Ruta's Ramblings

Snow ?

2012-01-29T08:46:00.000-08:00

This morning it was cold and grey but we decided to go out for a walk anyway. By the time we got in the car it was raining lightly so we thought the beach would be a better choice than up on the cliffs. As we drove along the rain looked suspiciously like sleet but that did not deter us. The rain wasn't too bad at Barricane Beach and we had a gentle amble around, picking up yet more shells and enjoying the sea air. There were some men out fishing off the rocks but they didn't seem to be having much luck and were starting to pack up their gear.
At Barricane Beach it is fun to explore the many small rock pools.

As usual there were beadlet sea anemones,

the green snakelocks sea anemones, which will sting

and this anemone which might be a different species or more probably an older brown beadlet.

After our walk we stopped at Tescos to pick up a few things and there I met a friend who I haven't seen for a long time. I don't know if people do this in other parts of the country but in Devon it is common to see a group of people having a long conversation in the supermarket. Even Peter spotted someone he hadn't seen for many years and had a long catch-up with him. As we drove home the rain was now definitely sleet, almost looking like snow. Being ever the worrier I looked at Metcheck and it was forecasting sleet through the night and then the temperature dropping to give us snow. That was enough for me so I donned waterproofs and drove my car to the top of the hill. Although the road was clear the fields were beginning to turn white. I left the car in a gateway with the de-icer under the car (in case the locks freeze). I didn't even have to walk down as a friend came by on his way to visit our neighbours and he gave me a lift in his Landrover. It is dark now but the last time I looked the grass at the back was also beginning to turn white. - Just been out and the sleet has turned back to rain but I prefer not to take any chances. Now to start a wood fire so we can have a cosy evening.

Weeding.

2012-01-28T09:43:00.000-08:00

It has been almost sunny today. In the morning I caught up with some sleep while Peter went off for an early morning row. My afternoon was spent out in the garden happily weeding the rocky bank. I'm working on this first as it is mainly planted with different varieties of hardy geranium which will be flowering in spring covering the hillside with pink, purple, blue and white flowers. These are the ideal plants for this garden as they are hardy, slug resistant and grow well. If they were growing in proper soil I would be able to chop them back after they finish flowering to encourage a second growth of flowers but it didn't happen when I tried it. Jack came over for a visit and we went down to look at the frogs (hidden) and frogspawn in the little pond. Elwen came and did her party trick of slurping up frogspawn. Thank goodness the cats are out at night as I hate to think what effect frogspawn has on a cat's digestion. Paul has set up a web cam so Jack can watch the local wild life and as well as a fox, a hare, a badger, a badger and a badger, Patch has been seen fishing for trout! I'm making good progress with the weeding and the end (for that section) is in sight. For a break I sat with my cuppa watching the clouds. During the week the wind has been blowing from the west but now it has veered round to a northerly wind. I suppose that means we will be getting some colder weather. As it is the weekend we have a wood fire burning merrily and Peter is cooking up a supper including fresh sprouting broccoli from the garden.

Muddy Roads.

2012-01-27T09:09:00.000-08:00

I had a moment of panic this morning when I heard the weather person give out a yellow warning for icy roads in Devon and Cornwall. I had to go out and check with a torch before Peter went off in his 4 wheel drive Rav possibly leaving me stranded at the bottom of our steep hill. But when I went out it was fairly mild and the road was clear. I didn't have such good luck coming home. The farmers have been out muck spreading and the road at the top of the drive is a sea of mud and slurry. As I slowed to turn the corner my little car slid gracefully across the road. Luckily the road was empty and I stopped before hitting the hedge. There has been a lot of blue sky today with fluffy clouds being blown along by the strong wind. But once again my journey home brought me under a big black cloud and I just managed to take a few pictures before the rain started falling.
Nothing else of note today as I have been teaching all day.

Cold And Wet.

2012-01-26T08:48:00.000-08:00

It has been a day of heavy showers. I was about to wrap up and go outside to do some more weeding when yet another shower struck and this time it was hail. Somehow doing my paperwork seemed to be a better option. I had to go into town before work to yet again send a recorded delivery letter to the student loan company. They keep on asking for the same forms to be filled and claiming that they have never received them so now I am taking no chances. Poor Romas is still waiting for the rest of last year's money.Coming home I got stuck under another dark rain cloud and now the temperature seems to be dropping again.

An Early Start.

2012-01-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

I still find it a bit of a shock to the system to be driving off to work in the dark. Not even a hint of a sunrise this morning, only a faint lessening of the pitch black night. It was too dark to see any of the countryside but it was interesting to identify the little groups of lights dotted around the landscape. To the east about 5 miles away was the line of lights on The Station Inn at Blackmoor Gate. As the name suggests this was once a gate onto the open moor. Nowadays most of Exmoor is farmland with smaller areas of moorland on the hill tops. Blackmoor Gate was named after the Blackmore family one of whom, R D Blackmore was the author of Lorna Doone. Photo of the turbines over Barnstaple from the web.

As I reached the top of our drive I looked to the west and for the first time saw the red lights marking several of the 22 wind turbines, 2 miles away at Huntshaw Cross. They have been up and running for a while now but only at half speed. The trial period is about to end and they will double their speed which will no doubt more than double the amount of low level (like a giant cement mixer) noise from the motor and the rhythmic thrumming & high pitched whirring from the blades. I find it bad enough to see this industrialisation of our beautiful landscape and can only imagine what it must be like, in terms of noise pollution, to live near them. A local farmer near Bowden Corner has applied for permission to build a 200 ft high turbine. This size of turbine would produce 20x the amount of electricity he would need for his farm whilst destroying the peace of the countryside. Along with many local people I have made an official objection to the council and hopefully this creeping industrialisation will be stopped. It's not as if these turbines are that energy efficient as they need a secondary power source as a back up in times of low wind speed and health & safety regulations stop them from being run at fast efficient speeds.

Then as I turned to the south, 10 miles away was the vertical line of red lights on the TV transmitter at Huntshaw Cross while much closer nestled down in the valley were the twinkling lights of Barnstaple. Here and there scattered across the landscape were small groups of lights from villages and farms. So even in the dark there is still plenty to see.

I spent the whole day at school and came home early through the light drizzle that had been with us for most of the day. Looking towards Blackmoor Gate the landscape had an almost oriental quality with the hills fading away in the distance.

It's Raining.

2012-01-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

Rain, rain, rain all day long. It was far too wet to do any gardening so I spent the morning doing mundane things like tidying up. I also had a fun time planning another dance lesson for my Year 2 class. I am not naturally graceful or athletic and as a very tall child of average (not willowy) build I always felt I was more elephant than elegant. I had ballet lessons at primary school but as a teenager dance was not part of my world. Going to a few discos and later clubs doesn't really count. I did become part of a folk dance group, where I met Peter but that was it. Which is a shame because I would really love to go/have gone to classes but too many joints are crumbling now. So I know that I have little technique or experience but I have had great fun teaching children the basics of listening and responding to music and creating their own moves within a genre. This year with the Dance Festival coming up and our current school theme of 'Space' I am exploring street dance. Using YouTube to learn some basic steps and avid watching of Got to Dance I am sure we shall have fun and be able to come up with a Robots vs Aliens dance for the festival. I took these shots from the same spot as yesterday to show the even cloudier conditions.
At least it is still quite warm.

Is It Winter?

2012-01-23T10:11:00.000-08:00

I thought it was supposed to be winter, and then I found this large (2") caterpillar munching away on the artichoke plant. I'm not too sure what species it is, the nearest I can come up with is a lappet moth. Once I had taken a mug shot I moved it to the field before it ate all of the artichoke which is already looking rather ragged. We've had some heavy showers today but it stayed dry through the morning giving me time to do some gardening. I was able to clear a satisfying amount of grass roots before time stopped play and I had to get ready for work. I would much have preferred to stay grubbing about on the hillside but that doesn't pay the bills.
It was fairly wet during the afternoon and then began to rain heavily on my way home. I had been thinking about doing some more gardening as it was still light but not in those conditions. I'm not that keen. Driving down into our valley the clouds that I could hardly see the other side of the valley.

I took some lazy photos (through the car window), on my way down the drive. There is a buzzard sitting on the left of the middle of the tree and a whole flock of smaller birds, starlings/finches? sitting above it. The little birds flew off when I stopped but the buzzard stayed put as there was a whole field between us.

Pollarding.

2012-01-22T09:14:00.000-08:00

I was tree hugging this afternoon. Not through a desire to commune with nature but because when you are on a wobbly ladder which is leaning against a wobbly tree, hanging on for dear life seems a sensible option. The tree in question was one of the 2 willow trees at the bottom of the hen run. I don't know which variety they are but they grow 6-8ft every year which would lead to them becoming far too big for the garden. So each year I have to cut off all the branches. The whippy whithys are great if you need them for basket making or craft work but to me they are just a nuisance. This is one job that cannot be left. I had been hoping to do some more weeding as I have realised that once I have my surgery I will need a proper break from gardening so I must get things under control now but this needed doing.I had thought all the roses were over after the last brief cold spell but there are 2 flowers on the climbing rose that covers the front of the house.

No change in the weather today, it has been not too cold but dry and windy. Great for a Sunday morning lie-in listening to the Archers and watching the trees waving in the wind. Peter went to the gig club for fitness assessment (they are taking the gig championships very seriously), so there wasn't time for a walk hence the gardening.
While I was up the ladder I noticed that the brambles had returned to the strip of land on the far side of the hen run so I donned my extra thick gloves and had a bramble session. Luckily the soil is soft and I had cleared that bit last year so it wasn't too hard going. The Rambling Rector, a very vigorous rose only suitable for trees or big barns, is doing well and has rooted down back into the soil. It flowered for the last 2 years but has taken 10 years to get to this stage so possibly was not the best choice. I shall think of it as a legacy for future residents of this place when hopefully it will romp through all the trees on that boundary covering them with bunches of small white roses. I also took a bow saw to some of the overhanging trees as I am fed up of nearly having my eyes poked out by the blackthorn.
After a hard gardening session it was good to sit by the scree garden with a cup of tea and watch the clouds scudding across the sky. A pair of bullfinches were feeding on the drive, they are little dumpy sparrow sized birds and the male was an amazing bright red right up to his black cap. (I used my fuzzy photo and trusty bird book to identify them.)
Now for a relaxing evening in front of a wood fire, watching Dancing on Ice and eating prawn stir fry cooked by Peter. (He doesn't like gardening and I don't like cooking so it all works out.)

Rivet, Rivet.

2012-01-21T08:09:00.000-08:00

The recent milder weather has got the frogs revving up in both senses of the word. Walking quietly in the garden it sounds as though a couple of bikes are being revved up and already the little pond is half filled with frog spawn. Trying to get a photo of the frogs is a matter of creeping up the steps and hoping they don't spot me. (Zoom in on the picture to spot 14 frogs.) As soon as one does there is a great commotion and splashing as the frogs dive to the bottom of the pond.
Most years a cold spell, sometimes even snow, in February or March freezes and kills most of the frogspawn but enough survives to keep going from year to year.
It is very windy today with the wind roaring in the trees but there was enough of a break in the rain for me to get outside to do some weeding. Not as much as I would have liked but probably enough for my back. Kneeling down and weeding isn't the problem, it's the standing up and trying to walk afterwards that is so hard. I find weeding very satisfying especially when as today I am working on a scorched earth policy and digging right down to get every root out. I didn't do such a thorough job last year (teaching full-time took up most of my time), and it was too easy for the couch grass to re-establish itself. Hopefully a second weeding in spring before I move some ground cover plants from another part of the garden should keep that patch more garden than field.

Busy Day.

2012-01-20T09:43:00.000-08:00

Thank you to those who posted kind comments about poor old Smudge. I know that in the scale of things losing a pet, even a much loved pet, does not compare in any way to the sorrow over the illness or loss of a family member or friend but it can still be upsetting. As we worked in the dark, digging a hole in the ground, I thought of the many people who would be digging such a hole for a truly sad reason.How fortunate I am to be living such a placid life in a safe environment where the loss of a pet is a reason to mourn.

(Scroll down to see the photos I was going to post yesterday.)

Sad.

2012-01-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

Soon after Peter came home tonight I found Smudge outside with a badly broken leg. I scooped up Smudge, yelled for Peter and we drove straight down to the vets' in town. From there we had to make a phone call and drive to their other surgery on the other side of town. Sadly at his age, nearly 14, and being pretty decrepit there was no alternative but to have him put to sleep in my arms. Then we brought him home and he is now buried under the trees by the vegetable plot.

Thursday - 1st Blog.

2012-01-19T10:53:00.000-08:00

Here is Thursday's interrupted blog.

There's no going back now. I bought the ferry tickets for our trip to St Mary's (largest of the Scilly Isles), this morning. The Scillonian looks to be about twice the size of the Oldenburg that takes us to Lundy and was built locally at Appledore. Driving home tonight, after a staff meeting and a successful bargain hunt at the Co-Op the light was fading fast so I stopped at a lay-by to try and capture the night sky.

Tent Arrives.

2012-01-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

It was a lot warmer today but also rather wet. Going up the hill I drove into the cloud layer before reaching the road and it wasn't until I was nearly in town that I escaped the clouds to drive underneath them instead. The rain got worse through the afternoon and as we were in the middle of some work I didn't bother taking my class out for a run around in the rain though usually we do go out if it is not raining too heavily. Once again I left school before 4.00 and the driving conditions were almost the same as they had been at mid-day.
Coming home I found that our new (second hand) tent had been delivered. I have taken it out of the bag and put the poles in but I'm waiting for Peter to get home to set it up as it is much easier to clip the bendy poles in when there are 2 of you. At first I was shocked by the orange colour but that is only the inner tent. I thought we were going to look as if we were sitting in a life raft but the outer cover is in fact grey and a bluey green. The cats had a fine time leaping about on the crackly plastic and attacking the waving poles as I clipped them together but I've fed the cats and thrown them out so all is peaceful and there are no chances of little puddles on the inviting plastic.

Gobble, Gobble.

2012-01-17T09:11:00.000-08:00

It was colder again this morning so Smudge, the old man of my cat gang, was quick to climb into the warming oven of the Rayburn.
And once again the sun warmed the day up. Later I went to the Post Office to send a parcel before a relaxed afternoon in school. At the end of the day I was out of school so early that the sun hadn't really started setting. I drove down to Bowden Corner to take some hazy shots looking out towards the sea.

As I was about to go back to the car these 3 turkeys, obviously survivors from Christmas, spotted me and came gobbling over. They are funny birds.

Coldest Night.

2012-01-16T09:07:00.000-08:00

Last night was the coldest night of the winter. It wasn't so bad down here in Devon but even so we had a frosty start to the day. Yesterday on our way back from Morthoe we had been passed by a gritter and been sprinkled with road salt but that was only on the main road. Our little country roads are never treated, we just have to drive very carefully. Coming home this evening Paul was out on his quad bike putting salt on the hill to prevent the black ice that stays all day in cold weather.
The ground was too cold for weeding so instead I got on with hoovering. That's an excellent way to get warm, by the time I was halfway through I had shed my 2 fleeces and was working in a t-shirt. Then off to school for the afternoon. It was bright and sunny and even felt quite warm.

No Monday staff meeting this week so I was able to drive home in the sun stopping near Ashelford Corner to take a few photos.

Back home the frost still lingered in those parts of the garden that were in the shade for most of the day.

A Walk On The Cliffs.

2012-01-15T10:15:00.000-08:00

It was a good day for a walk today even though Peter had worn himself out rowing first thing. We went off for our favourite walk around Morte Point. There was a very cold wind from the south-west so for once the shady side of the headland was not so cold.
As we were well wrapped up we stopped for coffee right on the headland. The path is that flat area which has been cut from the rock and then bends around to the right.

I sometimes think my camera is a little optimistic with the turquoise blue it gives for the sky, I don't have any filters set but maybe I need to make some adjustment. But all said it was sunny.

This was from exactly the same spot but looking out to sea back along the path towards the point. Our conversation today was all about our trip to the Scilly Isles in May.I think half the fun of a holiday is in the planning. In this case we have the double challenge of keeping costs down and also camping for 5 days but being limited in the amount we take. That will keep me busy for a while.

