A Romantic Dingle . . .

 

Sorry about the flash.  I bought this stunning framed print from Sam Cannon Art (www.samcannonart.co.uk) this week.  I look on it as Keith's Christmas present to me, as the money from his old current account was paid into my account recently. The words are "If I had my life to live over again, I would find you sooner so that I could love you longer" and that pretty much sums up how I have been feeling since his death - I've been saying similar words in my head.  He was 11 years older than me and HOW I wish I had not wasted 13 years on my first husband, who was a total waste of rations, and met Keith sooner.  It was not to be, but I am just very grateful for the half a lifetime we did have together.  Sam Cannon is the most exquisite artist.  Please go to her website and have a look - I would love EVERYTHING she has painted as they are all so good and so beautiful.  Her parcel was the most beautifully wrapped one I have ever received in my life, and she included a printed card of my choosing.  I chose one with dragonflies and Foxgloves. . . . and there I am in pieces again.

I took myself off to Llandod quite early yesterday, and posted a parcel off to my friend G in Dorset, then got a couple of bits from Lidl and suddenly realized it was Friday, and that Powys Archives would be open.  It took me a while to find it, but I spent a very happy hour or so in there, looking at old estate maps and the Estate Book for the Big House, to try and find out more about this place and where on earth the old mansion house was.  Well, a failure on the latter, but have now worked out that the debris under the bank here was another older stable block and that it was the coachman who lived here (over the stables/coach house which was this ground floor).  The gardeners lived in the two little semi-detached cottages below us.

The wooded slope to the right is our land down as far as a path which led up to the big house (the new mansion). The ivied area by the telegraph pole was once a stone outbuilding housing the generator for the Big House. This was described in the Estate Book (all in beautiful copperplate handwriting) dated 1900, as part of the Pleasure Grounds, which were apparently quite high maintenance as they comprised an acre of cultivated garden and vegetable plot, orchards, a rustic summerhouse plus tennis courts, and terraced walks and pathways to "a romantic dingle intersected by a winding trout stream," !  That is now just the trackway up to the next farm.

The Estate book was very thorough and mentioned that the farmsteads and buildings which comprised the estate were very dilapidated - in some cases, totally beyond help - and the farmer and his wife in the farmhouse up this trackway had to sleep beneath umbrellas to keep dry!!!  It surmised that about £1,000 would be needed to effect repairs and improvements.  That would be £154,000 in today's value (although of course prices for building work would have gone up by a huge amount in recent years.)

The wooded areas of the estate (quite considerable) had been fenced for a rabbit warren, although Mr Ralli, tenant of the mansion, said that rabbits had not been thriving for the past 3 years as the soil had become "stale".

Our little plot was described thus: "There is stabling for 12 horses, together with two coach houses, saddle room with coachman's rooms over.  There is also a spacious cottage in the occupation of the gardener."

I slept very badly again last night and was awake and down for 3 hrs again.  That meant sleeping two hours on the sofa today and I am sick of it.  I have also been feeling sick all day today too, especially after having a sliced Edam sandwich at lunchtime.  I have just forced a hot meal down (cauliflower and a boughten steak pie) - last night all I could face was a tin of soup.

Here is the tote bag I've been carefully embroidering.  I am now on the flowers to the right, which I am using a deep pink/puce colour with white French knots and stem stitch.  Very pretty.  I'm about to go and do some more, whilst watching Outlander.

Here's one I bought from the same stand at Malvern Quilt Show a couple of years ago. I use it for hanks of wool (from Wonderwool, STILL waiting for me to Do Something With Them).

It's Tam's birthday today.  I've just phoned her but Rosie was wailing in her car seat - they're heading back from Machynlleth.  Gosh, the years have flown by.

Right, the washing up is summoning me.  Have a good weekend all.

Blimey!

A really lovely and hand-quilted EVERYWHERE quilt from the display at Llandod Museum.  I don't think I shared the photos I took there earlier in the year.

