Reasons to be cheerful: back to 'normal' #r2bc

 

Gosh it has been a while since I hosted the linky (18th July in fact!). It has been quite a busy summer as you can see from my blog posts. However, my son went back to school today (for first time since 19th March) and my students are switching back to after school lessons so its is a return to the new 'normal'. I am hoping that folks have reasons to be cheerful that they want to share.

What do you have to do? Easy: 

1. Link up a post about something that is making you happy or grateful. It can be a list, photos or any way you fancy. 

2. Add the #R2BC badge (at the end of this post) onto your post or blog so that people can easily find the linky and join in too if they want to 

3. Share the love. This is the really important bit. Please don't just link and run, comment on at least a couple of posts and why not share with #R2BC too? 

I'll stop by all linked up posts to comment and I'll share on social media too. 

Meanwhile here are my reasons to be cheerful for this week: 

1) A trip to the moon

I have already blogged about the amazing experience seeing the Museum of the Moon was:

2) On the hills with family

I needed to kick myself into gear and start getting in shape for marathon training to resume. My son challenged me to run up 3 local hills and then the following day I hiked back on one with family (and Sherlock):

3) Time with my children

With it being the school holidays I had time to spend with both children doing something they love. For my daughter she bribed me with a lunch at Hansen's Ice Cream Parlour. A complete opposite with my son as it was a run up to Kendal Castle:

Number challenge week 3

I have to say that the Number challenge is getting harder now we are in more unusual numbers! In week 1 and week 2 I made much more progress... Any way here are the 8 numbers I captured whilst out and about in week 3:

• 25 - the % nationally of A grade or better at A level in 2019 on a banner at Queen Katherine School
• 26 - the date in March we should have been able to watch Kendal Gilbert & Sullivan Society
• 27 - one of the sculptures at Halecat House
• 28 - a date on a calendar at the soon to be relocated La Pekora Nera Italian restaurant

• 29 - an update to a shop's COVID-19 opening
• 30 - the distance to Keswick from Kendal
• 31 - a map of architect George Webster's buildings with Colin Croft, Beast Banks
• 32 - a map of Kendal's streets showing Yard 32

Hope other folks are playing along?

Tiling done and a local hike - Day 32

Having discovered the Green Screen effect on TikTok I had a go at being Moana before breakfast:

@lakessinglemum Moana ##moana ##howfarillgo ##mumsoftiktok ##over40 ##fyp
♬ How Far I'll Go - From "Moana" - Heartfire

Once I had eaten it was time to tackle the last of the tiling around the loo. Its so hard (without a proper measuring tool) to accurately cut the tiles. Any how it looks a lot better than the old lino:

My reward was a penalty shoot out with Jason, have to admit I actually missed the goal on my first shot:

Ghost town and running - Day 27

Today was so beautiful I decided it was time to go for a horse ride:

@lakessinglemum Lovely morning for a horse ride ##oldtownroad ##horse ##fyp ##over40 ##mumsoftiktok
♬ Old Town Road - Lil Nas X/Billy Ray Cyrus

Then I got myself all wrapped up for a trip into town to get my car tyre fixed and pick up some essentials:

I haven't been into town since before lockdown and it was just like a ghost town with closed shops and virtually no-one around:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Sharing the happiness via YouTube #R2BC

 
It's Saturday so its Reasons to be Cheerful. Amongst other things making me cheerful this week is the fact my cold is almost gone - nothing quite like a snotty nose to make you miserable! Otherwise there are some other things that have made me smile this week:
1) Making others happy

The final video from last weekend finally went up and I managed to get some great photos from it which show how much other people appreciate my filming:

Just so glad the final race footage is some of my best yet:

2) Walking to work

Being able to walk to and from work is one of the benefits of having a contract at a local school. Its not always as beautiful and sunny as this but I love it:

3) Being Creative

Another good thing about my current role is that I can have fun and get creative! We have been studying Earth and Space and made a model of our solar system using polystyrene balls that we painted to match the planets:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Carnival and Cross Country #R2BC

