Out and About with Plum

Spring is on its way

ChickenPi — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 13:27:37 +0000

The first breakfast outside this year. How wonderful!

Porthleven at Dusk

ChickenPi — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 17:48:05 +0000

Yesterday, after days of storming wind and horizontal rain, we ventured out to Porthleven in the late afternoon. All the colours were shades of greys and blues… and the lulling sound of the ever-active sea.

Breakfast in the sun

ChickenPi — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:42:03 +0000

What a dream!

Thoughts on Integrity

ChickenPi — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 11:23:54 +0000

Having been witness to the creeping decay which takes hold when integrity and honesty are abandoned, I sought out some thoughts on integrity from others.

A liar needs a good memory. – Quintilian

What is left when honour is lost? – Publilius Syrus

No one can be happy who has been thrust outside the pale of truth. And there are two ways that one can be removed from this realm: by lying, or by being lied to. – Seneca

… look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. – Warren Buffett

It is our hypocrisy and self-focus that drains us. – Robert E. Quinn

He is not wise to me who is wise in words only, but he who is wise in deeds. – Gregory the Great

As an entrepreneur, a reputation for integrity is your most valuable commodity. – Victor Kiam

There are seven things that will destroy us: Wealth without work; Pleasure without conscience; Knowledge without character; Religion without sacrifice; Politics without principle; Science without humanity; Business without ethics. – Mahatma Gandhi

Your reputation and integrity are everything. Follow through on what you say you’re going to do. Your credibility can only be built over time, and it is built from the history of your words and actions. – Maria Razumich-Zec

Integrity can be seen as the opposite of hypocrisy.

Other wonderful quotes about integrity can be found in Leadership Now and also the Management Expert.

A walk by the Great Ouse

ChickenPi — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:05:16 +0000

Just recently Plum has undergone major surgery. She is feeling much better now and is even behaving like a young pup again! Spring is showing its nose and we took a friend of ours out to wander along the Great Ouse, to give all of us a much-needed break and uplift of spirit. We went to the Ouse Valley Park which is part of the Ouse Valley Way where one can walk along the whole Great Ouse in 12 days. That was something to put on the list to do one day…
The sun was shining and the general birdery was vocal. Even fish were spotted in the Ouse, which is not quite so great at this exact point, since it is quite near its origin. It was lovely to see so many people out on bikes and children splashing in the water. Some people were even kayaking along gracefully, only sometimes scraping their bottoms.
The dandelions were already spherical clocks, waiting for a big sneeze to whisk the hundreds of seeds up into the air creating a giant dandelion cloud – every movement through them sent little parachutes careering through the air. Fields were full of buttercups – I have never seen so many. Apparently they have all been planted especially by hand! It was a wonderful moment to kick off your shoes and lie back in a summer meadow.
On the way, before crossing the bridge, we took a quick look at the grand, red-brick Wolverton Mill, with the thundering waters splashing through the opening, but there was no wheel to make use of the energy. Such a shame.
The sun shone, the leaves shimmered, we got sun burnt. All a perfect day – and Plum was delighted to have the hood down and her gear box rejuvenated.

Such a shame that only a week afterwards it is raining hard and our good friend has become very ill. We wish both a speedy recovery.

Invincible Summer

ChickenPi — Sat, 15 May 2010 11:38:53 +0000

After an unwelcome routine in my life occurred yet again, I came across this quote:

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.
Albert Camus

I am on my way to learning this too.

No longer in the Club

ChickenPi — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:55:08 +0000

Whilst doing the shopping online, on Sunday night, I noticed an offer for “Jacob’s Club” biscuits. Hmmm… I haven’t had those for AGES. In fact, they remind me of staying at my grandparents’ house when I was a child, so in a moment of nostalgia I ordered two packets – plain and orange. I promptly forgot about the order and was surprised to find them in my shopping when it arrived later in the week, and almost handed them back to the good delivery man, telling him that they had obviously fallen into my basket from someone else’s who was going to be missing them.

