The Sedbergh Sheepspotter: July 09

The summit of Winder, beginning the descent (Dominika & Sarka)

Dear friends,
My favourite band (see Footnotes 1) have a song called ‘Things I learnt this year’. Here are some things I learnt this month!

The Arts (mainly about music)
I learnt about some new bands (e.g. Metrostation – from Veronika’s CD) and artists (e.g. Jason Mraz from my godson’s sister Alissa’s CD). I also changed my opinion of other groups and singers. I found out that Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica and Guns and Roses (Veronika and Dominika’s CDs) can be melodic and lyrical rather than just loud (as I think I imagined). And I completely re-evaluated my attitude to hip-hop lyrics (American Boy, Dead and Gone – Veronika’s CD) (see Footnotes 2).

Food and drink
I acquired new recipes for:
- Schnitzel – delicious, thank you.
- American potatoes, though maybe we’d call them ‘potato wedges’. Ditto.
- but, pasta and… mmm…cocoa? In the immortal words of John McEnroe:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekQ_Ja02gTY
You cannot be serious!

Sport/health and fitness (see photos in previous July posts)
We went rowing on Derwentwater. Sarka and Hana did all the hard work. They are very gifted at it. I mostly just sat there and admired the view! You get a different perspective of the lake and the landscape when you’re actually on the water rather than standing by it. This made me want to become better at this. For that lesson, thank you girls.

Nature
We learned about some breeds of heavy horses at the Lakeland Heavy Horse centre:
http://www.golakes.co.uk/places/towns/Maryport-Lakeland-Heavy-Horse-Centre/details/thedms-maryport/?dms=13&feature=2&GroupId=5&venue=5071220
The man’s talk was quite long and his accent was really difficult to understand but the horses were beautiful and his affection for them shone through!

July’s walk (see previous July posts for photos)
From the summit of Winder, behind the house all the way back down….without breaking my ankle. For your patience this time, Sarka and Dominika, and yours last September, Hanka, Roman and Katka, thank you.

Hope all is well with you and yours.
More news at the end of August.
Love, Alison