Researching our home again

 Tam and Rosie have gone home and arrived safely, so I have spent a pleasant hour doing some more research on our home here, it turns out from a horsey point of view, as our stables were used for housing some of a previous owner's well bred show ponies, prototypes of the Section C  Welsh Cob today.  He also bred prize winning cart horses (they lived in what became Keith's workshop, judging by the height of the hayracks in there) and heavy ponies for mine work.)  When he was in the new house he was Sheriff of Brecknock as well as being Chair of the localish Primrose League (well, Llanidloes anyway), and on all sorts of prestigious local societies.  

My present from me, to me arrived today, and has some lovely projects in it. Of course, I want to make them ALL, yesterday, but have quilt projects to finish first.

I finally decanted my Apple Mincemeat from the mixing bowl in the fridge and it made two good sized jars.  Quite wasted on my family, none of whom will eat mixed fruit, for some strange reason!

Here is the gorgeous Rosie showing her standing skills and having a great time with me, as I count 1, 2 and 3 for the coasters she has been throwing off the coffee table.  The quilts are doing duty as crawler quilts!

There are still no results back at the surgery to say what specific antibiotic I should be on.  Current ones work a little but when they wear off the kidney discomfort returns.  I have my Covid booster tomorrow an then have to scoot along pronto as 7 minutes after that appt, I have to see the practice nurse at the surgery . . .  (I'm in a different building for the jab). 

I'd like to scoot up to the Records Office in Llandod tomorrow to do some research on the Estate our house was part of.  Watch this space.

. . . and on her head, she has a LEAF!

That came into my head earlier on when I was hoiking out a box of paperwork which lurks, out of side, on the bottom shelf of the little shallow wall table which is at the far end of the sofa.  Something was poking out from beneath it, and I know the girls have been pursuing meeces (well, bank voles and shrews normally) under the sofa so my first thought was, "Oh drat, a mouse's tail . . ." Cautiously I drew it out - to find a dessicated Sycamore leaf which had come in from outside with a mouthful of mouse.  The title comes from when us four childhood friends were all about 12 - me, Trish, Rosie and Big Lin (height, not waistline!) - were having a "fashion show" in Rosie's bedroom.  It was Big Lin who said it and we were in hysterics.  Gosh, SUCH a long long time ago now . . . Rosie, this will bring back memories for you, that's for sure . . .

Tam, Rosie and I did a little walk up through the grounds of the Big House, and then up the snowy hill to the pine tree where the Red Kite perches.  We had to be careful not to tread in any tyre tracks as those had impacted into ice, but it was fine anywhere else and some of the lane had thawed. This was the view across to the hills between Rhayader and Llandod.

Snow-pencilled branches.

Tam and Rosie, who was snuggled up in a Merino wool wrap.

In the grounds of the Big House.  As you can see, not a great deal of snow, but enough to be worrying when it was falling.  It's thawed on the slopes today and is just on the colder hill tops now.

Hazel catkins already set . . .

I have been feeling better today and made a pan of Minestrone soup, another loaf (half and half with Wholemeal flour) and stewed up some apples.

I have also been on the phone a lot, sorting out a Council Tax Payment (not going on Direct Debit until the next financial year), ordering a replacement recycyling bin (plastics), and making enquiries as to WHY the Land Registry has gotten in touch with us to let us know that someone has put in an Application on Tycelyn . . .  My first thought was that the people who used to live here had done something sneaky as they were, shall we say, possessing of A Reputation in these parts.  It transpires out that it was something closer to home and a case of the drawing of a piece of retained land someone is trying to tie in with their property and a boundary line has just crossed into ours.  It will be confirmed tomorrow as I have spoken to the person concerned.  All I can say is, I was very relieved that Tam had set it up that we are contacted by the Land Registry if any application or similar involves our property.  For all we know, the Dodgy People could have put in for planning permission and the first we would know of it is when a digger arrived!  As we have the two triangles of land either end of our garden (plus the half an acre of woodland), it is possible.

So, that took up a good bit of the day, but we have still had lots of fun with Rosie, who has now, at not quite 8 mths, decided that crawling is for babies and clever babies go straight to stand and walk!  She has been pulling herself up on my coffee tables and has had a lovely game with the coasters on the small one (which have to be chomped!) and now everything on the table tops had had to be removed or put out of reach!  Tam said, goodness, that's a whole new ball game that she didn't expect to be happening for a good while yet!  

We have been binge watching Our Farm Next Door, which is about the derelict farmhouse that the Yorkshire Shepherdess (Amanda Owen) is doing up, along with her family and husband Clive, who she is now estranged from (well, in the bedroom anyway).  They are doing everything the proper way with lime mortar and plaster and the original HUGE (I am talking shaped and graded paving slabs here) stone slabbed roof.  30 tons and more of it!  She will be having an old fashioned range in too, I think.  Can't wait to see the finished home.

Right, this won't do.  Tam's trying to get Rosie off to sleep - trying to wrestle her into her sleeping bag was bad enough, but then she was crawling all round the bed!

A Snow Day

 

The view from Tam's bedroom, through a hastily-wiped window.  The wooden shutters certainly help keep the warm room but do nothing for condensation. This is the view roughly North-West.

This is looking towards the quarry, hidden behind the snow.

This is what it did all day yesterday, but fortunately didn't lie on the track and roads.  I normally love snow, but I was worried about getting my prescription an worried about Tam & Rosie managing to get here safely, although she said by the time she set off after lunch, the A44 through the mountains was fine.

Fresh Bread!

