It's Sunday and I am having a lazy day. The weather is peculiar...we have got the tail end of hurricane Bertha which has seen this mornings weather range from torrential rain, gusting winds, sunshine and blue sky and the odd rumble of thunder. The rain was so heavy that I had to put off my dog walk until it stopped or at least got lighter. Harvey didn't seem to mind too much because I let him sleep on the bed because I felt so guilty!
He doesn't look too distressed does he?
So today has seen me return to cooking/baking which is something that I occasionally enjoy and often get the urge to do. It's actually really baking that I prefer but when I bake cakes I end up eating them (or most of them) and that's no good for the waistline which still hasn't recovered from our holiday excesses.
Today's delights will be a low fat lamb casserole - Hairy Bikers stylee -, a Manchester tart and a batch of pecan blondes.
The casserole is in the oven and I'm keeping everything crossed that it turns out ok. I have very limited success with casseroles and stews. Mum was brilliant at both. I have not inherited that gene.The npecan blondes will be baked later and the Manchester tart is done.....
While I have been walking the dog over the past week I have been struck by how wonderful the wild blackberries are this year. My diet is being supplemented every day by the blackberries that I find. There also seems to be a glut of damsons and plums. I think the warmth and the sun of the summer must have been perfect for the summer fruits.
Now, I would like to say that I have collected all of the damsons and made jam but I would be lying. I find damsons so fiddly. They have a lovely taste but the stones seem to big for the fruit somehow. However, the stones don't seem to put the dog off of eating them. I have to drag him daily past the fallen fruit otherwise I think he would hoover up every last damson and then have a really bad tummy.
I have also been quite taken with the beauty of nature again while I've been walking. It really is amazing what you can see when you really stop and look around you. The same goes for listening too. If you're out walking try just stopping for a minute, closing your eyes and really listening to the sounds that are around you. We become very good at blocking things out but listen hard and hear what you've been missing.
For example, when I was walking the dog the other day I was bumbling along and all I thought I could hear was the traffic from the local main road. When I actually listened properly I heard the traffic plus my footsteps on the grass, the dog's name tag jangling on his collar, the rustling of the plastic bag I was carrying, insects of all kinds chirruping away in the hedgerows and grass and other dogs barking in the distance.
I find it really therapeutic to just listen properly from time to time.
The same applies to things we see. We often take so much of what is around us for granted that we don't see everything there is. If I sit on the bench in my garden I will see the house and the flowers and that's about all I take in but I am disregarding the blossoms, the colours of the flowers, the scattered remnants of the dog's bones, the bushes in various states of growth and the overgrown hedges and so much more.
Earlier this week I walked Harvey around the lake where I used to go when I was training for the half marathon earlier this year and where I haven't been for months. I was awake early again and it was a beautiful morning so we were out and about by 6.45 am. It really was a joy to be out at that time. The dog loved it and so did I. I was so aware of my surroundings and I took a few pictures to try to capture the feel of it but photographs never really capture moods that well.
There is no news on the house move front. We have had viewings of our house and a couple of offers which have been rejected and I have been to see some houses too but I know that we can't make an offer on a property until we have an offer on ours. I'm still excited about it all and not stressed and long may that continue.
Oh, and on one of my walks I saw this....
I'm intrigued by it because I have not ever seen anything like it before and it was the only one like it in the area so if anyone knows what it is please let me know!
Well, I think that will be all for now. Stay happy and healthy everyone and enjoy every day.
Remember to listen!
Here endeth the hippy lesson!!
Much love xxxxx
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