Once home there was only time for an hour of weeding before it got too dark to see what I was doing. Now for a warm evening watching Dancing on Ice and enjoying a prawn byriani.

Keeping Warm.

2012-01-14T10:20:00.000-08:00

At last our wood burner is back in service. The doors have been virtually rebuilt, the T-piece at the base of the flue has been replaced and the back of the inside repaired. It was a much bigger job than we first envisaged. Tonight we have a log fire burning as the weather is getting a lot colder. This morning we had the first proper frost of the winter, no incentive to get up early on a Saturday.
This afternoon I wrapped up and got on with the weeding. The day was middling, neither sunny nor totally grey and as usual it looked a lot brighter when I got outside.

This bank beside the drive is now ready for spring. I shall simply work my way around the rest of the garden whenever possible.

Going to spend a nice warm evening watching a film in the warmth of the fire.

Another Early Start.

2012-01-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

It had been a clear night so it felt a lot colder this morning and we had to pour water on the windscreens of our cars to clear the thin layer of ice there. The sun was just coming up as I set off for a full day's work.

There were quite thick areas of mist nestling in the valleys. It was an exciting start to the day, especially when driving down the side of the long valley that leads into Barnstaple. In places the mist rolled across the road but for a lot of the time the road was higher than the fluffy mist banks. Unfortunately there are no safe places to stop and take photos there without having to walk some way which when it is cold and you're on the way to work is not really an option.
I had a fairly hectic but fun day with the children as they all designed and made rockets from a mountain of junk material.

The day itself was bright and sunny, typical that I was working for the whole day. That's twice in one week. Returning home I was nearly blinded by a golden sunburst in my rear view mirror and by the time I turned up the back roads the sky was looking, not spectacular, but pretty.

Here's hoping that we will have some good weather this week-end as well.

Back To The Grey.

2012-01-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

The weather had changed back again today, grey and miserable once more. Luckily the rain stopped by mid-morning as it is difficult when the children spend all day cooped up in the classroom. I didn't teach in the morning which was a good thing as I was rather tired after yesterday. We had a good afternoon looking at pictures of rockets, mainly Apollo 11, and labelling photos in preparation for tomorrow's rocket making day. Coming home the clouds had started to disperse bringing a little colour into the sky.
There were some unusual low clouds drifting across our valley.

From the same spot I turned around and took this photo, no filters or special effects but the camera did its own thing and made the sky a little pinker than it really was.

Golden Light.

2012-01-11T10:17:00.000-08:00

My reward today for getting up early and driving off to work before sunrise was to see the dawn come creeping up. I stopped at the same place as yesterday but it was a bit too dark to capture the mist that was sitting on the fields. The day itself turned out bright but I was rushing around all day long; year assembly, lunchtime staff meeting and a whole day's teaching, and didn't get a chance to appreciate the lovely weather.
It was so sunny on my homeward journey that I drove along with my car window open and my sunglasses on. The sun was casting a deep golden light over the landscape though our valley was all gloomy in the shade as usual. (Highlighting the importance of location when you live in a hilly area.)

Seeing a beautiful sunset or the golden light makes the journey home such a pleasure though I have spent many , many hours crammed on the tube staring at the back of people's heads or cycling between lorries on the city roads travelling to work in London. I am so glad that we chose to leave all that behind. And for a bonus when I got home all the birds were singing in the trees around the garden.

All Grey.

2012-01-10T10:55:00.000-08:00

It has felt like a very grey world today with almost total cloud cover but fortunately not too much rain. It was also surprisingly warm. I took these photos at 11.30 on my way into town.

I was teaching in the afternoon but went in early so that I could go to the Post Office. Normally my friendly postman takes any stamped mail but I wanted to send some documents to the Student Loan Company. This current loan was applied for last March for the academic year starting last September but the loan company is a shambles asking for different documents each time and then claiming that half the stuff we sent hadn't arrived. So now I am not taking any chances and will send everything as recorded mail. Luckily they did give Romas the basic loan but he is still due quite a bit more. They assure me that he should get it in 6-7 working days once they receive this final document but you never know.

While I was in town I bought a replacement iron at a charity shop for £4. The Rotary Club is the only charity shop that sells electrical equipment, all safety tested. I still wish I could buy a light weight non-steam iron as not having a tumble dryer I never need to use the steam. I ironed a sheet tonight and it worked fine but I did have to put Speedy outside as he was leaping on the sheet from one side with Patch attacking from the other and then Speedy tried to jump up and swat the actual iron.

Teaching was fun but tiring as I was on my own with 28 children. Tonight I have had to do some planning and preparing resources as I will be teaching all day tomorrow. Better have an early night.

A Tale Of Two Hens.

2012-01-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

I was sad this morning to find that the remaining 2 hens were missing. I had gone up to give them some scraps and there was not a sign of them. I checked the hen house and the nesting box and looked all around outside but - nothing. There were no tell tale piles of feathers around which might indicate that indicate that the neighbours' dogs or even our greedy cats had done the deed so I concluded that a fox had got in and spirited them away. It was a shame as I have only lost 1 hen before in all the years we have lived here. However I carried on doing some weeding in the grey but dry morning, serenaded by a cheeky robin. All too soon it was time to get ready for an afternoon of teaching. As I walked down the drive I peered up through the wire netting into the hen run, and there hiding behind a small tree at the very back of the run were those 2 hens. Perfectly hale & hearty and grubbing about in the dirt. Panic over.

All Set For The Scilly Isles.

2012-01-08T04:25:00.001-08:00

All day long a soft rain has been falling leaving everywhere misty and damp.

So I did not feel tempted to work outside. Instead I have pottered about and done some paperwork.

This morning Peter went off for a gig club meeting to discuss teams etc for the world championships in May. He came home pleased that he has been picked for 2 teams. I can foresee a lot more training sessions both on the water and the gym. If I have joined the club by then I only want to be a social rower and have no ambitions to to compete. We are already planning our trip. For those with lots of money it is possible to fly from Exeter, only an hour's drive away and then stay in a hotel or B&B but we shall probably be driving down to Penzance, taking the ferry and camping for 4 or 5 nights. I only hope it doesn't rain too much.

I found this description of the event on the web and it did make me feel more enthusiastic.

Every year the Isles of Scilly hosts an incredible rowing event – The World Pilot Gig Championships. Rowing clubs from across the South West and even as far afield as Holland and the Faroe Islands bring their 6 oared, wooden pilot gigs to the islands for 3 days of racing.
There’s no ‘racing shells’, carbon fibre or sliding seats – it’s strictly traditional clinker built gig boats racing between the islands in the Atlantic swell.
Veterans and super-veterans row first in a long race from St Agnes to St Mary’s. The renowned Flushing and Mylor men’s supervets are the oldest crew in the event yet they compete in all 5 men’s races over the weekend. In 2010 their average age was 70 and oldest rower, Angus, celebrated his 86 birthday!
Sat morning sees the most spectacular races when the whole fleet of around 130 boats race at the same time. The start line is over a mile long and being in the thick of it is an unforgettable experience.
The overall winners are decided through fierce sprint races over Saturday afternoon and Sunday and when the racing is all done festivities begin with a beach barbecue, bands and a great deal of singing.
The singing continues on Monday afternoon as those remaining on the island line the quay to serenade the ferry as it departs.

Bramble Day.

2012-01-07T08:50:00.000-08:00

It has been dry today so I have done a lot of work outside. My job plan consisted of one word - brambles and that's all I have been doing. Pulling up those blasted brambles that seem to get everywhere. I put on my extra thick gardening gloves to protect my hands but anyone who had been outside would have heard some very unladylike language. Mainly when my face got whipped by the blackcurrants and raspberries through which I was maneuvering to get to the brambles that had sprung up around them. There was also the occasional cry of triumph when a decent piece of root came up but all too often I would hear a snap indicating that the roots still remain lurking in the ground. There are still some brambles to be dealt with in the wilder parts of the garden but now I can continue to weed the planted areas. Will this be the year I get the whole garden weeded before spring? Probably not. Halfway through the afternoon I took a coffee break sitting in a sheltered spot and watching the clouds blowing across the blue sky.
Even when there aren't too many flowers around there is the sun lighting up the trees or the restful forms of stones to look at.

After my gardening session I thought I would relax by watching Black Swan while Peter was out at the gym. I had recorded it to watch over Christmas but a few people had seen it and the consensus was that it wouldn't suit everybody. Imagine my annoyance when the film started and I realised that it wasn't the dark drama Black Swan but The Black Swan a swashbuckling pirate adventure made in 1942. Change of plan and I lay on the floor doing my exercises keeping one eye on the latest version of The Borrowers instead.

A Working Day.

2012-01-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

I've had a quiet day getting on with various jobs both indoors and out. The weather has not been too cold and a fine rain has just started late in the afternoon. As well as tidying up some digging that the boys started I did some work in the stream and then I decided to try and move our garden table up into the shelter by the scree garden as I don't really want it sitting outside for the next few rainy months. I should have moved it up at the end of the summer but it is rather heavy and I didn't want to ask Peter to help. It just the kind of awkward job that can cause damage to his joints and set off a p-arthritis attack. Instead I planned to ask the boys to carry it up over Christmas but time ran out. So I decided to think laterally and see if I could do it by myself. I didn't want to use my normal method of 'walking ' it from corner to corner as I thought that wouldn't be good for the joints, a wheelbarrow would be unmanageable and then the solution occured. I could tip it on its side and roll it along. I still had to do a bit of heaving to get it up the steps and to roll it up the hill but I got the job done and now it is under the shelter away from the worst of the weather. (Just seen a squirrel running through the trees out in the garden.) I do like flowers and these dianthus that Kate brought me are making the kitchen bright and cheerful. We may be in the middle of the winter but there are still a number of flowers in the garden. Some like the roses are hanging on from last year,
and others like this saxifrage and the primula have begun their spring flowering.

Out in the lawns the daisys are flowering and on the porch wall the winter jasmine is covered with its small yellow flowers.

This group of daffodils which are sheltered by the house have been flowering for several weeks and I can see more daffodils and narcissi spears on the banks of the stream behind the house.

Simple Pleasures.

2012-01-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

It was wild and windy today but not raining so I took myself down to Woolacombe to walk along the sands to Putsborough and back. The waves didn't look the 10-12ft that the weather man had said but the wind was so strong that not one surfer was attempting the messy waves. I togged up in full waterproof gear and strode off along the beach.

The wind was blowing a thick layer of foam along the tide line. For a while I simply admired it as I walked along but then I gave into temptation and paddled in the foam which at times came right to the tops of my wellies. Walking through the foam caused it to break off and be blown up the beach in random shaped blobs so I embraced my silly side and sent foam up in a veritable foamstorm. Arriving at Putsborough the cafe was sadly closed so I had to forgo my planned coffee but I sat on a bench and ate a biscuit while watching the waves roar in.

The wind was pushing me along on the way up so the return journey was a bit more of a struggle.

There were few people out today and the weather buoy had been removed by something with tank tracks.

I had felt a little overdressed with all my clothing when I walked along the beach but sitting out on the clifftop at the end of my walk I was glad of every single layer. The wind was so strong it was hard to stand up and it felt quite icy.

On my way home I finally got a chance to photograph some of the herd of Highland cattle that live in the fields. There is only one place to stop and it is rather muddy so I took this photo through the car window. I'll try again another time as it is a large herd with some cute calves as well.

Meteors!

2012-01-04T08:48:00.000-08:00

My ears pricked up this morning when from the radio I heard the news that we were in the middle of a meteor shower (the Quadrantids) which was due to peak in about 10 mins. I leapt out of bed and after pressing my nose against the window to check the cloud cover I threw on lots of clothes. Within minutes I was standing outside clutching a cup of coffee and peering up at the night sky. Conditions weren't good and there was over 50% cloud cover but I did get to see one meteor. All the same I enjoyed being outside in the dark with the wind roaring through the trees and a tawny owl hooting over by the lake.

I had to be up anyway as I was going in to work for the morning. We had an inset day with 2 morning training sessions. The first was on assessing and teaching maths which is an enormous subject not helped by the number of different assessment schemes being used often side by side. The other session was on communicating with children who have language and communication difficulties. As this applies to 1:5 children in the country it is not surprising that there are a number of children in each class with these difficulties which often result in behaviour problems. It felt really good to be using my brain again and feeling full of enthusiasm I was regretful that I do not have my own class anymore. Then I brought myself back to reality thinking about all the areas of the curriculum that have to be delivered at the same depth while also coping with behaviour issues, the day to day running of the class, stimulating displays, marking and feedback and all those little emergencies that happen every day. That's why teachers get burnt out.

My working day finished at lunchtime when I went to collect my car from the garage. In the morning I had asked them to check a squeaky fan belt and put on my new wing mirror. Alec also fixed a rattle which was coming from underneath and was part of the exhaust falling off - again. The total cost was £36 but he is trustworthy unlike many garages which see women as easy prey. When I drove away it was raining heavily so I tried to turn on the windscreen wipers but they didn't work. I went straight back but it turned out that the wiper had slipped down and got caught in the bonnet when they closed it after fixing the fan belt.I stopped in a side street where you get an hour's free parking so that I could have a walk round the High Street to check out the sales. I bought some earrings which I may remake longer and danglier. These charm bead bracelets seem to have been popular for a few years now and I bought some on sale before Christmas to give as presents. Today I bought another one so that I now have 2. Finally I bought a small cheap diary to keep a record of my photos. I up/down? load a file nearly every day and while the pictures are doing their thing I make a quick note in the diary. I am not so organised at backing up my photos onto my external hard drive which I plan to do at the end of each week but usually forget and then I have lots of files to copy.
The stormy weather has returned so back home I finished off lining my little Saltrock bag and did a few bits of housework.

Bonus Day.

2012-01-03T09:41:00.000-08:00

The worst storm of the winter blew in last night. I lay in bed in the early hours listening to the wind howling through the trees. Scotland had the worst of it but even here in the South West we had gusts up to 80mph with roads blocked by fallen trees and flooding. Fortunately I had a bonus day at home. For some reason, even though my diary shows an inset day for tomorrow, I had got it into my head that we had to go in for 'tidying up' today. Luckily I contacted a couple of my work colleagues yesterday who put me straight. Even so, Peter has gone back to work and I needed to get into an organised mode. I get so annoyed with myself if I get to the end of a day and feel that I have achieved nothing so I make LISTS. Even if I don't get to the end of the list being able to cross off each task makes me feel really motivated and I can see at the end of the day how much I have achieved. This saves me from leaving those little jobs for days, weeks or even months which is a real possibility with me. I have gone back to writing my lists in a notebook, that way I can plan ahead for the next day instead of simply writing my list on the whiteboard in the kitchen.

Something else I found worked really well for me was a tip I found on a blog a while ago. This is good when your time is limited and there are jobs which are boring or daunting. It is to simply resolve to spend 10 mins a day doing that job. The sneaky thing is that after 10 mins you quite often feel able to spend a little longer at the task. And if 10 mins is all you can spare then at the end of the week you have spent an hour on the job and probably done something you never thought you had time for. For me it was housework when I was teaching full-time and then having school work to do in the evening. 10 mins was enough to hoover a room, do some ironing etc and by the end of the week I wasn't faced with mess and a load of housework to do. (Please note I am not obsessively tidy as anyone who visits will know.)
I got through my list of jobs today which included some outdoor jobs. With all this rain the gutters and my various dams needed checking. It was much drier in the afternoon and I was able to weed and tidy up a small scree bed. More leaves will no doubt be blown on to the stones but the weeds and moss have been banished to the waste ground. Indoors I did some sewing and got into a recycling mood. I wanted to extend the straps on a small backpack we use on our walks so I cut off the straps from a worn out big back pack that is beyond repair. Then I thought the zips from that might come in useful so I unpicked the 2 main zips and saved some clips as well. Finally I started putting a new lining into a small shoulder bag that I am very fond of. I have had it so long the plastic coating on the inside of the fabric is all flaking off so I am lining the inside with some nylon scrap material to give the bag a new life.
I heard on the news today that the UNESCO has designated North Devon a Biosphere Reserve which means that the natural environment here is one of the top 500 places in the world. Wow! The Biosphere extends from Lundy, across the whole of this area (Exmoor) and down to the top of Dartmoor.

Photo from yesterday of the buoy that was washed up on Woolacombe beach.

AN Irish “visitor” caused a stir on Monday when it was discovered washed up on Woolacombe beach.
The large buoy, part of Ireland’s marine weather buoy network, had broken free and drifted some 270 miles. It is normally chained to the seabed off the Emerald Isle south west coast and collects a range of data for weather and marine observation, including wave height, sea temperature, wind speed and direction.
Its owners, the Marine Institute in Ireland, told the Gazette they had lost contact with the M3 weather buoy more than three weeks ago.
“The buoy was torn from its mooring during severe weather on December 10, when it ceased transmitting,” a spokesperson said.
A wave buoy was washed up on the beach at Woolacombe on Monday morning.
“Following efforts to re-establish communication, a radio navigational warning was issued. Nothing was found until Monday when the Argos system on the buoy began reporting positional information from Woolacombe Beach.”
A technician is travelling from Galway to assess the damage and the Marine Institute is working with Swansea Coastguard and beach owner Parkin Estates to recover the buoy.
The Irish Weather Buoy Network is funded by the Irish Government and run by the Institute in collaboration with Met Eireann and the UK Met Office.
It has taken a battering recently, with waves of eight to 10 metres plus a giant of 20.4 metres recorded on December 13.

(Article from the North Devon Gazette. )

Windy Walk.

2012-01-02T09:14:00.000-08:00

The weather is changing today. It is getting colder and there were bright spells interspersed with very heavy showers. As it is back to work for us tomorrow we grabbed our waterproofs and headed down to the beach. I have hardly been out of the house this past week so I really felt the need for some fresh air. We went down to Barricane Beach because the car is not too far away if it starts to rain heavily.
Luckily we had just missed one shower and it stayed bright for the whole time we were there. It was exhilarating in the strong wind and there were not many people around. Down on the beach there was just one family exercising their small children, at least the mother was and the dad was sitting on a rock trying to read a paper. Over on Woolacombe beach there was a large buoy, taller than the Coastguard vehicle next to it, that must have been washed up in all this stormy weather. We are due to have some serious storms in the next few days. If the roads don't become icy I might try and get to the beach for a really wild walk.

After the welcome sea air we called in at Tescos to pick up a few essentials. As it was nearly closing time, being a Bank Holiday, we got some good bargains - 80% off ! The fridge is now full of wedges of Somerset brie ( my French employers would have been horrified to hear of cheese in the fridge), cold meats, a quiche and some strawberries. Lots of nice things for lunches. Before we went out I had made a hearty vegetable soup which we shall be having for supper with coriander, garlic and Parmesan flatbread, another bargain. I am all for finding ways of saving money while still enjoying nice things.

The washing machine completed one wash successfully but I am expecting it to give up at any moment. I have lots of sheets to wash after the holiday and that will give it a good work out. Do or die, machine!

Very Quiet.

2012-01-01T08:22:00.000-08:00

Yet another very wet day but also it is rather warm, you win some, you lose some. During one dry spell I took some scraps up to the chickens and checked on the little dam across the road. Just as I got to the top of the garden the heavens opened and I got soaked on that short dash back to the house. So we have had a very quiet day, not even getting out for a walk by the sea. While everyone was here I neglected to find time to do my exercises so today I have been lying on the floor stretching my spine and watching TV. Well, in a couple of days we will be back at work so we shall enjoy this quiet time to ourselves.

The washing machine is playing up again. I'm giving it one more chance but then I think I shall have to take advantage of the sales and buy a new one.

Bitter Sweet Day.

2011-12-31T09:13:00.000-08:00

And so came the day of departures, a time I always find difficult to deal with. Knowing that it will be months, many months sometimes, before I see my boys again. It was harder this time because I hadn't been too sure when people were going and then all of a sudden, by lunchtime, the house was empty. It doesn't help that I look forward to these visits with such anticipation, thinking about things we can do and places we can go forgetting that limited time, poor weather and kitchen duties usually mean that they don't happen. However we enjoyed our meals together, watched some films and played some family games so we did have a good time. Linas was the first ready to go and waited fairly patiently through all the hubbub of everyone else getting organised. Vytas and Sally were going to drop him at the train station on their way back to Leicester.
There was heavy rain from the ground level clouds but I still got the youngsters to pose for the usual picture. L to R: Alex, Linas, Vytas and Sally.

And true to tradition, at the last moment Milo snuck through an open door to make his 'escape' around the garden. It happens nearly every time and all he does is run around hoping people will chase him. Now that he is older it wasn't long before he ran too closely to someone and got caught to be put on the lead and taken for a walk up the hill before being driven home with Sam, Kate and Alex.

The rain got heavier so Peter and I changed our minds about going out for a walk. Instead we had a quiet afternoon, the Christmas tree is now down and the second table taken out of the kitchen and brought back into the sitting room. So now Christmas is officially over. Peter cooked up some of the many left-overs for our supper and we watched the extended edition of Two Towers. We had hoped to see in the New Year by going into town where there is always a great party atmosphere with many people dressed up in fancy dress and live music in the Square before a firework display at midnight but it is so wet and windy that we have decided to give that a miss. So my flashing light shoe laces will have to wait until next year.

A Wet Day.

2011-12-30T15:52:00.000-08:00

We've had yet another wet day. Peter went off rowing, not so early as the other day so he didn't get back until lunchtime. Most of the household went off for a wet walk along the beach at Saunton while I stayed home mainly working in the kitchen. I also discovered that one of out 3 hens had died, most probably from old age as we have had them for a few years. I spent some time working in the stream sorting out the flow of the water and clearing the start of a dam/bridge that must have been built by Jack.

When the wet walkers returned and had dried out we had lunch and then in the afternoon we looked at Sam, Kate & Alex's photos from their recent holiday to Rome and Pompeii. Both Peter and Sam are interested in Romas history so every ruin and arch was knowledgeably discussed as they appeared on the TV screen.

Back to cooking in the kitchen; sausages, red cabbage, potatoes, sprouts, parsnips & gravy followed by Christmas cake (again) and this cute gingerbread house which Vytas and Sally had brought along.

After supper we all played a game of charades and then some of us watched a film. Right now we are all doing our own thing and Sam and Vytas are playing a scaled down game of 40K with much rolling of dice and checking of the rule book. As it is past midnight I should really be heading off to bed as these late nights are getting me into bad habits.

Already Leaving.

2011-12-29T06:58:00.000-08:00

There are still a few roses and other flowers hanging on in the garden but everything is so wet I don't feel too inclined to get any gardening done. There are still a couple of trees which need pollarding asap but I don't think I can expect the boys to go out in this weather. Yesterday Romas climbed up into the old loft and stuffed more chicken wire in the gaps by the gables, possibly that will keep the jackdaws out next year.

No sooner does the house fill up with family and friends than there are farewells to be said. Romas had to go back up to Stoke today as his band are playing a gig tonight. I had hoped he would stay a little longer but he does have his own life to lead.

Brotherly affection between Vytas and Romas.

Vytas and Sally drove Romas to the train station and did some of their own shopping. Sam, Kate, Alex and Linas also went into town to do some shopping and check out the sales. Peter and I stayed at home. With so many people in the house clearing up from one meal merges into preparation for the next even when people pitch in, plus tea making goes on continously.
The finishing touches are being made to the woodburner doors and as the boys fitted the new t-piece to the flue yesterday we should be able to have a blazing log fire tonight.

Wednesday.

2011-12-29T04:02:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was grey and windy. Peter was up before dawn for an early row out on the river. It wasn't too cold so later on the youngsters went off for a walk to the Valley of the Rocks. They did get caught in a sudden hailstorm and had to shelter under some rocks to eat their sandwiches.

I stayed at home to make bedrooms ready for the next group of visitors and prepare food for 9 hungry people.
Our friends arrived after dark so now the house is full once more. Speedy has never encountered a dog in the house before so there was a lot of growling (from Speedy), and fur standing on end. The other cats take no notice of Milo the Jack Russell and continued to steal his food or swat his nose.

Our evening was taken up with a long and silly game of Balderdash.

More Arrivals.

2011-12-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

We went into reasonably early this morning laden with another load for the dump, all stuff cleared out of Peter's study. The incentive of having to clear it for Vytas and Sally to sleep in has resulted a good bit of cleaning up.You get 2 hours free parking if you park at Lidl's and walk acros the bridge which is what I generally do unless it is pouring with rain. Not all the shops were open but there were plenty of people wandering about the High Street looking for bargains. I stocked up on half price cards for next year and a few small things. I picked up that red mug again but still put it back because we have so many mugs at home. Linas and Romas came into town with me and went off to look at computer parts etc. Linas got a good deal on a new power supply. We called in at the Co-op on our way home and got quite a few bargains. In the car park someone had left 2 part used extra big rolls of wrapping paper. They were clean and dry so I took them home for next year.

Vytas and Sally arrived in the afternoon bringing more yummy presents having driven down from Sally's parents in Leicestershire. Linas has taken over cooking the supper so that will be something spicy and I can relax. Suits me.

Sleepy Day.

2011-12-26T09:34:00.000-08:00

We've had a typical laid back Boxing Day, doing nothing much at all. Peter's back is much better and he had a clear out of his study which will be needed as a spare bedroom when Vytas and Sally arrive tomorrow. Smudge decided to join Elwen sleeping in the big pan.

It has been a sleepy grey day but luckily not raining so Romas and I decided to go for a walk. All the eating and sitting around was beginning to take its toll and we needed some fresh air.

We walked up to Bowden Corner and then to Rookabear Lane where we had a glimpse of the distant sea. We finished our walk by cutting through the fields which were very muddy especially around the gateways. We are now set for an evening of film watching, the heating is on and the chocs are to hand.

Christmas Day.

2011-12-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

How sad to hear this evening of the bomb attacks on church goers in Nigeria. Our hearts go out to the affected communities and we pray for reconcilliation.

I hope that today has been a good day for all of you reading this post. We have had a relaxed day with Linas and Romas, eaten lots of good food and exchanged gifts. Peter's back was too fragile for us to go to church last night so instead I watched the Midnight Mass broadcast from St George's Cathedral. It had the comforting familiarity of High RC church which took me back to my childhood. While the pomp and ceremony is not the way we have worshiped for many years the preaching was thoughtful and sincere and after all we are all celebrating the Birth of Jesus.
After putting the rib of beef in the oven followed by a leisurely start to the day we gathered to open our presents. Lots of treats for everyone, mainly edible ones.

The boys have been so helpful this year, helping with food preparation and even wrapping up presents for Peter when he was confined to bed. Peter has been up and about today aided by tablets and a back brace. Right now the boys are dismantling/mending some old speakers on the coffee table, things never change.

The present that touched me the most was this selection of chocolate truffles flavoured with a variety of liqueurs including gingerbread cream, toffee cream and raspberry vodka. The boys spent most of Friday night making these after I had gone to bed. What a lovely present. Also much appreciated from Peter was a replacement wing mirror for my little car. The mirror fell out a few years ago and I promptly ran over it. While it is not a legal requirement to have a passenger door mirror it does make life a lot easier especially as I have no rear spatial awareness and usually end up getting out of the car to see how much room there is left behind me.

The rain has been falling gently all day so no incentive to go out for a walk. Our day has been a little food based, preparation, eating and clearing up. The fridge is full of food that will keep us going for quite a while now and I shall have to think about dieting again in the New Year.

Cat moment- Deep growls coming from Elwen who was curled up on the mat in front of the Rayburn with Speedy. Reason - Speedy had her tail in his paws and was happily chewing on it. Even when the chewing changed to a conciliatory licking the growls continued until Elwen snatched her tail away and tucked it safely beneath her. Poor Speedy does not yet understand that the older cats do not want to play with him.

Christmas Traditions

2011-12-24T10:42:00.000-08:00

I've had a fairly relaxed day today. Peter's back has been playing up all week and just as he thought it was on the mend an awkward turn has rendered him immobile, pain free only when lying flat on his back and dosed up with painkillers. Not a good start to Christmas for him, poor thing. I've spent the day preparing food for our traditional evening meal. Our families came from Lithuania where it is traditional to have a special meal on Christmas Eve as the main celebration of the holiday. There should be 12 courses or dishes consisting of fish or vegetables with no meat or dairy products being used. We compromise by having 12 dishes on the table as a mainly cold buffet. I always try and get marinated herrings as well as ordinary pickled herrings. We are also having smoked salmon, prawns, hot prawns in batter and the boys are concocting something spicy with king prawns, (we dropped into the supermarket late last night after picking up Linas from the train station and got some good deals.) Potato salad has been made and a mixed bean and beetroot salad. I'm taking a break while the boys take over the kitchen. This is the last day of Advent and when I think back on all the things in my life that I am thankful for I can see that I have a good life indeed and much to be thankful for.
Gift giving is always a part of Christmas and although we have tried to scale back this year focusing on treats rather than grand items there is still a sizable pile in the spare room waiting to be put under the tree tonight. Ah! the tree that we weren't going to have because it is a 'quiet' year. A tree was requested so once again we have our eco-tree fashioned from the top of one of the prolific leylandii and decorated with lots of glass drops and 'crystal' decorations. When the boys were little we only put the tree up after they had gone to bed on Christmas Eve and we have carried on with not putting it up until Christmas Eve.

We have always gone as a family to the midnight Service at our local village church but we will have to see how Peter's back is. Then it's time for bed so that 'Mother' Christmas can hang small stockings on everybody's bedroom door handle. Because the contents this year are mostly chocolates I shall not be wrapping each item. That used to take so long to do as I would buy small items all through the year for each of them. (Linas has just come in to say that they are sorting out all the rest of the meal.)

Looking forward to all the Christmas festivities - Merry Christmas to one and all!

Stormy Day.

2011-12-23T08:38:00.000-08:00

We've had a lot of rain today. Even at 9.00 in the morning the sky was still hardly light. Today I am thankful that this holiday time is an opportunity for the family to get together. It is also good that the arrivals are spread out- Romas and I have had a couple of days together before Linas arrives tonight. Then it will be a relaxed few days before the rest of the party arrive. As we may not see the boys for months at a time these visits home are something that we look forward too.
Romas and I headed into town this morning for some last minute shopping, mainly food. The rain was atrocious and on our way home a big 30-40ft tree had blown over (up by the hospital traffic lights), with the top branches in the road. A police car was there to stop people driving into the branches. At the supermarket full shopping trolleys were being blown by the wind and the rain was reaching right into the store through the porch? that is supposed to protect the main entrance.

Comment from Romas as we were driving down a road that requires drivers to wait for oncoming traffic. (I had just made a comment on the rudeness of a driver who had failed to wave a thank-you and we had noticed that it was a little old lady who could barely see over the steering wheel.) Romas - " You know how they have booster seats for children, well they should have booster seats for old people too so they can see where they are driving."

We had a very brief spell of sunshine in the afternoon and then the clouds rolled in again. It does also seem to be getting a little colder, we have been having temperatures of 11C in the night.

The only other jobs done today were more tidying up, especially of Linas' room and bringing a second table into the kitchen so that we have a big table that can at a pinch seat 16. Romas also cut down the tops of some of the leylandii as he feels we ought to have a tree, which I hadn't planned for this being our 'quiet' Christmas. They are drying off in the conservatory and we shall put them up and decorate them tomorrow.

Winter Solstice.

2011-12-22T08:34:00.000-08:00

It's the Winter Solstice today. At last we can look forward to lengthening days. A few times this week I have got up early, looked at the dark outside and gratefully gone back to bed. (Looking out of a back window the first daffodils are blooming by the stream!)

Today however I am feeling thankful for my little car and the freedom it gives me. I didn't learn to drive until I was 30 and expecting our first child. Living in London with its horrendous traffic and difficult parking there had been very little need to drive or own a car. London's public transport system and later my bicycle made getting around very easy and it was only the thought of having to include children in my journeys that sent me off to get my driving licence. We never had a car when I was a child, far too poor and although my mother drove tractors in her 20s learning to drive in later life was another matter. After a number of failed tests she wisely gave up. Now however I cannot imagine my life without a car though there have been times when we have only had 1 working car or had both cars trapped by the snow and ice. Walking the 7 miles to town or waiting until the weekend to use the car made life very awkward indeed. Shopping had to be carefully planned and consideration given to which items I would carry back in case I failed to get a lift. Yet only a generation ago it would have been the norm for people not to own a car, as for 2 cars - well that was extraordinary. I can even remember my mother hitchhiking with me , aged 6, all the way to southern France and back again. Now my car awaits any whim I may have to drop into town or go for a walk.

