By Stephie, on Sunday 7th March, 2010 at 00:05 am
Yesterday was meant to be an easy run, but once I got started I couldn’t stop. I’m going to have to get one of those measuring things that go on your chest (or wherever!) because I don’t actually know exactly how far I go! I know one particular road stretch is 1.5 miles because I’ve checked on my car’s mileometer; I know one of the cliff paths I take is 1.5 miles, ‘cos there’s a sign that says so at the beginning, but anywhere else I go is a bit of a guess, a bit of a comparison to the other routes I mentioned. Not very scientific, but hey I’ve never claimed to be a scientist! Hm, just thought I’d have a look at one of those map sites and this one’s pretty good, according to this yesterday’s run was roughly 4.5 – 5 miles; not bad! I ran solidly for about 3 miles and then jogged/walked the rest. I’ll call that ‘interval training’. You can call it what you like!
 This bridle-path was on my last stretch home  When I finally got back I kicked off my trainers and fell asleep!
By Stephie, on Thursday 7th January, 2010 at 21:15 pm
I’m sooo excited! We had our first snow fall last night! We had plenty of ice before that, but what’s ice without the pretty stuff? Of course, I have a few pictures to share with you…
The wee one is over at his Daddy's and they texted me this fab picture of their morning's activities!  Closer to home, in my kitchen in fact, Lily refused to go out the door until I gave her a push at about 3 this afternoon!  Once she finally had the courage to spring about in the snow, she took up residence on the bench under the bird feeders! And don't my leeks look good?!  And what's a girl to do in all this white stuff? Marvel at how well insulated her loft is, obviously!  And when she's been Chapel bound for several days? Well, get outside to sand the dresser of course! What have you been up to in the snow? Anything fun or unusual I wonder? Hope you’re managing to keep all snuggly and warm . And if you’re in the other hemisphere I hope you’re managing to keep lovely and cool! Let me know how the winter’s treating you, I’d love to hear all about it!
By Stephie, on Sunday 17th May, 2009 at 23:08 pm
A weekly post of inspiration
There’s nothing more inspiring to me than a walk along this woodland path in spring. It’s from a place called Trelew, near Mylor Bridge in Cornwall. While everyone else is wandering along the creek admiring the boats on the glistening water, we like to feel that we know of a really special, secret place, that is all ours…
Click on the images to see a larger, crisper version.
 Kim pushes his bike up the stony woodland path ahead of me  while I stop, entranced by the dappled light.  The heady scent of ransomes fills the air  as we walk towards the light  and the bluebells.  In the sunshine Kim rests and picks some buttercups  before we move on and spot a wild orchid.  We meander down a long country road to the church yard  where we admire the Cornish cross outside Mylor church  and spot some grave stones with a view of the harbour.  After an icecream we wend our way back along the creek  to home for tea.
By Stephie, on Saturday 18th April, 2009 at 21:00 pm
 Yum! Kim's superbly decorated chocolate Easter cake. I’ve been away and I’ve missed you. It’s been a full-on Easter week with a visit from my mother, my nephew and niece. So I’ve been entertaining. That makes it sound like I’ve been hosting dinner parties night after night. Nothing could be further from the truth – I cooked a load of meals and stuck them in the freezer before they got here, just so that I wouldn’t have to be cooking under pressure for five people all week. Some may call it a cop out, others (me) call it being organised. Ish; for I soon discovered that my nephew and niece are as fussy as my own little one, and of course all three of them liked something different from each other. Although they all liked the Easter cake that I baked and Kim decorated; it was virtually gone in an hour or so.
 Admiring the view at St Agnes. No, when I say I’ve been entertaining, I mean I’ve been showing our visitors the delights of Cornwall. I have to say, this wasn’t easy. My mother seems to have slowed down a lot in the last few years. To a virtual halt. She complained endlessly about the hills and her aching legs, she wheezed and was breathless just walking down a flight of stairs. She wouldn’t go down to the beach at St Agnes for fear of not being able to get back up the hill again afterwards. I was shocked. She’s not that old, (in her mid 60′s), but she was a physical wreck going on 90. A difficult combination to manage when you’ve got 2 eleven year olds and a nine year old all wanting to career around the place like a particle in the Hadron Collider. And then of course there was the weather. We had but one sunny day and one sunny afternoon. Most of the rest of the week we were soaked by torrential rain, to which my mother attributed ‘the first cold she’d had in years’…
Despite these trials and tribulations they seemed to have a pleasant stay. The highlight of the week was probably yesterday’s trip to the Eden Project. It was certainly the highlight of my week: we went to the Colour Explosion event (link to youtube video), where we all got our hands dirty and I had a painting put up on the ‘wall of fame’ – oh the joy!
 Their faces say it all! Taking a break at Eden (Kim's on the far right). Click to enlarge.
By Stephie, on Friday 29th August, 2008 at 17:57 pm
 Colour in the Mediterranean biome As the school holiday draws to a close (am I allowed to say thankfully?) I decided it was about time we actually got out of the house and did something. So yesterday morning we headed east on the A30 to the Eden Project for a day of fun and frolics. It was the first time we’d been since January, when I had to leave early in an ambulance after an altercation with a slab of ice…
Eden is fantastic at this time of year, everything is so lush and there are fruits and flowers bursting out all over the place, if a few too many people – especially of the diminutive, noisy variety. Yesterday my favourite part of the Project wasn’t the spectacular tropical biome or the smaller Mediterranean one that’s full of the brightest colours you can imagine. It wasn’t even the exciting education centre. No, for me it had to be the veg patch outside the cafe! Beautiful curving rows of colourful chard, purple cabbages and laden tomato plants, all edged with a chorus of dwarf hollyhocks. It was so inspiring that I might even brave the rain and get out into my garden to get some raised beds on the go.
 The Eden veg patch Eden is so different from a traditional garden. When you arrive, you peer down over the rim of the quarry at the massive biomes nestling in a site that looks like a cross between an alien invasion and a box of jewels. The excitement of any nearby child is palpable. Not surprisingly it doesn’t have much to do with plants; Kim’s favourite part of the day was running around an enormous teepee, then launching himself onto a pile of cushions before burying himself underneath them. I try to engender an interest in the exotic plants in the tropical biome, “wow, look, that’s the plant we get chocolate from!” or, “did you know that’s what rice looks like when it’s growing?”, but after some cajoling he says his favourite plant was “the big dead flower”, which, in case it wasn’t obvious, was dead! The said plant was the Titan arum, (also known as the ‘corpse flower’), the world’s biggest flower, which can grow up to 3m. We missed it flowering by about 2 weeks; it only stays in bloom for a couple of days, if that, and it’s pungent smell is said to be like rotting flesh! I’d like to have experienced the stench though, can it really be any worse than the fox skeleton I was boiling up in the name of art the other day?
By Stephie, on Wednesday 25th July, 2007 at 15:54 pm
Just when you think you’re having a great day and can carry on working with no interruptions, along comes your little cub scout to remind you that he wants taking over to Perranporth this evening for the cub’s barbie-on-the-beach. And of course being cubs they’ll only want to be there for an hour and a half, which means I have to sit on the bloody beach with them….aaaargh! And Perranporth beach being on the north coast, will be full of surfers, teenagers (ugh) and emmets (double ugh)!!!!!! Then I calmed down for a minute and remembered something….The Wateringhole (link to live webcam!!), which bills itself as the only pub on the beach in Cornwall…artists and alcohol the two don’t go together at all!!!!
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Narrative Self in pictures
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I'm running a 28 mile marathon in memory of Josie this February. Come and find out why.
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