Rambling

"I'm a rover and seldom sober, I'm a rover of high degree"

We have just had the hottest September day ever recorded in Yorkshire - and it was the last day of the month - not the first. So once again I was rambling. This time to the north west of the city in the vicinity of Bradfield which is actually two villages a few hundred yards apart. Down in the valley there's Low Bradfield, nestling beneath Agden Reservoir and up on the hill there's High Bradfield with its picturesque church, its sturdy stone dwellings and "The Old Horns Inn".

I realise that some non-English (alien) visitors have enjoyed seeing my last two batches of local photos so at the risk of boring other visitors senseless, I have another photographic offering for you. Today I was like Heathcliff, tramping the moors, at one with the elements which were incredibly benign, putting Heathcliff's troubled soul at rest... "A half-civilised ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows and eyes full of black fire, but it was subdued; and his manner was even dignified: quite divested of roughness..."

After three hours of rambling I returned to our coach and ventured in to "The Old Horns" where I purchased a simple luncheon of broiled rabbit, a thick wedge of Wensleydale cheese and a slab of warm farm bread. In the murky candlelight, I recognised the inn's young landlord - yon Edgar Linton from Thrushcross Grange - still as pale and bony as a skellington. What Cathy spied in him only the Almighty knows. For my part, I would have whipped him and left him to weep in the company of yon wretched whelps. But I quaffed my glass of bitter Farmers' Ale and continued on my journey across the naked moors back to Wuthering Heights.

Oaks Farm across Damflask Reservoir:-

View to the cricket pavilion in Low Bradfield:-

Window of an abandoned farm in Coumes Woods:-

View into Bradfield Dale from Cliffe House Farm:-

Returning to High Bradfield:-

Ideal Childhood

I'm allowed draw and paint all over the walls.


I eat rice with ketchup as often as I want. 


I never have to get out of my abandoned princess orphan costume.


I scream and cry. 


The word "lady" never enters my vocabulary. 


The playroom looks like a room children play in, instead of a room well-behaved children never make a mess in. 


My family always wants to see my homemade plays. 


I am allowed to collect rolly-polly's. 


I don't have to brush my hair, ever. 


I can play with cars too. 


Barbie never makes an appearance. 


Disney movies are banned. 


There's space for me to run around. 


I can rip the wrapping on presents. 


I don't have to speak up in class; I'm allowed to be quiet and shy. 


I sleep in a tent.


I am not careful with my clothes, they're inexpensive and they can get dirty and messed up. 


I am told that I am a beautiful little girl, and that I can have as many dreams, realistic or not, as I want.


We don't always get the childhoods we want and need; sometimes we have to give them to ourselves as adults. And, maybe, we can give a little bit of them to our children, if we're sensitive enough to know what they each need.

As the caretaker I wish I'd had to my Inner Child, I ask Little Larissa, What do you need today? If I can give it to her- to myself- I do. And so, all those impulses and dreams that were stifled long ago, begin to live again...

There's nothing as touching and sweet as a happy child who's allowed to dream, I think.

Russia Prepares

Rewriting Russian Gymnastics has linked to some beautiful photos of the Russian gymnasts in training prior to the world championships, at a controlled workout attended by the Russian minister for sport.

The photos show Aliya Mustafina also in training, although she is not back to full strength yet. Interestingly Tatiana Nabiava is pictured in the same new competition leotard but no photos of her actually doing gymnastics! Could there be a team shake-up in the pipeline?

The rest of the team includes Viktoria Komova, Anna Dementyeva, Yulia Belokobylskaya, Ksenia Afansyeva, Yulia Inshina & Alyona Polyan.
View the Couch Gymnast's Get to know the team article here.

Happy Birthday Aliya Mustafina!

 
Russia's injured diva is 17 today.

Following her ACL repair and long rehab Aliya is back training with her team-mates and almost back to full level difficulty. We wish her a successful and adversity-free road to 2012

Romania without Izbasa

Universal Sports and Gymnastics Examiner have reported that European Floor and Vault champion Sandra Izbasa has withdrawn from next week's world championships due to a sore achilles tendon. If this is the case she is a smart girl. Sandra tore her achilles in 2009 and returned to almost full strength for the 2010 worlds.

She is to be provisionally replaced by Catelina Ponor. The rest of the team includes Ana Porgras, Amelia Racea, Raluca Haidu, Diana Chelaru, Diana Andrei and Diana Bulimar.

