Wulf's Webden

The Webden on WordPress

27 July 2024
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Grisedale Pike (almost)

After a wet morning (an opportunity get in some groceries), the sun came out this afternoon and we embarked on a walk from Braithwaite towards the nearby Grisedale Pike:

Grisedale Pike
Grisedale Pike (on the right)

We didn’t make it quite to the top. Jane decided she had climbed far enough and I pressed for another mile or so but it became clear that I’d need at least another twenty minutes to make the summit plus time to rest and walk back. I still got to enjoy some fantastic views though and, as a bonus, I’m not completely exhausted although I’m pretty sure I’ll sleep well tonight!

26 July 2024
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The Lake District

Years ago, I went on a ‘stag weekend’ for a university friend (nothing debauched but a walking weekend). I just had to catch a train to East London to meet another uni friend who then drove up to the Lake District (via another pickup in Oxford). Looking back, I realise what a huge drive that was! By the time we arrived at the campsite it was dark – and raining. I remember the awe I felt the next morning when I stepped out of the tent and found myself surrounded by the lofty hills of the region.

I’m up again this week for a few days to attend the Keswick Convention. It is the grand-daddy of British Bible weeks, having started in 1875. The previous Bible weeks I’ve been on have all been camping experiences on various showgrounds. Once you get on site, you have a wristband to wear and that is what gets you access to the events. Keswick is much more relaxed. We’ve got a holiday cottage and we can just roll up to the events; no entry fees or wristbands to worry about.

Week three doesn’t properly kick off until tomorrow evening though so, having arrived and settled in today, we get a chance to go a wandering tomorrow and enjoy some more of this amazing landscape.

25 July 2024
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Drinkable Magenta

I’ve posted before about shrubs, an old style of drink that I’ve discovered in the past couple of years (and which, apparently, is coming back into fashion). Steep some sort of fruit or herb in vinegar, mix the resulting liquid with sugar and you have a cordial that can enhance water or many other drinks. Previously I’ve made shrubs with rhubarb and with lovage and my mum bought some strawberry and raspberry ones at a craft fair recently.

My latest experiment was beetroot, which yields an amazing magenta coloured result. So pleased was I that I’ve set another batch going. I will experiment further in future but I can’t think of anything that is likely to beat it for vivid colour. Rhubarb is a gorgeous red but beetroot wins the eye-catching crown.

23 July 2024
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Cut Down to Size

Most of this afternoon (into early evening) has been taken up with some tree surgery in a friend’s back garden. She had a Syringa (lilac) that had gradually got too large, casting shade and with the sweet-smelling blossoms out of reach. With the help of my trusty chainsaw, I brought it down to size (probably an hour or so’s work) and then I’ve been tidying up the pile of pieces.

All the “mess” is now at home – wood for burning, leaves for the compost and small branches to be chipped up for pathways. Hard work but I’m hoping that next year the plant will bounce back (it already has plenty of green shoots lower down, which I preserved) and be abundant.

22 July 2024
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What you don’t notice until later…

A different kind of bird picture today, in the form a sculpture by the late Paul Harvey, which was on display at RHS Rosemoor last week.

Wren by Paul Harvey
Wren

What I didn’t spot until looking back at the picture yesterday was how this wren had been joined by a small fly sitting on its tail! Wrens eat an omnivorous diet including small insects so I suspect that would be a dangerous position for a fly to approach on a real bird.

21 July 2024
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Woodpecker

My Mum has woodpeckers visiting her bird feeder at the moment. They are quite shy of movement but, when I was down there last week, I set my camera up on a tripod with a long lens and got a few decent shots:

Woodpecker - 2
Woodpecker

It’s not a prize-winning shot but gives a chance to look closer up than you could probably get in real life before it flew off!

19 July 2024
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First Broccoli

I was excited today to make my first harvest of broccoli from the allotment. It is the Calabrese type, which is meant to form a dense head but a couple of the plants had decent heads of spears and I didn’t want to risk it ending up flowering. I think that was a good call and I was able to cook it up and enjoy it as I would ‘sprouting broccoli’.

I’m also interested to see if the plants that I decapitated will form new heads later in the season. It will still be a worthwhile crop even if they don’t but, if I can get more than one harvest from each, that will be even better.

18 July 2024
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But Before That…

Gardening is the type of activity which often multiplies in scope when you get down to it. My plan this afternoon had been to cut the lawn and do a bit of weeding. I did the lawn and, as I took the trimming down to the compost set up (two bays, next to each other), I was reminded that one was completely full and the other had a little more of last year’s compost to be used up.

That meant the next task was sifting through the old compost, pulling out a few sticks and other things that hadn’t decomposed, and adding it to certain areas in the beds. Then I needed to turn most of the full side over to the now empty side, including snipping down some rather long trimmings that had ended up there. Finally I could get on with the weeding (more material to add to the heap) and, if we weren’t going out for dinner this evening, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was still out there now!

17 July 2024
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A Season for Cheap Wine

Cheap white wine for dinner tonight (left over after dinner yesterday) and I decided to experiment with it. Lidl’s cheapest “Spanish White”, not even graced with a grape or region, was not unpleasant but rather one dimensional. Tonight’s dinner (around chicken breasts) involved sage in the cooking so I decided to also add a couple of small leaves to the glasses too after rolling them around a bit to crush them.

The result was very satisfying, giving at least one more dimension of flavour and, what’s more, one that tied into the meal at hand. I’d probably want to go a bit more upmarket for guests but for adding interest to an undistinguished table white, it seems like a strategy worth noting.