I was browsing the web this evening when I came across this article which talks about how people find it easy to relate to Cancer Research UK as a cause, and how this encourages people to help with fundraising for them. Have a look and see what you think.

Come and support us in Cardiff on 30/31 August, and help raise money to carry on the search for a cure.

I haven’t posted anything for a few days - I seem to have a bad case of ‘blogger’s block’ at the moment, and can’t think of anything worth writing about! Not to worry though, I’ll come back later today and try to work through it! I’ll see if the lovely sunny day outside inspires any happy thoughts to share, or maybe some nice photos to post.

This may seem like a strange picture to post, but I thought I’d share it with you today. I was sitting on the steps outside a Cardiff office block recently, and this little guy/girl (do lady-ladybirds look different to gentleman-ladybirds?) came trundling past. Given that there was no greenery within twenty or thirty yards I’ve no idea why he stopped by me, but he did and I felt the need to take his picture. The photo doesn’t really do credit to the glorious scarlet of his wing cases, or to his glossiness, but this was the best that I could do. Thinking back, I must have looked really miserable for that five minutes, as I spent the whole time observing him as he paraded past me. Then I must have looked completely crackers when I took my camera out and, to all intents and purposes, took a picture of the pavement! It’s a wonder that a padded van didn’t dash up and carry me off really! 

I’ve had two more extra days at work this week, and yesterday (a really lovely hot and sunny day) myself and the committee chairman spent a couple of hours around Cardiff spreading the word about Cancer Research UK Relay For Life in Cardiff (30/31 August in the Millennium Stadium, in case you haven’t read my other post about it!). We visited a fair few offices and made a good start with distributing posters and leaflets about the event, and we are hoping to visit some businesses in Cardiff Bay soon. I’m looking forward to the teams beginning to register in the next week or two, so that we know we’re on the right path to hosting a great first year Relay For Life.

I’ve recently taken up cycling again. The only time I remember feeling completely happy with my figure was when I was cycling almost every evening in my mid-teens, so as my doctor has recommended low-impact exercise for me I thought that cycling could be the way to go. Walking is not for me, not for the purposes of exercise anyway, as I’m too impatient and want to travel faster, so getting on my bike makes far more sense. I’ll have a much wider range of places to go as I can cover far greater distances, and I can save a little bit of petrol as well. My good friend Hannah (who you can see here dressed as Scarecrow) bought me a wicker basket for the front of my bike, so I’ve no excuse when I just need a couple of bits and pieces from the supermarket - I can just hop on the bike and get out in the (relatively) fresh air for a bit. I think I may have mentioned before about all the gadgets that I have on my bike. Well, tomorrow I plan to fit my cycle computer, so that I can track how many miles I do each week, and hopefully see an upwards climb in the distance I cover.

(My soundtrack as I’m cycling around has been ‘Bicycle Race’ by Queen. I don’t take an MP3 player out with me, I can just hear it in my head every time I get on the bike, especially the following verse;

Bicycle races are coming your way
So forget all your duties oh yeah
Fat bottomed girls they’ll be riding today
So look out for those beauties oh yeah
On your marks get set go
Bicycle race bicycle race bicycle race

I can’t imagine why - can’t be anything at all to do with the fact that I’m cycling to lose weight as well as to get fitter :-). The other song which I can always hear is another Queen song - “Don’t Stop Me Now” - it’s my happy song, and I always can hear it in my head when I’m especially contented or excited about something I’m doing.)

The ride to my parents’ house is a good one on a bike. They live almost exactly two miles away, and there are a few up and downhills on the way there (only one serious hill though), and as I like to visit them a couple of evenings each week, that four mile round trip will be a really good starting ground for my new exercise regime. I can feel that I may start even to make myself feel guilty if I let myself drive over there in any but the worst weather now!

I’m actually quite excited about getting out on the bike more. I have waterproof trousers and jacket, so moderately wet weather needn’t bother me too much. And we have a bike rack for the car, so in theory I could go off and rather than worrying about turning round at the right time when I’d still have enough energy to get home, I could always phone my husband and ask him very nicely to come and find me and give me a lift home! I had thought that maybe one Saturday I could cycle into work and then go for a ride up the Taff Trail in the afternoon - he has already agreed to pick me up if I do something like that. Hmm, food for thought. I’ll have to start exploring good cycle routes a little further afield.

Having mentioned my desire to find safe places to cycle, I have been looking at the Sustrans website and the CTC website, and find that this area is really rather lacking in cycle paths. I know that for my journey into town I’m expected to share the footpath and then the bus lane (not too happy about the latter idea, and I don’t suppose that pedestrians would be too happy about the former!), but I wish that I lived nearer to a dedicated cycle route. However, for now I think I’ll have to stay in the quieter residential streets as much as I can, and avoid the roads with denser traffic.

