Battling Procrastination and down memory lane

 I have taken myself by the scruff of the neck these past two days.  Yesterday I finally took photos of and listed Keith's brand new all-terrain wheelchair (hardly used), telescopic ramps (used only in the house at bedtime, just before he was in hospital), and his mobility scooter and expensive 7 ft ramps for the car.  I put them on E-Bay.  However, being in Wales, they probably won't sell.  No-one can sell "medical items" like these on Facebook Marketplace, so if they don't sell on E-Bay, the only place I can think of is Gumtree.  I found it hard to do as it is drawing a line under the final year or so of Keith's life, but I need to move on and do not need any of these items.

Today I baked another Apple Gingerbread cake (for Sunday, though I had a piece for lunch) and I have just been up in the polytunnel - again first time in a couple of years - to cut down the brambles and dead grass which had grown in there from under the edges.  I need to get the cucumbers and Tam's Cantaloupe Melons up there.  It was hot in the polytunnel - the sunshine and higher temperatures have returned so I have just come down and eaten the last icelolly which really hit the spot.

Shortly I intend to go and cut back the Geranium microrrhizum as I have some plants grown from seed which desperately need to go in the ground, as do my Sweet Peas, which were sown late to start with!  Ah well, better late than never.

I received my Journal of the Mortimer History Society today.  I was right about thinking twice about trying to research/write/submit an entry as all the winners have PhD's and access to the sort of documents I cannot access, nor translate (early Latin and Medieval Welsh not being my starters for 10).  The essays will be interesting reading anyway.

Today's podcasts - more from Uncanny - end of programme about Borley Rectory, which was very good.  When I was in my late teens and 20s I was very interested in spooky stories and this was one which stayed in my mind.  Lots was written about it although it's hard to say how much was credible.

I can remember buying books of horror stories (e.g. the 12th Pan Book of Horror Stories etc).  I read one on the train down to Beaminster in Dorset, when I went on a working interview weekend to see if I was suitable for a job as a groom at a Shetland Pony Stud.  I stayed in this big old manor house, and was given a bedroom up towards the attic, with a bed like a plank and a tree branch scraping the window like something from Wuthering Heights!  Reading spooky stories on the way down did little to help my nerves in a strange place.  The stud owner was clearly from a moneyed family and got the family silver out for tea, and in the drawing room there were "hairy rugs" thrown over the backs of the sofas.  When I finally twigged that they were the pelts of past dogs, which they then had skinned and cured so they could be with them after death, I really DID NOT want to stay long.  How bizarre is that?!   There was the current groom, pale and called Beth, with a Pyrenean mountain dog. Things weren't helped by my having a really ghastly asthma attack - my first proper one ever - I thought I was going to die.  I had to phone my dad and get him to drive down and collect me after he finished work on the Saturday (couldn't face a 2nd night in the ghastly bedroom either).  He was not best pleased as he was driving into the sun all the way down there and of course, no-one used sunglasses in those days unless they were a filmstar!  Poor dad.

 Well, with that memory to sit with me all afternoon now I'm sure, I had best go and get my Sweet Peas properly planted on.

An Enriched Life

 I went to my patchwork group yesterday.  As always, I went to my friend Pam's for lunch and a natter (took cheese and home made bread and I'd baked an Apple Gingerbread cake for them all).  At the class, Alex told me how to repair the hole in the middle of the quilt and whilst it is a bit of a lash up as I didn't have the materials to make a centre to follow the concentric pattern around the "hole", I had taken a strip off the side and just had to go with the fabrics I had in that, a difficult combination of different weights from polycotton to a heavyweight cotton.  Done - not perfect, but when put together it will be rehomed.  I need to get some batting from Doughty's now, and some yellow fabric to make a border for the other unfinished quilt I bought (Rosie will be having that).  My friend Pat was making a stunning quilt - just on the final border so it is all but finished bar quilting and binding.  Must ask her where she got the fabrics as I will need to make a quick new housewarming quilt for Danny and E.

Pat has horses, and Sheri too, so we all talked horse for a while as I unpicked the rows ready to place them in the quilt.  It was like old times, pre-Covid, when I went every week.  I only lived about 4 miles away then.

The Dog Roses are in full bloom at the moment.

On my journey, I listened to my podcasts.  Excavations at Knowth on the way home, and In Our Time (Melvyn Bragg) on the way there, a podcast I wouldn't have chosen probably, but it followed on from another of his I had been listening to, and was about the Barbary Corsairs and was really very interesting.  I learn so much through these podcasts.  Then on tv in the evening I watched another History Hit, Witchmen Trials in Iceland, which was fascinating too.  I never knew there were big chunks of Europe, Iceland included, where it is men who are the ones accused of Witchcraft.  Tonight, it will be Histyory Hit: Edward II I am watching.

Ground Elder has such pretty flowers.

