It’s been an “interesting” week. Some beautiful, sunny, autumnal periods interspersed with dark skies and downpours of biblical proportions. Flooding in all the usual places and driving, especially on the motorways, has been, at times, exciting. Friday and yesterday we enjoyed the company of Storm Claudia, the third named storm of the season so far. Cue Yellow/Amber flood alerts and soggy, soggy fields (and dogs). Walking Daisy on Friday afternoon reminded me of why we love our dogs – they drag you out in the most miserable weather on the foulest days imaginable.
Still, throughout all this, the temperatures have remained disconcertingly high, hovering in the mid-teens (15o C or just under 60o F), considerably warmer than it should be at this time of year. It’s supposed to get colder next week so, at least that’s something to look forward to!
We had a Garden Club gathering on Thursday evening. Belinda from Stonyfield Wine came to deliver a talk on how she and her brother and sister-in-law established a successful vineyard on a stony Northamptonshire field. More importantly, perhaps, she brought along a couple of bottles of their award-winning wine, including a sparkling white and sparkling rose, both of which were very palatable.
A vineyard in Northamptonshire is not what one might normally expect. There are a number of successful vineyards in the south of the country but not only is Northamptonshire too far north (allegedly) but it is also predominantly heavy clay soil which does not suit vines – they don’t like to have “wet feet” we were told.
However, Stonyfield happens to be located adjacent to the Grand Union Canal and just north of the Blisworth Tunnel. When digging the canal and excavating the tunnel, the ironstone spoil was deposited on the field to a depth of up to ten feet! The ironstone rubble turns out to be ideal for growing vines! Who knew?
We’re looking forward to the long-awaited return of our travelling Chinese family – they are due back in the UK in mid-December, just about a month away. Even though the weather is disconcertingly mild, it will still be a shock to their systems, I guess. We’ve obviously had some chats and video calls with them and we had a great ten days or so with them in Vietnam in March but it will be wonderful to have them home again, for a while anyway. Their travels have been such a great success that we won’t be at all surprised if they scuttle off again!
We recently had this video from them of Jessie collecting an ice cream cone. Enjoy!
Since no one asked, I thought I would share with you the progress I’ve made on my most recent virtual bicycle expedition – riding the equivalent distance of the Lincoln Highway from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. Those of you who have been paying attention will remember that I read the book The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. Even though the book is not about the Lincoln Highway per se, apart from San Francisco being the ultimate wished-for destination of one of the characters in the novel, I was fascinated and wanted to find out a bit more about America’s first transcontinental highway. So far, I’ve made it as far as Green River, Wyoming and I’m a mere 150 km or so from Salt Lake City. The route takes me quite near Park City so I may need to make a little detour and visit my lovely sister for a day or two.
Google is suggesting that I ought to have completed this part of the journey (I’m just over 70% of the way) in just over 9 days. Of course, I don’t cycle 24/7 but still, I started this at the beginning of February! So, it might end up taking me the whole year to finish but, until then, I’ll just keep pedalling away!
There are lots of wacky sights to see along the way – lots of statues of Lincoln, as you might guess but also including such fascinating destinations as the Haines Shoe House, Mr Ed’s Elephant Museum & Candy Emporium and a monument to Henry Bourne Joy, arguably the most important advocate for the highway. (As President of the Packard Motor Car company it’s perhaps not surprising that he would be in favour of highways).
As it happens, Henry Bourne Joy is my 6th cousin, four times removed on my mother’s side – what are the chances of that?
Connection to Henry Bourne Joy
And, I think that’s about it for this week. No rest for the wicked, I’ve got to keep pedalling!
Meanwhile, keep breathing, keep happy, keep smiling, keep exercising, be good, be careful, and keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees – we need all the pollinators we can get.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg