Red Rock Cliff Ice

With the bitter cold temperatures of recent days comes the increased production of ice along the shores of Lake Superior! Here's a recent shot of icicles hanging from the cliffs on Red Rock Beach in Grand Portage.

Oh The Temptations I Live With...

Just can't leave anything alone sigh...

My Knights Valley Day

Knights Valley is the most remote area of Sonoma County's wine appellations. It snuggles up against the northwestern flanks of 4342 foot Mount St. Helena - this part of the county's most notable feature. Ideal mountain growing conditions have resulted in Cabernets of regal quality that are sought after for their rarity - there are only two vineyards in Knights Valley!

I was very excited to go on a road trip again. I didn't mind that it was raining "cats and dogs" ho ho ho!!! (Note from Mom: at times, we had to pull off the road because wipers just couldn't keep the rain off the windshield fast enough to see!) It took two hours to get there, so I just snoozed.


We eventually got into the real country. This cool red barn is just north of Calistoga.

Finally we turned into a woodsy place and parked. I began investigating immediately and found lots of things I liked, such as trees, good scents, humans, and ... FOOD!!!
Dad grabbed a long tool and a big sled and I led the way up a steep hill, where I veered off the path to check out these trees! Since it was so wet, the smells were just heavenly. I know there were lots of squirrels right above me!
After tromping around and galloping through a ton of trees, I sat by this one and gave it my smile of approval.
Then Dad got out that weird tool and went to work on it. I tried to help, but Dad said I could assist later. So I supervised.
What'ch'all think? It looks a little lopsided, but I made sure there were no critters in it.
This is the view across Knights Valley from the top of the hill where we found our tree. It was trying to clear up, but failed miserably.
I needed some exercise and time to investigate the woods up here.
Then I became GPS dog and guided Dad back down to the car.
We passed some of these views and places on the way down. Mom and Dad would love to live in that cute woodsy house down there, with smoke curling from its chimney. Mom loved the smell of those cedars.
Cute, huh?
This nice kid gave me lots of pats - I encourage and really dig all the scritches I can get.
Okay: this was something I'd never seen before. Here's a movie about what it does heheheh!

And here's another of me visiting:
On the trip home, we passed some other trees with some odd things hanging from them. Nature's X-mas trees? Anybody know what those clumps are in this old live oak tree?
This looks like a witch's tree to me! Any guesses on this one? Will let you know on my next post! Hope you're all having a great weekend!

The serenity of arrogance

If anybody here can remember my posts from the old bicycleforum.com site, or some of my earlier ramblings over at bikeforums.net, they would probably point out that I used to be quite volatile, something of a "loose cannon", looking for the slightest provocation over which I could lose my temper at the world generally. In recent years, however, I have tried to "turn over a new leaf" so to speak, and in a major shock to the universe, it may actually be working.
Today's incident happened somewhere around 128km into the ride in North Burleigh. Some idiot pedestrian decided to step out onto the road right in front of me without looking. This isn't exactly a rare occurrence on the Gold Coast these days, and I had anticipated it pretty well, so I was able to avoid a collision. However, this moron then decided to abuse me because I was supposedly riding too fast (about 30km/h below the speed limit here). In the past I probably would have responded with a flurry of expletives of my own. However, today it didn't bother me a great deal. There was a mild irritation for a few moments, before the arrogance that I have worked so hard to cultivate kicked in.
I began to realise that I have absolutely no cause for concern that this moron should blame me for his own inability to watch where he was going. After all, I'd been prepared for the eventuality, I'd avoided a collision, nobody was hurt, and I'd even earned an apology from his wife (who was actually smart enough to look before stepping out onto the road). But what really gladdened my heart, was the knowledge that if this guy is in a habit of blaming others for his own inability to watch where he is going, it's just a matter of time before he steps out in front of someone who will be either unable or unwilling to take the evasive action necessary. As a consequence, it probably won't be very long before he removes himself from the human gene pool altogether.
I am at peace with the world, perhaps moreso now than ever before. Unlike the other guy at the intersection about 3km later who wanted to shout abuse by yelling from his car across four lanes of moving traffic. Yeah right, pal. What obligation do I have to prove anything to someone that cowardly?
Oh yeah, as far as the ride itself was concerned, Numinbah Valley turned on the beauty once more, and the changeable weather conditions -- from this...

to this...

to this...

and finally to this:

Interesting thing here -- it only seemed to rain on the descents, never on the climbs. I'm not sure how this works, but it just does. It played havoc with my average speed, but that's life sometimes. It's still better than doing the whole ride in dry weather.