So, I am started on a 3 day course of Selexid, and let's hope this helps whilst I am waiting to receive the infection-appropriate course I should be on.  

Nothing exciting is happening - I just have to rest up and hopefully soon feel better.  

I managed to "rug up" the roses in planters yesterday, using the last of the compost here, so they had a good layer of mulch over their roots.  Tess of the D'Urbervilles has only just recovered to grow a couple more stems after being hit so hard by a very hard frost last year.  

Tam is proposing a walk after breakfast, "before it all melts" so we will do that.  Keep warm.

Grounded!

 Well, I shall not be gracing Hereford Hospital with my presence today, as after a ghastly night (awake 3 hours AGAIN) and trotting to the loo every 1 1/2 - 2 hours, I have woken up with a kidney infection an believe me, I am driving nowhere further than Boots the Chemists today. I feel like I've been kicked by a mule.  Plus, it has just started snowing steadily here, so Tam may be staying put too . . .

Yesterday morning I thought it was an oversight to tell me to wait without any antibiotics for the 2 - 3 days it would take the sample to "brew".  Turns out I was right, and now I am wasting a hospital appointment that could have been used by someone else.  

Don't worry, I have good neighbours and a the moment the snow isn't laying on the yard so local roads should be ok for a while yet.

Finally - gone 5 p.m. - I have a short course of antibiotics.  Two to be taken at once, with a meal, so just heating up some mince I cooked earlier.  Nothing exciting as I wasn't feeling up to much.  I have been waiting ALL day for the script, having gone down to the surgery at 9 a.m. this morning after no-one picking up the phone.  A bit of snow, and everyone suddenly decides they need to see a GP.  We won't be going anywhere tomorrow (Tam and Rosie here now) as the roads are wet and will soon be an ice slick.  Good not to be on my own here.  What would I do without my family?

P.S. It really doesn't take much snow to upset the applecart here as only the main roads are gritted, and snow is a fairly rare occurrence (even rarer this early when it's not officially winter yet).  The side roads will freeze to slick ice overnight and then it's a 4x4 job to get anywhere.  We've had perhaps an inch or two of snow, pretty to look at, but more on its way apparently.

Back to square one

Photo from a couple of years ago, on a Bluebell Walk just outside of Crickhowell.

 . . . with the UTI, which after two days without antibiotics, has returned.  I have taken a sample down to the surgery, reported symptoms have returned and requested more antibiotics.  Obviously a week was not long enough.  I am now waiting for a phone call. Update: tested in house and it has white blood cells in it so has been sent off to the lab to be cultured and then perhaps I will get anti-biotics that work.

In case I feel worse, I've done the grocery shopping for the week, and this also covers in case it snows -as snow is forecast. That would be very early for snow in Wales.  I've also done the recycling and put that at the end of the lane.  I got a few Christmas things when shopping and a pair of soft fleecy trousers which were in the pyjama section, as I want something warm and loose to wear at the moment in place of stretchy jeans.

Another Christmas present has arrived to give to one of my family, and a present for ME - The Mystery of Mercia by Hugh Williams, which looks really interesting.  I will be reading the chapter Twilight of the Cunning Folk first.

I put the side borders on Gabby's quilt top yesterday.  Not an ideal colour combination - I chose it before I received the jelly roll of fabrics - but it is very much Gabby's colourway.  

I am now going to rest up and listen to The Valley of Horses on Audible.  

Wrestling with my emotions today

 Not my best day - I felt wonderful yesterday, really happy and satisfied and full of energy - just as I used to be.  However, today was not a repeat and I woke up feeling jaded and haven't been in the mood to do anything much.  My tired brain was back in evidence.

I went down to get the Saturday paper, and popped up to see my friend Pam, as I'd not seen her for a couple of weeks. 

I have sewed the last three rows on the zigzag blocks part of Gabby's quilt, and also finally washed the material I bought for the side strips and backing. That's now drying on the rack in the Utility.

I wanted to watch racing this afternoon, but that upset me at first as Keith and I always watched the racing together.  That was today's crying session.  It was the Cheltenham meeting and I had two winners (in my head that is), but even if I had wanted to put a bet on, I'd have been a day too late as it was a recorded programme.  Don't now how to get it live any more as I don't have a programmes listing like I used to have with Sky, I have to go into the individual channel and do a search, which is incredibly slow and laborious.

I have started reading (again) Phil Rickman's The Magus of Hay and as Keith and I knew Hay SO well, I can picture his descriptions in my minds' eye and know exactly which places he's talking about.  From memory, it gets quite dark and scary later on . . .

I have in my mind to write a story about the Murder of Peggy Ffrydiau (up on the Epynt), now I have all the details.  It might be watch this space for a while though . . .

Next week we apparently have snow heading our way.  That's very early . . .  Can do without that especially as it will stop Tam and Rosie visiting.

I ordered Gabby an alternative present in case I don't get the quilt finished in time . . .

Lastly, annoyed to have an email from the Ebay seller I bought a gift for Danny from, as I was expecting it to be delivered today - as per their last email.  However, "Your parcel from Darkwear UK Ltd has reached your local delivery office. We've received a request not to deliver mail to the property your item is addressed to today. We'll attempt delivery as per the instructions we've received, which is usually on the next working day."  Well, I shan't be buying from THEM again.  Don't like being lied to.

Wrestling with a bear at Llandovery Fair . . .

"It was Fair Day in Llandovery and the streets were crowded with livestock and buyers.  As he strolled into the Fair, he could already see friends and neighbours looking at livestock, whilst a striking bay colt was being run out for his friend Thomas Rees, who was looking to replace an ageing stallion of his.  It flung its legs out like pistons and the lad running it up had to pull its head toward him to stop it cantering.  Will knew it was certainly an eye-catcher but would it manage on the poor grazing up on the Epynt come wintertime.  That was what mattered.

