the sunshine so much that we both bought holiday hats from a market trader.

Mike's hat is such a typically Austrian shape and it really suits him.

As a vegetarian, who eats neither meat nor fish, I was somewhat apprehensive about what I would eat. I was absolutely fine and had no trouble until one particular evening when we ate at a restaurant recommended by a local.

I've included this photo to remind me just how bad it can be as I look so happy before the food arrived - pleasure/pain!

I explained to the waiter that I eat "kein fleiche oder fische" (no meat or fish) and he recommended the Spargel, which he referred to as asparagus and was served with boiled potatoes and a sauce. "Yum" I said, "I love asparagus".

When it arrived it looked like this and was all mushy as if it had been boiled for about 3 hours. Worse still it arrived with a pork snitzel on the plate so had to be sent back to have scraped off. It tasted disgusting but I consoled myself that I'd have a pudding as a treat.

Unfortunately the apple streudel was disgusting as well and was served with cream that was off so we both left that too. I couldn't even have a drink to drown my sorrows as I was being good before the marathon which was only 2 days away!

Now for a bit of running.

I only did one run in Salzburg before the marathon and that was just to stretch my legs out - we walked so much in the days prior to the marathon I didn't even really need to do that but it's always a good psychological booster.

We were out nice and early so there weren't many people around, except for cyclists.

There is a very good cycle network throughout the city but as a pedestrian you had to keep your wits about you when crossing their path!

I did a couple of circuits along the riverside, across a bridge to the new town and then back to the old town whilst Mike walked along enjoying the view.

Look at those wonderful hills in the background.

I keep referring to the 'old town', which is where we stayed, as the city is divided into 2 by the river Salzach.

The river's name is derived from the German word Salz, meaning "salt". Until the 19th century shipping of salt down the river was an important part of the local economy. The shipping ended when railways replaced the old transport system.

This photo was taken from the new side and you can see the magnificent Hohensalzburg Fortress which dominates the skyline. We took the funicular railway to visit it on our second day there but later in our stay we walked up the hillside to it which was much more fun!

This photo shows the inside of the dome in the cathedral but there are some much better photos here.

We were lucky to hear the organist practising when we visited and the organ sounded wonderful in such a massive space.

The day before the marathon the weather changed. In the morning it was bright so we decided to head off to the Untersburg mountain to take the cable car to the summit.

Sadly I can only give a link to this beautiful mountain (of 'Sound of Music' fame) because when we arrived the clouds descended and by the time we'd reached the top it was raining and blowing a gale so we couldn't see a thing! It is a very popular place and when we came back down there was a bride and groom with their wedding party waiting to take the cable car to have photos taken. They must have been very disappointed.

When we got back down the rain wasn't as heavy but by the time we arrived back in the city centre it had settled in for the day so we finished off the last of the museums and Residenz gallery where we walked in Mozart's footsteps admiring the amazing Baroque stucco work and highly ornate stoves in every room.

The evening before the marathon we had a real treat as we attended a performance of Mozart's Requiem inside Residenz Palace and it was performed in one of the "Prunkräume", or "glorious rooms" (State Apartments), adjacent to where Mozart performed his first ever composition at the age of 6.

It is my favourite Requiem and it was a wonderful performance.

The railings at the end of the room were constructed from bells destined for a church. The order was cancelled and so the bells were melted down and refashioned into the ballustrade. Its secret though is that each ballustrade was tuned so that they can be played as a glockenspiel. Yes, we did try them to check they worked, but not during the concert of course!

Thankfully the rain had abated and stayed away long enough for us to get back to the hotel at about 9:30pm. Then it came back with a vengeance, torrential rain complete with thunder. It was so noisy it kept waking me up so I didn't have a good night's preparation, but that's not unusual before a marathon.

It was still raining heavily when we got up on the morning of the marathon and it was jolly cold too.

All the runners milling around were wearing jackets and some even had long winter tights on. I just had my Alzheimer's vest and shorts with me and I knew I was going to get cold so I made the decision to keep my jacket on.

It was a wise decision!
I'd checked the results from previous years so I knew that it was going to be a fast marathon field and that I would finish either last or nearly last so I positioned myself near the back.

I hadn't realised that the 1/2 marathon was being run at the same time so I was in amongst the 1/2 marathon runners in a pen labelled "4:20 or longer marathoners & 2:10 1/2 marathoners".

