Train stations, advent calenders and sewing days

Got up at 0715 this morning and did a little 2.5 mile run in the frost.  It was dark and cold and the world (or our little part of it) was just coming to life.  I passed 13yos already on his paper round but the rest of the family were still sleeping.  Got back, showered and had breakfast then 13yos, 7yos and I left to pick 23yos up from the train station 17 miles north of us (our nearest) while Rick stayed in to study and 11yos had music lessons.  It was still frosty, and stayed that way all day.  I had a sewing day booked for the day with my friendly local textile artist but was 30 minutes late for that due to all the rushing around.  23yos enjoyed the day with the children doing various activities.  This is what I made today - a Christmas tree advent calender for all the notes I write for the children.

Now have to finish writing the notes.  Had a great day though - good company, good instruction and really good leek and potato soup for lunch!
23yos made tea and then we headed straight off to pick up his girlfriend from the next nearest railway station which is 50 miles east of us.  Mad rush as we had to get back to a village near here to listen to 13yos with his brass band playing Christmas Carols at the "switching on of the lights".  We missed the chilly outside part of it and when we got there they were serving soup and mince pies in the village hall and then we heard another small concert by the brass band.  They are really good.  Nice evening rounded off with a great session of auld lang syne, with B joined in as though she had been here all her life, which was nice.  Feels like the Christmas season is almost on us!
Hasn't got above freezing today - how I love our wood burners!!!

Frosty river walk

Yesterday and today have been really cold and crisp and frosty.  I have kept 7yos in as he has a nasty cough and is still under the weather, so he didn't get swimming yesterday and won't be at choir this evening.  Last night he fell asleep at 7pm - shattered.  I had sewing group here last night and got on top of some of the Christmas presents I need to make.
This morning, after doing book work, 11yod and I went for a brisk walk for 2.2 miles down by the river.  It was lovely an we took about 36 minutes to do it.  We plan to do one each week - it's nice to have some together time and to be outside.  The boys watched a history programme while we were out.  Looking forward to having 23yos home in the morning.  18yos has his theory driving test today.

First 10 miler

Wow - today my running pal and I did 10 miles.  It feels so good.  We set out just after lunch - just catching Rick who had cycled 25 miles to the next town and back.  We planned on doing around 9 miles but the route we chose got us to the front door at 9.4 miles and so we just HAD to carry on a little further down the road and back to make it up to 10 miles.  Actually 10.2 miles according to my Garmin!
Here is Marie at about mile 2.5.  You can't really appreciate the lovely view behind the wall here!

Here we are having arrived home feeling really pleased with ourselves!

Getting to know my Garmin and washing machine problems

I love living in a rural part of the UK.  I love living in a "dark sky park" where we are so far from a large town that we have no light pollution and it feels like we can touch the stars.  I love living a long way from the nearest Costa Coffee so that going there is a treat and not routine.  I love looking out of our bedroom window and seeing fields and hills and itching to be out in them.  I love running along and smelling cow manure and hearing the gentle moos from the other side of the hedge when it is dark.  In fact I love country living all the time................... except when my washing machine breaks down and the insurance tell me they can't come out until 10th December because of the distance it takes to get to us!  They have to allocate a whole morning to the one job.  Then and only then do I wish we lived nearer to a city!!!
Enough moaning.  The three youngest children are full of coughs and colds at the moment.  So they were in today and had to miss music and orchestra.  18yos came home again this morning.  It is always so good to see him. He has his practical driving test soon so needs to practice for that and also has a swim teacher course during the first week in December and has lots of theory for that.  Between that and his hotel and lifeguard work he is a busy person.
This evening 18yos went on a 3.5 mile run in the dark with the head torches. I took my Garmin again but unfortunately pressed the wrong button at some point and so lost some of my data.  Anyway - it was a good run and lovely to be out with 18yos.  I am getting a little faster which is good - my run/walk technique will get be where I want to be!  Tomorrow I will be up to 9 miles with my running buddy.