Nancy-stockings had her stall busy with customers, and there were the usual cottage industries of ladder making, net making, basket making selling their wares, and stalls selling haberdashery and fripperies.  He noticed his neighbour's new house servant trying on hats, trying to choose between those bedecked with ribbons or feathers.  He imagined, as she hadn't been at her placement long, she had asked for an advance on her salary and if she bought hats like that, there wouldn't be much left come pay day.  

The usual hucksters were there, downwind of the throng of cattle, sheep and horses in the street, including a snake oil salesman who was doing a thriving trade with his bottles of never-suffer-again cure-all ointment.  Where the street widened he could see a booth which was attracting a lot of attention.  As he drew closer, hands in pockets, he could see a shabby looking bear and a showman whose sharp clothing and cocked hat spoke of his confidence and successful business.  A large ungainly brown bear was displayed behind bars, and a sign read "Prize of ONE POUND to anyone who can spend just FIVE minutes with the bear." No-one was ready to try his luck though - if they so much as drew near, the bear would open its mouth and lick his lips with a long red tongue, as if its appetite had been whetted by the smell of potential customers . . .

Will Morgan was known for his strength.  He regularly hired himself at betingo time, using a breast plough to clear the top layer of turf from fallow fields before they were ploughed.  He had easily won a bet of carrying a huge branch from an oak tree which had fallen and blocked the road.  He offered to carry it from the scene down to the village, and a betting book was started.  He won his money easily, yet when the log was cut up and weighed, it was found to have been 10 hundredweight (half a TON).

Will Morgan KNEW his strength.  He knew that the £1 was money in his pocket from the moment he read the sign.  He stepped up.  Knowing looks were passed by those who knew him - or knew of him - as he stepped into the ring.  Not content just to stand near the animal though, he moved closer and he began to wrestle with it.  A roar went up amongst the spectators, and the crowd soon thickened with those eager to see the outcome of this particular wrestling match.  

The bear's fetid breath heated Will's face, as he leaned into it, getting a good grip on its pelt and manouevering it until he could grasp its tail with his right hand whilst his left arm was around its neck.  He could feel the low growls in its throat and it tried to turn its head to grasp his arm but he had the advantage of a grip which prevented this.  Slowly, he began to lift it off the ground.  The crowd roared even louder, and the puzzled bear struggled but could not free itself. Will pulled handfuls of mangy hair from the bear as he lifted it higher, with the Showman looking very worried, and starting to gabble about stopping before he got hurt!  Will laughed - he wasn't going to get hurt.  On the other hand, the odds weren't looking too good for the bear.  

His friends yelled, "Finish him off Will", and Will began a lap of honour, carrying the bear around the ring.  He stopped and shifted his weight to get a better hold, before putting his knee against the backbone of the bear and starting to pull it back towards him.  The crowd went WILD, the Showman became hysterical, pleading with him to stop - for he could see his livelihood about to become a rug rather than a meal-ticket.  Will pulled harder, the bear struggling for all it was worth, and the sound of cracking bones made the Showman almost apoplectic.

Will shouted to the Showman, "Give me £10 or I'll kill him."  The Showman screamed that he would, but just let his bear go.  Will dropped the bear in a heap and left the ring, with the bear prostate on the ground, red tongue lolling from its mouth and looking for all the world like that last shriek from the Showman had been too late.  Ten pounds was paid out, and Will was mobbed by his friends, who had never had such fun in all their lives.  It took the bear over an hour to recover its wits and clamber to its feet.

Two weeks later, it was Brecon Fair.  Once again, the Showman and his Fierce Bear offered brave men £1 for spending five minutes in its company.  Will made a point of heading straight towards this sideshow, but the bear, suddenly noticing his deadly enemy, became hysterical with fright and the Showman quickly gave Will another £5 just to keep away from it . . ."

Oh I have enjoyed writing that!  First bit of creative writing for years now.  In fact, I feel like my old self today.  I enjoyed going to the Library today and getting "Epynt Without People" by Ronald Davies, from the Locked Stack and doing some research.  The details for this story are all true, Will Morgan DID wrestle with the bear, and carry half a ton of oak log to the village.  The people of the Epynt seemed to be such a special group, everyone knew everyone, and they were all held together by a social cohesion which had lasted centuries until the MoD ended it in 1940 when it cleared them all from the land.  Even as an English incomer I  cannot forgive the MoD for that - you can imagine the distress the farmers felt and yet they all managed to find other farms to carry on their life's work, although some of them were far away in Carmarthenshire and they must have felt a dreadful Hiraeth (deep longing) for their homeland forever.

Have a good weekend, all.  

Trench art for Tracy

 Tracy, you mentioned yesterday that you collected Trench Art.   This little piece (unique? never seen another like it) was on my friend Simon's stall a few years back, at Malvern.  I picked it up to look at it more closely, and burst into tears - it was imbued with sadness and loss and I can only assume that whoever made it for their mum, wife or sweetheart, never returned from the war.  Each time I pick it up, I have a rush of emotion again.  I assume it shows the little (bedroom?) fireplace of a Victorian house and that the recipient recognized it immediately.  This sense is officially called Psychometry or ESP or being clairsentient.  It's something that I can only channel when I am relaxed and open.  Feel free to pooh-pooh this skill - it does seem something impossible to do, but it has happened to me is all I can say. I am an empath, so perhaps that has something to do with it.

