Mostly Grey.

It was raining first thing this morning so we knew the builders wouldn't be here today. Maybe tomorrow. It's been dry for the rest of the day, not too cold and there was even a hint of brightness in the sky.

Last night's kettlebell session took it out of me but when I double checked on-line it will be good for me even or especially with my bad back so I shall have to persevere. I did my best to stay off my foot today to give it the best chance to heal up. The single bramble I spotted at the bottom of the garden will have to wait for another day.

 

Instead I did some admin and then knitted the cup cosies which were simple and relatively quick to do. Peter has gone out rowing and I'll be off to choir later tonight. 

Cold.

No change in the weather. Looking at the sea this morning it could almost have been an arctic scene.

Luckily we did not have to be up early this morning as the builders had let us know that they wouldn't be making an early start. The boss and one guy came mid-morning and spent the day doing all the patching up work at the back of the house. As far as I can see they've just got to do the top coat and then the job will be done. 

Yesterday I discovered that I've got a small split on the ball of my foot so as even small things take much longer to heal I didn't go down to the zoo. I'll drive down to Pilates this evening, see how things go and will give my apologies for this week's aerobics. An hour of bouncing around on the balls of my feet would not do any good.

Instead I completed my homework and made a start on knitting a couple of travel cup cosies as suggested by Vytas. A much smaller project than last year's bedspread.

This is how the sprayed frame looks in our bedroom. I wanted to have it on the wall for sentimental reasons as it and the hens hung over the mantelpiece in the kitchen at Dingles for 25 years. That was the room that was the heart of our farmhouse and holds many memories.

Chilly.

Grey and feeling a lot colder today. This morning it felt like the type of damp chill that seeps into your bones, Yuk. I made sure to wrap up well before sitting outside. The sea was so calm it was possible to see the reflections of the cormorants as they flew along just above the waves.

The builders turned up this morning and have put the next coat of render on the sections of wall that had to be completely redone. 

In the morning Peter and I disappeared off to Mach to meet up with our friends for some Welsh practice. Unfortunately we weren't able to use the library as they were having some building work done and members of the public were not allowed in. Kate, the friendly librarian had had phoned to let us know but was happy to come out and renew the books we are currently reading as they were due back today. Not that there are any 'late' fines at that library. Instead we went across to what used to be the Caffi Alys and is now the Caffi Owain Glyndwr. There we had coffees, a bacon sandwich for Peter and a cake for me. But the cake wasn't very good which was a shame. I think the last time we were there the brownie was dry as well.

After dropping Peter off at the local pub to play pool I came home, made the builders more coffee (we had said they could come in to make coffee while we were out but they'd been too busy) and got on with my Welsh homework. Since the latest updates I'm no longer able to write on the homework document our tutor sent us and as I'd scribbled notes all over the paper version from the course folder (one of my friends writes on hers and emails a photo to the tutor) I had to type everything from scratch onto an email. It's all done but I'll read it through again tomorrow before sending it. That and some piano practice took up the whole afternoon.

A few photos from yesterday.

I left our collection of oak galls on a stone for someone else to discover.

A Walk Along the Ystwyth.

Another grey and gloomy day. It was very hard to muster enthusiasm for going out on a walk especially as the start time had been brought forward by half an hour and it was a longish (45 mins) drive away. But go I did and I'm very glad I went.

The meet up place was by the waterwheel in Pontrhydygroes by the River Ystwyth. Due to the way the valleys run the road system loosely resembles a grid and most destinations have several routes of equal length to get there. It's usually a matter of either going up and then along or along first and then up. To get to Pontrhydygroes I decided to go via Devil's Bridge as that took me onto the ridge overlooking Cwm Rheidol and the hills to the north with the high country to the south. From Devil's Bridge I then drove across the high country and finally down the sides of a wooded valley. Normally I'm not a fan of viewing the countryside through a car window but that is a very scenic route.

From the village of Pontrhydygroes (The Bridge of the Ford of the Cross) we walked down the well maintained path to miners bridge high over the river Ystwyth.
 

Walking through the woods the ground was carpeted with coppery beech leaves. In Devon beech trees were the predominant trees making up both the hedgerows and  woodlands while around here it is more usual to see the sessile oak which in autumn fades to a dull yellow. Also underfoot were the large leaves of the Northern Red Oaks which I'm guessing would have been introduced as part of the 'picturesque' planting scheme on the nearby Hafod Estate in the late 18th century. Unfortunately, maybe due to the lack of frosts this year those leaves were merely brown rather than the spectacular red they are known for. Interestingly many had marble-like oak galls growing out of them. 

Our path eventually brought us to a viewing point high above the river. Here the youngest member of our group, a charming and bright as a button little chap, is being held securely by his mum as it must have been at least a 15ft drop to the fast flowing waters below.

As well as the river there were many small streams flowing down out of the hillside.

Eventually we came back up to a forestry track before stopping for lunch on a spoil heap of fine gravel from the old lead mines. Crossing back over another bridge we made our way along the road back to Pontrhydygroes.

As we walked we were intrigued by the sight of a long line of sheep (those small white dots) making their way up from the field on the right and on to a track that disappeared around the corner of the hill.  We wondered if they were following a farmer though I preferred my idea that one sheep had decided that she 'wanted to be alone' and the rest had simply followed her.

