The Power of Nature

Yesterday I walked round the garden. It's 1.5 acres and fairly overgrown so it's often difficult to appreciate the work I've done this year. I've read so many articles recently on the benefits of being at one with nature and it's true.Whenever I spend time in the garden or go walking in the Lakes I feel so much better and more creative afterwards.

This year I have bought packets of bulbs and seeds when they have passed their planting date and the shops are trying to get rid of them.Not everything has worked but I've taken the view that at the price I've paid for them, it doesn't matter I'll just pop them in and see.

The roses have been fabulous this year.My David Austin old English rose in the front garden, has, for the first time, been covered with flowers.Only yesterday my wild candy stripe rose suddenly came into bloom and a birthday present I bought this year, a pale peach climber  called Wollaton Old Hall Climbing Rose ,has finally come into flower too,

I've had huge successes with Borage .I do so love the piercing blue star like flowers, white phlox, which I bought for mere pennies has provided three small plants, and a pink Astrantia which I bought for £2.00 in a car boot sale looks perfect next to the pink Astilbe outside my kitchen door.

Borage

Wild honeysuckle (or woodbine) is everywhere. I love the smell when I go to feed the hens and I keep  popping strawberries into my mouth as I wander past the rather overgrown strawberry patch which this year has been a mass of fruit.

Wild strawberries

I also have a new lace cap hydrangea for £5, a real bargain! It is huge!I thought it was white but its turned out to be a pale blue, at least at the moment until we see if the soil changes it's shade. It should be fine in the woodland area.But for now it stands proud in its tub waiting for planting.

Lillies in the village

I've learned this year the pleasure of being able to give plants away as gifts so, bulbs have been planted in pots when I buy them and spare ones gave made a very cheap and lovely present.

Wild flowers were planted too.Some in the village and some in the garden and the results bring a huge feeling of satisfaction and a lot of pleasure . I will certainly be planting more next year!

Poppies and chamomile

Marigolds

I appreciate that I am very lucky to live in such a beautiful area where we have wild life and flowers in abundance but if  nature is available to all of us if we search it out.Here is a great place to start from your armchair!  

How do you remind your Autistic child to eat?

We went out for a meal on Thursday, Google, myself, my husband, his siblings, his grandparents and his aunt, that is.Google was excited.He'd known about it for weeks and accepted that a hair cut and a bath would be necessary the day before, without hesitation.Once again it was evident that these activities were neither stressful or painful when the need was there.

As he grows older Google is teaching me such a lot about Autism (his autism that is) I asked him the other day, why, when I go out,  he doesn't make himself anything to eat.I used to think it was laziness (and yes that does come into it if his sister offers to make him some toast or his older brother is making cheese and ham toasties in the kitchen) but yesterday when I dropped his sister off at Peak Camp I picked up a BLT sandwich as promised .I got home late, imagining he would be famished but, to my surprise he said he had forgotten all about it as he was so engrossed in his computer programming.

I think that's half the problem.It doesn't even occur to him that he's hungry if he's engrossed in something ,so he has to be prompted to eat otherwise he would forget.That's a problem we will need to deal with for the future.Perhaps an alarm system will do the trick or a picture system.Any ideas from those further ahead of us would be gratefully received.

Seven weeks of Freedom!

Life is so unpredictable.As I drove home today I passed two highland cows walking along the grass verge,I did a double take and smiled.It's moments like this that you realise that it's the little things that make you happy.

It's been a tiring week. My daughter broke up today and we have had end of term itus for the last couple of weeks.Mental gymnastics are required to keep up with where you have to  be and when.Monday was school rewards trip in Blackpool.Tuesday and Wednesday Duke of Edinburgh reward from Beetham to Silverdale and back. Thursday was School picnic at Tarn Hows and today after school finished at 1pm Year ten went down to Coniston water to swim and are now as I write,are erecting tents in Guards wood for a sleepover! It's what memories are made of but it doesn't account for parental exhaustion.

So next week my plans are minimal.I intend to wake up each morning,with no alarm and ask myself what I plan to do that day.No advance commitments in case something better comes up unexpectedly and I want to do it! School gets in the way of such things and I can't wait for my daughter to leave the 'system' and be able to do her own thing

I've never liked being tied down by the education system and its petty rules and regulations ,when my now eighteen year old started school it was a shock to the system but things are definitely getting worse and if I was starting again from scratch now,knowing what I do about home education I would definitely not hesitate to home educate all my children.

 But one has moved on and is very happy and thriving in his apprenticeship, one is working steadily towards her goal of being a dancer and one is happily following the path of self led learning so I suppose for now and just need to go with the flow and rebel where I can! Happy holidays everyone!

Living peacefully with Autism.

So often I hear of parents, battling with the Education system,the NHS or the Welfare benefits system to get the right provision for their child. It really is a struggle, an exhausting one, which,in the most extreme circumstances can break up families or cause extreme stress and mental health difficulties both for the parents and their Autistic child. It can be a very hard existence,the world hasn't yet caught up with what it means to be autistic. Parents like me are still educating them!

Nevertheless, autism is  common, I see it about me all the time.Any parents of an Autistic child can spot it a mile off and so often it has been undiagnosed for years.Only now are some parents beginning to recognise autism in themselves of their partners,following the diagnosis of their child.

