Human Lifestyle

How lovely to have a Bank Holiday Monday with no work!

Quite a lazy morning, and then did washing up and had lunch, and at 1.30 set off with our youngest to Fulford Show. We cycled down together, which was nice, as our eldest said he'd prefer to walk, so he and Gill turned up about an hour later, by which time we'd walked round once and I'd settled in to helping on the Green Party stall, selling books at 5op and tombola tickets, which although I never buy my own, I enjoyed selling.

It was a really good event, with lots of stalls... mainly fundraising with tombolas and the like, but also a little train ride, races, tug-o-war, and in the nearby Social Hall, competitions for best vegetable, painting, kids mini-garden and many other categories. I was delighted to see that our friend Melody won second prize in the mis-shaped vegetable competition, for a green bean which had got itself into a spiral, beaten by a cucumber in a broad smile shape.

The boys had a good enough time as they met friends there, and I was pleased to meet lots of people I knew. Our eldest went back with Melody and family, I cycled back with our youngest as far as Melody and Simon's and left him there, and zoomed down to Country Fresh, rather too fast. My trailer tyre hit something and bounced up, overturning the trailer and bending part of the trailer frame which is a nuisance. I either need to hit it back into shape with a big hammer (back of the axe?) or take it to the welders to have it heated up and bent back, for which they will charge me £10.

Anyway, I returned home with a big box of bananas and a box of mixed compostables and a sack of similar. Collected a sack from Freshways too... so as soon as I got home I went to unload the stuff into the Compostumbler which is now full again. And steaming.

The family came home, with Melody and her family, so there was suddenly a garden full, bouncing on the trampoline and making loads of noise. A lovely day.

We had the carrot soup for tea, with toasties... I've got to say it is one of the best carrot soups I've made. Probably as Gill added some cooked potato and whizzed it up and seasoned it, so it was a joint effort.

I had a very late night preparing 17 red peppers and a large pile of plums all for drying. I love dried plums, and my sweet red pepper paprika makes my soups and stews totally yummy. But having the stove burning on warm evenings makes it like a sauna in here....

Blue Rocks is a small fishing community 8 km north and ocean ward of Lunenburg. We drove out there our first evening. It did not take very long and the scenery was very picturesque. We also drove north to Somerset. This is what we had anticipated most of Nova Scotia looking like.


Throughout the area, evidence of glaciation could be seen in the rocks gouged in continuous straight lines, a testament to the power of nature.



During Hurricane Bill, locals drove out to this area to watch the waves. Considering that huge granite boulders were being tossed up on to the road with every breaker, this behavior was foolish, but it won't be the last of such stories I will tell along these lines.

I'm obsessed with beautiful things, but I'm even more obsessed with finding the beauty in the overlooked and under-appreciated things. Our Grandma was a dumpster diver who rode around on her bike looking for "treasures" in her dress and high heels. She found some dandies along her alley way.

Up at 9am and had a bath with the two big cans of water I heated on the stove last night. I washed my hair as I like to be clean and shiny when I work...

So, was ready to roll by 11.45am, and got to the station and bought my ticket by just after 12, easily catching the 12.15 to Leeds. I ate my sandwiches whilst sitting at the pick-up turning circle behind Leeds station, where I was due to be picked up by Allan and taken to Middleton Park, for the second time this year.

For me, this was a rather special occasion, as last time I worked with an 8 year-old girl and made quite an impression on her, so much that she has bought a flower stick (like a devilstick but with tassels on each end) and she, her mum Christine and dad Paul have all made me facebook friends! I'm even playing Scrabble with Mother and Daughter... So I was looking forward to meeting them. The daughter has been inventing tricks and was looking forward to showing me what she could do.

The venue was just being set up and I had a coffee before I got changed and got going with a little workshop followed by a show. My new friend turned up; she hasn't had a teacher with her flowersticks and has therefore invented a range of moves which are completely original and unique, tricks which although weren't well-polished, were completely new to me and I was very impressed. Not bad for a 8 year old!

The day went smoothly, everybody seemed to enjoy themselves and the light rain didn't dampen spirits unduly. I finished with loads of balloon give-aways and all-too-soon it was 4pm and time to get changed back into my 'John' costume (!) and get a lift back to the station, where I got the 5.15 train back home.

And a quiet evening, delicious meal, lit the stove so I could wash up and dry fruit, also made carrot soup on the stove too. Lots of York Green Festival stuff to attend to.

A lovely late start to the day, and after breakfast, the others went out and I spent some time in the garden, putting a load of stuff in the old Compostumbler (I love having two!) and then I did my emails and Rich told the YGF Crew that the posters and flyers were ready. I rang him and said I could come and collect at 2pm, but I went outside after the call and noticed that somehow there were loads of wasps outside the glass dome. I decided some more compost and water was a good idea to try to stop them, and I also used a long bamboo to prod under the soil into the cave they had excavated, letting it flood with compost and water, which hopefully will make it more difficult for them to keep going.

