Odds and Sods - September 2019

Finn and I have had some lovely walks in September, albeit quite short walks.

We have sort of given up on our favourite Hockering and Mattishall walk - the seven miler is too long, the four miler is fraught with anxiety as Finn has become very nervous of loud noises and frequently bolts when the bird scarers or guns go off, and the walk the other side of the A47 is quite stony and the last time we did it, Finn got something in his paw and was limping quite badly.  It's all a bit of a disaster!  I haven't given it up just yet, I just have to hope that the conditions are better the next time we try it.

I've had my new winter haircut - in the summer, my hair is easy as I just tie it up out of the way.  But in the winter, I can't actually tie it up AND get it under a hat, so it had to go!

I've sold a few of my things on Folksy and as commissions.  This is a Norwich City scarf made for a season-ticket holder friend who requested a longer, thicker and warmer scarf for wearing at home games over the winter.   So pleased is she with it, that potentially I'm making three more for her family members, just waiting for the nod to order the wool.

I have been the butt of jokes of friends and family as I vent my frustration about things not being made to last - these pyjamas are fifteen years old now and have a bloody great hole in them.   I'm not that sentimental about my clothes but I had this pair in my camper van, Dizzy, when I had my big walking adventure in 2005 so I AM rather sentimental about this pair.   I'm trying to work out how I'm going to patch them!

Mum and I recently visited a plant fair and Mum has decided she'd like something like this painted on the chimney pot she has - Shannon take note, this one has your name all over it!

Finn and I have been down to the west country for a weekend with Andy in the caravan - our walks were very truncated though - due to weather and a flock of wayward sheep that kept escaping onto our usual walking route - tricky!

Hares

A few years ago, Mary came up to Norfolk and we spent a couple of days wandering around Norwich in search of dragons!   Every few years, the organisation Wild in Art put on an art trail around various cities around the world and Norwich has been blessed to have hosted a number of these - so far we've had elephants, gorillas and dragons.  

Last year, as we were having a hares art trail, I asked Sam if she'd like to come up for a few days and do the trail with me, in Mary's memory.   This time though, we took three days to do them all and I'll post each day's adventures separately.  This post is really just about the organisation and I've thrown in a few photos of hares outside of Norwich that weren't included in our list!

When Mary came up for the dragons, I thought it would be fun to give her a souvenir of her trip up here for her birthday so I was delighted to discover that the organisers and Break, the recipient charity, were producing a sticker book!   This had me probably more excited than I should be!   So I felt that I really ought to do the same for Sam's birthday too - so I purchased the hare sticker book and started collecting my stickers - this time though, I got involved with sticker swops too which was even more exciting.  Facebook is a wonderful thing!

This is Horatio - I think!   I am rubbish at names.   I found this one in Wymondham and, interestingly, he's still there, in the market place, two years later.  Most of the hares were auctioned off for charity to private organisations and individuals, so it's lovely to see that some have been bought by the locations they were originally homed in and we can still see them.

Mmmmm, actually I think this one might be Horatio - he certainly seems more nautical than the first one.  (I might have to borrow Sam's sticker book for the names!)  This one is outside a pub on the Broads, but, never paying enough attention, that's as vague as it gets.   I know there's a micro brewery there also - Woodfordes?  Does that sound right?

No idea what this one's called, but I know he was definitely at Wroxham Barns and seems to have a cheeky little hippo and elephant to keep him company!

And this one was definitely outside John Lewis!

Getting ready to send some swops off - with the dragons sticker book, I did all my swops with a young lad called Peter - he was six years old!  (He was the son of Amanda's colleague, and everything was very easy.)  This time, it was all a bit more fraught as I was having six or seven FB conversations with people and promising a certain number to one person, who then turned out to have already swopped with someone else as I was so late getting involved.   It's quite a stressful occupation!

And here are the trail maps in readiness for Sam's arrival - is it wrong to be so excited about these things at my age?!!

Keeping Cool at East Runton

During last summer's heatwave, Finn and I spent quite a lot of time up at East Runton at the beach.   There's very rarely anyone at the beach, especially at the time we get there, in the early morning - apart from the fishermen bringing in the catch, and the odd dog walkers.

I think Finn was trying to cool off even more as he took himself into this bunker to hide!

Finn only goes back on the lead if I see other dogs being walked on the lead and I'm assuming this was what was happening here.

Either that, or I was trying to stop him charging about again, overheating.