Cold.

I walked into town this morning but it was only as I emerged from the shelter of Pilton Street that I felt the full force of the bitter easterly wind. 

The minimalist Christmas lights were on in the High St. and the Salvation Army band was playing Christmas carols. (The stains on the Guildhall are from the floral display put there to mark the beginning of Barnstaple Fair.) 

I had to visit the bank to make a payment to our window suppliers. The inconvenience of having to go to the bank in person to pay big bills is far outweighed by knowing that the money in our savings account is as safe as possible. I also went to the library to make coloured photocopies of my Christmas letter. It was a bit pricey but the quality was good. With nothing else on my list I had a quick browse around the shops. Croyde Crafts had a pop-up shop in Green Lanes with lots of really nice decorative items, jewellery and preserves. I was impressed by some stunning felted animals which were works of art but wasn't permitted to take photos. However a little hunt on the web produced this photo of the same animals.

Each time I reach the top of Pilton St. I stop for a moment to admire this clematis covered with flowers. 

As I made my way home I decided it would be a good day for apple pancakes so later on I made a batch. Then it was time to look in my box of cards and remember all the bargains I bought last January. As I have some cards to send abroad I went through my handy list and wrote out all my cards. This time I also made a note of which cards I've sent as I bought a couple of packs of one kind and wouldn't want to send somebody the same card two years running. I have enough really nice cards to last for a few years by which time I may be making my own cards. Cards done there was still time to complete the fitting of the footstool cover which now looks pretty good. 

Cold.

Quite a bite in the air today but no rain. Today I wrote my annual Christmas letter carefully adjusting margins and font size so that my photos would fit. After much editing and even writing numbers as digits rather than spelling them to save space I emailed the letter over to Peter for him to print out. Unfortunately because we have different versions of Word and other technical reasons the first printed copy came out in a different font. When Peter sorted that out his pc ignored the narrow margins I'd set up and the letter spread to a second page. In the end the letter printed correctly when taken from a pen drive rather than an email. I seem to remember similar problems last year and I had to write directly on Peter's pc. 

In the afternoon I tried a recipe for peanut butter bites that I'd seen on FB. For the test run I halved the amounts. They weren't hard to make but I'm not sure about the taste. I prefer crunchy peanut butter and buy a different brand but even taking that into account I think the addition of icing sugar made them too sickly sweet. I might make just a few using crunchy peanut butter and dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate to see what other people think. One thing I did discover was that I can get a good shape using a measuring teaspoon like an ice-cream scoop. That might make truffle making a bit less messy.

My final task of the day was to cover the footstool using left overs from making the chair cover. It still needs some adjusting underneath to get the corners right but I found myself working until late just to get it to this stage. At the same time I had the news channel on listening to the news of the latest terrorist attack in London. It was very sad to hear that two people as well as the terrorist had lost their lives and what courage of the bystanders to tackle a knife wielding man wearing a (fake) suicide vest.

Grey.

A grey day with a burst of sunshine, so short that by the time Speedy had left my lap it was gone.

It wasn't too cold as I walked into town though I made sure my ears were covered as one ear is currently blocked since walking back from town on Monday with my ears uncovered. One stop was at the photo printing area in Boots. I hadn't used it before but after being shown a couple of things it was relatively simple. I wanted to print small photos to fit on our Christmas letter and was doing well until I saw that the sizes were in inches not centimetres and the smallest size was 6 inches by 4 inches. However sticking my photos on a collage format gave me the right sized photos and I only paid once. Today I remembered to take along a sample of the grey cover fabric when I looked for a throw. There are so many variations of grey around and I wasn't able to find a throw that would look good with the new covers. I also had a look around for 30 inch zips without finding any so I'll order them on-line.

And that's been my day. I just did a little pottering about once I got home as I find that walking home leaves me tired. I did get a reply from Tesco but they said that if I went to the environmental health office they wouldn't be able to deal with me further. What a cheek! They asked me to let them know if I had but I'm holding off until I hear more from the environmental health office.

Colder.

Much chillier today, dry at first then raining quite heavily in the evening.