Using Garmin and club prize giving

We were taken out for a meal last night by some very dear friends of ours and had a lovely time.  It's so nice to be grown up for a while and relax with friends.  We went to a place not far from here and enjoyed the evening very much - lots of good conversation and a good number of laughs.  Thank you very much (hope you are reading this!!!)
I went out for a run this morning.  It was a really cold crisp day and was a little bit slippy underfoot.  I did 3.5 miles and used my Garmin for the first time.  It was stunning running through the hotel grounds with the view over the fields and hills where every blade of grass seemed to sparkle in the winter sun.  My time was slow as usual but it was a great thing to do on a Saturday morning.  We had a quick turn around then as we were heading out for the running club end of season run and prize giving.  13yos and 11yod had left their things by the front door and headed up to swimming club and Rick was cycling the 10 miles to the event with a friend.  I had cream to whip to go with the scones I made yesterday plus prizes and dogs and changes of clothes to load into the van.  Managed it all and we arrived in good time.  I chickened out of the adults run as it was a steady 4.5 mile climb (hence I did my own run early on) and decided to run with 11yod as running isn't her favourite thing to do at all!  It was really cold and crisp but great that it was dry after all the rain.  The adults left first on a handicap so 25 minutes from first one leaving to last one.  The border collie ran off with Rick and then the children and I left - 3 of them doing two laps of a one mile route and the rest doing one lap.

The photo above is some of us waiting for the run to start.  7yos wasn't allowed to run as he was unwell yesterday with a temperature.

The above picture is of some of the adults waiting around for their handicap time to come up.  Rick has the blue buff on his head.

Photo above is Rick just about to start off.  The children did really well on their run.  13yos did the two laps and was a little disappointed with his time but he had swum a lot this morning and has a cough so there were reasons for his slower time.  11yod and I ran/walked the mile and she did really well to keep pushing herself. After the children's run finished the marshals and I took the children back to the village community centre we were having food, prizegivings and quizzes in.  Then the adults followed on down in their car.
Rick got the prize for male athelete of the year (shared with an amazing chap who ran his 100th half marathon this year) and 13yos got second prize for the 5k handicap series we have had over the last year.  It was a good day with good food and good fun.  First picture is Rick and his friend who won the handicap race today.  Rick won a £10 voucher for a local outdoor pursuits shop.

The picture below is 13yos with his second prize trophy for the 5k series - he also got a box of chocolates.  He has really done well this year with getting fit and pushing himself that bit further.

It was a good day in all - lovely crisp and cold after all the heavy rain and flooding.  It was good to get back into the house this evening, put on the wood burner and relax.  Winter is well and truly here I guess.  There is also no way that I can stop running now that Rick has bought me a Garmin.................... it is the sign of a real runner and it cannot be left unused as it does not lie!!

birthdays, injuries and teeth

Had a lovely birthday.  Loads of lovely pressies - people are so kind to me.  Didn't even wake up until 0845 and Rick brought me a cup of tea in bed.  Then the four children at home piled in and we sat in bed while I opened my pile of presents.  Lots of running stuff, including a Garmin (wow - I really am a runner now) and lovely thoughtful things from the children.  Another thing which Rick bought me was a book by Jeff Galloway named "Marathon - you can do it"!!!!!!  I set myself goals when I have a birthday and one this year is to do more running.  Other goals are more personal but as usual include weight loss and growing as a Christian.
18yos was supposed to be serving at a breakfast at the hotel where he works but his shift was cancelled so he was able to be at home for my birthday, which was really nice.  Missed the other two boys though.

We went out for a lovely walk along the sea shore and took tomato soup and french bread with us for our picnic.  Unusually it was a really nice day - it's normally pouring down on my birthday.  The only thing to put a slight damper on the day was that Rick fell on some rocks and got a deep cut in his hand which bled quite a lot - I had to walk back and get the car and pick them up at the side of the road and drive home to dress it and put some steri-strips on it.

The coast line we walked on was really stunning - the tide was just coming in.  There are little islands dotted around too which make it really interesting. We also walked up a little hill with a viewpoint on top and could see all around.

 Rick managed to loose the ball over a fence and we had some fun retrieving it as the fence was electric!

 Here is a picture of Rick's wound after it had been dressed.  Will take a little while to heal!
This morning I spent another morning with the District Nurses.  Probably the last time I will wear my student uniform.  I enjoyed it although if I worked in the community I think I would really miss the buzz of a ward. The children and Rick seem to get on well with the work while I am away - 7yos managed 7 pages of maths this morning.
                                                

Anyway - the hard work will be finding a job.  This evening 7yos came home from his choir practice with two wobbly teeth - one fell out just after he had gone to bed.  He is a dramatic little chappy and was really chuffed that he had lost another tooth.  He has a concert with his choir in two weeks which will be the first time he has sung in a choir concert.

early birthday and flooded carparks

Nice day today.  Did quite a bit of work this morning then the children went to the textile workshop to make some Christmas presents.  We found a nice recipe for some sweets we can make as presents too.  I made pumpkin soup for lunch which was nice.  Just after lunch 18yos arrived for a couple of days.  He has come to make an early birthday tea for me as he won't be here on my birthday.  He also brought me some flowers - I am so spoiled.  Just now I am sitting writing this while he lays the table nicely and makes my favourite meal.  Not often I get to sit down while tea is being prepared as usually I am making it!

