Mothers Day special

Mothers day so what shall we do as a big treat?? Get up early (not as early as we would have needed had Toby not done the animals and walked the dogs and made the porridge...what a boy!) and head amid drizzle and rising winds north to Glencoe where things were...not much different. After a fair amount of dithering in the car park we went for it and spent an windy and wet few minutes laughing on the outside but secretly wondering on the inside on the access chair...but... what a great day! The snow was slowish and grippy so after a couple of runs we swung back to the plateau,grabbed Rosie and swept her up to the Main basin before she knew what had hit her! She did great and was far more controlled than me in every way. She has the knack of looking as though she is going slowly but you just can't catch her up! She was smiling at the bottom and through the next couple of runs. Freya did the Haggis Trap and survived but the old aching legs from the run yeasterday caught up with me by 3pm and so we headed down to the Plateau for a couple more goes and then down leaving the dynamic duo for a few more death defying runs alone.

A not so Mighty Pre stalker preparation run......

Determined as ever to complete our training goals ahead of next weeks Mighty Deerstalker Liz and I set off eventually this morning after her domestic chores and my breakfasts ( for,appropriatley enough threee actual deerstalkers) to run a ten miler incorporating Dun Na Cuiche. I popped the hill in right at the beginning which made us feel pretty chuffed when we had done it but with another 7 miles ahead to go. We caught up on gossip and chatted our way around the route with a little help from our canine running buddies. they only showed signs of confusion when we ended up at argyll Adventure...a mile and a bit from our house and turned round.

Profetic Photo

I seem to have stumbled down Memory Lane and now cannot find my way out again...This picture was taken sometime in the mid 70s at a garden party with fancy dress competition. Very topical (if you can see the writing on the placard..."1/2d per day extra for the Crimea Nurses") as nurses were making a push for ( no striking tho' nurses dont do this!) higher wages. I have no idea if they were successful then but I was involved in a simelar dispute when I was all growned up and indeed a nurse. The porters and ancillary staff took a stand on our behalf and we were granted a respectable pay rise which was back dated bring a nice fat wage packet one month I seem to remember.....

Ps I came first in the fancy dress...

It is Sunday so it must be skiing....

An early start this morning as Toby, the man on a mission arrived in our bedroom complete with bowl of porridge and cuppa tea and a time limit of 8 minutes to get it down our necks. Dogs were walked, animals fed, Rayburn sorted and girls marshalled into breakfast detail. We were in the car a little shell shocked at 8.30 heading northwards. In order that Toby could go over some maths problems with Garret I took the rear seat next to Freya and annoyed her all the way with games designed to keep my mind off being sick. The precipitation in the car park did diminish the spirits primarily but Toby' s force of will carried us through and onto the access chair lift before we knew it. Rain turned to snow before the top.The snow was soft and very skiable ( an opinion shared by all the others that showed up too to take advantage of the ace conditions) although varying visibilty meant one moment the mountain was unveiled before you and the next swished away behind a grey curtain. We managed though and had lots of friends up there today too with the guys from Dalchenna up for Rhias birthday treat. We even managed to drag Rosie along Mug's Alley more than once although Freyas suggestion of the bottom
of the Bunny run met with disapproval and an instant falling over. Toby and Garret span around and about the hill, sometimes with Freya and I and sometimes with teenage friends! This was ultimatley and literally Tobys downfall as he took massive tumble whilst skiing with Shannon. Thoroughly winded and a bit bashed around he was forced to call it a day at 3.30. Previous to that he and Freya fell off the wall tow just to upset me as I then had to follow Garret down the wall to them... Happy Valley was great and F and I even managed to get with the speed and go for it! Despite the fall ( remains to be seen if T will compete in the basketball Comp on Tuesday... An expert in timing... My boy!) a great day all round... Arrived home 20 minutes before our very nice guest who had been pre warned of snowy plans). Bed beckons...zzzzzzzzzzx

Down Memory Lane

This week my brother has been cataloguing slides left by my father. A huge job as he left 3-600 films which equates to 5-10,000 pictures. some of these are filtering along to us daily by e mail and I love them. It is fantastic to re awaken old buried memories in this way...must be a time of lie thing.
Photos
My Christening some time in 1965..my father is to the very left with my Great Uncle Reg next to him,Liz Alison and Nigel are there with my godmothers (the glamorous lady at the back of the armchair with her husband behind her) daughter on the chair (this chair appears in an astonishing number of photos). Holding me is my beloved Godmother who took her responsibilities to heart and became my very own special person, Aunty Edith. Her husband who is the clergyman made a dedication to my Father, then deceased at my Wedding. My mother is to his left and my godfather Philip to his right.

I am the baby here, this tricycle, already aged went on and on and I remember riding it to the shops.

We always took a photo on Easter day with the eggs...something I still do.

My Parents' lovely Rose Garden.

My Favourite! The magic roundabout gang...I am Rosalie, Alison Florence and Nigel a rather reluctant Mr McGregor...that beard hung around for years!!

My First Christmas..I still have the teddy in front of the tree.

Being held by my Grandmothers Father Ernest Petheram...born 1883 I think.

My mother and Father in the Dales...this was probably taken when on a visit to Nigel at School in Skipton.

Ski Sunday (think I have used that line before but it is a good one...)

Back home with two exhausted boys who decide that the way to avoid the queues was to ski down to the car park and come back up the queue-less access chair...simple......Which is why they re appeared an hour or so later absolutely wiped after a very long trip via the blue route and an excursion round a wood. Toby won the most falls competition by 4-3 but Garret already with aching limbs from the day before at work was definitely today's fall guy. Meanwhile Freya and I skiied out and about and queued in perfect harmony!

More of the same...but different

Different day, different colour...same old painting!