We got a bit bored of our big walk of the day always being after dark, and always being around our nearest streets, so Freya and I decided to start work a bit later a couple of Mondays ago and I showed her the Favourite Place for the first time. Course, when Matthew and I have been here without her, we've walked to it from our house – but Freya's got little legs still, not ready for three miles, so I had to drive and park up somewhere close by. But that was fine because she got a quick glimpse of another walk that we'll do some time – the lovely lanes that lead to Slyne.
'A small hill, Freya,' says I. 'Can you manage a small hill?' She didn't answer me because she was much too busy sniffing and listening, and also pulling on the lead a bit because there was clearly something amazing over the hill. I took this as a yes, and we set off in earnest.
And there was something amazing on the other side! Two horses. I've never seen these two horses so close on this walk because they've always been on the other side of their field. But here they were, staring at us very intently. Freya was also able to see them despite her smallness, and she barked a little bit. The horses weren't bothered – they didn't even blink at her noise.
Here's the other one. I wonder what they were thinking as we watched them watching us. What do horses think about? Food, probably, and whether you're going to give them a treat. Predators, possibly. Though I doubt they've ever felt threatened in their field.
A lot has happened here in the few short weeks since we got Freya – the seasons changed while we stayed in, which I was a little sad to see at first. But now I'm looking forward to the frost – love me some frost. If you like frost, here is a link to a little bit of writing I did ten years ago on scraping frost from the car windows on a schoolday morning. (If you click on that link, please excuse my terribly pretentious HubPages name of Lady Wordsmith – it seemed like a good idea at the time.) After the frost, there might be some snow, and not very long after that, it'll be spring again. We'll have come full circle and will be back at the beginning. I'm looking forward to that. There's no point in looking back and being sad that a season has gone, I don't think – you can't bring it back, but you can have a brand new one.
The trees are mostly all bare now. Still pretty though, in a wintry way.
The good thing about the leaves falling is that you can see the water in the pond that I've been banging on about but couldn't show you because it was hidden. There, water. I told you there was a pond.
Finally, we reached Jack Sparrow Lane. Freya seemed to sense the enormity of the occasion because she stopped her sniffing and sat down. 'This is the Favourite Place, Freya,' says I. She looked at me very solemnly, saying with her eyes 'yes, I understand exactly what you're telling me.' She even sat still while I took this photo. She's usually pulling me one way or another so I have to take photos one handed.
You'll have noted the puddles. As we got closer to them it was soon clear that they were puddles of mud. Freya had never walked in mud before, so this was yet another new thing. She shared the mud too, jumping up at my legs to tell me how exciting this all was. Fantastic. I don't mind the muddy jeans at all – easily washed. But the state of my trainers every time it rains heavily is becoming a problem – not as easily washed! I'm going to have to invest in a good pair of wellies soon. And Matthew will need a pair too. Freya will be fine – she's a dog, and they don't need wellies.
See what I mean though? This is not a path for trainers! 'Bloody hell,' says I, assessing the situation swiftly, looking for the shallowest way through. There wasn't much choice – one of the muddier edges or straight down the not-muddy-but-deeper middle. I chose the middle – totally wet feet, but clean.
The corn has gone! Well, that's not surprising – November is clearly past harvest time. But we missed it. Although, to be fair, it's not as if we'd have seen it anyway – farmers probably harvest at dawn or something. And anyway, it'll be nice to see the whole cycle start again.
Jack Sparrow Lane and the corn field are great, but they're the gateway to the favourite bit of the Favourite Place, which is The Bench. I'm not a fan of hills because I'm lazy, but I like this small incline because The Bench is at the top. And from The Bench, we can see the Lakes. And it always makes me happy to look at the Lakes.
Unfortunately, it wasn't clear enough on this day to capture the Lakes in a photo, so I didn't. I could see them and that was enough. Freya couldn't because she's a dog, so she can't see that far and she doesn't know what a lake is. But she still seemed to like the view very much – wow, looking at this photo, I can see how much she's grown. This was now almost two weeks ago as I'm writing, and she's much bigger now! She's already looking like a small dog rather than a puppy. You'll see.
I talked to her about the places we'll go when she's bigger and stronger, and she listened intently. 'We'll explore all of those lanes down there, and the canal,' says I. 'Wow,' says she, with her eyes, 'can we go now, Mum?' 'Soon,' says I, 'very soon.' And we can – in a couple of days, we can walk along the canal and the river. You'll have to wait to read about that though because I've got five other walks to write up before then. I've not been photographing them all because I'm getting quite bored of seeing photos of my own neighbourhood.
Here's a last one of my girl for you, looking like a well-behaved dog, which of course is what she is.
Until tomorrow, which was a week or so ago, but will actually probably be later today, because time means nothing in this blog, where the past can be any time and the future has already happened!
WQ+F
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