Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

2010 - Make it a Good One!

Christmas Cake and Catastrophe!

Well another Christmas has come and gone . . .

This year's cake came out well - decoration courtesy of two snowflake cutters and those little silver sugar balls that break your teeth. Tried out frangipane mince pies as well - a bit different from the traditional variety, and very nice too.

All that food (and drink!) serves as a fitting precursor of course to the annual New Year's resolution to lose weight and eat more healthily . . .

The rest of Christmas followed the traditional pattern - meeting up with family, presents under the tree, the occasional bit of TV gold among the Christmas dross. Most of the Christmas food has been eaten or given away now (just a quarter of the cake left), although still enjoying the chocolate, particularly the 'volcanic' chocolate orange (think chocolate with 'space dust' - I quite liked it anyway!).

Then came Boxing Day and our very own minor catastrophe, courtesy of the fish tank, which managed to empty itself (bar a couple of inches or so, which preserved the fish) onto the carpet. Cue a morning of mopping up - it's drying out now, but the dehumidifier is still running, and the room is still in relative chaos:

So that's it for another year - hopefully next year's effort will be a little less wet!

White (Week Before) Christmas!

Picture the scene, it's a Saturday morning, the day stretches ahead, lots of Christmas preparation things to do, a bare few flakes of snow drift down . . . half an hour later . . .

We did make it to the top of the road, but cancelled plans to go further, got some essentials from the nearest shop, and just made it home while the road was passable. By early afternoon it had stopped snowing and it was time to take advantage of the resulting photo opportunities:

The sun even came out for a few minutes . . .

It didn't really last the night, but who knows there may be more to come yet . . .

Somewhere Under the Rainbow . . .

. . . it's still raining. Nice rainbow though!

Could have been Worse!

Well November's weather (see below) was what might be conservatively referred to as 'wet and windy'. Thus far the effects haven't been quite as bad as the end of October last year, although the garden was approaching saturation point by the end of last week.

Compared with my former stomping ground in the Lake District we appear to have got off very lightly though. The effect on the towns and villages of the North Lakes (some of which I know very well having lived in the Buttermere, Cockermouth and Keswick areas during the early-mid 1990s) has been really devastating.

Here in Wales it's now feeling distinctly cooler (there was actually a frost this morning) - and the last couple of days have been dryish with a brisk breeze, so the garden is gradually becoming a little less sodden. Here's hoping for more dry weather to come, and a few sunny days wouldn't come amiss!

Stop Press: Met Office declares November 2009 as the wettest month on record!

All the Fun of the Fair

After this morning's spooky encounter with the sheep from hell on my walk into work, I felt a little light relief was in order - so after work I headed of fair-wards.

This is something of an annual tradition for us - walking round the stalls of the roadside market that visits traffic chaos on Aber for the last three Mondays of November, and then moving on to the fun fair which inhabits one of the car parks for much the same period.

For once we didn't actually make it all the way round - there was nevertheless the usual sense of deja-vu (it doesn't change - stalls offering cheap goods / clothes - we rarely buy anything), and the increasing sense of time passing (how many years have we done this now?).

Quite sorry to have missed the fun fair - got some photos from the outside looking in - but that brief wander through the rides, candyfloss and hoop-la is very evocative, if only from the perspective of nostalgia for fairs past (and on the other side of the country, although all fairs feel the same somehow!).

The Fun of the Fair (age 6) was really quite something . . .

Be Afraid; Be Very Afraid

'nuff said:

Oven Ready

It's been a really warm autumn so we hadn't felt the need for the Rayburn until the last week or so. Decided we should get it looked at professionally before it went on though, as we didn't have it serviced last year. The man came yesterday and hoovered it all out, replaced the wicks, chipped off carbon deposits etc., and now we have a lovely warm kitchen (seems to be burning better than last year).


In fact yesterday was a day of ovens - the motor on our nearly ten year old microwave had given up a couple of weeks ago. We'd gotten a bit fed up of having to rearrange the jacket potatoes manually so finally ordered ourselves a new one, which was delivered yesterday.

Dinner last night was (microwave) jacket spuds and sausage casserole (out of the Rayburn)!

Late Summer / Autumn Weather

It's been a while since my last weather update, so here's the run-down on August, September and October. A bit of a mixed-bag on the whole - some nice weeks, some wet ones, and we never really got that 'barbecue summer' the Met Office were promising. August was definitely an improvement on last year's month of grey though - and the end of October was also a little drier.



