Winter Sea and Sky

The year is drawing to its close, the Winter Solstice has passed and Christmas is following fast on its heels, with all its hustle and bustle - time for a couple of peaceful images from December walks on the prom, sea and sky:

Lego Land

It's been a bit of a 'Lego' year - which of course leaves me with the question of what to do with all the finished models.  

The 'Lighthouse' has its home on the storage chest by the french doors - but 'Rivendell' is a bit more problematic, given both its size, and relative fragility (all those trees).  In the end decided to house it in one of the display cabinets - where it's protected from knocks (and dust!).  

With the addition of some lighting (thanks Martin!), I can still see and enjoy it (although I had to separate it into its sections as it was still slightly too big to fit when connected as a whole).

'Tudor Corner' currently sits at the end of the sofa - but may yet find its way to the same cabinet (just one shelf down).

Then there's the seasonal 'Christmas' display (including the 'Lighthouse' which has been displaced by the Tree) which incorporates the new 'Alpine Lodge' alongside last year's 'Holiday Main Street':

Have to keep an eye on things mind you, as a certain person finds it most amusing to swap things around when I'm not looking:

Rainbow Day

It has been an autumn of rainbows - but this one, just outside our door, was particularly fine . . .

Christmas Starts Here . . .

Time for some Christmas 'bling' methinks . . . 

Have to make the most of it - especially as 'constructing' the tree is a right faff (only exceeded by that of deconstructing it again).  Fair play though, it has done us well, over 20 years of Christmases and hopefully a few more to come!

Posts that Didn't Happen: November 2025

And finally November (after which normal service shall resume!)

Another month of rather mixed weather, so nothing really happened Van-wise (every time we thought of doing something it would start pouring with rain!).  Although we did have at least one rather gorgeous sunset down on the prom:

In other news, I may have overdone it on the Lego - had already indulged in the Christmas Alpine Lodge set (which I'd had my eye on for a while, as an addition to last year's Holiday Main Street), then talked myself into the LOTR Rivendell too.  

(And of course then I saw some other Lego sets I'd been looking at on sale, and the rest is history!)

Life otherwise just pottered along . . .

. . . did a bit of 'work', sorted some stuff for charity / sale online, gave blood, ordered new glasses, participated in an ONS survey (vouchers for which mostly funded the Lego Santa's Sleigh!)   . . . and completed my Rivendell mega-build.

Later in the month, there was the usual trip across country to visit / stay with family, this time with some added dog-sitting for one night.  She was very good, spending most of the time asleep, as she's a bit of an old lady now.  Although she still managed to take us on a nice long woodland walk!

Diverted to Stratford-upon-Avon on the trip home, got to admire the Christmas lights, enjoy an evening out, and a bit of shopping.  Then home again to think about putting up our own Christmas decorations.

Posts that Didn't Happen: October 2025

October was not the best of months weather-wise - but at least I was busy with a bit of consultancy work, while Martin was occupied with constructing cupboard doors for the Van.

In our downtime, Martin was still learning chess, although I'd drifted away from that a bit, having my attention caught by 'miracle' sudoku puzzles instead.

And then there's the Lego . . .  after the Lighthouse in 2023, I indulged in a Christmas themed set in 2024, then in the summer fell in love with the 'Tudor Corner', and seeing it on sale just couldn't resist.

So many an evening has been spent constructing - and enjoying the intricacy and inventiveness of the interiors in particular - just love that cute little loo!

The middle of the month saw us heading back across country in the Van (quite possibly the last Van trip of the year) for another family visit . . .

. . . helped out with shopping etc. (including picking up one of the new  'Geese of March' calendars), and had a very nice family Sunday dinner (meeting up at a half way point between us and family from Suffolk).  

Back home to Wales for a few days then before heading north - dropping off Martin's folks for a visit with family while we had a couple of night's in Chester.

Enjoyed some (occasionally wet) walks around the wall, did a bit of shopping, visited the castle, had a drink or two, and indulged in a very nice curry.

We were slightly intrigued though to find the following messages inscribed in various locations around Chester - at least I knew where my Martin was!

