Autumn Showers.

Lots of heavy showers today, interspersed with a few sunny spells. There are lots of berries on the trees which is supposed to foretell a cold winter but is probably more to do with the summer weather. I taught all day today. It poured down straight after play this afternoon, soaking the parents who were beginning to come in to collect the kids. The little boy who was in my class last year who has leukemia is home from hospital and came to school to collect his little brother. He is very bloated from the steroids but seems cheerful in himself. I just pray that he will make a full recovery. The sun shone brightly on the way home tonight but by the time I got to the top of the drive the clouds were returning and just a patch of the landscape was illuminated as if by a spotlight.

A Typical Monday.

This morning was fairly wet with the soft rain that is more very low cloud rather than rain but apart from washing the mud off my car I didn't go out in the garden. This was partly because I had to go to work at lunchtime. I don't mind getting wet and muddy if I can then have a nice hot shower and spend the afternoon doing an quiet indoor job. It was tag-rugby again this afternoon and fortunately when it was our session the rain had stopped. The down side was getting all the children matched up with their clothes. That's where school uniform does not help, at least when half the sweatshirts aren't named. Instead of story time we spent a good 10 mins trying to sort out a missing sweatshirt. I was reduced to checking the name tags on every child's jumper until we located the missing one. They are still very young, 5 & 6 years old, and some need a lot of help organising their clothes.

After school I dropped into Somerfield and picked up a lot of reduced (food) bargains, smoked salmon for me and chicken satay for the lads tomorrow. I'm an avid bargain hunter , ( there have been times when we had little money), and I know where to look for the best bargains in town.

It's all been a bit grey today so here are a few pictures that I took on the way home last week when I stopped to post a letter. After so many years living in London with the inside of an underground tunnel or grubby streets to look at, I really appreciate every journey I make through this beautiful countryside.

The start of the valley leading to Muddiford .

We brought our Landrover a couple of times to be fixed at this farm It is one of those ultra tidy places where even the wood pile looks perfectly sorted and stacked.

Rainy Day Again.

Another misty rainy day. Each time I went out to do some work in the garden it started to rain again so I ended pottering around indoors instead. Last night we had heavy rain, 40mm, but luckily Romas had put wood across the road and that diverted most of the water into my neighbour's field.

We went to church in the morning in Ilfracombe. This picture was taken just above Ilfracombe and if you look carefully across the Bristol Channel you can see the Welsh Mountains. I think they finally had a ferry going over to Wales this summer.

It was a happy time at church as 2 youngsters were getting baptised. Kevin titled his talk, 'Health and Safety' and before talking about the significance of Baptism had us all in fits as he donned rubber ring, arm bands, snorkel and bike helmet. Well, the baptisms take place in a mini swimming pool in the middle of the seating area so it doesn't do to take chances. Seriously ,it is good to see youngsters who had lost their way, accepting God into their lives.

In case anyone is wondering, we are Christians who try to follow Jesus' example in loving all of humanity but we have no difficulty in accepting that biology, evolution and science of all kinds is the result of God's creation. Other Christians may hold different views but the important thing is knowing that God is there for us and Jesus is the Son of God who came to offer us eternal life. I won't be posting sermons or anything like that on this blog but I thought readers who don't know me might like to know where I am coming from.

A Rainy Saturday.

I got held up by these tractors shifting big bales as I drove to town to collect Romas this morning. His bus from Bude was 1 1/2 hours late because a tractor had tried to get past and got the trailer wheels stuck under the bus. In the end a second bus had to be sent out to rescue the passengers.

Pete brought home his new car last night. He changed cars to save on fuel costs and also on the lease cost. He has to drive around all of South Devon for work and the pitiful mileage allowance does not cover the actual fuel costs. It isn't as fast as the last car (Mazda 5 sport turbo) but there is a 70 mph limit anyway, which I'm sure he never exceeded.

Despite the constant rain Romas decided to do some work on the drive. The camera angle has flattened out the slope but it is pretty steep. I had started catching the underneath of the car on the grass hump in the middle and one track is much lower than the other. We decided the best solution was to remove the grass and soil and rake the stones level. We (Romas), may end up doing this right to the top of the drive.

I went out and did a flower count in the garden on the 1st of October and there were 41 different types of flower, some just hanging on and some still looking pretty good. So here are a few pictures taken this week.

A corner of the scree garden which was once a swimming pool. In the winter when there are fewer plants the stones take on their own beauty especially when they are wet.

Last of the Summer Wildflowers.

On my way to work this morning I had to wait while Mr Lewis' cows crossed the road. These lovely ladies are the main reason my car is filthy again even though it was only washed a few days ago. I feel obliged to wash the micra because it is a girlie car, unlike my old landrover which only got washed when the firemen were doing a charity wash day. I taught all day, 2 different classes so 2 lots of p.e. which is good for me as it is something I have to work harder at than other areas of the curriculum.

The weather continues to be variable with occasional heavy showers. The winds are hastening the onset of autumn so I thought I'd show some wild flowers that were still in bloom a few days ago.

The blackberries had fruit and flowers on the same plants but this summer was so bad there wasn't a good crop of blackberries .

The Himalayan Balsam isn't a native wild flower but there are long stretches of it up on the road. If you gently touch the ripe seed heads they explode violently with an audible snap, - great fun.

I didn't manage to identify this weird looking caterpillar.

2/10/76

This was us 32 years ago, before 3 sons, a few extra pounds and crumbling joints.

After all this time I would be lying if I said it had been all sweetness and light, we've both got strong personalities so sparks have often flown but we are still together. What ever fall-outs we've had during stressful times there has always been one thing and that's complete trust.

With both of us being busy at work and tired, we were happy enough with a home cooked Chinese meal this evening.

The dreaded tummy bug struck down another member of staff yesterday so I was called in to work all day. The overnight torrential rain stopped mid morning and there was bright sunshine and a few showers for the rest of the day. Most of the morning was spent at the swimming pool where I was supervising the children who weren't in the pool. Not too hard, a bit boring really.

More photos of yesterday's walk at Morte Point just because I love the place so much.

I was trying to squeeze in extra pictures side by side but it hasn't worked and they are a bit higgldy piggldy. Oops.

Morte Point.

It was a wild and stormy night. The shipping forecast last night gave gale force 8 for this area and the winds continued into today.

Early morning at the top of the drive.

I had the day at home so the morning was spent hoovering ,chopping wood and clearing up. I had a carload of stuff for the dump then I rewarded myself with a walk at Morte Point. This is my favourite local walk because the rugged landscape reminds me of Cornwall , where I grew up.

I spotted three seals down in this gully. We usually see the seals in this area but you do have to know what you are looking for. One can be seen just on the edge of the shadow in the gully.

I took lots of photos of the seals but they were quite far away and most of the pictures were of the ' that dark smudge is a seal' variety.

Despite a heavy shower as I arrived in Mortehoe the skies eventually cleared though the wind remained really strong.

I took lots more photos but I'll save them for a later past.