After a good night's sleep I was ready to carry on with Christmas preparations. I felt a sense of hygge as I ground cloves in a stone mortar and Christmassy smells filled the air from all the different spices. I've began halving the amounts in the recipe in my year cookery book since we no longer have a house full of people over Christmas. I used to have to buy a new washing up bowl each year to mix up the 4 lbs. of fruit along with nearly 3lbs. of other ingredients. This year I've made two smaller cakes for the boys. I'll 'feed' the cakes with whiskey before covering with marzipan and icing. I really enjoy all the Christmas preparations even if not a lot happens here on the day. The card list gets smaller each year and I fully understand why people don't send cards giving a donation to charity instead but cards and letters are a link to family and friends we rarely see. So soon I'll be digging out the sparkly cards bought in last January's sales.

The chair cover is finished - sort of. I really need to replace the 24" zip with a 30" zip as it was quite a struggle to squeeze the cushion into the cover and there's a little tidying up of the frame cover edges to do. Not visible but I like to do a job properly. However I think it's not a bad result.

This morning I rang the environmental officer at the local council offices about the mouldy bread. Actually the very nice lady that answers the phone covers all the departments and passes the details to the relevant person. She gave me their email so I could send them the photo of the offending bread. So far, apart from an automated reply last night I've heard nothing from Tesco.

Mild.

Although we were promised a day of blustery showers the rain held off until later in the evening. It was very mild and looking at the forecast the night temperature is set to stay at 10C/50F and will drop a degree or two tomorrow. It was lovely to see the sun lighting up the yellow leaves under the acer in the front lawn.

Waking up at 3.50 this morning wasn't the best start, nothing was aching so I didn't feel justified taking more tablets. I just popped in an ear plug and listened to World Service and then Radio 4 until 7.00 when I gave up and got up to do some back exercises. Peter wasn't sleeping well either but at least he was snoring at 5.30. Not surprisingly we're having an early evening. However to round off the day I got a nasty shock when I bit into a slice of Polish rye& wheat bread bought today from Tesco's. Closer examination revealed a couple of blue mould spots, unpleasant but not worrying but when I took the loaf out of the fridge I could see black specks along the side of the whole loaf. Panic, could this be rye ergot mould which is toxic? At least if I'm ill in the night Peter will know what's wrong, but I hope not. Actually I'm not surprised as it was extremely hot in Tesco's. I'm currently self medicating with some white chocolate bought for my Christmas baking. I took photos and have already emailed my complaint to Tesco saying that I'll be contacting environmental health in the morning. Hopefully that will stir them into some recompense.

I'd gone shopping to get the ingredients needed for my Christmas cake baking. Not for us but as presents for the boys. One thing that I needed was some ground cinnamon. Lidl's didn't have any and in Tesco's their own brand was sold out. Instead I could have bought a branded jar but was loathe to pay £1.60 instead of 90p for the same size own brand. Instead I swung by Asda and was soon filling my basket with reduced mangoes, grapes and passionfruit for me and a beef pie and some spicy chicken pieces for Peter. I found the ground cinnamon and it was 59p so I bought 2 jars.

I'm following the cake recipe in one of my cookery books, hopefully with a gas oven and an oven thermometer I should get a better result than with the Rayburn. This recipe doesn't say to soak the fruit overnight but all the other ones I've seen do so this afternoon the kitchen was filled with Christmassy smells as I mixed 2 lbs of various dried and candied fruit with lemon zest and juice. I'm already straying from the recipe by adding orange zest and using whiskey instead of brandy because that's what we have. Also I shall add pecans and extra almonds. 

I even managed a bit more sewing of the chair cushion cover. Nearly done and then there'll be the sofa cover to do.

I must be tired, my proofreading has revealed that 'I pooped in an earplug,'

Grey.

Today I walked down to town. Although it was often very grey there was never more than a light drizzle. It was generally quite warm and I was glad that I only had on a light jacket over a vest. Even then I felt overheated by the time I got back home.

One of my planned stops in town was to Boots to print off a photo which I had transferred to a pen-drive to use in my Christmas letter. It was only as I was walking down and thinking about the contents of the letter that I realised there were several more photos to be printed off so that went on hold. I called in at the charity shop and found a new 24" zip which I later sewed into the cushion cover. I called in to several other charity shops for a quick scan but nothing caught my eye. 