This morning Romas and I loaded up the car with some old servers and a few other bits and pieces for the dump. Romas met an old friend working there, they had been in the same class and it was through Mark that Romas joined the Sea Cadets where he learnt to sail and had many interesting weekends away with the Navy.

After getting rid of all that stuff we went on to Morthoe for a walk around the Point.

It was quite grey and a fine rain was falling for a lot of the time.

It was only as we headed back that the sun appeared. It was strange to be walking in bright sun and looking up at the low clouds and the sea mist that was being blown up the cliffs. The clouds persisted all the way home and the day has ended wet and mild.

Watching Paint Dry.

2011-12-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

It has been much milder today. Even so it was not a good idea to paint those window shelves yesterday as they show little signs of drying. I had thought the kitchen was reasonably warm - but not enough to dry paint it seems. That spurred me on to clean up an oil filled radiator we had brought down from the loft and that is now plugged in next to the newly painted shelves. I worry that the cats will jump up there and walk white gloss paw prints around the house. Today I am thankful for my camera and for digital photography in general. In the days of film, printing photos was a lengthy and expensive process. I was lucky that Peter worked in a photographic studio when the boys were little so I have many photos of them when they were small. Even so it wasn't practical to take numerous shots looking for the perfect picture. Only professionals could sit there sifting through a sheet of contacts for the best angles and light. Because photography is my way of capturing the beauty that I see in my everyday world I don't use photoshop but I have seen it used to great effect. Not only do I enjoy taking photos and capturing my world I love to look at them and relive the moment when I looked through the viewfinder.
After more pottering around the house and baking another batch of flapjacks I walked over to the stables to deliver a card and a present for Jack.

That gave me a chance to view our valley from a different angle. The green trees are a reflection of the amount of rain we get (my sheds are nearly as green).

Instead of going straight back home I walked up the hill to enjoy the views.

The sky was a little lighter with patches of blue showing between the clouds. At the top of the road were horse boxes parked on the verge as Wednesday is hunt day. Sarah came riding home from the hunt on a lively dapple grey horse. She knows my views on hunting but we don't fall out about it. It is her upbringing and her livelihood (keeping livery horses) and she assures me that they hardly ever catch a fox.

This evening I shall be going in to town to collect Romas from the train station. He and Vicky have recently split up which is unexpected and very sad especially at this time of year.

Up, Up and Away.

2011-12-20T10:14:00.000-08:00

A friend sent me this in an email.

Dear Santa,

I don't want much for Christmas, I just want the person reading this to be happy. Friends are the fruitcake of life.- some nutty, some soaked in alcohol, some sweet but mix them together and they're my friends.

Love Ya.

Today I am thankful for my friends. I only have a small group of friends, outside of work, and some of them I don't see that often but I treasure each and every one of them.

I spent most of the day in town today, meeting my friend for coffee and cheesecake then gently ambling around the shops and looking for bargains. Lots of things are already on sale but my Christmas presents are all sorted. Most of the things that caught my eye were things I would like for myself but don't really need- like a half price shiny, red metallic mug, but I shall wait until after Christmas before any such indulgences. I did buy some jewellery, one for me and some for presents, because it was reduced by 92%. Bought also for our traditional Christmas eve meal was some spicy marinated herrings which can only be bought from one fishmonger in town. I also bought fruit and veg from a stall in the Pannier Market including a red cabbage and local cooking apples. I have already cooked up a large pan of spiced red cabbage (with onions, apples and bacon). It freezes well and we shall have some with our Christmas rib of beef (no turkey - hooray!) and the rest will be eaten when our visitors arrive.

Out in the pedestrianised High Street, as well as someone playing the violin very well, was this chap promoting his balloon flights. I took a leaflet and shall leave it in a prominent position as this is something I would love to do. But at around £100 for a couple of hours it is quite pricey.

Tonight, once the cats were out, I gave the window shelves in the kitchen a coat of white gloss paint. I'll see what they look tomorrow to see if they need a second coat.

Not Working!

2011-12-19T08:52:00.000-08:00

It has been a frustrating day today. The continual rain put paid to my first plan which was to walk over to our neighbours to deliver a card and a present for Jack and then walk to deliver cards to neighbours about a mile away. Never mind, I thought, I'll get on with some home repairs. When we moved in we saved money by simply rearranging the kitchen units and replacing the tatty worktops with smart beech wood tops. Over the years I have taken care not to use knives directly on the wood, to mop up any water around the sink and not put wet tins directly on the wood. Unfortunately my family continue to see this as an affront to their personal freedom, yet more of my 'rules' and confirmation of my need to control everything. The result is a marked and scarred worktop with blackened wood around the sink which has crumbled away in places. I have bought some special wood fillers which you blend together to match the colour but first I needed to sand off the stains and try and get below the scratches. It's far too big a job to do by hand so I got out the old electric hand sander only to find the motor grinding to nothing. No spare money left this Christmas so I'll have to wait and maybe get something in the sales. Also the washing I put in the machine before 8.00 was still swishing round at 12.00. I flushed out the water inlet and got it working but I fear that machine's days are numbered. After such a grumbly start to the day it was hard to think what today has made me feel thankful and then it hit me .......... just how trivial my 'bad' day has been. And I am truly thankful that all that is stressing me out is a careless family and busted equipment. My family's lives are not in danger through illness, lack of medicine or violence and we all have safe homes that are not threatened by natural disasters. There is just no comparison.
I got some more baking done, a chocolate cake for my sons and special flapjacks (with apricot and chocolate) for Peter.

The stream is flowing strongly and has risen and spread over the bog garden but I have been assured that the house is in no danger.

Sunday Stroll.

2011-12-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for the fact that we live only 5 miles from the coast. Any time we want we can jump in the car and go for a walk by the sea. (Naturally it would be even better if we were within walking distance.) I feel the sea is in my blood perhaps due to the fact that even as a small baby I was taken daily to watch the waves. As a toddler the beach was my playground, most of the houses didn't have gardens so we children roamed from beach to beach, nominally in the care of an older child. How things have changed in the last 50 years. Can you imagine a 3 year old out on the streets on their own in these times?
Peter was out rowing earlier this morning. I thought he had the best of the weather but they did get caught in a couple of showers as well. They were watched by an inquisitive seal that had come up river. However he was still ready to go out for a walk at Mortehoe.

There was a cold northerly wind which made walking in the shade rather chilly but we had wrapped up well. We took the path straight to Bull Point Lighthouse and then walked back towards Rockham Bay. Very few people out walking today.

We found a fairly sheltered spot overlooking Rockham Bay to have our coffee before taking the shorter way back as Peter was tired from his rowing session.

On the way back home we called in at Tesco's and for once got some real bargains. Despite all the advertising Tesco's is not so cheap unless you buy the value range and their reduced section is generally a joke with not much being taken off the prices. Today we got some fresh salads and satsumas for pennies and cheap bread and buns to go in the freezer. These together with a cous cous salad and some lamb's liver were 90% off. There were bags of doughnuts for 3p but they didn't tempt me and couldn't be kept for when the boys come down.

Only Pottering.

2011-12-17T09:15:00.000-08:00

Today I am giving thanks for the fact that we live in this beautiful valley. I have only to step outside the door and there is the glorious countryside. Having spent most of my life living in London longing for the day I could get back to the country this is something special indeed.

It has been a cold quiet day at home. I've just been pottering around and tidying up, wrapping a few presents and doing some sewing (sewing a cushion back into its cover and repairing another cover). Peter spent time in the conservatory, until he got too cold, working on the woodburner doors. They are getting a complete overhaul this year with new metal pieces so that I don't have to worry that the glass could fall out. With luck it might be ready for Christmas (so it's only taken 4 months- do I sound a bit peeved?).

I braved the chill wind for a short walk up the hill. Every now and again the sun would shine through the gaps in the clouds,

casting long shadows (that's me), across the fields.

As it's Saturday night we have put the heating on to watch the Strictly final in comfort.

Secret Santa.

2011-12-16T08:22:00.000-08:00

With Christmas fast approaching I have been chatting to my boys via email and looking forward to seeing them home once more. So today I am thankful for our 3 sons, thankful that they have grown up into fine young men with their lives before them and thankful that they will always be part of our lives. We have celebrated the good times with them and wept for them when things have gone wrong. I guess that's what it means to be a family.
This morning I was back to the DIY, something I prefer to baking. Hopefully I have given a couple of the kitchen drawers a new lease of life by the application of wood, screws and bonding stuff. The drawers have wooden fronts, hardboard bases and plastic sides which is where the problems start. After 20 years of usage the clips holding the plastic together have become damaged/worn causing the drawers to fall apart. As replacement drawers cost £40 each I'm hoping that my repairs will last the few years until we move. Then the kitchen can be upgraded by the new owners.

Although I have finished teaching for the term I went back to school for our staff buffet & Secret Santa. It is a nice way to end the term with good company and tasty posh nibbles from M&S. No rude presents in the Secret Santa this year but quite a few well thought out gifts. One of the teachers had come in with her 2 year old son and he handed out the presents which was so sweet. I was given a framed certificate for 'Choreographer of the Year ' and a tiny crocheted key-ring monkey in a Hawaiian outfit. Very apt. I was also given more presents from the Year 2 children so I popped back into the classroom and opened them with the children. I've already eaten the cup-cake decorated like a Christmas tree but the biscuits and chocolates have been put away for Christmas.

It has been a bit brighter today but pretty cold. The Exmoor Hills are still snowy-ish. I'm not so concerned about the snow now as I can sit at home and plan journeys for later in the day.

Baking Day.

2011-12-15T08:43:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day of my Christmas holidays and I am thankful for the fact that many years ago, without a lot of deliberation, I decided to get a teaching qualification after my degree. That was after I had failed to get the grades to take up my place at vet school, spent 3 years doing a degree in biology and was wondering what to next. Teaching has made it possible for me to fit my work around my family rather than vice versa. I was able to go back to supply teaching once Romas started full-time school. I don't know of many other jobs where you can work different days each week to fit around your children's appointments or be free for the school holidays. Even now I enjoy being in class though there are many aspects of the job that are too stressful so I am thankful also to be working part-time and not be responsible for a class.
Once again I have succumbed to the feeling that Christmas should be all about home cooking and attempted to bake biscuits (cookies). I never remember that this is not my forte and that baking biscuits (or cakes) in an oven that has no temperature control is asking for disaster. There is a gauge on the outside of the oven door that tells me how hot the oven is but then I have to adjust the cooking time or where I put things in the oven. Most years I struggle through a batch of biscuits and then promise myself that next year I will just buy some good biscuits. And then I forget.

I had a go at baking Snickerdoodles. First problem was that all the measurements were in cups so I had to convert them into ounces. Then, although I had looked at the recipe earlier and seen that I needed Cream of Tartar, when I bought some I picked up the wrong tub from the shelf and came home with baking powder which I already have. When I discovered this I simply used extra baking powder which might even have been the right thing to do as the recipe said baking soda(?) and Cream of Tartar. The first couple of batches spread all over the baking sheet and were too buttery so I added extra flour and now I have a tin of biscuits to offer my guests. (There was still a batch cooling in the sitting room.)

I also had another attempt at baking a Christmas cake using a recipe from Woman's Hour on R4. It is a lighter fruit cake being made without brown sugar or treacle and the mix tasted a bit sweet to me but hopefully the cake will be OK. Fruit cakes need long slow cooking so following the advice of someone at work I put the metal sheet, that has always sat on the bottom of the oven, half-way across to reduce the heat. Even with that and the baking parchment collar it still got a little dark on the edges. The only adjustments I made to the recipe were to use extra sultanas and peel to make up for the fact that I didn't have any currants or raisins. Also I didn't have any brandy to soak the fruit in, couldn't open the malt whiskey so used rum instead. I don't think I'll ice it as hardly anyone likes the marzipan or icing. That's my excuse anyway. Just as I was about to start baking the repair men turned up to fix our satellite TV as the high winds had affected the signal. That's what happens when you put the dish on the most exposed corner of the building.

The cats have been a dreadful nuisance through all my baking until I locked them all out of doors. No food is safe when Speedy is around. He also rips through plastic carrier bags to tear into bags of flour , sultanas or oats. Just now there was a crash in the kitchen and all the cats had ripped open a bag of peanuts which were bought for the birds, and were feasting on them. Arrgh!

Captain Coconut.

2011-12-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful that we live in a temperate climate where our worst winter weather is usually miserable rain or lashing gales. For most years the snow can be counted in days or occasionally a few weeks. I love the beauty and crispness of the snow but it makes life treacherous and I remember how driving over snow and ice filled me with fear. Not to mention worrying about other family members. And life is not fun when the water pump freezes or the electricity supply is cut.

This morning the remains of the hail could be seen around the garden but it cleared by lunchtime. The roads were fine for my journey home though the garden is white once more from the most recent hail shower.

As I drove into town I could see the hills of Exmoor with a covering of snow or hail. We may be due a few more days of bad weather as a big weather front passes over us though there is a possibility that it may veer south and head towards Spain.

The children had their Christmas dinner at school today but I passed up the opportunity to eat with 180 excited children. In the afternoon the children were entertained by 'Captain Coconut'. This is a loud, fun bubble entertainment. He made all sorts of interesting bubble shapes including some that were at least 10ft long. It was an exciting afternoon for the children but I had to rush one child out just before he threw up. I hope that was the result of too much Christmas dinner and excitement rather than the tummy bug which is still going around the school. I came home from school with cards and even a few presents from the children. That's me finished for this term but I will be going in for the staff buffet and Secret Santa on Friday.

Christingle Service.

2011-12-13T10:31:00.000-08:00

Today I give thanks that I have God in my life, for His wonderful love and that He is with me always. I also give thanks that we can celebrate the birth of Jesus as a community and as a family with traditions that bring us together and link us to past generations.

The storm roared through the night and had calmed down by the morning. My early start saw me driving up the hill in the dark, admiring the dawn breaking over the Exmoor hills. Even the pattering rain simply made my warm car feel even cosier. Next I saw that the rain was splatting on the windscreen as it turned to sleet. Then came a tapping and a drumming on the roof of the car as hailstones filled the sky. I pulled over to take a photo, the car was rocking in the gusts of wind and lightening flashed across the sky. The weather continued stormy for most of the day with a few dry and even sunny spells between storms.

This morning in school the children had their Christingle/ Nativity play. The youngest children were sweet as usual as they walked through the hall to form a Nativity tableau. The older children narrated the text and all the children sang carols. I managed to play the piano without any hitches and then it was time to light the Christingles being held by the Year 2 children sitting around the edge of the hall. This was nerve wracking to say the least especially as this year there were the parents of 60 rather than 30 children in the hall and the place was very crowded.

These 3 were on the other side of my piano and should not have been holding the Christingles up in the air. I feared for the lady standing in front of them as their lit candles swayed back and forth. Not to mention one lad who was seeing how much wax he could drip off his candle. However it did look very sweet especially as the children were singing Silent Night at the same time. After it was over I helped with serving tea, coffee or mulled cider to the parents.

During the afternoon the choir went to sing carols at an old peoples' sheltered housing complex and I had the rest of Year 2 (35 children). We did some drawing & describing activities and then I let them have some Golden Time. I left school quite promptly in case the weather deteriorated. Once I got up in the hills I could see a lot of hail along the road side but it wasn't cold enough for ice. I'm not going out until lunchtime tomorrow so I don't need to worry about the state of the road first thing.

Storms Approaching.

2011-12-12T12:07:00.000-08:00

Today I'm giving thanks for the affection I get from the children at school. Because we work a 2 week system the children are never quite sure which class I'll be teaching. As I cross the playground from the car park a number always ask me which class I'm teaching that afternoon. It is so nice when I hear them shout "Yes" when I tell them that I will be with them that afternoon. I know most children bond with their teachers but is is good to know that although I'm only in their class a couple of afternoons a week they still think of me as 'their teacher'.
There were a few dry spells this morning but from lunchtime the rain just got heavier and heavier. A foretaste of the storms which are due to arrive at the end of the week. Peter keeps saying that we ought cut down the big beech tree at the corner of the garden because he claims that part of it is dead. Yet I've seen leaves on all the branches and think it is just wind sheer that makes it look a bit odd. But just in case part of it falls on that side of the house I've moved the Christmas presents to a room on the far side.