Posts that Didn't Happen: September 2025

 And so to September . . . 

Started the month with a very nice afternoon tea to celebrate a forthcoming retirement - lovely to catch up with lots of old friends from working days.

Was also offered some damsons (it's been a good fruit year), which are now steeping in brand ready for Christmas . . .

. . . something different from our endless apple crop - unfortunately couldn't pass on any in return as they also have loaded apple trees!

So far, we've chopped and frozen and stewed, made apple cakes and crumbles, given some to family, and still have a drawer full in the fridge . . .

Fitted in a solo visit to family across country - not a Van trip this time - helping out with this and that, paperwork and shopping, etc.  While I was away Martin got on with a few Van things, while we continued to debate table legs and fittings.

Back in Wales for the remainder of the month, with work continuing on Project Van and in the garden.  

The 'pantry from hell' was finally finished and fitted, more or less to our satisfaction, and the (hopefully) last hedge cut of the year completed.

In something of a landmark, the Van table was also sorted - with a removable 'island' leg, and the other end supported on the 'windowsill'.  

It really has turned out well - kudos to Martin for all his hard work.

Ended the month with more work in the garden, as Martin dug out and reconstructed the compost heaps.

While he was doing the hard manual labour, I got on with painting the garden shed (hopefully giving it some protection from the wet weather to come):

Posts that Didn't Happen: August 2025

August is usually a pretty 'stay at home and avoid the school holiday crowds' month, so it was an ideal time to be busy with consultancy work, which continued throughout the month off and on.

On the nicer days we got out in the garden for some weeding and de-brambling (generating material for the next bonfire!).

Martin also potted up some of the 'babies' from our rather prolific spider plant, and later in the month we started to harvest apples and potatoes from the garden (it's not been such a good year for tomatoes).

There was trip in the Van across country to visit with family - another hot one - and some minor works on Van things like fly screens, draw catches etc.  

Martin also got stuck into creating the much planned for table to sit between the front cab swivel seats and the passenger seat - again he utilised pallet wood, which was glued together (never quite enough clamps!), then cut to size.

This was then sanded to within an inch of its life, and is already looking beautiful.

Next steps are to 'finish' it with Danish oil, and work out what type of legs / fixings we need to put it in place, and allow it to be removed when not in use.

Towards the end of the month the dodgy window in the barn door was finally replaced - a bit of a saga that one, but got there in the end.

On a less savoury note, this month has also seen a house invasion of large green slugs - these appear mysteriously, almost every other night, in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Slugfest! (as it has become known), eventually came to an end when we tracked down their point of ingress to a gap under the skirting board by the back door - now safely sealed!

 

And finally . . .  

Is it dead yet?

No it isn't!

Posts that Didn't Happen: July 2025

July arrived with more nice weather and a trip to The Mumbles to meet up with holidaying family - lovely to catch-up, have a spot of lunch, and visit a location we'll have to come back to.

This was followed a week or so later by another trip across country in the Van, for a family birthday celebration (weekend barbecue and Sunday lunch).

Great to get together again with extended family, and we managed to keep the Van cool enough overnight to sleep, despite the baking weather.

After we'd gone though, one obsessed little dog was still staring at the barbecue for a day or so (just in case!) . . .

Back home again, weather a bit cooler and variable, but still nice enough to get out in the garden, and on the wetter days had a few consultancy bits and pieces to be getting on with.

Had a day out to Lampeter / Aberaeron on one of the nicer days.  Harvested this year's 'marrow mountain', and did a bit of pruning / garden maintenance.

Along the way managed to confuse Martin over which holly tree I wanted the top taken off, so ended up with two lopped holly trees - generating a lot of debris for a bonfire (at least holly leaves burn really well!).

With all of that we just did a bit of tweaking on the Van - looking at cab blinds, and fly screens, and electrical bits and pieces - plus some major to-ing and fro-ing with van insurance, which thankfully got sorted in the end.

On to August . . .

Posts that Didn't Happen: June 2025

And so to June - unfortunately the first half of the month was not so great in the end - I had some back pain for a few days (to the point where I invested in a heated gilet thing), then I got a cold, and then Martin caught it too.