There is a poem about coming to terms with your grief following the realisation that your child is disabled. It has a very clear message that the journey you will find yourself on will be no less joyous.Yes it will have its struggles, all journeys do, but it will have its exhilarating points too.

I've learned that the key to living with autism peacefully and with acceptance is to change yourself.Change your own perceptions of what is normal and suddenly life gets a whole lot easier and richer

So what if your child doesn't sleep in the day,doesn't do their teeth, only eats mars bars and rarely bathes?None of these are life threatening.I would much rather have that than watch my child die from a terminal illness before me,being unable to do anything about it.

I want my children to have happy and fulfilled lives, and whilst for two of them that might mean being out everyday with friends challenging and stretching themselves continuously,for Google things move much more slowly.

I have no expectations that he will be ready to leave home at 18 or go to work, or drive  but I won't be putting pressure on him to do those things until he is ready! That doesn't mean that I think him incapable of doing great things.I know that he has the capacity to do whatever he sets his mind to!He amazes me with his intelligence and eloquence.

With transition to adulthood come further battles to get ESA or independent living or support-after all it's not the responsability of the parent anymore ,or is it?

Fighting a broken system causes heart ache and stress.Once we as a family took back control and stopped relying on the 'support' offered by the system, a weight was lifted off us.

My role I think will be to continue to facilitate my son,to stretch him without pushing the boundaries so that he suffers from mental health, to offer opportunities and to put people in his path who can offer support if he needs it.

Life will not all be roses but if you concentrate on the now then the worry of what lies ahead disappears.Similarly any guilt for what may have happened in the past,goes away. You did what you thought was best for your child at the time.

I read this article this week ,very wise words from a parent who has reached the same part of the journey as me.It's worth a read!

We only have one life,it's our choice how we choose to live it!

Dumbing down the Duke of Edinburgh?

My daughter is taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh award ,like her brother before her.The only difference- he did his through scouts, my daughter is doing hers through school.

Having been first a brownie, then a guide, then a scout and now an active member of Explorer scouts she has eight years of scouting under her belt.During that time she has undertaken various camps and expeditions, qualified in first aid, learned to cook on a camp fire, survive in the wild and kayak to Piel island, home of Swallows and Amazons.

Piel Island (Wildcat Island in Swallows and Amazons)

Her experience of doing D of E through school has been frustrating to say the least. There have been a series of tick boxes and hurdles to jump over so that the teacher running the course can satisfy the powers that be that everything necessary has been done to ensure they are safe .

Obviously there is nothing wrong with that, but when teachers insist that all participants attend  after school meetings to:

a) Practice putting up at tent
b)Light a Trangia
c)Do basic first aid
when you have been doing it for years, and a simple request to see the appropriate first aid certificate and a letter of competency from a scout leader, would presumably have done the job.You have to ask yourself whether this is really no more than a glorified lesson?

It seems  as though the more experienced participants  are not being given credit for their ability to use their initiative and think for themselves.

It's a bit like school itself really,those that are academic and bright are often held back by the least able pupils in the class which is why I'm such an advocate of home education where everyone is an individual.

Anyway to get to the point.In scouts, my son's group had to devise their own route, plot the ordnance survey points,decide on a place to camp and, subject to appropriate risk assessments by the leaders and being provided with the obvious emergency numbers off they went.

Having a laugh on one of their scout expeditions!

In contrast ,whist my daughter was eager to wild camp, her teacher insisted on a campsite with showers (in case they wanted to wash) and, whilst my daughter sensibly decided to take money to buy milk for her cereal rather than carry it in hot sunshine,the camp shop was out of bounds because it was a 'survival weekend'.It's a lucky man that survives on a desert island with hot showers methinks!

My main concern about all this is that my son and most of his scouting friends have all got apprenticeships and I'm convinced it was down to their diversity of outside interests (particularly D of E) rather than their academic achievements.

 Employers recognise that often students who have done D of E have more life skills, are confident and sociable and adapt better to the workplace.

Teachers recognise this too, but by introducing it into the school day they are inadvertently drawing it into the 'national curriculum' and if we are not careful it will be no more than a piece of paper that most school pupils have to add an extra dimension to their C.V. ,which after all is what it is all about (it even says that on my daughter's school letter!)

Making memories

I hope that won't happen, Duke of Edinburgh awards are a wonderful experience and a great opportunity for any young person seeking to continually improve themselves throughout life.Through them you make new friends,visit new places and gain new experiences.

With any luck there will be a drop as the challenges get harder with each new award and the participants find they  "have to get on with it." It will leave behind only those who really do have a passion for life and a keenness to try new things. (If the glut of Trangia's for sale on Ebay ,which have only been used once, is anything to go by,it would certainly seem so!)

Then employers will be able to judge for themselves the candidates who are up to the job!

Peace and Tranquility

Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of family life we just need peace.

Yesterday after a very hectic week of college taster days and various "almost the end of term events" I ran away for a few hours and sat and ate my lunch at Holme  ground tarn. A beautiful spot away from the tourists and the crowds of Coniston where I had time to breathe......

 Summit of Holme Fell

Reminicent of "The Titanic"

What estate agents particulars are made of!

Hodge close quarry.

Reminders of Pooh

   Slaters Bridge Little Langdale