I got a bit engrossed in this and left the house to go and get the posters at 2.15... but it only takes me 5 minutes to get to the office where the risograph is, and I got a single two-colour A3 poster, a few A4 two-tone posters and a pile of two-tone flyers. The big poster went up in Country Fresh where I left some flyers (and picked up three sacks of compostables!)... and back home via Freshways who had one bag of resources for me.

I then got secateurs and fork and cycled off to the allotment... the first time in yonks I've been there. I knew the potatoes would be done and ready to dig... so I did a bit of bramble pruning, weeding and dug up three rows of spuds. There weren't many but I dug them all up... the best crop was the Pink Fir Apple.

I got back at about 7pm and Gill had made a kind of Shepherd's Pie with the tomato base I made a day or two ago, some green beans I picked today, and mashed potato (using the potatoes I swapped for apple logs) which was nice and filling.

I lit the stove as I'm working tomorrow and need to wash my hair and trim my beard... and of course, the washing up is a constant chore, one I prefer to do with water heated on the woodstove not gas.

Lunenburg is billed as one of the most attractive towns in Nova Scotia and it is. I can also tell you that after visiting other supposedly attractive towns we came to appreciate it more and more. Lunenburg is filled with brightly painted buildings, excellent restaurants, and old fashioned sailing ships.


The town itself sits atop a hill and its gridded lanes are filled with 100 year old homes, flower boxes, and tall trees. Walking around town, particularly in the 30°C heat was a trial, however. The steep hills would normally have been trivial for us Coloradans but in the heat they resulted in near prostration. The town's real charm showed after Hurricane Bill had sucked the heat away and the fog returned. The old-fashioned signs, the filigree, and the street lamps all took on a special aura in the fog. This is a good thing since fog is Lunenburg's natural habitat.


Because of the heat, I found myself drinking a great deal of beer on this trip. Most of the iced tea is sweetened and the sodas were sold by the can and also full of sugar. I found that the local brew Keith's fit the bill nicely and could be had in grog bowl quantities, a blessing on a hot day.


In 1995 the old town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. While a boost for tourism the locals were less than pleased. As anyone who has lived in a historic district knows, maintaining a home to historic standards is a pain. Every possible modification has to be approved. God forbid indoor plumbing should be desired.






Lunenburg was settled not by the British, but by German, Swiss, and French immigrants. A memorial to the early settlers exists on Bunkhouse Hill and the names engraved on the stones are still seen in the phone book today.


There are decent shops and nice galleries throughout the town, which tempt the walker away from the waterfront. We found the restaurants right along the harbor to be quite average although seafood was plentiful. Lunenburg does boast two fine dining establishments, one of which, the Fleur de Sel, was voted the best restaurant for 2008 for all of Nova Scotia. It was quite good but pricey as one might expect.


Since we had a house to stay in, we decided to hit the grocery store and stock up. There are two in town and both were very small. Seafood was sparse and much more expensive than beef or pork. The vegetables were also lacking, which explained why we didn't get any in our dinners out. It seems that many of the locals drive to Bridgeport about 20 minutes away to really stock up.


Many of the folks that live in Lunenburg are retired. There is not much work in the area outside of the tourism industry.


As a base of operations, Lunenburg proved ideal. We could easily travel north to Peggy's Cove and south to the many beaches that dot the nooks and crannies of the coastline.

A busy day... two Green Festival meetings and a funeral.

I got up just after 9 and had a quick breakfast and then got a load of potato sacks out of the garage where I put them to dry out, as a Freecycle person has requested 20 for his spuds.

Then raced down to town on the bike, trailer rattling and bouncing behind me, with me dressed in my best black long trousers and Jimi Hendrix black teeshirt, in the pouring rain to the York Green Festival meets City of York Council Environmental Health meeting.

This went reasonably well... despite us not having all the answers. Fortunately Jem from JSS Audio was there and he did have some answers... after all he is a professional! I agreed to be the person who will cycle round all the sensitive areas nearby and assess the sound levels. I will have to keep records, so that if we do have complaints, we can demonstrate that we did everything possible to reduce the likelihood of noise nuisance. We have some technical fixes too, but fortunately that's nothing to do with me.

I had to go at 11am as I had decided to go to the funeral of John Morris, a friend of my good friend Jonathan. I met John Morris about 5 times, and found him an interesting, humorous and friendly guy, more unique than the average person and with a fascinating home full of books.

The funeral was at the Crematorium, and I got there with about 5 minutes to spare and Jonathan beckoned me over. There were a few familiar faces, Debbie from over the road, John and Shirley Bibby, some other York folks. The service was really good. I was fascinated to hear more about John, his times spent at Ampleforth School, his love of botany, antiquarian books, and his unusual lifestyle. His wife, daughter and three friends spoke, and the celebrant was good too. I haven't been to many funerals but this was a good one. Sad, but good. A good send off.

