Being impetuous again

 That is something I haven't been able to do/be for several years now.  Keith and caring for him took precedence of course.  Like having things to look forward to, being impulsive had been put at the back of the cupboard of life and well and truly covered in dust.  

The weather was so nice and warm today - total wall to wall sunshine - that after doing the chores - stripping Danny's bed, washing the bedlinen and hanging it out, sweeping and scrubbing the bathroom floor, tidying etc, a short walk out blackberry picking (another pound in the freezer for winter), I thought it seemed a pity to waste such beautiful weather and I really quite fancied a drive out somewhere - somewhere up towards Shropshire.  I pondered the map and then realized it was a Monday, and the auction at Pembridge would be on.  That wasn't too far and was a nice drive through beautiful scenery.  I checked out what was in the auction and marked a few things off.  There are photos on their Facebook page, but you never know quite what to expect until you get there and can look more closely.  

I had a good browse and crossed a few things off the list.  I would just bid on one lot, a double patchwork quilt.  Not too bad a one, but it needed the old-lady-needing-glasses jab-it-quilting ripped out and replacing with my neat stitching.  A few lots earlier were two equally old-lady-1960s/70s single hexagon quilts with valences.  Not very desirable, but the fabrics were certainly of their time.  Idly I watched a few things sold and then the two quilts came up.  He tried to get £10 but no bids, tried £5, got a bid, and I thought to myself, oh come on Jen, that's cheap and put my hand up and bought them for £6 the pair!

They will need a good wash anyway, then I'll put them away until the next Fair next year.

Then the other quilt came up and I got it for £15!

See what I mean about the quilting . . . and those were comparatively good bits!  I think it must have been a kit at the time, as there is another exactly the same over on Ebay. Again it needs a good wash, but has no stains on it (unlike Ebay quilt) and then I can get busy with my stitch ripper on the dark days of winter.

I even stopped and bothered a church on the way home.  This is St Michael's and All Angels at Lyonshall.  We viewed an old house near here - it was the one where the elderly lady's grandfather had been the baker, the carpenter and the undertaker!  The layout was wrong too though, and she'd sold off all the paddocks around it for building plots, so it was a bit hemmed in too.  Plus no central heating and open fires.

The two views at the top of the page were taken from the churchyard.

All in all, a positive day and it was a lovely drive out.  Even the awfully feral Herefordshire roads had had a couple of makeovers in the worst places - about blardy time too as they were FULL of potholes.  You knew the moment you crossed into Herefordshire as your car damn near disappeared in an 'ole!

Short Malvern report

 . . .tired out, didn't spend too much.  I bought a couple of unusual things.  Photos of those tomorrow.

gz - please post your comment again because it got zapped by mistake when I was going down a long line of really irritating spam.

This chap used to have his stand inside the barns, but in the past year or so has been outside.  I think you have to guarantee standing for 10 months out of 12 to keep your indoor pitch, and he couldn't manage that. As always, some interesting sign painting of his, and I just ADORE those painted windows.  It did occur to me that I could do the same here, perhaps on the old windows of the permanently locked Georgian door which was the old entrance into the house.  Excepting, of course, you have to paint on the back of the glass.  It's an outside door . . . but hey ho, I may get the acrylic paints out and have a play around on some glass.  My dad used to buy up - very cheaply from auction - old and undesirable religious prints and then paint his copies of Impressionist paintings on them . . .

I liked those iron and brass cannisters on the Egg Packing station but the chap was busy with a customer when I was there and I knew they'd be beyond what I would want to spend.

The corner stand which goes buying in France, as so many folk seem to do these days.

A bevy of cats and old curly photos.

The large gingham print quilt had a big hole in it.

The pale pink quilt was hand quilted.

The stand which specialized in toys also had a couple of samplers on it this time. (Just looked this up on line and it sold for £160 at auction here in Wales).

This one was in very poor condition, very faded and the black thread used had run - perhaps it had been stored somewhere damp.  Just looked closer, and can see it is dated 1608!!! Or perhaps the it is 1808 and the top of the 8 has faded?  It does look like the design is from 1608 though.  Wow.  

The typical sort of random stuff stall . . . 

I have to say, I was away early as it wasn't very big this time (outside) and there were quite a few stalls I was able to trot past with just a cursory glance.  By the end of the sheds, my crapometer had had enough and I was glad to get away.

