Human Lifestyle

I got up late and didn't do much until going down to Cycle Heaven with Gill's bike (cycling mine and holding hers with one hand... Gill thinks it's dangerous) as somehow several spokes have been broken in her back wheel and need replacing.

I picked up a load of compostables from Country Fresh and came home, had lunch.

The boys had a couple of friends around and they went into the garden.

I had earlier replied to a freecycle offer of a metal dustbin with a lid, from just 2 minutes cycle down the road, and I got a phone call offering it to me. I had explained in my email reply that I wanted it to put wood ash into so that I could offer wood ash to freecyclers from time to time, or use it myself at the correct time of year. So I brought this home on my trailer and I'm really pleased with it. It is a good solid bin with a well-fitting lid, from a couple who are moving house soon. It will get it's first dollop of woodash tomorrow.

A bit later I went into the garden to deal with the compostables and found a lot of damage had been done... a table had been broken, plants destroyed, some lovely fungi on a log had all been bashed off, and other things wrecked and strewn around. This left me depressed.

I don't care who did it but I suppose I just have to live with the difficulties of what children do to things.

I stayed outside, clearing up, until I was asked to come back into the house to help with the situation inside. This was also depressing.

A really difficult evening.

Up at a reasonably civilised time of 8am in order to get ready to leave the house for about 9.30 with the boys, to get the 9.40 bus and the 10.44 train to Sheffield.

Long ago my younger brother Thomas had arranged to host a family get together so that our boys, who don't see their grandparents very often, could have a meeting... also with their cousins whom they get on with extremely well.

Over the past couple of days we agreed too that Gill could have a day off, away from the male dominated environment, and have a peaceful few hours. Although Gill loves seeing the extended family, she felt that she needed to have a rare bit of 'me time', and everyone concerned was happy with that. I suggested that instead of doing housework or tidying or stuff like that, she could do some art... making the cards with her water-wash and ink technique which she enjoys so much. Her eyes lit up at the thought!

So, we arrived at about 10 and I got tickets with the family railcard making the one adult and two children well under £20 for a day return. We spotted that the next train to Sheffers was 10.25, so we got that... and it was a fast train, via Doncaster, so just 50 minutes. Tom had asked us to arrive between 11.30 and midday so we walked slowly to his house (which is only 10 minutes brisk walk from the station) and when we arrived, my parents were already there, and it was good to see them as I haven't had much contact for a year or so.

Immediately all the 5 children resumed play... they just play together so nicely, as if they've been apart for just a few minutes! Soon my sister and her husband arrived, so all three siblings were together for the first time in ages. Various people had contributed to lunch, and there was a good spread with something for everyone (the youngest cousin just wanted a slice of bread, but Tom and Kate have a breadmaker so there's always a fresh loaf available) and I liked the caramelised onion tart best.

Tom has made friends with a local tree surgeon who had delivered a load of logs plus a large pile of shredded tree... and Tom wanted the shreddings to be put in his woodland where I think my Dad had been busy with a lawn-mower, making paths through the ivy, and the wood-chips were destined to cover these paths. We did perhaps 30 wheelbarrow trips between the three of us, and my mother and Tom's youngest filled sacks with woodchip so that Anna can use it for her work compost bins, which are currently under performing with too much fruit and tea bags and no carbon-rich material.

After the woodchip removal, we had a coffee and Madeira biscuit and then Tom and I did some log-wrangling... he has a petrol chainsaw with a not very good chain (at least one tooth missing, and pretty blunt) so he did the chainsawing and I split and stacked. Home from home!

We worked til after 6pm whilst the children played.

However, all good things have to come to an end, so at 6.35 we set off back to the station and caught the 6.50 train back to York. I think the boys would have liked to stay!

Tom had made us peanut butter sandwiches for tea on the train. We got the No. 10 bus back as far as Merchantgate but the First service stops at 8pm now, so we walked from town to home, getting in at 8.15.

Gill had been busy with her art and had created a brilliant canvas based on a picture of a Peter Randall-Page photo of one of his boulder sculptures under a tree (it's on the front of 'Granite Song' with photography by Chris Chapman). She had really enjoyed her peaceful day.

A peaceful evening too, boys exhausted and happy.

God, 2010 will be crazy for me. I knew it would be special, but like that :-s

A much better day, health-wise, but it started with lots of shouting and banging but as soon as the children went to school, this stopped. Amazing!

I had a quiet day...got some photos in the post to scan in for the new website, and did some fruit drying, washing up, various other domestic stuff. It was raining so I didn't feel like going outside. By the time I was bored of being inside, it was snowing and bitterly cold, but I did manage to snatch an hour down the garden just before dark.

This is the third day in a row that I haven't ridden my bike. Unheard of, unless on holiday.

