Sunday, 8 December 2024

After the Storm

 This was the sky last night - it went a most peculiar pink colour - I wondered what the heck was going to happen next!  It just carried on blowing and raining and poor Builth was submerged - all the roads in and out were under water either in the town or either side of it.  Cars which had been parked up as their owners were manning their shops, were sat in two feet of water by the time dusk arrived.   The water continued to rise right across to the showground.  I've only been here 3 years but this is the worst it's been in that time.  Someone wrote on Facebook (where the photos were posted) that he could remember the toilet block in the Groe being totally submerged one year.  It has dropped overnight and the roads in and out are I believe all passable now.  I was intending to go to Aberystwyth tomorrow but Tam tells me they are still without power - it was meant to come back on at 6 p.m. tonight - now it's going to be 9 p.m. tomorrow (and possibly beyond that).  Jon is working, and I have suggested she comes here.  He can always stay at his mum's.  I'll wait and see what she says.


So whilst Storm Darragh was doing it's worst, I finally finished Gabby's quilt top and I am going down to my old quilting group on Wednesday to take it for the long arm quilter, and am also taking the Victorian velvet and silk  Baby's Blocks quilt for Alex's advice on repairing it where some silk diamonds have perished.  I then set to and quickly made up 3 cushion covers (Christmas presents with cushion inserts in - need to buy two more).  I cheat and do the envelope style backs on them so they don't take very long to make up at all.  



As Tam has lost the entire contents of her fridge/freezer, I have been baking up a storm so she has some mum-made "ready meals" for when power is returned.  The Homity Pie above will make several good sized portions. It also used up some of my fridge contents - I bought a (reduced) leek for the first time in ages on Friday, and had cream that needed using up too.  


I had a tin of good stewing steak too, and grated a potato and grated an onion up and made 6 pasties, plus I had two scruffy rings of pastry left and used cheese, grated potato and grated onion in those.  I intend to make chicken and chick pea curry too, and a couple of stew type meals which are easily defrosted.  I've also told her not to worry about the cost of restocking the fridge and freezer as I will pay for that for her, as she's now in the last 3 months of maternity leave and this is the no-pay quarter, so money is tight.

The only sewing I have done today was first thing this morning when I worked on the embroidered tote bag when I was watching yesterday's news, and then carried on watching a tv adaptation of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, which I am also listening to on Audible.  I watched one of the Wessex Tales last night too, and there are several of Hardy's films on iPlayer I can watch.  A Hardy season.

Hoping everyone in the UK survived the storm - it was a nasty one, and Wales will have a lot of mopping up to do as West Wales (Carms, Pembs and Cardiganshire) were very badly hit and declared a disaster area.  Poor souls.

24 comments:

  1. I can feel the Mum love in the baking for your daughter. I mean't to comment earlier about finding your quilting peeps. Having a group of like minded folks to share a passion is good for the soul and I'm delighted you have reconnected. I'm still looking for a few individuals who go giddy over gothic architecture ...

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  2. Well yes, it's what us mums do isn't it? I wasn't really able to go back to my quilting group before this because of looking after Keith. Now it will be balm for my soul. Hope you can find some Gothic architecture buffs to go church crawling with.

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  3. What a good Mum you are baking for Tam, but its what we do for our children. That sky was such a beautiful pink. Its just been drear and grey and very wet, but no trees or fences down. Miss Sheva went out once and shot back in leaving a trail of muddy footprints. She has also had great fun playing with the tree decorations, several have had to be moved higher up. Don't think she's ever seen a Christmas tree before. Posted our old mower on our local FB recycling page, hopefully it will be collected by Tuesday. Have a good week. Hugs Xx

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    1. Indeed, stepping into the breach. The sky was pretty but a bit end-of-the-world spooky too!
      I don't blame Miss Sheva for deciding indoors was preferable. I will go to Aber later in the week and pick up my tree. My only-3-years-old lawnmower was killed when Danny used it this summer - it had overwintered in the polytunnel and I did wonder if meece had nested in its working parts. Needs to go to the Tip anyway.

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  4. House contents insurance should cover freezer contents?

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    1. The deducible is greater than the contents value probably, if food is even covered.

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    2. Tam's going to cook up what she can, to re-freeze. They have to claim for the fence anyway, although that was elderly when they moved in so insurance company will probably fight them over that too. The fence HAS to be replaced, with a little one there, so may have to loan them the money if the insurance don't pay out.