Rain.

2011-12-11T08:34:00.000-08:00

Today I'm giving thanks for Peter and our marriage. We've been married for 35 years and were engaged for 5 years before that. I wouldn't describe our marriage as the 'never a cross word' sort but we both have our faults and have learned to accept each other for what we are and to respect each other.. Together we have raised our sons, worked hard and enjoyed each other's company. Now that it is just the 2 of us once more we both have our own interests but we have joint interests too. I'm also very thankful that Peter enjoys cooking and does a good share now as I have got fed up with 15 years of providing 3 meals a day for this hungry family. That kind of takes the excitement out of it, at least for me.
Today the weather can be described as rain, rain and more rain. I finished sorting out our books and polished furniture in the sitting room.

I had to drive up to the road with our bags of rubbish for the fortnightly collection. The next one should be over the Christmas weekend but I don't expect there will be a collection until The New Year as our collection day is Monday.

Cleaning Day.

2011-12-10T13:54:00.000-08:00

It has been raining on and off all day so I have spent the whole day indoors. Today I gave the big bookshelf in the sitting room its annual clean, taking down all the books, dvds and videos and giving them a wipe before replacing them on the shelves which also get a wash. Before he went out Peter culled another load of books from the shelves for me to give to the charity shop so now I have started to bring down my collection of Tolkien and LOTR related books which I have been keeping in a chest in our bedroom. Because I was a little worried that the books might stay damp after being wiped we put the central heating on for the whole evening! Bliss. (But now some of the radiators are not coming on even though we had everything cleared and checked in the summer so we may have a few cold rooms when everyone comes down.) I got carried away with my cleaning spree and washed every hard surface in the sitting room so now it is nearly ready for our visitors. Tomorrow I'll get out the beeswax and polish all the natural wood furniture. Peter had to drive over to Winkleigh to pick up a t-piece for the flue at the back of the wood burner as ours has rusted out. He spoke to the shop first to check out prices and when he told them that the same parts were 40% cheaper on-line they suddenly dropped their price from £150 to £95. He has almost finished remaking the doors so soon we should have a working refurbished wood burner. It was as I was happily wiping things down that I thought how thankful I am to have a ready supply of water. So many people in the world do not have access to clean water and I remember from last year when our bore hole pump froze and tripped out, how awkward it was to have to fill bottles with clean water at school and how many buckets of water we fetched from the stream to flush the toilets. And that was a minuscule difficulty compared to the millions of people who have to walk miles to fetch any sort of water at all.

Staff Do.

2011-12-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight I have been out with colleagues for our Christmas meal (& disco). We didn't leave until 1.00 which shows that we must have been enjoying ourselves. It was at the same place we went to 2 years ago and it is so much nicer to be able to get up and dance and then return to our tables rather than going for a meal in a restaurant where once the meal is over you all go home. The meal was very good with the beef not being quite so good as at the Station Inn but with a much better selection of vegetables. I chose ratatouille, cauliflower in cheese sauce and red cabbage to go with my beef. The horseradish sauce was an experience. Over my years of dieting I have become much less tolerant of spicy food especially chili but I do like mustard and also horseradish sauce. Tonight's fresh horseradish sauce had such a kick that it literally sent the back of your nose into spasm, (great for clearing a sinus infection). But it was so tasty that I couldn't resist spreading some on each forkful of beef. The hotel was full with over 200 people there but it didn't feel overcrowded. There were at least 8 groups of revellers, mainly on works dos but there was one group celebrating an 18th birthday and another celebrating a 16th birthday. There was also a large group of respectable older ladies in their evening wear who were the most raucous in the room and were having a wild time. Everyone danced, a lot, and at one point my colleagues got the DJ to play a Beach Boys track so we could dance a version of my Hawaiian surfers' dance. It has been a great evening and I am glad I decided to go along. On the way home a Barn owl swooped across the road in front of me and when I got home I took time to stand outside and admire the full moon lighting up the clouds and the stars shining in the night sky.Today I am thankful for my friends at work. I have worked with some of my colleagues for many years and there is always a friendly face when I go into the staffroom. Over the years we have supported each other in our work which can be stressful, commiserated and been a listening ear when family or health problems arise and celebrated together. And best of all we have a good laugh together.

My afternoon was spent at work. We had the whole school in the hall to practise/learn the carols that they will be singing in the Christingle/Nativity service next Tuesday. I managed to get through the piano playing without any problems which was a relief.
On the way in to work the view one way was bright and sunny,
while in the other direction could be seen the heavy cloud bank which was coming in from the sea. The wind itself was icy while I was taking these photos. (Last night's storms in Scotland were the worst for 10 years with winds of up to 140mph and thousands of people losing their electricity. The police were advising people to stay at home.)
On the way home rain could be seen falling in all directions. Tonight it is clear and dry with cold weather forecast for tomorrow.

Evening Wear.

2011-12-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

Peter has just come home to find me fast asleep on the floor doing my 'exercises' so I think I need an early night.

The wind has been raging all day long and it has been very wet. In Scotland there is a Red Alert for severe winds and I think we are getting the tail end of the same weather system. They have also had snowstorms while here it is fairly mild. Today I am being thankful for fleece, or to be more accurate polar fleece, that synthetic fabric made from recycled plastic that was first developed in 1979. The inventor of this material chose not to patent it thus allowing it to become a worldwide staple. I like fleece because it is lightweight and soft and I LOVE fluffy fleece. I don't feel my childhood was deprived though we were poor but it was certainly austere especially when compared to the stuff that children and teenagers now expect as a right. In spite or maybe because of this I have always had a hankering for fluffy or sparkly things & even pink! Pink doesn't suit my skin tones so I mainly confine it to bed wear. Before the days of fleece I knitted myself a few mohair jumpers and now I find I am drawn to fluffy clothes in the shops. Not only do they fill some basic need they are just so good at keeping me warm. I have to admit to a number of fluffy dressing gowns with hoods, (different weights, lengths & colours), and I do have a selection of fleece pyjamas which make great evening wear in these colder days. Our house may not be that warm but I am always cosy in several layers of lightweight fleece. We also have a number of fleece throws with my favourite being a large extra fluffy (teddybear pile) cream throw which was a Christmas present from a friend last year. That has pride of place on our bed and is so snuggly.

I was back at school this afternoon. This was an easy afternoon as it was yet again a performance of the Christmas Show. I am biased but I do think that the line dancing was the best in the show. The children had another performance this evening but as I am not a full-time member of staff I did not volunteer to stay on for an extra 3 hours in school. With the atrocious weather conditions I wonder how many parents decided not to take their child back to school. There has been a sickness bug going through the school for the last few weeks and today we sent one little boy home. He was complaining of feeling sick and looked as white as a sheet. While we were waiting for his mum to come he fell fast asleep on a big bean bag in the classroom amidst all the mayhem of 29 other children getting changed into their costumes. No misbehaving amongst the shepherds but 'Joseph' was happily beating time with the toy lamb for most of the songs.

Newsflash.

Linas has just phoned to say thank you for his birthday present and to tell me that he signed a 9 month contract yesterday. That is wonderful news indeed. He seems more excited that he has passed his motorbike theory test but we are so happy that things are working out for him.

Happy Birthday Linas.

2011-12-07T09:27:00.000-08:00

It's Linas' birthday today, 24 years old but I still think of them as my boys.

Linas lives in the city of Plymouth. He graduated from the uni there 2 years ago and we were so very thankful when he finally got a job a few weeks ago. Like a million other young people he has been unable to find any sort of job whether in IT, his speciality, or in any other type of firm. The situation for young people is the worst it has been for 20 years. Albeit only a temporary job it gets his foot on the ladder and even if it doesn't develop into a permanent post he will at least have some experience to put on his CV. So that is the thing I am most thankful for today.

This morning I filled all the draughty gaps under the eaves of our porch with some loft insulation that I bought yesterday. It was on special offer and I've only used a third of a great big roll that cost £3. It is made from spun recycled glass and from the brown colour I'm guessing that it has a high proportion of beer bottles in it. Quite apt as Peter keeps his beer barrel out in the porch. I put heavy curtains over the doors last year which are cumbersome but combined with the insulation should reduce the draughts that can blow in through the porch. After that I gave my car a wash. Not something I do very often but over the last few weeks there has been a lot of mud on the road up by the Lewis' farm. At least half a mile of thick mud and my poor car has been turning brown from the bottom upwards. They seem to have finished whatever work they were doing in the fields and have scraped the worst of the mud off. Even so after one journey my clean car is shading brown again. At least I can get in and out of the car without getting mud over my trousers. Finally I used some proper curtain wire in the curtain under Romas' sink to finish the job off properly.
At school we had the first official performance of the Christmas Play. The shepherds were better behaved today. It seems that once again I shall be playing a few carols for the Nativity service so there will be lots of practice at home so that hopefully I won't mess them up in front of children, staff and parents.

Some of the sky looked quite pretty this evening. The wind is getting up again, last night it was roaring through the trees and the rain & hail were clattering on the windows.

Speedy The Spacecat.

2011-12-06T10:17:00.000-08:00

Got up early this morning to see the faintest glimmer of a sunrise. It hasn't felt so cold today but there have been frequent showers and it has been generally miserable. First thing I had an appointment with the physiotherapist who says my muscles have eased up and I shouldn't need to see him any more though he will keep my file open for another month in case I feel I need another session. The visit to the hospital left me with a very obvious choice of the thing I am going to be thankful for. That is, not so much our health care, the standard of which can be questionable at times and you have to be proactive in getting the correct care (but that is another matter), but I am truly thankful for the fact that, along with all the other people in this country, I do not have to worry about the cost of medical treatment. Apart from a minority who opt for private medical care, everyone gets free medical care at the point of need. Everybody who works pays National Insurance to cover the cost of the country's Health Service. The only thing that you have to pay for (unless you are on welfare payments or are a child, student or pensioner), is the cost of prescriptions which are a set price. If like me you need a number of medications then it is good value to buy a prepayment card which works out to £9 a month. Getting my back sorted out has so far needed; x-rays, 2 MRI scans and 5 lots of day surgery. The only cost to me has been the cost of travelling to Exeter because I chose not to continue with my small local hospital and instead go to an orthopedic spinal department which has an excellent reputation. I can't imagine how much worry there would be if we had to think about the cost each time a new treatment was proposed.

Walking through the hospital grounds I was surprised to see this cherry tree with blossom on it - in December!

I had a few hours to fill before I needed to be in school so I went and did a few jobs in town, library, Post office etc. I liked the idea of this driftwood Christmas tree in this shop window, (that's my reflection in the window).

At school we had the Dress rehearsal for our Christmas production - Christmas Around The World. The Year 3 children from the junior school always come to watch and there were all my class from last year. It was so lovely to see them and have a quick chat. We also invite Mums with babies or toddlers to the Dress rehearsal so it was very crowded. In between leaping up and acting like a pageant mum prompting the actions for the line dancing and the Hawaiian dances, both of which went well apart from one of the line dancers new jeans falling down half way through, I sat next to the tableau to keep the shepherds in order. The shepherds tended to be the more fidgety children so they needed supervising and reminding to sing/not sing at the right times and I had to give one a tap on his foot to get him to remove his finger from his nose which he was happily excavating. Mary and Joseph let their (dolly) Baby Jesus have a play session with a (toy) baby lamb, I didn't intervene as I thought it looked sweet.

I had to include this shot of Speedy with his head in a tub. Yesterday's bargains had included 2 tubs of fresh baby veg and a pat of butter ready to go in the microwave. One of them made a healthy supper for me and the cats got the buttery tub. Speedy wasn't at all worried by wearing the tub like a helmet and continued licking out the butter until I removed the tub. Then he probably ate the pea that was stuck to his tail. Speedy gets in Peter's bad books when he steals and eat tomatoes, especially when they are the last homegrown tomatoes.

Winter.

2011-12-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

Winter is finally here. This morning the TV showed snowy scenes in Scotland and the north of the country. Then they mentioned 'sleet showers on the moors', that's us and it certainly felt very cold. All night long the wind had been roaring through the trees and the wind chimes that hang by the front door had been chiming away. I once heard on the radio that there is nothing so annoying as other peoples' wind chimes so I am glad that we do not have any neighbours to irritate with my wind chimes. I started the day with a good hoovering session, that warmed me up and got one job out of the way. For a break I sat down with a cup of fresh coffee at the PC. This made me realise how thankful I am for the Internet. Although by nature I am a solitary person I also like to communicate (but not by phone). Back in the old days I would write long letters but now emails provide instant communication. Facebook provides me with glimpses into the lives of 2 of my sons and also to see what other friends are getting up to. I'm not allowed to post on Vytas' wall, obviously I'm far too embarrassing, but he will respond to private messages. Linas won't have me as a 'friend' but he is very prompt at answering emails. This blog has grown from simply letting the family know what's going on at home into a far wider circle and I've met a wide group of fellow bloggers. And then there's shopping with the ability to search for specific items and look for bargains. And finally for relaxation I can always find a quick puzzle on Jigidi. And yet none of this was possible 20 years ago and personal computors were the stuff of science fiction when I was young. How the world has changed.
In between the hail showers I filled the car with another load for the dump, I just love clearing out stuff. Then it was off to work where I had to make more leis for our Hawaiian dancers as the boys want them as well even though they are supposed to be surfers. After school we had a staff meeting which finished in time for me to get to the Co-op for the 75% reductions. Best bargain was some Italian flat breads smothered in Parmesan, garlic, butter and coriander. They went into the freezer as they can be oven baked from frozen and are scrumptious. Then back home for more lei making. On the drive home the last mile of road was covered with icy slush from the last hail shower. I'm glad I'm not driving up the hill early in the morning.

Deaf Cat.

2011-12-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

As I lay in bed listening to the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal for the work that St Martin's -in-the-Fields (a grand church in Trafalgar Square), does with homeless people I gave thanks that we have a home of our own. I may grumble about not being able to keep it warm enough but how does that compare to those people who sleep in shop doorways or grimy alleys? St Martin's provides emergency beds as well as daytime activities designed to help these people emerge from the depths to which they have sunk. They manage to get 80% of the people who come to them, into the next stage of housing. When we lived in London we would go out with our church to provide food and other basics to these homeless people who were often very troubled. Some critics say that charities who do 'food runs' are encouraging people to sleep on the streets, that is a harsh view and the people are there and hungry. How could we turn our backs on them? Peter also worked full-time for a charity that helped homeless people to get into accommodation. Thinking back to how the homeless would sleep on layers of cardboard and today hearing descriptions of how cold and dangerous it is I also give thanks for our lovely warm bed and for last year's work which enabled me to save up and change our perfectly good standard sized double bed for a super-king and also to buy a full memory foam mattress to ease our creaking joints.
Today has been very cold, frequent wintry showers with the odd bright spell.

During one dry spell I went up and repaired the little soil dam that diverts the water from the road into the field and away from our drive. I have just about finished clearing Romas' room. There are several boxes of stuff that he needs to sort through when he comes home this holiday and then it will all be done. I had been wondering why the room smelt a little stale and on investigation I found that the down pipe that takes the water from the sink in there and another bedroom, was full of stagnant water. I tried unsuccessfully to clear it from the top. When I dug down it looks as if the drain has been put in as a soak-away. Not that daft as it only runs from 2 sinks until you take in consideration that the soil is solid clay. I dug out some rather stagnant clay and the water started to ooze out. Heavy rain stopped me from carrying on digging so I poured some drain cleaner into the top of the drain pipe. I will have to dig a bigger hole to clear the water out. We are having some major drain work done next year so we will either link that drain into the main system or take the water to where it can soak away.