Izbasa's absense may hurt the team score somewhat but they are still in contention for a team medal and event titles on beam and floor.

Here's hoping for no more last-minute injuries!
Countdown to Tokyo: 7 Days!

Crunch

Those clever marketing girls and boys at Kellogg have excelled themselves. Recently they left on my doorstep a full size (390g) box of cereal to try out. Lucky me.

It's claimed to be a great start to the day and high in fibre. That'll keep me going LOL.


...And it was actually about 2 degrees higher than forecast. Perhaps the BBQ will be coming out for one last gasp this year...

Roving

It's daft to stay inside on sunny days like today so I was out again rambling in the lovely countryside that surrounds Sheffield. I tootled over to the suburb of Totley and parked up - not far from the place where Totley Teacher Training College once stood. Now it's an estate of rabbit hutch houses - "little boxes, little boxes and they all look just the same".

Five minutes over the fields and I came to this stile which leads into Gillfield Wood which I have recently worked out is the most southerly point in the Kingdom of Yorkshire. Beyond that narrow woodland, there be dragons - in other words - Derbyshire:-

I walked up Mickley Lane - no footpath so I had to keep close to the verge to avoid being winged by passing vehicles. I was sweating when I reached Mickley. Then onwards to Rod Moor and near Upper Birkitt farm a horse called Mr Ed came over to speak with me:-

Passing Dore and Totley golf club, I noticed groups of men whacking little white balls down fairways:-

Along narrow paths and bridleways emerging into the dormitory village of Dronfield Woodhouse:-

At Birchinlee Farm, I noticed a mobile phone mast beyond a huge pile of barrel-shaped black plastic buoys containing tons of winter fodder. Then there was this tumbledown, deserted farmhouse:-

Two and a half hours after starting my ramble, I passed through Holmesfield Park Wood where sunlight dripped gorgeously through the leaf canopy:-

Past peaceful Woodthorpe Hall Farm where a silver haired grandfather was teaching his grandson how to harrow ploughed fields, then down into the hollow and back through Gillfield Wood to the heartland - Yorkshire.

Twenty-6

It's all about the numbers tonight...

• Twenty-Six degrees Celsius (about 79 degrees F) is the forecast temperature for the south of England tomorrow. Can you believe it? The end of September and we are experiencing better weather than in some summers. Go figure. The good weather is expected to last at least until Sunday.
• I'm loving paying tax at the moment (You what?!? I hear you ask). Well my tax bill this month was 40 pence, about $0.60 of anybody's persuasion. Last month was better at a big fat zero. Just adore the tax free allowance. Or will I just get hit with a huge tax bill later LOL?
• The Royals seem to have remembered how to play "the beautiful game" at last. Saturday (24/09) saw them travel to Coventry and gain a vital point from a one-all draw and on Tuesday (27/09) Bristol City were the hosts. Reading came home with all three points, having won by 3 goals to 2. Well done.  
• 33% is the amount my local water company wanted to increase my bill by this week. We've agreed an 11% rise, based on what I am likely to use, not what they want me to spend.

That's all, TTFN.

Spend each day doing one thing you love

Sorry for my absenteeism. Where have I been the past few weeks?

Well, we had Rush week for our fraternity....

I attended a Leadership Conference...

I attended many events for our College of Business including running the Ice Cream Social...

I attended A LOT of meetings including normal meetings and executive committee meetings...

I painted a house...



And went camping ....

And became the Superstar of the Month... (Just kidding it was just the sign in the parking lot)

Oh and I also got a boyfriend :) ....

And hung out with my friends...

I also did A TON of homework, work & projects....

.... OH And two huge guys broke into my apartment and came into my room while I was sleeping. But, story on that later.

Back to work for me... hope you all are having a fabulous season of Fall!

If only it would stop raining.... It's has rained at least 4 days out of the 7 days for the past 5 weeks I've been at school.....

Japan Open 2011

The worlds best gymnasts are beginning to descend on Tokyo for the world championships. Team GB is flying tonight, Team USA is already there, but that's not all happening in Tokyo this weekend.

The Japan Open is the only major international pro-am event (where professional and current elite skaters compete with and against each other) As well as giving nostalgia by allowing us to see retired skaters back on competition ice, it's a good measuring stick for some of the world's best.