For folk who have not come across Trench Art before - these are pieces made from the brass shell cases or scraps of aluminium of WWI and WWII.  In their time off, soldiers would work on turning them into useful objects to take home to their family.  Even Keith made 3 of them with the bases of shell cases and an Arabian coin in the centre so our kids will have one each. The link is to the Imperial War Museum and shows a selection of items.  What turns up most are the shell cases with sgraffito designs on, repousse work etc.  UK Ebay will show dozens of examples.

Many thanks to Julia in Texas who showed the photos I put up of the German photo album and mini medals yesterday to her son (who collects militaria) and he noted that the pilot had earned an Iron Cross in both the First and Second World Wars, alongside other military honours and also reckoned it was highly collectable and quite valuable.  A bit too valuable for my little stall anyway so I shall have to find a specialist Military auction for it.

Today I have managed to change my bed and put the duck down duvet on the bed (though that was a struggle!)  I should be nice and warm tonight.  I even ironed the bed linen first.

I have unpicked and resewn in the proper layout, two more blocks in Gabby's quilt, and with a heavy heart taken my stitch-ripper to the 3 rows of blocks I sewed together a couple of weeks ago - the wrong way up . . .  The colour balance demanded I started over.  So I sat and watched the 2nd episode of Phil Rickman's Midwinter of the Spirit, the only tv dramatisation of any of his books.  In daylight, not too spooky!

I also felt up to making a meal tonight, so set to and chopped up onions and garlic, added a good tin of cherry tomatoes and browned meatballs to go into it.  I had it with pasta and veg and it was very filling.  I have put the other half in the freezer.

Now I shall put my electric blanket on and settle down for the evening. 

I think these antibiotics have FARTichokes in them!

 The title, by the way, is what these blardy antibiotics do to me.  Just as well I live alone as heck, shall we just say you can hear where I am in the house!  However, I AM feeling better so mustn't complain.

My little helper Pipsqueak!!  Quilt border now restitched (hand quilting), quilt washed, ironed and priced ready for the next Fair, which is actually MUCH sooner than imagined as I have been offered a double stall at a Pre-Christmas Fair in December.  Yippee.  All my old friends there too (I was going to write "our" friends . . .) Below, this is it before I started work on it - on my king size bed, so a very generous double (80"x 84").

I am feeling better today, and have some energy- that's what eating a proper meal does for you.  I had a Tesco Chicken and Black Bean offering last night (with Egg Fried Rice - egg apparently an optional extra as not obviously IN the rice) but hey-ho, it was tasty and I ate the lot AND an ice cream cone for dessert, so that is real progress.  Having food in my tummy got rid of the nausea too.

I have had a leisurely start to the day, finished the JD Kirk novel, Blood and Treachery, which is a murder mystery set in Scotland (one of a series with DCI Jack Logan as the main protagonist) - sent to me by my friend Gay, and very enjoyable.

I have done SOME work - deep cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed upstairs, moved some of Tam's "bags of stuff" into her old bedroom (and out of my sewing room) and put the quilt in the top photo into a storage bag with its details and price tag, ready for the Fair.  I will be taking four quilts.  I have washed up and hung up yesterday's washing, which I forgot to do yesterday.  I have sorted out some of "I" 's non perishable toys (plastic farm yards etc) which can then go out into the Summer House for the winter.  There are about 6 or 7 boxes of her toys around the house and I don't need this additional clutter  - not to mention her dismantled single bed and mattress, small chest of drawers, 3 drawer storage box, BIG chest of drawers in the kitchen etc, and that's before we get to all Tam's stuff!

I have also been researching a WWI German Luftwaffe photo album, which also has the pilot's small wearable medal display strip attached to it.  Keith got it in a deal, pre-Covid, for an old musket he had.  I thought he'd been ripped off at the time, but research shows I was wrong and it is actually quite collectable and worth more than the price he had on the musket.  He usually got it right! 

Off to watch (as it's daylight!) a couple more episodes of The Burning Girls and do some hand stitching - attaching hexi's to that unfinished quilt.

Today's (small) achievements

a.  Remembered to take medication at appropriate times.

b.  Signed new Passport which arrived today.

c.  Managed to get to Llandod and do shopping.

d.  Spent some of my cash on the latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are as it had an item about researching Police (want to research my great uncle who was a Railway Policeman in London, and a BIG article about Northamptonshire research, where mum's Battams came from.

e.  Decided as still knocked sideways by antiobiotics to invest in a Tesco offer of ready-meals (curries and a Chinese meal) to freeze/eat this week to save me having to cook when I feel whacked.

f.  Have been watching The Burning Girls on daytime tv - Netflix (can probably manage another episode, even though it's dark now, but if the psycho who killed her husband, complete maniac by the looks of him, turns up - having just got early release from jail - WHY - should have been in Broadmoor for life) I shall wait until tomorrow!

g.  Rescued a Field Mouse which the girls had been on stake out for overnight and into the afternoon and brought down to the kitchen.  I hope it survives but at least it has its chance out in the paddock now. (It came from the airing cupboard . . .)

So, not a lot happening, but had a delightful chat with Danette on the phone.  SO good to speak to you my dear.  Oh, and I found another small Christmas present for family.  Need to find some things for Rosie yet.

Change of antibiotics

 Let's hope this works, and they don't have the same degree of Nausea side effects as the other ones I was on.  Appetite totally under control.  Blood pressure still well within normal ranges (136/75).  So, we shall see.  Meanwhile, 3/4 of the way through JD Kirk's Blood and Treachery.