Cycled home in thoughtful mood... funerals always make me realise how short life is, and remind me to continue packing as much into it as I can, as I could be dead tomorrow, next month, next year... or might last 10, 30 or even 50 years more! The moral is we rarely know when the end is nigh, so live every day as if it is your last...

I cannot remember what I did in the couple of hours between the funeral and my next meeting.. probably some compost management (I know I changed my clothes!) and I had lunch, but at 4ish I headed off to Rowntree Park to meet John the park keeper, who will be on duty on Sunday 6th. I wanted to brief him about the Festival, and find out about various power and resources issues. The news was good, and I came home via Country Fresh happy, and bought some avocados and eggs, carrots and a head of broccoli.

When I got back, I had a visitor from around the corner, a lady called Gillian which she pronounces with a hard G, not a J. She told me that they were taking down a large fir tree, and they had stacked under it a pile of logs... and did I want them? I have never knowingly said no to logs, so I happily took the wheelbarrow round to pick them up. When I got the second load, I sat and chatted with them, and had a very jolly conversation. And the logs were great too... really dry hardwood.

Spent a long time chopping apples up for drying... and used one of the new logs to get them started. And heat washing up water...

I have just returned from 10 days in Nova Scotia. I decided not to bring my computer and blog as I went but wait until I got home. Being totally unplugged has its advantages. Below is a map of the province. The icons are locations that will be mentioned as I describe the trip.

Nova Scotia is an Atlantic province of Canada and is the second smallest after Prince Edward Island. There are only 32 million people in Canada, a mere 10th of the US population, so words "crowd" and "horde" must be taken with a grain of salt when referring to Nova Scotia.

What surprised us the most was how wooded the area is. All the photos you will see from my trip and others focus on the coastline. Those views exist of course, but there was a lot of driving through trees to get there. With all the hard woods I suspect that fall would be a phenomenal time to visit.

We spent most of our time around Lunenburg. My travel buddy's cousin owns a home there so we had a beautiful and free place to stay. We did take two days to drive up to Cape Breton Island to visit the National Park and drive the Cabot Trail.


View nova scotia in a larger map
We really screwed up in the planning for this trip. We checked the weather forecast a week out and visited several web cams that showed expected fog along the coast. When we got there, the province was suffering under an heat wave with 30°C/90°F weather and 100% humidity. We had to borrow shorts and t-shirts from the house. Five minutes outside and we were soaked through with sweat. Moral of the story, double check the forecast.

The other thing that made this trip interesting was that we got caught in Hurricane Bill, which hit the day we were supposed to fly out. I did not know that hurricanes ever made it that far north.

All of this and more will be described and I present my travel diary. Hopefully, you won't mind this digression from my normal Colorado posts.

A good morning because all the children were playing happily together. However we were planning a trip into town so we set a time to stop playing and get ready to go out.

So, into town and we ended up having pizza in Museum Gardens, which was fun and very unusual for us as we hardly ever eat out.

All back home and at about 6pm our lovely relatives went home. We will miss them as we all get on so well.

Over the past few weeks we've become aware of a wasps nest quite near our back door, in the ground in amongst the plants in the border. Initially we decided to ignore it, as we are not anti-wasp particularly, and know they perform a useful ecosystem role of eating caterpillars and fruit flies etc. However, the numbers had increased to levels which started to ring alarm bells when hearing about a chap recently who disturbed a nest and was stung so many times he died. Also, quite recently, both Gill and our youngest got stung (one at a friend's house, one whilst on the train) and it was unpleasant so I decided to destroy the nest.

I wondered about just covering it up with a large pile of compost, during the night when they were less active. I cut the plants back a bit to reveal the hole and soil, and then at midnight a few nights ago, I poured a large bag of compost onto the hole and surrounding area, and watered it in.

The following morning, they had re-excavated the hole and were just as busy as before. I considered pouring a large volume of boiling water into the hole, again whilst they were mostly asleep. But Gill suggested they might go berserk and to check on the net how to do it properly.

There were lots of suggestions about using chemicals, and petrol etc, but the one which took my fancy was the glass bowl method. This looked like a better way than just covering up the nest entrance with soil, as the darkness means they just dig their way out. The glass bowl trick means they think the hole is open to the air but of course, cannot actually get out to collect food for the grubs in the nest. The bowl is left in place for several weeks and they gradually all die.

So we found a big mixing bowl and the composty area I'd so carefully put on gave a really good base to push the basin into, again, whilst it was dark. I put a bit more compost round the edge and watered it in for a good tight fit. All of today there was a lot of activity inside the dome, and only a little bit outside it, from insects which hadn't been in the nest when I capped it. However, another suggestion off the 'net was to put an industrial vacuum cleaner next to the nest entrance and suck them into the vacuum cleaner... So I used our old Dyson and spent several short sessions sucking in stragglers, just a minute or two about 5 times. This definitely reduced the numbers of confused wasps outside the dome.