As the gun went off the rain decided to come down even heavier and so I was soon soaked to my skin and my feet were sloshing around - yuk. The thing about running in the rain is that once you are soaked through to the skin then you really can't get any wetter and you just tend to get on with the business of running.

After about 4 miles I was getting too hot in my jacket so I took it off and tied it around my waist. As I passed mile 11 the lead runner, Victor-Bushendich Chelokoi passed me and was looking good - I found out later that he broke the course record, coming home in 2:14:49. Wow! I decided to push ahead in the first 1/2 and keep ahead of the slower 1/2 marathoners and I passed the 1/2 way point in 2:20.

I did have to stop for a couple of toilet breaks though, which slowed me down, as I had a bit of an upset tummy when I woke up that morning which is most unusual for me as I have a cast-iron stomach. Thankfully the race organisers had positioned portaloos around the course, even in the remote areas. The other thing that impressed me about the organisation was that they had sensor mats, positioned at regular intervals, that you had to run over so that your timing chip was registered. This ensured that there was no cheating.

It was a 2 lap course and was almost pancake flat so there was pb potential there in the right conditions but for me it was just about getting round in one piece without falling over (I do have a tendency to trip up in wet conditions!).

The route took us along the Salzach then out into the countryside towards Hellbrunn Palace a wonderful 'pleasure palace' we had already visited. It is famous for its trick fountains and we had great fun there getting thoroughly soaked by the guide! I thought about that as I ran down the red carpet they had laid out for us on the drive - what a lovely touch.

Most of the course was on wide trails which although a bit muddy and puddly in parts were largely OK to run on. There was scant support along the route but this was made up for by the number of marshalls and Police out who all had a cheery word for us and held up the traffic to let us cross any roads that hadn't been closed (the roads we ran on were mostly closed for 6 hours which was brilliant).

As I was wearing my Alzheimer's vest I had some lovely comments from marshalls and fellow runners that I passed en-route. Highlights were the Policeman who took his hat off to me and the man sitting in cafe who jumped to his feet and shouted "well done Alzheimer's" and stood and clapped as I ran past. The nicest moment was running back across the Salzach for the last time and on both sides of the road there were fellow runners who had finished and were making their way home - there must have been about 40 of them and they all stood and clapped me past. I heard several shouts about relatives with Alzheimer's but I didn't understand everything. It certainly brought a tear to my eyes.

There were 547 starters but only 535 finishers and I was number 529, so not quite last then! My chip time was 5:03:38 which was pleasing given the weather conditions and that it was my 3rd marathon in 5 weeks. The last runners came home in 5:22 which was a good time too.

As I came up to the finish line I spotted Mike with the video camera so I gave him a great big wave and a smile. There were still some die-hard supporters around so I had lots of cheers and clapping to welcome me home.

Having received my medal the first thing to do was grab some water, a banana and a piece of cake!

After a great big hug from Mike we looked at my medal and it's a cracker! The cut-out bit is the silhouette of the fortress and then the city skyline is in the foreground, across which the runners dash along a musical stave with their feet being the notes. Underneath it says 'Salzburg AMREF Marathon, run in Mozart's city'. It is one of my favourite medals.

So that was marathon number 23 and the 3rd this year so the summer will be dedicated to getting my speed up for the Liverpool marathon in October.

That evening we dined on pasta and tiramisu and celebrated with some lovely wine.

The next day my legs felt absolutely fine and so we decided to have another day of adventure but his time on the other side of the river in the new town where we visited St Sebastian's church and graveyard where Mozart's wife, Constanze, and his father, Leopold, are buried in a family grave. We heard about this from a lovely Austrian man who I spoke to in St Peter's Church graveyard. In my best German I had asked if Mozart was buried in Salzburg or Vienna and he told me that although he is buried in Vienna that his sister Nanerle is buried there in St. Peter's and then told me about St. Sebastians too. It was worth learning German just to glean those snippets of information. Mozart's Mass in C Minor was first performed in St. Peters and Constanze sang the Soprano part!

On our way there we passed this wonderful lion atop a building and I snapped him.

It was only later that we realised that he made an appearance in the Sound of Music.

That realisation made us start wondering about other sights around the city and when we came home we watched the whole film to spot the places we'd visited including Residenzplatz, Schloss Mirabell gardens and the Rock Riding School where Captain von Trapp sang Edelweiss.