We eventually concluded that I'd probably picked up Covid from somewhere, as we were both completely wiped out - kept having to go back to bed we were so tired - and it certainly lingered for a good few weeks after. 

On a positive note, we had some lovely weather, and inbetween naps managed a bit of garden pruning, and some slow walks on the prom.

And - drum roll please - the water lily in our garden pond, finally decided to flower, after nearly four years of leaves.

By the middle of the month we just about had enough energy for a trip to Aberaeron / Llanerchaeron - had a wander in the sun, a spot of lunch, and checked on progress with the sea defences (still not finished!).

There was another 'birthday' celebration and catch up with old colleagues - this time a 60th for the Department of Information Studies at the University.  

Then towards the end of the month, we took the Van across country again to see family - helping out with shopping and appointments etc., although we wilted a bit in the English heat.

Did enjoy a very pleasant visit to the Elgood's Brewery Gardens, where Martin found enough energy to steer Mum's wheelchair at speed round the maze, before we had a cooling drink in their rather swish on-site bar.

With all this going on not that much of any note happened with the Van, Martin tinkered with the electrics, I made some cloth covers for one set of overhead cabinets, and we pondered next steps . . .

Posts that Didn't Happen: May 2025

May came in with some glorious sunny warm weather.

Got some gardening done, planted up the greenhouse, and sat outside on the bench enjoying the sunshine, and admiring the view . . .  

Then there was a trip to Cardiff with old colleagues, for a celebration of Archives and Records Council Wales' 30th 'birthday' at the Senedd.

Work on the van also continued, making the most of the good weather for sanding 'woodwork' such as the kitchen worktop and flip-up table - painstakingly constructed by Martin from pallet wood strips. 

The latter part of the month saw the weather get cooler and wetter, and brought with it other preoccupations, with family in hospital in Swansea, and lots of driving to and fro.

Broke the journey in Carmarthen a few times for some van 'shopping', and also called by Talley Abbey briefly (somewhere to return to in better times).

So a bit of a mixed bag of a month - with some anxious days - thankfully all was positively resolved by the end of the month, with the hope that normality would resume in June . . . 

Posts that Didn't Happen: April 2025

And so to April - another month of 'mostly Van', including our first couple of nights actually spent sleeping in it!

So, what did we do?

We glued down the vinyl flooring.

I carpeted the under bed sections, and corked the barn door upper panels.

Martin took his life in his own hands, wrestling with coiled curtain rail, and fixing it in place over the barn doors and between the cab and habitation areas.

I worked out how to use a sewing machine to shorten the actual curtains!

Martin constructed the kitchen unit 'frame', made drawers, and fitted a temporary worktop (due to be replaced by a pallet wood creation, seen here at the planning stage).  I painted and stained and varnished it!

We continued planning and thinking about things such as the cab blackout covers; the door and fixings for the sliding pantry storage (or 'pantry from hell' as Martin likes to call it); and the storage 'step' between the front and passenger seats.

The fridge, microwave, and kitchen unit were all fixed in place ('pantry' on hold for now), and the 'bookshelf' was finished. 

I varnished lots of bits of woodwork, and Martin fitted hooks over the sliding door.

With a visit to family planned for the end of the month it all got a bit frantic, and in the end we had to abandon the water system (which since we were 'camping' on my parents' drive wasn't a major issue).

And here we are - curtains up, bed finished (with foam inserts inside navy velvet cushion covers at the head and foot of the bed) and reading lights (with USB chargers) wired in.  The microwave, fridge and 'loo' storage are all under the bed, which can be slid back when needed.

Along the way the van was also successfully MOT'd, and we actually managed to sell the redundant cab seating (driver's seat and double passenger seat).

We spent three nights sleeping in it - luckily the weather was kind (not too cold, not too hot, and sunny and dry).  Navigating the space will take some getting used to, but the bed was really comfy - lots still to think about and plan for . . . 

In other news, had a lovely visit with family (including a trip to Ely), an online catch-up with some old friends, continued learning chess, and did some gardening (notably potting up and planting out courgettes).

Roll on the summer!