I am so glad to have my life enriched by these programmes.  Driving through the beautiful Welsh countryside, my knowledge of the past and visits to Welsh churches, make sense of the scenery - especially when you have a short stretch of Roman Road and in Llandovery there is a field where there was a Roman fort (no excavations done there though).  The next ones along are Brecon and in the opposite direction, Llandeilo.  Old Drover's Roads have become modern roads today and the first bank (Black Ox) in Llandovery, was established in 1799 by the son of a drover, a drover himself, David Jones.  He married advantageously (his wife had a fortune of £10,000) and with his earnings from droving, aged 40 he started the bank there.  The Abergwesyn road, which joins the A483 at Beaulah, was a drover's road, and from Llandovery, the drover's road followed the line of the Roman road to Trecastle.  History just brings the landscape alive, makes it 3-D.

My knowledge of wild flowers and birds brings me satisfaction when I see the more unusual examples too.  

White Bedstraw with Cleavers stretching over it.

I have been berating myself for the state of the garden and yard - esp. the latter which desperately needs weeding, but then when I came down this morning, there were four Greenfinches helping themselves to the seeds of Black Medick and Shepherd's Purse and the like, and last night I watched Bullfinches on the seedheads of the Tormentil on the bank.  So I tell myself I garden for wildlife . . .

We have two Swallow nests in the stables this year, and a full house of Housemartins - 6 nests along the end wall facing East.  They are such a joy to watch.

Well, this won't do.  I need to pack the car for a Tip Trip (long overdue) and get some laundry on.  

An unusual visitor

 

THIS - a Horntail Sawfly or Giant Woodwasp)-  Urocerus gigas - nearly flew into me yesterday afternoon.  Fortunately it landed on the Fig tree instead, and did a rapid turn around and flew off.  Jeepers.  It's a big bugg*r!  Fortunately what looks like a sting, is its Ovipositor for laying eggs in pine trees.  Many thanks to wobam.co.uk for their photograph.  They sell it dead, and mounted, for collectors.

Yesterday I had a busy day, stripping the bed, putting washing on and hanging it up, the usual vacuuming upstairs, and sorting out the central repair block for the quilt I got at auction.  I will take that along to my patchwork group tomorrow and get Alex's advice on how to put it back in!  Then out in the garden, potting on cucumbers and tomatoes, deadheading roses, cutting back spent Aquilegias and weeding then putting down some bark chippings.  My right knuckles are sore this morning.  Then suddenly at 7.30 p.m. I suddenly realized I hadn't finished making up my bed (did half in the morning).  Hate it when that happens!  I also embroidered another little square in my intuitive daily stitching - planning some more later.

I wiped down the tea caddy, ready to be polished when my order of Boiled Linseed Oil and also Danish oil arrives.  I glued the stretchers on both the WIndsor Chairs, and pulled them tight with zip ties, which can come off this morning.  They have been in the dip tank, which hasn't helped them, so will need a good oiling to feed them and bring some colour back.

I booked for a local Antiques Fair for Sunday, then realized an hour later that it was Malvern, so have had to cancel.  It hadn't been advertised locally - just on their Facebook page, so don't know about footfall. Father's Day though, so may have been ok.  Anyway, Malvern takes presidence.  

Ghosties . . .

When I was chatting to the Librarian last Tuesday, we were nattering about ghostly experiences and I - rashly! - said that at least my lovely home wasn't affected by anything spooky.  Think I must have spoken too soon, or tempted fate!  Perhaps it was because my guard was down and I wasn't grounded after losing L. Whale so suddenly.  Anyway, on Friday I was going upstairs when I heard a loud sort of grain sound - like my big bag of rice had fallen out of the kitchen cupboard onto the floor.  I went downstairs to check, but nothing out of place.  

Then yesterday I went up to early (7.30 ish) to my craft room to work on the quilt repairs, and suddenly the harp was plucked - just one string, but loudly!  I looked up sharply, and then went to check .  There were three broken strings - I was trying to remember how many there were before as Tam stopped playing it for that reason.  I thought perhaps a string had just suddenly snapped for some reason, although that seems odd.

Then a little while later, suddenly the SACK of grain sound again from the kitchen, very loudly.  Pippi was with me and ran away.  Lulu hurtled up the stairs, scared, and when I went down, Alfie was hiding under the table.  Nothing to be seen, but I had the feeling what had happened was a sort of time-slip with one of the grooms from Victorian times, heaving a heavy sack of oats off his shoulder onto the floor.  It was very much that sort of sound.  The kitchen and Utility were the old stables, from Georgian times, with the stalls at the front and so probably the back part of the kitchen was the feed room.

Ruinous old farmhouse and barn ("held in Trust") up in the Ceredigion hills.

I have made sure I am grounded today and we will see if anything happens after this.  I know some of you will be sceptics, but I have had this sort of thing happen to me all my life - starting with knowing when letters were going to arrive, or who was on the phone, or even what they were going to say, as well as experiences with atmospheres and emotions.  The old house was quite challenging in this respect!!

Single track lanes - we had to back up when we met a van coming up the hill at one point.