That evening we attended a Mozart Concert and Dinner at Stiftskeller, a restaurant adjacent to St. Peter's and dating back to 803, where the Mozart family were regular diners. It sounded a bit touristy but we did it anyway and had a wonderful evening. The food was based on 17th and 18th century menus (well, except for my vegetarian risotto which was perhaps not quite so authentic!) and between courses we were entertained by 2 opera singers and a music ensemble performing operatic arias from Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and the Magic Flute. The singers were excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

This view was taken from the path leading to the Fortress. We just had a short amble up there on our way back to the hotel and ended up walking for a couple of hours as the views were so stunning.

In the top left of the photo is the Museum der Moderne Mönchsberg where we saw an exhibition of Alberto Giacometti's work.

The morning of our last full day was spent climbing up another hill.

It was a glorious day and the climbing really helped to stretch my legs out again. I saw all sorts of wild flowers that I didn't recognise and there were really useful information boards to read about the flora and fauna. Apparently there are about 30 chamois goats living there but we didn't spot any.

I loved this view of the fortress, framed by trees.

This water fountain was most welcome and we both agreed that we'd never tasted such pure, clean water before.

We sampled it on the way up and then again on the way down.

It was one of those perfect times that you never want to end.

Although the city of Salzburg itself is completely flat, it is surrounded by these beautiful mountains and hills.

You can see the snow on the tops of some of them. When I was running the marathon I was interested to feel the drop in temperature near the mountains. The cloud seemed to roll down the side of the mountain and envelop the towns.

As a treat on our final day we headed off to the Hotel Sacher, from whence comes the infamous Sachertorte.

We'd certainly worked up an appetite from walking up the hillside all morning.

Mike declared that this was the best burger he had ever tasted so I took a photo of it to remind him!

We rounded off the meal with a piece of Sachertorte each on the premise that we'd already burned off the calories.

So that was it. I hope that's given a taster of what our holiday was like as there was just too much to include everything. Suffice to say that the reality of going there lived up to and exceeded our expectations and now we're eager to visit Vienna to continue our journey through Mozart's short life. I'd better keep up my German classes then!

There are some wonderful photos of Salzburg here courtesy of Wikipedia

Whilst waiting for London marathon photos.......

2011-04-23T08:19:00.001-07:00

I thought it might be a good idea to actually post a photo of some knitting for a change as I keep forgetting to record what I'm doing!

At the moment I've just started the second sleeve of Owls by Kate Davies (Ravelry link). I'm using Jamieson's shetland marl in amethyst just because purple is my favourite colour.

It's a quick knit and I'm using my lovely new knit pics needles. Aren't they gorgeous! I started this just last week, finished the body in a few days and knit the first sleeve sitting in the hotel lobby whilst taking a break on Press conference day. Several people remarked "so you do actually knit then, not just when you're running!" which made me smile.

I've been trying to crack this little blighter for the last couple of days - it's a Rubik's cube and was given to me by Uli who solved 100 of them whilst running the marathon!

I've just mastered how to solve one side.

Apparently it's all down to using algorithms. It's looking good so far but I've still got 4 more sides to do - I may be some time............!

The lawn mower broke the other day and had to go off for repair. Not the best time to break as the grass was due for a cut.

Undeterred, my lovely ladies are helping out.

I just fenced off around the patio and put posts and tape in strategic places so they can't get into the pond or the woods and they are quite happy and it saves on petrol too!

I should mention that ours is not the sort of lawn that is like bowling green and it has lots of daisies, buttercups and other wild flowers in which is just how we like it as it's in harmony with our surroundings.

Tinker decided it was too hot outside and hid himself away in the spare bedroom amidst a pile of stuff that's been dumped in there whilst we decorate elsewhere.

How do cats always find the best spots for a snooze? I only noticed him there when I heard the bubble-wrap crackling when he moved.

Last but not least is this tree. It's a Field Maple growing near my shed and the reason for the photo is the flies.

When I walked past, the whole tree was buzzing and I thought it was bees but on further investigation I spotted hundreds of these flies.

You can just make out the flowers which is think is what attracted them as the smell of the pollen was really strong.

Press Day, The One Show & This Morning

2011-04-20T04:36:00.000-07:00

The instant camera I had to use on Press day on friday and on This Morning on Monday has now gone off to be developed so I won't have any photos until then.