P.S. Given up on the weather station data for now - moved to Linux and now the software won't work at all!

Shutting Down a Greenhouse

Autumn is well and truly with us now - the large greenhouse was still full of tomatoes up to this weekend (although they were definitely past their best), and with the promise of frost it was time to move them out, and move in other things that needed the protection of the greenhouse over Winter.

It took a while to strip out the old tomato plants - picking the fruit which was still in good condition - trying not to breathe in too much mould from some of the plants / fruit that were starting to rot - deconstructing the framework of canes which had supported everything. Eventually I ended up with one nice clear greenhouse, into which the two tubs of potatoes being grown for Christmas were duly moved.



And in the house, I now have a large box of green and semi-ripe tomatoes - beefsteak, plum, and cherry - which kept in their box in the dark, should ripen over the coming weeks.



The small greenhouse is still busy ripening chillis at present - the intention being to try and preserve the best of the plants over the winter (apparently they should last for a few years if the frost doesn't get them). A couple of peppers remain, but they weren't really that successful, while the cucumbers continue to rampage in one corner (although we're well and truly fed up with cucumbers now!). Will clear out the peppers and cucumbers in the coming weeks, but we live in hope that the remaining two or three peppers may yet ripen - if not they'll join the tomatoes in the box!

This Week I am Mostly Reading . . . 2008

Don't know if anybody is following this (see side bar) but I'm beginning to run out of room - so time to 'archive' 2008 at least:

Finished:

Neil Gaiman American Gods (Nov 08 - excellent stuff) and Anansi Boys (Dec 08) stalled a third of the way in to the latter - that was me though, not the book - finished it within a couple of days, thoroughly recommended!

For a while there I just wasn't reading - too tired or something - doing cryptic crosswords in bed instead. Must admit I still haven't finished Julian Baggini'sWhat's It All About?: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life. So I'm yet to discover the meaning of life . . . apparently it isn't down to God, helping others, the greater good, or the pursuit of happiness . . . This was basically following up on Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion (Summer 08).

Why are we here? Answers on a postcard to ...

Posts that Didn't Happen 4: Castles and Gardens

Back to early August again, and some of the sights of Wales, courtesy of a parental visit (why do we so rarely do this kind of thing just for ourselves?)

One day trip to the National Trust property Dinefwr, down South, which just happens to have a 12th Century Welsh castle in the grounds. Great place to visit - they've done some good things with the house - and we actually saw some of the deer in the Deer Park. The castle is a short walk uphill, but has the most fantastic views, and lots of walkways and towers to explore.

Another day trip, another National Trust property, this time Bodnant Gardens in North Wales - famous for its Laburnum Arch (although we'll have to go in May to see it in full bloom). It was a lovely day and the gardens were looking beautiful.

Was particularly taken with a giant magnolia - and with the photo I got into the centre of one of its flowers:

The Dangers of Fishing

Haven't been blogging much recently, but then haven't been doing much recently, on account of the dangers of fishing.



No hooks or anything, just a stile and too much fishing gear, resulting in what we thought was a sprained ankle . . .






. . . but which, following a visit to Casualty, when the swelling wasn't going down, turned out to be a little more serious . . .





A break was duly confirmed by Fracture Clinic and for the last four weeks Martin's been in plaster-proper (well I think they're made of fibre-glass these days). Hoping that Fracture Clinic on Monday will result in its removal, but we'll see.


In the meantime, it's been a quiet few weeks, but should have more to blog soon.

Update - Monday 19th October
Out of plaster, but still not really up to walking far - may be on the crutches for a bit yet - some pain now in trying to put weight on his foot, but the physio seemed pleased so hopefully it should improve soon!

Posts that Didn't Happen 3: Trailer Trash

Quite a bit of catching up to do here . . . The time is early August - the occasion, the acquisition of a trailer - the rationale, the fact that we'd also acquired a new car in early July and didn't want to mess up it's boot with garden debris.

So here we are, one new trailer duly assembled - which all went far more smoothly than some of the online trailer reviews led us to believe (the instructions weren't brilliant, but Martin's instincts for what went where didn't let him down!) - and hitched up to the new car (which we'd ordered with the necessary towing attachments).