 
Life has just been so ram jammed that I am only just posting so sorry! Things may be changing over this linky so please watch this space... Meanwhile, despite still being full of cold, these are the things making me cheerful this week:
1) Kendal Torchlight Carnival  

It was time for our annual Torchlight Carnival. We had a parade through our streets with lights, music and amazing costumes:

If you want to see more checkout the video:

2) Proud Mum

My daughter was taking part in the parade with her art group Space2Create. She had an amazing time escorting a model of Moby Dick and collecting money: 

3) Filming Cross Country

Reasons to be cheerful: Social, running, Kendal and otters #R2BC

 
Michelle has handed the hosting baton to me for this month after looking after us for June. So I am making sure that this post is ready to go on time! It has been a pretty good week for me and I look forward to seeing what has made you happy too. So I had better kick off with just some of things that have made me cheerful this week:
1) Helm Hill Junior Social
On a rather warm Saturday I joined in with many other parents and juniors for the first Helm Hill Junior social. As you can see the fun started with the warm up which was fruity themed, we were squeezing the orange at this point!

Then we went on different runs in 3 groups. I stuck with the youngest runners and my son went off with the oldest ones. On the return we had a buffet and then had a Q&A with some senior runners.

2) Long Run in the Countryside


I had a much overdue long run out on the old canal:

Due to the humidity it wasn't as long as I intended but it was lovely to be out in the peace and quiet.

3) Appreciating Kendal


I had to go into town after to work to complete some errands. On the way back I took my time to appreciate the old town centre and some of our lovely buildings:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Roses, blue skies and speeding up #R2BC

 
I may have to dig out my ark construction plans but I still have reasons to be cheerful! Michelle is having a week off so come and share the happiness with me instead:
1) Declutter
We had a much more successful car boot last Sunday. It's good to part with things we no longer need and add to the holiday kitty. Nice for me to see familiar faces and chat too!

2) Roses

I love this time of year as my roses are starting to hit their peak. Most of them are surviving the deluge too:

3) Blue skies

Unlike most of the UK we have actually had some blue sky this week! I made the most of the lovely weather on Sunday evening to take a little jog up to the castle:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Half Term Time #R2BC

 
I am running a day late joining in with Michelle for my reasons to be cheerful this week as its been such a busy weekend! We've had a busy half term with plenty of reasons to be cheerful:
1) Time to socialise

I have already written about our day of fell running at Sedbergh. It's great being part of a great club and a bigger fell running family.  Every event is a social occasion for adults and children as well as celebrating great running:

2) Time with the family

The advantage of working in a school is that I get most of the school holidays off. A chance to have fun together or to just relax! My daughter and I strolled into town and grabbed churros and coffee at one of our local restaurants:

3) Time!

It's great not having to rush around every where for work, school and activities during the holidays. I managed both a walk and run up to Kendal Castle this week and it was lovely up there:

Kendal Winter League 2019: Race 1 Scout Scar

It was videoing the Kendal Winter League last year that really started the momentum going on my YouTube Channel. So with this year's competition starting last Sunday I am determined to:

1. Video all the races
2. Improve on my techniques and positioning for the films

I was combining videoing with being safety marshal on the gate at Scout Scar which meant that whilst I was close to the action (so close runners jostled me!), but it was quite tricky to film some of it! 

The first race was for the under 11s and under 13s which meant children from 8-12. This was a highly competitive and fast and furious race:

Once the 95 children had all finished it was time for the under 15s to take to the start line. This included my son as he had turned 12 before the New Year making him one of the youngest runners. They had a longer race of just over 2km and again there were some strong performances. My son was 13th out of 21 which was a great result for him:

The final junior race was the under 17s. Again some of these have only just moved up from the under 15 category but they all put in amazing runs:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Back Home #R2BC

 
I have handed the reins back over to Michelle for November so I know we are in safe hands! Thanks to everyone who joined in with me in October. As well as having had a lovely half term break (plenty of blogposts on their way!) these are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Safely Home
We drove at dawn to Heathrow from our holiday accommodation to meet my daughter's return flight from USA. So happy to have her back in the UK.