Anyway, I went across to Aber to help Tam, but as Jon had a meeting with a friend, we weren't able to achieve what we had intended, to finish painting Rosie's bedroom.  We needed Jon there to lift/mend the broken wardrobe.  Anyway, Tam got smaller jobs done and then took me out for a lovely drive up in the hills, so that we could get Rosie off for a car nap.  It was SO beautiful.

Lovely now, but a bit bleak mid-Winter!

This is part of Ceredigion's industrial past.  The Pont Ceunant Generating Station, associated with the nearby Lead Mines.

More lead mine workings further up the Cwmnewydion valley.

Sea Campion, a first for me.  Don't know how it got inland here.

The spoil heap where nothing grows because of the lead residue in the soil.

As you can see, it was a lovely drive out.  Such beautiful scenery and interesting history too.  Frongoch mine had a terrific output at the height of its working life, silver too of course as that is always found with lead.  Plus it was important for a mineral, "brilliant hair-brown" pyromorphite crystals, which are rare.  

Quiet here so far this morning.  I will get ready to venture out to the Charity car boot sale in Llandod.

Hay-on-Wye on Market Day

 

This is the wonderful cheese stall at Hay Market.  On the other side they have grains and nts and dried fruit and spices.  A great stall to shop at.

Fabulous breads and baked goods in the Cheese Market building.

Lunchy snacks here.

Yarn and Gonks? or Gnomes, in the Buttermarket.

More lovely loaves, down by the Clock Tower, but at about £5 a loaf, I am glad to make my own.

Tam and I resisted the temptations on the Plant stall.

However, I did buy a lovely studio pottery dish, of the colourway (turquoisy/blue) that I like to have on my stall at Fairs.  It attracts people and sells well.

Now some shop windows for you . . .

I loved this cat.  May try and make one - hah, in my "spare" time!!

It's hard to imagine that at one time something as shabby as this old display cupboard would never have had a market.  How things change.  Now it's all about "the look", whatever that is when it's at home!!

Tam and I both loved the painted box at the top.  The decoupage box below it has given me an idea, as I recently found some Victorian decoupage pieces when turning out an attic box.  I could put them to good use.  Just need to see if I have a suitable box (sure I have, as Keith kept such things).

A fun cat . . .

Rather like the pony too.

What a lovely doll's house.  

Then we needed to exercise Rosie, before she went back in the car.  So out of the push chair and time for a hurtle round by Hay Castle, "Chase me mummy" . . .

Today I am off to Aber to help Tam get Rosie's bedroom finished (I hope!)  One more wall left to paint and a wobbly wardrobe to fettle.

Yesterday I kept busy and made a big pan of beany mince (you couldn't say it was Chilli, as no chilli powder in it) with grated carrot and some courgette.  Filling, with rice and broccoli. Two meals, and 3 in the freezer.  I made a Spicy Dorset Apple Cake too.  That will go with me today.  I also sorted out the missing centre for the quilt I bought, and that is a work in progress.  I will need to buy some batting for it now and ask Alex if she will quilt it on her long-arm quilter. 

Enjoy your weekend.

R.I.P. Little Whale

 Yesterday was a sad day here, as L. Whale suddenly became very ill.  He had been very fussy about eating for about 3 weeks, not eating any biscuits. Yesterday morning though he suddenly ate his AND Alfie's, so I thought oh good, he's back to normal.  When we got back from a couple of hours in Hay-on-Wye, we found L. Whale's breathing was very laboured and so we took him straight down to the vet.  They put him on Oxygen and I left him to have an X-ray.  The results were not good.  His heart beat was very rapid and his lungs surrounded with fluid - congestive heart failure.  There was only one decision to take.  Fortunately Tam was here - he was her special cat - and we both went down to give him such love as he passed from this world.  He was 16.  

It is hard to remember a time without him.  He was one of three kittens born to a stray, Miffy we called her, who had lost an eye in an accident before we got her.  Danny named him Jarvis, but he was always a well built cat and soon became known as Little Whale.  His black and white brother, Tippy, was sadly poisoned by a Gamekeeper on the next property over.  He and Alfie would hunt rabbits, and sometimes L. Whale would be gone for a fortnight, feeding himself.  Tam reminded me of how they used to play hide and seek together :)  

They carried on hunting rabbits here, until the rabbits got Myxi, and then they gave it up as a bad job.

He leaves a gaping hole.  With his claw operations this year he has had lots of extra love and cuddles, and slept close to me on my bed every night.  He liked to sit out on the little lawn where I have my patio set, soaking up the sunshine, brother Alfie nearby.  Rosie has been putting her arms gently round him, and kissing his head, and telling him how much she loves him, bless her.

I am not fit to be seen, as crying has made my eyes so puffy I can barely see, and a cold flannel isn't helping much.  I will need to keep busy today.  I have had to cancel the wet felting I was going to go to tomorrow, and won't go to the History society talk tonight either.