Tomatoes from Texas!

Way back in February my very dear friend Meggie, who writes the beautifulMeggie on the Prairieblog, sent me a pack of tomato seeds.

A few weeks earlier she had held a Garden Seed Giveawayand I was fortunate to be among those drawn to receive my own choice of a pack of seeds.

After much deliberation and perusal of the seed catalogue, Irequested some Tomato Carbon seeds, which are described as having a wonderful flavour.



Despite the dreadful growing conditions this year, they have shown true Texan spirit and have survived, and done their best in adverse conditions.

Some were grown in the conservatory, others in the greenhouse.

The yield was low, but the flavour was wonderful.



They are sweet and delicious...and did I mention that they are almost as big as Texas?



I thought it would be interesting to compare them alongside cherry and plum tomatoes - so you can get an idea of the scale.

We have saved some seeds, ready to try again next year. We know the flavour is great, now we need to increase the yield...

Watch this space.





We had a surprise visitor tonight ... he came down to the patio doors in the dark of the early evening, then scuttled off when the light was put on.

A 'teenage' hedgehog. We made this little chap welcome by leaving him in peace to eat a small dish of cat food. Here's hoping he returns frequently and eats lots of slugs. We have two hedgehog houses in the garden, I wonder whether he has taken up residence in one of them.

BRICK WALLS & BUILDERS MERCHANTS

We took the scenic route home, which was just as well because I had spent far too long staring at this -

while your Pa purchased cement and other dull things. The rain was falling quite heavily and I was bored, so I took a photo.

It became something of a challenge to take some photos of the journey home, your Dad was convinced that nothing much would turn out as they were taken through the windscreen while the rain was falling. You know me, I can't resist a challenge. I still can't drive, because of my toe, so I take the chance to get out and about when I can - even to the builders merchants - how sad is that!!

Recognise this cottage? It is next to the church in Rigsby.This is the tiny church in Haugh......and this is the road leading home.

Things we do on a rainy day!

Actually it has been a lovely day, I have done some reading, sewing, and read lots of new-to-me -blogs, while your Pa has done some wood carving. The dogs and cats have all been fed and watered and the two dogs are lolled out in front of the Rayburn - they'll be a bit upset when I shove them along so that I can cook tea.

Talking of rain - it has rained very heavily so the drainage system and the soakaways are being well tested, so far they seem to be coping pretty well.

Fondest love,





Mum

xxx

Bike breaking ride

I suppose I should just be glad this happened before next weekend's 600k ride and not during it. The catalogue of things I've been forced to replace and/or repair on my bike this year is becoming quite extensive. I suppose the bright side of all this is that I've developed some new skills in repairs and/or simply coping with various problems.
This morning I headed for Springbrook, a ride that was something of a compromise. My legs wanted big km, but I'm supposed to be resting before the 600k, so I decided on a short ride which just happens to climb a mountain. Early on everything seemed to be OK. I handled the climb comfortably, and Springbrook turned on yet another glorious day, even if a little chilly. This place is known for it's waterfalls, but they weren't really at their spectacular best in the middle of the dry season. Cue a display of little-known wildflowers providing a burst of colour. After 11 years, I'm wondering if there is any thing that mountain can't do.


Even the local wildlife came out to greet me...

... even if I wasn't quite fast enough to take a picture of that Albert Lyrebird (note: the only known habitat of this species in the entire world is the Gold Coast Hinterland).
It was at the start of the ride home that the problems started. I noted the gearing at the rear wasn't shifting as it should. I made an adjustment to the rear derailleur, noting that I may have to replace a gear cable in the near future. Somewhere while descending a 7% gradient I heard a crack from my rear rack. It turns out the light mount I'd made for the rack had broken off (note: it wasn't my handywork that broke -- the bolt and the connection I had made was still intact, it was the metal itself that snapped). Incidentally, that was the rack I'd bought in Dunedin, after 600km of carrying a full touring load on another rack that I'd broken some days previously.
I salvaged what I could of the light, which may prevent me having to buy a replacement if I can assemble something from my garage. Further down the mountain the gear cable gave out completely. I was down to just two gears for the last 30km or so to get home. Granted, home was at a lower altitude, but there were still some nasty pinches around Mudgeeraba, not to mention the sea breeze from the coast to deal with. I now have a new found respect for people who ride singlespeed bikes.
As predicted, some of the hills around Mudgeeraba caused more difficulty than they normally would -- and it just had to be show day with the resultant traffic issues on a day when maintaining momentum was of unusual importance. However, in a grim kind of way, I was starting to enjoy the chase, the challenge of it all, and knowing that this ride had now transcended the usual "up and back" ride to Springbrook. I was actually a little disappointed to get back on the coast and out of the hills. Cruising along the flat, while easier, just didn't have the same interest -- even if a couple of red lights did provide some unexpected difficulty.
It's clear that I need to deal with this rack. It's been a problem since I bought it, and it just doesn't seem to be strong enough to cope with my demands. For the time being I think I'll swap the rack on my MTB over and use that. It seems to be a little more sturdy. This also means that I need to create a new mount for a tail light on the rack so I can continue to run two of them (the other attaches to a special hole cut into my saddlebag), but such is life. Maybe I'll start to look upon all these repairs as a grim kind of chase.
Finally (at last I hear you cry), it appears as though I've been tagged again. This time Allez is responsible. I'll deal with it tomorrow. Right now I need some sleep.