The event is a team competition for singles skaters between Team Japan, Team Europe and Team North America.This years roster is as impressive as ever.

Team Japan
Miki Ando (2 time and reigning world champion)
Akiko Suzuki (Narrowly missed out on the Japanese World Team)
Takahiko Kozuka (2011 World Silver Medallist)
Daisuke Takahahi (2010 World Champion)

Team Europe

Sarah Meier UPDATE injured

Elizaveta Tuktamisheva (2011 Jr World Silver Medallist)

Alena Leonova (4th at 2011 Worlds)
Florent Amodio (2011 European Champion)
Artur Gachinski (3rd at 2011 Worlds)


Team North America
Joannie Rochette (2010 Olympic Bronze Medallist)
Alissa Czisny (2011 US Champion)
Patrick Chan (2011 World Champion)
Jeffrey Buttle (2008 World Champion, now retired)

The most exciting match-ups will probably be amongst the men, all of whom have been on or near the world podium and particularly the match up between Chan and the Japanese men could be a preview of what to expect this season.

Personally I'm looking forward to directly comparing Buttle and Chan again, the two best mens skaters from Canada for the last decade, they've skated in shows but not competed directly since Buttle's retirement in 2008.

Interesting not to Mao Asada here. Hopefully it's a sign that she is hard in training for the upcoming grand prix and not that she is nursing an injury or backing away from competition this season.

Nearby

How lovely the weather this week - summer's last breath. I planned to go walking on the moors to the west of Sheffield - Houndkirk Moor, Burbage and Rud Hill. And the sky was sky blue and the light was as clear as Venetian crystal. I saw many things. Noisy grouse scooting off from their quiet resting places, toadstools in woods, a woman on a horse, truanting schoolboys on mountain bikes, a weasel poking its head out of a drystone wall. It was wonderful and it felt good to be alive. Here are some images I captured. Firstly, a boggy moorland pool with a view to the Redmires reservoirs:-

Bejewelled cobweb beneath Burbage Rocks:-

Eighteenth century milestone on Houndkirk Road:-

It took me less than ten minutes to get there by car. How lucky we Sheffielders are with the Peak District National Park right there on our doorstep. Why would anybody want to live in London or New York City or Gay Paris? To be out on those sunlit moors, why it makes you feel blessed.

Sources: Owners Budge on Cap Demand

By HOOPSWORLD

Basketball News & NBA Rumors

For the first time in two years of labor talks, NBA owners made a modest push from their rigid stance on implementing a hard salary cap, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The owners proposed at Tuesday’s negotiating session an idea similar to the current system that allows teams to pay a luxury tax for going over the cap. Only, now there would be ultra-punitive measures against higher-spending teams. The current system has teams pay a dollar-for-dollar tax for exceeding the cap.

Players Association executive director Billy Hunter has called the hard cap a “blood issue” for the union, and insisted the players would never agree to it.

The owners’ proposal on Tuesday “would still have the affects of a hard cap,” one source with knowledge of the talks said.

via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports

Do you like Presidents Cup picks of Woods and Haas?

By Reid Cherner, USA TODAY

Fred Couples made it official yesterday by picking Tiger Woods and Bill Haas with his two captain's picks for the Presidents Cup.

PRESIDENTS CUP:  Couples takes two

Greg Norman will captain the International team.

Although Woods has not played since the PGA Championship in August, Couples had said a month ago that Woods would be a choice. Last weekend, Haas won the Tour Championship and the FeEx Cup.

Haas was 12th in the Presidents Cup points standings. The top 10 are automatically on the team.

Not picked for the Nov. 17-20 matches at Royal Melbourne Golf Club: PGA winner Keegan Bradley (20th on points list); 2010 Ryder Cup member Rickie Fowler (15th) and Brandt Snedeker (11th).

The automatic qualifiers: Matt Kuchar, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson, Nick Watney, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, David Toms, Hunter Mahan and Jim Furyk.

First Pitch: Tied wild-card races raise prospect of one-game playoffs

By Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY

Ready for two playoffs before the playoffs?

That scenario would unfold if the wild-card races remain the way they are for just one more day.T

The St. Louis Cardinals finally caught up to fast-fading Atlanta by overcoming an early 5-0 deficit to crush the Houston Astros 13-6 on Tuesday, after the Philadelphia Phillies had delivered another damaging blow to the Braves by beating them 7-1.