In the meantime, here's a selection of passes from each day and a link to the This Morning 18th April where 4 of us marathoners had some very special foot treatments.

There are snippets of us all running upstairs (which sadistic so-and-so decided to make us run upstairs the morning after a marathon?!) with the main feature at around 11:15. If you are at all squeamish, please do not look too closely at Andy's feet (Mr Happy) as they are GROSS!

To give you a taster - here's what my feet looked like afterwards. They have never looked so good!

London Marathon day

2011-04-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

So here we go again. It's like a well-oiled machine really now - prepare everything the night before, early to bed, up at 4:30am, Alan the taxi driver picks us up at 5:30am and we arrive in Blackheath around 6:45. Into the Greek cafe for coffee and a chocolate croissant then get a newspaper before heading off to another coffee shop further up the road. Have another coffee and read the paper until 8am when I need to head off to the Green start to register with Guinness World Records.
The giant motorbike balloon was there again but I just snapped these few.

There didn't seem as many as usual nor were they quite as grand as in previous years - I suspect a tightening of belts perhaps in these tough economic times.

Then we have a slow walk over to the start where I nip in to register then pop back out to get into my kit.

Here's Uli Kilian who solved 100 Rubik's cubes and finished in 4:45 and got himself a Guinness World Record.

Well done Uli and apologies for practising my beginner's German on you!

Btw, don't you just love his outfit?

These men have run every single London Marathon since it began in 1981. Wow!

One of them was running for the same charity as me Alzheimer's Research UK whilst tossing a pancake!

Here I am again, bedecked with wool.

Is it just me, or does it look slightly odd to have 'Virgin' plastered across ones chest?!

The wannabe Guinness World Record holders gather.

The guy dressed as Dennis the Menace (Dave from the 100 marathon club) got his record and I think the Superman to his right did too.

By 10am I knew it was going to be too hot for me to beat my own record (1.62m) so I made the decision to just plod along with my knitting, not worrying about how long the scarf would be and just enjoy the day.

As always the crowd was amazing. Calling out, cheering, laughing, clapping. Lifting the spirits of those who wanted to curl up at the side of the road and sob.

All those runners on their own personal journey; some doing it for a charity, some for themselves but each with their own story to tell. It is the most amazing marathon and I love everything about it.

I saw loads of people I knew and chatted to many who I didn't know. Many people said they'd heard me on the radio or seen me on The One Show and had wanted to catch up with me which was nice. The knitting gives the crowd a good laugh but as many runners as spectators commented about it this year - the runners were so kind and generous with their praise as they appreciate just what an effort it takes to just run a marathon, never mind knitting at the same time.

Here I am at around mile 14, snapped by supporters from ARUK.I nearly missed them as I'd been looking at the wrong side of the road and watching for a mass of purple tee shirts, having forgotten that the new re-branded tee shirts are white! Thankfully I heard them screaming my name and managed to wave in time.

I passed Tony, dressed as Tinkerbell and dribbling a football, at around mile 17 and I told him I didn't think I'd beat my record and I was also worried that he wouldn't get round within his time limit although I didn't say that to him.

Sadly I found out later that he missed his 6 hour cut-off by 1 minute 23 seconds and he was gutted. Not surprising after having survived 26.2 miles amidst a crowd of 36,000+ runners. He took a tumble quite early on and spent 5 minutes being patched up by the St John's Ambulance crew and this cost him his GWR. At least it's made him determined to come back next year and try again.

As the heat intensified it was really just a case of digging in and plodding on but sweaty hands and wool don't really work well together and I knew the scarf wouldn't be longer than my current record so at mile 24 I decided to up my pace and stop knitting to get in under 6 hours - I came home in 5:56:02 so couldn't have got much closer!

It was not a surprise when the guy from GWR said it was 1.52m and so was 10 cm shorter than my record.

Never mind, I've got 2 Guinness World Records already and it was another great day, garnering lots of publicity for Alzheimer's Research.

That was my 22nd marathon - who'd have thought I'd ever manage it!

A horsey interlude

2011-04-19T08:20:00.001-07:00

Just look at my lovely ladies with their guests!

The jackdaws and rooks love to pick at their coats as they are moulting. The horses don't mind because they get all itchy when moulting and their hair makes a great nesting material for the birds.