My gorgeous wee girl who looks like she's eating spaghetti but actually it's the fringe on a blanket!!

I was reading something really interesting on Findmypast earlier on, whilst checking the Newspapers for my family in Cheriton Bishop - trying to establish a connection there.  It was in the Morning Chronicle in October 1839 and spoke of a lass (who could be a relly) being duped into possibly stealing things from her boss in order to pay 5 shillings to have her Nativity read by "Raphael", Astrologer.  She went back next day and was told it was another 5 shillings and if she couldn't pay up, she might find her legs got broken or other ill luck attend her.  Poor girl wasn't able to read very well and didn't understand most of the Nativity cast for her (fortune telling, basically).  He (real name Ebernezer Webber) was proven to be an utter fake and sentenced to 3 months hard labour in the House of Correction.

I have been very distracted looking through as for some reason a lot of the "links" they are meant to provide - highlighted in blue - don't actually take you to the page and highlighted article you want.  Still, I've read all sorts of interesting stuff on there.  Early racism in Totnes (poor chap, a "Hindoo" set upon and robbed by three drunken louts;) arson; murder; attempted murder; all sorts.  One poor girl was sentenced to 6 mths hard labour - her crime, "taking a piece of cloth"!

I have also been searching for my g. grandfather, John Bolt, who moved to Hampstead in London with his mother when she was widowed (in Moretonhampstead).  Have found what could be him, being somewhat militant about the Vestry Elections (Hampstead Town Ward).  He lived in Holly Place and the house next door has just sold for a cool £4 million.  That was an odd number though and perhaps his place was flattened as there are more modern dwellings for the even numbers.  Think the dates are wrong as he had been in the Vestry members for 40 years. All I can say is, he wasn't having any nonsense!  He wanted new blood in the Vestry!

Fed up with this

 

Hay Bluff in the mist.

Still here, and very glad that I didn't do the Fair as I was sofa bound all day.  Despite drinking and drinking, nothing really happened until I went to bed, and then I was up 6 times in the night!  Tam ordered me some D-Mannose (thanks to gz for the heads up on that), and I've taken two lots so far.  Both the girls say I'm not too bad, but my brain is doing a Dr Google over all the symptoms and x = x4squared!  Watched some enjoyable tv (despite Tony Robinson being involved) - Time Crashers, made in 2015, which I have never heard of before.  Celebrities taken back in time for 24 hours (I think the Iron Age ones would have starved in pretty short order if they'd been there a week!)  On Youtube anyway.

I couldn't eat much of the lovely meal the kids made, but managed a few mouthfuls of venison and shared the rest out between my offspring.  I am losing a pound a day weightwise, and my BP this morning was 114/77.  Surviving on water, dry bread and apples.

I get the results of my urine test tomorrow, but since it was taken AFTER I'd been on antibiotics, it will probably be negative.  Results for Kidney performance I won't get until Tuesday.

Right, back to resting up.

Update: If you have ever tried to chose a replacement printer when your brain isn't really with it, you will extend your sympathies.  Printer finally ordered and as I was looking for a cheap one, it is probably no better or worse than any of the others whatever the reviews tell you.

Car unloaded (thanks Gabby).  

The girls will be off soon and I will probably snooze on the sofa.  Youtube certainly has my algorithm and I have dozens of good programmes to watch.  Plus a big pile of unread books.

I just escaped a trip to A&E . . .

 UPDATE: Sorry, my comments when replying to people caused confusion.  I've decided (this morning) not to do the Fair as it would mean a very early start, and two long days and I don't want to get there and set up and find myself feeling so unwell I need to go home.  The organiser is a good friend, and understanding.  The antibiotics are making me feel sick all the time and I have no appetite. Dry bread is all I'm enjoying right now.  

Yup, yesterday did not turn out as I wanted, as despite drinking lots in the morning, nothing was moving through me. . .  The anti-biotics were clearly not working and I was worsening.  I phoned the Surgery and explained the situation, went down at lunchtime and was told the Duty Dr would phone after 3.  By 3.30 I was down there again and had a long wait to actually see the Dr.  Still nothing working as it should be.  I was finally examined and sent across to the District Nurse (one I know well as she was also the side-kick of the Parkinsons Nurse) to have a bladder scan.  I was told in no uncertain terms if it was over 900ml, then I would have to drive to Hereford and present myself at A&E, something I truly did NOT want to as a) it's 45 miles away and I'd be driving in the dark at a time when I am normally taking myself off to bed; b) I'd have to sit in a packed waiting room all night waiting to be seen and getting more and more uncomfortable  c) the car was only half-packed with Fair stuff and not tightly-packed as it needs to be to travel any distance and I didn't want to leave a car full of quite valuable things in the Hospital car park.  Plus Tam and Rosie had come over straight away, bless them - how that baby loves me - ear to ear grin when she sees me!

Anyway, they couldn't find much fluid in my bladder (where the heck did it all go?) but I was sent home with different antibiotics and a stern "if you haven't p'd by 9 p.m., off to Hereford A&E".  I got fish and chips and curry sauce for our tea, and guess what, Rosie LOVES curry sauce!!  It's so mild it barely justifies the name of curry, but it's great on chips and she was delighted to have some:)

I spent the evening drinking water like it was going out of fashion and managed to avoid having to drive to Hereford, and during the night have been back to normal.  Phew.