I had intended to visit Great Malvern Priory, but I was tired by then, hadn't put the route on my phone as I'd been listening to the Forest all the way there (sounds a feeble reason, but I know what I mean) and only when I got home did I realize the turning was opposite the one for Colwall, so I will know next time. Then I got lost in the Malvern hinterland and was glad to find the turning for the Ledbury road again.

I am sat here in the dimpsey now, intending to go through to the living room and cover myself in a thick blanket and watch some more Youtube history and archaeology. Oh, or Antiques Roadshow.

 Here is a vintage mouse I couldn't resist.  She's the summer version of my Christmas meeces!

A Totally Unexpected Day!

This lovely Hawthorn tree didn't show up as well as I'd hoped.  It's on the slopes of the Sugar Loaf, and I stopped and took a couple of lousy photos!  Yet it had looked so vibrant as I drove up the road towards it.

 Well, having said to Tam I hadn't seen Danny for ages, I then got a phone call from him.  He'd lost his car keys in Carmarthen, and the spare set were on the bedside table.  I went and grabbed the keys I found there, and set off to Carmarthen to deliver them.  On the way, I was listening to my Audible book and didn't know he had messaged me to say they'd been found and handed in to the butchers!  (Just as well, as I bought the wrong set of keys!!)  Ah well, excuse for an  outing and it was good to see him.  He paid my fuel and bought me lunch too, and on the way I happened to notice that there was a Quilt Exhibition, so I aimed to visit on my return leg.  I got more new skinny jeggings from Matalan in a longer length and a large carrot, small parsnip and some cat food in Tesco, and set off homeward.  Just as I walked into the hall, my phone was chirruping at me and blow me down, D in Dorset had sent me photos of a quilt exhibition down with her!  Talk about timing!  Some FABULOUS quilts in her photos.

I took some photos, which I will share with you.  They are a small quilting group, and I was thinking of joining but would have to have my sewing machine PAT-tested first, and on reflection, I thought I might just as well sew in the comfort of my own home and make friends in other areas.  

As you can see, these creative ladies had been very industrious.  All sorts of designs.

I am glad to say that my cake was well received two doors down, and not a crumb of it was left when I popped down to say hello.  The folk there for the Open Day were all busy making patties of straw and clay (as in cob) and were going to put them on the party wall in the house, to make it more soundproof and to hold in warmth.  Mind you, I think it will take a goodly while to dry now that Autumn is here and we've had some cold and wet weather.

I've made myself a big pan of soup-cum-stew and had a bowlful for tea.  I've made such a vat of it I think I shall be eating it every meal for a week!  Everything is sorted for tomorrow and all I have to do in the morning is wash, dress, do teefs, have a cuppa and some toast, cut slices of cucumber to go in my cheese rolls and then I will be away.

An Evening Out! Plus recipe for the Gingerbread & Date cake

 Since moving here, I've gone to a few meetings of the local Heritage Society, usually when there are talks on Archaeology or Castles.  It's £3 to go as a guest.  Last night I joined, which is £15 a year.  I didn't go very often whilst Keith was alive, for fear of catching Covid or a nasty cold and bringing it home to him.

Last night's talk was about Builth Fire Brigade and given by a good friend of Keith and I.  We had a good chat before he started, and it was a very interesting talk.  The new venue was full and it made a nice change to get out.  It's just 2 miles down the road, so not far to go. A local pub is doing a Quiz evening in aid of the Society next week, so I'm going to go along to that as well.  I may also volunteer at their centre in town.

 I am debating whether to go to Malvern on Sunday.  Now it's Autumn, dealers may not be trying to hang on to stock and I've had better bargains than at the summer Fairs in the past.  Because I'm tired I'm finding it hard to get enthusiastic. However, there's just been a post about the wonders of Great Malvern Priory on my Facebook feed (many thanks, Mr Bulstrode) and so I will go and then visit the Priory afterwards.

Today the new neighbour is having an open day.  On Tuesday I baked a big pan of the Ginger Cake with Dates, so will drop that down, and perhaps stay for a little while.  He's got about 10 people coming to find out about his courses.  

This makes a mighty cake, so by all means halve, or make two.  Mine ended up as two cakes (one's in the freezer) as there was far too much for the pan I was using. The recipe is from Sonia Allison's Home Baking Book.  (c. about 1980 I think).  I usually make the Chocolate Gingerbread, where you use 14oz flour (400g) and add 2oz (50g) cocoa powder.  Increase the water to 4 tablespoonfuls.