Media madness!

2011-04-16T05:51:00.000-07:00

The run up to London (pun intended!) is always a mad mixture of interviews and photo shoots and I'm certainly not complaining because the more publicity we can get for Alzheimer's Research UK the better.

Yesterday was the main focus of attention as it was Press Day which always takes place in a hotel in London so I was up with the lark. Actually I was up before the larks because I had to do a quick interview with Heart fm at 6:30. It was a lot shorter than I'd anticipated and I didn't get chance to talk about ARUK 'cos they focused on the knitting as expected. Anyway, They've asked me to go on air again on Monday to let them know how I got on so that's good.

I very stupidly forgot to take my camera with me yesterday. Thankfully I remembered in time to stop and buy one of those throwaway jobbies but that means I'll have to get them printed and then scan them in. DOH!

These 2 photos have come off Facebook and show, from left to right, Uli (most Rubiks cubes solved whilst running a marathon), Andy (fastest marathon dressed as a fictional book character), Eleanor (fastest marathon dressed as a bride), me, Chris (fastest marathon dressed as a star) & Steve (most money raised in a single sporting event - watch the news tomorrow, it's awesome!) who is replaced by Tony (dressed as Tinkerbell, fastest marathon dribbling a football - he just likes to dress up and his wife and kids choose his costumes!).

In the meantime, here are a couple of links to get a feel for how the Press Conference went: Report on the Virgin London Marathon page and Ceebeebies

In the afternoon I nipped over to the Excel Centre to collect my running number etc and then I came back and had a lovely hour sitting in the hotel lobby knitting and people watching.

The evening was taken up with loads of Guinness World Record wannabes appearing on The One Show. 4 of us from the photo shoot were on the list to do in-depth interviews but sadly that all went to pot. There were still plenty of moments of all of us appearing in shot so at least everyone got to see my ARUK vest then I was spoken to in passing right at the end but although they mentioned ARUK there was no mention of what we were all there for which was to try for our own GWRs.

If you check out the show on iplayer, I'm sitting next to Tony (Tinkerbelle), the Eleanor (the bride) and Andy (Mr Happy) appears behind us at some point. He actually managed to get an interview which was great because he's doing amazing work for Children with Leukaemia.

Full report to follow...........

Hot, Hot, HOT!

2011-04-12T16:11:00.000-07:00

It was Brighton marathon last Sunday and the weather forecast was spot on - it was HOT! I knew it was going to be bad when the organisers sent an email the day before advising people to slow down their pace, take on more water etc etc and to confirm if I intended to run still (presumably so they could ensure that had sufficient supplies of water etc).

I decided that I'd start gently and see how hot it was by the 1/2 way point. I reached 1/2 way in 2:22 which was bang on target but by then it was already too hot for me and I knew that I should slow down or risk making myself ill - see, I can be sensible sometimes! So I just settled into a nice slow plodding pace and enjoyed the party atmosphere.

Sadly, I saw lots of people who hadn't fared as well and had collapsed and were being treated by the St John's ambulance crews. Out of the 15,000 entrants only 8,000 started the race and around 7,250 actually finished so that was a very high drop-out rate.

I crossed the line in 5:21 which is 25 minutes slower than last year. I must take a photo of the medal which was nice and there was a tee shirt too. Mike forgot to take any photos of me so there are a few to look at here

There are a few short video clips of me waddling along too. You will see that the finish time on the clock is slower than my actual time because it took 9 minutes to get over the start line which is not unusual in large events.

Twist Collective

2011-04-01T00:41:00.000-07:00

Many months ago I did an interview with Lee Ann Dalton for Twist Collective. Herself a runner and a knitter she was interested in the benefits that we take from both pastimes. As she says, there are lots of runners who knit and lots of knitters who run!

The article is here - Twist Collective Spring issue

Royal Wedding & taper fever!

2011-03-31T05:58:00.000-07:00

Look what landed in my letterbox the other day - 'Knit your own Royal Wedding'.

Even more funny is that it was sent by Denny, my dear friend who started me off on my running and knitting antics by suggesting I should act my age and stay at home with my knitting!

My favourites are the corgis and the Archbishop of Canterbury. When I showed it to Mike he gave me "don't you dare!" roll of the eyes.

