#CumbriaTwitnic at Fell Foot Park

Since I started tweeting as LakesSingleMum I have met many lovely people online but only encountered a couple of them in real life. So when one of the Cumbrian tweeters arranged a meet-up as a CumbriaTwitnic at Fell Foot Park on Windermere it was a great chance to meet up in a safe place with other tweeters and their families.

Windermere from Fell Foot lakeshore

As yet since moving up here I hadn't been to this National Trust property and people had been telling me what a great place it was for a family day out. I had friends visiting from Sussex with their teenage son and they were pleased to come and see what the park had to offer. Luckily we are all members so parking and entry were free. As non-members parking started at £2 and up to £9 for the whole day.


We arrived ahead of the scheduled meet time so headed to the adventure playground to eat lunch. With children aged 4, 7 and 14 it was a perfect spot as they all had something to amuse themselves on whilst the adults had a table to sit at.

All ages on the adventure playground

It was such a sunny day we had to beat a retreat to the shady trees on the lake shore to cool down. On reaching the BBQ area, which was the meeting point, we discovered that we had earlier been sitting next to 2 other tweeters in the playground but hadn't known! The children from the families got on well together despite having never met. There was plenty of paddling in the chilly waters of the lake as well as football on the grass. 


The grown ups had time to sit in either the sun or shade and chat whilst the children entertained themselves. It was great to be able to talk to people face to face I had only had conversations with using 140 characters on my computer or mobile phone. Meeting somewhere such as National Trust property was an ideal venue as it was very public and safe. It also meant that our children were happy to be there too.

My fellow tweeters in the shade

As a final treat we had ice creams from the cafe though it was hard to choose between the yummy flavours of Lakes Ice Cream. The children had one last go in the adventure playground and then it was time to go. Everyone agreed it had been a lovely afternoon out and one to be repeated. I will certainly be back to the park with my children over the summer (next time with swimming things!) and I look forward to future twitter meetups with my fellow Cumbrian tweeters.

Part of "Art in the park"

#SilentSunday 10/07/11

One thing leads to another..

Don't you find it strange sometimes how you start doing one thing and then it leads to another? Last April I started doing a daily photograph on Blipfoto using my iPhone. At first it was just recording my daily life and then when I started getting compliments on my flower photographs I started looking out for unusual or especially beautiful flowers to capture. Some of these I had no idea what they were but people were able to tell me what they were. So not only have I improved my photography but I've been learning botany along the way! Here are a few of my favourite flower photographs:

Duchess of Cornwall rose

Jerusalem Sage

Purple poppy

Friday review and give-away: The Oxytocin Factor

I was sent a copy of this by Pinter and Martin publishers to review as it's newly out in paperback. The publishers specialise in books about non-mainstream medical and health issues and there are plenty of other interesting sounding books on their site. The write up on the back of the book states:

The Oxytocin Factor is the first book to reveal the importance of the whole oxytocin system for a general audience. Both the new research findings and the potentially beneficial applications of this hormone in reducing anxiety states, stress, addictions, and problems of childbirth are fascinating and of great significance in all our lives.

The author Dr Kerstin Uvnas Moberg is a Professor of Physiology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala and also researches at the Karolinka Institute in Stockholm. She has written over 400 scientific papers and somehow found the time to have 4 children!

Like many people I was aware of the existence of oxytocin before reading the book but thought it was only of relevance in childbirth and for breastfeeding. After reading the author's findings I now know that it has far more wide ranging effects on both females and males.

The book explains in layman's terms about how the human body's nervous system works and how the oxytocin hormone impacts on it. Most of us know that we have a "fight or flight" system which uses adrenalin. Well it appears that oxytocin is the antithesis of adrenalin as it is the body's "calm and connection" hormone. I was amazed at what an influence one hormone has on us:

• growth and healing in the body
• easing child birth
• encouraging breast milk production
• maternal, social and sexual bonding
• short and long term stress relief
• appetite and thirst

Altogether an incredibly busy hormone! Its made me reexamine potential ways to improve mine and my children's lives by utilising some of the findings in the book.

I am giving away my review copy to one lucky reader - just leave a comment under this post (UK only I'm afraid!). If you don't win then you can obtain a copy through the publishers' web site Pinter and Martin.


Draw on August 1st!


And the winner is....

Comment number 1 The Book Analyst!

Reasons to be Cheerful XVI (#R2BC)

Well after last week's stresses I really need to emphasise the positive and keep on smiling!
1) Academic success
I have had confirmation that I passed my Preparing To Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector certificate. This doesn't qualify me to actually teach but its an initial step giving me the confidence to look into doing a Certificate in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector in the Autumn. It also helps to give me confidence in teaching people to do family history for my Kendal Family History Services.
My son also really enjoyed his 2 taster sessions at his new primary school and I couldn't get him out of his new uniform! Think he is ready for it all so just hope its not too tiring when they start for real on September 7th after 7 weeks of no school...
2) Sorting out my benefits
The real human beings at Kendal Job centre have got me back on the system after the Carlisle office took me off last week. They have said that in future they will fax any documents for me to the DWP so that there is a record of them being sent as things "often' go missing! My MP Tim Farron has written to the Secretary of State to complain about the way I have been treated so I hope that this can stop it happening to people in more vulnerable positions than me.
3) Family fun
I had enough left from my lottery win to treat my kids to their first ever visit to the circus as Circus Vegas are in town this week. We took advantage of the first night cheap tickets and queued for an hour to guarantee ring side seats (a choice I would later regret!). It was a really good mix of things to make you gasp and to make you laugh. At times the looks on my kids' faces was priceless. Of course sitting on the front row we ended up being squirted by the clowns and I ended up with the comedy trampolinist almost on my lap! 

the amazing sword balancing lady - yes that is a dagger in her mouth balancing a sword!

4) My weight

Despite all the stress and still no exercise I actually lost 1/2 a pound this week. A micro step in the right direction and I just need to get myself re-motivated especially with the school holidays coming up..
5) Saying it with flowers
I looked after my parents' house whilst they were on holiday and my mum sent me some gorgeous flowers from Scilly to say thank you:

They have pride of place in my newly sorted kitchen (not completely finished but a whole lot better!) which is another reason I'm cheerful this week!