Back at the village we stopped at the tea room and served ourselves with tea and home-made lemon drizzle cake before settling down for a comfy chat. I'm so glad I decided to go on the walk as it had been a most pleasant afternoon. 

Grey.

Once again it has been a grey and quite gloomy day. I didn't get my head down until 4.00 this morning so I've given myself a quiet day today. 

Even before I got dressed I brought the painting back from the garage but when I hung it in our bedroom I realised that it could do with a bit more spraying as there were a few darker patches along the top of the frame. I've been doing light coats to see how they look but in the end we decided to go for an almost fully gold look. The frame has had one more spray and hopefully will be ready to be hung tomorrow.

My main job of the day has been to cook up our tomato harvest into an tomato, onion, herb and garlic base which will be frozen ready to use over the winter. Perfect for soups, sauces and stews. Peeling the tomatoes was easy, all they needed was boiling water poured over the frozen tomatoes and the skins slipped right off. Chopping the onions took longer, all through 'Any Questions?' and then it was simply a matter of adding garlic and herbs and reducing down. That's the stage it's at now, in two saucepans. I'll add tomato puree once it's down by about 50% and that will be it. I suppose I ought to taste it too as I haven't measured anything, just thrown it all in. Can you tell that I don't have the right temperament to be a chef?

Sparkled.

Why 'sparkled'? Well, I decided to take a chance and throw the new purple sparkly top in the washing machine along with the rest of the dark wash. And you've guessed it, some of the stuck on purple glitter has attached itself to the other clothes. Especially the more cotton based fabrics which means mostly on Peter's clothes. I wouldn't have minded having some sparkle on my riding stuff or leggings. However it's not a lot so he might not even notice that his black clothes have an extra twinkle.

The weather today has been gloomy and grey. It could be quite depressing but I found it felt brighter when I spent some time working outside in the front garden.

It was a good day yesterday but it did wear me out. Luckily the builders had sent a text to say the render needed to dry out so they wouldn't be here. No need for us to be up early which was a really good thing. 

My first job was to give the picture frame another spray with the gold paint as it was still too dark. I set everything up only to discover that the spray was running out and just spitting out blobs of paint. Peter had gone into town so I sent him a message asking him to get me another can at Charlie's. That he did and I was able to spray the frame when he returned. 

My other big job of the day was to take down everything and clean the sitting room side window. For some reason when they took the render off the outside wall a whole load of brick and cement dust appeared on the inside sill and no doubt over everything else there. It didn't happen with the other windows so I'm putting it down to the poor installation of the window. Everything including the venetian blind and the hanging planters got washed and now it's all bright and clean. 

I finished the afternoon with some pottering around in the front garden. I found a number of aubretia seedlings on the paving below the rockery, that's a surprise, and after pulling them out potted them on in a handy trough. It will be good even if only some of them grow.

I call this white cactus Romas' Birthday cactus as it flowers around his birthday each year.

Happy Birthday Romas.

Happy Birthday to Romas, our youngest who as can be seen is still playing the drums as well as holding down a full time job in Stoke where he lives with Laura and their two dogs. He leads a busy life so we haven't seen him at all this year.

The sea was grey and very flat this morning with just the smallest of waves lapping at the shore. We weren't sure if the builders were coming today but then I got all excited when Peter told me they had arrived. That turned out to be a false alarm as the white van that had stopped outside went off again. Possibly one of the many builders working in the area checking out the work.

As they are doing pony club stuff at the stables tomorrow we had our riding lesson this morning (no Welsh class as it's half-term). There were only four of us in the lesson which today was taught by Katie, one of the girls who works at the stables. I rode Margaret and did okay. It was all work in trot, straight lines and leg yielding, nothing too exciting. Whenever we let the horses walk on a loose rein I amused myself by seeing how well I was able to control Margaret without using the reins at all. I was able to get her to turn by using my legs and body but although I was able to slow her down I didn't manage to bring her to a halt just by using my body and a bit of voice. That's something I can work on in the lessons. Cadno would grind to a halt the minute I stopped using my legs to ask him to go forward.

Afterwards I did the usual round of shops and then once in town I went straight up to the framers to collect a mount they were cutting for me. I also took along a Bryan Pearce print of Penzance to be framed. It has sat for too many years in a clip frame that wasn't the right size but now it will be in a proper frame with a grey mount that was the best compromise as the print is on cream paper but will be hung on a white wall.

At home I had four attempts at putting the new mount on a painting and back in the old frame. Each time I got everything put back together black specks would appear on the inside of the glass even though I had done my best to clean the delicate glass. I had to keep taking it all apart and cleaning the glass until eventually I got rid of all the black specks. When I hung the panting on our bedroom wall I could see that the dark frame needs a bit more lightening up with the gold spray which I shall do tomorrow.

And then it was time for disco aerobics. A number of people had dressed up for Halloween and Rachel had done her best to pick spooky music for us to dance to. The hour flew by and all too soon I was walking home past families dressed up  for Halloween. Not many houses were doing 'trick or treat' and some just had some decorations and a bowl of sweets outside for the children to help themselves. I heard one little boy tell his mum in a hushed whisper "I took two." I think I'll make an effort next year and do something down by the garden gate.