Happy Hogmanay (Again)!

Well 2019 awaits us - and it promises to be 'interesting' . . .

. . . stock those shelves and keep smiling!

Midwinter Miscellany

Well the Christmas celebrations are already fading into the past . . .

Too much food was cooked (and eaten).

The 'Cake' finally got decorated (although after Christmas Day) with fruit, nuts and marzipan - and managed to incorporate a bunny along the way.




Family visited for a few days, and we're already missing the pitter patter of doggie paws (well I am anyway).








Martin spotted the first of the snowdrops in flower in the back garden - doubtless with more to follow.


Finally our festive entertainment has included the farmer's ongoing battle to manage his flock's access to the 'greens' in the field opposite:


The stuff on the left hand side obviously looks much more tasty, and he's had to reconstruct the fence at least twice and shoo the sheep back to where they don't want to be with much beeping from his quad bike.


The fence (now securely electrified) seems to be doing its job for now, but there are regular mass gatherings where they look like they are preparing to storm it to achieve their goal, so watch this space!

Santa Shenanigans

After last year''s rather cutesy post - something a little different . . .

Merry Christmas!

Early Christmas

This weekend saw us going cross-country for a pre-Christmas visit to family who we won't see during the festive break itself.


Weather could have been better, but we did find enough of a break in the rain to take in the very fresh air - and the sights, e.g. Santa's boating trip!


Good to meet up with everyone - enjoyed a 'festive' take-away and exchanged gifts - and got to see the always excellent local Christmas lights:

Not Quite Christmas Cactus

At one point it was covered in flowers, but I somehow managed to fail to take the necessary picture - so here's a close-up of one of the remaining flowers on the 'not quite' Christmas cactus:

(Yes, I'm desperate for things to blog!)

Christmas Cake Bake

After pondering staying with the loaf-style Christmas cake model of the last couple of years, eventually decided to go for one big cake again.

Haven't quite decided on how to decorate it - might forego the icing, and stick with the fruit, nut and marzipan option - in the meantime it will be well fed with brandy :)

Ouch!

Someone caught their little toe on a door frame recently.

It's turned a lovely purple colour - and won't bend properly so we think it's probably broken.

Not much to be done about it mind you - strapped it to the next toe, and he'll just have to take it easy for a few days!

Our House

Arty shot of the house from the field across the way . . .

The Blog Where Not Much Happened

Well, it's been a quiet month from a blog perspective - very busy in work, so not much time for other stuff.

I can offer you another picture of a large deckchair (this one sitting in what was the paddling pool, but which is now a sandpit, but which looks like a paddling pool because it's rained a lot!).



And this photo of the red kites gathering for feeding time at Nant yr Arian on a lovely sunny late October afternoon.

Might have more to say in November!

Autumn Harvest

So as the growing season comes to the end, we've been harvesting the last of the produce from the garden . . .

A small selection here of the apples from our two trees.

Add to that the last tomatoes from the greenhouses, and potatoes and green beans from the veg plots.






The potatoes ('pink fir apple') after a slow start, did particularly well, although they wouldn't win any beauty contests!










Cue lots of peeling, chopping, par-boiling, and freezing . . .

September Travels

With the solar finally sorted it was time for a few days away visiting family - breaking the journey on the way with a night in Warwick.

Had a good walk round the town and outside of the castle, indulged in a couple of drinks, and had a very nice curry - watching (with some bemusement) as hundreds of people in flashing bunny ears went walking by . . .





It turns out there was a charity walk in town - they certainly made for a colourful if rather bizarre sight!

From bunny ears to dragon boats - happened upon another charity event by the river the next day - all the teams dressed up, and obviously having a great time.


On from Warwick to meet up with family - had a good catch-up, and took the parents out and about.  Nice, but breezy trip to RSPB Titchwell - walked down to the dunes, lovely views out to sea and the wind whipping the sand around our feet:

Nice lunch out, then finished the day with a visit to the old Wolferton station - formerly the 'royal' station for Sandringham before it closed in 1969. 


Now a private home, they open the platform area free of charge to visitors in the afternoons - really quite charming, with some interesting displays reflecting the history of the station.

All in all a nice few days before heading back to Wales (and work).

Solar Saga

So, after a number of years debating the question, and what feels like years trying to get quotes out of people, the installers finally arrived this week to fit solar panels to the back roof. 


They turned up about 9am - an electrician and a panel fitter - and were soon busy with the fixings on the roof and wiring stuff up to the junction box in the kitchen / fitting an inverter in the boiler 'cupboard', etc.



It was much later in the afternoon though by the time the panels were actually going up, and gone 7pm when they finally finished - by which time it was getting too dark to initialise the system.

It did all look quite smart when they'd done - but this is where the saga started . . .

• When we came to 'initialise' it all the next morning (having been left instructions) we couldn't get it to work.  Something hadn't been wired up quite right, and we had to wait for the installers to return from North Wales (a couple of days later) to sort it out.
  