Should the NL wild-card contenders remain tied after today's action, they would face each other in a one-game playoff Thursday in St. Louis at 8:07 p.m. EDT.

The AL wild-card tiebreaker would be played four hours earlier at Tampa Bay, provided the Rays and Boston Red Sox can't settle matters by tonight.

Both clubs won Tuesday, but while the Rays rode Matt Joyce's three-run homer in the seventh to a 5-3 victory over the New York Yankees, the Red Sox had to sweat till the last swing before dispatching the stubborn Baltimore Orioles 8-7.

Fittingly for a Boston club that has gone 7-19 in September, it took closer Jonathan Papelbon 28 pitches and all of his resources to get out of the ninth inning, after allowing one Oriole to score and having the tying run at second base.

"I don't know if you could see out there, but there was a couple of times I had kind of a little grin on my face," Papelbon said afterward. "I enjoy that. That's baseball, man. It doesn't get any better than that. I was having fun. I enjoy that. That's what it's all about."

Manager Terry Francona, who saw his club take an 8-4 lead in the eighth and nearly blow it, had an appreciating for the moment but wouldn't exactly describe the experience as fun.

"I think it's really good for baseball. Not so good for my stomach,'' said Francona, who will have Jon Lester on the mound tonight, opposing Alfredo Simon. "It's exciting. If you don't want to show up tomorrow and play, you've got no pulse. My goodness. I can't remember being that nervous in a long time.''

Boston got a major boost from rookie catcher Ryan Lavarnway, who had two homers and four RBI. The Rays, meantime, were lifted by two highly unlikely developments – a sixth-inning triple play and Joyce's second homer in his last 30 games.

The blast turned a 3-2 Yankees lead into a 5-3 Rays margin that held up.

"It was probably one of the most exciting times you can possibly have on a baseball field -- in our town, two games left in the season, everything riding on the line, you're down a run. You know it was just a big hit," Joyce said.

He homered off former Rays closer Rafael Soriano, as Yankees manager Joe Girardi stuck with his plan to give some work to his top relievers, including David Robertson and Mariano Rivera. Today, however, Girardi intends to rest them for the playoffs, and he has yet to announce a starter. The Rays will go with ace left-hander David Price.

The Braves will also have their ace on the mound in Tim Hudson, but he may need a bit more support than his fellow starters have received in the last two games, when the Phillies held Atlanta hitters to a total of three runs. He'll be opposed by Joe Blanton.

The Braves, who had an 8 ½-game lead for the wild card on Sept. 6, have lost 12 of 17.

"You never expect this to happen to you," said Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones. "It's like living out a bad dream."

The Cardinals must have felt the same way after a three-game sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers left them at 67-63 on Aug. 24, the wild card but a faint hope with the Braves 10½ games ahead of them.

Now they're on equal footing, except St. Louis is facing the team with the majors' worst record and the Braves play the one with the best.

The Cardinals have won 21 of 29 since the Dodgers sweep.

"It's kind of fed us here the last few days, 120 years of baseball and this is one of those historic runs to tie," said manager Tony La Russa, who will send out ace Chris Carpenter against the Astros' Brett Myers. "But there's a different story between tying and finishing it off. So tomorrow we'll see if we can go take another step."

Braves, Cardinals all even

Associated Press 

Dan Uggla drop-kicked his bat after striking out on three pitches. Chipper Jones slammed his bat into the dirt after popping up. Derek Lowe just trudged off the mound to another round of boos from the home crowd, wondering how it all went wrong.

The Braves are mad and frustrated heading to the 162d game.

Their season is on the brink after a potentially historic collapse.

“It’s like living out a bad dream,’’ Jones said.

Lowe (9-17) had another miserable outing, surrendering five runs in four-plus innings, and the Braves took another step toward giving away a playoff berth that seemed certain just a few weeks ago with an ugly 7-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies last night in Atlanta.

St. Louis pulled even with the Braves, rallying from an early 5-0 deficit to beat the Houston Astros, 13-6.

Chase Utley, Hunter Pence, and Jimmy Rollins homered to back a three-hit outing by Roy Oswalt (9-10), who tuned up for the playoffs with a strong performance in a largely disappointing season.

Talk about disappointing. Look what has happened to the Braves.

They lost their fourth in a row and eighth in 11 games, sending them to the final day of the regular season tied with the Cardinals. Atlanta had an 8 1/2-game lead just three weeks ago.