I feel this method, chemical free and not dangerous (I haven't received one sting) is a good one. I'll report on it's longer term success as the weeks roll on. If the nest had been elsewhere in the garden, I'd have left it, but right outside the back door was a poor choice of position for the little darlings.

Up early as a house full of children and a day at Knaresborough planned, although I wasn't actually very keen on going.

However, niece Lellie phoned and as the day was wet, Gill decided with her that it might be better to meet up at the National Railway Museum at midday. I went online to check bus times and we had a pretty chilled morning until a few minutes before the bus was due, when it did get a bit hectic and shouty, but then all was quiet and I was alone in the house.

I went to Thomas' and bought lots of Yesterbake bread.

I did a big wash-up, and prepared a nut loaf to add to the soup I made last night. This nutloaf was the standard pattern: breadcrumbs mixed with peanut butter and mixed nuts, then assorted vegetables added... this time I used one raw grated beetroot, one raw grated carrot, one chopped onion, some finely chopped cooked sweet potato, one egg, a slurp of red wine and a dash of soya sauce, some bouillon and herbs. I lined the baking dish with seeds stuck to a wipe of margarine. I microwaved this and when the families came home, turned it out onto a metal tray and bunged it in the oven to crisp up.

I whizzed the carrot soup with the hand-held blender. This I tasted and found it was delicious! I lit the stove despite it being warm and summery as I wanted to cook the soup and I have 11 red peppers sliced up and drying, plus I don't know how many windfall apples (James Grieve) sliced and drying. There are three racks of apple rings balanced on top of each other...

I also had several Fiddlesticks calls... some booking enquiries for the autumn, and a Freecycle visitor to pick up 8 potato sacks. I popped down to see Raj at Freshways and picked up a sack of compostables, and on the way home picked up a lot of recyclable litter, mainly aluminium cans.

The family group came back on the bus and were glad to find a meal ready. Gill made a pasta salad with the remnants of yesterday's pasta, some tomatoes out of the conservatory and the penultimate cucumber from the conservatory.

All the children ate well, despite the youngest (6 years old) not eating anything with tomatoes or courgettes (the carrot soup had tomatoes and courgettes in) and all were rewarded for eating slices of pear afterwards by having chunks of carrot cake that Gill made for our eldest's birthday on Sunday.

Then we discussed what we are doing tomorrow, and everybody settled down to watch The Gods Must Be Crazy. I slipped out at 7pm to go to an informal York in Transition meeting at The Hansom Cab, which was productive. Home before 10pm and another huge load of washing up facing me. I decided to do my emails and blog first though... so the washing up will be done well after midnight.

A relatively early start as I had to visit Helgi at 10 to sort out the music line-up for the Green Festival. I spent about 45 minutes with him, helping him do a variety of carefully worded emails so he can decide who to take out of the provisional line up for the main stage so that we can get Holly Tamar on before Seize the Day.

Then I bombed along to Rowntree Park to see if I could get John the Park Keeper's contact details, but he wasn't there. However, I did speak to the John's colleague and talked things over with him, and spoke to the children's inflatables people about the Festival too.

Came home via Country Fresh and picked up two boxes of compostables as well as a cauliflower and some bananas. Met a guy who repairs bikes called Kevin, who has a copy of a film that Gill saw in New Zealand in 1986 and she's never forgotten it. I asked if I could borrow it, in exchange for some dried fruit. It's called The Gods Must Be Crazy. I'm really looking forward to watching it... Gill's told me so much about it!

I had lunch. Then our guests arrived, Gill's niece Sophie and her three children, but not Dankie her husband who has taken all his holiday already and is at work. Her children get on well with ours and we love it when they visit.

During the afternoon, Gill and Sophie went to get some towels and pillowcases, and the children played happily on their own, so I did a load of chainsawing and splitting. Then Sophie took all the children to the park, and was gone for ages.

They came back shortly before I had to go out to the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel, due to be at Tang Hall Community Centre. When I got there at 6.30, the gates were locked shut and a conference was going on as to where to have the meeting. A consensus was reached to go to The Magnet pub on Osbaldwick Lane, so I cycled round followed by two cars. We had a lot to do, perhaps 8 or 10 applications including 3 or 4 which we opposed... and of course we had to explain why we opposed them, on planning grounds. It was a very lively meeting which lasted over an hour.

So back at 8pm and Gill had left enough pasta, cauliflower and sauce for me to have a really good meal. We had a lovely evening... warm as I lit the stove so I could make a carrot soup. The children went to bed without a hitch and quite late on, after Sophie had gone to bed, Gill and I started watching The Gods Must Be Crazy. The basic plot centres round a tribe of Bushmen in the Kalahari, who find a Coke bottle which had been thrown out of a plane and the chaos which ensues. It is full of slapstick and other humour, but there might be a message in there too.

