Sunday 30 December 2012

Festive ambles

This week has been a lazy but rewarding week, full of festivity and fun! A much needed week to recover from everything that came before, to take stock of what is important, and to recharge the batteries.

There has been some much needed fresh air too. Christmas Day brought what is fast becoming a yearly tradition - a one club golf challenge with the brothers. Boxing Day came complete with a short but nice walk from Carlops to West Linton and round the golf course with Rossco.



Dave and I then headed to Balado where the weather seemed determined to thwart our plans - but we still managed 8 miles round Loch Leven. I look forward to returning when the whole trail, 13 miles, is complete. And perhaps on a day when we're not getting completed battered by wind and rain!!




Dave captioned this photo 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

Exactly what we needed at the end!
It must have been the fresh air (it can't have been the wine) but I passed out later that night around 9pm and needed another walk the next day to recover!

Dave and I set off to Crook of Devon and took a lovely - if a bit wet - walk to Rumbling Bridge. My phone gave up on me after only one photo, but the river Devon was in full flow.


It has been so nice to get out and about, for short bursts of activity - nothing too strenuous. I'm filled with thoughts and plans for next year, walks to be had and Munros to be conquered. But for now, I'm thankful for where I am and what I have.


Monday 24 December 2012

Merry Christmas from the Anxious Ambler!

And so this is Christmas! The past few days (weeks, months) have flown by in a whirlwind of thoughts, worries, anxieties and the rest.

I think I'll leave my 2012 wrap up for another time this week but for now I want to say a very Merry Christmas to you all - I'm very much looking forward to the traditional family festivities - food, presents, wine, bad jokes, golf, board games, banter and more food.

So however you are spending your Christmas I hope it is enjoyable, rewarding, and full of laughter and fun!

AA xxx

Sunday 9 December 2012

If...


If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling


Thanks to my Mum for reminding me of the sentiments of this poem. It has been on the wall of our home all my life, and quoted on many occasions.

After a tough week it is useful to re-read this fantastic poem and take a moment to understand what it means to me.

Saturday 1 December 2012

December 1st, 2012

I am quite disappointed in myself that I didn't manage to get another blog post in for November. I haven't managed to get out on another proper walk since the braw walk in the Borders a few weeks ago. Last weekend Dave and I spent two days in a row walking along the canal - an old favourite and a walk I used to take almost every day. I find it quite cathartic and it helps me get my thoughts in order. It was nice to get out there again last week.

Aside from that, I've been choked up with the winter cold that's going around, and I've had two teeth wrenched out. I've watched the Scotland rugby team go from okay-ish to not so good. I've got frustrated and disappointed with myself far more frequently than I have for a while ... and to counter that, I've started making 'resolutions' for next year. Not your average 'drink less, eat less, broken by the 7th of January' resolutions - they never last! Dave and I started this year determined not to eat carbs...we did well for a while - if you count spaghetti bolognase with spinach instead of spaghetti as doing well - but the carbs slowly but surely crept back in to our lives without us even realising.

This resolutions, plans, hopes are about bettering myself. They may seem small and insignificant to others but to me they are important, achievable, pushing me from my comfort zone, taking me places, driving me towards my goals.

There are changes that have to be made. Things I need to do. Places I want to go. Blog posts I yearn to write!

I know what I have to do and I know what has to be done. I'll keep you posted as I make my journey and I hope the progress will be measurable in many ways by this time next year.

I'll post again before the end of the year, but rest assured the Anxious Ambler is diving straight in to what the future holds...