Very Wet.

Yesterday.

It has poured with rain the whole day long and it seems it is the same over the whole country. In other words, typical Bank Holiday weather. I feel so sorry for anyone who is camping or taking part in outdoor activities. Peter went out rowing this morning and came squelching home, soaked from head to toe. (/*************************** - this is Speedy's contribution to the blog. He has climbed all over the pc desk, fallen down behind the printer, fished for a glove and walked across the keyboard before being distracted by noises from the kitchen.)

I've been up in our bathroom, wiping all the shelves and cleaning the tiles and all the little awkward corners. Cleaning the grout between the tiles has been difficult and I shall try a suggestion from the net of leaving on a mixture of bleach and bicarb for 12 hours before scrubbing off. I also brought in one of the bathroom curtains and spent about an hour ironing it to help it dry. It's now draped over the Rayburn and I shall hopefully do the same with the other one tomorrow. And I got up to date with backing up my photos, that was a distraction activity before heading up to clean the bathroom.

Easter Sunday.

My pc decided to go slow yesterday and needed some remedial work so I couldn't post in the evening. Hence this late post.

We had a good Easter Sunday. We are not attending a local church at the moment so instead I sat in bed peacefully listening to the Easter Service from Manchester Cathedral. I had my eyes closed as I listened to the service, a warm breeze blew across my face and outside the singing thrush complimented and even surpassed the music .

Having given up meat for Lent and cut back and then finally given up chocolate as well, the chocolates I had bought for Easter tasted even better than usual. I find it much easier to give up something entirely than to be moderate, I have such a lack of will power that it is very hard to have 'only a little'. Peter cooked a beautiful leg of lamb for our dinner, he marinaded it for 12 hours and then slow roasted it. It was delicious!

It was only slightly drizzling so we decided to go for a walk along the beach.

The roads down to Woolacombe and the beaches were absolutely teeming. Children and dads were merrily digging in the sand and plenty of people were out catching the waves which weren't too bad.

We went down the steps at Coombesgate and walked northwards, towards Morte Point, where it was a lot quieter. It was low tide so there were lots of interesting rock pools to examine.

There is something so pleasing in the natural forms of the rocks and the contrasting clean sand forming flowing beaches between them.

It was very convenient to walk on the smooth sand and be able to peer into waist level rock pools in the rocky outcrops. We found more of the rarer dahlia sea-anemones and some enormous strawberry anemones. This one was as big as an orange.

Looking inland we could see the clouds dropping lower right to the top of the hill from which a number of hang-gliders had been launching themselves.

Back home the rain had set in. Luckily I had been able to hang the bathroom curtains from a rope set up in the shelter by the scree garden so they could at least drip out the worst of the water. While Peter prepared the meal I put another coat of white paint on our bathroom walls. Peter had got me some paint testers and the bedroom walls are definitely magnolia, how prosaic. After our most delicious meal we watched Jurassic Park (such an enjoyable fun film) followed by Hitch Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy which we hadn't seen before. We are fans of the radio series and luckily the film did not disappoint.

A Bit Wet.

Peter went off early to row this morning so I got up and washed the curtains which I had left soaking in the bath. By the time I had finished it was raining but luckily the rain stopped and I was able to get the curtains out on the line. I had to take them down again later in the afternoon when it rained again so it may take a few days to get them dry. My other job for the day was to paint the rest of the walls in our bathroom. I love fresh white walls. I will have to give them a second coat before the job is done and then I'll make a start on painting our bedroom.
In between rain showers I have been sitting outside reading and enjoying the short bursts of sunshine. Later I walked over to the stables next door with some letters that the postman had mistakenly given to me. I had to laugh when I saw the new inhabitant of the lake. Paul told me the other day he had been to a country house sale and I presume that is where it came from. He has also got some enormous stone urns for planting flowers in. I'm jealous though you would need some form of tractor to move them.

Out For A Walk.

It was a bright sunny morning today which was a good start to the official Easter break. There was a bit of a chill wind but I was still able to drink my morning coffee outside and listen to the birds. We decided to take advantage of the good weather and go for a walk at Mortehoe. Now that we have entered the tourist season the roads were very busy with cars and cyclists. The free road parking in Mortehoe continues until the middle of May and we were lucky enough to find a spot to park. I suppose most of the tourists don't read the street signs and go straight to the car park.
My knees were still painful from yesterday so we did the shorter walk around the point. I also took a hiking stick and I found it useful on the steeper sections of the path. The wind made it quite cool but on the sheltered side of the hill it felt pleasantly warm. We sat and drank our coffee to the gentle sound of the waves rippling against the rocks below us.

Not only were there a lot of families out today we were passed by a few runners and even some cyclists. I would think they have to do as much carrying as riding of their bikes along this undulating coast path.

The gorse, which flowers all year long, is coming into a spring flush of flowers and studded through the grass were delicate violets.

On the way to Morthoe we spotted another large wind turbine in a small industrial estate by the road. Last week we had thought the pylon was the tower for an incinerator but today it stood there like an alien craft looming over the buildings.

