Staycation.

The other day when I was asked if I was going away on holiday I allowed myself a brief moment of self-pity (partly fuelled by the the fact that the questioner was quite aware that my salary is only a fraction of theirs) as I replied that our weekend on I.O.S. was our holiday for the year. But really on a day like today I'm content to be at home and enjoy our lovely surroundings.

My day started with breakfast of fresh coffee with oats, sunflower seeds and fresh blueberries. Energised I cracked on with the weeding and now I can say that most of the garden is more or less presentable.

By lunchtime it was nicely warm out of the breeze.

So I had a long lunch break reading in the sun and unwinding from the my morning efforts. Squeaky was quick enough to claim my seat once I roused myself to get on with the mowing. I was on the third lawn when Peter came home from rowing and offered to finish the mowing. That left me free to tackle my final gardening job of the day - clearing grass and leaves from the little pond. After that I had a much needed shower, pond mud is quite smelly!

Then once I'd done a little ironing I was free to enjoy the sun from the scree garden.

With of course tea and my book. After a supper cooked by Peter we are now settling down for a fun evening watching the Eurovision Song Contest. 

No Showers.

The good weather has stayed, hooray! I started weeding in the morning thinking to stop when the predicted showers arrived and was still weeding when Peter came home from work.

That did of course include morning coffee and a 2 hour lunch break sitting outside in the sun. The cows in the field behind the house were lying down which should mean rain or maybe they were sunbathing in the unexpected warmth. It was quiet at home with few cars going to the stables. I guess they are all at the Devon County Show. They usually show some of the ponies and enter riding classes as well.

I did hear the familiar sound of jackdaw chicks coming from our loft and I've seen where they have found a way in past Romas' wire netting defences. I could also hear the sound of young crows, not from our loft thank goodness but from one of the big trees by the lake. They sound sound a bit like cats wailing. And that's been my quiet day at home.

Heavy Showers.

It's so much easier to get up when you look out of the window and see the sun shining. By the time I had washed my hair and got through the morning kitchen chores clouds had started to appear but I was still able to get on with some weeding in the garden. 

I had to leave a little earlier to get to the post office so I escaped the torrential rain from the ominous black cloud that had appeared. It was a very wet journey in but when I got to town it suddenly stopped. I called in to book the micra into the garage because it is still losing some water and there they were  wondering where the heavy rain was that had been mentioned in a radio weather warning. Later I heard that some places nearby had been bombarded by hail stones. 

The rain kept threatening during the afternoon and we cut our playtime short because it had started to get really heavy and none of the children had coats on. More severe rain as I drove home followed by a brief spell of bright sunshine. The forecast is for more of the same for the next few days.

Slight Improvement.

It was a wild and stormy night last night. We had a power cut at midnight but unlike the 300 homes that were still without power this morning, it came back on after half an hour. While listening to the late night weather forecast I sympathised with those people up in Scotland who were due to have some snow but I was surprised in the morning to hear that there had been snow up on Dartmoor which is only 60 miles away. (Why does this country have to get colder because of global warming? It's just not fair.) I came down in the morning to find Elwen ensconced in the warming oven of the Rayburn which I had left open to dry off my Ugg boots. She stayed in there until I left for work at lunchtime when she emerged, had a stretch and went outside. Patch aka Fatty and Speedy had been having a lovely time in the conservatory where I had forgotten to put the lid back on the feed box after feeding them last night. Speedy was positively rotund this evening when I finally realised my mistake. No supper for those 2 tonight and short rations for a while to make up for all the food they ate.

It stayed dry, mostly, with occasional tantalising glimpses of the sun this morning so I was able to get out and continue with the weeding. I won't say I have a plan because anything could go wrong, the weather or my back, but I would like to have done all the basic weeding in the main part of the garden before the half term holiday in 10 days time. That way I can spend the break working in my favourite part of the garden, the scree garden, and possibly get in some reading in the sun time.

I checked the water in the micra in the morning and it had gone down a teeny bit. I topped it up and watched the temperature gauge like  hawk when I drove to work. A slight panic when it crept over the minimum mark but it stayed in the middle of the normal range for most of the journey. The water level was still fine after work so hopefully it will not cause any more trouble. That will teach me to be a bit more careful about checking the oil and water. The weather continued to improve during the day and by the time I left school after a maths training session it was most spring-like. The cow parsley is starting to flower and there is a faint blue haze in the grassy verge where the bluebells are. No buttercups yet but the dandelions shine like coins in the sun.