 Well, I had the best night's sleep last night that I have had for years.  I am not counting the one night during the last Fair when I slept well due to total exhaustion. I had had a lovely evening watching the new (and last) series of Outlander, which I am currently watching on a one week free sub for MGM followed by a one month sub for £4.99, then it will be promptly cancelled.  My last £2.99 offer purchase from Audible this week was Diana Gabaldon's Drums of Autumn.  I wrapped up a friend's Christmas and birthday gifts yesterday and realized I didn't need to give her the linen tote bag (with a design on it for embroidering) so I began to embroider that last night - may gift it, but may keep it for me.  The slow sewing is SO relaxing and enjoyable.  Nothing exciting in the way of stitches - just small chain stitch and stem stitch - but even just choosing the colours is enjoyable.  

A close up of the central block and turkey red surround.  The Museum is currently shut - when I was there earlier in the year I was told that it had to get rid of half its exhibitions and move upstairs, so that the Library could move into the ground floor.  I was lucky to peruse at depth the Kilvert exhibition which took up a good corner of the main room upstairs.  That was going to be very much reduced to just his chair, table and writing slope . ..

Tam and Rosie went home yesterday afternoon.  The carpet cleaner arrived at lunchtime - I was expecting him later - so we were in a bit of a pickle with baby things and crawler quilts all over the living room, but we coped and the carpets look lovely and clean again.  The living room carpet got very grubby when D, E and I were here - all those extra feet, and pizza and beer had fallen onto the light-coloured carpet.

A rare survivor - a Farming smock which would have been worn in Victorian times - the meeces have been a it, but all the smocking is still there on chest and long cuffs.

This morning I am going to Llandod for a small shop of the things I can't get in Aldi (went there when I came out of the Hospital in Hereford the other day, as it's only a junction away).  It will be good to get out of the house and no worries about driving through flood water this time!

When I was ironing the flat quarters, my eye fell on Tam's recent pile of ironing (a small one!)  There was a little dress JUST like the one in Doughty's the other day, so I can do a Kate (Last Homely House) and trace around the top as a pattern for it, and measure up the bottom hem of the skirt for length of material pre-gathering.  Perhaps I will start dress making after all!

I found some photos

 

Above are the four reduced to £1.50 each fat quarters, which I thought pretty and I could use in something in the future.

On the left, the fabric for 2 cushion fronts, and on the right, 3 more lovely prints in fat 1/4s - the top to go with Christmassy fabric.

Above is the Spicy Dorset Apple cake made with chopped apricots this time.  Yummy.  Below, my latest loaf, which was half and half with 8 seed flour and sprinkled with oats.

It has been a God-save having the girls here today (all 3 of them!) to cheer me up.  We had a lovely early birthday meal for Tam and I really enjoyed half of my King Prawn Biriani.  It's the first thing I've really enjoyed eating for weeks.  I even had a glass of wine, though that tasted strange as my palate has changed from not really eating much.  Gabs had to go back tonight as she's off to Milton Keynes tomorrow for a couple of days, filling in for a Manager at a different branch. Tam & Rosie go back tomorrow, and then the carpet cleaner man arrives (much needed!)

I am off to bed now as my back is still aching - don't know how much is tension as I have just been aware of holding my shoulders up.  

I have another Big Boy here who's been bitten by the ginger tom doing the rounds - it's L. Whale, and I thought he had gotten away with just a quick tussle as I could only find a bit of loose hair clawed from his coat, but no, today there was a big matted lump of hair towards his tail and when I cut that off, and gently eased off the little clump left over the wound, the smell of abscess leaking was hideous.  My sense of smell is BACK!  I managed to sneak up on him when he was eating later and gently dabbed it with salt water, so will keep on with that. It is draining well anyway, and I don't want another unnecessary £81 vet's bill . . .

Safely home again

 

Middle of the night - of course.  Big Boys have Gone Out.  Or at least, are sat in the front hall contemplating the cat flap, which passes for the same thing.

I'm glad that I set off early as I got to the Hospital exactly on time, having been relieved to find that the A438 at Letton had been opened again, having been closed still the evening before.  There was standing water but only a few inches deep and passable. Lots of water still on saturated fields.  