Yesterday afternoon I finally got back to working on Gabby's quilt - hah, unpicking and putting right a couple of mistakes I made in June.  Not having a busy 4yr old about the place makes a big difference to concentration levels.  I had Audible on - I'm still listening to Edward Rutherford's The Forest.  (Audible really are being tempting right now, as they are offering me four months at £2.99 a month . . . may just do the 4 mths and store up some big fat books to listen to over the winter months . . .)

As it's not overly warm in the house again  (14deg) outside, I am going to go up and do a little bit of ironing now to warm up.  Have a good weekend.

Greenhouse tidy up and mulching the orchard trees

Who would ever have thought that Hedge Woundwort had such imaginative designs on the petals when you get a close up view?

 A morning well spent.  I nipped down into town first thing to get a loaf of bread from the Bakery (one called Norfolk Goose Back from the shape and the Norfolk flour used).  Two hunks of that with ham were breakfast.  I collected my new Spacer for my inhalers from Boots, and went to the fruit and veg stall on the Groe carpark for a cucumber and some apples - they had lovely big Russets, so half a dozen of those are in my fruit bowl now.  That stall is the total sum of our local Market!

Then it was into the greenhouse and get rid of the dead/dieing tomato and cucumber plants, and recycle their compost, sweep the floor and have a tidy up.

Finally, up to the orchard and cut the grass back around half a dozen apple trees, and mulch them with stable manure. 6 more to go, and the rest of the soft fruit area.

Whilst looking for navy print fabrics earlier, I had a moment's inspiration and went to look on line at Calico Kates, the Lampeter shop which is far too tempting top visit more than annually.  She had exactly what I was looking for in a Moda range called Clover Blossom Farm.  I will look for it more cheaply elsewhere as it is priced at £16 a metre!  Meanwhile, I found a print which would do on Ebay and which is far cheaper, so ordered a metre which is less than £6 including postage.  Just checked, and Doughty's in Hereford have it, but it is still £14.49 a metre.  Still not cheap.

Now, upstairs to my sewing room and get cracking on unfinished quilts!

An Afternoon Sewing

 

Having spent much of the morning asleep on the sofa, I took Ibuprofen instead of Panadol and it's made me feel much brighter.  With various Youtube offerings in the history/archaeology department on to keep me amused, I mended Tam's trousers, put poppers on a sleeping bag of Rosie's to make it a better fit, and then blew the dust off an old unfinished 1970s? hexagon quilt I had bought from a Charity shop a few years back. I found I had already raided my stash for any prints which might be used, and only had plain navy blue left and a fat quarter of a red print. I've been looking on Ebay and at Doughtys and the Cotton Patch for prints which might do but no luck so far.

I have put 8 or so extra garden patches on two borders, but as it's a circular pattern, squaring it off is going to be a challenge, even when I get some fabrics.  I have decide I may treat myself to a trip to Malvern Autumn Quilt Festival next month.

I've not been out of the house all day but my body is telling me it's rest I need.  I'll do a walk tomorrow - when hopefully I'll be feeling a bit brighter.

It's only 17 degrees in the house and 11 outside, so I have caved in and put the heating on for an hour.  An extra quilt will be going on the bed tonight too.

Oh, and just noticed this: https://www.gbnews.com/money/council-tax-single-person-discount-keir-starmer-budget  We single pensioners will lose our 25% single person discount.   And after that, the bus pass will go.  Never needed to use mine - until NOW.  How Labour can justify this is just beyond comprehension.  How about robbing people blind when they have POTS of money - not elderly people with none to start with.  

A Day for Doing Nothing

I remade the guest room bed yesterday and neatly laid a woollen blanket across the end.  Next time I came up I found this . . .

This morning I am feeling grim from my jab - I was awake 3 hours in the night, had Lulu wedged in my back purring like a grampus, knowing I needed Looking After.  Alfie came in at 1.30 and when I put my hand out to stroke him, promptly gave me a good scramming.  I was NOT amused by that.  I am very glad I did the baking on Tuesday.

Everything I've damaged or over-used in recent months is aching (thank you Shingles Jab), especially my poorly toe, and my back from shifting stuff at the weekend, and I have a headache.  I have taken Panadol and am about to retreat to the sofa.

