Croeso i 2017!

With all best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful 2017

Inbetween Festivities

Christmas to New Year saw us taking a return trip to Bristol.

All lit up it looked very festive by night:

The walk to Clifton the next day also took me past the topically titled (for the time of year) Christmas Steps.

In Clifton itself, wandered through Birdcage Walk (the graveyard of the now demolished St Andrew's Church), with its atmospheric tree tunnel.

   






All in all a nice break on our way to meet up with family for New Year itself.

Keeping it Simple

In a departure from tradition, decided to keep it simple with the cake this year.  So we have two smaller 'loaf' cakes, with a fruit, nut and marzipan topping, instead of the usual larger, round, iced offering.

Hopefully it will taste just as nice, but without the sugar-overload from the icing!

Christmas Greetings!

Tis the First Day of Christmas

And what does that mean?

A morning of cooking

Our festive cuisine.

Mulled wine by the fire,

Gifts under the tree.

Then dinner with family,

Washed down with Asti.

Too much has been eaten

But there's still plenty more

We could have been catering

For far more than four!

So now we're as stuffed as the Turkey itself

Time to sit by the fire, and drink to your health.

So here's wishing you a Christmas with plenty of cheer

And all that you'd wish for in the coming New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Countdown to Christmas!

Finally feeling better and ready for Christmas - so to celebrate here's a festive photo from our trip to Cardiff:

Really looking forward to the holidays now - the guilt-free food-fest (why not, it's Christmas!); watching people open their presents; mulled wine; sleeping in; sitting by the fire; Dr Who; Sherlock; decorating the cake(s); hot chocolate; a good book; jigsaws and games; family and friends; etc.

Just one more week to go . . .

Atchoo!

cough 

To expel air from the lungs suddenly and noisily, often to keep the respiratory passages free of irritating material.

+

sneeze

To expel air forcibly from the mouth and nose in an explosive, spasmodic involuntary action chiefly resulting from irritation of the nasal mucous membrane.

=

cold

A viral infection characterised by inflammation of the mucous membranes lining the upper respiratory passages and usually accompanied by malaise, fever, chills, coughing, and sneezing.  Also called common cold.

* With thanks to The Free Dictionary for the definitions, and to my beloved Martin for the germs - please can you take them away now . . .

A Christmassy Cardiff

Weekend in Cardiff - a bit of shopping and some Christmas sights, including a great Christmas market, with lots of stalls selling crafts, gifts, food and drink.


Unfortunately we managed to coincide our visit with Martin having a really bad cold -  still had a good time, heading out for a drink or four in the evening, a curry, and a night singing along to 80s music in one of the bars.

 Along the way visited Cardiff's very own Winter Wonderland - with its ice rink, and fairground rides and stalls - and took in the Christmas lights outside the castle walls.











Cardiff on an International (Wales 27 South Africa 13 - yay!) Saturday night was something of an interesting experience mind you - no glass allowed in any of the pubs, and we couldn't even buy a bottle of wine to take back to the hotel.

It was all very good natured though - particularly enjoyed the gang of twenty or so people dressed up in Pikachu onesies and going round town worshipping traffic lights until they turned from red to green!

Opening Day

Yes, we have a Tesco - seen here as the building was in the final stages of completion - and it has actually opened (despite rumours to the contrary!).

It's a somewhat odd beast, it isn't as big as we'd perhaps expected (given the monstrous size of the building), and getting in and out of it is a bit of an Escher experience, with travelators going in all directions, and entrances that are really exits (you have to see it to believe it!).

It has a great rooftop car park though - with some fantastic views!


We're just waiting for M&S to open now - due in Spring 2017 - should happen (they are advertising for staff), just so long as the argument with the Council over 'Foodhall' signage doesn't get out of hand!

Tornado!

In work this morning, when the world outside suddenly went mad - from a bit on the breezy side to absolutely howling winds - everyone stopped work to go and stare out of the windows!  Within 20 minutes though we were back to normal, except of course for the collateral damage . . .

It turned out there'd been an actual tornado passing through - with caravans ripped apart at Clarach Bay, trees down all over the place, closed roads, and damage to roofs, chimneys, flagpoles, and floodlights (two were blown over on the local football ground).

Here's the local news report - but Aberystwyth weather was back headlining on the national news again as well!

For once we more or less got away with at home - no broken glass in the greenhouses, and all trees intact - although we did notice that the raspberry support posts in the fruit cage (which were probably rotten anyway) had been taken out.