“We’ve got one game to play in the month of September, then October comes around and it’s a new month,’’ Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “There’s not a person in that locker room who I wouldn’t want to be on my team to play that game.’’

Sixteen-game winner Tim Hudson will try to wrap up the wild card or at least force a one-game playoff against Cardinals, which would be tomorrow night in St. Louis.

“It is what it is,’’ Gonzalez said. “We’ve played 161 games and it comes down to one. We’ve done it to ourselves. No excuses there. We’ve got to go get it tomorrow.’’

Cardinals 13, Astros 6 - Visiting St. Louis got a tiebreaking two-run triple from Ryan Theriot in the seventh inning to beat Houston and pull even with Atlanta in the NL wild-card race. The Cardinals trailed, 5-0, early and appeared to be headed for a second straight loss to the Astros. But St. Louis scored five times in the fourth and erased a 6-5 deficit with a four-run seventh.

In other games - Adrian Beltre, Mike Napoli, and Nelson Cruz hit consecutive homers in the fifth inning, and the surging Rangers stayed on track for homefield advantage in the AL division series with a 10-3 victory over the host Los Angeles Angels. The Rangers (95-66) have won five straight and nine of 10 while holding off Detroit (94-67) for the AL’s second-best record. If Texas wins today’s season finale or if the Tigers lose to the Indians, the Rangers will host the AL’s wild-card winner Friday . . . Prince Fielder homered three times in a game for the first time in his career, including a two-run shot in the seventh inning that lifted host Milwaukee to a 6-4 victory over Pittsburgh . . . Wilson Betemit hit a 423-foot home run in his first game back from left knee soreness, and host Detroit beat Cleveland, 9-6 . . . Bryan Petersen homered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and Javier Vazquez (13-11) pitched a five-hitter as the host Marlins beat the Nationals, 3-2 . . . Rene Tosoni hit a grand slam, the first by a Twins player at Target Field in the two-year history of the park, to lift host Minnesota to a 7-4 victory over Kansas City . . . Mark Buehrle (13-9) pitched seven shutout innings to lead the host White Sox to a 2-1 victory over the Blue Jays . . . Jose Reyes hit two solo home runs, putting pop into his bid for the NL batting title, but visiting Cincinnati the Mets, 5-4, on Drew Stubbs’s squeeze bunt in the 13th inning. Reyes went 3 for 6 and raised his average to .336, finishing the evening one point ahead of Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun, who went 1 for 2 against Pittsburgh . . . Trevor Cahill and two relievers held Seattle to just four hits to lift visiting Oakland to a 7-0 win over the Mariners.

© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.

Surging Rays Top Yankees, Remain Tied With Red Sox for AL Wild Card

Associated Press

The Tampa Bay Rays are loose and raring to go, ready to work overtime -- if necessary -- to win the AL wild card.

"Whatever it takes," designated hitter Johnny Damon said. "It's been a fun ride and hopefully it continues."

The Rays' improbable bid for a third playoff berth in four years comes down to the final day of the regular season after Tuesday night's 5-3 victory over the New York Yankees left them tied for the wild card with Boston. The reeling Red Sox held off the Baltimore Orioles 8-7.

If the teams remain tied after Wednesday night's season finales, they will meet in a one-game playoff at Tropicana Field on Thursday afternoon.

"We have to focus on ourselves ... play our game and not worry about the other side of it," manager Joe Maddon said. "That will eventually take care of itself."

Matt Joyce and Ben Zobrist homered, the bullpen shut down the Yankees after starter Jeremy Hellickson pitched six strong innings, and the Rays kept the score close by turning the third triple play in franchise history.

Throw in Joyce, whose three-run homer wiped out a 3-2 deficit in the seventh -- playing on an injured foot -- and that the Rays were without Casey Kotchman after the first baseman experienced tightness in his chest and was taken to a hospital for tests, and no wonder Tampa Bay feels it has no limits.

"All the indicators are there, let's just keep pushing," Maddon said. "When those things kind of show up, it really promotes even more fight, I think. There's more of a believability about the moment."

Joyce's homer off former teammate Rafael Soriano (2-3) was the All-Star's first in more than three weeks. Zobrist hit a two-run drive off Bartolo Colon in the second, and the Rays kept the Yankees from busting the game opened with the triple play that bailed Hellickson out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth.