I wasn't looking forward to the Scan as it said about dyes involved and a canula in the arm.  A little old lady went in before me and I could hear the Doctor's raised voice (was she hard of hearing?) saying, this next bit isn't very pleasant, and when she came out she had a canula in the front of her elbow.  Fortunately, when it came to it, they didn't with me (perhaps because I had written on their form that I had allergic asthma?) or perhaps because it was just a general check such as Tam has had due to ongoing UTI's in the past.  Anyway, I was glad to be out and on my way and drove straight to Doughty's, the patchwork shop, for some retail therapy.  I did actually HAVE to go there for some more off white fabric for Gabby's quilt border.  I had to buy 2 metres to get the length I needed, so there will be plenty left over for other projects.  Of course, I looked in the remaindered fat 1/4 bins and chose a handful of patterns which spoke to me, and half a metre of a neutral fabric and design to make cushion covers for Christmas gifts for local friends. I lingered at the Liberty corner for a while (£17 a metre, but SUCH pretty patterns).  They had a little smocked dress hanging up which someone had made, and the pattern beside it.  Oh, JUST the thing for Rosie.  I have never done smocking (but always wanted to).  I looked at it carefully - lined bodice, gathered skirt.  Hmmm, I could do that - it didn't look too difficult.  So perhaps . . . .

Then I went to Curry's to pick someone's brains about tv aerials, but the lad I picked on was about as much use as a chocolate teapot.  The girls are here today so they can look at my Amazon Black Friday choice and tell me if it's worth spending a bit more to get what I need - e.g. a fully functioning tv.  It is my one form of entertainment, so I may as well have it Working Properly.

I nearly didn't stop at Dunelm, but thought what the heck, and bought some Crackers (there's me pushing the boat out, I NEVER buy Crackers as I think they are a shoddy waste of money) and a couple of gifts.  We are having a frugal Christmas but these wouldn't break the bank.

Finally, on to Breinton Farm Shop for apples, where I spent £9 on four BIG bags of apples - Russets and Ashmead's Kernel, my favourites.  I was chatting to the lady there about the flooding and she was saying that there were fields under water now which have just been sold and earmarked for new housing.  How stupid is that?  Hereford floods badly at the best of times and to actively build new houses on the floodplain seems plain stupid to me.  

One nice extra was being able to watch the Firework Display on the Showground for the first night of the Winter Fair there.  Lots of farmers with their livestock and Gareth Wyn Jones down on a jolly and interviewing folk. I follow him on Facebook - he is a powerful voice for farming and farmers and I have to say, it is scary looking into the future and what this abysmal Government have planned for Wales - no wonder they have slapped inheritance tax on farms again - all part of the great no-holds-barred "rewilding" project as apparently we no longer need farmers to grow food, nor worry about Food Security if there is another world war (looking quite possible too).  How does that blardy well work then?  No wonder they've been pushing the plastic food of veganism down our throats and declaring "food" can be Laboratory Grown. One word - Blackrock. Keith used to be my political filter - now I get it first hand and it's scary.  

Photos later - I have uploaded them from the camera, and now they have disappeared.  I give up . . .

Back in the land of the living

A pot luck photo this morning as they have come up as numbers instead of small pictures. . .

 OK, I still have a sore back (slept awkwardly again) but my brain is back in residence and I feel I can drive a car without the need to pull over for a sleep after half an hour!  An improvement.  I suddenly began to feel better around bedtime last night and was wide awake for 2 hours - how typical.

Yet at breakfast time, I had to lie down immediately afterwards and slept really deeply on the sofa for two hours.   I think that was the turning point.

However, it looks like the A438 at Letton is still shut so I can't get to Hereford by that route (CT scan today).  I have looked at the back road from Hay along the Golden Valley and that doesn't come up as closed anywhere, although there was bad flooding at Bredwardine at the weekend but I am not crossing the river there and the road through is on higher ground so I am hoping it will be alright.  I shall set out early though, to make sure I am in good time.

I have finished reading The Magus of Hay, and started on the first of two more J D Kirk crime novels, A Whisper of Sorrors, where an old protagonist of his escapes the secure hospital he's in (having feigned being mentally totally incompetent for years after a head injury), but DCI Jack Logan always knew differently . . .  A good read.  

