Mary-Jane and The Strawberries

Mary-Jane and I went for a mooch out in the garden. MJ seems to love it outside. This is the first time she has sat on the grass. Another first was the strawberries. She has had strawbs before, but never out of the garden. Picked from the stem and given straight to her. Very tasty. They smelled sweet and I wished there was more ripe! HK looked so very proud of his little girl, sitting on the grass, eating the strawbs that he had grown for her.

I think the photos speak for themselves.

Garden Update

The garden is flourishing. The apple buds are coming along, lots and lots of apples on their way!

Courgettes ready for planting on, sooner rather than later!

Top end of the orchard field. An area has been marked out to plant more apple trees, and a few plums (at least one anyhow!)

The strawbs are doing well. The lesser spotted HK is in the background

Far end of the orchard field. We are talking of having this as a seating area, fenced off with an archway. At the moment there are lots of rocks covered with rocks. There is also access here to the back lane. Another access is on the left of the picture where you may just be able to see part of a metal arch.

The field from the other end, with part of the house. What look like big patches on the grass were are a pathway, this will be re-laid

This was taken from more or less the same place as the previous one, just turned to the right. Another area of the garden that needs some intense work. The building is the back of a stone shed. Apparantly in days gone past it was built as a Wash House.

Raita

Lst night we made Raita dip for the first time. I'd looked for some in Tesco and in the Co-op, but couldn't find any, which is unusual. So I thought I'd take the plunge, put my money where my mouth is and make some. I've been saying that I'd like to make some for a couple of years, you know how it is.........

So, with simple ingredients of plain natural greek style yoghurt (which was nice in itself!), cucumber and mint out of the garden, we (HK & I) chopped up the mint, partially skinned the cucumber, put them in the yoghurt, mixed it all together and put it in the fridge for a bit.

My goodness! I shall never buy Raita again! The freshness and taste was second to none. Try it, do it, you won't be sorry. The pleasure is in the simple things in life. We had it with Indian Nibbles - onion bhajis, veg samosas and veg pakoras - and no I am not clever or confident enough (yet) to do these myself. Raita would go lovely with greek style meat dishes. Go on, give it a go!

Evening Cows!

There are cows in the fields to the front and back of the house. The ones to the back are heffers. HK called me out to see them one evening. It seems that in the evening they come to the edge of the field nearest the house, then sometimes go down the edge of the field to our left, until they are fed. HK has been making friends with the cows - they are a friendly bunch! They come close enough now to be hand fed some grass.

The cows are curious and each seems to have a personality, such a shame (in a way) that they will end up on someones dinner plate. Anyhow, the dark tan cow in the middle is the friendliest and the boldest - he ended up with the most grass!

This was another curious cow. They are all handsome fellas in their own right.Another 'group' photo!Whilst we were talking with the cows, we were escorted by Butch aka Top Cat - TC. He often follows people about when they are walking round the garden and there about. Butch is from one of the farms. As we were walking down the lane to get back round to the front of the house, Butch and HK were walking together, like a pair of fellas out on the town. It would make a good picture from behind (where I was, as usual!). However, each time I stopped, Butch stopped and sat down as if waiting for me. Photo opportunity was gone. Butch has proved himself as a Ladies Man!

Round the front of the house - this is Mary-Jane's window, the little one. The cottage was originally a seperate dwelling, it's been knocked through now.

A Walk In Calder Bridge

A couple of days ago, the weather brightened, come the afternoon. I bundled Mary-Jane into her buggy and persuaded HK to go for a walk. Due to the time, we thought just to go as far as Calder Bridge. It isn't far and we haven't had a walk there for quite a while. When we got there, I showed HK where there was a Public Footpath at the back of the church. I thought there was only a hard path for about 50 yards then when 'off road' and led onto a field, which wouldn't be buggy friendly. We decided to take a look anyhow. And weren't we well paid for our curiosity!

The path actually leads round the back of the church and not over the fields, as I thought. You can't see the path from the road. With smiley faces, out came the camera! The path leads to Calder Abbey, we were half way there when we turned back - MJ was getting ready for her tea and was starting to be not a happy girl.

Here is the walk. This is about 100 yards into the path. You initially go round the back of the church, cross a small bridge over a beck, then are faced with this beauty!

The River Calder, not the afore mentioned beck. The water is so clear, I was tempted to go paddling!

A little further along. I love the light play of the sun through the trees.

Yours Truly! Having a pose by a tree, this was the nearest I got to the water.

Just Idyllic. A beautiful palce for a walk. Especially on a hot sunny day - lots of shade.

HK and Mary-Jane enjoying the view and waiting for Mommy to catch up. HK did check the beck for fishing purposes!

The unassuming entrance to the walk. You can't really see the small bridge over the beck, then the path goes through the trees to the right.

With no introduction, and stating the obvious, this is the church! It is St Bridget's Church.

Mary-Jane & The Drawer

Mary-Jane continues to be active. She is not quite crawling, but is quite adept in rolling round the floor to get to where she wants to get to. She is taking more of an interest in things that are above her and not just directly in front of her. Recently she has been exploring the handles on the chest of drawers.

Here, Mary-Jane has reached the drawers and is checking to see if I've seen her.

The handles are fascinating and fun when you are nine months old! Mary-Jane knows what is kept in here, I'm sure - a small amount of my stash! Perhaps that is why she wants to get into the drawer?!

'Now look Mommy, I've got all the way here by myself and have got hold of the handle, but I just can't make it budge!'

It's very tiring being Mary-Jane and exploring!

Seascale & Ravenglass

Today we made the most of the sunshine. It wasn't particularly expected, but very welcomed. After returning from an appointment in Whitehaven, I decided to take Mary-Jane out somewhere. Afternoon nap was napped and I gathered things together. I thought about going to Seacale, which is only a few miles down the coast. It would be Mary-Jane's first proper 'being by the sea'. Mum came too.

This is what they are looking at. Unfortunatley Mary-Jane was not quite herself and didn't really seem to like being at the seaside. I'm not sure what it was she didn't like, whether it was the sea breeze, the expanse of open-ness or her parasol, I don't know. All tears were remedied by Pick-Up's and Mommy Love.

This is what they are looking at. This is the beach looking one way

And this is it looking the other way, kinda northwards. It's a lovely beach and I know we will spend much more time there. There was people about but it wasn't busy, surprising to say it was a hot half term day. Perhaps it wasn't overly busy because it was a sad Rememberance day for West Cumbria - a year to the day since the Cumbria Shootings, when 12 lives were lost, plus the perpertators, many injured also. I won't go into further detail here, perhaps another time.

I decided that we should leave Seascale and find a more Mary-Jane liking place (although she was starting to calm alot). We went on to Ravenglass, a few more miles down the coast.

Ravenglass is primarily famous as the home of the La'al Ratty, a narrow gauge railway. It operates diesel and steam engines, which pull small trains along picturesque countryside.

Looking at the picure below, if you didn't know the railway was small, then it may seem strangely disproportionate! This is the platform. We were lucky that we saw two trains.

During all this, Mary-Jane thought it would be good to start taking an interest in photography. Being 9 months old, her interest didn't really go beyond trying to eat the camera cover.

As I walked down the platform, I saw some vintage tractors between two buildings. There seemed to be about half a dozen, something to explore and find out about for next time.

This engine is The Little Mite. It is a fully working miniature engine.

And here is my Mary-Jane by the engine. R&ER stands for Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. We shall take a ride on the railway when MJ is older and can appreciate it. She did seem to enjoy being here.