I have finally decided that Smudge our grey cat is almost totally deaf. For some time I have been trying to decide if he was deaf or just going senile. Today he was yelling at me (with his very loud yell) when I was looking out of Romas' window because he wanted to come in. I went to the front door but he did not respond to my shouts until I went round to where he could see me. Indoors I tried clicking my fingers behind his head to no response, the other cats mainly responded but then got fed up with me. Then I took a tin out of the cupboard and clicked my fingers on it. That produced a 90% response from the other cats but almost nothing from Smudge so I think it may well be his hearing. He is about 11 years old so is getting on a bit but I will not be taking him to the vet for a hearing test!

Stuck.

2011-12-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

Each day in Advent I hope to highlight those positive moments when my spirits are lifted and for which I am thankful. Today I came into the kitchen to be greeted by blasts of sunlight through the windows and it made me feel so good. Although I don't do well in unremitting heat and sun to see the sun is like a pleasure shot straight to the brain. It gives me energy, makes me smile and I am ready to face any task. So I am thankful for the winter sun creeping over the top of the hill and lighting up the front of the house.

Being the weekend I feel I can take a bit more time to relax and today I finished another library book. I'm thankful for our libraries where, so long as I remember to return them on time, I can borrow books for free (there is a charge for dvds and cds). I read a lot, often light reading and there is no way I could afford to buy several books a week nor would I want to fill my book shelves with more books. We already have a large collection of paperbacks, mainly SF as well as many reference books reflecting our various interests. Some books are there for sentimental reasons, books from my childhood or from my mother including one printed in 1706.

All the recent heavy rain has had the usual effect on the drive (much steeper in reality than in the photo) and I spent time raking back the gravel that had been washed into ruts again. Somehow there never seems to be enough gravel to fill up the ruts so I have started on my plan to dig up gravel from the stream and put it in the drive. Stones and gravel are always being washed down the stream from further up the valley so there is a never ending supply. I am only limited by how much digging I can do. Even though it is sometimes frustrating to think that my sons could fill a wheelbarrow in no time and heave it up the drive the reality is that they are not here and I am still fit enough to put stones in a bucket and then shift it in a wheelbarrow. That may take longer but it will get done eventually. All day long water was pouring down the other side of the track but there is nothing I can do about that as it is seeping out of the ground half way down the drive and it doesn't wash away the stones on that side.

Peter went out rowing in the middle of the day. They were rowing hard in the middle of the river and getting nowhere."'Another 10 strong strokes", called the cox, "Why aren't we moving and why are our oars bending?", came the reply. "Oh dear, we're stuck on a sandbank." responded the cox. Whereupon several members of the crew had to jump out of the gig, stand on the sandbank, in the middle of a wide river, and push the gig into deeper water. Red faces all round.

Chilly Day.

2011-12-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for our postman who drives down in his van to deliver post to the front door. And even when there's a bunch of junk mail to go straight in the bin that's good too because that pays for the cost of our rural deliveries. Unlike in towns, our postmen use their commonsense and if we are out when they need to deliver parcels they put them in the porch. And if I have post to be sent they will take that for me though I don't think that's part of their job. Today I handed over a batch of Christmas cards. That saves me having to remember to stop at a post box on my way to work.

I am also thankul that my mother, even though we were poor, paid for me to have piano lessons from the age of 6. I get such pleasure from being able to play the piano. I don't play very well and freeze up if asked to perform in front of people (I had to practise a lot to be able to play a few carols in last year's school Nativity concert), but I will happily play for hours just for my own delight. I'm a serious Lord of The Rings fan and love to work my way through the music from the trilogy. Lately I have gone back to playing Einaudi's Primavera which is very soothing.

It feels like winter today. When I let the cats in first thing this morning they had to run in through a massive hailstorm. There have been icy showers all day long so I was glad to see the oil man turn up to fill up the oil tank. That will keep the Rayburn burning and in dire emegencies we can turn on the central heating.

Yesterday's DIY got me all enthusiastic so this morning I added some extra details to the little shelf unit. Now the top is fitted to the shape of the sink and the 2 top pieces swivel out so that you can move the unit right out to get to the pipes or decorate the wall. Then I set up my mother's electric sewing machine. It is a bit tricky to get the tension right and any adjustments can result in a mass of threads at the back of the sewing but it is usually ok for basic seams. I made a simple curtain for the shelves and at the moment it is threaded on a piece of wire from the shed but I will buy some proper curtain wire when I go to town. As I was in sewing mode I also made adjustments to a pair of fleecy pyjama/lounging trousers that I had bought cheaply in a summer sale. A quick seam along each leg and some handsewing at the waistband, a new belt made from the excess fabric and I've got something warm to wear in the evenings. I also found some hand sewing to do which kept me in the nice warm kitchen. So I feel I've had a productive day which gives me a sense of satisfaction.

The cats thought they would keep warm in the kitchen too. They do have warm beds in the conservatory at night though that doesn't compare with snuggling up to the Rayburn.

Giving Thanks.

2011-12-01T10:20:00.000-08:00

Today is the day that children start to open their Advent Calendars in anticipation of Christmas. I thought it would be good to stop grumbling about things and instead celebrate and give thanks for the good things that happen each day.

I am so thankful for the fact that my job is mostly afternoons. I am a morning person and usually I am quite happy to wake up at 6.00 with Peter but today was one of those days when I was so tired that it was simply wonderful to be able to roll over and catch a few more hours sleep. It wasn't so helpful to Peter that in my drowsy state for some reason I thought it was still the middle of the night and decided to turn off the radio.

Later in the morning while I was tidying up one of the spare bedrooms I thought how thankful I am that there are enough rooms in this rambling old house for all the boys, their partners, our friends and their children to come and stay at the same time. Our Christmas will be very quiet with only Linas being at home but a few days later the house will be full until after the New Year.

I spent most of the morning in Romas' room. I had moved a chest of drawers out of our room into there and needed to sort things out. His desk, which I had made many years ago from a recycled cheap desk and a piece of kitchen work top had gone beyond rickety to the point of falling apart so I broke it up. I rebuilt part of it and made a shelf unit to fit under the sink. Nothing special but it is a little more storage space and has only cost me time and a bit of electricity. I've found a piece of the fabric that I used for the window and wardrobe curtains so I can make a curtain for the front of the shelves. So I will have to go out and buy a little piece of curtain wire.
In the afternoon we had a run through of the Christmas play which was surprisingly good considering how little practice the children have had.

Strike Day.

2011-11-30T08:34:00.000-08:00

It has been a wet and watery day today. School was closed to the children because of the strike but as I cannot afford to lose the pay I went in to work for the morning though I sympathise with those who have gone out on strike. Every day it seems there is yet another measure to save money in this time of recession but somehow the wealthy are never affected. Today's strike is about pensions for those of us working in the public sector. As I (and many others) won't have worked for 30 years full-time my pension will be zilch anyway. Retirement age is being moved to 67, the amount of pension is being reduced, wages continue to be frozen and pension contributions will be increased. To add insult to all this the extra money from the increased pension contributions will not be going into the pension fund but will be siphoned off for other uses. Needless to say the banks, even those who were rescued with public money continue to award themselves bonuses in the millions and I'm sure there is no talk of reducing their generous pensions. In the private sector pensions are being phased out or down but only for the workers. Yet again company directors and such like are still doing very well nicely. In the last year top company directors' (self awarded) pay increased by 50%. No wonder ordinary people are disgusted with those in power. For the many people who have to rely on the state pension they can take satisfaction that this country has the 3rd lowest state pension in the whole of Europe. The people of this country are being brought to their knees by the greed of big business and the clinging to power by the wealthy.

Rant over!

For the last week a light coloured buzzard has been sitting on the fence or in the field up by the road so today I thought I would try and catch him unawares. I parked my car around the corner and crept around the hedge. Naturally the buzzard wasn't there, only a flock of sheep hanging around the gateway who ran off as soon as they saw me.

Then stopped at a safe distance to see what I was up to.

Christmas Chaos.

2011-11-29T10:31:00.000-08:00

Today has been very wet. I've been at work for the whole day and already things are becoming manic in the run up to Christmas. There were children in and out of the class all day for different activities, half the classroom was taken up with an 8ft x 4ft painting the children have started with a visiting artist and there were several different creative projects on the go. Being Christmas you have to make sure that everyone makes all the different things they will be taking home. Luckily I also had 2 teaching students and a third student on work experience who were all able to work with groups of children and help with the tricky bits.

Yesterday I got home and found that I had left my handbag with camera and purse in, under a chair in the classroom. I was able to phone the school administrator and she rescued them and kept them in the school safe until today.

This was the lovely, but limited, patch of sunshine as I worked out in the bog garden.
And the rose that climbs the house walls is still sporting flowers.

One Week To Go.

2011-11-28T11:10:00.000-08:00

I had a quiet morning at home. It was dry so I went out and cleared the gutter at the back of the house and then I stayed and pulled weeds at the back and around the stream in the only patch of sun.At school there is only one week to rehearse the dances for our Christmas production so it is all a bit frantic. Plus we have members of staff away for illness and family reasons. I got lots of exercise this afternoon running through the dances and trying to get a bit more movement from the children.

Walking Again.

2011-11-27T07:29:00.000-08:00

Today was so much sunnier and very windy. What a shame it wasn't like this yesterday. Peter got up at the crack of dawn, literally - they were putting the gigs into the river as the sun rose. The wind and the waves apparently made for a very exciting row and the women's crew had to turn back early as they were making no headway into the wind. We couldn't let the fine weather go to waste so later in the morning we headed out for a walk up at Mortehoe. Morthoe was teeming so we took the quieter path that drops down into the valley and out to Bennet's Mouth.
The valley had been sheltered but once we got out to the coast the wind was strong and the waves were big and choppy.

Bull Point Lighthouse now works automatically and the various buildings have been converted into holiday cottages. Not a bad place to stay but not as special as Lundy.

Then we walked back along the track looking over the cliff tops and shortly after a lot more cloud rolled in so we had timed our walk just right.

Back home a whiff in the conservatory lead me to a piece of fox skin that one of the cats must have brought home. Yesterday as we left home we saw some hunt members with their horse boxes up at the top of our road so they must have killed a fox locally. Words cannot express how much I despise these people who get pleasure from killing an animal.

Priddy.

2011-11-26T10:52:00.000-08:00

Today we drove 2 hours up the M5 to meet up with our friends at the small village of Priddy. It was sobering to pass the place where the recent tragic accident occured and see the flowers that had been left tied to the bridges that cross the motorway. Priddy is a small village in Somerset that dates back to neolithic times and today we met up with our friends in the welcoming pub, The Queen Victoria. The wood fires, stone floors and gleaming brasses all add to the ambiance of the old stone building. The food was excellent too, Peter and I both had braised beef in Stilton gravy, Sam had lamb stew with home-made bread and Kate had a grilled goat's cheese salad. We were much too full to consider a dessert so after lunch we headed off for a walk in the fresh air.

It was the usual overcast day but it was good to be out in the fresh air striding over the hills up a rough muddy track.

We followed a footpath that took us to a small nature reserve that contains groups of stones put there by neolithic people and this year also contained a herd of Exmoor ponies.

From the highest point we could see Brent Knoll and out to the west the sea.

After our walk we drove half a mile down into Cheddar Gorge where we stopped to brew up a cup of tea (& coffee) amongst the grandeur of the deepest gorge in the UK.

We have been to the area several times but it has only been for a quick tea break or a slow drive through. We really must go there one day and take the time to walk along the length of this beautiful place.

I had the task of driving home though the dark and now we are settling down to our usual Saturday night's viewing.

Cosmic Ball.

2011-11-25T10:26:00.000-08:00

A much more mundane day today. After an early start, even saw the stars twinkling in the night sky when I let the cats into the kitchen, I had quite a hectic morning in school. I had been asked to help the children make some little bugs involving batteries, wires and bulbs. The task was very fiddly and most of them didn't work as the bulbs kept coming loose from the tops of the batteries where they were stuck in place with Blu-tack. I turned the lesson round by getting the children to talk about why the bugs didn't work. Luckily I had brought in my cosmic ball - looks like a ping-pong ball with a pair of contacts but inside is a power source, flashing light and weird buzzer. It is great for demonstrating that a circuit (in our case human) needs to be complete before you can make things work. I let the children build their own circuits using a selection of equipment and we also found out that AA batteries can get hot and burn fingers and even give off smoke! A good example of 'Lets break the circuit by pulling these wires apart.' Even funnier, after the event, was when there was a loud wailing from the carpet. There sat one child who had put a crocodile clip on his finger and not worked out how to open it. The TA and I both tried to get to him but we were hampered by children, chairs and a big box all in our way. By the time we extricated ourselves the child had taken off the clip but how silly can you get? especially when this was the second time in a week this 6 year old had done that.
After my morning's teaching I had to make trip to town to visit the Post Office and to buy some Christmas presents. Combined with a visit to the supermarket that was my afternoon taken care of.

Windblown.

2011-11-24T08:42:00.000-08:00

It was dry and not too cold today and there was even a tiny bit of blue in the sky so after a morning of teaching the youngest ones at school I decided to forget about housework and take myself on a nice long walk along the beach.From work I drove 4 miles to the coast to Saunton Sands Beach. This was where we used to come on holiday when we were still living in London. But when I got down to the car park I was annoyed to find that they are still charging even though it is out of season. On a point of principle I turned around and headed off further along the coast. The narrow twisting road took me through the picturesque villages of Croyde and Georgeham with their stone built cottages quite a few of which have thatched roofs. The journey brought back happy memories of driving the boys to the beach in our large Landrover.
I parked , for free, at Woolacombe, put on my wellies and jacket and set off for a brisk walk along the 3 mile beach to Putsborough.

It was exhilarating, battling against the wind and listening to the roar of the surf. I was grateful for my silvered safety glasses which kept the wind out of my eyes. It was completely cloudy by then and my normal black sunglasses would have been a little over the top. The beach was almost deserted apart from a few seagulls and curlews.

Having got to the end of the beach I treated myself to a cappuccino sitting outside and watching the surfers. How very civilised.

Then I walked back to Woolacombe assisted by the wind at my back. The thing I like about walking on flat sand is that I can stride along without thinking where I am putting my feet. I felt most refreshed by the end of my walk even if the sun had hidden behind the clouds.

PS Last night , as I was about to feed the cats I heard a crunching on the stairs, investigating I found Patch, the fat cat, eating a small trout that he had just caught in the stream.

Time For The Glitter.

2011-11-23T10:55:00.000-08:00

We had watery winter sunshine this morning though it was surprisingly warm. Everything is lush and very wet. Ideal conditions for pulling out weeds but not so good for walking on the grass and definitely not for mowing. Maybe this year I will finally achieve my ambition to weed the whole garden before spring. My excuses last year were that I was teaching full-time (with all the extra work that entails) and the ground was frozen hard for a lot of the time. I wonder what excuses I'll manage to find this year?
In the afternoon I was back at school working with the Year 2 children. After the usual phonics it was the mad chaos of all sorts of creative activities as the children worked on collages of the different seasons that they will be taking home. Finally the glitter is making an appearance even though we are not doing Christmas for another week. Then I subjected myself to more dancing after school as I went through the 2 dances with that class's teaching assistant so that she can carry on rehearsing the children. Her daughter dropped into the classroom and her only comment was "What ARE you doing?" That was after she stopped laughing at us. The sun made an appearance in the afternoon but the clouds rolled in and there wasn't a sunset to enjoy on my drive home. Just a view of the back of a trailer full of feed swedes being pulled by a tractor at 10 mph.

Happy Feet.

2011-11-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

It was a grey morning so I was quite happy to be indoors making phone calls and getting on with some paperwork. Then it was off to school for the afternoon. We start every afternoon with a phonics session and I was due to have mine observed by 2 colleagues today. My confidence was severely hit at the end of last term and although I feel I am a good teacher I find being scrutinised stressful, even to the point of dreaming about the stupid thing. So I was quite relieved to be getting it over and done with today. All started well, (we mix the children up from different classes for phonics), and I got the children started on an initial activity. No one arrived, I carried on, and on to the end of the lesson - no observation. Apparently something had come up so now we have to make it another time. Bother! The rest of the afternoon was spent very energetically teaching the line dance and our surf/Hawaiian dance. The children took turns to dance or be the audience but I danced every dance so felt a bit worn out by the end of it. It was another pretty sunset tonight. First picture taken from the lay-by where I stopped to post a letter.
And these views across the sea were taken from higher up in the hills.