I remember reading a headline today that said "multi-taskers are usually bad at multi-tasking".

An early start as various things to do in town, did most of them (paid cheque in, paid water bill, visited Anti Gravity, picked up mouldy oranges from Millers Yard) but as I didn't take a shopping list, I forgot to go to the Post Office to pick up a parcel. Duh.

So when I got home, and confessed my error, Gill suggested I cycle down again (after lunch!) and get the parcel (it was for the children) and get coffee from Oxfam and Gill-friendly ice cream from Sainsbury's. So I did this.

Fortunately I got back in enough time to do some compost management, filling the old Compostumbler.

We had a good tea... the leek and potato soup I made yesterday, plus assorted bits of quiche and cold pasta leftovers.

I then popped round to Lynn with some LETS stuff, and on to the Green Festival meeting in Stonegate, which was very productive.

Our eldest son's birthday... so there was excitement first thing with presents, and after midday my brother Thomas and his wife arrived, on the way from visiting friends in the North East, with their youngest child who was very shy initially but then suddenly became completely animated and lots of fun.
Had lunch with them and a wander down the garden.

I did some compost management in the afternoon and picked lots of beans for tea.

Our last full day on holiday and our last day before our eldest child's birthday which will allow us to go shopping for a few presents. We also had 12 'silver coins' left; tokens we bought at the funfair... we'd bought £10 worth, 22 tokens, and only used 10 of them so today we wanted to use up the remainder.

So we got the bus into Bridlington and got off just after the station so we could have a lunch-treat... eating out at Bridlington's only Veggie Restaurant, 'Bean There'. It is a really lovely place and it's good to go somewhere and not have to wonder if there are dead animals hidden in the food.

I had a garlic mushroom tart with salads, Gill had chilli-beany loaf and salads, the boys had lasagne which also came with a salad. Then the boys had a slice of cake each and Gill and I had a hot drink. This all came to £25, which seemed reasonable.

Then we walked into town, Gill and the boys visited shops and I had just 30 minutes in Icy Tea.

So, to use up the tokens, the boys had another go on the Jungle River log flume, and I had a go in one of the dodgems... there were just two other drivers, both teenage lads, who took great pleasure ramming me as often as possible... but I did my fair share of bumping too. Finally, our youngest, who is quite a daredevil, was very keen on going on the 'MiamiFever' ride, which is a row of seats attached to a pair of large rotors, which lift the seats and move them up and around and down, quite quickly. Our little lad hooted with laughter, giggling away, it was well worth it just to hear him having such fun.

Then we headed for the bus station where there was a bus about to go.

Our last day, so up early to pack and get back to York.

Last night I was reading 'Real Bridlington' magazine and I saw that there was a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Sewerby Park, and I fancied going as I don't think I've ever seen it. Gill rang and found out it was at 2pm in the grounds of the Park, and was for anyone who paid to get into the Park.

However, the family conference that decided the outcome of the day meant that I didn't get to see A Midsummer Night's Dream, as the boys were enthusiastic about visiting the lighthouse and didn't want to see any Shakespeare.

So, the boys and I got the bus to North Landing, bearing sandwiches and bottles of juice, and then walked quite leisurely along the cliff tops to Flamborough Head and the modern lighthouse. This took an hour, and we had a really good 'nature walk' including finding ladybirds, a large spider, an empty cocoon, cinnabar moth caterpillars on ragwort, spotted orchids with unripe seeds, other interesting plants and more.

When we eventually got to the lighthouse, I bought 3 tickets for the 1pm tour, and then we sat in the lee of the restaurant building to get out of the wind and ate our sandwiches. The lighthouse tour was really good, especially the views from the top. Owned and run by Trinity House, the 'new' Flamborough Lighthouse was built in 1806 after a spate of wrecks on the rocks around the headland. Originally, the rotating optics were run by clockwork, with a lead weight descending the centre of the tower and needing rewinding every 45 minutes, but nowadays everything is motorised and automatic. Well worth the visit.

After this, we made our way down to the beach. The tide was right out... revealing several coves to the North of the beach with caves and arches... quite a treat.

We didn't spend a long time there, and the boys wanted to go home after this, as quickly as possible.. but the only 'quick' way was to walk back to Flamborough and get the bus from the village back to Sewerby. I was the slow walker this time... collecting blackberries from the hedges in a found ice-cream tub.

The bus didn't take long to arrive and we were home just a few minutes later. But Gill wasn't in and was still at Sewerby Park, so I started making tea. Gill came back having very much enjoyed the play... by Quantum Theatre, with just 5 players doing mega-quick costume changes and being very entertaining. Gill came back full of it... she'd had a lovely day. And so had we...