I'm well into my taper, that is cutting down my mileage to prepare for the Brighton marathon on the 10th April and I've got a niggly knee. That coupled with the gremlins in my head who tell me that I am too old and fat to run marathons is making me hyperactive!

This beautiful tree is a Blackthorn Tree .

Blackthorn is more often used for hedging as it has thorny stems so is a good stock-proofer so it's unusual to see it like this.

The whole tree has been smothered in blossom this year and the honey bees have had a wonderful time gathering the nectar. There were so many of them that the tree seems to be buzzing!

4 Sundays all with 'T's!

2011-03-22T12:30:00.001-07:00

Just remember what they say about pride and falls when reading the first 2 weekends!

Sunday 1 - Tunbridge Wells 1/2 marathon 27th Feb 2011 - Tears

My training had been going really well and the speedwork seemed to have made a difference. I felt strong and powerful and eager to tackle the Tunbridge Wells 1/2 marathon. I was so convinced that I was going to get a course pb (personal best time) that I had bought a bottle of champagne in anticipation.

I'm sure you can see where this is heading!

The day dawned and it was perfect weather; cool but bright with only a slight breeze. I started well and got to the halfway mark in 58 minutes so it looked good. Anyway, as ever, pride came before a fall and I just slowed right down in the 2nd half, finishing in 2:11:25 which is not only my worst time for the course but my worst ever 1/2 marathon time.

There was a very teary phone call to Mike at the finish. He very wisely suggested that we should have the champagne anyway to drown my sorrows - I love that man!!!

Sunday 2 - another 20 mile training run - Tears again!

It was all going so well. I'd got out bright and early on the Sunday to do my 20 miler. The weather was perfect, bright but cool and there were signs of Spring everywhere,

I'd plotted out a hilly route to build stamina but was feeling strong when I hit the 14 mile mark. I spotted some women and dogs up ahead. I was on a single track lane in the middle of nowhere and I guessed that the dogs would be off their leads so when I got close to them I started to walk (dogs often get over-excited around runners and it's always safest to walk or even stop in case they jump up at you).

There were 2 women and a little girl accompanied by 2, very excited, stocky labradors and a small yappy dog. They wrapped themselves around my legs and then pottered off. I exchanged pleasantries with the women and then started running again. I heard one of the women calling the dogs and the next thing I knew I was knocked off my feet by a 3rd black labrador who'd been down in a ditch and came hurtling up the bank and just took my legs from under me.

I landed flat on my face with my cheek and nose touching the tarmac. Thankfully my right side had taken most of the impact so my face wasn't hurt but my hip, thigh, knee and elbow were very sore. My water bottle was flung away and my hat flew off too. As I picked myself up I heard one of the women saying "oh dear, he's jumped up and knocked that lady over". She asked if I was OK but didn't bother to apologise!

As I picked myself up and gathered my things together I felt a bit shaken so I phoned Mike to tell him what had happened. Of course, there were more tears and I really didn't feel like carrying on, partly because I felt too teary but mainly because my leg was very sore. Thankfully I was only 3.5 miles from home but by the time I got there I'd developed a massive lump on the side of my knee. So my 20 miles ended up being 17.5 miles instead. Grrrrrrr!

Sunday 3 - a Triumphant 20 miles

Thank goodness my next attempt at a 20 miler passed without incident and I regained my confidence. Phew!

Sunday 4 - another Triumph (for a running chum)

Last weekend was the Hastings 1/2 marathon which is a brilliant event. It's a tough route with the first 1/2 all going uphill so it's not for the faint-hearted.

So when a fellow forumite from Runners World started training to run this as her first ever 1/2 marathon at the age of 67 I offered to run with her to help her achieve her goal. I jiggled my marathon schedule around so that I only needed to do about 17 miles that Sunday. I did 2.5 miles beforehand and then 2.5 miles afterwards making my total mileage 18 which was perfect.

My new running shoes had arrived the day before and look, they are purple and silver! I love purple. As I wasn't trying for a good time at Hastings I decided to dress up a bit, hence the stripey tights. I had intended to wear a tutu, in purple of course, but when I put it on I looked like and elephant with a ruff around it's waist so that idea was abandoned quickly!

Iona had been training well but was somewhat apprehensive and she really didn't think she'd be able to run all the way or that she'd get round in anything less than 3 hours. But she'd never had anyone to run with before and that makes a huge difference. I felt honoured to be part of her adventure and it was quite a responsibilty to get the pacing right.