I watched more Youtube history last night - one to avoid is The Kingdom of Brychiniog, where the Englishman who made it has not a CLUE how to pronounce ANY Welsh words and I wanted to hurl a book at the telly if he said DIFFED (instead of Dyfed with the y like "uh" thus Duh-ved).  Then there was Penn ee Fan, and BRECinog.  Oh and CerEDigon!  He clearly couldn't read and missed out every "i" and put the stress on the wrong part of the word. You don't want to hear him murdering "Hywel Dda" either . . .  I shall stick to the Cambrian Chronicles ones which are excellent.

I went through one of the coffers yesterday to try and put single duvets away and found two pairs of vintage 1980s Laura Ashley curtains which won't fit any windows here.  I'm going to put them on Fleabay when I'm feeling better, but if anyone is into vintage Laura Ashley here they are.  The brown print ones are 82" x44" each, and the bigger yellow ones once went across our kitchen bay window at Ynyswen.

Circa 1983.

A similar age.

Ynyswen, Gwyddno Garanhir and the sunken land of Cantre'r Gwaelod

 The sunken land of Cantre'r Gwaelod  . . . .

 HERE is a link to an article about how the recent storms have uncovered more of the Bronze Age forests off the Cardiganshire coast near Borth.

Amazing photographs, and many thanks to the Daily Mail online, from whence I have copied them.

The tale of Cantre'r Gwaelod (the "Lower Hundred") is an interesting and ancient one, possibly far older than it has been given credit for, given that this is a sunken Bronze Age Forest (e.g. around 5,000 years ago this sank beneath the waves), and indeed, the legend may well chronicle the rising sea levels following the final melting from the Ice Age which finally ended about 6,000 years ago.  Cantrer Gwaelod is the Welsh equivalent of Cornwall's Lyonesse going beneath the waves - our equivalent of Atlantis.

The first written record of this legend appeared in The Black Book of Carmarthen, which dates back to about 1250 and this stretch of the coastline (between Bardsey Island and Cardigan - basically, beneath what is now Cardigan Bay) was known as Maes Gwyddno (the Plain of Gwyddno). It extended some 20 miles from the present coastline.  It was apparently low-lieing land which was protected from the sea by a series of sluice gates and a dyke known as St Patrick's Causeway.  Its capital was Caer Gwyddno (the Fort of Gwyddno).  In the Black Book of Carmarthen legend, it is a well-maiden, Mererid, who neglects her duties and because of this the well overflows and floods the land.  In another version of the legend (the one I am familiar with), it is one of the two Princes of the realm (Seithenyn), well known for his drunken ways, who neglected to shut the floodgates and thus the land was inundated by the sea.  A very similar tale is told of low-lying land higher up in Wales, Llys Helig (from what I recall "Llys" is always connected with a - high status - court).  They both have the same link of the church bells being heard tolling when danger threatens. HERE  is a link to the Wikipedia page on the subject.

 This ancient forest has been known about and monitored in the past, and storms have removed its preserving (anaerobic) bed of peat, but never to this level and this has now extended further north towards Llys Helig?.  Species of trees include Yew, Oak, and Pine and the recent discoveries, near to Ynyslas, were Oak and Pine trees.  More excitingly, stretches of a wattle trackway have also been discovered and will be subject to dating tests to establish in which period it was built.  HERE  is a link to the Daily Mail article with further photographs. HERE  is the BBC's take on this Legend.

There is some doubt as to whether Gwyddno Garanhir actually existed - or at least, in the land of Cantre'r Gwaelod.  Historians have placed him in Merionethshire.  Be that as it may, the basket of Gwyddno Garanhir was one of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain .  This is a variation on the Christian loaves and fishes, as food for one man would be placed in the hamper, yet when it was opened, it was found to contain enough food for 100 men.

Anyway, after his productive lands (one acre would produce the same food as 4 acres would elsewhere in the Welsh kingdoms) were beneath the sea, Gwyddno Garanhir had to seek his fortune elsewhere in the less productive areas of Wales.  His son, Elffin ap Gwyddno, was the foster father to Taliesin, who became one of the most famous of Welsh poets, who flourished in the 6th century.  His name, translated from the Welsh, means "shining brow". 

Now what, you may be asking, is the connection with our house?  Well, when we first moved here, and our children went to Mother and Toddler Group in Brechfa, the Vicar, now Canon Patrick Thomas wrote a paragraph in the parish magazine, something along the lines of welcoming us to the parish, and how amazed he was that we had come to live at Ynyswen, as the Lloyd family (I think it was) were descendents of Gwyddno Garanhir, of ancient days.  Gwyddno Garanhir's name may be translated thus: Gwyddno Long-Shanks;  Crane-Legs or, Tall-Crane.  Anyone who knows us by name, will instantly make the connection!  Perhaps we had returned home?!