Anyway, yesterday I cancelled my stand at the Fair, to give Brita a chance to fill it.  I had paid for my stand of course, so she wouldn't be out of pocket but she didn't have anyone else in the waiting list in case a table became available.  Anyway, later on I got in touch and said rather than set up today, I would rest up and if definitely feeling better, I would go down early on Saturday morning to get everything arranged.  Gabby is going to meet me there and help me through the day.  We will still have our special meal in the evening, to celebrate what would have been Keith's 84th birthday.  

I could certainly have done without being ill when a Fair is in the offing.  I am very glad I started organizing the stock I'd be taking early.  I have Tam here to help me carry the Berber door out as it is quite chunky and whilst I can just manage it on my own, better to have a two woman lift and save my back!

So, for once I have had time to read, and watch tv but would rather be well!  Have a good weekend.

Plodding on

 No sign that the antibiotics are kicking in yet and I'm half way through the course.  I can see myself back down the Dr's tomorrow morning. Anyway, I have felt very slightly better - better enough to tackle the boxes of old stock tucked away and decide what will go.  I have even put 3 big boxes in the car, along with the spare table and both the big display shelves.  I put the final stitches in the big auction quilt last night and now it's in the washing machine.  I will take both the single hexi quilts too.

The patchwork tops are generous - unlike some which have a patchwork bit barely the width of the top of the bed and a huge valance drop to them.   With these you could if you wished take off the valance edge.

I've popped down the town to post the teacosy to Danette (enjoy it my dear), and had some venison steaks put on one side at the Butchers for Keith's birthday meal on Saturday, and had an early lunch of a small bowl (half a tin) of Oxtail soup and the last muffin, buttered, and will take myself off to the sofa shortly to rest up.

I had a good mix of tv yesterday - episode 8 of Rivals last night; several of Dave's Countryside Walks on Youtube, where he roams parts of Dorset and the New Forest very familiar and comforting to me with his Whippet Logan; Kate and the Last Homely House; a couple of archaeology programmes and a Who Do You Think You Are.

This morning I've been researching Berber doors and found that mine is called a Jajouj door.  Apparently they are believed to have the power to ward off evil spirits, and protect from bad luck and misfortune.  They can also bring good luck and fortune.  Mine will be much cheaper than the examples I've found on line, some of which are well into four figures!

Laid up with a UTI

 Just what I didn't need - although the timing could have been a lot worse, had it happened next weekend.  Started feeling rough yesterday, had a very bad night and managed to get a GP appt. 9.30 this morning, thank heavens.  I've been put on MacroBID - Nitrofurantoin - which has some scary side effects.  I always read the sheet that comes with medications, and just as well I did with this one as it comes with contra-indications that it can affect breathing, so I spoke to the pharmacist before taking the first one.  It makes you drowsy too, so I have been zzzzzzzzing on the sofa, with Kate at the Last Homely House on to keep me company.  I am very glad that I have made good progress with prepping everything for the Fair, and now even have two of the big burgundy sheets I use to cover the tables at the Fair, washed and drying.

Danette - photos of the pretty patchwork tea cosy for you.  Brain too addled to start working out how I add them to a WhatsApp message!

Here is the Berber (Moroccan) door, which I gave a little tlc yesterday

I just love the designs on it - especially the compass drawn one which turns up in British folk designs too, and early furniture.  I read somewhere that these were the locked doors for jewellery and things which needed to be kept safe.  

You can't see the copper colour properly but this was black when it came home.  It is a coffee dallah with wonderful Indo Persian designs chased into it.

A not very sharp photo of the Chinese dragons - these would have been hung in homes I believe.  Hope someone will fall in love with some of these goodies anyway.  

Back to the sofa now.

Definitely NOT a car boot sale!

 

Debby said that it sounded like a lot of preparation for that car boot sale.  Believe me, if it were a car boot sale, it would be a bung it in the back job the afternoon before.  No, my Fair next weekend is this one and I am in the Dome (right hand side of the photo above).  Keith and I used to have a pillar to pillar (triple) stand in the Dome, right next to the lovely couple who used to sell the copper and brass pictured above.  I think they retired just before the first Lockdown, so good timing for them.  This time I have a single pitch, but also have a portion of one of the nearby glass doored entrance halls into the Dome, which is planted with amazing shrubs and plants from all around the world and which thrive inside the Dome.  This gets VERY hot in the summer and pretty chilly in the winter.  Next weekend calls for Winter Woollies!  I am being very specific with what I am taking and will even have a mock set up on my big kitchen table before I go to see that I have the look I want.  I need to strike the right balance with my display.  Some of the French brocante style stalls look like they have been professionally curated by window dressers and I can't compete - having totally different stock anyway.  I specialize in the unusual - sometimes bizarre - pieces.  Who else will have a bronze Indian temple "toy" in the form of a lion with the head of a man, which is meant to represent the Belgian king and Congo dictator Leopold II.  Not a strong selling point since he was responsible for the rape, mutilation and genocide of millions of Congoese people.  It's "old stock" (I have an awful lot of that, hence still doing Fairs!!)  Keith was with me when I had picked it up just to LOOK at it, and ask the price, and the next moment he had bought it (paying far too much).  So I am stuck with it . . .  I shall have to play down the Leopold II bit . . . or not mention him at all.  

I will take quilts and a Welsh blanket, small pieces of furniture including the lovely Smoker's Bow which has been professionally re-caned and looks fabulous (and it is SO rare).  A gorgeous inlaid round-topped wine table with a bobbin-turned stand.  A lovely little tiny-hexagons tea-cosy cover, huge wooden Welsh cawl spoons, an old ship's lamp or two, the big Turkish dough boards, and some pretty Studio Pottery ceramics. Some old lace, and those gorgeous Chinese and Burmese wooden pieces.  Plus paintings and prints.  A bit of everything.  I will look through Keith's militaria and see what I may be able to fit in on part of the table.  I'll try and add some photos later.

