Old Man of the Forest
This is one of the sculptures in Grizedale Forest. There are lots of them but we were busy on an Easter Egg hunt with the smaller members of the group and I didn't notice any of the others!



For catblogging Friday, here is Ollie who loves his widescreen TV and would be really depressed if we upgraded to a flat screen monitor.

My eldest daughter Kate has asked me introduce you to a very special person, who is one of Kate's close friends. She is an inspiration to everyone who knows her.

"My name's Jade Carr and I'm 13 yrs old. I was born with a serious heart condition called "Dilated Cardiomyopathy" and at the age of 3 1/2 I had a Heart Transplant at Harefield Hospital performed by the " Proff " Sir Magdi Yacoub. On 2nd February 2007, it will be my 10th "Heart- Day" Anniversary and I will be celebrating it with a Charity Evening to raise money to send myself and my British Teammates to the World Transplant Games in Thailand 2007.

My first British Transplant Games were 4mths after my transplant in 1997 and I won my first medals, silver in the Welly Throw and silver in the 25m race. In the last 10 yrs I have only missed 1 Games, that was because I needed a Pacemaker fitting in 2002, so up to now I have 20 medals.

After this years Games in Bath,where I won 3 Golds, 1 Silver and a 4th in 100m I have been selected to represent Great Britain and N.I. in my 1st World Transplant Games in Thailand 2007.

The cost to send each athlete to the WTG is £2,200, plus £1500 for each parent of the Teenage Team, so I need to try and raise £5200 and any extra will go towards helping send my other Teammates also. So please can you help !!"

If anyone would like to help Jade, here is her JustGiving Page

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday. I am planning to spend most of it in the garden. I have roped P in to do some major pruning and chopping of stuff!!

There is no further news of K. I'm hoping right now that no news is good news!

A wonderful weekend

I am glad I managed to get away for the weekend. It's true you can't escape from your worries but it's sometimes good to see them from a different perspective. The cottage our friends had booked was in a very peaceful little village and we enjoyed lots of fresh air, good food and laughter as well as some photo opportunities. Our kids all got on very well together seeing as their ages ranged from nearly three to nearly 14! On Saturday we visited Grizedale Forest and went for a walk. We met two riders on Icelandic ponies. It was really exciting for me as I've wanted to see an Icelandic pony ever since I read about one in a childrens book years ago. They are beautiful creatures with very distinctive faces and one of them had five gaits!The fifth gate is the tolt. The tolt is a four-beat gait, with the footfall sequence the same as the walk, for example right rear, right fore, left rear, left fore. The Icelandic Pony can escalate the swiftness of the gait to great speed. They have great bone density so quite a small pony can carry a full grown man. They are long-lived, hard working and of good temperament!I'm just so annoyed that I was so busy asking questions about the special tack and the different riding positions I forgot to take any photos!!

Today's pics are of S in Grizedale Forest. Both myself and my friend the Wildcat are reflected in the lenses of her sunglasses! The other shot is of a view from Kitrkstone Pass down towards Brotherswater.

I have a mountain of chores to do so I should stop putting them off I guess...