Garden Day.

2011-11-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a phone call cancelling my afternoon's teaching so I had a bonus day at home. Determined not to let the day go to waste I was outside relatively early and my day has been spent weeding, pruning and finishing the stone path that runs through the scree garden. The sky has been an unremitting grey but it has been fairly warm so it was a good day to be outside. Normally I'm quite happy to work silently, listening to the birds and the breeze with my own thoughts running through my head but today I livened things up by listening to most of The Hobbit on my MP4 player. Never even having had a Walkman these things are all a little mysterious to me. I'm still not exactly sure how to turn it off, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. I think it might be a 'press & hold' but on which side of the rocker switch? Even studying the minuscule print in the manual doesn't make that clearer though for most actions you seem to have to press once and then do a 'double click'. I am not a technophobe, it's simply lack of experience and hey, Peter has to ask me every time what the proportions of rice and water are when he cooks rice.

Skyscapes.

2011-11-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

There are days such as today when I feel like doing nothing more than laze around, read a book and do some cooking. Today I had to remake the flapjacks because I got 2 recipes mixed up and used the wrong amounts of ingredients. It was only when the flapjacks were cooling that I realised I had used too much golden syrup which was resulting in soggy flapjacks. A quick remix with extra oats, back in the oven and job done. I don't like making flapjacks simply because I find them too tempting but they are the only sweet item that Peter asks for so how can I refuse. He doesn't eat cakes or any desserts which keeps those temptations out of the house but he does like a slice of flapjack either to take to work or to have at bedtime.
I finally motivated myself to get out into the garden which is silly because it is always much nicer outside than it is indoors at this time of year.

No sun in the garden but above were some lovely skyscapes. Most of the time my attention was on the ground searching for strands of moss in the stones so it was a surprise to look up and see that the sky was turning pink.

I grabbed my camera and rushed up the hill to try and get a better perspective,

only to have my battery run out after a few shots. Now at 5.00 it is pitch dark, hopefully the pink sky foretold a good day tomorrow.

A Spot Of Sun.

2011-11-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

Out in the garden the roses are still hanging on. New Dawn, a modern climber, is sprinkled with pale pink flowers and although the Old English roses only have a few blooms they still have the most wonderful scent. I've spent most of the day out in the garden, still working on the path in the scree garden. One last section to do and the moss will be cleared from there at least.

The day had been overcast to start with but later I suddenly realised that the sun had made an appearance. Not in my garden of course but I could see it shining across the fields.

Peter has spent the day working on the woodburner, a job which seems to be getting more complicated as the weeks go by. Because it had the wrong shaped fitting at the back the condensation has caused the flue to rust and there are some problems with the fitting of the main flue. Hopefully we should have it sorted before we actually need to use it. We don't have a lot of wood so really we will only be using it when we have guests. We can always turn on the central heating if it gets too cold. Right now the rayburn keeps the kitchen warm and it has been so warm in general that we hardly need the electric radiator in our room.

Fixed !

2011-11-18T09:47:00.001-08:00

The BT (Internet) men came and found the missing telephone junction box buried under a lawn. They have replaced wires and done stuff and now we have Internet at the dizzy speed of 1.3MG. And the phone line is clear. It's only taken about 10 years as the BT (phone) men always used to say the line was clear. They obviously have different equipment. Now we shall put the soil back and try and remember the location of the box if there are any future problems. I had to leave the men to go for a physio session so when I returned I was glad to see that they had kept things tidy and put the soil in a wheelbarrow as I had asked.

The physiotherapist is pleased with my progress and it will be 2 weeks before I see him again. The exercises at home are such hard work. I have to lie on my back with a rolled up towel under my spine and then with it at the side. Last night I fell asleep in the middle of my 'exercises'.

As I was already there I carried on into town. The Christmas Tree is up in the square and the staging ready for the switch on ceremony on Sunday. Amy Winehouse's Goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield will be singing at the event and switching on the lights.
Back home, I spent the rest of the afternoon picking out moss and leaves from the path in the scree garden.

A Solution At Last ?

2011-11-17T09:15:00.000-08:00

The sun was shining brightly this morning but underfoot it was very wet. As I drove up the hill Paul was strimming the grass verges, I've given up on mowing this year as the grass is always wet.

A couple of days ago a small piece broke off one of my teeth so I was off to the dentist to get that sorted. Luckily this time it was only a matter of patching up the hole unlike last time when I ended up with a mouthful of needles. As it was nearly time for my check-up he did that as well and there were no problems. So that saves me another visit to the dentist. The rest of the day has been spent with a BT engineer trying to sort out our currently dreadful Internet. As we have known for years the problem is with the last bit of cable that runs down to the house. Not so easy to solve as somehow we have lost a junction box. At the last identifiable box set in the junction of the drive by the ponies' field there is one type of cable and where it emerges by the house there is another type of cable. Unfortunately I have no knowledge of any other box along the drive or in the garden. It has probably been buried somewhere in the yard. The engineer is coming back tomorrow with his boss and more equipment so they can look for this junction box and replace the cable - at last. He did also find water inside the other junction box and in a fitting that hadn't been tightened up properly and has dealt with that. Currently even when Broadband is working we are paying for 8MG but are lucky to get 0.3MG. We know we are too far from the servers but it would be nice if our costs were reduced commensurately.

Bye-Bye Puzzle.

2011-11-16T10:51:00.000-08:00

It started raining this afternoon while the children were out at play, it was so heavy that we had to beat a hasty retreat, and it has been raining heavily ever since. I was at home for the morning and got some tidying up done before leaving earlier than usual for our midweek lunchtime staff meeting. We also have a weekly after school staff meeting which alternates between Mondays and Thursdays so I only go to the Monday one. That's quite enough for me. Going through the diary it was a little shocking to realise we only have 2 weeks to practise the dances etc for the Christmas production. Despite the edict that we do not start ANY Christmas activities until the week after next we have had to start rehearsing for; The Christmas play, the Nativity and Christingle Service, The Carol Service and Singing carols in the old folk's home. And most classes make Christmas cards, a calender and a present/ decoration to take home. Oh my!
I finally decided to dismantle my giant jigsaw puzzle. I had done over half of it but at 4ft wide it was the same width as the board I was working on and it was too easy for the edges to slip off. Also I'm too easily seduced by the smaller on-line puzzles (jigid) especially as I have a favourite puzzle designer who puts new puzzles up every day. I did come across a big, but not giant, puzzle in a cupboard so I shall start that one in the conservatory. Once I've done it I can give that one to the charity shop as well.

Sunrise, Sunset.

2011-11-15T10:01:00.000-08:00

I had an early start this morning, off to school as the sun rose to teach the youngest children for the morning.The outlook was much nicer today as the blue sky was filled with all types of clouds making interesting shapes. After a fun morning with the Reception class making clay pots my afternoon with the Year 2 class was also peaceful as they had to design a Christmas card for a school fund raiser. I was assisted by 2 teaching students who had also been down in Reception earlier observing my phonics lesson and seeing what the younger children do.
I stopped on the way home to take another picture from the same spot as the sunrise pictures.

The sunset itself wasn't overly spectacular but pretty enough.

All Quiet.

2011-11-14T09:44:00.000-08:00

It has been a quiet grey day today. Overcast but dry and beginning to get a bit colder. My morning was spent doing housework and then to school for the afternoon. The only exciting moment was when a grey squirrel ran in front of my car as I drove out of the valley. Luckily I was going slowly enough to avoid squashing it. The Internet is still very hit and miss and an engineer is coming out on Thursday.

Saturday And Sunday.

2011-11-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

The Internet fell down again yesterday and is only just hanging on by its fingernails. It will be touch and go if I manage to get this post out.

We have had lovely weather this week-end. Hard to believe that we are half-way through November. So yesterday we took ourselves off for a nice long walk around Morte Point.
It was so warm that by the time we got to Rockham Bay we had to take off our coats. I was quite comfortable in just a sleeveless t-shirt (& jeans of course) for the rest of the walk. It was the kind of sunny day that we would have been happy with in the summer.

The waves looked superb, coming in strong and clean at about 6ft and in regular sets.

Even though it was windy we stopped right at the Point for our coffee break. We are so lucky to have all this on our doorstep.

Sunday.

More good weather. Peter went off early to row. This time they were rowing out of Instow and were out in the sea. He did say the waves were quite bouncy and they had a bit of a hairy moment when they were turning and the gig was broadside on to the waves. If I ever row in the sea rather than the river I will make sure that I wear a life jacket. They do have them in each gig but no-one wears them. As my swimming abilities are rather limited I wouldn't take any chances. My day has been spent gardening and then eating a curry which had been simmering since yesterday.

X marks the spot.

SlowBand.

2011-11-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

It stayed dry enough this morning for me to get some garden work done. Then it started raining as I drove into work and worsened throughout the day. I think we could now say that it now qualifies as 'Heavy Rain', and the conditions have once again caused the broadband to slow down to a crawl.

Friday afternoons used to be a relaxing time in school with the children having Golden Time which would give me time to hear readers or sit with children who were finishing off a task. Not so today. We have been trying out having parents coming in on a Friday afternoon to take part in activities with the children. Fine in theory but today, although only 3 parents had signed up to come into the Year One class, 9 turned up. That's 11 adults in a classroom with 30 excited children. I felt exhausted by the end of the afternoon. I had started the afternoon with a session in the hall teaching the children some very basic dance steps for our line dance. After school the teaching student who is working with that class, and I worked out a simple line dance to go with the music from the Christmas production. Even as I type I'm thinking of a change so that we get the back row changing to the front because you need to consider that all the parents will want to see their child clearly. I better start skipping around the sitting room again.

Garden Work.

2011-11-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

It was such a lovely feeling to wake up this morning and know that I had the whole day at home, no popping into town for a shopping trip or going into work. It was even better when I realised that the weather man was way out and instead of heavy rain it was actually sunny! So I donned my old gardening clothes and headed out to the scree garden.
As usual, whenever I am up there, I was serenaded by a cheery robin perched in the tree on the corner of the drive. He was preening when I took photos and all the sharpest pictures were when he was giving his back feathers a good clean.

Among the stones of the scree garden this frog was posing under an ornamental grass.

(Half-way through.)

Today's job was to cut back the large sedums. I've been putting this job off as the large flower heads look quite cheerful in the garden. However they have been sneakily dropping leaves which rapidly dissolve into a horrible brown goo. Not a good look on the stones so the quicker they are cleared the better.

I was able to clear everything including most of the moss that was growing on the stones. It has been a most satisfying day and I was also able to mentally organise some dance lessons for my Year One class. I've been asked to prepare some dances for the Christmas production. I am musical but I will be the first to admit that I'm not very well co-ordinated. But this has never stopped me from enjoying dance. So we shall be doing line dancing and Hawaiian dancing. Thank goodness for the 'How to ' clips on YouTube. I try some basic steps at home and then translate them into something 5 year olds can do and we all end up having fun.

Senior Moment.

2011-11-09T10:39:00.000-08:00

I'm still laughing over my most recent senior moment. For Romas' recent birthday I had planned to send him some pastries from our favourite cake shop as well as a cheque. I went into town all prepared with card, packaging, tape etc and a note to put on the present (in case the Post office surpassed itself), which was supposed to say - Keep in fridge, do not open until 31st October. However, possibly due to the fact that we are always thinking ahead in our school planning, I wrote 30th November. Or else I'm going gaga. The mystery was only resolved yesterday so it is a good thing that because the cake shop had closed for a few days for renovations it was fudge and not cakes or they would have been stale by now. I have been at work all day today and it has been very wet. The children went out in the pouring rain for morning playtime and again at lunchtime so by afternoon playtime I asked my class what they wanted to do and most voted to stay and play in the classroom. I had different year groups in the morning and afternoon and the whole of lunchtime was taken up with a staff meeting so I've had a busy day. There are so many events and things to plan for Christmas and the rest of this term.

Big Nikon Returns.

2011-11-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

It was a very grey day today but not quite so cold and only a few drops of rain on the way home.12.00 today from the Old Bridge.

I had a session with the physiotherapist in the morning and then I carried on into town to do a little Christmas shopping. Now that our youngsters are all grown up you would think that the number of presents would lessen but somehow this isn't the case. I still like my idea, when they were small, of each child only getting 1 present (apart from tiny items in a stocking). This might sound a bit harsh but I included money given by family members to buy a really special 'Father Christmas Present' for each of the boys. This worked well for quite a few years.

It is all different nowadays and I enjoy using the Internet to hunt out special items and check the prices. I was looking at something today(Shh, it's a secret), and my first stop was Ebay to look at new prices there. Then I did a second check and found exactly the same item in a sale at Argos at 20% less. I was able to reserve the item on-line and then pick it up and then collect it from the branch in the High Street. That's the 3rd of my big presents sorted. I'm sure the boys still like having plenty of chocolates so as things are on special offer I buy them in.

I spent the afternoon teaching and then once more I got stuck behind farm vehicles on the way home. Not only was there this trailer load of straw but in front of it was another contractors' wagon full of feed. So it was 20mph all the way to the top of our drive giving me time to take a photo through the windscreen.

When I was in town I had called by the camera shop to enquire if my big Nikon had returned from the menders and lo and behold it was there. Although very friendly in that shop they don't seem to be too good at contacting me by email. This time it had actually been back to Nikon rather than some random repairers. It's lovely to have such sharp pictures once more.

PS Is it really OK not to worry about the asteroid that is passing so close by tonight?

Dark By 5.00

2011-11-07T11:16:00.000-08:00

Not much happening today, very overcast but dry after a chilly night. Tidying and stuff in the morning then in to work for the afternoon. We had a staff meeting after school so I didn't get away until after 5.00 by which time it was pitch dark. Had a slow journey home because I was stuck behind a 20mph tractor pulling a massive trailer of chopped up foliage, maize or beets probably, for winter feed. I don't know where the contractors are coming from but the fields must be one side of town with the farm somewhere beyond us. It is not usual in this area to have a farm so widely spread out.

The new Sky+ box is up and running and I do have to admit that HD is so much sharper. I am not impressed with the second dish, which I was told would be just under the eaves but it actually sticking out from the corner of the front of the house. The drama didn't end with the installation 'cos the TV engineer managed to run down his van battery by leaving the internal van lights on. Our jump leads were thrown away this summer because they had gone all rusty so we tried plugging in the battery charger to give him a boost but even after waiting a while it wasn't enough. So Peter had to phone our neighbour asking him bring over his jump leads and they got the van started that way. Might be time to buy some more jump leads though I have never had to use them. Even with new batteries my old Landrover was often went dead so I kept a spare charged up battery though it was hard work carrying the extra large battery to the car as Peter would always have gone to work before I discovered the fault. I don't really care about the colour, make or extra features of the car I drive. I only ask that it gets me from A to B and that the engine starts every time. So far my little Micra has been excellent.

Grumpy Me.

2011-11-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

The day started so well. The sun was shining, true not much in our garden but at least I could see it. I was out fairly early and got the rest of the slabs on the terrace cleaned up.
There are still quite a few flowers around and it was good to be working outside.

Then the man from Sky came and I began to turn into an old grump. Our Sky TV box had gone wrong weeks ago, we have insurance so we rang them up to have it repaired. A chap came and replaced the box with a 'reconditioned' box (ie somebody else's box that had gone wrong). That box also did not work properly so I tried to get in touch with the engineer who had put it in. No reply to my calls so Peter rang Sky and was persuaded that we needed an upgrade. One no-show appointment and finally we have someone here. Now it turns out that we need a second phone cable and surprise surprise the TV is too far from the satellite dish. We could keep the dish we have but not have all the recording facilities but still pay for them. So now we have a second dish on the front of the house, something I have never wanted and the man is currently drilling a hole through the wall of the sitting room. It remains to be seen if the whole system works. All I wanted was the old box fixed !

Busy Day.

2011-11-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

The day started on a note of sadness as there were more news reports about the horrific 34 vehicle crash on the M5, our closest motorway. The accident took place at 8.30 last night in wet and foggy conditions. Our hearts go out to the families of the 7 people known to have died and we pray for a swift recovery for the 51 people taken to hospital.