Just when I need some energy . . .

The view from my bathroom window, across the fields to Llanelwedd quarry down the other side of town.  Proof that the sun does shine here sometimes!

. . . . there is none to be found.  I slept badly again last night - that blasted Alfie again - and I think I need a few nights with cats downstairs since I have the Fair to prepare for.  That's what I spent much of yesterday doing.  I polished the little Georgian scratch-made child's chair up, and did lots of research on the more exotic things I got at the last Fair  at Malvern, but can find NOTHING like them, anywhere.  So valuing will be difficult and the jury is still out on that.  I polished up a little wooden inkwell from the 1920s that has a little Jack Russell type dog cut-out on the top.  I never knew that the His Master's Voice dog logo dated from 1899.  This little dog is very similar.  I went out to the stables and emptied a half-full deep plastic storage box so I can fill it with Fair things, non-ceramic.  I labelled and priced a few items.  In the evening I was hand-quilting the biggest of the 3 quilts from that last auction until Pippi decided she wanted to sleep inside the portion that drooped down towards the floor and after that I couldn't pull it up to work on it for fear of disturbing her.  I know . . . Mrs Softee.

I saw on Facebook this week that my favourite author, Phil Rickman, had died.  He had a bad stroke a few years ago, so I wonder if it was another one that did for him.  There is one last book of his in the pipeline (though not due to be issued for a year).  I have pre-ordered it on Amazon for my Kindle.

I was up very late this morning, and drove to Llandod as I had decided to get the week's grocery shopping out of the way.  I did a Big Shop (just over  £100! EEK!), as several things I use were on offer so worth buying two or three of, and when I looked at my trolley towards the end, there was just ONE meal in it, so it was off to the meat and freezer sections (I bought mostly fish), which I managed to squeeze in my freezers by taking some remaining veggie food of E's and taking it out of the large cardboard cartons to put in small freezer bags with the cooking instructions.  

Another £35 was spent topping the car up with diesel as I have 3 trips to and fro from Carmarthen next Friday to Sunday.

Now I'm going to have a lie down to find some energy for more Fair stock sorting later.  I want it all decided on, boxed and labelled by the end of tomorrow. 

Some Welsh history, especially the Epynt clearances

 I slept badly last night - Alfie came in at 1 a.m. to be let out and that was me for several hours.  I've had to kip on the sofa at lunchtime and have been re-watching The Last Kingdom (how Keith and I enjoyed that series) on Netflix, and idly looking up various Welsh history leads at the National Library of Wales.

Here's what I bought at the Garden Centre.  I need to clean out a couple of planters and put fresh compost in the top and get these bulbs in. 

I kept away from plastic baubles (pretty though they were) and the owl, the mouse and the little Rosie decoration are a delight.

Last night's perusals on line bring you an extract from an old Welsh antiquarian journal dated August 10th 1804:  It was about the baptising of the g.g. grand-daughter (Ann Thomas), whose g.g. granny was Elizabeth Thomas, of Bettws, who was aged 99 years.  She was blind in one eye but could still knit, spin and sew without glasses, and she often walked 5 - 8 miles daily.  Her living children numbered 7, and she had 30 grandsons and nearly 100 g. grandsons . . .  Gosh, that certainly overwhelmed the gene pool in Bettws (near Newport) a bit!

I was reading about Conjuror Harries of Cwrt-y-Cadno, about whom I wrote a good few years ago after the library book about the Epynt clearances, mentioned him again in the finding of a murderer after a woman's body - that of Peggy Fach of Ffrydiau was found in a bog.  Her lover Jack (of Troed-rhiw-derwyddon) had killed her and buried her body there. Apparently Harries was instrumental in the finding of this body too, so solving yet another murder mystery.  Few local people would pass Cymdyfnant,  where the bog was, after dark.  In Herbert Hughes' book "An Uprooted Community - a History of Epynt" also mentions a bird photographer who would go there to take photos of the Ravens in the area.

The Epynt book is a very interesting read but you cannot help but feel distressed still for the people who lost the farms and smallholdings which had been their homes for generations, in some cases since Elizabethan times.  As at Tyneham village (near Swanage) in Dorset, the MoD laid claim to the land (36,000 acres) as an Army training area and their representative visited every farm, giving a date for the evictions.  No consideration was given that it might had been right in the middle of lambing, and the same price was paid for good acreage as for neglected sour rushy hill grazing, which upset people too, being so unfair.  

Slightly better grazing in this photo.

It was a hard life up there - you have seen some of the photos I've used in my blog since we've moved here.  It is what is known as marginal land - somewhere only just possible to scrape a living.  Sheep are about the only livestock that paid, and only the older unimproved types of cereal - red wheat and grey oats - could cope with the poor acidic soil and the rainfall. Back in those times there were no tight elastic bands to put around the ram lambs' testicles until they atrophied - indeed, one man claimed to have castrated thousands of 4 - 6 week old lambs using his TEETH!!  They would even make a ewe's milk cheese, thus utilising another aspect of sheep keeping.  It would be mixed one gallon of ewes' milk to a (separated - cream for butter) single cow's milking and would be sold at market after 6 mths or so of it curing.  Butter was made weekly and baskets of eggs also taken to the mart.  Any left over butter would be salted and put in a crock and taken back in during winter months when a premium price could be achieved.  Obviously in the summer there would be a glut of butter as all the cows had calved close together.  