I'm so happy with the furry men's slippers I bought in Primark the other day that I've been keeping an eye out for some more in that size. Not only are they a roomy fit but they have proper rubber soles and not those silly fabric soles with little pimples. At last there were two pairs and at only £4 I bought both to put away for the future. I had been intending to buy an extra large fluffy grey fleece as a throw for the sofa once the new covers are complete but they were sold out. I should have bought one when I saw it. 

I had slipped the phone camera into my pocket but when I wanted to take some photos of Christmas displays I found that after one of my friends had put it into selfie mode I couldn't switch it back to normal. At first I thought I'd wait until I got home to have a closer look but then I swallowed my pride and asked one of the men at the Sky information stand to help me out. I've asked them for help with a couple of issues with our Sky box before so they probably think I'm a daft old lady. They weren't doing anything and the chap was kind enough to point out the one icon I hadn't tried as I'd thought it was for expanding the picture but was in fact the one I needed. (Will have to explore how to zoom in with the camera next.) My shop photos didn't come out well but the ones I took on the way home were alright. The tree above was covered in white blossom and the trees by the road had caught the sun and looked bright against the grey skies.

Grey.

Damp and grey today. I put a load in the washing machine but didn't even bother hanging it out. Just draped stuff over the radiators and then ironed what I needed dry. When I woke this morning I saw that I must have swiped my arm across my pillow and knocked off some of the tattoo scabs and got rusty ink stains on the pillow case. I'll have to cover my arm at night, maybe with a loose bandage, until it's all healed. I tried shifting the ink stains with white spirit which lightened the stains but didn't remove them totally. That pillow case didn't even make it into the washing machine because I have a very sensitive sense of smell, not always a blessing, and even after a number of rinses in the sink the smell of white spirit was strong. For the time being the pillowcase is out on the line to air out the smell.

Peter went out shopping, and wished he hadn't because the crowds were so big, and he brought me home a few treats. How disappointing when I opened this package of marzipan and found that the individual bars were at least a third smaller than the box suggests. Usually Lidl's packaging is more honest so I posted a photo and comment on FB. For once I made it a public post so maybe somebody from Lidl will see it and note that customers don't like being conned in this way. 

While Peter was out I carried on with the chair cover. The back cushion is quite a complex shape with a central small section only attached at the top. I made the cover for this part but then it was time to start the ironing. 

Meeting Friends.

Today I met up with a group of friends for lunch at the garden centre. We all taught together under the leadership of our now retired caring head teacher (in grey) and try and meet up every holidays to catch up on all our news. This was a lunch to say goodbye as hopefully we'll be off to Borth by Christmas or very soon after and for those of us still teaching things get hectic nearer to Christmas. Reports, end of term assessments and keeping up with the 'academic' work while squeezing in making cards, decorations and presents to take home and if you're lucky a Christmas play (now banned by some head teachers as interfering with the academic work) tend to fill every moment of the run up to Christmas with the children getting more and more excited. I took along my new phone/camera to show lots of photos of Borth and snapped a few photos of the gang as well. Luckily it was easy to transfer those onto my PC.

One of my talented friends gave me this book angel she had made. She will fit beautifully with the handmade Christmas decorations that I have. 

Another friend gave us this stunning photograph showing Lundy our favourite place, to remember our time in North Devon. Oh dear, this move feels rather more real now. The one thing I'm going to miss when we move will be my group of lovely friends. Hopefully some will come up and stay and of course we can stay in touch on FB.

Grey.

After a very wet morning it's been another grey day. I haven't really been out but as I can see the clouds being blown by a southerly wind I'm guessing it isn't too cold. Somehow, maybe due to keeping up with twice daily exercises when I was wearing the heart monitor or perhaps because I added a new arm exercise with weights but an old rib pain has come back big style. It's bad in the evenings but I'm not sure if that's an accumulation of the day's general movement or perhaps because of the way I sit to watch TV. I've been trying to take things more easily today and the exercises are back on hold. Nonetheless I had a sewing session and the seat cushion is complete with elastic keeping it taught. I'm not sure why it looks a different colour to the rest of the cover as it's made from the same piece of fabric. (Had a look and it does match, more so when you brush the pile the other way.)

While sewing I had another one of my ideas - the grey fabric offcuts would be perfect for making little mice. Another future project along with the needle felting, perhaps when wild weather keeps me indoors in Borth.

Grey.