I cooked a meal with rice, potato and carrot in one pan, onions, mushroom, sweetcorn and green beans in another, and a red-lentil dahl flavoured with some spicy tomato chutney. I was very happy that everybody enjoyed this... especially the poppadoms which Gill had bought to go with it. I had a small bottle of Lambrini perry.

Got the Road Train into Bridlington so the boys could 'do' the fairground rides and I could go to the internet shop and get my emails. I'd taken my laptop with me as I thought that I might get a chance to do some writing (my book!) and as York Green Festival is looming, I knew I had to keep in touch with the other team members at least once during the week, so today I took the laptop to Icy Tea which for a small charge, allows access to the 'net. Whilst the family went shopping for books, I went to have one hour (£2) at Icy Tea. However my Thunderbird thing managed to let me send some email replies, but not all... and just before I came off, I clicked on 'Get Mail' and found that some of the more important stuff hadn't been sent, and had been returned. The Icy Tea server system and my AVG thingy were not playing ball... and the chap there, 'Angel' couldn't work out why. He did have a good think and tried changing some things on my computer... and finally suggested I came back later when the shop owner would be back, who might be able to sort the problem out.

So I met up with the family and we headed for the fairground. Our youngest wanted to do the flight simulator ride, a box on hydraulic rams containing a screen, projector and seats with seatbelts. He chose a ride called 'Glacier Ride', and I went in with them. It was excellent, very exciting, stomach-churning. I'd happily do more of these...

However, we went to have a go on the Dodgems... the boys did anyway, and they both had some difficulty steering and even keeping their feet on the accelerator... and this caused some distress and promises of 'never again' once it had finished.

Then, after some persuasion, we decided to go on 'The Yorkshire Belle', a boat trip of an hour's duration towards Flamborough Head and back. Gill opted not to go, and went to find some shade and a sit down. The boat trip was really good... good to see the cliffs we've walked along and played under from the sea. On the way back, we sailed (motored) close to the Patricia, a ship belonging to Trinity House, and one of three which services navigation buoys and other work. We all enjoyed this trip.

The family went home and I went back to Icy Tea and went on Tiscali Webmail, but as that doesn't have the useful address function, where when you type in the first letters of the email address or intended recipient's name, suggestions come up (available in Outlook and Thunderbird), I had to keep toggling between the Thunderbird address book and the Webmail window to copy people into various replies. BUT I managed to get the most important stuff done, I think.

I got the last 'land train' back... someone gave me a ticket so it was a free ride.

I did some foraging before tea, found mainly poppy seeds which I put in a paper bag inside a plastic bag, once I realised the seam on the paper bag wasn't very good!

Gill made tea... potato and veg croquettes from M+S, with new potatoes, our own green beans, carrot and pesto/tomato sauce. Delicious!

A quiet night in... well. reasonably quiet, despite the complete lack of soundproofing in this cottage. All vehicles on the road outside sound like they are in the living room, and conversations upstairs are audible downstairs, and the TV on the lowest volume disturbs the child trying to get to sleep upstairs.

I didn't want to go to the Sewerby Park Zoo so I had a walk by myself to Danes Dyke, south along the Dyke and to the beach, and along the beach back to Sewerby.

A very late start, although Gill had been up for ages when the three males got up.

At lunchtime we all headed off to Bridlington... we missed the bus so we got the 'land train'; a diesel tractor dressed up as a locomotive, pulling three carriages, and running along the path from Sewerby Park to the end of Bridlington Promenade near the harbour.

Our first full day's holiday.

In the morning went to the Model Village just 2 minutes from our cottage, and whilst the family were having a second go around, I perused a bus timetable and found that there are special Sunday and Bank Holiday only services which go to the lighthouse and Bempton RSPB reserve. So I worked out a good set of connections, and we had lunch.

We all got the 2.50 bus to Flamborough and changed to get the next bus to Bempton Cliffs, where we would get an hour before the last bus back and a reasonable connection in Flamborough for the Sewerby bus.

The bus dropped us off in the carpark and as we walked towards the RSPB Bempton visitor centre, Gill took a tumble and landed on her knees, nose and forehead. She was quite shaken. We all helped her to the visitor centre where she sat and recovered. She didn't feel up to going down to the cliff tops to see the seabirds, but we three did so we headed off to the cliff tops. At the viewing area we came to, there was an RSPB volunteer with a telescope on a tripod. He lowered it so the children could see the cliffs close up... and the beautiful Gannets, a pair of which were 'beak fencing'; a courtship behaviour. We walked along to another viewing area with even more wonderful views of the magnificent cliffs (some photos on this webpage) but no man with telescope...

We soon scuttled back to the visitor centre where Gill had rallied and had bought pencils, pad of paper, postcards, and was drawing. We spent some time in the centre, I chatted to a rather nice RSPBer called Nadia...