TV yesterday was history on Youtube and Dave's Countryside Walks (Dave & Whippet Logan) including one from Broadchalke in Wiltshire.  He walked along the Shaftesbury Drove for awhile.  I used to walk along there with my dogs when I lived just outside of Salisbury.  Happy days.  

Right, this won't do.  A hair wash is in order.

 

Sleeping sickness

 Still nailed to the sofa.  I have practically slept the clock round, and know now it is the reaction to the Covid jab (I had a similar reaction with the really bad back pain, to the first one).  Yet again, I have been on the sofa all day today, mostly asleep, with the tv on low in the background (as that helps me nod off).  I am listening to my body as no option to do otherwise.  No appetite - had to force dry cornflakes down at breakfast time as the antibiotics need to be taken with a "meal".  Since then a sliver of my cake for lunch  (mixed on the sofa yesterday - a Spicy Dorset Apple Cake made this time with chopped dried apricots as Tam won't eat anything with dried mixed fruit in).  A slice of my latest loaf.  Ah well, I will be a pound lighter tomorrow.  Not that the scales will give an accurate reading as I think a new battery is needed as it told me I had lost a stone overnight.  I can but wish that was the case.  I can't sew either - just no inclination and my right hand is painful across the knuckles.

SWEET WALNUT BUNS

I have been binge watching the most amazing (well I think it is) set of Youtube videos from Azerbaijan.  I can't get a direct video link on here (non-functioning brain) but have put a link above to the site. My favourite is the one where she makes Homemade Sweet Walnut Buns.  Oh My Goodness - she makes the outside SO pretty, and they look SO GOOD.  Forget your Michelin star restaurants - THIS is proper food.  She cooks outside whatever the weather - her husband had made her a big bread oven, and also made her outdoor stove too and they appear to be totally self-sufficient.  They have two tame Hooded Crows which are cheeky birds (so bright) and 4 beautiful cats which Rosie LOVES.  They don't just have ONE Almond or Walnut tree - they have an orchard full, and Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall eat your heart out - they don't need to go foraging for Sea Buckthorn, they grown their own.  Aubergines and long red peppers planted 1/4 acre at a time, tomatoes ditto.  Such peaceful videos to watch.

I've also watched a bit of Moonflower Murders - but slept through most of the first episode so will have to watch it again.  I have the book on Audible.  I've just watched Bear Grylls on Who Do You Think You Are.   No surprises that he is the man he is as his mother's line go back to Robert the Bruce!

Right, pills taken, back to the sofa.  There is MUCH flooding in Herefordshire, including my route to the Hospital as the area at Letton is - as always - flooded.  I had to drive through floodwater last time and it was bad enough then.  I hope it is cleared by Tuesday . . .

Woken by a power cut

 

The "look" of the current market . . .  How I would love that painted window here . . .

I heard the door bell when I was asleep on the sofa (bad night again), and immediately leapt into action, thinking someone was at the door.  There wasn't.  Crikey I thought, it's some gale if it can ring the doorbell!  (Please, no comments as to how poorly my brain was functioning!)   I went to the fridge to get some milk for a cuppa, and it was dark in there.  My initial thought was, "carp", it's finally had it - it's quite an age now.  I removed everything that was piled beside it to try and get to the plug - note to self, if it ever DOES go, you ain't gonna reach that plug!  Then my brain finally started functioning, and I thought, power cut, and went to try the lights.  Nothing worked.  Strangely though, the central heating boiler still did.  So at least in a power cut, I'd stay warm. I checked the Fusebox, all ok. Doorbell went again but nothing came back on.  Went to check on mobile, where I had to phone to report an outage.  Battery on computer at 100% so that would last a while.  I also informed Tam.

I think they may have the stuffed eels some time . . .

Then, ding-dong, everything back on again. Tam's got me to register with the National Grid as I am a pensioner with chronic health issue (asthma).  Meanwhile I have put the phone on to charge, started a loaf off (hope no more power cuts) and already knew where the torch, matches and candles are.  If it does go out again, for any length of time, I will be prepared.  I've done a big flask of boiling water too.

