Lakes and mountains

Photos from a week in the beautiful Lake District. The dog and I are exhausted as usual after this sort of thing. He has to run around trying to keep his pack together and panicking in case he is left behind somewhere. I have to make my own bodyweight in sandwiches every day and then climb mountains. 

The biggest boy is loving landscape photography at the moment and wanted to photograph things at sunrise and sunset. Sunrise is early you know. He is also of the opinion that sleep is a waste of holiday. So he is up even earlier, tramping the hills in the darkness. I joined in once or twice, photographing the Castlerigg Stone Circle at sunrise and the view from Cat Bells at sunset. 

The Stone Circle dates from 3000 BC and is probably one of the earliest in the country. I love trying to imagine the scenes here over the years. 

Not that long ago the Lake District probably still felt pretty wild and inaccessible before cars really took hold. These days in August it is pretty packed and commercial to be honest, but off the beaten track it is breathtakingly beautiful. In fact, it's not that difficult to get away from people provided you avoid the most popular spots. 

I am now in a bit of a post-holiday slump, moping around being generally dismal. No doubt I shall pull myself out of it all soon enough. Somehow it has rather upset my equilibrium though. Work has been a bit overwhelming lately, and a break from it all has left me feeling a bit questioning and wondering how to structure things to fit in the stuff that I want to do. That's the trouble with a holiday, it starts all the thinking and assessing. I need to just get on with things and stop the whole navel-gazing. 

The year ahead will probably have quite a lot going on. The eldest will turn 18 soon and also take his A levels. The middle boy will have GCSEs. Then there are university applications to think about, about which I know almost nothing, so there will have to be a bit of research there I think. How to choose??? How high to aim??? Who will do his laundry??? Oh, I am all of a dither about it all. I think I need a very calming hobby, something I can disappear into and re-emerge later in a state of complete zen calm. Axe throwing maybe, or street luge. Or maybe just a bit of knitting. All tranquil at your end?

Summer flames with ice-cream and cricket

I took the urchins to the cricket, which was really glitzy, as cricket matches go. Music and flames and crowd participation. We sat at the top of a stand in the jet stream from the doughnut stand forty feet below us. We watched a women's game in the afternoon then the men's game in the evening. The men's game was really thrilling, it came down to the last three balls and the team we were supporting (Welsh Fire) won. I did threaten to take my knitting, but it was exciting enough that I wasn't bored at all. I did see someone knitting while watching on the television though. 

The middle boy went to Lords to watch cricket that week as well, so he was handily placed to make comparisons for us. It was the old guard MCC members versus dancing on stage, flashing lights and blasts of rock music. 

The biggest boy is pressing on with driving lessons. One of the advantages of this that I hadn't realised before is that he can now critique my driving as we go about the place. It's incredibly helpful as you can imagine, you can no doubt picture the scene. His instructor sounds as if he has an excellent sense of humour, which is probably a prerequisite.

The dog has had his first dog ice cream of the summer. Honestly, who invents this stuff? He thought it was marvellous, although he has pretty low standards when it comes to food. Much of what he eats when he's out and about doesn't qualify as edible, or even mentionable.

I am trying to carve out tiny moments to read. I enjoyed the Judith Flanders book and I always like Kate Rhodes, especially her Scilly Isles series. Any good books at your end? I hope you're enjoying the summer and that the occasional ice-cream is coming your way.  xx