When I had my children first, despite not being the world’s greatest enthuser about exercise I looked forward to the day when they would be old enough for us to go out as a family and do active things. Today was one of the first times that we have done an activity purely exercise based. We had our first family hike.

 OK, so it wasn’t a full day ramble taking ten hours and covering thirty miles, but we enjoyed it and I think the boys will definitely be willing to do some more. We took a picnic and went on a bus into Cardiff.

 From there we walked through Bute Park to pick up the Taff Trail near to Sophia Gardens. We walked along the Trail all the way to Llandaff North and then crossed over to Whitchurch to get a bus back into town. And this was all under their own steam. Not at any point did we have to carry either of the boys or even their rucksacks that they took to carry their own lunches. I’m so proud of them! I reckon that they must have walked a good four miles, plus all the extra walking around the centre of Cardiff once we had returned on the bus.

We’re thinking of heading up the Wye Valley, or maybe over to Mumbles for the next walk we will do, and hope to do more of these through the summer.

The reason that we went for a long walk today is that my boys have both decided to take part in Cancer Research UK Relay For Life Cardiff in August, and like my idea of doing a sponsored walk to raise money for it, so they’re in training!

You should see the state of my car. It rained muddy water the other day, and all the cars in the area are absolutely filthy. It seems to have covered the whole of Cardiff, and not just my locality. This has happened in the past, although I never really understood it, so I googled it and found this article on an American website which links to this picture of Sahara dust blown out by wind in a cloud over the Atlantic. Hmph. All I know is that I’ll have to wash my car in the next couple of days now. And as my Dad said earlier today; “It’s already had one wash this year!”

I think I may have mentioned that my mother owns a lot of books. And I mean a lot! Anyway, I read too quickly which means that I don’t want to read any of my own books because I can remember what happens in each of them - it isn’t that long since I last read most of them! So, I’ve taken to working my way through her collections in much the same way as you would work your way through the local library, except that her collection of books is much better because she has complete sets of lots of books which I enjoy reading, so I’ve got reading material enough for a few months yet! I’ve just finished reading the Whiteoak series by Mazo De La Roche, and I am now reading the “Performers” series by Claire Rayner. I’ve just started the third book of the saga, and it is quite a pageturner. I enjoy books which tell something of history from an individual’s point of view rather than just dry and dusty facts, and a lot of my mother’s books fit the bill nicely. This series, for example, displays medical history, from the ‘resurrectionists’ in the first book who dig up freshly buried bodies from churchyards to sell to surgeons so that they can practise and teach anatomy without having to use a living person, through ‘modern ideas’ of fresh air and cleanliness to help heal the sick, etc etc. So far I’d really recommend the books, if you are able to get hold of copies. The first book is Gower Street, and this and the following books are all named after locations in London.

I was reading the latest posts on my WordPress tagsurfer and I came across this post by Ms Single Mama, linking to this article on Problogger.net about blogs by mothers. They suggest that this type of blog is likely to become much more popular in the near future, due to the fact that mums will blog about a multitude of subjects rather than focussing on just one. Also, as Michelle Mitchell points out, mothers wield a lot of economic influence, considering that they are the ones who usually do the majority of the household buying, and therefore are well placed to make product recommendations and, if something’s not so good, to shout about it and warn others to stay well clear.

I can identify with a lot of what is said about the reasons that mothers blog. I have few ventures into the outside world apart from my school run and my weekly day at work, and enjoy the chance to communicate with even a faceless audience this way. I must admit that I’d like to see more comments to what I write, so that this could feel more interactive, but maybe this will develop over time as my readership increases. I certainly haven’t stopped enjoying this writing, and so it will continue for as long as I can think of fresh things to write about.

In the coming week i plan to do some baking, take a day trip (and take some photos), try to recruit more teams for Cancer Research UK Relay For Life Cardiff and attempt at least two new low fat evening meals for my family. I aim, of course, to blog about all of these things as the week progresses, and as ever I will be interested to see what unknown (as yet) things happen to catch my interest enough for a comment to appear here.

I was visiting Wondermommy the other day when I saw this lovely bag that she has recently made - isn’t it gorgeous? I love it so much that I decided to make it, so followed the link to Lola’s blog and found the tutorial and the link to download the pattern. My only decision now is what material to use to make it!

Another reference by Wondermommy, and I found this Amy Schimler material, which I love in both the summer designs from her ‘On A Whim’ range. There are Ebay stockists of her fabrics in this country to save me trying to import some, but maybe I should be a bit more economical and head to Hobbycraft where they have a sale on fat quarters at the moment. I just wish that I had a use for a white duchesse satin bag, as I’ve still got material left from when my mother made my wedding dress (I must post a photo of that one day) as well as some of the embroidered muslin she used for the jacket. I think I also have some of the lilac brocade from Husband’s waistcoat, but probably not as much of that. Oh well, I’ll have a use for it one day! Maybe I’ll make one of those ‘heirloom’ quilts, using all sorts of materials which bring back memories for me.