I set the pace at around 12 - 12.5 minute miling and told her to let me know if it was too fast but she coped very well with the challenging hills and we reached the halfway point in 1:20 which was excellent and gave her confidence a real boost. Towards the 10 mile mark I noticed that she was slowing down a bit and I didn't try to push her on as I could see she was tiring. It was more important that she finished having run all the way than end up having to walk because she was too tired.

The crowd was amazing as always and they really lifted our spirits. I was very impressed that many people hung around to cheer on the slower runners and walkers. We spent most of the race either just in front of or just behind a group of firefighters pushing a hospital bed along so there was a fun atmosphere.

We crossed the line in 2:52:11 which was absolutely brilliant and she was very pleased and proud. I couldn't hang around too long as I still had to run another 2.5 miles. There were looks of surprise from people who had seen me finish alongside runners and walkers who were limping and looking dead on their feet and then I went bounding off looking quite fresh!

So the last of the T's is another triumph!

Oh what a beautiful morning!

2011-02-17T00:37:00.000-08:00

The days are drawing out at last and there was a beautiful sunrise this morning. First the sky was rippled with pink then it turned to a glowing amber.

There was a mist swirling up the horses field which looked very ethereal.

I love the lighter mornings and I've already started to get out of bed earlier.

Today I have to do just 4 miles at the pace I intend to run my marathons.

For the last 2 weeks I have run just over 50 miles each week and so now I'm taking what is referred to as a 'step-back' week where I reduce my mileage to allow my body to recover in readiness for the next hard week.

Rest and recovery are very important elements of any training regime and I feel as if I'm reaping the benefits.

Two

2011-02-13T08:27:00.000-08:00

Two 20 milers that is.

Last week I was nearly blown off my feet it was so windy. It really sapped all my strength as it was a particularly hilly route. This week it wasn't as windy but it was raining! I actually don't mind the rain too much as it cools me down. I ran very slowly and felt OK all the way round.

Next week is a step-back week and then I've got the Tunbridge Wells 1/2 the week after where I shall see if all my speedwork training has made a difference. I certainly hope so as it's jolly hard work.

Now for a different Two. The sweater tunic one.

I completed it.

I hated it on me - it is definitely not suitable for anyone with a bust or in fact for anyone with anything other than a boyish, stick-insect figure!

I've ripped back all but the front of it so I thought I'd record it to show how the heart motifs worked out. I rather like them. This remaining piece will be going in the freezer overnight for ripping back tomorrow - that's a useful tip for anyone who has to rip back mohair as it makes it so much easier.

To make myself feel better about Two I started another Bargello cushion.

I'm using the colours from my curtains. It's going to be a sampler with small patterns in neutral tones down the left, a large central pattern in dark blue, bright blue and taupe and then larger samples on the right in blues, reds and neutrals.

I have lots of wonderful books about Bargello that I've collected from secondhand bookshops so I'm certainly not short of patterns for inspiration.

Walking amongst Champions

2011-02-11T04:01:00.000-08:00

On 9th February, Mike and I had the honour of attending the launch of Alzheimer's Research UK at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Mike plays the very important role of 'back-room boy' in my fund-raising activities and this often doesn't get a mention so I was very pleased that he came too. He's the one who mops up my tears when my training doesn't go as planned, kicks me out of the door when I'd rather stay curled up in bed and waits patiently at the end of the marathon to greet his tired, sweaty and over-emotional wife!

The evening was hosted by Julian Huppert MP for Cambridge which is where the charity is based.

It's a very exciting time for Dementia research and I am proud to play a small part in the changes in attitude and awareness that are taking place. If only we could get the funding in place we'd have a chance of better understanding this devastating disease.

As soon as we walked in we were greeted by Sue who's the Media Officer and with whom I have a great deal of contact via email and the phone but rarely see in person. Sadly I haven't got a photo of her and must make sure I get one next time we meet.

She introduced us to lots of different people, the first being Jamie and Vicki Graham who raised the amazing sum of £90,000 for research into Dementia. Jamie was diagnosed with Alzheimer's 3 years ago at the age of 59 and he and Vicki have worked tirelessly to raise this staggering amount of money for research. I felt myself getting a bit teary as I listened to her talking about the Jamie she knew and loved who is gradually being taken away by this cruellest of diseases.

