One Day at a Time! (or Living in the Moment)

Yesterday I stopped in the meadow to study the daisies. I'd never realised before just how purply pink the tips of the petals are before they unfurl for the day. As I stood in the still and the sunshine I heard my first cuckoo. I haven't heard one in this valley before,my last one was up the Duddon valley.It made me  realise how important it is to just stop and absorb the moment sometimes and appreciate what we have around us.

I've spent some time in the garden over the last few days. Yesterday I planted two new clematis.I love them at this time of year.The rhododendrons are spectacular too. Whilst my rhododendron and azalea  collections are slowly growing and maturing,I wanted to add  clematis and rambling roses to the mix.

My salad leaves have flourished, I picked my first leaves yesterday for my sandwich, the free potatoes are growing in their sacks and there are signs of spring onions peeping through.My tomato plants (for the time being at least are thriving),my half price fuchsias and geranium are almost ready to be potted outside and the world is currently a  colourful and beautiful place outside.

Every year I promise myself that this year will be the one when I will really get down to it but really the wilderness of my garden is part of it's charm. the wild poppies, violets and forget-me- nots,the cowslips, bluebells and the primroses and of course the wild life that goes with it. The challenge will be to keep the balance.

The garden is a safe haven for my son too. He can trampoline, play with the dogs and make dens.I still have to watch the unfilled hole when he built a trench to Australia a couple of years ago.

I remind my self that no matter what his problems and disinclination to go out and socialise, he is lucky to have been brought up around hens and sheep, herons , buzzards and red kites.

I've been asked twice this week what my hopes and plans are for his future. My answer- I have none, we live in the moment and look at what he can deal with now. He has no need for GCSE's at the moment but he is looking at what he might do to make a living when he is older, computer programming, the stock market- things that interest him.

It's not a short sighted approach, it's a holistic approach. It's no use having a long term goal and feeling a failure at the first hurdle.My son has shown that he can do things if he wants them enough.His desire seems to override his anxiety,so we shall just have to take a day at a time and see where we end up!

(apologies for the lack of photos due to a technical hitch which hopefully will soon be remedied )

Aspergers and Achievment

My daughter's own sign at Lowick to spur her on!

So often people concentrate on what people with Autism 'can't do'. Over the years I have been home educating my son I have moved further and further away from the conventional forms of 'achievement' such as good GCSE'S  or well paid jobs and have been amazed at what our children can achieve if we facilitate them.

Yesterday I took part in the Coniston to Barrow walk., a twenty three miles walk along the east side of Coniston lake, over Kirkby fells and past Furness abbey into Barrow. I together ,with my daughter were raising money for the National Autistic Society Furness Branch

My daughter at the start in Coniston.

Brantwood

Nearly at Horrace!

In our team were two young people on the Autistic spectrum,the youngest is still in primary school and the older a young man of eighteen. They both face their own challenges.Anxiety gets in the way of so many things that we take for granted,like joining clubs, going to parties and socialising. Even walking to school can be hard.

Yesterday both of these young people came across the finish line.The eighteen year old in a magnificent time of just over 5 hours (put my 6 hours 43 minutes to shame). The little boy, who looked so small when we started out at Coniston had the biggest brightest smile at the end as he stood with his proud mum to have his picture taken with his medals.

To both mums, and all the members of our team,these two young people have made us SO proud and shown others that there is NO obstacle that can't be overcome.Well done guys!

You can still sponsor them both here.Two pounds will make a fantastic difference!

https://www.keswick2barrow.co.uk/sponsor/welcome.asp?ID=11491

https://www.keswick2barrow.co.uk/sponsor/welcome.asp?ID=10755

Old before my time !

Woodland

Today I bought my first Wainwright , the cover states that it is 'written primarily for old age pensioners and others who can no longer climb high fells but can still,within reason,potter about on the short and easy slopes and summits of the foothils. "

Mmmm ....... at the ripe old age of fifty one the walks described seemed just the sort I enjoy, the ambling along,tiddley pom,something to photograph round every corner, tiddley pom, sort of walk.

NOT the huffing and puffing, nearly falling off your perch on the way up sort of walk.

I recognised some of the walks as I'd already done  one of two. I learned that the tarn I'd photographed the other weekend was Burney Tarn and that the flat topped mountain I see every morning when I look towards the Lakeland Fells is Walna Scar followed by Buck Pike and Dow Crag.

Burney Tarn

One walk entitled 'Potter Fell' described perfectly my walking preference.

I'm at that point where I need to refocus.My Autistic son is in teenage mode and trying to make him learn is like pulling teeth so I take the view that if I learn things for myself some of it might rub off.

After this Coniston to Barrow walk is over at the weekend I'm considering a new challenge.Perhaps learning to run for a 10k sponsored run.There I've said it,committed my thoughts to paper.It would have to be a fairly realistic distance, after all,at my age and with my fitness level a girl has to be careful,but maybe,just maybe I can do it.After all I managed 23 miles last year and I could hardly climb  a few feet uphill without getting puffed out when I started.

I have started a new Facebook project with a friend too - a frugal sharing page where we can share our surplus produce and safe money and resources. We're really excited about that. So that's a few goals to get me started!

Buck Pike and Dow Crag

Living on a Budget!

I've been talking to a friend about frugal living. It's something I've been thinking about for a good few years now. In some ways I've achieved it- in others not.We are by no means self sufficient and we don't skimp on things but we do like bargains and like good quality.

