High Country Adventure, Considered

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Kim Halloran-Fry

One of the very best days last month was spent hiking in the Lake District, even if it didn't go quite as planned. Maybe, because it didn't go quite as planned. Our best trips usually deviate pretty widely from the intended course. We walk our way through the different parts of the world to which we travel. Usually, when we read the guides, we choose the longer more challenging more scenic routes listed. This day was no exception. The first portion of the hike was very easy and well marked, a typical sight-seeing pedestrian path. We found the extension trail connecting to this one and began our climb. Up. And upandupandup.

We've done this before and fortunately our kids are part mountain goat and never complain. At some point the well marked trail became less well marked. The guide mentioned that might happen so we pressed on. And up. The view from the top was incredible which was good because there were moments I thought it might be the last thing I saw before I died. ; )

We ate lunch at the top. At that point we just gave up the trail and followed the creek back down. We saw a meadow of cotton grass though we didn't realize what it was until we could check the internet. We met a lone sheep. We watched a helicopter rise from the valley below and eventually fly right past us.

We were so proud of those littles for their gusto and good humor we stopped at a cafe and got ice cream after.

It was a phenomenal day. I was thinking about that after we got back home. It was simply a PHENOMENAL day. But, I realize some people wouldn't have seen it that way. I guess another way of looking at it was we got lost, we had a killer climb, the creekbed turned out to be a bog – which we also didn't figure out til we got to the internet ; D We tied the little dogs to the outdoor tables while we sat and had ice cream. Littlest dog's lead loosened up and he happily jogged through the restaurant with my husband chasing after. We are still laughing over that one, but I realize not everyone would be laughing.

So, you can decide if this is a charmed life. Maybe the point is that you can decide if your life is charmed or not. My dear friend's signature box says it this way:

"An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is
an inconvenience rightly considered."

– G.K. Chesterton

The choice is yours. It is a happy woman who takes that counsel to heart and discovers that, instead of one trial after another, her life is never boring. No two days are quite the same. No, instead of the monotony of complete control and predictability she is blessed with a life full of adventure.

If you want to see the world from that vantage point, you have to push through the climb.

under the starry sky

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Kim Halloran-Fry

“A great many people, and more all the time, live their entire lives without ever once sleeping out under the stars.” - Alan S. Kesselheim

That just shouldn't be. <g> So we pitched the tent and had a grand adventure under the starry sky. A stay-cation if you will. Because sometimes the best adventures can be had right in your own backyard.

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Kim Halloran-Fry

A shepherd may be a very able, trusty, and good shepherd, without a sweetheart – better, perhaps, than with one. But what is he without his dog?

– James Hogg

We watched with rapt attention one evening as the shepherd took his dog to the pasture to doctor two of the sheep who were slightly lame. I have never seen a dog work a herd of sheep in person before. It was really nothing short of amazing. The dog followed voice and hand commands, watching both handler and sheep. It had the sheep under complete control, allowing the shepherd to isolate the two he needed and making sure the others were still and collected in the meantime.

We visited with the shepherd a while that night. He knew we had an accent but couldn't place it exactly, he said. <g> We were the very first Americans to have ever stayed at his home. When we told him we had most recently lived in Colorado he remarked that a local he knew had moved there to teach at a university. But, he added, the man returned here to this coastal spot for his holidays.

Smart man, I say, with all due respect to our beloved Colorado.

These sheep are primarily raised for meat. It seems that on this island which was built in large part on the wool industry, wool is nearly worthless today. The market is saturated with cheaper synthetics. This made me sad. It actually made me want to go purchase a thick, scratchy fisherman's sweater on principle. Even though it is July.

Our landlord later confirmed this wool market assessment. He, of course, blames the Irish. If you talk long enough you learn that many of the world's ills can probably be traced over westward way. (said firmly tongue in cheek by this very Irish woman ; ))

At any rate, be it the Irish, the EU, or the darned scratchy wool itself, rayon may be cornering the market but the sheepdogs are still cornering the sheep. And doing a fine job at it. I wish we had such a capable dog when we were chasing goats and cows.

A little bit of family history my children may not know. When I was growing up my grandmother went through a 'sheep phase' on the farm. The family business was actually a riding stable where they bred Quarter Horses but my grandmother had lots of incarnations as she created herself anew time after time. I particularly loved her as shepherdess. She attended courses at the local extension agency and bought a few ewes which later grew to a herd which overwhelmed my grampa. (we didn't have an awesome dog remember) I think I have written that part here before.

This picture is me (left) returning the orphan lamb I had convinced my mother to allow me to keep in the basement in town while I bottle fed it that summer. boo-yah! He looks great. I look pretty peppy too despite many night time feedings. Not sure why I am mid-flight here….

So with this newfound fascination with all things wooly and wonderful, the children have found our Floss books and are reading them over again with new eyes now that they have a real life dog to compare. Good fun.

If you'd like to have a Kim Lewis feast with us here are some titles to look for:

just living is not enough

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Kim Halloran-Fry

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"Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."

– Hans Christian Andersen

I can think of no greater blessing to wish for than that one has wind in their hair and a fistful of wildflowers in a jar on the kitchen windowsill.

Over the fence

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Sunset on a Coastal Farm

Posted on July 14, 2013 by Kim Halloran-Fry

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“If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God.”

– GK Chesterton

The holiday hire

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Our holiday hire in the Lake District was an old converted brewery. What it lacked in interior design – it was a mish mash of 70's era patterned carpeting, ultra plush velour upholstery, and lots and lots of wallpaper which happened a good decade later – it more than made up for in location. There was us and the owners who lived in the tower side of the building. And the sheep. Perfect. : )

We had full days of sightseeing and hiking but evenings were spent on the farm, eating the food we brought from town out on the lawn while the littles put on impromptu shows on the low garden wall. When it got too dark to play outside and the cool ocean breezes blew in, we started a fire inside. The children fell asleep there and were carried up to bed. Early mornings I scoured the shelf of old Reader's Digest Condensed books, reading in the kitchen til they stumbled down one by one.