There were many of us there who have the honour of being named Champions in recognition of the things we have done to support research into Dementia. We each have our own story to tell and I felt very humble hearing about other peoples experiences.

One person I hoped would be there was Dione Priddy. Her husband Mark was just 36 when he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Dione decided to do something positive by running the 2010 Virgin London Marathon to raise money for dementia research and give hope to future generations. Sadly, Mark passed away just two weeks before the run but Dione was determined to go ahead and raised £18,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK. I'd read her story before the marathon last year and really hoped that she'd run past me so I could give her a hug,

I was very glad to have met Dione at last and her 2 lovely daughters, Eleanor and Bethany. We chatted with ease and decided that we'd like to do some fund-raising together so we've exchanged email addresses.

Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive, on the right of the photo, spoke with passion about the need for more funding into Dementia and Professor Julie Williams gave an optimist insight into current leaps in understanding the disease. She pointed out that Dementia research is at the same stage as Cancer Research was 20 years ago and said that with investment we could be looking at a positive outlook for Dementia.

Let's hope so.

No wheels on my wagon......

2011-01-26T08:35:00.001-08:00

Well so much for my no-alcohol-until-after-the-Brighton-marathon nonsense. We had a lovely get-together with nearly 50 of the villagers in the local pub last night and it would have been rude not to raise a glass now wouldn't it (said very tongue-in-cheek!).

My marathon training is going well, touch wood etc etc but the speedwork is quite hard as I'm not used to doing it. The good news is that entries for the Liverpool marathon are now open and I am in which will complete my series of marathons for this year. I lived near and worked in Liverpool for many years, met Mike there and generally had a wonderful time as the people of Liverpool are great so it will be a real trip down memory lane. I'm currently working on a link between revisiting my past and how the brains of dementia sufferers change as the disease progresses.

In knitting news I'm well ahead with Two although the sizing is small even though my tension is spot-on which is rather annoying as I didn't really want a close fitting garment.

There is, however, an elephant in the room. More specifically it's in my favourite hiding place alongside the settee and it's in a knitting bag. I've tried to ignore it but it's too lovely a piece to leave as a UFO for any longer.

Its the beautiful Oregon cardigan in the Autumn colourway.

I put her to one side when Mike went into hospital at the end of 2009, finished off the first sleeve when he came out of hospital in January 2010 but then I put her to one side because I associated her with bad things happening (yes I know it's silly!).

Every so often I'd notice the bag when I was hoovering the carpet but then I would turn away again.

Now I've decided I need to get her finished as I need a more interesting knit to get my teeth into whilst I finish off Two. So, tomorrow evening I shall make a start. That may sound as if I'm procrastinating by not doing anything this evening but I can't because I shall be at my German evening class. I started learning German at the end of last year and although it isn't easy it's a good challenge.

Cute cards

2011-01-05T06:24:00.000-08:00

I had two Christmas cards that made me smile:

This stripey cartoon sheep looking like a mint humbug.

This sweet little knitted reindeer.

This is published by Mint Publishing where I found that the reindeer was knitted by the girls from the Harborough Ladies knitting circle who seem to have produced a whole range of knitted characters for all sorts of cards.

What fun and how very enterprising of them!

Now we're into the New Year my training has started to take over. No more alcohol until after the Brighton marathon in April (crikey!) and my training schedule is starting to look pretty darned serious (gulp!). Last weekend I ran 6 miles on Saturday and 12 miles on Sunday and this weekend will be 7 and 14 miles respectively.

I'm a good way into the front of Two and I like how it's turning out so far.

Happy New Year to everyone!

2011-01-01T07:53:00.000-08:00

May 2011 be a happy, healthy and peaceful year for everyone.

I made a start on Two last night and I quite like the effect of the eyelet pattern. Apart from the heart pattern which comes next, it is a very boring stocking stitch pattern so I'll probably alternate between this and some bargello. I quite like to have some mindless knitting on the go as it's useful for if I'm watching TV and I don't need to worry about colour changes or counting stitches.

My first run in 2011 went well. I had to run 6 miles at my target marathon pace so I found a route that had at least a few (actually 3.5 miles) of flat ground which made it a bit easier. It's quite hilly round here and so chugging up the hills can really slow my pace down. I felt OK afterwards but I was quite sluggish this afternoon. I need to shake off this post Christmas lethargy!