October break

It was October break last week and I was off work for the entire week.

sorry, out of focus and shrivelled up

It has been awfully wet and windy last week and we didn't really venture outside much, with the exception of James who went to an all week adventure camp. He went kayaking, orienteering, hill walking, abseiling (outdoors), climbing (indoors), squeezling and he also did archery and some simple bushcraft stuff. He had a great time and has already asked to go back during the next holiday. Personally, I am really happy he enjoyed himself because James is quite insecure and relies a lot on his little brother - who wasn't there. James' confidence needed a booster and I am pleased to say that he was brimming with confidence and happiness. He is definitely the outdoorsy type.

Alistair went on an adventure walk with Sam. They packed the trangia cooker, waterproofs and toddled off with the dog in tow. They stopped at the corner shop to stock up on junk food to cook (instant mac & cheese, tinned ravioli, fizzy drinks, Subway meatballs, sweeties). They returned hours later - wet and tired but happy. They had cooked under a bridge (it was raining) and washed their dishes in the river. I am glad that sometimes at least some of my children get along. There is nine years between my oldest and youngest and it was really nice they spent some time together. Money changed hands of course (feel free to call it a bribe) but it was money spent well.

I couldn't compete with this and it will come as no surprise that Alistair was complaining about bottomless boredom when I took him out walking later in the week.

The woods are saturated with water and littered with fallen branches after the first autumn storms and it wasn't all the great stomping through the woods. We caught an hour of sun though, which was good. Wellies got stuck more than once and the dog nearly disappeared in the mud. There were some lovely sights and one nice surprise: I discovered a sweet chestnut tree. I must have walked past it a million times but never noticed it was an actual sweet chestnut tree. It is too late for harvest of course and there were only few largely rotten chestnuts to be found but now that I know it is there, I shall return. I didn't think our climate would support sweet chestnut trees.

Talkin of fruit trees: we are planning to plant a new fruit tree this winter and I need some advice from a learned gardener, and/or someone with experience of successfully growing fruit trees in the West of Scotland, or similarly exposed climates. We have a pear tree (fruit doesn't ripen on tree), an apple tree which his a good cropper but prone to disease and too tart for my liking and a Victoria plum (doing fine). I am looking for something different, ideally edible. We had a quince tree but the site was too exposed for it to crop successfully. To summarise the climate: it is often very windy, it rains a lot and it is dark for half the year and light for the other half of the year. The length of the day in Glasgow varies extremely over the course of the year, from just under 7 hours to 17.5 hours. Any suggestions are welcome. Average maximum temperature 12.2 centigrades (15.3 in London), average minimum temperature 5.5 centigrades (7.8 in London), total average annual sunshine 1203 hours (1410 hours in London), yearly total annual average rain 1124 mm (557 mm in London). Any suggestions are welcome. If you have developed a force field that could protect a peach tree or something similar, please also get in touch.

Other than that, Alistair and I played Sleeping Queens, Gubs, Dragonwood, Rat a tat cat, Kleine Fische and more. Alistair watched a lot of telly and played with his Nintendo. I pottered, sewed and knitted plenty. I did virtually no housework (but regret this now). The older children did sometimes make an appearance. It was good holiday. 

Oh, and Sam did all the dishwashing at the local Chinese restaurant by hand, no dishwasher to be seen. He also chopped plenty of onions and is now wondering if he can add "food prep" to his work experiences on his CV.

Thanks for stopping by. xx