So, another quiet day. Perhaps something more exciting tomorrow?

The same day I had the nursery pelmet/canopy installation, I popped over to Tobi Fairley's blog.

Distance: 3.4 miles round trip
Elevation: 9,619 ft - 9,915 ft (high pt is 10,003 ft)
Elevation gain: 314 ft (net), 900 ft (cumulative)
Dogs: Technically on leash (wilderness), but nobody does

The winter trail to Lilly Pad Lake in Silverthorne is a short and serene winter outing. It is great for an afternoon dog walk or a post-death march must-I-really-get-off-couch excursion. The trail winds through an open Lodgepole forest, that is admittedly mostly beetle kill. Covered in snow, however, the stark brown trees lose their funereal aspect. There are at least two pleasant meadows en route and the lake, while surrounded by trees, is a pleasant if uninspiring destination.



There are several routes to Lilly Pad Lake. This post profiles the route from the Ryan Gulch Road Trailhead, which also serves Buffalo Cabin. The Lilly Pad Lake trailhead is at the far end of the parking area and is marked by a large trail kiosk. The trail heads sharply upwards for a 300 ft elevation gain in only 0.17 miles. At the top of this lung buster is a small storage tank and metal tower. The best views on the trail occur in this short stint. Grays and Torreys, Lake Dillon, Square Top Mountain, and the booming Starbucks up highway 6 are all visible on a clear day.

Other milestones along the trail include a nice meadow at 0.82 miles (9,846 ft), the junction with the Salt Lick Trail at 1.2 miles (10,003 ft), a very large meadow at 1.64 miles (9,927 ft), and finally the lake at 1.7 miles (9,915 ft). You may be able to tell by the list elevations, that this trail goes up and down quite a bit. If one is fresh, the hilly terrain features will provid a welcome cardio vascular boost. If one is recovering from a 14er, the small hills will cause unwelcome quad burn and impolite cursing in a foreign language.


On this trip, Silverthorne had just woken up from a nice winter storm. Each narrow Lodgepole tree trunk was splattered with snow reminiscent of a girls-gone-wild whipped cream frat house initiation. Only the north sides of the trees were so decorated. Considering that I did this trail on Valentines Day, I was feeling very left out of Mother Nature's coed frivolity. The large heart that someone had stomped in an adjacent pond, made up for it however.


A Lilly Pad Lake snowshoe is not a stunner, but it is short, easy, and accessible. These are three things that should not be discounted. Sooner or later you'll be looking for a trail just like this.

First of all, a great big thanks to all of you who left me birthday wishes and those of you who sent me positive vibes.  I had a wonderful birthday, and my day was relaxing and wonderful.  I ended my night here.

I haven't posted in a while. I've been so busy that I can't keep up with basic e-mails and phone calls.

Gill woke me at 8.30 as I'd asked her to, but I wasn't well still. I came downstairs for breakfast and spent some time on the computer but at about 10 I went back to bed, and after 3 phone call interruptions, I fell asleep and slept til about 3pm, when Gill woke me again. I had a small lunch.

But I didn't get dressed, and stayed in my dressing gown all day. Shocking!

I did a lot of reading and some outgoing emails but generally had a very sedentary day, coughing and feeling poorly.

Glad there was nothing important that I missed today, although I'd have loved to go out and meet up with Helen and friends, as she's got a job out of York and tonight was her leaving do.

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

I woke at 8.30 feeling awful. I was sneezing and coughing and had blocked sinuses. I wondered if it was the pollution I'd inhaled yesterday putting out the St Nicks bin fire, or whether it was just a virus.

I didn't feel like breakfast, which is more or less unheard of for me. But also, I'd run out of muesli, so I made some up with the 10kg bag of Suma organic muesli base plus chopped-up home made dried bananas, apples, pears, homegrown pumpkin seeds and some assorted nuts which were in their shells, so I spent the best part of an hour shelling local almonds (thank you Melody!), hazelnuts and I think the walnuts might be local too. Then I had breakfast.

So I had a quiet day. Gill went to town by bus to meet up with Melody, Natalie and Alison for the Ladies Who Lunch meeting... and also Melody's birthday.

When Gill came back I got dressed and did some housework, although still feeling very grotty.

At about 5pm, freecycler Fraser, who posted a message saying he wanted some topsoil or compost came round. I had offered him a free sack of compost, but told him that I could also let him have some more for a donation. He was really pleased, as he is making raised beds for vegetables. He was fascinated to see my composting set up. I took the wheelbarrow down the garden and loaded up 5 sacks for him. He gave me £10 for the four sacks and also found out he is living in Katharina and Ulrich's old house!

I decided not to attend the York in Transition meeting... I'd already done several emails and facebook messages with regard to some of the content for tonight's meeting, so it wasn't that important for me to go.