                                            *             *           *

Keith and I never did get the chance to visit Borth at very low tide to see this relic forest, but perhaps Tam, Rosie and I can go in the future.

The reason for repeating this old post is that last night I happened upon a programme about this on Youtube (which has REALLY got me the right algorhythm!) - called The Mystery of the Kingdom that Sank into the Ocean. The series is called Cambrian Chronicles, so if you have an interest in Welsh History, you are in for a treat.

I am sat here swathed in the heated blanket which Tam bought for Keith's birthday a couple of years back.  He wasn't enamoured of it but I use it when I want a sofa nap, and now, to avoid putting the central heating on when I'm on my own.  When Tam and Rosie are here it will go on for an hour morning and evening, as they are sleeping on the blow up mattress on the floor and as they are co-sleeping, Tam can't have the covers up over her upper half, so gets chilly.  Now that the helpful Labour Government have decided, as they can't touch the Pension Triple-Lock, they will get money back off us spoilt Pensioners by other nefarious means, I and millions of others have lost our heating allowance this winter.  I filled the oil tank up in June, but need it to last until spring . . .  So it's extra layers and blankets and hot drinks.  We will be hit hard again in the Autumn budget, that's for certain.  I quite expect to lose my bus pass before I've even used it, and senior rail cards are rumoured to be due for the chop too.  Oh and then there's the plan for a "pay per mile" road tax, so your car is taxed even further than what is already put on petrol (which will also have a hike in price).  Oh, and it is also strongly rumoured that single households will also have to pay full council tax, rather than have a 25% reduction.  Grocery shopping will have to be severely curtailed here, that's for sure.  All this now that as a widow, my income has come down by 2/3 with the loss of Keith's pensions.

I have been considering doing Air BnB or taking a lodger, but then I have to find an extra £1,000 or so for enhanced house insurance.  Oh what joy.

I hope you enjoy the bit about Cantre'r Gwaelod anyway.

After the Fair was over . . .

 Sing that to the tune of "After the Ball was Over . . ."  It took me all day to empty the car yesterday as I could only do it a little bit at a time, as I was so tired.  I didn't start till about 11 a.m. Tam of course, was draped in Rosie most of the day, but she was good moral support.  At least everything is under cover, but I have to put away all the boxes currently lingering in kitchen and Utility.  I will put the rest of the groceries away this morning too.  I just did the frozen/chilled things last night (as I didn't get back from shopping till gone 6.30). 

She helped me sort all the things out that needed doing - trying to get Freeview on the tv (whoopee, long enough for me to watch a good bit of the Burghley Horse Trails x-country); filling in the last bits of the Army am-I-due-a-pension forms; finally managing to pay back the Army Pension overpayment - on my mobile as we just could NOT do it on line - the payment details couldn't be verified; and then checking what I would be paying Octopus each month, now I was using a lot less electricity on my own.  All really helpful positives and a weight off my mind.  

Some fabulous old carvings from fellow dealer Paul's wonderful stand.

A Bitossi corner on another stall.

Most dealers carry a variety of stock.  It just depends what they find at the right price.  

Others specialize in mainly one thing (quilts in this case).  I think most of them were the ones which were made in India and sold widely 15 or 20 years ago.

Some nice things here, but I think the rubber ducks may be a buying error . . .

Some interesting ceramics on this stall.

Then back to mine . . .  I have to say, looking at the Laurel Keeley piece, centre, I'm not enamoured of it because the motif reminds me of half an onion . . .  I like bright colourful glazes too, but that's just me.

Sorry, not the best photo, but it was a lovely oil painting dated 1926, and a couple fell in love with it.  I'd have been happy to keep it as it was so well done.  You can see it clearer (but smaller) in the photo above it.

Today I'm going to bake a Chocolate Courgette cake as one of the chaps helping the new neighbour has his birthday this week.  I have a large courgette from said new neighbour's garden which needs using up.  I may bake the cake for their Open House event on Saturday too, just in case the 2nd Shingles jab does lay me up.  I think it will be either a Dorset Apple cake or else as big slab of Date Gingerbread (as I have a surplus of dried dates to hand).

First though, as I am tripping over boxes of stock, they need to be put away . . .