Bristol, Bridge and Boat

So from East Anglia, it was on to the South West for a couple of days. First stop Portishead (where Martin was working), and where I took advantage of the emerging sunshine to revisit the nearby National Trust property Tyntesfield.

Things have moved on since we last visited in 2012, and the property feels in much more of a 'finished' state.   It looked glorious in the autumn sunshine, and it was even warm enough to sit outside and snack on an NT cheese scone.

Had a good wander round the house and gardens, before returning to Portishead to meet up with Martin, who took me on to see the famous Clifton Bridge.  Gorgeous views out over the gorge:

Evening in Bristol, where Martin left me the following day for a bit of shopping, and a walk along the river back up to Clifton where I was due to meet him late lunchtime after work.

Walking by the river, spotted the local replica of the Matthew, the ship that John Cabot sailed to Newfoundland in 1497.  Bit of deja vu here, as we'd seen another Matthew replica on a visit to Bonavista in Newfoundland back in 2006!


A good couple of days - and Bristol is definitely a city to return to.

Wild Fenland

End of October and a weekend away visiting family - a bit of shopping and dinner out on the Saturday, and a quiet family day on the Sunday, including a walk round some of the local fenland nature trails.

We started at the Whitemoor Prison Nature Reserve - fenland countryside on our left, looming prison walls on the right (felt slightly strange!).  This eventually joins up with the more formally recognised Ring's End Nature Reserve, which follows a disused railway line, past ponds, reedbeds and scrubland - with views out over the fens:

Not a huge amount of wildlife to see - a passing dog walker claimed to have spotted deer in the fields but we weren't so lucky.

Lots of  Ink Cap Mushrooms in evidence though.






Back home again we were however treated to a (not terribly good) view of a Sparrowhawk, in the tree outside the conservatory window!

Into the Fruit Cage

Final garden task of the autumn was to bring the fruit cage back under control - forgot to take a 'before' photo of the jungle of weeds - but the 'after 'looked something like this (but with slightly more flourishing strawberry plants as again I forgot to take a photo, so this is a retrospective taken nearer Christmas*).

So - what did we do?

• Weeded throughout (which took a lot of doing!);
• moved the strawberry plants to allow the impacted ground to be dug over, before replanting them again; 
• dug up the two gooseberry bushes, one of which was definitely dead after repeated saw-fly attacks, the other of which is now in a pot, and; 
• replanted some raspberry suckers which may or may not take (might need to get a new batch of raspberry plants in 2017).

Along the way had to relocate one frog and one toad who had taken up residence.

Will see how it all looks in the Spring - just have to remember to weed more often in the future!

* Yes I've been a bad blogger again, and am blogging October in December!

Moss, Moss and More Moss

Another autumnal task - de-mossing the back lawn - where it had started taking over again.





We ended up with a lot of bags of moss - and this from only half the lawn.  The rest will have to wait for the Spring!

Apple Harvest

Autumn winds have been bringing down the apples on an almost daily basis - so it was out to pick the remainder today.

Not a bad harvest - some were even a fairly decent size. I foresee lots of peeling and chopping in my future, although will try and get some at least to 'keep' for a while.

Flower Show Reunion

From the Lake District we moved on to Yorkshire to meet up with some old schoolfriends for the weekend - a bit of a reunion, and a celebration of the first set of our 50th birthdays.  Meandered our way across the Dales, taking in Settle and Skipton, before arriving late afternoon in the village of Bramhope where we had booked a barn conversion for the weekend.

On the Saturday we'd all got tickets for a Flower Show (well except for Martin and one of the other chaps who headed off for a day's mountain biking instead!).

It proved to be a good day - wandered round the outside stalls in the sunshine (some lovely things) - visited craft and food tents, and the competition tents, including an amazing range of giant vegetables:






Of course there were lots of flowers too  . . .

All in all a great weekend - finished the day back at the barn, meeting up with the muddy mountain bikers - with a meal out at a local pub in the evening.

Unfortunately we couldn't hang around for long on the Sunday as it was a long drive back to Wales - more 50th birthdays though in 2017!

A Step Too Far?

After a week or so at home, finally took the holiday on the road - headed up to my old stomping grounds in the Lake District, where we caught up with a friend from my YHA days, and took a bit of a walk . . .

We set off from Keswick on one of the hottest, most humid days of the year, to climb Walla Crag - and somewhere along the way the decision was taken to detour to Castlerigg Stone Circle (which mis-reading a signpost we thought was only half a mile away - ha ha!).

