Birthday Treat

Off to visit family, for another (slightly belated) special birthday celebration (almost got the full set now) 😊

We marked this one with a lovely afternoon tea - sandwiches (sans crusts), fruit scones, cream scones, lots of cake, and of course tea!  

And maybe a little something to toast the birthday girl . . . 

And here she is . . . looking very jolly!

Little and Large

 The biggest 'n' littlest from today's slightly overdue swede harvest . . .

In 2022 I Mostly Read . . .

So here's the reading list for 2022: 

December 2022 - And into the darkness of mid-Winter with a rather academic 'meditation on mortality' - Julian Barnes' Nothing to be Frightened Of - interesting and often struck chords, I think I'd hoped it would convince me that there was indeed nothing to be frightened of, but at least I could see that other people have some of the same thoughts on the subject that I have.  Probably not one to re-read but glad I read it!  Ended the year with a 'seasonal' and slightly more cheery offering, some P.D. James short stories The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories - classic murder-mystery!

November 2022 - Time to finally tackle some of the books that have been sitting on the shelf for far too long. Started with - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - a really interesting read, providing an insight into Aspergers - amusing and poignant at the same time.

August-November 2022 - More series re-reads, this time Gail Carriger's steampunk, with added werewolves and vampires, Parasol Protectorate series, ahead of its follow-up Custard Protocol books, which while they continued to story in some ways, I didn't feel were quite as good. Finished with the prequel Finishing School books, which were much better. Inventive, amusing and highly enjoyable.

July 2022 - Started on a time management lifestyle book Four Thousand Weeks, interesting to think that that is what we typically have in our lifetimes. Interspersed chapters of this with some comfort reading of Georgette Heyer Regency romances, including April Lady, Bath Tangle, and A Civil Contract, always a good value fun read.

June-July 2022 - Another series re-read, this time one of my all-time favourite series, Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise novels. I have read these so many times, but not in recent years - a bit like catching up with an old friend where it feels like you've never been apart - and that last short story Cobra Trap can still make me cry.

May-June 2022 - Back now to the Rivers of London series, picking up one of the novellas I hadn't read What Abigail Did Last Summer, a re-read of some back story, including Lies Sleeping and False Value ahead of the ninth installment Amongst Our Weapons. Really enjoyed the new one - back on form, lots of new background around the Sons of Weyland etc. (although enjoyed False Value more on a second read too).

March-May 2022 - A full re-read of the Sookie Stackhouse or Southern Vampire series - enjoyed revisiting the 12 I had read, and finally getting to the series finale Dead Ever After - good stuff!

January-March 2022 - Another 99p Kim Watt starter Gobbelino London & A Scourge of Pleasantries - a private eye with snarky talking cat sidekick (or is the human the sidekick?), with various other magical goings on - I really enjoyed this, so much so that I bought the rest of the series. Firstly A Contagion of Zombies - the classic zombie episode! A Complication of Unicorns - with added mythical beasts, and most recently A Melee of Mages which draws together some of the underpinning storylines. Looking forward to the next in the series.

Happy New Year

Welcoming in the New Year . . .  

. . . may it do better by the world than the decade thus far - really hoping it can't get any worse!

So, raising a glass to a healthy, happy, and affordable 2023.

(I know I haven't quite caught up with 2022 yet - keep looking back - but wanted to start as I mean to go on!)

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 - November 2022

November was generally a rather quiet month - starting with a bout of traditional wet and windy weather, an overnight visit from an old friend, and dinner out with the Archive folks.

Finally bought the new mobile phone I'd been pondering for a while - complete with 'panoramic' abilities:

Enjoyed some unseasonably warm weather around the middle of the month, which allowed us to get some final gardening tasks sorted, including cutting the grass, and digging up the last of the potatoes.  

Also took the opportunity for a sunny late afternoon walk along the prom, watching the starlings (which if you look very carefully you might be able to see in the photo below!):

The latter half of the month included a visit with family, helping out with this and that, and planning for Christmas.  Good to catch-up, and see everyone, including the Moo dog who remains obsessed with her people's shoes . . .

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.