We went for the bus. It's route was to Flamborough, then to the lighthouse and back to Flamborough. I asked if we could stay on the bus so we could have a quick view of the Flamborough Head Lighthouses (there are two), and the driver was happy with that. So when we got off in Flamborough, to get the bus to Sewerby, I saw that the route was to South Landing, back to Flamborough, and then to Sewerby... so when it came in, I asked the driver if we could get on and have a quick view of South Landing before going to our destination. He was OK about that!
So we had a really good bus tour of the Flamborough peninsular.

When we got in, Gill immediately walked down to the Co-op shop which is about 10 minutes into Bridlington, and I made tea. I made rice and veg with chick peas in a tomato and basil sauce which was very well recieved.

We all went for a game of Frisbee and then after the children went to bed, Gill and I had a game of Scrabble which she won.

Took the train to Bridlington.

Taylor-Made" DIY project-- I'm no sewer/seamstress, but my bride for this wedding wanted something different for her head table...so I decided to give her an old Hollywood glam vibe. She had a very vintage themed wedding that had lots of mirrored glass, crystal chandeliers,silver touches, and tiffany box blue. I think this idea could also be used in a much smaller scale for a girls bedroom/or bathroom vanity. DIY Directions: With scissors, and inexpensive suit-lining fabric, I made three sizes of rectangles. Sm,Med,Lrg. Draped the large one first, then the med. on top of that, and the small on top. I then shredded 1x8 inch strips all around the whole perameter of the tablecloth. It took about 2 hours to make this. Required no sewing, and ended up looking kind of Greta Garbo-ish, I think. It also reminds me of the Pepperidge Farms Cocunut cakes that came from the freezer aisle at the grocery store. I loved those as a kid!

Another good day... Up early as another phone call, and then at 11 a visit from Harrison Builders who had a chap walking around yesterday trying to interest people in having solar hot water... so today a team of 3 chaps came round and surveyed the place, looking at where the boiler is, and what kind of boiler it is, and the roof space, and they said it would be relatively simple. They were interested in the stoves, and enjoyed samples of dried fruit. I hope for a low quote!

The system they offer is by Alpha Innovation who offer 'flat plate collectors' ('Solar Smart') and I thought I wanted evacuated tubes... but I still haven't looked at all the possible options, and I've only had a couple of quotes so far. I'm keeping my mind open and wallet closed for the while!

Then sometime after 12, whilst I was riddling sawdust for the compost toilet, my next guests arrived, Ania and Lucas (pronounced Woo Cash, as he's Polish... they both are) who had asked if I might have some wood suitable for producing flavoured smoke. Lucas has got together with a friend and is purchasing a recently slaughtered pig, and is going to make sausages, hams and assorted other porky bits, including smoked stuff. Although I'm vegetarian, and have been now for 25 years or so, I am a realist and accept that 97% of the UK population do eat meat, and there is absolutely nothing I can do to change that, apart from being an 'out' vegetarian and showing people that you can lead a healthy and very active life without eating dead flesh.

So, they wanted some of my recently acquired apple, and I agreed to sort some out for them, and they were delighted that I was happy to barter this for some potatoes and other produce. I gave then a tour and Lucas said he'd be back at 6pm to pick up the wood.

Then I had lunch and continued outside, until Ben arrived as he'd asked how I was and I'd told him about my email woes, so he had a poke around Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird and Tiscali Webmail. My problem was that I'd made a second account on T-bird, one with my name and the other with my email address.. so he sorted that. But, there is still a problem. When I delete an email on T-bird, it doesn't delete on the Tiscali server which means I have to go through and delete on Webmail when I've already deleted on my email client. Bummer. Ben said he'd have a poke around and see if he could find more info.

Then Lucas came back, with a large volume of vegetation for me as a swap for the logs I sorted... about 15 kg of home grown potatoes, dug up today, and some leeks, beetroot, onions, courgettes AND a large jar of raspberry jam! He took away a car boot full of green apple logs, cut and split and ready to, well, burn slowly and smokily!

I cycled down to Country Fresh and picked up 2 sacks and 2 boxes of compostables, and had a good chat to Richard, as well as buying veg off him.

Then towards 7pm, Ivana came round and she had a tour, and we sorted out a bit of help from her... what a very busy day!

Later, I watched a good film with my eldest son, and Gill watched quite a bit of it... a 2007 offering I heard about whilst it was being filmed, called 'Grow Your Own'. Set on a Liverpool allotment, it is a 'human condition' story and was a good 90 minutes. I recommend it.

So, right now, I'm really craving ice cream, which could be why I fell head-over-pink-high heels for this room. Sorta reminds me of the pink baskin robbin chairs we all remember and loved sitting in, every time we went and celebrated an after-school concert. Sadly, BR has been converted into a cash advance loan place with portable plastic walls, a tiny barred clerk window, and neon yellow & red flashing lights that makes me think BR was wrongfully inprisoned... OKay, silly-craziness...