"Everybody's thirsty for offense, and we'd like to score more," Maddon said. "But we're built around pitching and defense."

Jake McGee (4-2) pitched one scoreless inning to get the win. With a crowd of 22,820 standing and cheering, Kyle Farnsworth got the final three outs for his 25th save in 31 chances. The victory was the fourth straight for Tampa Bay, which trailed the Red Sox by nine games before battling back into the wild-card race.

Russell Martin hit a solo homer for the Yankees in the third, but also grounded into the triple play that prevented them from building on the 3-2 lead Nick Swisher gave them with a RBI double.

The Yankees, who clinched the division title and homefield advantage throughout the AL playoffs last week, rested Derek Jeter and plan to play most -- if not all -- of their regular lineup again on Wednesday. Manager Joe Girardi remained undecided on a starting pitcher for the finale, but it figures to be a reliever.

Tampa Bay will go with All-Star lefty David Price, who's 12-13 after finishing second in balloting for the AL Cy Young Award a year ago.

The Rays said he's up to the task.

"I always have the utmost confidence when David pitches. I really do," Maddon said. "Every time he pitches we feel like we're going to win that night. I know some things have not necessarily gone his way this year, but in a very tight moment, you always feel very comfortable about how David will pitch."

Despite squandering their big lead with a miserable September, the Red Sox are excited about still having a chance to make the postseason on the final day.

"I think it's really good for baseball (but) not so good for my stomach," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "It's exciting. If you don't want to show up (Wednesday) and play, you've got no pulse."

Mornay

As regular visitors to this blog will realise, in the culinary sphere, I am Yorkshire's answer to Jamie Oliver . For your delectation, I wish to share a recipe I have recently devised for a delicious fish mornay. If you try it, you will not be disappointed my friends.

Ingredients:-

1. Bag of frozen cod or frozen haddock pieces from Lidl or Aldi.
2. Jug of milk
3. Large handful of plain flour.
4. Big knob of butter
5. Some butter wrapper paper.
6. Salt and pepper.
7. Half a lemon.
8. Some small broccoli florets.
9. Couple of leaves plucked from a bay tree at midnight by a weeping orphan.
10. Large handful of grated cheese - preferably strong cheese - if you have some blue cheese in the fridge grate some of that in with your strong Cheddar.
11. Bread crumbs grated from any loaf you have handy.
12. Silver foil.

Method:-

• Drag large, shallow, ceramic, oven-proof casserole dish from back of kitchen cupboard and brush out the dust and dead spiders.
• Grease it with the butter paper.
• Arrange frozen fish in the dish and season with the salt and pepper.
• Squeeze lemon juice over the fish.
• Cook broccoli for a few minutes in your microwave and then arrange neatly around the pieces of fish.
• Make the cheese sauce. Melt butter in pan. Chuck in the flour and stir continuously till bubbling. Pour in the milk and continue to stir till you see the sauce thickening. Then chuck in most of your cheese and stir till integrated.
• When happy with your sauce pour it all over the fish and small broccoli florets.
• Greedily spoon up remaining sauce from your pan and eat when nobody else is looking.
• Sprinkle your breadcrumbs and remaining grated cheese over the saucy surface.
• Seal the shallow dish with foil and ram the thing in the top of your hot oven to cook for twenty five minutes.
• Remove the foil and give the surface chance to crisp up for ten minutes.

Get it out of the oven and spoon on to plates with mashed or jacket potato and maybe peas or green beans. Make sure you get more than anybody else. Then gobble it down and sigh, "Mmmm... Who needs Jamie Oliver when you've got Yorkshire Pudding!"

Sally Pearson

Sally Pearson (née McLellan) (born 19 September 1986) is an Australian athlete. She is the current World Champion in the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.28s. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she won the silver medal in the 100 m hurdles with a time of 12.64s.

Remona Fransen

Remona Fransen (born November 11, 1985) is a Dutch athlete, specialising in multi-eventing disciplines.

At the 2011 European Indoor Championships in Athletics in Paris, Fransen won her first major international medal in the pentathlon with a points total of 4,665. En-route to her pentathlon bronze, she broke the Dutch indoor record in the high jump with a height of 1.92 m.

Anna Chicherova

Anna Vladimirovna Chicherova (Russian: Анна Владимировна Чичерова; born 22 July 1982 in Yerevan, Soviet Armenia) is a Russian high jumper. She won a bronze medal in this event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China equaling her personal best jump of 2.03.