Jam

Our recent trip to Speyside coincided with the raspberries in my Dad's garden being ripe. And that means only one thing - jam.

I must have pulled about 30lbs of berries, some for us and some for neighbours, and still the berries are ripening. Now that we are back in Edinburgh my Dad has been phoning round ever more distant neighbours in an effort to have the berries used. This has its benefits, of course: in the barter system that operates very effectively in my home village, home baking is flowing in return.

Every container in the house was pressed into use.





My mother's trusty Salter scales were brought out - not a metric measurement in sight.





Eventually I ran out of jam jars and had to resort to filling casserole dishes - in this case a lovely Norwegian one. It won't be a problem to use up the open dishes. There is nothing better than the very freshest raspberry jam.





What produce gluts are you coping with at the moment?

Engagement Day!

Above Image: "Where the Lake becomes the River" - Near the Gunflint Trail in northeast Minnesota, the Brule River resumes its journey toward Lake Superior after flowing through Northern Light Lake.

Last night, under the light of an incredibly surreal moonlit and lightning-filled sky over Lake Superior, I asked the woman I love to marry me. And she said YES! I feel like I'm floating on air today :-)



So, Jessica and I are now officially engaged :-) And what do we do to celebrate our engagement day? We spend it outside, of course! We went paddling on the Brule River and Northern Light Lake along the Gunflint Trail in Northeast Minnesota. It sure was a beautiful day!



Above: Jessica getting lost in the grass where the Brule River flows into Northern Light Lake



Above: The clouds and lily pads were awesome.



Above: It was loads of fun paddling through these reeds. Very interesting to watch them glide magically out of the way as the bow of the kayak nudged them to the side.



Above: Goofing off in the tall grass.

Crazy Horse Volksmarch - out on a limb

A volksmarch is a "peoples walk" they are usually 6.2 miles long. Once a year the family that is carving Crazy Horse Memorial opens up the sculpture to people and allows them to walk up to and out the arm of the sculpture. I was working 7-3:30 and Gary was scheduled 2-10 so the Manager let me go shortly after 10 a.m. to go and do the walk. It was an amazing experience.

Entry to the event is 3 cans of food for the local food pantry and a $3 registration fee.

and we're off!

The walk goes through the woods and you catch glimpses of the Monument. You can just make out the people out on the arm

Signs point the way -- or you can just follow some of the other 6,000 people

They do a few blasts a year. They are bringing in some people from Canada to work on the hand and horse's mane starting tomorrow.

There are 4 check points along the way with water and snacks.4 boxeson the card are marked at each checkpoint. The first box was A the 2nd N the 3rd N and the 4th E. It spelled out ANNE thename of Korczak's daughter who passed away suddenly a couple weeks after we arrived. I thought it was a beautiful gesture.

We're getting closer and getting differentperspectives of the Mountain



We pass aMountain Goat grazing

We're almost there!

Ta Da!





The Head is 87.5 feet tall

The armis 263 feet long. The horses head will be 219 feet. The sculpter will be 641 feet long and sculpted in the round. Overall height 563 feet. What a tremendous undertaking.

The view goes on forever

What an incredible experience but now it's time to go back to work

Poor cowhas probably been trying to cross the road to greener pastures all day!

How true.

My favorite Hike ever!

To learn more about Crazy Horse Memorial go tohttp://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/

Round 'Em Up

I need light and colour in my life and as today has been dull, cold and gloomy I have decided to do a post about some beautiful visitors who dropped by to see us earlier in the year.

The iridescent beauty of this blue chap was quite something.

The white one was a little grumpy when faced with a camera!

They walked up the road to us when they made their escape from Claythorpe Watermill, which is just a few hundred yards along the road.





They turned up in the wildlife section of our garden, so we let them enjoy themselves, in safety, while we rang the watermill to let them know that their peacocks had come to visit us again and needed to be collected.





I was a bit slow off the mark with my camera, luckily my brother, Ian -theowlwood.blogspot.comhad his handy.





The final one I would like to share with you is a lovely photograph of them being shepherded home...

Their keeper arrived on his motorbike and gently 'drove' them back to the watermill. They seemed resigned to the fact that they had to go back - I swear one of them muttered "It's a fair cop, Guv" as they were rounded up.





I have no doubt they will return, they seem to like it here.





Regular readers may recall we have had a couple of visits from the wallaby who lives at the watermill.