Distance: 6.4 miles round trip
Elevation: 11,307ft - 13,132 ft
Elevation Gain: 1,832 ft


Hiking Mt. Flora is like a free trip to a Swiss Disneyland with E-ticket views. Listen closely and you may just hear a distant Swiss Horn or some blissed out hiker belting out show tunes from the Sound of Music. Hike this trail at the height of the tundra flower season and you'll know why they named it Mt. Flora. I kept alternating between shoving my nose in the turf and jumping up to admire the vistas. Whiplash is an unexpected hazard on this trail!


The trail itself was mostly packed dirt and the one small rock pile on the route has had steps placed through it. After trudging up Mt. Audubon the day before, I felt like I was levitating up Mt. Flora. I certainly did not need my heavy boots. As mountains go, Mt. Flora is very accessible.


The trail up Mt. Flora begins at Berthoud Pass. There is a restroom at the pass, but bring your own supplies. Tourists from far and wide stop here on the way to Winter Park and Steamboat Springs.



The route begins up a wide dirt road that heads up to the top of Colorado Mines Peak, another 13er, covered in industrial looking buildings. At 0.89 miles (11,700ft), a small sign appears directing the hiker off the road and onto a single track trail that skirts the peak. This is where the fun really starts. In the distance, looms Long's Peak and the Mummy Range, while all around is the verdant grasses of a nearly empty slope. This is where I started to channel my inner Julie Andrews. What is it about a green field dotted with flowers that makes us all want to start racing across it. I get jealous of the dogs who have the sure footedness to do so without breaking their necks. My middle-aged body would not fare so well.



After skirting the side of the Colorado Mines Peak, we reached a saddle (1.64 miles, 12,138 ft) with a grab-your-chest-and-gasp view of a hidden lake and valley. While I know that I-70 is just beyond the entrance to this valley and that the area is not wilderness, it still had that feel of discovering something totally new. Flowing green tundra grasses filled the slopes and the small tarn was surrounded by bucolic willows. Leading up the valley was a rivulet of coniferous trees. This spot is a worthy destination in and of itself for those who don't want to climb all the way to the summit.



To the left of this view is the other side of the saddle. Climbing up this wrinkle in the earth was the most strenuous part of the trip. It was both steep and somewhat slippery with loose dirt, but oh the views. The higher we climbed the more expansive the mountains around us became. Colorado Mines Peak becomes a bump and the Gore Range blends with the Ten Mile Range to form a continuous row of snow dotted mountains from north to south. Additionally, the larger peaks of the Continental Divide (Grays, Torreys, Square Top, Grizzly,etc) are clearly visible. I am lucky I did not fall off the hillside with all my twisting around to take it all in. At 2.31 miles (12,730 ft) you can finally see the summit.



Don't let this steep section fool you, there is still some distance to travel. A short ridge walk ends at a small pile of boulders and talus. The folks at this mountain Disneyland have made this obstacle trivial by placing convenient flat rocks in the form of steps all through it. Within seconds, we reached the top (2.7 miles, 12,858 ft) for another surprising view down to a valley and its tarn. The whole back side of this area is gorgeous.



From the rock pile, it is only a short 0.5 miles to the summit, which is very obvious. There was a stream of folks coming off the top, but these were the only people we saw, and by the time we settled in with our 360 degree view and our peanut butter sandwiches, we had the place to ourselves.



Now in addition to the views already mentioned, one can clearly see Mt. Evans and Mt. Beirdstadt to the southeast and James Peak a stones throw away to the north. Looking down the precipitous drop off is tiny Ethel Lake. The summit is wide and broad. We had to wander around a bit to focus on the views in different directions. More tundra plants were growing amongst the rocks and the weather was sublime. Our group must have hung out for over an hour marveling at the world laid out before us. Colorado really is grand.



If you can't tell by my many superlatives, I really liked Mt. Flora. It is easy and therefore accessible to the average hiker, the views are some of the best I have yet to see in Colorado, and we had the place to ourselves. My witnessing to this wonderful location may spoil it in the future, but I do feel that everyone who lives here should enjoy Mt. Flora at least once. It will fill your soul with gratitude for the wonders of our State and the natural beauty we get to have for free.



Disneyland comparisons aside, I would be remiss if I did not remind you that Mt. Flora is a mountain above 13,000 ft, which means all the usual precautions apply. Watch the weather, carry water and layers, slap on plenty of sunscreen, and be emotionally prepared for gale force winds.



I would suggest looking to climb Mt. Flora in the last two weeks of July. By mid-August many of the flowers are gone. The tundra still has an appeal in the late summer to early fall, but to really commune with everything Mt. Flora can be save it for a mid-summer reaffirmation of life, color, and open sky and don't forget to bring your lederhosen