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  5. Pembs was really bad, not so much rain, but tremendous wind. 7,000 homes still without power today and leisure centres have opened just to let people have hot drinks etc. Trees down on so many main and minor roads. Garage dealership roof ripped off and main thoroughfares closed due to flying debris. Most people seem to have heeded the red alert, thank goodness, although I doubt anyone slept through Friday night due to the noise.

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    1. Well done to the Leisure Centres anyway, and such a shame for all those households left without power. I managed to sleep reasonably well as we're sheltered from the worst of the wind here - trees above us lift it over the house a bit - but was certainly aware when it hit!

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  6. You're such a great mom! Are Tam and Rosie warm enough, it's hard to be in a cold house with a small child who might chill easily. Will it be a safe drive if she comes to you?

    The good news is--it wasn't a snow storm!

    The ZigZag quilt is beautiful. So fresh and so pretty. Did you leave that one rotated block on purpose, upper right?

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    1. Tam was cold as she sleeps with the duvet just across her bottom half so that Rosie isn't overheated by it. The rule these days is children don't have blankets over them at night - instead they have a baby sleeping bag, with their arms out. Prevention of SIDS being the reason behind it. She couldn't get out on Saturday as so many trees down. I am going there later in the wee.

      Hah - you noticed my deliberate mistake!! - NOT - by the time I noticed that I had the borders on too and just thought Sod It!! What is it the old quiltmakers used to say when they left a deliberate error - so as not to offend God with perfection? Never likely to be guilty of perfection!!

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  7. Tam will be most appreciative of the homemade pies and pasties. Poor thing, at least she has power back now. Any chance she can bake up some of the defrosted contents of her freezer and then refreeze? I've done that in the past. Trouble is with putting in a claim on the insurance it affects your no claims which sometimes makes it not worth the effort.
    I got lucky, no major damage and we kept our power, but even in the next street over were not so lucky with the power. There are branches down, flooded roads, slates everywhere, and all of the usual damage along with major issues such as the local garage losing its roof and a lot of uprooted trees. There are pockets of power and water outages too.
    At least your forced down time saw quilts finished and baking done!

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    1. Indeed, it will help her cause as she doesn't have time to cook yet. She needs to get herself organized and Rosie plonked in a playpen so she CAN get on with things. The household is very disorganized - too much of Jon's stuff! She will cook up what she can (and Jon's mum is helping there too) so perhaps more can be salvaged than we thought at first.

      Glad you kept power but it sounds like the town really took a battering.

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  8. Great idea making those meals for Tam. As another poster said it is what we Mom's do for those we love. I am glad the water is receding.

    God bless.

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    1. Absolutely. I know she struggles to find time to cook meals still. Water has receded but the town roads looked a real mess yesterday when photos were put up on Facebook.

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  9. I'm not sure there ever is a good time for a disaster, but two weeks before Christmas seems especially bad. Those poor people is right.

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    1. I hope that folk who were flooded managed to get presents etc upstairs or above the floodwater.

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  10. The flooding seems to be all over the country. Just had a look at my old village, one village next to it is practically impassable. 4x4 flood tourists not wanted, water going in waves into the houses. We seem in this valley to have got off lightly this time around. No more building on flood plains. That Homity pie looks delicious, I do like a pie.

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    1. After the flooding down the town, the Council workmen were helped by the Mayor and a band of merry townsfolk set to and cleared all the branches and debris from the road and the car park. Oh what a job well done.

      4x4 flood tourists - what idiots. Here in Wales we have so many roads which are lower than the surrounding countryside, and when there is heavy rain, the roads soon become fast-flowing streams and of course, the River Wye hereabouts soon gets overwhelmed. Glad you weren't too badly effected this time. West Wales was devastated and I've just seen a drone photo of a pine plantation in Ceredigion, which has been FLATTENED, just like a meteor had landed there.

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  11. It's lovely that you can be in 'Mum to the rescue mode' for Tam, she will appreciate all the food for the freezer on so many fronts. Gosh all that pastry looks very tempting. :-)

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    1. Ah, it's a coat that fits me well. As does the jam making coat (10 jars today!)

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    2. Oh wow ... well done. :-)

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  12. What a sweet mother you are to make your daughter meals.

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    1. Well, they would do the same for me, I'm sure.

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