She is currently in the Russian Army Athletics Club based in Moscow where she is coached by Yevgeni Zagorulko. Her personal best jump and the Russian national record is 2.07 metres, achieved on her 29th birthday at the Russian track and field championships of 2011.

Amanda Bisk

Amanda placed ninth at the 2009 World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia, with a then-equal personal best effort of 4.20m.

Amanda placed sixth at the XIX Commonwealth Games, clearing 4.25m in the final of the women's pole vault.

Alexandria Anderson

CAREER BESTS
Outdoor 100m	11.02
Outdoor 200m	22.67
Outdoor 400m	52.88
Outdoor Long Jump	20-3.5
Indoor 60m	7.17
Indoor 200m	22.89
Indoor Long Jump	19-7.5
Updated: 6/10/09

In the Record Books:Third all-time in the indoor 60-meter (7.17), fourth all-time in the indoor 200-meter (22.89), second all-time in the outdoor 100-meter (11.02), sixth all-time in the outdoor 200-meter (22.67).

Honors:
· NCAA Champion (4x100-meter relay)
· 17-time All-American
· Three-time Big 12 Champion (Indoor 60-meter dash, 4x100-meter relay, Outdoor 100-meter dash)
· 19-time All-Big 12

When An Ex Reads Your Blog

People have asked me if, when I write, I take into consideration that my ex (ex's...) may be reading.

The answer is yes and no; how could I and how could I not?

Sometimes, as I am writing, I definitely hope that he might read it. I hope that he will know how I feel now, know that I still think about him, know that I am still sorry, know that even if we never see each other again, he meant a lot to me. Back when I was really hurting, I used this blog to purge my pain and I did hope to reach him. I hoped to somehow show him that I was human, since I knew I had turned into someone he couldn't love anymore. I ached for his forgiveness, and I was asking for it through every avenue I could think of. I had no interest in seeming strong, put together, over it, and better off without him. I was broken and I missed him desperately; it leaked right through my writing weather I wanted it to or not. I didn't have any guarantees that he'd read my blog, but I figured that if I could put it out into the universe, it might help me to heal anyway. 

At the same time, I had to set the thoughts of him reading it aside in order to hit publish. I have plenty of drafts of posts I wrote that I didn't have the courage to publish because the thought of him reading it mortified me. So, the ones I've published here I've done so by letting go of wondering weather he'd read it or not; I published them because I wanted them to exist regardless of his possible reactions. I needed to put them out here, where they could touch others, shift, and bounce back to me as a little bit of armor, a drop of medicine, a step closer to relief.

When I've written about older ex's, I have generally written under the assumption that they do not read my blog. I have been mostly wrong, as many have contacted me to tell me they do, in fact, read it. Still, I never took down any published posts because I believed they all had value. If I ever wrote a blog that downright offended someone or exposed them in a way they did not want to be exposed, and they let me know, I would take it down. It hasn't happened yet, because I believe they all know that our stories can serve others, and that I write here what has helped me to heal and become a stronger, more loving person.

I don't think he, or any of my ex's, wish to see me in pain, or get off on how much losing them has hurt me. I don't think any of them come here hunting for evidence that they scarred me in some way, or wanting to read about my inevitably biased perception of what we lived through so that they can then write me an angry email about how wrong I have it all.

So, why do they come here?

If I were to guess, I'd say it's for the same reason I still write about them, too; because no matter how much pain and disappointment we may have caused one another, we meant something to each other, and that's hard to find.

Pondering

Now, what shall I blog about today? Perhaps I could post a recipe for perfect Yorkshire puddings or a bare-your-heart kind of poem . Maybe I could clear out the dormant blog links in my side margin and bid farewell to those former cyber chums. What happened to them anyway? Was there a massive blog pile up in cyberspace or did they all simultaneously join aerobic classes?

With the Labour party conference starting in Liverpool, perhaps I could write about the Miliband brothers and how David Miliband would have made a much better leader than his bumbling eggheaded brother who got to the top courtesy of a cruel act of fratricide and a bunch of vague and breakable promises he made to the trade unions. Anyway, Ed will probably find the wheels missing from his limousine when he returns to the multistorey near Albert Dock.

What about former neighbours Doris and Ken? How long have they been in their grave now?