Storm Bert is making its presence felt anyway and we've had plenty of rain, which has cleared the last of the snow.  I've been down to town for washing powder (will get a much bigger box when I'm in Llandod next) and my Saturday paper, and also went for a nosey around a new Antiques and Collectables shop which has opened up.  Well, I don't hold out much hope for them - it was like stepping back in time - some pleasant pieces of Victorian furniture by way of sewing tables, a Grandfather Windsor chair SO worn down on the legs that the seat was level with my knees (making it a bedroom chair only), some very ordinary "pictures" on the walls, a few bits of silver and glass.  There were a couple of stripped pine chests which were more likely to find buyers but they were very very pale and not with any patina to speak of -   nothing I could see that would be likely to fly out any time soon.  You have to keep up with fashions and trends in the antiques world - at the moment people are buying a "look" and the unusual.  See photo at top.

The antibiotics seem to be working, but - and it is a BIG but - I slept awkwardly last night.  Lulu had forgiven me and was jammed into the small of my back to keep warm.  Pippi was, for some time, under the top quilt at the front of me.  This morning my back was SO painful it had me crying out loud if I moved badly or even moved at all.  I have had to take Ibuprofen and will sleep on my own tonight.  Right, back to The Magus of Hay, as the trees thrash around outside and whilst I still have power . . .

Two photos I forgot to add from our visit to the Garden centre - a lovely roof of sedums and similar above, and below, a great display on a fabulous old "truck". 

Fed up with sofa days

 I have been sleeping better - until last night, when I made it through to 4.30 and then couldn't sleep after that.  I finished the Elizabeth Chadwick book I have been reading (Shadows and Strongholds) and it mentioned Lords of the White Castle - which it just so happens I had found on one charity table or another and had on one side, so I will read that next, as the main character in it was in Shadows and Strongholds.  I will find out if it is actually the "White Castle" I know and love, part of a triumvirate of Marcher castles, the other two being Skenfrith and Grosmont, or a.n.other.  Kidwelly Castle used to be limewashed white, so perhaps many others were too.  If you enjoy historical novels, Elizabeth Chadwick's are amongst the best.

Most of the snow has gone now, roads all just wet road again.  Storm Bert is going to make its presence felt this weekend and we will either have blizzards and gales or torrential rain, flooding and gales.  Rain is probably preferable, if I am sensible . . . The country finds it difficult to cope with snow as the Council thinks gritters are efficient and you don't really need more than one snowplough per county (or so it seems).  Whilst we don't often get snow, when we DO, people still have to get from a to b, and so does food.  Dartmoor had a lot of snow yesterday and people were going up to "look at the snow" and then getting stuck and sending out frantic texts for help!  Even the main A30 was hard hit and lorries and cars stranded.

I had to take to the sofa again this morning and even struggled to concentrate enough to read my book (Phil Rickman's The Magus of Hay, much recommended).  I had to have a nap later too, but then was out for my Covid jab and the results of my test, so now I have a targeted antibiotic. I've taken the first one.

My plumber has been and changed the UV filter although THAT won't stay clean for long.  The neighbour who had changed it last had managed to put it back on with crossed threads.  He's also been up to look at the en-suite bathroom (I am having a new shower and cubicle fitted) and he will drop me round some brochures for showers, tiles etc.  We have decided just 3 wall height tiles are the best bet.  I will get in touch with my carpenter too, and get him to fit a replacement window in there as that is rather elderly and shabby, with a metal frame.  Not pretty. I want a wooden frame and plain glass that I can stick a decorative design over for a stained glass effect.  Not that anyone is going to be stood in the Big House Drive waiting for anyone to have a shower as they'd not see through the rhododendrons!

Lulu is now finally speaking to me after I gave her and Pippi their combo wormer/flea treatment.  It is just cold medication on their necks but you would have thought I'd plugged her into the mains!  She was hiding under the bed after that, and the same this morning - when I touched her as she was eating breakfast, she shot off like someone demented.  Finally she has accepted that I am not going to murder her.  She's had it before, don't know what made it different this time.

Anyway, have a lovely weekend all and stay safe from Storm Bert, if you're in the UK.

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.