Just a grey wintry day, dry up until the early evening. I planned on having a restful day and began by wiring up the new sewing machine pedal using the 3 wire junction box that the postman had delivered. Apart from the very fiddly business of striping the wires using a pair of scissors as I didn't know where the correct tool not only was I was faced with  a 2 wire cable getting joined to a 3 wire cable but the colours of the wires didn't match. I checked on line and although I didn't find a 3 wire cable with a white wire by a process of deduction matched the other 2 sets of wires and put the white earth? wire into the middle connector with nothing on the other side. It was quite tricky getting everything in the right place and for extra security I waited until Peter came home and looked at my handiwork. He agreed with me and I put the cover on the junction box and plugged in the pedal to the sewing machine. Sadly although the light on the machine turned on the pedal had no effect on the motor. Looking inside the original pedal there is a capacitor and some other bits in there so I'm guessing I need that specific pedal. So for the time being it's back to hand sewing. I pinned, tacked and stitched most of the cushion cover. Just a few more seams and I'll thread through elastic to hold the cover tightly in place.

I have a new camera! Well it is Peter's old phone with the SIM card taken out. Being a lot smaller than the Nikon I can keep it handy when I don't want to be carrying much. The other use for it is to hold photos that I can show to other people. I'm meeting up with friends on Saturday and I wanted to show them photos of Borth instead of just saying how lovely it is. Now I'm sure there is a way to connect the camera to my PC and take photos from my files and put them on the camera but I chose a much simpler method of transferring the photos. I used the phone to photograph my monitor showing the relevant photos. It worked and I know how to access them on the phone. That might not sound like much but I've never had or used a smart phone before though now it isn't a phone anymore, just a slim camera. …….  I've had a little play with the phone and I've also got a torch and a magnifier. I expect most people will think that it's about time I got a 'proper' phone but I really don't need one and I certainly  don't need the expense.

Cold.

Wintry again today, this time with enough wind to make it worth hanging out some washing. So now we have radiators festooned with t-shirts and other items of clothing.

The other day I noticed evidence of woolly aphids on one of the orchids in the sitting room. By the time I bought the correct spray and looked more closely I could see the aphids were on all of the orchids. Today I took the orchids outside, sprayed, wiped down both sides of the leaves with kitchen roll and sprayed again. Then I had a thorough clean of the box they stand on and the lower part of the window again using the spray before bringing the orchids back in.

Then it was back to the cushion cover. After much pinning, tacking and checking I sewed the end of the cover that goes over the wide T shaped front of the cushion. If it was just a matter of covering the existing cushion it would be relatively easy, it's getting a snug fit while still being able to remove the cover that's tricky. I think I've worked it out now. The postman brought the correct junction box for the sewing machine pedal so that wiring job is next to do. 

Wintry.

Today has been wintry and grey though with little wind it didn't feel too cold.

Finally I have my arm tattoo. I've been planning it in my head for a few years so there's no doubt about my decision. My reasons to do it are mainly because I like it as a piece of carefully thought about body art and also it represents my unconventional free spirit. I went with brown in the end as I thought black would be too harsh and I love the henna effect on my skin tone.

Having a tattoo is a very relaxing experience, lying on my back and chatting away to the tattooist for an hour and a half. To top it all as I checked the tattoo out in the mirror there behind a baby gate was a gorgeous 14 week old puppy. A grey Staffy, not my favourite breed but all puppies are lovely.

On my way back from Braunton I stopped at the garden centre. A group of us are meeting up there for lunch on Saturday, a kind of farewell as we hope to be in Borth by Christmas. I had hoped that I could bring along some wine & fruit drinks to this lunch but was told no when I enquired. I had a long browse through all their displays, even picked up a box of tiny baubles but resisted and didn't buy anything. Then it was back to Barnstaple to pick up some shopping at Tesco's and Lidl's and finally home.

Sunny.

It's been a bright and sunny day but with no breeze everything remained damp. I didn't think it was worth hanging out any washing. The birds; sparrows and a robin are regular visitors to the fat ball bird feeder so I keep that topped up. I also noticed a sparrow pecking at the feeder containing seeds but it gave up after a while maybe because the seeds had got wet, some had sprouted and the seeds were all stuck together. I used a long screwdriver to prise out the old seeds and have put some fresh seeds in.