When he arrived 18yos told us that there was a lot of flooding in the village.  We went and looked out of our second floor window to see that the river has burst it's banks and flooded into the car park and the paths around and all over the fields.  Rick went out for a run later and saw that the two footbridges and the road bridge over the river were closed, there were three cars submerged and some of the houses on the other side were flooded.  There are police everywhere and a "flood response unit" sitting in the square.  All the rain we have had, plus the water flooding into the river from the hills was just too much.  All very dramatic.  7yos and 11yod were sent home from orchestra early as only 8 children had arrived because of the flooding.  Some of the children at the school won't be able to get home at the moment because the flooding outside the village means access to some of the places in the hills is impossible.

wood and windscreens

What a busy day today.  Saturdays are often jam packed but this one just seemed to have so many events in. This morning 11yod and 13yos went to swim club as usual at 8.30.  I got up and went for a 6.2 mile run which was lovely in the late autumn sunshine.  While I was out my nephew and 7yos went to see my parents. I asked 7yos if he wanted to come on his bike while I did my run but he didn't want to leave his big cousin alone going to Nana and Grandad's - I thought that was very sweet of him.  We had a relatively early lunch and our nephew left to get the ferry to where he was staying overnight. We decided to visit our allocated woodpile in the forest this afternoon to bring back a trailer load.  The children (and a friend) enjoyed travelling in the trailer on a bit of the forest road.

While 13yos and Rick loaded the logs onto the trailer the other three children and I went looking for pine cones for some Christmas craft we have in mind.  We found lots of small ones which will do and the children had a great time playing for a while. The cones are currently drying in front of the log burner.  I love the forest!
The big spoke in the wheel (or log in the window) was that one of the logs was quite long and almost touched the back window so when we drove around the corner to leave the logging area we heard a tremendous bang as the log had pushed in the back windscreen!  It had shattered everywhere, mostly inside the boot.  So we had to drive home with no back windscreen.  Bit frustrating but at least no one was hurt.  It can't be fixed until Tuesday as the nearest windscreen place the insurance uses is 70 miles away and they have to send away for it.   We had fun when we got back home, taking off the canoe racks and I cautiously edge the van in under the alley way, with Rick hanging off the back to lower the van so that it didn't scrape along the top of the gateway!  At least it is out of the way of the wind and rain in there and should be safe!  Fun and games

We did some more practicing tonight for our singing tomorrow night, and arranged lifts as we can't use the car.

Shoebox Service

We went to the Operation Christmas Child shoe box service this evening at the Church of Scotland.  It was really good to see all the shoe boxes people had prepared and to see so many local groups performing a song/act etc.  13yos was helping with welcoming people and sorting shoe boxes and his youth fellowship did a really good clip at the end.  They used luminous gloves to mime to the song "Who am I".

11yod and 7yos sang with their Tuesday Bible club group...........

....... and also with their junior youth fellowship, which was a much bigger group

Today was also Save the Children charity day and our dear friend Aunty Myra bought the three children Pudsy Bear cup cakes in a local cafe and dropped them in at lunch time.  It was a lovely thing to do - we appreciate her very much.

Here are 7yos and 11yod with the cup cakes at lunch time today. This evening it was also good to have my nephew arrive for a couple of nights.  We don't see him very often and it is nice when he comes (not least because we get to pinch a little of the chinese takeaway he brings with him)  This visit was particularly exciting for the children as he brought Christmas presents from my sister ready to go under the tree.  

Birthday and Christmas - fabulous present

Had a wonderful early Christmas and birthday present yesterday from my parents-in-law.  A new laptop to replace the one which died in August.   So now no more using everyone else's computers.  I am so grateful!!!

Haven't run for a couple of days as my hip has been a little sore.  Hope to go out in the morning and do 6.2 miles and then do a forest run on Sunday morning.   Bit behind schedule on the running front. Did a lot of walking around the village yesterday - walked 7yos to his choir, 11yod to her pantomime dress fitting, then walk back home for 15 minutes, then walk to a meeting a 7yos's choir, then walk up to the swimming pool to pick 11yod from her swimming club.  It is good to be busy -  Been doing quite a lot of sewing as trying to get some presents made for Christmas. 

