Halloweeen

Halloween is derived from an early Celtic holiday called Samhein that took place at the beginning of the winter season on Oct. 31.

This day marked the end of summer and the end of food abundance and plant vitality for farmers.

On the day known as "The Day of the Dead," living relatives would help their dead loved ones complete a safe journey to the afterlife.

People would paint or carve scary faces on gourds and turnips and disguise themselves in outlandish costumes to scare away the evil spirits that were also thought to be wandering the earth that night.

This is the first Winter Celebration and the day in which the Celtic New Year begins.

Denise and I spent the evening at Low Wood with a glass of wine, pumpkins by the fire and a bowl of sweets for the village children who called round with their parents to show off their scarey costumes!

The End of The Season

It’s the end of the sailing season, the Blackwell boats have been taken out of the lake for repair and dry storage, the parking is now free til spring and the shops are on winter hours - no bacon butties til 10am!!!

Shepherds Boat Hire have closed for the season and all the boats are in for maintenance and it’s all gone very quiet.

Time to snuggle up in front of a large wood burning stove with a cuppa hot chocolate and stock up the supplies for winter in case we get cut off and wait til next season begins….

Er…. Hold on – this is the best time of the Year – the Winter Series is about to begin and no snuggling up for us lot – it’s a yacht race on Windermere that’s held fortnightly on Sundays and between 50 and 60 yachts of varying shapes and sizes race either in the north or south lake in fog, snow, rain and very high winds and we call it FUN!!!

After the race the teams go to the Spinnaker Club at the Marina for chips a beer (or in my case wine) and the race results and a good afternoon in excellent company is spent.

This, along with the winter walking and mountaineering, keeps us all well busy til spring!

Summer On Windermere

These are a collection of my favourite picutres of Windermere this summer...

Buxton and Errwood Reservoir

Wayne and Lois came over for the day today and we went to Buxton and had lunch at The Old Club House,

we then took the dogs for a game of footy at Errwood Reservoir where Wayne and Lois did their 'beam me up Scotty' impressions with their new mobile phones!!!

The Barnaby Rudge, Tebay

Ian and I met Audrey and Colin at a pub called the Barnaby Rudge at Tebay for lunch today and then spent most of the afternoon nattering over cups of coffee.

An Evening At Lowwood

After a scrummy meal of chicken breast stuffed with feta cheese and wraped in honey roast ham, served with baby sweetcorn, sugar snap peas and boiled potatoes we watched Beetlejuice on DVD and then went to Roz's house for an evening of red wine merriment and open fires.

Sandside

Sandside is on the south coast of Cumbria on the Morcambe Bay estuary.

Denise and I went here today for a bar meal at The Ship

Windermere - Safety Boat Assessment

The day started off again nice but soon deteriorated into rain and wind after a short practice session we were put out on the lake to rescue various 'sunken' craft for our assessments.

We then went and played cops and robbers with the Big Boys Toys which had flashing blue lights on and went very fast and was great fun!!!
We all passed the course with flying colours and I then went to The Ship to have a celebratory glass of wine with Tom, John, Steve, Colin and James.

Windermere - Safety Boat Course

Blackwell Sailing are putting Geoff, Brian and myself through the RYA Safety Boat Course and Assessment over the next 2 days - it is taking place out of the Lake Wardens Base at Ferry Nab Windermere.

We used Blackwells safety boat and practiced rescuing windsurfs, kyacks, canoes, and a pico and a wayfarer from partial and full inversions as well as resucing various 'victims' in kyaks from lee shores.

The weather started off sunny but after lunch turned to wind and rain - good to practice in though.

Jeffrey's Mount, Roundthwaite

I took a walk up Jeffrey's Mount today in gorgious sunshine and warm temperatures and terrific views from the top.

I parked at the view point just outside Roundthwaite, Near Tebay and walked across the fellside, through the gate and then the route is direct to the top.

It took about 45 mins to get to the sumit.

The City Of Manchester

Ian and I went into the city today for a bit of shopping and a look around and had lunch in a wine bar called The Grinch. They would give Tic Tac in Iceland a run for their money on the variety of pizza's they served!

I went for the Crispy Duck and Hoisin Sauce with Mozzerella Cheese and Spring Onions - oh wow - definitely giving Tic Tac a run for their money on the Chip Pizza they serve for originality!

We bought the DaVinci Code on DVD whilst there and spent the evening infront of the fire watching the film, drinking wine and snuggling up with the dogs.

The Ship Inn, Bowness

After work today John and I joined Mr T and Pauline for a drink on Complicated Lady followed by a visit to The Ship Inn where we met up with (the other) John, Anthony, Tom, Evonne and Stuart for a few drinks and a natter about the forthcoming Winter Series - the main yachting event of the year on Windermere.

Autumn At Kinder

We went for a walk in the woods near Kinder Reservoir today and I think Autumn has finally arrived.

Chilly mornings and all the leaves are turning in the woods. I wore a jumper for our walk for the first time and we had great fun kicking up and chasing the leaves. The dogs also went for a swim in the beck but I didn't join them!

Lamborghini Day

This morning we all headed off to Bruntingthorpe where Wayne was to spend the morning on the circuit track behind the wheel of a Lamborghini compliments of his parents who got him a race day for his 40th birthday present!

And afterwards we went into The Plough at Bruntingthorpe for a well earned pint, a game of Pool.

Welcome to Wayne And Lois' House

Yes that really is a Ducati bike and yes it is really parked in the hall of their 3 bed semi!!!! Why not outside? - well that's where the Porche and the Lamborghini are parked!!! (and you think I am joking!!)

Anyway Ian and I are here for the weekend in sunny Leicester and leaving the guys to watch the racing Lois and I went into town and just happened to bump into an old favorite haunt of mine Voo Doo where I used to buy all my clothes from - I have a bit if a thing about velvet and this place is full of it!!!!!

Wayne and Lois had booked us into the Fung Ting Chinese restaurant for the evening which was really, really nice!! Lots of food and excellent wine!

Count The Cats

This is a very rare sight - all four cats inside the house and altogether - the weather must be changing for winter!!

This weekend was spent boxing up and packing away items we hopefully aren't going to need between now and our move back to the Lakes - date still to be confirmed!

Sunday Roast At Birch Vale

Ian and I spent this weekend at Birch Vale as we had asked Ian's parents over for Sunday roast. We had honey roast chicken stuffed with onion, tyme and sage from the garden with buttered boiled potatoes, sugar peas, baby sweetcorn and beans, followed by spicey apple turnover and cream with coffee and chocolates to follow - of course all washed down with some very nice wine!!