We don't have a big house - in fact some would say it is too small for a family of five but for us it was the right decision. We bought two small ones instead, one to live in and one to rent. We DO have a large garden (an acre and a half) although we don't really put it to the most productive use at the moment. I hope to change that in the future. I've thought about sharing some of our land with people who want to grow their own food but don't have the space, or to use it as a form of therapy for people with mental health problems but I haven't reached a decision on that one yet.

Most of the furniture we buy is old and rustic (mainly because we prefer it as it's generally better made than the modern stuff you can buy nowadays)

Today I've bought five woden garden chairs for £20.They need a good sand and a varnish but they're hard wood and should last when they're protected from the weather.I will post pictures of the finished objects and you can judge for yourself.

I love flowers round the house too. The kitchen is filled with the smell of lilac at the moment which I brought in from the garden for free.

and the other day I found a bargain for a pound! The flowers were beginning to wilt but the scent of hyacinths was amazing and I got a free bucket too!

Whilst the children choose to go to the gym to keep healthy, living in the country can provide loads of free exercise and fresh air. I enjoy  walking boat whilst my daughter prefers to cycle. We are lucky we can escape straight out the garden into open countryside. So whilst I'm not yet The Prudent Homemaker I'm working on it!

Sunbrick Lane

What a rich and fulfilling day it has been.We woke up to sunshine at 7.00 and by 7.30am my daughter was out in the fields walking the dogs at our local kennels.Two pet sheep needed to be bottle fed and I learned for the first time this morning that cola bottles with teats will do- not bottles similar to those used to feed babies.These lambs were skittish,they ran to be fed and then ran away, not wanting to be petted and held.

After breakfast of bagels and coffee we decided to walk the mile and a half to our local church where my daughter was performing a play called The Seeker. Eight young teenagers in the village have been meeting monthly to socialise and prepare for a performance.It has demanded commitment, hard work and learning lines but it all came together and the girls pulled it off! Their reward - home made chocolate brownie afterwards!

We walked the mile and a half home racking up our mileage for our forthcoming sponsored walk in aid of the National Autistic society and then it was the St Georges Day Service for Scouts on Birkrigg common. I left my daughter and walked up the common until I looked down on Morecambe Bay. I stumbled across Sunbrick Quaker Burial ground beyond a small arch .The only thing hinting of its exsistance was a plaque on which it stated that Margaret Fell and her second husband George Fox (the founder of Quakerism) were buried there.

I continued down the hill and through a farm yard onto a bridle path lined with hedges full of blossom and dry stone walls built from the limestone on which Birkrigg is based. I thought I heard a peacock but as I didn't see it it may have been a figment of my imagination. I did however see a rabbit amongst the bracken!

Back on the road again I walked back towards Birkrigg with it's view of Ulverston and Hoad monument and took a short detour down to Little Urswick with its tarn before returning to pick up my daughter who had been orienteering on the common.

It has been a lovely day and even now the sun continues to shine! Tomorrow I will have to do some gardening!

Scrap yards and Charity Shops

Well he did it! My eldest has passed his driving test FIRST TIME! It was interesting the way the 'non home educating' people reacted when he told them that he had his test and would be coming to work in his car the next day. "That's if you pass" they said " Oh I will" he replied. He had faith you see, in his abilities. He wasn't boasting or showing off- he was just confident because no one had ever put the doubt in his mind that he couldn't or wouldn't do it. Although it's not strictly home education it really is- because it's just a continuation of the life long learning we've encouraged since we started home educating his younger brother.

He got his theory test under his belt as soon as he turned seventeen. He started his apprenticeship a month later than his peer group who returned to college in September and he decided to spend the time revising for his theory. My son, who hated the 'falseness' of school and exams, had a reason to teach himself the highway code because he wanted to drive.

So the test is passed, the car is on the drive (he's had that since he was fourteen) and it now has new alloys and fog lights and little tiny dust caps that look like green die with dots on each face of the cube.

He paid for his driving lessons himself (his suggestion) as he felt there would be more motivation to pass . He has also been saving for the insurance with the money he's earned since he started his apprenticeship. A lesson is comparison websites and doing his research, brought the price down to £500 less than he thought he would need to pay. Next came the lesson in using a cash back sites which reduced it by a further £40. Not bad for a maths lesson!

He then took the very mature decision to be patient and wait to the end of the month (another seven days) so that he could buy his car tax at the beginning of the month and make the most of his money. He doesn't know it yet but we'll pay for his car tax- we are so very proud of him.

So this time next week he will start learning to drive for real and I suspect that our passion for charity shop finds will be widening to scrap yard bargains in the future.

Straw in our Wellies!

As my daughter sat in the sunshine the other day I was struck once again how creative children are when they are allowed to express themselves. She sat quietly under the trees weaving herself a blue bell crown oblivious to us all and enjoying her solitude. When she came running over to show me what she'd done I suggested we take some photos and here are the results.

A few minutes later she had jumped onto the tractor mower and was driving round the garden  laughing and grinning from ear to ear with her crown on her head looking more like an imp than a fairy!

She really is an outdoor girl.She spent the day bottle feeding lambs and ringing tails yesterday,putting stones back on top of dry stone walls  and sadly discovered a dead ewe and a lamb which had been poisoned by eating too much clover, grown according to my daughter , as a result of too much nitrogen in the soil.( I still need to google that snippet of information).They'd had to move the flock out of the field to another in order to deal with the problem.

She is really looking forward to her G.C.S.E in land management next year and we are really fortunate that a local benefactor has given money to the school to allow them to run the course.

I suppose it will just mean more wellies at the back door full of straw when she gets home!