2) Frosty Start

We started off the new half term with a cold snap which added a sparkle to the garden:

3) Halloween Pumpkins

Kendal Torchlight 2018

On Friday night it was the annual Kendal Torchlight carnival parade. We met on Aynam Rd to watch as my daughter was taking part. The parade this year had a theme of books and included vintage cars, music, lights and amazing costumes.

This collage is a taster of some of the parade and then the video shows what went past us on the road:

Having missed my daughter as she was on the other side of her float we ran down the road to the bridge and watched the parade returning (we only missed a few floats):

The video for this section will follow!

Back in the saddle

Now my son is back cycling we have borrowed my mum's bicycle to give him more confidence and get in some practice. It has meant that I have dragged my bike out of the shed so that we can get out and make the most of the cycle friendly routes around Kendal:

We headed out along the old canal and then up along the River Kent as far as Dockwray Bridge:

We turned around on the industrial estate before heading back down the river:

The Trouble with Women

Kendal Community Theatre's annual summer season was dedicated to Trouble with Women! I caught up with them on Saturday morning as women gathered to celebrate 100 years of Votes for Women with a street theatre piece starting at the Town Hall:

There was a fine array of period style costumes and banners and placards:

After a rousing marching song there were 4 speeches. Each from a slightly different point of view with a local campaigner, an anti suffrage speaker, Millicent Fawcett from the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and Emmeline Pankhurst from the Women's Social and Political Union:

#CountryKids A walk on the Lancaster Canal and River Kent

On a cool and wet day over the holidays I persuaded my son to take a walk along the Lancaster Canal Trail which follows the old Lancaster Canal:

For much of the route to Sedgwick from Kendal there are only relics of the old canal alongside the path:

However most of the bridges are still in place which looks a bit odd in an otherwise ordinary field:

At some of the bridges the remnants of the canal are a lot more obvious:

#CountryKids Sledging in Kendal

Kendal was right on the edge of the Beast from the East part 2 and we just about got some snow on Saturday night:

On Sunday morning the fell race he should have been running in was cancelled as there was too much snow and very strong winds in the hills. So he decided he wanted to go sledging instead. As his had died during the last snow:

Oops this is now an ex sledge!

A post shared by Becky Willoughby (@lakessinglemum) on Mar 1, 2018 at 10:37am PST

I had to rummage in the shed for the unused inflatable sledge we had been sent as a back up to a review 6 years ago:

#CountryKids More Parkour in Kendal

My son has been desperate to film more parkour videos but fell racing had taken over! So this week on two occasions that we out and about in Kendal he got some more practice in whilst I filmed in. I have to say he has improved a lot since his first sessions and is getting a lot braver (he has asked for elbow and knee pads for protection!). 

His first session was outside Kendal's County Hall after a dentist appointment. Here he is mid leap:

Then after a Mother's Day lunch out he found loads of places to leap off his 3 course dinner:

I am glad that he chooses to do the parkour in safe enough spots and always checks out whether the height and distance are feasible! I am sure that as he becomes a more confident free runner there will be some bumps and scrapes though... Here is the final video:

Kendal Winter League Cunswick Fell Race

After all the snow and chaos it was a relief that the latest fell race went ahead at Cunswick just outside Kendal. My son and I arrived in plenty of time to walk the course:

The run has some interesting obstacles with a squeeze stile:

And a very icy stone stile:

The under 13 route was the only one that went up on the public footpaths across Kendal Golf Club:

Reasons to be Cheerful: A week of cheer! #R2BC

Are we really almost half way through December already? I can't believe in less than a fortnight it will be Christmas Day! At least there are plenty of festive frolics to make me cheerful now. I am also watching season 2 of the Crown as I type which I am thoroughly enjoying! Here are my 7 main reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Community Coffee Morning 

We had a Christmas coffee morning as a community as we had Big Lottery fund money left over from our playground opening in the summer. One of our residents is a professional cook and she made all these wonderful goodies for us to enjoy:

2) Magical Kendal

Whilst out to scope out shots for our latest Fell running video I saw how magical Fletcher Park was looking in the wintry light:

3) Fabulous Frost

A photographic walk through Kendal

I have taken so many photographs of Kendal that I have put some of my favourites together on YouTube: