Rainy.

It has rained all day long. Not that much of a nuisance as after only a few hours work yesterday my bones, or rather my joints and associated muscles, are complaining bitterly. Instead I have done some more school work, finished off the ironing that has been making me feel guilty for the last week and made  a few alterations to the tops I bought last week. I bought them extra large so they would be nice and roomy but that meant that the armholes were too baggy. A few darts here and there and now they are fit to wear. At home I'm not too fussed with what I wear as long as it's comfortable and keeps me warm in winter or cool in summer (on those few hot days), but at work I have to be appropriately dressed also bearing in mind that I am often sitting on the floor (carpet) with the children or leaping about in a 10 minute activity break. 

Busy Day.

The day started with rain, lots of it. I spent the morning in town, went to the usual places, library & post office etc. and met up with 2 friends for coffee and a chat. Cheesecake twice in one week! I am living the wild life. 

As usual on a Friday, especially a wet one in the holidays, town was bustling with shoppers. A busker was playing the Scottish bagpipes in the high Street, though not wearing a kilt and in our small shopping mall groups of youngsters were showing their prowess at street dance.

Markets have been held in Barnstaple since Saxon times but the Pannier Market is only 160 years old. Friday is the day that farmers can sell their wares though a lot of the stalls are traders rather than farmers. The lady on the left sells produce from her organic market garden and she spins and knits the wool from her Jacob sheep. The fruit & veg stall on the right is one of 2 in the market, their produce is a bit cheaper but the quality is not so good so I buy from the other one.

I don't like the taste of olives but I love their smell so I have a good sniff as I pass the olive stall with its many varieties of olives. On the other side of the aisle the ladies from the Gurkha restaurant sell hot take away curries, they smell lovely too. 

 Many of the farmers' stall had daffodils for sale.

One stall here has a selection of home baking and the other has home made chutneys, pickles and jams.

I also drove over to Lidl's and took back the car seat covers. I can live with the old ones and instead I'll use the money to buy plants for my hanging baskets. It's a bit early to be planting up the summer hanging baskets but BJ's had some special offers which I wanted to take advantage of. I bought the white trailing lobelia that I found so difficult to find last year (and then they flowered blue!) and then I couldn't resist buying violas and pansys for some early colour. There were so many colours to chose from but in the end I fell for these rust and yellow violas and pansys which I've crammed into a basket with garlic chives and a coriander plant hoping to foil the slugs. It stopped raining in the afternoon so I was able to get the pressure washer out and clean the paving by the barbecue so I feel I've done a good day's work. I'll have to get some more hose before I can clean the paving around the conservatory.

Wet.

I thought it was a lot warmer this morning and was looking forward to getting on with washing the paving when down came the rain.

And not just rain. Hailstones too and then the rain simply got heavier. I went up and reinforced the dams across the road and was happy to see the excess water pouring into the field instead of down our drive. 

So I spent my day tidying up, working at the pc and watching the stream fill up with muddy water. A couple of tornado jets flew over, one at zero altitude which made a terrific noise. Are they out on manoeuvres because of the situation in the far east? 

Rain.

The rain arrived this afternoon. Now all we need is some warmth and spring might arrive sometime. Peter drove me to the hospital this morning for some more injections into my hips. Last time I had it done the doctor advised taking things easy so that's what I've been doing today. Doing some paperwork and watching tv. Peter spent his afternoon down at the boat shed doing more painting. The new gig is called Barum Bobby, Barum being the old name for Barnstaple but my silly mind had to think of Bare'em Bobby and rude sea-side post cards! (I was about to search for an image but realised I might get more than I bargained for.)

Being Thankful.

It was cold and windy this morning but as I wrapped up to carry on with my outside work I realised that there are a lot of things I felt thankful for on this wintry day. First thing to be thankful for is that we both have jobs (a thing that is not so easy these days), but doubly so as they have been very understanding and in different ways have provided support. The next thing was that we live surrounded by nature, something that I missed so much when living surrounded by houses. I was thankful for the fact that although it felt like winter it was dry and I could work comfortably because I have more than enough clothes to keep me warm. So all in all I felt happy as I weeded the raised beds and cleared the paving stones ready to be washed.

As I got rid of any dry stems and leaves that weren't protecting the plants and pulled up all the weeds I rescued my 4 birds and sat them on a piece of paving.

In reality they are the cast iron ball & claw feet for an old fashioned bath but I have always seen them as fat pigeons or doves holding their tails up behind them. I had a play with Photoshop to show how I see them.

Peter went into work this afternoon but things are slow at the moment so he isn't needed till Monday. He came home briefly before going out to row on the river. Everyone is into race training at the moment as it is only 3 weeks to the world championships.

Chilly.

It was a bit grey, windier and colder today. I spent the morning in town. First meeting a friend and then doing some shopping. I went in a cheap clothing shop and bought a couple of tops for work, one in sale and one not.  My recent comfort eating has left me with a few bulges that need covering up. I will get back on the diet soon as I would like to be fitter and lighter for the next round of back surgery. I also bought some car seat covers which I'm now going to take back as I've decided that the red doesn't match my car. But I will be keeping the gardening gloves I bought as all the ones I have at home have holes at the tips of the fingers.

Peter went to work this morning. He'll be working half days this week and then if he finds it OK he will increase his hours next week. He spent the afternoon down at the boat shed helping with the repainting of the gigs. We may be near to the bottom of the league but at least we have the smartest looking gigs.

Grey.

It's been grey, windy and cold today but at least it has remained dry. Last night I heard that 1,500 acres of Dartmoor were on fire but it's now been put out.

I finally got around to clearing some of the paperwork that had been piling up on the corner of the kitchen table. There wasn't too much to do, just filing things in the correct places. I also did some planning for school, typing up ideas that I'd worked out in the small hours of those long nights when I don't sleep. I've been asked to do some D & T (design & technology or in other words - making), based around pirate ships. That should be fun.

I went out to work in the garden later in the afternoon cleaning the paved area by the barbecue before I use the pressure washer on the slabs. Somehow the job expanded to weeding the flower beds on either side so I didn't quite finish. I also cut down quite a lot of the small-ish conifer that had grown out across the path. I hate cutting trees, it feels cruel and the conifer had been happily growing there for 15 years. I have left nearly half of the upright trunks and at least now it is easier to walk along the path. I was sad too to cut and burn most of a large rambling rosemary bush but it has a virus and was not looking good. The same virus killed off the original plant and the cuttings that I took from it. I left one branch simply so that we would still have fresh rosemary for cooking.