My first job of the day was to take another load down to the dump, something I always find satisfying. I am so lucky that even going to the dump takes me through beautiful countryside.

To get to the dump you have to drive down a road that hugs the side of a steep hillside. In places the trees make a tunnel to drive through and you get occasional views of the sea through the trees.

This could be a really spectacular road to drive along but in quite a few places there are piles of decaying building materials and other junk. Some of it looks like building projects in the properties that lie above or below the road but it always seems to have been that way. Other property owners seem to have used the hill as a scrapyard which is a real shame. The rest of the journey is also a pleasure as the road runs along the top of the hills and there are far reaching views both to Exmoor and Dartmoor with occasional glimpses of the sea.

My main job of the day was to make a start on cleaning the slabs around the scree garden with the pressure washer. I bought the washer in the summer for Romas to clean the slabs around the house but this is the first time I had used it and I am very pleased with it. It has a special round attachment with brushes that makes cleaning slabs so much quicker. Having cleaned half of the terrace I used the leaf vac to clear up all the leaves on the far side ready for that side to be cleaned.

More Tidying.

2011-11-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

This morning I made a start on tidying the back room. This is where we store coats, boots and tools and over the years anything else that people can't be bothered to put away/sort out/throw. There are times when it is difficult to get to the big chest freezer that also lives in this room. I've made a start by sorting through the 'stuff' in one corner. I prefer to have an initial sort out of each area though Peter keeps suggesting that we pull everything out and then sort it out. But pull it out to where? I certainly don't want to put junk in one of the tidy rooms 'cos I can see a horrible mess being left because we've run out of time or can't think where to put things. I think I'll just keep on with my method and I expect the tools and materials we want to keep will fit in the existing cupboards. That is if we remember not to keep dumping things in there or storing useless items. When I finished work at school my car was prettily decorated with autumn leaves.
It rained quite a lot in the afternoon but I had to walk into town to do a few jobs before driving home.

And on the way home I stopped to take a few pictures of the pink sunset.

Tidying Up The Stream.

2011-11-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

Despite thunderstorms being forecast it was quite sunny this morning. That gave me the chance to spend the morning working outside before an afternoon at school. I spent my time paddling about in the stream, raking up stones and using the side of my boot to push the gravel over to one side. Using a spade is not an option with my back.
It is very romantic to have a stream winding its way around the back of the house but it does get rather close. I try to keep the water over to the far side which means straightening out the channel to allow the water to flow evenly and not carve away the banks.

Although we are at the bottom of the valley we are in little danger of serious flooding because the valley floor drops down quite steeply.

The water is usually about a foot deep but it flows quite strongly bringing down more stones and fine gravel. I wonder where it all comes from because the stream only rises 2 fields away.

A second stream flows down the hillside just outside our boundary providing a constant background noise of water tumbling over rocks.

End Of The Warm Weather ?

2011-11-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

I've had a full day in school teaching in 3 different classes. I taught a Year One class in the morning. That was great as there were 4 adults so we could work with small groups. One group went out and about the school looking for signs to see if they were instructions or information signs. Although each class is supposed to have its own camera they are frequently missing so the children used my small Nikon, under supervision, and we were able to look at their photos straight away on the interactive whiteboard. In the afternoon I moved to Year Two, took a different class for phonics and then back to my usual class for PE. The recent warm weather continued but all afternoon I could see the wind getting up and the sky getting darker indicating that the next bout of heavy rain was about to arrive. It held off long enough for me to take a few flash pictures in the garden and then the downpour began.

Sun!

2011-11-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Technology and its minions seem to be defeating us at the moment. True, I managed to fix the washing machine by flushing through the inlet hose and so far 2 washes have gone through without a hitch.But ... heavy rain wiped out the Internet, and the drive. Peter had a few serious words with BT and the Internet was working again this morning though that may simply have been because the rain had stopped. Also the man from Sky who was supposed to come in the morning to replace our ailing box with a brand new HD Sky+ box simply didn't turn up or even phone. More stern words from Peter and they are coming on Sunday afternoon. This morning the weather was lovely and it was so warm, 14C, that I was able to have doors and windows open to air the place. A man came from British Gas to talk about putting in free cavity insulation but he wasn't very knowledgeable and they only seem to have very basic training. And no they can't do it because his pipe/drill wouldn't be long enough to go through the stone facing as well as the blockwork. Never mind, next year the govt are bringing out a lot more schemes for free or subsidised insulation.
It was a day of sunshine and a few sudden showers. I cleared the tomato plants from the conservatory. Raked and shovelled up the gravel drive which had been washed down once again and got out the drain rods to clear the land drain under the back lawn which in was waterlogged.

A busy afternoon at school helping my children to follow instructions to make Dream Catchers. There were 6 knots to be tied in each one and hardly any of the children could tie a knot so it was a bit frantic.

Funny moment from yesterday. We start each afternoon with a 20 mins phonics lesson. At the end of the lesson one of the children asked me "Who is the vomit star?" At least that is what I thought he was saying. It took a few moments before I realised that I realised that I was supposed to give a sticker to the Phonics Star.

Happy Birthday Romas. (For Yesterday)

2011-11-01T00:47:00.000-07:00

We had heavy rain yesterday evening and lost the Internet, again! So here is Romas' birthday post, a day late.

Romas is now in his 3rd year of his music degree at Keele University, working hard (I hope), and is the drummer for the band Dead Radio Society.

From what I see on Facebook the band plays gigs most weekends and they have been interviewed on local radio and for the local papers. They have also released an EP.

Romas does also have a part-time job working as security (bouncer?) in the Students' Union.

Romas has continued fighting Civil War battles with the Sealed Knot in Rivers' regt with Vytas and our friends Sam and Kate. Maybe one day Romas will actually turn up with all the kit he needs, he's still a tad disorganised when it comes to going away for the weekend.

Romas' other half is the lovely Vicky and they had a memorable holiday in Jamaica with her family.

Romas met many of Vicky's friends, saw the sights, got his open water diving certificate and ate lots of wonderful food.

Romas is a great fan of open air cooking,

eating anywhere ....

............. drinking ,

and more eating.

Have a wonderful final year at university Romas.

Finally, thank you to all the people whose Facebook photos I copy into my family albums. They give me a little insight into what the family are doing in our widely spread lives.

A Quiet Day.

2011-10-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

The clocks have changed an hour so we get an extra hour's lie-in in the morning and the nights draw in that much earlier. After a rainy morning the weather dried up and I was able to spend the afternoon weeding the veg plot. The sprouting broccoli is still sprouting and the buddlia cuttings I took last spring have done well. So I shall be able to replace the beautiful almost fluorescent purple bush that unaccountably died last spring. All the other varieties survived the same pruning regime but maybe the late cold snap was just too much for it.
I do not seem to have suffered any ill effect from yesterday's rowing though my stomach muscles are tingling. That's a good sign and hopefully rowing will improve my core strength.

Early Start.

2011-10-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

At 7.15 I wondered what I was doing leaving the house on a Saturday morning in the pitch dark when I could have been tucked up in bed. But instead I was off for my 2nd pilot gig rowing taster session. It was still dark when we got to the boat shed and dawn had just begun as we got the gig into the water after walking it along the main road. At least we were spared the embarrassment of dragging a gig on a very squeaky set of wheels, that was the lot of the group behind us.
This time I had asked to sit on the odd numbered side to see if it made any difference to my back. Whether it was that or only being out for half an hour (or not having mown all the grass the day before), but it does not seem to have affected my back and so I shall ask to go out on 'social' ie gentle rows.

Here a wellie boot is being emptied of water. A variety of footwear is worn as there is no escaping having to wade into the river as you get in or out of the gig. Wellies are great but only if you don't walk too deep into the river. Peter wears wetsocks under sports sandals and I had on a pair of wetboots.

I quite enjoyed today's row even though I had difficulty putting the blade of the oar in at the correct angle and not too deep. Keeping time wasn't too hard though I was sitting behind someone who though a club member wasn't doing too well either. I'm surprised the gig didn't go round in circles the way we were rowing on our side. The taster session was for half an hour as so many people would like to give gig rowing a go so while Peter had a second session (they need 4 proper rowers to keep the gig moving while us beginners splash our oars around), I walked back to the car, dried my feet and put my warm Ugg boots on.

The 2 gigs can be seen as little red splodges on the right just under the New Bridge. We had rowed out past the bridge on our little session.

Once we had walked the gig back to the boat shed and settled it down on bits of wood it was a quick visit to the High Street and then home for a breakfast of home-made sausages, 3-cheese and pepper & laver made by Fred who had borrowed Peter's hand sausage maker.

After many phone conversations yesterday the telephone man came to fix our line. It's been an on-going problem for the last 15 years and until they replace all the overhead cables up on the road it will keep on re-occuring. At least we have the phone line without all the crackles and the Internet is up and running.

(Laver - seaweed.)

Here's an add-on to yesterday's post.

We saw quite a few Exmoor ponies on our walk yesterday. I keep on calling Ben, Persey and Doris, Exmoor ponies but actually they are Dartmoor ponies which is another of the 9 native breeds that we have in the UK.

The ponies on both moors run free across the extensive moorlands all year long but each belongs to a farmer. They are rounded up once a year when the foals are marked and the youngsters are taken off to market. Over the years the prices had dropped to very low levels with many ponies ending up as dog meat or being bought by people who couldn't afford to keep them but in recent years there has been a check on the numbers breeding on the moors and on the blood lines.

I wish I'd had my big camera so that I could zoom in on this sweet foal sleeping in the sun.

Unlike Dartmoor ponies which come in varied colours, Exmoor ponies are always brown with a mealy muzzle. They are good natured sturdy ponies and can be ridden by a small adult as well as making excellent driving ponies.

Countisbury Hill.

2011-10-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

We had more time for our walk today so we went a little further afield than usual. We started our walk at Countisbury which is just beyond Lynton. The cliffs at Countisbury are the highest in England and once we had walked out onto the hill we had amazing views of Lynton up on the cliff and Lynmouth at sea level.
We planned to walk round the coast path but we had to decide if we would walk right round The Foreland. This is one of a pair of signs at either end of the path indicating that it is not the sort of path to take your elderly aunt along, or even 2 wives both scared of heights and 5 children. But that is what Peter and Sam did one windy winter's day about 18 years ago. They strode off in front and Kate and I brought up the rear praying that none of the children would slip down the slope (only a few hundred of feet to the rocks below) and that neither of us would succumb to vertigo. We survived but it wasn't a pleasant experience. Today however the weather was fine and I am no longer worried by heights so we headed off along the path in the reverse direction to the one we took so many years ago.

At first the 1ft wide path is relatively easy though it is a long drop down to the sea.

But soon we were scrambling along scree slopes some parts of which were quite slippery because of the recent rain. It was very good for the leg muscles having to walk so cautiously.

Rounding The Foreland we were rewarded with more amazing views up towards Porlock Vale.

The path dropped steeply down to an automated lighthouse and we walked all the way round and up this tarmac road. We stopped for a few words with a local man out with his son and a 6 month lurcher pup which was very sweet and friendly.

The next section of our walk took us along the cliff face towards a place called Desolate. It was very peaceful walking along a wooded hillside with the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks below.

After another mile or so we took a path that doubled back, winding its way up the cliff face until we were walking through farm land. (That's The Foreland in the centre of the picture.)

Once again we were out in the bright sunshine through typical moorland.

Down below us we could see The Blue Bull, an old coaching inn where we had parked the car.

We saw quite a few Exmoor ponies out on the moor and cliff tops.

Finally we stopped at this bench, which we had passed on our outward journey, for a welcome cup of coffee.

It was a varied and interesting walk and we felt our muscles had been suitably exercised.

Faulty Line.

2011-10-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

The phone is not working and our BT hub keeps crashing so I've no idea how long I can stay on the Internet.

I took my camera back today. The fuzzy eye piece was just a matter of adjusting the dioptre with a little dial but there is definitely a scratch so it is going back to be repaired.

I was not in a happy mood when I went up to my local health centre to collect our prescriptions. The pharmacy was closed from 1-3pm! It was even more irritating when I could hear voices behind the closed shutter as I waited 45 mins for them to open. Obviously patients wanting their prescriptions are simply an inconvenience. I shall be making a complaint to the local health authority as the doctors who manage the finances of the place earn enormous salaries supposedly for providing a service to the patients.

Sucker ?

2011-10-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

Peter had a couple of holiday days so he has taken them to coincide with my holiday. This morning the weather was quite nice so we went for a walk down to Bull Point. It was warm enough for me to wear a bodywarmer over a vest t-shirt. Peter on the other hand was wearing a hoody and a jacket and was rather overheated by the end of our walk.
Out to sea we could see a rain shower but it moved off towards Wales.

We didn't tackle the steps down to Rockham Bay today but sat at the top to have our coffee. There were many holiday makers about enjoying this break in the weather.

Back home I got out the leaf blower vac which as I only use it for sucking up leaves should be called a sucker! It is heavy and noisy but it does get most of the leaves up. I find it much more satisfying to work quietly by hand leaving each section completely cleared but the size of the garden and my limited time does not make that possible. I will still have to go over the whole of the scree garden to remove the leaves that got stuck under the stones but I should get through it a lot more quickly. There are still millions more leaves up in the trees waiting to gently waft down onto the garden. They look very beautiful with their gold and orange colours but should I leave them the stones will turn black and the leaves will become a rotten mush.

Some Good, Some Bad.

2011-10-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

We had some lovely sunshine this morning which gave me the chance to go outside and clear all the gutters at the back of the house as they had filled up with leaves again. Then I swept up more leaves at the scree garden. At the moment I am doing this on my hands and knees with a brush and pan, that way I can weed between the slabs at the same time, but now that the main bulk has been cleared I'll try using the leaf vacuum again. Maybe it will be good at getting the leaves off the stones. Then it was off to the hospital for more massaging from my lovely physiotherapist. He's pleased with my progress, ie no more dead finger but I have a lot of work to do to correct years of poor posture and get my back muscles loosened up.

Then it was time to head into town for coffee and a catch up with a friend. Today I had mango & passion fruit cheesecake with my cappuccino.

On the way in to town I noticed that the clouds were gathering filling the sky with lovely colours,

and interesting shapes. (That's Dartmoor on the horizon.) Then I realised they also were an indication of a lot of rain to come. And rain it did, luckily I had thrown a jacket into the car just in case my fluffy fleece wasn't enough. When we came out of Lindsay's cake shop it was pouring.

While I was in town I called in at the camera shop and was pleased to find my big Nikon ready to be collected after being repaired. I was not so pleased to find, after spending ages stitching back on my extra long strap which once again had been cut off, that it has come back even worse. The spot on the lens has gone but there are serious issues with the eye piece viewfinder. There is a scratch right in the middle of it and the picture does not sharpen up when you press the button. Even if my poor sight didn't force me to rely on the small viewfinder rather than the big screen I would still be livid that my expensive camera has been returned to me in such a state. Guess I'll be heading back to the shop soon. Luckily the staff in there are very helpful unlike in many shops so I won't have to psych myself up for a big confrontation.

To top off my day it looks as if my washing machine has gone kaput. I've tried twice to do the same lot of washing but all it does it get stuck halfway in the cycle and keep making wooshing noises for several hours. I've switched off the power and I'll investigate further tomorrow.

Best news of all, Linas phoned to say that he has got an IT job covering for maternity leave so he could be there for anything from 6 weeks to 6 months. He has a 2 week probationary period first but I am sure he will do well. At least it is a start.

Weather Alert.

2011-10-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

There was a weather alert this morning for heavy rain and possible flooding so my first job of the day was to go up and build my water diverters across the road and (possibly) dig a little ditch into my neighbour's field. That saves me the backbreaking task of raking up our dirt/gravel drive which slopes down to the house. It has been raining all day and the water has not come pouring down the drive so it obviously worked. So today was a good day to start clearing out cupboards in the kitchen. I started with the pull-out wire baskets which hold cleaning materials as well as anything else that got shoved in there, dogs' leads, saddle soap & hoof pick, chick crumbs and lawn seed. Those wire baskets are not a good storage solution and I have to keep most things in large ice cream tubs. Right now everything has been sorted and washed and is drying on the floor infront of the Rayburn. Hopefully now that I have thrown some stuff away and collated the rest the baskets will be tidier.