  
• We then had one day of nice sunshine, and actual solar generation, before the company were back in touch to say that we'd had the wrong inverter fitted.
  
  
• A day later the electrician was back with us to remove our inverter, and head back to North Wales to swap it for the correct one.  (Somehow, out of four jobs they had the kit in the van for, they'd manage to get all the inverters mixed up!).  By 7pm he was back with the right inverter, and within the hour the saga was finally over.

I'm pleased to report that it is all now working - and we're particularly enjoying the free hot water provided by the iBoost system (which feeds the excess solar power to the immersion heater).

Got there in the end!

Shiny Cosy Kettles

We'd had an old tarnished copper kettle knocking around the house for a while, and finally decided to have a proper go at cleaning it up. 

I'd already tried conventional copper / brass cleaners, but hadn't got very far. 

Having found some suggestions online tried a paste made of vinegar, salt and flour - it soon began to turn green, which indicated that possibly it was actually working . . .

And - voila!

Having washed the paste off and with a bit of elbow grease - we have one nice shiny kettle  :)







On a more utilitarian front, our rayburn kettle also now has a nice new cosy (constructed, as usual, from a set of oven gloves).

Damson Brandy

This year's vintage is now maturing . . .

Glasgow Days

Back to Scotland for this year's ARA conference (having missed a couple of years) - this time hosted at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow, slap bang on Grand Central Station.

Good conference, some excellent and thought-provoking speakers - and the hotel was nice enough.  Long trek to my room though (the corridors were spookily 'Shining'-like).

Very impressed with the venue for the Conference Reception mind you - Glasgow City Chambers really are a sight to be seen - Victorian bling at its best. 



The Escher-like staircases, all marble and alabaster, were particularly impressive - unfortunately the Banqueting Hall, with its ornate arched roof and mural decorated walls was being used for another event, but I caught a peek on the way out. 

If I'm ever in Glasgow again will definitely book the tour!


Caught up with some old friends, danced the night away at the Gala dinner, and found some time for a wander round Glasgow - rather taken with the murals (the Mural Trail would be another thing to do on a return visit):

All in all an enjoyable few days - although Glasgow is a long way from West Wales - at least catching the train back was easy - out the hotel door and onto the platform!

Hedge Happenings

There's always plenty to do in the garden, not least keeping control of the hedges. One of our main problems being the width of the hedge between us and the field next door.  

While Martin regularly thins out the foliage on our side - yes, it looks bad but it does grow back! - the field-side grows out of our control.

It's been getting wider and wider for a while now, to the point that even our long-handled hedge trimming toys can't quite cope.  

Time therefore to venture into the field itself and hack back - it's a bit of a long-term project, but Martin is making good progress, and  the end is in sight.

And at least on the field-side - we can mercifully leave the debris in situ - cutting out what would otherwise involve a lot of trips to the tip!

Acrobatics #2

This year's squirrel pic . . .

Go Large!

Deckchairs come big in Aberystwyth . . . 

Re-Frigerating

Old fridge and freezer - fridge a tad on the small side (especially at Christmas) - together taking up a fair bit of room in the kitchen.




New fridge-freezer - more fridge space, smaller freezer (having to think a bit more about using up the frozen stuff now!).

Takes up less space - and the finish is super cool . . .

Pleased with it!

More Marrows

And on to the annual marrow post - missed them at the courgette stage yet again:

Goodbye TPL

It's been a while now (over ten years) since I left the University - where a fair bit of my time, as student and lecturer, was spent in the Thomas Parry Library on Llanbadarn campus.

So when it was announced this year that the University was consolidating its teaching on Penglais Campus, and relocating all library materials to the Hugh Owen Library - I took up the invitation to go along and say goodbye . . . 



It was a nice evening - saw lots of old, familiar faces, listened to a few speeches, had a wander through the stacks, the photocopying area (spent a lot of time there!), the old teaching rooms, etc.  - brought back a few memories.

End of an era - the old place (est. 1970) nearly made it to 50 years as a library of librarianship, but not quite.

Fields of Gold

Evening walk down the road - sun setting across the fields of barley . . .

Family Outings

Parents visiting for a few days - picked them up at Telford Services, then on home through mid-Wales.  Weather had finally cooled down a bit, but still nice enough for days out and a barbecue.

Outings included a day trip to Aberdyfi, walking the seafront, round the shops, fish dinner, then home via Tal-y-llyn and Corris Craft Centre.

Particularly taken with the 'Time and Tide Bell' which hangs under one of Aberdyfi's jetties.

A celebration of the legend of the submerged kingdom of Cantre'r Gwaelod beneath Cardigan Bay, whose bells, it is said, can still be heard ringing beneath the surface.

Back to Telford Services at the end of the visit - meeting up again with my sister, who took them on home after we'd all had a hot drink and a break - even Marci got some coffee froth!

Detoured our way home via Much Wenlock (in search of remembered sausage rolls - not to be found although we did have a very nice cream tea).