Perhaps I should blog about our lovely daughter Frances who is twenty three years old today! How the years pass. She was born during the Seoul Olympics. Intelligent, determined and reliable, I often think of her as a chip off the old block. But like me she can also be exceedingly silly!

She has a day off work and soon I am going to drive her back to Leeds - the car over-laden again. We are going to stop for lunch at "The British Oak" near the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I think the Labour conference should adopt a new policy that would certainly be a massive vote winner. In addition to statutory holidays every worker should be allowed to have a day off on his/her birthday. Three day weekends would also be a massive vote winner.

Of course I could simply blog about our delightfully unpredictable English weather and how this week is already providing us with the beginnings of an "Indian summer". By Thursday we should all be basking in temperatures of 24/25 degrees celsius or is that only in London and the Home Counties upon which the majority of our meterorological experts seem to focus? One Nation? You must be kidding!

I could hark back to the musical legends of my youth - Leonard Cohen, Donovan, Free, Joni Mitchell, The Nice and of course the lord of them all Mr Robert Zimmerman from Hibbing, Minnesota - Bob Dylan. Once, they meant so much to me but now music is resigned to the cobwebbed attic of my existence.

Oh dear, what shall I blog about as I wait for our little princess to finally leave the bathroom and get her stuff together for the trip back to Leeds? I guess it's just one of those days. I don't know if I am coming or going. I think I'd better just leave it for today.

Judgement

Over six thousand photographs were submitted to "Geograph" during the week for which I won the honour of selecting the "photo of the week". Fortunately, one of the project's moderators had whittled the large number of eligible pictures down to manageable shortlist of forty five. There were numerous wonderful photos amongst them including these two superb pictures taken in the English Lake District:-

They came very close to winning but in the end I plumped for an action photograph taken in unpromising light conditions by a fairly new member of the mapping project who had never won before. The fact that he lives in Scotland and that the picture was even snapped in that heathen bagpipe-ridden land were negatives that I overlooked in making my judgement:-

I recognise the difficulty in taking a picture like that and I also notice the headlights with their reflections in the flooded road. The photographer called this picture, "Remnants of Katia" after the hurricane of that name that was recently exported to these sceptred isles by our American cousins. Grey squirrels, "Dairylea" slices, the atomic bomb, "Whoppas", Dan Brown and now hurricanes. What's next I wonder?

Plensa

Courtesy of fellow Sheffield blogger - Lois at "Three Legged Cat", I was back at the Yorkshire Sculpture park last evening. I was there to witness a lecture by the Spanish sculptor, Jaume Plensa.

He came on the little stage wearing his hallmark black suit and shirt with his salt and pepper beard grizzled like an old mariner's. He is fifty five years and three months old as he informed the assembled audience at one point. Holding a slide clicker, his talk was linked to various images of his work which can be found in several major American cities, including Chicago:-

And New York City:-

As well as the less cosmopolitan St Helens, near Liverpool where this giant head sits atop a former slagheap:-

There are other works by Plensa in Japan, Switzerland, Sweden and of course his home country - Spain.

He is passionate about his art and keen to create pieces that touch the general populace - not just the highbrow elite. At the end of his lecture, questions were thrown at him by members of the audience. For example:-

HIGHBROW AUDIENCE MEMBER 1 (not me!): You have worked with a range of materials from marble to steel, water and concrete. I wonder Jaume, which material do you prefer working with and are there other materials you hope to work with in the future?

JAUME PLENSA The main material I like to work with is ideas. The materials pick themselves and are simply containers for my ideas.

HIGHBROW AUDIENCE MEMBER 2 (still not me!) What made you choose to become a sculptor rather than a butcher, a baker or a candlestick-maker?

JAUME PLENSA When I was a boy I wanted to be a doctor - maybe a surgeon. I guess that is kind of like a butcher...about understanding what it is to be human.

ME What is your favourite potato crisp flavour?

JAUME PLENSA Definitely salt and vinegar.

Later some members of the audience approached Plensa for autographs but I hurried off to Leeds to pick up our darling daughter who, I discovered, had fallen asleep in her new flat on Thursday evening , leaving a pan of pasta bubbling on the hob for about three hours. Needless to say, there was still an odour of pasta smoke in the air. I think she has learnt a new commandment: "Thou shalt not begin cooking and then lie down after boozy staff nights out!"

Thank you to Lois for the ticket.