I tried to fix our vacuum cleaner which has the spinning brushes not working. We need the motor fixing. What a nuisance. I successfully repaired the indoor clothes airer, which has a pair of plastic clips which hold it up... or held it up until it broke. Some while ago, I fixed it with a length of wood with two grooves cut out of it, which did work. However, the metal bars the wood went around had bent with the weight of the damp towels and other clothes, so I suggested to Gill that I affix some string between the bars, using hooks to hold them in place. Gill got a packet of hooks from the fix it shop round the corner and I used four of them with the strong but thin string that I take out of the potato sacks. It seems to work.

During the evening the whole family watched a remarkable documentary on BBC2 (Natural World) called 'A Killer Whale Called Luna' which had us all enthralled. A young male Orca had become separated from its pod in the waters off Vancouver, and had become used to the company of humans in boats and had seemingly been friendly and enjoyed the company of humans. I strongly recommend watching this programme... despite the commentary being just a bit schmaltzy, it is a brilliant story, very moving.

Still felt poorly and hope to go to bed relatively early... but will the decongestant keep me awake?

A peaceful start to the day and at 10, Michael, a German chap who has a son at our son's school arrived, as he had invited himself round to find out how to make a compost heap which didn't attract rats. He lives near a farm which has lots of rats and his 'dalek' bin has regular rodent visitors.

So we went down the garden and I showed him the various 'dalek' bins which are on concrete or paving stones, and one on a proprietory plastic base, all of which are rat proof (OK, rat resistant!) and haven't ever been gnawed through or tunneled into. I showed him the GreenCone, which has (or had, as I set a trap) a rat living in the basket under the cone, having tunnelled through the soil and munched through the basket. I showed him the 'New Zealand Bins' made of pallets, which I construct on top of several pallets to raise them off the ground, and line with chicken wire. These are also rat deterrant, as the only way they can get in is through the top. I showed him the Compost Mate tool which I use to disturb the heaps, making rat peace and quiet impossible.

Then I showed him the four sorts of tumbler, all of which are either rat proof or would be really difficult for a rat to get into. He really liked the Sun Mar Compost Flow 400 litre jobbie, and I asked him to let me know which one he decided to get.

So then the next 'feature' of the day was lunch, and whilst having lunch and after, I contacted several organisations through their websites, to ask about using some photos for the website I am working on.

Then I emptied the wheelbarrow (sacks of compostables) and used it to take the logs I cut yesterday and took them to the new logpile for fresh logs which is on a pallet in the shared pathway between us and our neighbour. Some needed splitting too, which not only helps the thick ones dry faster, but makes the stacking easier and safer.

I had tea early, a pile of pasta parcels, broccoli, cauliflower and pumpkin, as the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel was at 6pm today, rather than the usual 6.30. We had a lot to deal with, including some quite complicated applications, and ones where we disagreed.

We finished at 7.10 and my next meeting was at 7.30 in the Black Swan, the first planning meeting of the 2010 York World Naked Bike Ride. Tony and Hugh came... Tony is the main organiser, and he'd prepared a check list/agenda which we worked through, including the route, publicity, police/council liason and assorted other bits and bobs. A good meeting, and on the way back I checked out a logpile, some of which found it's way into my trailer.

On the way out of St Nicks Fields, I saw two youths running off up one of the paths, from a rubbish bin which they had just set light to. There was another chap there, just standing and using his mobile phone. I stopped and looked into the bin, saw that it did indeed have some contents on fire. I parked the bike and said to the chap standing around that it ought to be put out, but I'd just had a pee so could he help? He declined, so I scrabbld around to find enough snow to chuck into the bin to eventually put out the small fire. The only thing the chap said was in response to my saying 'I wish there was more snow'.. and he just said 'you don't hear that very often'. I tried to chat to him a bit more but he was in a world of his own.

I came home, unloaded logs, put the bike away and came in, tired but happy that the meetings had been productive.

The only color you see this time of year are the bright colors of lichens clinging doggedly to the rocks. They stand out like face paint at the Superbowl.

You've heard the torrid story of lichens haven't you? It is the naughty tale of Freddy Fungus and Alice Algae and how they took a lichen to each other and now live in SIN-biosis. I giggled girlishly when my mother first told me that story on a summer camping trip. Ah, the things that entertained us before iPods. Alice is not quite the perfect kept woman. While Freddy provides the home she provides the food. Because of this, lichens only need air and water to grow.

Egg Yolk Lichens (Candelariella rosulans) are common throughout Colorado. They are crustose in form and can cover huge rock faces. I like lichens because they remind me that Nature can colonize any habitat no matter how harsh. A little chartreuse on a dreary winter day is not bad either.