PICNIC

The gorgeous weather continues unabated, but without being too hot, and today as we gave Husband a lift into work I suggested to everyone that we had a picnic after we fetched him this evening.  This met with approval all round.

Daughter was keen that we should go up to Bewcastle, as I had mentioned whilst on our magical mystery tour up there that it would be a good picnic spot: there's a stream and an open area which I assume one can sit on and share with the sheep.  I didn't really feel like going that far though and ideally wanted somewhere with a bit of a view: Heughscar Hill would have been great but there wasn't time to get there and do the walk, and in any case the buggy is awaiting new tyres and inner tubes having had yet another puncture.  I briefly considered Dalemain but didn't really want to drive that far, and ended up thinking that we should go up to the reservoir at Castle Carrock as we've only once, and very fleetingly, been up there.

In the end however, having driven via 'the scenic route' from Corby Hill via Talkin and Farlam en route to Hallbankgate, Husband then suggested we went down to the river at Lanercost.  There's not much of a view once you're down at river level, although the river itself and the location is lovely, but the view driving down past Naworth Castle was glorious.  I do so love living up in this part of the world, and moments like that remind me why!

Now, I still haven't learnt how to arrange photos nicely so this will look nothing like as beautiful as H's-beautiful-blog.....





Why is it that I can't put writing next to the photographs, or put the photos next to each other?

But isn't Lanercost Priory beautiful?  It looks even better when you're coming down one of the hills towards it and it's snugged there at the bottom of the valley, surrounded by trees and grass and with the river Irthing splashing past.

Suffice to say the picnic was a great success and as we got in the car to go home Daughter said 'Mummy....'  'yes?'  'I love you'.  Despite the number of times I lose my temper with them, they get upset and cross with me for not allowing them to do things, etc. etc., they still suddenly come out with that, and everything is blissful - for a few moments at least!  The other day however we had a moment I shall treasure for a long time.  I was kneeling in the kitchen to be at her height to talk to her and give her a cuddle, and the sun must have been shining in on my hair.  'Mummy, you've got SILVER hairs!  Can I have silver hair?'.

We like doing things as a family.  We've now achieved getting the entire family out to do some exercise: I take Daughter on the tag-along (she talks non-stop, and gets very competitive); Older Son cycles his bike; and Husband runs with the Baby in the buggy.  This was fine until the buggy developed yet another puncture, so we're now buggy-less until the three new tyres and inner tubes, which we decided it really needed, are delivered (tomorrow I hope).  And then I'm definitely, definitely, definitely going to start going running each day with the buggy.

Meanwhile the Baby continues to be happy and as he's now reached 17 weeks/4 months and is hugely hungry, we decided to tentatively try solids.  Baby Porridge was rather puzzling: his look said 'what's this stuff that's very like milk but thicker and fed to me on a spoon'; mashed banana went down rather better; but what, to my surprise, was a Big Hit: was orange.  I'm sure you're not meant to give babies orange as an early weaning food, but it happened by chance.  He was sitting on my lap at the picnic and I was peeling an orange, and he was reaching out for it.  Thinking that a little suck on a piece of orange probably wouldn't hurt and that in any case he probably wouldn't like it, I put a bit to his mouth.  He loved it!  So much so that he started crying every time I took each piece away.  I feel a little guilty as I'm sure it's really too acidic for him, but he didn't have a huge amount.  It was a rather nice sweet orange, of an overgrown satsuma type.  I do however feel less guilty about having started him on solid food (well, purees etc.), as he was definitely reaching out for the orange.  It reminded me of a photo I have of Daughter, a couple of months older than the Baby is at present, being fed a strawberry in much the same way: someone holding it and her sucking on it really hard and with strawberry juice all over her chin.

I guess the garden could do with some rain (I have a rather dead-looking fir tree outside the front door) but I love this weather.  It's not too hot, in fact sometimes it's quite chilly, but it's sunny and the sky is clear and blue.  How can anyone fail to feel optimistic?