My afternoon was spent working on the cushion cover. Although I could simply have cut off the edge to which was stitched elastic being me I had to carefully take out the stitches with my trusty stitch ripper. Then came my attempts to fold the fabric over the cushion. After lots of pinning and tacking I've decided to resort to cutting separate pieces for the sides, my origami skills were just not up to working out how to use a single piece of fabric. 

Today was the last day of wearing the heart monitor, thank goodness. For seven days I've been keeping not only the monitor but paper and pen with me at all times to record my symptoms. I was issued with a single form to fill in and told to use more paper if needed. Five more sheets of ruled A4 paper were needed, hopefully this will all help in sorting out whatever is going wrong. I had the choice of returning the monitor this evening or tomorrow morning. As I'm off to Braunton tomorrow morning I decided to go tonight. It was already dark by the time I left the house around 5.00 and I was very conscious that my dark clothing wasn't the safest as I walked down a couple of short stretches of lane not even wide enough for two cars to pass and no verges or pavement just hedges that I leaned up against as cars went past. At least there were street lights. All I had to do in the hospital was hand over the monitor and papers and head straight home again. 

The pitcher plant continues to do well in the bathroom. There are three more of the 7 inch long pitchers further down this stem.

Sunny.

A misty morning turned into a lovely sunny day. I hung out some washing in the hope that it would at least get a little drier in the slight breeze. I'm not sure if it did get any drier, the t-towels ended up on radiators and the sheet and pillow cases were dried as I ironed. 

We've had the heating on to keep the house warm for Peter so I'm still in shorts and t-shirt. It was an unwelcome surprise when the boiler cut out especially with the cold weather due later in the week. Luckily after switching off the boiler and leaving it for an hour or so it sprang back into life. The man is coming to give the boiler its service in two weeks so hopefully it'll keep going until then. We're also fortunate in that this house stays warm even when the boiler turns off.

The cover sewing continued. Today after much thinking I put the scissors to the two seater cover and cut it in preparation for covering the cushions. I was convinced that I ought to be able to cut the first piece to the shape needed for the seat cushion leaving two large scrap pieces for future use but in the end I cut straight across the fabric as I didn't trust myself not to miscalculate.

Sunny.

Lots of sun today. I went outside to photograph the sun on the acer leaves and found my neighbour sitting outside enjoying the sunshine. 

As to the viewing, hmm. The house was spick and span ready for visitors when 10 minutes before the appointed time we had a call from the estate agent cancelling the viewing. The people came and (I think) looked at another house a few doors down but ruled both houses out because there wasn't enough parking for their vehicles. They need space to park a large motor home and an SUV and have already rejected other properties for the same reason. Round here there are a few houses with that sort of parking space but they are 30-40% more expensive than our place. Oh well, at least we have a tidy house.

While I was chatting to our neighbour I spotted the sheep on the hill being rounded up for some reason. Looking more closely at the photo they seem to be eating so I guess the farmer had put some feed out for them.

I had another disappointment later in the afternoon when I went to wire up the new foot pedal for my sewing machine. When I undid the junction box I saw that I had bought one for a two wire cable instead of for a three wire cable which the pedal needs. I was annoyed with myself because when I was looking on-line for a junction box I had thought to myself that I should get a three wire box in case I needed it as it could also be used for two wires but I went ahead and bought the wrong box. I can't even blame the seller as the description said it was a two wire box. That's the problem with late night internet shopping. I ordered the correct box and carried on hand sewing. I made some adjustments to the frame cover where there was some fabric bunching up and have now moved on to the two cushions. The extra cover for a two seater sofa is more than ample to cover both the cushions but I will have to buy a long zip for the back rest cushion as I want to be able to wash the covers when needed. That'll mean another visit to the one charity shop that has a very good haberdashery section. They must have some dedicated volunteers who take off buttons and zips from clothing destined for recycling and they also have sewing and embroidery threads, fasteners etc. and fabric. If I need any haberdashery items I always look there first. Better to support a charity and recycle as well as saving money.

I tried taking Speedy's cone off this afternoon putting some of the bitter no-chew spray on his feet but I found him chewing on his feet so the cone went back on. I take his cone off in the evenings when we are all in the sitting room. He's content to sit on my lap and wash himself and if it looks as if he's going for his feet I just put my hand over them.

