Cold and Stormy Days

The weather continued colder and brighter for a few days after our walk up Consti - in fact we even made a second trip later in the week!  

We actually saw a dash of snow one day - all good for the 'meadow' which we'd planted up with Yellow Rattle seeds that need some colder weather to prime them to germinate.

Hoping that if that 'takes' we may actually have more success with other meadow plants, as it is supposed to suppress the grass and help other more delicate wildflower plants to flourish.  

Just have to wait and see what comes up!

Of course the cold days soon gave way to more wet and windy weather - with Storm Isha hitting us hard enough to do some serious damage to the polytunnel.  Martin made a temporary repair, but we'll have to replace the cover for the new growing season - although we'll wait for better weather first! 

Hello Summer :)

After a somewhat dismal July and August, September has arrived with the sun, and some actual summery weather . . . 

Rali Ceredigion was back in town, there was a tall ship out in the bay, and the beaches have been packed (just as the lifeguard service shuts down!).

Even at sunset people have still been out and about enjoying the water and the almost Mediterranean evening heat . . .

We even fired up our new wood pellet pizza oven one evening - we bought this back at the start of the summer, but have only got to use it a couple of times so far.

It does make a very nice sourdough pizza - and Martin roasted off some of his chilli harvest while we were about it - hopefully there will be more opportunities to experiment over the next couple of months.

Aside from the lovely weather, we've both been suffering with heavy colds (not Covid - we did test!), so haven't felt quite as inclined to enjoy the sunshine as much as we would have otherwise.  Fingers crossed, for a sunny Autumn!

Posts that Didn't Happen - December 2022

And finally - December . . . and a somewhat busier month on all fronts!

Started with some rearrangements down the Folly - with the idea of fitting the desk into a corner and making more room around the railway table - while Martin tackled the project to 'hard-wire' in the internet connection to the garage (from where it makes its way to the Folly itself).

Took him most of that first weekend (channeling through concrete and across the lawn), but by the end of it we had fast, reliable connections in place.  Plus I got the Christmas tree up!

It was a good job the cabling got done that weekend, because the next week brought some really freezing weather, which lasted for a good ten days, and saw temperatures as low as -7 on some mornings.

We haven't really had weather this cold for years, and we were soon turning on the rayburn (despite resolutions to save oil and not use it this year) to keep us warm.

More Folly rearrangements followed, finally fixing on a new layout which works, with the desk benefitting from the light from the window, but allowing more space for moving around.  Also got some blinds fitted to the window (and door):

Noises in the bedroom cupboard (where we store all the Christmas decs), led us to think we finally had mice. Martin investigated (my hero), and managed to capture the culprit - a small (very speedy) and rather cute shrew. 

No idea how it got in there (unless it hid in a Christmas box, while they were downstairs), but it was soon released back to the wild.

And then of course there was the run up to Christmas, with a couple of meals out (one with Epic, one with former colleagues), Christmas shopping, making up our own Christmas cards, etc., etc.

Christmas Eve saw us on the road to visit family in Cambridgeshire - no cooking for me this year, the brother-in-law did the lot (except for contributing the traditional Sticky Toffee Pud!).  Lovely to all be together for Christmas!

Back to Wales for 'Second Christmas' with family here, and for a few days R&R - catching up with festive tv, eating chocolate, finally setting up the model train, etc. etc. - then it was all over for another year.

Hope yours was a good one!

Posts that Didn't Happen - October 2022

October now - and autumn is with us . . .  

. . . giant scary spiders lurking about the house, leaves all over the lawn, and time to decommission the greenhouse and polytunnel, dig up potatoes, and chop more firewood.  

(We've been picking up pallets from my work and while some of the wood is destined for various projects, the less good stuff will add to the firewood stock.)

In other news, we had the chimney inspected and swept professionally - booking some maintenance work on the chimney pot (although that won't happen until next year now).  

We also both had flu jabs, and on one of the nicer weekends took a trip to Aberaeron, walking down to Llanerchaeron and engaging in some fungi-spotting:

Mid-October saw me off to visit family, with a horrifically wet motorway journey, the only saving grace of which was the news that Liz Truss had resigned after a week or so of saying she wasn't going anywhere!

Towards the end of the month there were sunny walks by the sea - where someone had decided to give the 'kicking' bar a crocheted coat!

I also caught my first cold since before the pandemic 😞

Finished October with some more floor cleaning (this time tackling the wooden floors), and hosting a Chinese takeaway for Halloween.