Very Wet.

We have had mixed weather today, a choice of heavy rain or really heavy rain. It was too wet to work outside so this morning I did some boring housework stuff. On my way in to school I noticed that the car's temperature gauge was suddenly climbing and it was nearly into the red by the time I parked at school. That at least would explain the funny smell I had noticed yesterday as I was coming down into the valley. I had mentioned it to Peter (I know there's no reason why I can't check the oil and I should really do so regularly but I go all girly if I can get someone else to do it). Peter turned the engine on and checked underneath for any oil leak but assured me there wasn't a problem with the oil. Of course I didn't think to check the water which was the actual problem. Having nearly always driven older cars I do keep a bottle of water in the car but I waited until after school to pour in some water. That got me soaking wet and by the time I had driven a mile the temp was rising again. I stopped at Burridge and poured in the rest of the litre but it wasn't enough - oops. I stopped in Shirwell outside what used to be the village shop and garage to ask for more water when I noticed an outside tap so I was able to pour in another litre! of water and fill my bottle in case I needed more. It was too wet to see if any water was leaking out but I'll check it again tomorrow and if there's a problem it can go into our friendly local garage. One of the headlights must have a loose wire because apparently it sometimes dims and then comes back on again and the tracking needs a bit of adjusting as well.

It's been too wet and gloomy to take any pictures today so here is yet one more from Hugh Town on St Martin's.

Dry.

Despite the early morning farming forecast telling us that the next few weeks will be wet and unseasonably cold there has hardly been a drop of rain today. I had to go into town in the morning but my afternoon was spent, well wrapped up, sorting the marjoram. I gave up trying to remove the grass and simply dug the whole lot up. That's been relocated to a bit of rough ground and there is plenty of marjoram left for me to divide up a few clumps and fill in the gaps. I was enjoying the elements and having a well deserved rest with a cup of tea when THINGS happened. I leaned over to pick up something from the side table next to me when the seat of the plastic chair gave way depositing me on the ground. On my way down I knocked the table which went over and the cup fell onto the paving and smashed. My special extra big mug that was just the right size for an Earl Grey tea-bag. OK it was only one from Poundland but it was irritating anyway. Though I'm glad the chair broke now rather than when someone else was sitting in it or when I ever have my next lot of back surgery. 

I.O.S. Last day.

As we weren't sailing on the Scillonian until the afternoon we had time to take a boat trip around the islands. This time we opted for the glass bottomed boat going out to the Northern Rocks. I though the glass would give some interesting views but when we were moving all you could see were bubbles and there wasn't much near the rocks except for some seaweed.

However it was great fun going out into the rougher water. Standing up and balancing against the movement of the boat is my level of excitement (couldn't do rollercoasters!).

There were only 8 passengers on the boat so it was easy to move from side to side to see the many seals and sea birds. The skipper also told us about some of the wrecks we were going over. Lots of stuff about Napoleonic wars which interested Peter (he likes that sort of thing) but I didn't really bother listening. At the last count there were 2,500 wrecks around the islands. 

We sailed (is it sailing if you use a motor?) into this gulley between 2 islets to see the seals. It was quite tight to turn around and we only hit the rocks once. One of the other passengers who was a sailor and boat builder said he would never have dared to try that manoeuvre.

 More rocks and more up and down, wheee! I'm actually a very poor sailor but fine if I take a travel tablet.

And we did get to see some puffins though there were a lot more razorbills which are quite similar but without the distinctive orange beak.

After our tour there was time to enjoy some pasties before boarding the Scillonian for a steady voyage back to Penzance. There we collected the car and got home after 10.00. (Please excuse so many holiday snaps but I found it very hard to edit down the 400+ that I took and I wanted to share the beauty of the Isles of Scilly.)

Cold and Wet.

It's cold, wet and horrible today. Too wet to do anything outside except feed the hen and check on the road. And somehow I haven't had the energy to do much indoors apart from some ironing. Instead I cheered myself up by looking at more of my pictures of the Isles of Scilly.

 There are 5 inhabited islands and 140 islets which are thought to be all that is left of the drowned island of Ennor

 Bryher on the left and Tresco on the right.

 Samson (I think).

 The islands have been occupied since stone age times and at low tide it is possible to see field markings below the present sea level.

 Gugh.

Annet.