Best news of the year is that eighteen months after her last operation, Katie’s latest scan was all clear. She is still working as an assistant manager in a bar and restaurant in Manchester’s Northern Quarter but has managed to get Christmas off. Even without the uncertainty of rail strikes the train service between Manchester and Barrow is very unreliable but we can always rely on Matthew, who is willing to act as chauffeur and bring Katie home for a family Christmas.

Willing and able. He has just had laser eye surgery which means he can now drive without wearing glasses. This will also help his career prospects. He is currently working as a skipper on the Coniston steam gondola, but he would not be able to do this on any other passenger vessel without a backup skipper on board in case he damaged his glasses. Coniston is a very quiet lake with little traffic. Imagine the consequences on a busy lake like Windermere!

Year of the Dog

According to the Chinese calendar this has been the Year of the Tiger. But in the Stanton household it has definitely been the Year of the Dog. And that dog is a Patterdale Terrier called Basil. We got him as an eight week old puppy last November. He will be fifteen months old on Christmas Eve and we are told that in terrier years that makes him a teenager.

We tried to train him ourselves, and he quickly learned to behave himself around the house. But outdoors he is a very lively and determined creature, as befits his farming heritage. So it has been hard work getting him to walk to heel on his lead and off the lead is just impossible. We took him to the beach and thought we were doing well getting him to come when called until he spotted another dog on the horizon. He took off and we took off after him. It is a long time since I have done any running, well it was more like trotting. A mile down the track we caught up with him and he has been on the lead ever since.

After a false start with one trainer we have found another who sounds like she knows her stuff. Basil will have his first session before Christmas. He is a very friendly dog and quite intelligent. So watch this space for further progress reports.

Allotment Soup

Puppy parenting has meant not much chance of a holiday this year. We are lucky to have the Lake District on our doorstep for day trips and our garden plot on Allotment Soup, a community growing space, has kept us busy, me more than Mike. A good tomato crop means we are OK for chutney. Onions and garlic did well. And, as usual, slugs and caterpillars did well out of our cabbage and cauliflowers.

The main thing about the field is it brings people together and builds a sense of community. The pond and the wildlife area survived the summer drought and we have helped with projects on zero carbon and sustainability. Our old shed, which stood for twenty years in our backyard before it was transplanted to the field five years ago has finally given up the ghost. Parts of it were successfully incorporated in our new shed and the rest had an honourable end on the camp bonfire.

Mike has stepped down as a trustee at the National Autistic Society but is carrying on as a trustee of the Liberty Academy Trust which operates schools for autistic children. That mostly involves Zoom meetings nowadays. But I still get to see the back of him went he makes a school visit twice a term.

Mike has also found time to finish some of his children’s stories and post them on his website. https://penumbrage.com/category/fiction/

So, on to 2023. We are hoping for a return to normality in an increasingly abnormal world. All our love and best wishes for a Merry  Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Dee and Mike