The F Words

Faux-Fight Flashmob = Foamy Festival Frivolity

This is what happens when a hoop troupe, plus loco local ladies, plot a slapstick flash-mob for Stan Laurel's birthday...  (Click me!)

Tis the Season...

... to receive postcards, fa la la la la, la la la laaaaaaaa.

And this week's top postcard tips?

1) Did that postcard you sent from Canada never reach its destination?  Simply write out and send a replacement when back home pretending you are still on holiday.  Enjoy momentarily reliving your travel experience, and know that the recipient will be even more impressed by your efforts / the joy of unexpectedness.  Happy trails!
2) Can't decide which of the many available postcard designs would best express your holiday experience?  Why not send them all?!  In an envelope!  With a single stamp!  Genius.

High on a Hill

Here follows a tale about a girl's first mountain.
*spoiler alert* It's really a tale about the importance of expressing gratitude and empowering others. 

Eight years ago I was a risk-averse city girl who had never been up a mountain.
But then I was lucky enough to encounter one of those rare and special people - the kind that seem to know you better than you know yourself, and who use this power for good not evil.  The good, in this case, being:  getting me to scramble up to the top of Jack's Rake in the Langdales by telling a small, well directed fib about the difficulty of said scramble.

On reaching my first ever summit, feeling euphoric and leaping around singing "The hills are aliiiive.....", I discovered three things about myself:  1) I love mountains, 2) I'm not too shabby at scrambling and 3) I'm waaaay too trusting of people who say that something's 'really easy'...

Nowadays I'm a risk-averse country girl who has been up a variety of mountains.  Last week, for the first time since the first time, I went back up Jack's Rake, and I realised three different things:
1) Sometimes, people do and say small kind things without realising how profoundly these things empower and enrich the lives of others.
2) When this happens to us, sometimes we barely even acknowledge it ourselves, let alone express the due gratitude.
3) My knees may not be as reliable as they were, but I can still shimmy up a near vertical crack in a rock.

Because someone believed in me on one day eight years ago, I have since had some of the best days of my life out walking in the hills.

Wouldn't the world be a lovelier place if we all thought a bit more about what other people have unknowingly done for us, and said 'thank you'? And how great would it be to be on the receiving end, to know that you've somehow done some good for another person just by being yourself?

So I challenge you (and myself obviously, we're all in this together) to pay a bit more attention to the simple yet wonderful things that people do; to express genuine gratitude; to aspire to be a positive influence on someone's life; and to always show ecstatic appreciation of mountain tops by imitating Julie Andrews.  Or yodeling.

And I'll take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to my amazing walking buddy for (amongst countless other kindnesses) holding my banana...

*Guest Artist Corner* #5 Go Go Go Cher Tortoise!

Another successful game-a-thon from Cher Tortoise - raising some spends for Mind, a charity very close to my heart:

(Do you think if I big up the next event enough I might actually get a mention under 'Here are some cool things' on Cher's website?  Or is it just deeply uncool to aspire to coolness?)

*Guest Artist Corner* #4 Banan-ER

This is what happens when you give banana inspiration to a medic:  Emergency Room suture practice!
(With massive thanks and respect to Dr C.)

#6 Bananarama

When it comes to food, I love a bit of anthropomorphism.  Given the chance, I will draw a face* on anything.  ANYTHING.** 
I could write something deep and meaningful here about how and why the human mind is programmed to recognise faces in inanimate objects, why it gives us comfort to humanise the things around us. 
Or I could just show you some photos of bananas instead!

So this month I have mostly been 'banana bombing'.


Beach Banana

A homage to the sexy banana lady I left in a cafe in New York.  Sunning her lithe banana body on the rocks, she pouts seductively for the camera.

Bench Banana

It's actually really hard to take photos of bananas on benches, especially when it's sunny and there are loads of mums and toddlers around.

Banana Bird

I was visiting my knitted leaves at the Woollen Woods with a wonderful old friend - captured here as a beautiful yellow bird amongst the branches.

Banana Drama!!

Mr Banana, nooooooo - don't fall off the cliff into the raging waterfall below !!

Banana Llama Alpaca

It's okay kids, he survived.  Only to encounter a deadly alpaca herd!!  Run for your life Mr Banana!!

Bonus Banana

Some careless picnickers had left a bare banana hidden at the bottom of a tree!  I took the liberty of livening him up a bit.

Today's post has been brought to you by the letter B, and the colour yellow.  Tune in next week to see what happens when I buy too many courgettes at the grocers.

*If you're lucky, it's a face.
**Seriously, don't leave me unattended with a pen.  Even a Miss Bic.

Find Three More Things

Here are today's hidden treasures from my rambly ramble around the woods and hills:

1) Hedge Milk!

 

2) Bat Cap!

3) The Key to Someone's Heart?

And I found a sound too, but took a picture of it...

*What trees sound like when they kiss*

(I was startled by a loud smoochy sound whilst getting lost in some bluebell woods.  It took me a while to realise that it was the sound of two intertwined branches of this tree creaking as they rubbed up against each other in the breeze.  Beautiful.)