Back home I painted one wall of our bathroom with anti-mould paint and wiped down the curtain rail which I had taken down. I could do with washing the curtains but they are velvet and it would mean had washing them in the bath. And I will need a good drying day but I guess I will do it. I'll check the forecast and see what tomorrow is supposed to be like. Off I go now to put them soaking in a tepid bath.

Up And Down.

The north easterly wind was still blowing making it very cold so it was a good day to be getting on with my bedroom decorating. Today I had the jobs I hate the most, filling in all the little cracks and tidying up the wall paper. Some bits just needed sticking back but in other places it was better to take off the old paper and replace it. There was an awful lot of climbing up and down ladders and chairs and plenty of up and down the stairs as well as I was using the kitchen table as a pasting table. I was all ready to start when I found that the sachet of wall paper paste was in fact wall filler. This was a bit annoying as I could have got some on Monday. However going in to town gave me the chance to buy some more food for the birds as the feeders were getting low and I also picked up some paint charts. I love the wide range of colours there are and I am quite particular about finding exactly the right shade. I thought it was quite funny that the colour of our bedroom walls is almost exactly the same as the lining paper I was putting up. I need that pale cream colour to match the 'Country Diary' window curtains and the cream wardrobe curtains and bedding so I shan't be making any changes.The sun finally came out in the late afternoon but my decorating kept me busy until 7.00. Peter came home happily looking forward to the Easter break. He has taken some extra leave days so hopefully we should fit in some walks between all his extra rowing. This week he has been on a training course at his work and got 100% in all the written and practical tests. It was all engineering stuff including soldering and should lead to him doing some more interesting jobs instead of being stuck with gear boxes which he has been doing lately, much to his annoyance.

Wall Washing.

While the tv has been full of snowy scenes from 'up country', (Yorkshire and places north to be precise), we've had a day of rain with some sleet in the morning. The few times I ventured out the wind was very icy. So I had no choice but to get on with washing walls in our bedroom and bathroom. Washing mildew off textured walls, in our bathroom, was hard work indeed. I don't want to start painting until we have some warm weather but there are still a few preparation jobs to do first. I love the fact that at the bend of our stairs there is a big window overlooking the bird feeders, the stream and Ron's field beyond. Today I had to stop and watch a group of sheep playing in the goyle (North Devon dialect word for a valley or dip). They must have been youngsters because they were in a playful mood. They would huddle together with some of them twitching and bouncing, then all of a sudden they would dash off about 10 yds, wait, turn and then come running back, sometimes stopping in the goyle and running around that. The lambs, when we have them, often play king-of-the-castle on these rocks but I haven't noticed sheep being so energetic before. At first I thought there might be a dog up there causing all the commotion but no, it was just the sheep being very lively.

As a reward for today's hard work I gave in to temptation and bought this collapsible camping kettle which had caught my eye. It was a bit pricey but I love the design concept and I hadn't wanted to buy a small whistling kettle because I do like to be able to clean the inside or at least see what might have fallen in. I am anticipating that we may go on a few more camping trips, that's my justification for buying it. I don't go in for many gadgets but I am very fond of touch lamps. We have 2 as bedside lights. It's so much easier when you are half asleep, to reach out and touch the lamp rather than fumble for a switch and having different light levels is also useful. When we do move I'm tempted to have touch switches for the room lights as well.

Not Snowing Yet.

Scotland may have had 6" of snow last night but we have had a fairly mild day albeit grey. It warmed up even more in the afternoon when we had some blue skies but now, 5.00, the promised rain has arrived and it is due to get colder tonight. My first job of the morning was to make a handy side table using the non-working lazy Susan that had come with the garden furniture we bought on eBay last year. The metal tripod was from a broken stool that once belonged to my mother.
Although I did want to get on with the bedroom, in anticipation of bad weather I spent the whole day working outside. I planned to tie back a large, ie 10ft high, wild rose that was hanging over the shed but I cut it right back instead. I'm not keen on chopping down plants but it wasn't special and definitely too big. If it grows back that's fine and if it doesn't that's fine also. Clearing most of the rose made it possible for me to get to the stinging nettles growing along the fence at the bottom of the chickens' run (aka orchard). For once I had the time to dig out all the roots and I filled bucket after bucket with thick yellow roots. My work was closely watched by the 2 hens who kept darting in to snatch any juicy worms I unearthed.
Taking a break I saw that the ponies were having a lie-in. I couldn't get a decent shot of all of them which included one lying flat out fast asleep, because as soon as they see me coming they get up to come and say Hello. I'm guessing they are wearing fly sheets because they are being shown this summer. That's Ben at the front and once again his strap was undone.

This is Neville a Border terrier, the latest addition next door. He's a friendly little chap though Speedy doesn't think so and runs off at double speed when Neville comes visiting. I don't think the cats have recovered from the time Neville came and ran around the kitchen.

The rain is getting heavier and sounds like it is set for the night. It has been dry for such a long time and the ground could do with a good soaking. Reservoirs are low and there are hose pipe bans in parts of the country. I shall just enjoy the sound of the rain on the conservatory roof.