Tomato Seeds

A few weeks ago Meggiehad a fantasticGarden Seed Giveaway. She was very generously offering some heritage seeds. I chose a variety of tomatoes - Tomato Carbon, which have won many taste awards in the last few years!

They arrived today - and I am thrilled and delighted.Thank you, Meggie!

We will get them planted and I'll let you know how they progress.I am really looking forward to the taste test!

I wonder how they will fareat this year's Village Show

We had a huge amount of fun last year,notching up far more successesthan we expected.

The trouble is that it puts the pressure on this year!

I am counting on these purple tomatoes to win at least one class.Thank you Meggie.x









PS. Check out Meggies seed list - newvarieties she is trying out this year.

First Light, Foggy Morning - Pigeon River Valley

The fog this morning was incredible. Unfortunately I did not make it out to take any pictures of the fog at sunrise. So, it made me go back to some photos from a foggy morning in July that I never posted. This photo was made after a night of photographing the northern lights along the Arrowhead Trail in northeast Minnesota. As I drove home via the backroads I noticed that there was quite a bit of fog in the Pigeon River valley below me. I pulled over at the Pigeon River Helipad Overlook along Otter Lake Road and waited for the sun to come up. I knew that once the sunlight started to hit the fog it would be an incredible view. Sure enough, as the fog started to glow from the light of the rising sun I was awestruck by the beauty and depth of the scene laid out before me.

THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WOODSTORE...

Pip, Toby and Bennie are all agreed on that! No doubt it will keep them occupied for a long time. Don't worry about Toby's 'bald side' it really isn't like that, it's down to some quirk on this photograph.





Today has been wet, very wet. So we decided to do some indoor work ...!!! We both scrubbed the utility room floor and part of the kitchen - but I thought you would like this photo of your Pa wearing Marigold gloves and scrubbing !





Jonny, you will know what this next photograph is all about, so no need to go into details.









We nipped to Woodthorpe Garden Centre this afternoon - and guess what they were busy doing...unbelievably ... but here's the photo to prove it. Dreadful!!!





Far more interestingly, we have just been listening to a wonderful Prom .. programme which featured a Spaghetti Western Orchestra from Australia and their music is magnificent. Check them out sometime.





That's it for today, Jonny. Look after yourself.

Call/email us when you have the chance.

Love,





Mum

xxx

Manawa Ride

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a ride in the woods mid 70s, sunny, a bit windy. There were several others riders at Manawa. I stopped two to chat. They are new mountain bikers - starting this season. Talked them about THOR membership.
Anyway, I continued making my laps. The trail conditions are pretty good, except for 2 dead falls on East Sidewinder. One had been there some time, the other is new. Both were trees damaged in the June wind storm, just decided to come down in October.
One reason for riding at Manawa yesterday was to check out the fork re-build of my trail bike. No problem with the fork on this ride. I had a leisurely ride - 7.7 mph. Just what I was looking for. Even had a good conversation with 2 potential THOR members.

Hoping to ride again today, before the weather turns colder and wet over the next couple days.

Simple French Cuisine? Roasted Camembert with honey.

France is famous for the wonderful cheeses and Camembert is certainly one of the most famous.
Camembert is certainly a great cheese, just to eat plain with some nice baguette bread, but there is a great recepy we discovered with the help of Blandine and Olivier from Laurenan.
The original name of this simple but very taste dish is Camembert roti avec le miel, that litteraly translates: Camembert roasted in oven with the honey.
Here is the recepy.
Have a Camembert form with its wooden box for each guest.
Cut the Camembert as you see in the picture below, cutting the top of each form off.


Dig in the cheese so to make space for some pieces of apple you have already prepared on a side.