On Wednesday we travelled 50 miles to the nearest ice skating rink as there was a home education group meeting there.  The children really enjoy ice skating and it is always good to see their home educating friends.  There were a number of new families there which is nice. It's always good to see everyone.  One of the families have parents who are also runners and they are in our running club.  The mum was telling me that she has entered her first ultra marathon next year - the Highland Fling, which is one that Rick has run twice.  I am really impressed.  It's a great day out, even if you are just supporting and I hope she has a really good time.

Rain, rain and more rain

Many times I comment that the reason we live in such a beautiful part of the world is because of all the rain we have.  Rain contributes to natural beauty in so many ways - swollen rivers, varieties of greenery, tumbling waterfalls, and the amount of wildlife which live in the area.  We have certainly had our fair share of rain over the last week and the forecast is for more.  Rick went out for a run this morning with his running buddies into the forest and came back soaking.  We were going to go out this afternoon and gather some pine cones but it is really pouring down now and getting dark already so we will go another day.  We have a Christmas present plan for our pine cones!
The children are watching a nature programme at the moment - there are so many good programmes on made these days and we really like the nature ones.
If the rain keeps up as heavy as it is I may not run this evening as my leg is quite sore today - not sure why but might be as well to rest it for a few days.

The above is a photo of Rick (in the middle) with some of the other running club members at the 10k he ran on Saturday when he managed to get his 10kPB.  Think this is before the run as they don't look sweaty enough for after.  

head torches and barbed wire

Went for what was supposed to be a 4 mile run in the dark this evening but it ended up being a 1.5 mile run and a 1.5 mile walk as my running friend tripped over some barbed wire and wood which had been flung onto the bridleway.  She was very fortunate not to hurt herself anymore than a scraped nose and bleeding lip and chin.  We walked home as she was a little shaken.

crafty runners, early birthdays and warm kitchens

After such a high from running 8 miles on Thursday I was really surprised that I wasn't really stiff on Friday morning.  Didn't really feel like I had done my longest run ever.
11yod was quite unwell on Friday with a high temperature.  She ended up not being able to play in either the orchestra or her solo at the concert.  7yod managed well though.  He did a poem, recorder solo and played in the orchestra.  It all ended up being quite hectic really.  I had a previous arrangement before the concert was organised so the plan was that Rick would go and support the children.  In the end, he had to stay in with 11yod, I took 7yos and listened to his poem and then left him in the charge of a friend and went to my craft evening.  Throw into the mix 7yos's church group in the early evening and making tea and the fact that 21yos had decided to come home for the weekend for an early birthday as he can't make it next weekend and it makes for interesting organising.  Thankfully the bus from the station arrived (it's not reliable) and we didn't get an SOS to drive the 17 miles to pick him up.
My evening was great.  I went to a friends with the other ladies from the running group and make some Christmas tree decorations.  It was really good fun, relaxing and productive.I ended up making 5 decorations and we booked another evening in a few weeks time with Rick and my friend's husband are at scout camp.
Today Rick drove an hour and a half to our nearest city to run a 10k in which he was determined to get a sub 40 mins.  He came in 39.55 so was very pleased with himself.  We went to the shops, went to visit my parents and then did some tidying up and made the birthday tea.  As 21yos can't be here for his birthday we had a celebration this evening.

11yod decorated his birthday cake but couldn't find enough candles!

It is so cold here at the moment.  The weather warmed up when it was raining last week but now is getting cold again.  We are being hardy this year and not putting the heating on.  There are so many good things about having a cold house!  Getting into bed and warming up when the air around is cold!  Getting into a warm shower from a cold bathroom!  Wearing woolly socks and jumpers! Not breeding bugs in the central heating!  The best thing of all though, is the fact that, because we have a lovely warm wood burner in the kitchen, everyone congregates there.  Even if we are not doing things together we are all in there being together instead of being spread around the house.

The only negative thing about not having the heating on is the length of time it takes to dry the washing!!

