A saunter up a hill, weekend camping, Toad-in-the-hole cake

A saunter up a hill

The Captain is off to Everest Base Camp in April with 3 other guys. So he's been training intensely the last few months. He's been walking and running up a few of the 'hills' nearby and for the first time I went walking with him. Not to his level or speed though! Just a nice husband-and-wife walk... I couldn't help get worried when he put his camel-back on, adjusted his walking boots, set his heart rate monitor and GPS and extended his walking poles...

This is where we were heading...the highest point of course!

Did I mention my neeeeeeeeeew Camera takes black and white photos?!

At the bottom of the steps that appeared randomly halfway up

It was so worth it in the end, the views are always beautiful. I'm glad they still take my breath away.

On the drive back I saw the ruined claybuild watch towers:

Last weekend camping at Sifah beach:

Hubby had made friends with the Omanis that camped next to us. Mohammed on the left of the picture is his new BFF! He gave us loads of fish from their catch and even called hubby on Friday evening asking if he wanted more!

They caught a huge sailfish...it's my favourite fish so I didn't really like to see it there in the boat. BUT this is worth at least 50 OMR to these guys AND it made a good picture.

Once a month I manage to cook a half-decent dinner; February's culinary amazement was Toad in the Hole.  I got a recipe online from Queen Nigella Lawson. She comes to the rescue again. I have never made a good Toad in the Hole...until now. Although it did start to look like a massive cake! Nigella needs to be made a Saint.

School Field Trip

The Captain and I helped out today on Bear's school field trip to Wadi Fanja. She's in year 2 (Grade 1) and it was a geology and fossil hunting trip. We were so excited! Geology and fossils are our thing in this family.  I had this vision of the teachers trying to keep the Mitchells in check as they wander off along the wadi or up the hill!

We had a group of 4 children each and went through the questions listed and talked about the formation and types of rocks evident in the area. It's a great thing to hear little children talk knowledgeable about igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.

It was also amazing to see the range of ability in this one class, from the kids who copy others work and really have no interest in what's around them to those who could articulate their answer and were writing in more than one full sentence in joined-up writing.

Hubby has limited patience when it comes to dealing with more than 2 children at a time so it was fun and quite lovely to see him keep his group in tow! (He would make a great teacher...apart from the patience!) Well, not so much the group but the one boy who absolutely needed to run off and get that 27th rock and put it in his backpack!

Quote of the day heard by the Captain: One of Bear's friends runs up to him and says " Look! Look what I've found! It's igneous rock!....Or it could be dog poo......"

We found nummulites in another location near Al Khoud.

I read that there are fossilised stromatolites near Al Khoud too as well as other parts of Oman.

'The earliest fossils known in Oman are of stromatolites from Mukhadba near Duqm (570 million years ago). Stromatolites are dome-shaped or pillar-like structures built by primitive single celled algae which secrete calcite and trap sedimentary particles.'

So that's my next plan to try and find these.
[when I've found or taken a picture of these, I'll post it!]

So well done Mrs. K. and Mrs. H - this was a brilliant trip (I'm a little biased admittedly, I love this subject)...what better way for them to learn and study than out there in the field.


Post-edit: here is a picture of Bear the evening after her field trip...reading the core text from my University days. Those of you who don't know her, she is  actually reading it properly! (She was reading at 4 years old...never ceases to amaze me...)

Wadi Bashing (well, more Wadi Tickling).

Husband writes: A typical Friday (Sunday) morning in the Mitchell household:

Wake up late. Leisurely breakfast in jammies. Mum and dad chill on the sofa, F draws quietly, C careering around the house on his toy car, shrieking at every corner.

"What shall we do today?"
"Shall we go out somewhere?"
"Yeah, ok."

Pause 20 minutes for another cup of tea.

"Where do you fancy going?"
"How about we go out for a picnic?"
"Sounds good."

Another 20 minutes pass.

"Where shall we go?"
"I read Wadi Fanja is nice."
"Ok, shall we aim to set off by 10?"
"Sounds good. What time is it now?"

"Errrrr. 11.30. And we have to be back in time for F to go for a party at 4!"

And so another leisurely morning turns into a mad panic. Kids who were quite happy playing around the house are dragged, complaining, upstairs to get dressed. The fridge is raided and dumped wholesale into the cool box. Rolls are taken out of the freezer: "They'll be fine by the time we get there". Drinks are packed and repacked.

"I don't want mango juice, I want strawberry!"
"But I don't like strawberry, I want apple!"

The tub of fresh pineapple dumps it's juice all over the kitchen floor. The salad leaks olive oil onto the biscuits. The tub of feta you were saving turns out to be more yoghurt than cheese.

At last, the swimming bag is packed, the boot is loaded with enough food for a 2 week expedition and the kids are strapped, still complaining that they were in the middle of something vital, into the back seat and the adventure begins.

And it turned out to be a lovely afternoon, despite the satnav taking us to the the local landfill site first (maybe I should have programmed it in conjunction with the guide book).

It's a little nerve wracking taking your lovely new car off road, but following in the tracks of some canny locals we were soon slip-sliding our way across the gravel beds of the wadi, wading axle deep as we crisscrossed the stream, and bottling out when it looked like 4L may be required. We found a nice spot right by the water and within minutes the kids had forgotten all about whatever essential item they'd been forced to leave behind in the playroom. A stream with warm water to paddle in and stones to play with beats My Little Pony and Lightning McQueen any day. Ok, well, it'll do for an hour or two.

It was just like one of the wonderful days out I remember from growing up in Scotland. Except we didn't have to wear raincoats while paddling, we didn't need hot pea and ham soup to warm us afterwards, and we didn't eat our sandwiches staring through the steamed up windows of the car.

But very reminiscent all the same. Although I did miss the thickly buttered doorsteps of home made fruit loaf (spiced please, Mum).

23°34'7.71"N
58° 6'56.27"E