Cold.

It has been very chilly today. Walking in to town I took the precaution of putting my umbrella in my bag but the day stayed dry. I went into town to pay a builder's bill and to pick up my prescription for some iron tablets. At Boots I was told that they had sent off the order for my prescription and I should come back Monday or Tuesday. That didn't make much sense as I knew my doctor had sent the paperwork on Wednesday. I didn't go quietly but kept asking what I was supposed to do. In the end they gave me the prescription form back so that I could try a different pharmacy. The nearest option was the pharmacy that seemed to mess up our medicines every single month. However I went there and they did have the tablets in stock but I still had to wait a while. Funnily or not so funnily for those concerned of the two people in front of me in the queue one had taken home their bag of medicines only to find that one item was missing and the other person who was expecting to collect two people's prescriptions was only given one. All the lady at the counter would say was 'You'll have to phone your doctor.' in a fairly aggressive tone. At least I got my tablets.

I did my usual visits to the charity shops and despite my aim not to buy Christmas decorations etc. I bought some fancy gift ribbon, the kind with wired edges to make bows and some 'crystal' drops. They were in the 10p basket so this lot cost me 50p. I also chatted briefly to some friends who were out and about.

Back home I didn't return to the chair cover construction but instead got on with tidying. That's because we've actually got a viewing tomorrow morning. I'm trying hard not to be optimistic but a slight chance is better than no chance at all. The conservatory has been put back together after a lot of banging to fit the fascia boards and the corner pieces back in and everywhere is looking tidy. 

As usual the photo doesn't do justice to the pretty evening sky. It began with shades of pink surrounding the grey clouds and then turned to deep red before the dark closed in. 

Wet.

We've had strong winds and icy rain for most of the day. I took the above photo of the first daffodil shoots while standing in the doorway. I've just been outside to collect the recycling bins and it had stopped raining but was still bitterly cold. Checking the weather sites I see that Dartmoor had about 2" of snow last night. There was also black ice on the Link Road that caused an accident this morning.

Once more my afternoon was spent working on the chair cover. It's been quite a challenge to alter a standard 3-d shape to fit a complex 3-d shape with lots of curves. The hardest bit today was getting the fabric to fit smoothly over the curved arm ends which are visible once the cushions are in place. There's still a bit of hand sewing to do on the frame cover before I begin on the cushions. The new foot pedal arrived today so hopefully once I've wired it in I'll be able to fly along the longer seams. Most of today's work would have had to be done by hand anyway.

PS Yesterday's helicopter wasn't looking for a person that had threatened to self-harm. I was misled by that article coming up at the top of the page when it related to an incident in the summer. I should learn to check the date first.

Cold.

A cold grey day that eventually gave way to icy rain and yet another weather warning. Thankfully phrases such as 'possible flooding' and 'snow on higher ground' no longer cause me to go through a severe weather check list and I can relax in our warm home.

Snow on Dartmoor today. (Photo from the web.)
I had a phone call from my GP to discuss the cardiologist's letter which we both had, which said that my low iron levels, just above anaemic, was a likely cause of my symptoms. I've always been aware that my low meat diet means I need extra iron so I take a daily multi-vitamin+iron tablet and have done for years but it obviously isn't quite enough. I'm going to take high dose iron tablets for a couple of months. After that I've found a very good source of iron. A 100 gm bar of dark chocolate contains 11.9 gm of iron which combined with the 14gms in the vitamin tablet is more than the recommended daily amount of 17gms. I can cope with that.

I was having a break at my pc with Speedy climbing on my lap when we were repeatedly interrupted by the sound of a low flying helicopter which had me looking out of the window to see what was going on. I saw that it was the police helicopter, not the air ambulance or a military helicopter, which kept circling at a very low height over the centre of town. I later found out that they were searching for a person who was threatening to self-harm. The person was safely found and taken to be looked after. Mental health services are yet another sector that is seriously underfunded though right now with the forthcoming election all the political parties are making generous promises that no doubt will be forgotten once the election is over.

My afternoon was once more spent working on the chair cover. It's quite strenuous work as there's a lot of lifting involved each time I put the cover on the chair either to make some initial pinning or check that my tacking is in the right place. I have tried sewing while the cover is still partly on but I think that's a false economy.