Once safely stacked in the biscuit cupboard I waited for an appropriate “snack” moment, which just occurred. How strange, I thought, that they are now labelled as “cake bars”! That will surely be the latest way that one has to describe biscuit presumably. I opened the wrapper (wasn’t it foil covered with a paper sleeve? – no longer!), quietly singing the “join our cluuub…” tune from yesteryear and wondered why the chocolate looked rounded and mottled, when what I wanted to find was the reassuringly familiar angular thick chocolate emblazoned with “CLUB” that I used to like to nibble off, leaving the plain biscuit exposed. Oh well, I suppose change is necessary… But upon biting into my biscuit, my horror was confirmed – no thick chocolate breaking off from the dry biscuit, indeed no resistance at all – it was soft, squishy sponge with some orange cream atop, sheltering within a particularly thin chocolate shell.

A cake bar.

They can go straight into the box that the offspring raid for snacks and I will be deleting them from my favourites in the shopping list. Another thing consigned to the “memory” drawer.

Old Club:

New Club:

Blue Carpet in Hayley Wood

ChickenPi — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:03:44 +0000

Yesterday was a beautful day – far too wonderful for spending inside! We found some woods to wander through and to my great pleasure, they were spilling over with scented bluebells and oxlips. What a place to lift the heart! Inside the woods, resonating blue; outside brilliant yellow. A fiesta for the senses.

Hayley Wood is an ancient woodland of oak, ash and maple, just off the B1046 between Longstowe and Gransden, first written about in 1251 when it belonged to the Bishop of Ely. It is bordered on one side by the old trackbed of the Cambridge to Bedfordshire railway line which operated from 1862 to 1967 (approx) with 5 trains running each way per day. The nearest station to the woods was Old North Road in Longstowe. It is hard to imagine the huge steam engines pounding past when one walks there in today’s tranquil.

Now this woodland is owned and maintained by the Wildlife Trusts who have put a fence around it to protect particularly the oxlips from browsing deer. (Yes, there are gates to get in and out…)

One particular piece of history to be noted here is the crash of a Lancaster R-Roger – JB219 on Black Thursday, the night of the 16/17th December 1943 as part of the Battle of Berlin. 21 aircraft of 97 Squadron had been sent off from Bourn airfield to attack the German city despite warnings of adverse weather. Things went fairly well for them, with just one aircraft lost, until the planes returned to England where they encountered low and dense cloud. It became a disastrous night for the squadron with 8 aircraft lost in total and 28 deaths, victims of the English fog not the enemy. The Lancaster piloted by James Kirkwood was unable to land at Bourn and so tried to come down at Gransden Lodge, but instead crashed at the perimeter of Hayley Wood with the loss of all crew. A memorial plaque at the edge of the woods was dedicated to the crew in September 2007.

So, a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon, beautiful bluebells, ambles through the Cambridgeshire countryside and history for contemplation. We started off at East Hatley and walked through the fields to get to the wood, to enjoy a little more of the fine spring sun. For smaller children there is a lovely worksheet called Walks on the Wildside to keep them entertained, ticking off the plants and animals that they spot in the Hayley Wood. What more can one want?

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Butterflies in Bedford

ChickenPi — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:32:01 +0000

… well, it used to be Bedford Butterfly Park, but now it’s called Wild Britain. It still is a wonderful place to go and spot butterflies though, as well as terrapins, goats, guinea pigs, spiders and other creeplies. We went there recently during the Easter holidays and all the children enjoyed the space to run around. On a sunny day there is a good playground as well as fields scattered with hedgehog stories and other activities to eat up surplus energy. On a colder day the best part is the hot house where the tropical butterflies live. Sometimes it takes a moment to spot them, but sit on one of the benches and soon you’ll be amazed at how many there are. Other things on offer include a little theatre, a craft cabin and a cafe. Definitely a good way to spend an afternoon without having the keep the kids on too tight a leash. We’ll be back!

A quote from “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak

ChickenPi — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:37:30 +0000

It’s hard not to like a man who not only notices the colours, but speaks them.

Click here for a website about The Book Thief.