The guest book yielded some really funny entries. I copied down this one:

"5 hrs from the City of Smoke

is a wonderful place full of very nice folk

As we weaved down the lanes, surrounded by sheep,

The hills on both sides were snow capped and steep.

We stopped off in Tesco to stock up on wine,

And what joy! The chablis was £5.99!

To the brewery we headed, our holiday hire,

With horses and donkey, and a nice roaring fire.

We climbed hills and waterfalls, we were living the dream

'till the kids slipped while jumping and fell in the stream.

3 loads of washing was just the thing.

So we headed to Piel Island to meet the King.

The wind was too strong. There were no ferries at the pier.

So we tried plan B and went to Lake Windemere.

We were hoping to get there in time for lunch.

But the car hit a pothole and the wheel went crunch.

4 hrs were spent at the side of the lake

with the car jacked up oh for goodness sake!

The man at the garage said the bill would be whopping.

There was only one thing to do, go souvenir shopping.

We stocked up on mint cake 'til the hire car was ready

then to Millom we drove, but taking it steady.

Our last night was quiet compared to the rest.

But as holidays go, this was one of the best."

Our stay was mercifully free of mishaps, but I totally concur with the last sentiment. As holidays go, this was one of the best.

a quiet minute

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Kim Halloran-Fry

"Rachel Hammond sat by the open window with her Bible on her knee. The muslin curtains did not blow with the breeze, for there was no breeze that hot morning in June. The air seemed breathless. Rachel had put her pretty room in order, finished all her little morning duties, and now had sat down for a quiet minute with her Bible before she began the day."

– Lone Point, Grace Livingston Hill

My quiet morning minutes are spent here in this room, made a little prettier with vintage linens sent by Rebecca.

summer learning – it’s elemental

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Although there was absolutely no forethought given to it, I realized this afternoon that we have fallen into some very hands-on learning about the four elements this summer. It made me think of a song on an old cassette from my crunchier days about the earth, the air, the fire, and so on. (I was pretty darned crunchy before crunchy was cool let's just say ; )) It was a tenet of wholistic education that learning be as multisensory as possible as well as incorporating lots of natural elements. I can't say that I worked very intentionally on that beyond what our faith already wove into our lives – candles, incense, baptismal water, Easter fire etc.

Somehow without trying (in the sense of not have a 'program') I realized that all those earthy things are filling our days. There are fires for roasting around, tidepools to wade in, gardens for digging, sand to dig toes into, wind to whip your hair every which way. We are gone alot finding wild places. When we are back home we have had many discussions like why did the forest fire burn faster and longer than the prairie fires did? What does drowning look like? Which way should you stand so the bubbles blow away instead of popping in your hair? Why does the dirt blow in great clouds over the fields when the rains stops falling? What is inside a shell? What is growing on the rocks? Why do we need more water in the summer? Why does the sunscreen work?

So many questions. So many talks. So many afternoons out under the sky.

This whole outdoor thing pushes a mom out of her comfort zone. The elements can be dirty and dangerous, but also lifegiving and sustaining. They are to be used and channeled not avoided in a healthy life. This is the messy world we were born into. It's wild and wonderful. We are happier out in it. We sleep better. We all smile more.

Ok, we wash more clothes and shoes too. But it's worth it.

I should add the disclaimer that there have been other summers with new babies or illness that confined us to more backyard adventures. The four elements are found there too. Sand and water tables, sparklers, pinwheels, windowboxes. Even on a smaller scale they have made for happy kids.

Hilltop Farm – a visit to Miss Potter

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Hilltop Farm, Beatrix Potter's Cumbrian stomping grounds, has been on my bucket list since at least 1988 when Victoria Magazine ran a feature article about the area. I still have that magazine, as you can see. Little did I dream then of actually walking through her gardens myself, nor running my hand along her railings as I climbed the steps of the old farmhouse.

Miss Potter fascinates me for many reasons. There are of course the little books. There was a quiet determination to be true to her own heart which grew slowly to maturation, as she attempted to reconcile that with the approval of her family. That approval was not to come. There was her love for all things domestic and rural, a passion for farming and preservation. And art. And tea. It was quite a thrill to retrace her steps this way.

Hilltop is a composed of a number of snug rooms with low slung ceilings. It is dark inside but cozy with paneled walls. Patterned drapery hung from bamboo poles. Her secretary sits with the desk top open and facsimiles of her correspondence – farm orders as well as notes from her publisher – lie strewn as they might have so many years before.

If there was a little book open in the room it meant that the illustration contained something you could still see. The children scanned the rooms to match the pictures to the furnishings. They found mouseholes and fireplace hobs. I was particularly fascinated to see the coronation teapot from the Patty-Pan book because that piece would have been a brand new souvenir for her when she wrote the story, although it seems very old to us.

The gardens were likewise very tight and of small scale, yet lush. Walkways of local slate led through rows of flowers and vegetables, exactly as they were pictured. Sheep grazed nearby and up along the hillsides. It was serene and intimate, a world I pray my children carry with them wherever they go from here.

The children – big and small – have rekindled their love for hedgehogs and naughty bunnies and and silly ducks. They are drinking out of new Peter Rabbit cups and rereading little books with great gusto right now. One grown girl purchased a few Potter souvenirs herself, for 'someday'. A peaceful, inspiring trip for all.

Starry Sky Journal

Reflections from Starry Sky Ranch

Category Archives: England