Put the apple's pieces in the cheese you have already prepared in the center of the cheese form.



Then put some good honey on the top of the cheese forms.











Close the Camembert forms with their tops.








Put just a little bit of water on top of the cheese so that the brown sugar you are going to put on top remains easily on the top of the cheese.








Put the sugar on top of the cheese.










Put the Camembert in the oven for then minutes at around 200°C.







Enjoy it with some toasted baguette bread!







This post would has been made thanks to Blandine and Olivier Le Cloirec from Laurenanwho prepared a fantastic Camembert roti au miel with local, organic and very tasty ingredients, and (most important) with great passion!

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Riding Weather

Looks like we are getting some decent weather, finally. No rain in the forecast for all week.
I needed the day off Monday - relaxed at home. Tuesday it was to ride my version of the Tour de Bluffs. Started from the old bike shop (OBS).
Stopped by Western Historic Trails Center. With the river up, was concerned if the Iowa Riverfront Trail might be flooded behind the trail Center. The told me it was not - which was the case when I rode there.
On past the Casinos. There is some river water is invading the parking lots of the casinos. Recommend parking in the garage until the river is back down.
Stopped at Big Lake for refreshments and a break. On down N 8th to downtown. Stopped at the new Xtreme Wheels location. Took a photo of the road bike in fron of the new shop. Helped them move a couple things into the new location.
On around past the Mall and back to the OBS. Great, relaxing 24 miles ride.

Joan and the Wild Man

Belleau Manor House was demolished in 1978. Joan, one of our village elders, was brought up there, she remembers it as being very damp and very cold and, although she has fond memories of living there, I think she is more than happy to be living in her much cosier bungalow.





Formally a school teacher, Joan is a mine of information about local history and is well known locally for her paintings and pastels. I think she must be in her late seventies or early eighties. She is one very determined woman and keeps on going, despite severe problems with her eyesight.





On a recent walk we went over the little Belleau bridge, it is a post medieval, arched, brick bridge which leads into a farmyard - at first sight it is like any other farmyard. Explore a little more and there are great treasures to be seen.

Lovely ramshackle buildings with ancient beams.









This is a working farm, we just hit lucky that it was a quiet day and we were free to explore a little. The original medieval Belleau Manor House stood on a moated island, the moat was up to 14 metres wide in parts. Most of this has now been infilled. The little brick bridge is thought to occupy the site of the original access to this island.

The listed barn, see all those alterations and exciting remnants

The medieval manor house was replaced by a hall in the 16th century and the remains of the hall, along with some 18th and 20th century alterations have been incorporated into the barn in the middle of the 'island'. Just look at all the architectural remnants in that barn wall! Unfortunately we couldn't gain access to the side for a better photograph.





The Belleau Manor House which Joan lived in was a late 17th century building, and was thought to have been an extension to the earlier hall.

This strange little building is what remains of a 20th century stable block. It was constructed in 1904 and incorporates all that remains of the house of Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, which belonged to Sir Harry Vane after the Civil War.





The gable has reset deeply moulded Tudor archway with a Wild Man, or Green Man, corbel. The Wild Man is a symbol of the Willoughby d'Eresby family, and the archway was formerly in the gatehouse of the mansion. Unfortunately because there were animals in the field (protected by an electric fence) we couldn't get any closer - not even for blogging purposes. Sorry!

Just across from the farmyard is this lovely old Tudor dovecote. Built in the 16th century, it is octagonal in shape and is made from brick with a slate roof. All the original roof timbers survive, internally it is full of nesting boxes. You can see the one tiny entrance (for humans) in this photograph.

I would love to have the time to dig and delve into some more of the history of Belleau, but at the moment we are coming in for lots of baby and child-sitting duties. Days whizz by. Once things settle down I will do that research and post. How I would love to have free access to roam around and try to absorb some of the atmosphere of this place! On the plus side, at least it is only a ten minute walk away!





PSSir Henry Vane lived at Belleau Manor from 1650-1660. He was a Parliamentarian during the Civil War although he later became disenchanted with Cromwell’s government. During the reign of Charles II, when the monarchy was reinstated, he was beheaded at Tower Hill.