We then had to retrace our steps, before heading up Walla Crag itself - it isn't a long walk, but quite steep, and in the heat I found it rather hard going (Martin of course scampered up like the eponymous mountain goat!).  At least there were some good, if rather misty, views from the top!

From there it was down to Ashness Bridge.  By which time, in the heat, and given my state of limited fitness, I was flagging a bit.

The cold water was just too tempting, and I soon had my boots and socks off - absolute bliss!

Had to get going again though, and from there made it to Shepherd's Caff in Borrowdale for a much needed drink and an ice lolly (couldn't face a cake), before being persuaded to continue the trek round the lake.

It was probably a mistake - by the time we got back to Keswick my step counter was showing over 35,000 steps and boy could I tell.  Martin was in a much better way but being driven mad by a squeaky boot.  So while I staggered off to the Pheasant Inn to bag a table, he went further into town to change his boots!

Refreshed with cider, and a very tasty dinner of beef pie and chips, was able to make it back to the B&B in relatively more comfort (even stopping to check out the flood damage at Keswick YHA along the way).

A good day in the end - need to get myself a bit fitter before tackling anything like this again though:

One for Sorrow

On our 'holidays', down by the seafront, enjoying a cider looking out to sea, and we had some company . . .

Only a youngster, all on its own and with no apparent fear of people - in fact it seemed to be looking through the window into the pub quite wistfully.

Last we saw it had hopped off toward the prom - can only hope it survived.

Where to Start?

The garden has been yielding more courgette / marrows, and the first tomatoes are emerging from the greenhouse.

It all looks a bit daunting at the moment - the marrows in particular!

Tomato sauce, courgette bhaji, and courgette lasagne here we come . . .

Eastern Travels

Bank holiday weekend and off to East Anglia . . .

Catch-up with family, and some nice days out to some new local sights - for some reason we'd never made it to St Ives before, with its charming waterfront and C15th bridge with a chapel built into it:

Another trip took us to Gooderstone Water Gardens and we also made a return visit to Oxburgh Hall:


Unfortunately we couldn't get inside, as they'd recently experienced the dramatic collapse of a Victorian dormer window into the courtyard (as seen here) at which point I guess health and safety kicked in!


All in all a good weekend, with some great fenland skies:

Magpie Moth

Spotted this on the lawn today - thought it was a butterfly at first but couldn't identify it . . . 

Luckily there are experts out there who know about these things, and it turns out it is actually a Magpie Moth - pity it was dead really!

Seashore Sunshine

Beautiful sunny evening on the prom - what else is there to say!

Here We Go Again . . .

The (almost) annual marrow post - never quite get to those courgettes in time!

Adapted a bhaji recipe this year to use the grated marrow, which has worked well - certainly got plenty to work my way through!

Potato Harvest

Dug up the potatoes today - two varieties - Desiree and King Edward (plus a third 'unknown').

Reasonable haul, cleaned up nicely - so some should keep.

The rest will be mashed for the freezer - packaged up a basic mash (no milk or butter) freezes well enough  - ready for use when required . . .

First Redcurrants

After two years (and annual decimation by sawfly) our (still tiny) redcurrant bush has finally produced some redcurrants!

Emerald Isle

Summer holidays saw us cross the Irish Sea for a road trip round Ireland:

Started with the sights (and pubs) of Dublin - including the Dead Zoo (part of their Natural History Museum), a real museum of a museum . . .

Then it was on our way round Ireland taking in castles, religious ruins, and prehistoric sites:

That's Glendalough, the Rock of Cashel, Cahir Castle, Newgrange and Trim Castle (clockwise from top left!).

The prehistoric site of Knowth gets its own separate photo, purely for the joy of their approach to keeping the grass down on the burial mounds!

We also saw some wildlife - from deer, to a cheese-eating heron, who was more than happy to hang out with numerous onlookers on a Galway street (or on top of a car) waiting for more cheese to be dispensed:

Unfortunately much of the better scenery on our trip was obscured by rain and mist - and we were left with the impression that the Ring of Kerry was no better than a drive from North to Mid Wales.

Maybe we need a re-brand in Wales - the Irish Tourist Board are certainly doing a good job!

Mystery Mammal

Latest from Wildlife Cam - some debate though over the nature of the beast we caught on camera:

At first we though that maybe it was a rat - but there's no evidence of a tail, and it wasn't exactly moving at any pace.  Our eventual conclusion was hedgehog - see what you think!

Outdoor Living

Hoping for a good summer this year - with a new gas barbecue, and a bistro set (to join the bench we bought last year), we're ready for some outside dining.

Fingers crossed for the sunshine to go with it!