Peat was used for burning, and there were three types (qualities) of peat, and a peat fire was never allowed to go out. One old dear was known for burning "cled" -  "the firm stuff" - in other words, cow pats she had dried and saved!  The author reports that once some old swords had been found in the depths of a peat bog.  Iron Age perhaps.  Coal had to be bought and was burnt with the peat.  Bargoed coal (where my grandfather was a miner) was the favourite. The fine coal would be made into "pele" by mixing it with local clay to make it burn longer.  In some farms the fireplace was on the actual floor and burned well there.  In areas where there were oak trees, these would have the bark stripped from them before felling and the bark transferred to the tannery in old canvases.

Food was probably fairly repetitive - there were three types of gruel ("sucan") which was eaten at breakfast.  One was water mixed with inferior flour, which then stood for a week to a fortnight to settle, then mixed and a portion put into a pan over the fire and drank as if it were hot milk.  The second was boiled and stirred until it thickened, like jelly and a portion of this eaten with milk. The third type was made like a thick porridge and poured into basins.  Pancakes were made with buttermilk and this was far nicer than using milk.  Bread, butter and cheese were eaten for tea.

Cawl - soup - was the lunchtime staple of the daily diet and made with scraps of beef, and root vegetables.  A cow would be killed in the autumn - a community barren cow of some 4 or 5 years old - would be killed, bled and then suspended from a beam and sawn up into portions.  Entrails weren't used and liver was the prerequisite of the man who had butchered it.  The rumen (stomach) was washed, covered in hot lime for a few days and then washed again and the inside peeled off and the outside (tripe) put in salt water until clean and then cooked.  Any fat made tallow for candle-making and the butcher would have the skin. The lower legs were boiled down to produce an oil used to treat stiffness.

I will end with quoting from the book.  The family of one farmstead were moving out at the end of June - shelling was to commence on 1st July

 "An old lady of 82 sat on an old chair she had dragged out to the furthest end of the yard, and was sitting there, motionless, gazing towards the mountain with tears streaming down her cheeks.  She had been born there, and her father and grandfather before her.  She is leaving today and she is distilling into these last few minutes one last enriching view of the ancient mountain or recalling her lifespan in the old cottage.  I don't know, I could only see the tears of her anguish."  This was written by Iowerth C Peate, who created St Fagans, the Welsh Folk Museum in Cardiff.

Garden Centre fun

Well, I've seen it all now - a RODENT Christmas Tree! It made me smile, I have to say!  Who on earth thought up that RATS would be something you dressed your Christmas tree with?

This was a little Christmas scenario - a cross between Holland (Windmills) and Switzerland - cable cars and snow!  Nothing like as good as the splendid one they have in Charlies in Carmarthen though.

I always love the look of these Christmas dried fruit and frosted pine cones but am too mean to pay £10.99 for some (or MORE).  I have a dehydrator so could make my own, but first I would have to find the dehydrator!  Sorry, photo below not a brilliant one.

Thousands of different decorations.

Lots of different coloured themes.  There was even one stand bedecked with pigs, cows, sheep, tractors and other farming themed decorations! (See above).

Hedgehogs too . . .

All sorts of different trees and ideas to decorate them.  We of course stay with the traditional tree from the wild woods.

Needless to say with all the flashing lights, and different colours, Rosie was on sensory overload for a bit!
 

How cute is this little chap?

I will do some outside photos and what I bought later.  There were some trees there with staggering prices - one enormous olive tree in a planter had been reduced - from £999 down to £899.  Bound to fly out now!  A 6 foot or so Acer in a pot - £349!  Huge planters big enough to hide a body in, £349.  I bought just two lots of bulbs as they are expensive there and so I bought things I wouldn't necessarily find elsewhere.

I have been having no end of techy problems. The printer (an HP, drat it) has suddenly refused to let me use the cheaper alternative to its own printer ink (which would cost me £40 + instead of the £12 I've been paying.  I had just bought some replacement ones and it doesn't want to know and won't even print black any more.  Now, do I buy another cheap printer complete with ink (probably a Canon) or do I give in and buy expensive ink for a printer which is otherwise working but calls for the dear stuff?  I can get the Canon with own ink for the same price as the HP ink . . .  Canon come with not very good write-ups reference about setting up on the computer.

I was up in the middle of the night, trying to get yesterday's photos off my phone.  It decided it wanted to load up everything on there again and then I was out of storage space and the only way to put more photos on and access fresh emails was to bite the bullet and pay Microsoft £1.99 a month for extra storage.  THEN I couldn't find the photos.  I could see them on a Pictures page but couldn't find the link for it.  Finally this morning I have accessed them on a fresh Photos link which I used for my blog.  I still don't know where they are otherwise and of course my chief technician has gone home now!

So with the printer (also a scanner) playing up I couldn't scan documents to send to the Bank to have Keith's current account balance transferred to mine, and will have to go down to the PO in a minute to post them, recorded delivery.

I gave up on the lovely but challenging Medieval banquet 1000 piece jigsaw.  Life is too short and I hadn't touched it for a fortnight.  Instead I sat down yesterday and found the edge pieces for the 500 piece Summer Cottage.  

I have been offered a space next weekend (single table) at the Antiques Fair Keith and I used to do.  I have a little overspill area where I can put some small pieces of furniture but need to get myself organized over what I am taking, and give a little Georgian child's chair a good polish today.  I want to sort out what is going and have it all in a couple of boxes.  It unfortunately clashes with what would have been Keith's 84th Birthday, and the children are all going to be here for that and cook venison.  I nearly said no I can't do it but I heard Keith's voice telling me not to be so silly.