Sunday Sevens #49

I love sharing my weekly updates with you in the form of a Sunday Sevens. Thanks to Natalie at Threads and bobbins for creating the series. 🙂

Book I’m reading:

Seven Wonders of the Industrial World – Deborah Cadbury.

I’ve picked up a book from my library, (OMG I can say library!) OK, a very small library! :p (David is cringing with the amount of books I am buying!) It’s a book I bought years ago and not had the time to read. So I thought I would read it for my 2018 Year in Books. Deborah Cadbury’s book accompanied the acclaimed 2004 BBC series Seven Wonders of the Industrial World.

I have to admit the series was inspirational. The Industrial Revolution created revolutionary thinkers such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, whose world changing designs were built by the superhuman navvies who toiled, bled and died creating a modern world! It made me stop and think of how we take for granted these wonderful works of engineering.

Awe-inspiring accounts of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, (which to me will always be the Roebling Bridge), and of Joseph Bazalgette’s Cholera defying London sewers are among the best episodes of the series. Add wonderful music by the then up and coming Hollywood composer Steve Jablonsky and you have the ingredients for a superb TV series. I was gifted the DVD set for a birthday and the book only adds to the incredible achievement of these men of vision.

Have you seen this TV series, read the book? What are your favorite industrial wonders?

Cooking:

Returning to the mundane, this week I managed to do some cooking. It’s been a while since I cooked a meal from scratch. It may have been for one (as David cooked himself a curry) but I was happy with the result. I followed the recipe from the Quorn site, of Fajitas with Quorn Pieces. I served with warmed tortillas. The meal was filling yet ultimately healthy as the main base was vegetables.

Spicy Quorn Fajitas

Honey bee on Salvia

Red Campion

Yarden:

All the sun of last week has made a big difference to the yarden. The potato chits and wildflower seedlings have pushed through the soil and the red campion has started to flower. The only sad demise from this winter was my beautiful Salvia Mystic Spires. It was loved by bees well into the autumn months. I am mourning this beautiful plant and hope to find a replacement in the shops in future.

#walk1000miles:

My miles this week have been an accumulation of walks with Riley, housework and sessions on the cross trainer. My miles this week has been 30, bringing my annual total to 607 miles.

 

Walking the Dog:

Christine and Riley

Riley and Bennie

This Sunday David and I got up at the ungodly hour of 5.30am to take a drive to Formby Point for an early morning walk with David’s sister, partner and doggy nephew, Bennie! It was the first time both dogs had met each other. After a good sniff both dogs walked side by side as we took to the sand dunes and walked along the beach. I think they both enjoyed their 3.5 mile walk.

That was my week, how was yours?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

This is Riley…

Riley

A good friend of mine has recently been enjoying my Facebook posts regarding Riley. So I thought I would do a blog post on him.

Riley is a big eight years old. He will be nine this July. We really shouldn’t be his owners as it was my brother who bought him as a tiny pup. Unfortunately we had to mind him when his wife went into hospital.

Baby Riley

Baby Riley

Baby Riley and David

Baby Riley

He came to us as a plump, eight week old pup. He was even smaller than our cats! He was ultimately adorable and David and I feel in love with him from the instant.

A few weeks later we asked if we could keep Riley as the whole family had become attached to him. My brother agreed.

Teenage Riley

Grown up Riley

Riley among the flowers

So Riley has been with us ever since. He was neutered in 2012 and after that put on a little weight, which David and I have tried to control with long night walks and trips to the beach. I don’t know who enjoys the walks more, Riley or me!

Riley is a constant joy. He loves nothing more than running and playing fetch. He may pull when going on walks, but once off the lead, (especially on beaches) he loves the freedom, but never strays far.

Riley and Daffodils

Christine and Riley

David and Riley

Christine, Riley and Anthony Gormley

Night walk and new jacket

Riley at Sefton park

Recently David took Riley to the local park whilst I was in work and tried to walk him. However Riley had other ideas. He knew one of his pack was not present and while David walked ahead, Riley kept looking back to see where I was. In the end David felt embarrassed as Riley sat on his haunches and would not walk until he returned to the car to see where I was. How cute is that? The pack was reunited that afternoon when David took Riley to meet me at work. I couldn’t stop grinning all evening knowing Riley cared for me as much as I do him!

Christine and Riley

David and Riley at Crosby Beach

So there you have it, Riley’s story. Hopefully there will be many more walks to share with you all!

Do you have a beloved pet? What stories do you have of them?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

Sunday Sevens #31

I really enjoy collating pictures from the week and writing a summary in the form of a Sunday Sevens, devised by Natalie, however this post is slightly later than usual. Oops!

This week, David and I have spent more time in the yarden due to the weather being glorious! Most of the week in the NW of England saw temperatures soar to 28°C. It was a taster of what summer could be like if the winds are favourable.

Recently we have been talking about getting a watering hole for the resident birds during the summer months. This week saw David came home with a big box! It took me totally by surprise. David had visited his staff shop and acquired a bargain. He’d bought a Bernini fountain for £10, it should have been £100! As you can imagine with the weather hotting up this week, the fountain has been a welcome addition to the yarden!

The yarden continues to amaze. I noticed some foam that looked like eggs. I Googled it and found that the foam is a cover against predators by an aphid like insect called a spittlebug. They are classed as garden pests, but I think I’ll let this one be.

 

Spittlebug

Silver Y Moth

I also snapped this picture of a striking silver y moth, though it can be confused with a ni moth. Any moth aficionados, do let me know if you think I have the wrong identification!

Bees: This week I received my Friends of the Earth, Bee Saver Kit. For a small donation you get this lovely pack, with a handy bee identification wall chart and a small pack of wildflower meadow seeds. I have recently been inundated with wildflower seeds! 😀

 

Friends of the Earth Bee Saver Kit

Red Tailed Bumblebee

The wall chart helped me ID a bee visiting my chives. It was a first sighting for 2017 of the red tailed bumblebee.

Book I’m reading: I have recently picked up Khaled Hosseini’s ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns‘. It is by the same author of the wonderful emotive Kite Runner, so I have high hopes it’ll be a good read!

 

Bowscale Tarn

Wild Swimming: A day off work on Friday coincided with some beautiful weather. So I planned on anther swim/walk. This time David and I headed for Bowscale Tarn. With a lovely one hour walk to the secluded tarn and off the tourist track, it made for a wonderful day, even if I did catch mild heat stroke!

 

#walk1000miles

Riley

#walk1000miles: I’ve become a Proclaimer! Somewhere around Bowscale I reached the 500 mile mark! The mileage for this week has been a very healthy 28 miles. Bringing my overall total to 507 miles! I think walks with Riley have helped enormously!

So, that was my week, how was yours?

Until the next Sunday Sevens!

Christine x