Graveyard Squirrels

On the advice of my carer, my husband and I went to our local grave yard to walk my little dog Bella this weekend. There were so many old graves, obviously from rich families of the past. Some graves were sinking near trees, cracked, lifted up off the floor and falling over. There were small graves the size of a shoe box, huge graves so tall I wondered how they were still standing and everything inbetween. Some were for multiple people in families, children, babies and adults too. Some had verses, pictures, crosses and windows on. Some stood straight up and others lay flat with railings or raised stone details marking their borders. One was decorated for Halloween.

My carer says the squirrels nest under the lifted gravestones.

We parked up and got out of the car. Before we had even put the ramp away there were atleast 7 squirrels gathering from near and far across the way from us. People obviously feed them, not just us. They were all over the graves, trees and grass, leaping like newborn lambs towards our car. Everytime we stopped along our walk the same thing happened. At one point two squirrels had a quarrel that alerted my poorly sighted dog to their presence. 

Later on in our walk amongst the gravestones from long ago and more recent, my husband stopped and patiently waited for a squirrel to feel confident enough to eat out of his hands.

I videoed the squirrels for my children to see, a nice thought that even in death you aren't alone. Even if you feel your loved one is abandoned in a far away cemetery there will be company for them. 

We have already been back there once and plan to make it a regular area to walk Bella and maybe ponder life ourselves.

Treasure trail

A few weeks ago, under the strong influence of flu, and missing being outside as it travelled through our family, I found out about Treasure Trails online. Still being relatively unfamiliar with our local area, I chose a few of these trails in various local places, ordered them to be posted to us, and have been waiting for an opportunity for us to try one of them out, well aware that this would mean getting all three children out of the house at the same time, and staying out for some time as the trails vary, but are mostly around 90minutes long apparently.

Today was the day- misty, slightly damp with the odd drizzly attempts at rain, we ventured out to a nearby town which is known for being dog friendly, looks appealing and is full of local produce with an unusually bustling town centre.

We were well prepared for this. Once we had faced the battle of our eldest leaving the house (his turn today), had the dog ready in her coat and harness, had the special needs buggy with it's raincover, footplate, sun cover and rain cover ready, had all three ipads with battery, charger, downloaded choice of programmes, coats, boots, gloves, pencils, ear defenders, dummy, drinks and the actual trail itself, off we went.

We managed to park in the narrowest space possible- quite how they expect people to exit a vehicle in these skinny spaces without touching the neighbouring car is a mystery of its' own. As it was, we did the usual of emptying the contents of the van quickly and assembling it all in the car park before fully reversing into the space. Thank goodness for sliding doors!

As I was busy trying to strap our youngest into the pushchair, secure the ipad, dog and raincover, the people from the car next to us returned. I quickly scooted the pushchair over to allow them plenty of room to get to their boot, but they just stood there staring at us. No emotions or words evident, just out and out staring at us. I chose to ignore them both and carried on making sure my daughter was safe and comfortable. We then had to wait for them to stop staring and get into their car before we could open our sliding door for our other children to get out. Part of me willed them to open it and hurry the people up, but I am glad they waited.

The trail itself is an A5 booklet with many clues and directions inside, with the aim of identifying the murderer and their weapon of choice. If you get stuck at any time you can text a free number for help up to three times during the trail. When (or if) you complete the trail and identify your culprit then you enter your details online and they tell you if you were correct or not, as well as giving you all the clue answers.

Some of the clues were straightforward, others more cryptic in nature (not my forte). Once we got into it things became easier, as it led us through parts of the town we would never have found without the trail. At times, our son was able to take control and lead the way which helped reduce his anxiety about not being in control of being out, which in turn made things a little easier for us all for a while.

We spent three hours walking around the small town centre, looking for clues, numbers and names that people wouldn't even notice without this goal. Our little dog managed to walk for a total of around a minute in all, preferring to be carried or riding in the buddy with our daughter. It reminded me of the struggles of an old style town centre, with pavements cluttered by advertising sandwich boards, tables and chairs, and people standing there for a chat, oblivious to the pushchair coming their way- I had this exact experience when my eldest was little and we lived in an old cobbled town where it was safer to walk on the roads than on the pavements.

When our anxious son was carrying the puppy he was visibly more relaxed, even commenting himself on how she was keeping him happier (and warmer). A sneaky pasty was needed at one point to keep him motivated, but £1.60 is well worth avoiding a hangry tween with PDA who did not want to be out any more and was teetering on the edge.

Our aspie daughter loved the clues and the routine and ordered nature of the trail, a lot of it was beyond her years, but I was able to simplify things for her to be able to solve clues and spot answers we were searching for.

Some of the trails we have left currently are spy trails and I can't wait for an opportunity to try our next one- although I am not so sure about the enthusiasm of everyone here.


Incase you are interested- we did get the answers right in the end, and rewarded ourselves with a visit to an old style sweet shop. We are the proud owners of a certificate showing we completed our first trail.