Bread of Heaven!

Bara brith that is - three really rather excellent specimens have just emerged from the oven.




I think I'll have to abdicate all baking responsibilities to Martin from now on!

Moving On Up

Things are moving on the vegetable front . . .

Finally moved the peas out of their guttering yesterday and into position in the garden. They seem to have survived the transplantation process, and have now been joined by two new rows which we planted directly into the ground. We planted these new rows quite deep, and have covered them over with some clear plastic to provide some initial protection from potential pea predators. Fingers crossed we'll get a reasonable showing anyway.

The maincrop potatoes are also finally on their way up - almost all of them are now showing some sign of life above ground, and hopefully now the weather has warmed up they'll soon put on some real growth.

The onions are coming along a treat as well - I've got a little more confidence now that they'll actually turn into proper onions in due course.

We've also planted out the courgettes - next up planting up the green beans, and sorting out the greenhouses.

Rhubarb and Ginger Jam

The rhubarb success story has continued - raising the question of what to do with it all!

As mentioned in an earlier post we thought we'd give rhubarb and ginger jam a try - the last couple of hours or so have therefore been spent chopping rhubarb and crystallised ginger, boiling it all up, and decanting into jars.

As ever with my jam making efforts this was rather a fraught process, requiring much boiling, testing, adding of more sugar, reboiling, etc.

In years to come (if we ever want to remember!) I'll be able to say that while the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition were taking up power under David Cameron, I was boiling jam! Eventually had enough of the continual boiling, and added a sachet of pectin, which soon did the trick . . .

Capital Times

Had a few days off at the end of April and decided to spend a few of these enjoying the bright lights of our capital city, Cardiff.



We stayed down in Cardiff Bay, home of Torchwood, and now home to what can only be described as a shrine to the Torchwood character Ianto Jones:

The last couple of days we were there were distinctly wet but we managed to amuse ourselves wandering round the shops, including gawping at the (rather expensive) delights of the new(ish) Cardiff John Lewis store - which rather puts the new Debenhams in Carmarthen in the shade.

Luckily on the first day, when we visited St Fagans: National History Museum, the weather was really lovely. Had promised myself a proper look round earlier this year, and it didn't disappoint . . .






. . . from Celtic round houses, to 1940s pre-fabs, and everything in between!

In addition to the buildings there was a nice selection of livestock - as ever I was particularly taken with the sleeping pigs - they always look like they are really appreciating a good snooze!

Spring Weather That Was

It's been a while since my last weather update - so here is the rundown on March and April.

March was a bit of a mixed bag on the whole as you can see - some sun, some rain, generally coolish:

April can best be described as downright sunny - not that the temperatures ever really made it above warm (excepting a really rather hot day out near Cardiff on the 28th - see next posting!). Here's hoping that after what is promising to be a rather damp bank holiday weekend, there's more nice weather to come . . .