Upping the mileage and seasonal colds

7yos and 11yod arrived home quite late last night having been to listen to the African Children's Choir in the evening.  They really enjoyed it and I was really pleased that they had managed to get there.
This morning 11yod woke with quite a bad cold so she spent most of the morning reading in a chair.  13yos is really working hard at his academic work (and getting up each morning to do a paper round) and we spent a lot of time this morning discussing areas of cubes and cuboids.
After lunch I went for the longest run I have ever done.  Went with my running partner and we had a great time in the forest.  I was even allowed to borrow Rick's Garmin which I have never used before.  It was really useful as I felt like we had done 5 miles when we had only done 2!!  Without a tracking device it would be impossible to measure mileage on the trails.  As usual it was great to be running in the forest - I really do love it, and I feel as though I have got to know it in the last few years whereas before it was just a nice place for a walk.
We did a massive 8 mile loop quite slowly and stopping to admire the fantastic view over the fields and hills. It feels so good to have achieved that.  My pace was around 15 minute miles which is quite slow but I am not really bothered about that - I just want to get miles in the legs and build up the mileage endurance.  8.5 miles next week.
Rick took the children out into another part of the forest to collect some wood from the pile allocated to us when we bought the permit.  They love going up to do that - they get to ride in the trailer a little which is very thrilling.
When they got back 7yos went for a trial at a choir which has started up after school in one of the primary schools.  He seemed to enjoy it a lot so will keep going for now.
11yod is feeling under the weather this evening with her cold so she is snuggled up by the fire with me.  Her nose is looking really red and she is very bunged up.  Hope she feels better tomorrow as she is supposed to be playing the clarinet in a concert!

Windy 6.2mile

Posted 11yod's parcel off this morning.  She was horrified at the cost of the postage!  However, she has made herself some money.
Took 7yos and 11yod to a friend's house who also home educates for them to have two days and a sleepover there.  They live up in the hills and into the forest surrounded by stunning views and the last bit of the journey is up a steep lane through the trees with a bubbling stream on one side and a more rapid river on the other.  One the way home I saw a red kite right at the side of the road.  Stunning.  The trees are all turned now and I never fail to fall in love with autumn.  What an amazing creator we have.
This afternoon I went out for a 6.2 mile run in the drizzle, through the town, up into the fields a little way and then crossing the main road and round by the estuary.  It was really windy down by the estuary so I spent more time walking than I would have like but it was great to be out and feels especially good now I am heading for a shower!!

Badminton, Galas and Bubble Warap

On Friday I managed to get out to coffee at lunchtime with friends for the first time in ages.  There used to be around 12 of us met quite regularly but, for various reasons, there are now only 2 or 3 at any given time.  Enjoyable anyway.
Took the dog to the vet's for another check up - she is doing well but is having a few more antibiotic tablets to make sure.  The drain was removed and I can take the stitches out in another few days once our vet friend has had another look.
On Friday evening I managed to get back to badminton for the first time since my arm went really bad.  I was pleased at how it held out although it is still really painful when I stretch it out.

The above is a picture of what looked like an arctic explorer but is actually Rick on the top of Cairnsmore last week!
Saturday was a busy day again.  13yos and 11yod had an in house swimming Gala based on the Olympics which was great fun.  I was starter and finisher as usual and it was really good fun.  There were sausage and bacon rolls to finish.  Rick was running a 10k about 25m away and came first in his age category.  We then spent time tidying and sorting 13yos's room and 7yos's things as he has moved into the room which belonged  to 21yos.  He will have to share when he comes home but he doesn't seem to mind that.
On Sunday morning was another lovely early run in the forest.  What a lovely time to be out in the forest and there are so many wonderful things to see - pine needles littering the path, mushrooms, oak leaves fluttering down, water lilies dying back, as well as the stunning view when you run over the track to the little loch in the middle of the forest - good for the soul!!

Sunday afternoon was another Gala, this time against another club from around 25m away.  They are a bigger and much more competitive club so inevitably won the gala but our swimmers put up a good display, especially 13yos who had to be moved up to swim against a 17yo as we didn't have a boy in that age group and would have lost the points had we not put a swimmer in.  13yos being the club captain was the one who had to be the martyr.  I was starting and finishing again so another busy day.
In the evening, after the meeting, we took the dog out to our vet friend's house for another little check and also to pick up a massive bag of bubble wrap which we will need as 11yos has sold her Polly Pocket on E-bay!  She is really excited to have got more than she thought she would, although postage is likely to be more than we asked for.  We spent this evening packing it up and will post it off tomorrow.
This morning 7yos and I did the paper round for 13yos - lovely sunrise.
My mentor from the placement e-mailed me with a couple of job options but it is so hard to know what I should be looking for - how many hours and where.  Likely to have to travel 50 miles each way for my first job and how many hours to look for is a difficult question.  There is a chance of some hours coming up on the ward I had my placement on and I would love to have that ward.  The Lord knows about it all and I have to keep trusting in Him.
The next photo is of 23yos and his young lady friend.  They seem to be getting on very well and she is a lovely young lady.  She has been to stay with us twice so we have got to know her a little.

River runs

Lovely slow 4 mile run/walk by the river.  Rick ran (off of course!) 13yos ran/walked with me, 11yod and 7yos went on bikes.  Beautiful afternoon with stunning views as usual.  We live in such a wonderful part of the world.