And it's doing the job, taking away the accumulations of grass and hedge clippings, and bringing back former boot-loads of wood. Still have to practice reversing the thing though - currently going with the manual 'un-hitch, unload, turn the car around, re-hitch' strategy!

Swallow School

The swallows are lining up on the telephone wires on a daily basis now - lots of swooping - it looks like they're playing , or maybe training up the new generation . . .

Jammy

A rather dismal bank holiday weekend - managed to catch up with some household tasks though - including turning the two tubs of blackcurrants in the freezer into jam, and producing another load of tomato sauce:

Posts that Didn't Happen 2: You Looking At Us?

Brood 2 as at 27 July - ready to fly . . . and they did, off camera, in private, the very next day.

Posts that Didn't Happen 1: July by the Lake

Time to play catch-up with some posts that didn't quite make it.

Had a few days away in July in the Lakes, meeting up with old friends, and buying lots of walking kit. Even managed a couple of walks - including the circuit round Derwentwater - although maybe it was a bit hot that day for some people:

Before and After

Tomatoes and Tomato Sauce

June / July Weather Summary

Not been the best of bloggers recently, including a lack of weather updates.

Herewith therefore the weather for June and July - only no weather station data because it doesn't seem to have recorded anything other than the first 4 days of June (having rediscovered the lost data for the end of May as well - couldn't be bothered to reblog that though!). Maybe the data for the rest of June, July and August will reappear in due course . . . I can but hope!

JUNE (pretty good on the whole):

JULY (not quite so good, and missing a few days when we were out of town . . .) :

Elephant Tomato and the Lone Blueberry

One of our first tomatoes - in our fine tradition of deformed produce. We've had a few more tomatoes since, all much more normal looking.

The Lone Blueberry is an even more tragic tale . . . We had (at one point) lots of lovely ripening blueberries - then, one day, they were gone, except for the Lone Blueberry sitting on a strawberry leaf. No idea what got them, as far as we can see the fruit cage is intact - our only thought is that some clever bird / squirrel squeezed itself under the flap of netting at the top, ate the lot, and squeezed its way back out again.

Ah well, you live and learn . . . next year we tie down all the netting round the top and keep our fingers crossed!

Another Log Store, Another Nest

Our local pied wagtail population seem to have a real thing for log stores . . .

A couple of weeks after brood 1 left the nest (which was neatly positioned behind the log store by the house) we found a second nest, neatly positioned at the back of the log store at the bottom of the garden (where we dried the onions last year).

Here's the latest (slightly out of focus) view of the newly-hatched chicks.

Elephant Strawberry

And our first Raspberry Crop!

Growing Elsewhere

Outside of the greenhouses (big and small) we have the old veg plot, the new veg plot, and the fruit cage. In terms of progress here it's a bit of a mixed picture . . .

Starting with the old veg plot:
- the onions are doing ok, although note for next year, don't plant in a block as it makes it difficult to weed;
- the broccoli has yielded a good first crop (now in the freezer) and hopefully there'll be more to follow;
- unfortunately things aren't going so well with the potatoes - some of which actually look like they are dying back - although I suppose we can't judge until we actually pull them.


The peas, which were last year's success story, have also proved somewhat disappointing. Our main problem here was that something ate most of them (note for next year, plant them deeper) - the ones that are left are doing well mind you, and we've filled in the gaps with some green beans (carefully started off in the greenhouse and transplanted).


In the new veg plot:
- the success story (at least thus far) is the sweetcorn, which is looking good;
- in between the sweetcorn is some butternut squash, which hasn't done much at all yet;
- a subsidiary row of peas has grown thickly, but only to about 20cm high . . .



The courgettes are doing better - six plants in all, and we should hopefully be getting a reasonable harvest out of these.



Finally the fruit cage:
- the raspberries, blackcurrants, and gooseberries never really got anywhere this year - we've just harvested a handful of raspberries;
- more on the blueberry bush later, but it broadly seems to be be doing ok;
- the strawberries have proved most attractive to the local wildlife with numerous nibblings of the net - as a result we've had to refortify with wire netting (as pictured).



Even so, despite some nibblings here and there, the strawberry harvest is going very well, indeed; six plus large bowls and more to come - when this year's runners have established themselves, I think we're looking at strawberry jam in 2010.