The cool of the morning

16 deg C and cloudy at 7 a.m., but it will be sunny and 26 deg. later. Same again tomorrow. Rain forecast and much cooler from Sunday onwards.  P.H.E.W.  Glad I got all that washing done yesterday.  I will stay inside today so I can get on with sewing, as the pollen levels are off the scale too.

The pink rose at the front is Scarborough Fair, and a kind gift from my friend Ann. All this is my vision - this was just grass with a border of small shingle when we arrived. 

For those of you with insane heat, I don't know how you survive.  It could never be too hot for Keith - he was in the desert in Oman with the Army, at a place called Shisr, and said it was 140 deg. F (60 deg C) in the shade - and there wasn't any shade.  They had to stay indoors during the hottest part of the day.  There was an oasis there once, and it was on a trading route. Since 2000 it has been the UNESCO World Heritage Site Land of Frankincense.  It has connections with the fabled lost city of Ubar, but Wikipedia thinks it was in the land of Ubar, rather than being the site of the city.  Keith loved it there. Me - I get hot quickly and cold quickly.  Not ideal!  I've just staggered out with the immense Dorling Kindersley World Atlas we bought in The Works on a Scarborough holiday one year (reduced from £75 to £25.)  It was always on the coffee table at Ynyswen, so we could look up anywhere we wanted to enquire about and of course, has come into use again today. 

I was too hot to eat yesterday.  I bought a chicken salad sandwich for lunch, and just had one half, and the other half at teatime.  My freezer is full so I took out a chicken and chickpea curry to defrost in the fridge, to make room for a similar size tub of icecream.  Not exactly curry weather though!  What do you folk who live in really hot places eat in such temps?  Do you live on salad?

Right, breakfast time - granola and strawberries, heavy on the strawberries as they were Aldi wonky ones - wonky meaning eat them quick, and they didn't travel well and have rub marks on which had to be cut off.  I should have spent a few pence more on the good ones.

28 deg. C (82 deg. F) - too hot for me

 Anything above 70 deg. F and I begin to wilt.  Over 80 (it was 82 today) and my breathing gets compromised, especially when pollen levels are so high.  Time to stay indoors, as I have done most of this afternoon.  I had the bed stripped and remade by 7.20 this morning (I was up at 5.30), and the first load of Tam's washing on (I came home with 4 or 5 bagloads!)

I did some work on the Probate, nearly there now, and got in touch with the Solicitors in Brecon to arrange to pick up a copy of Keith's Will.  

I needed bread so started making myself an Oat Loaf - I needed to make oat flour in the blender first.  I soon had the dough working away in the bread maker but had to put it in a bowl in the fridge to slowly rise after the Solicitors had returned my call.

As you can see, it rose well despite being in the cool.

Then I drove over the Eppynts to Brecon, to collect the Will and pick up a few bits of shopping.  Just walking round Brecon gave me a headache and had me melting.  I took a clean plastic bag of used asthma inhalers into Boots to be recycled, and the chap who dealt with me took the bag from me  with the tips of two fingers like it was full of cat poo!!! I didn't look like a bag lady - I was cleanly dressed, made up and hair done - did he think it was contaminated or something?  What odd behaviour. 

Heat-misty Brecon Beacons in the distance.  NOT the day to be climbing up Pen-y-Fan.

Of course, back home I have had to water round, especially the young plants in pots - which I should have planted last week when it was wet for them - and everything in tubs and as far as the hose would shoot the water in the beds.  The cats have chosen to be indoors and who can blame them, in this heat, when they have thick fur. 

Of course, the prognostications for "the hottest summer on record" with maps with black and dark red blobs on showing the hottest areas to scare people are doing the rounds online.  When I was growing up, it was just a good summer, and we had temps in the 90s back then and 1976 is still being talked about . . .  Why does the media have to scare us about everything these days?  Ignorance is bliss.

Ilona - a shame you weren't here this week as I imagine the Pembrokeshire beaches would really have been very welcome indeed.

Through the mountains again

 I had an early start today and drove through the mountains to to and keep Rosie amused whilst Tam caught up with lots of jobs that needed doing but were impossible to tackle with a busy toddler underfoot.  We had a lovely day, and Rosie was a hoot.  She has now learned the meaning of "no" from her viewpoint, and when asked if she wanted a drink, said "no" firmly; "do you want this top on now?"  "NO!".  Here she is deciding that the avocado she normally goes wild for, was NOT what she wanted for lunch today . . .  The bruise on her forehead, btw, came from her falling off a seat at the Child Minder's.

Title for the photo has to be, "Really?!"  Later on Tam had a very late lunch and it turned out THAT was what really wanted (not given because it might be too salty for her) - gnocchi with thinly sliced sausage and spinach.  She liked THAT!

The dead Hornet I returned to.  Fortunately it hadn't stung any of the cats.  Nearly an inch long.

On the way back I stopped at B&M Bargains for a new storage box as one had got broken.  I also popped in Charlies, and bought a yellow Lupin, really well grown, for just £4.99.  I have some I have grown from seed but they aren't very big yet.  I took Tam three and one is putting out a flower already.  We transplanted them straight away into bigger pots - I took her half a dozen of the ones I bought at auction recently.

My usual pull in for a photo captured this view.

Very purple Foxgloves in the scree by the lay-by.  They seem to be a paler pink hereabouts.

Right, time to wash my hair as the pollen was very bad today and my strong antihistamine only just holding it at bay.  It will be all over my face and hair from driving along with the window open as it was so hot.  Farmers making hay all round Aberystwyth too.

The garden photo by the way, I find pleasing, as when we came here there was just lawn everywhere (apart from shrubs on the bank.)  SO that's all my own work.

St Mary's Church, Gladestry

 

I managed to cut off the very top of the spire, which is a pity as it is topped by a Flying Serpent.  It dates to 1709. The Flying Serpent is Biblical and is a symbol of divine judgement.  The broach spire was added 10 years later to accommodate an additional ring of bells (cast by Abraham Rudhall, Gloucester) and the church tower may have been modified/lowered at this point in time.

In the 1860s, Kilvert was a frequent visitor and preached here on occasion.  The curate (later Rector) was Revd. David Vaughan.

The church has ancient roots - 900 years - and is believed to have been founded by Harold Godwinson, last Saxon King of England.  A move more tactical than spiritual as he was making his presence felt in the Welsh hinterland.  There may have been an earlier Celtic church here.  It is on the Radnorshire border, and Welsh stopped being used here for sermons and services as early as 1700.  It is Grade 1 listed and considered a church of "exceptional national, architectural and historical importance."  (Taken from Church website).  Included in this description are the "outstanding pyramidal tower", the 16th C roof timbers and the 13th C priest's door (pictured below).

The font is Norman.

The lecturn.

An elegant stone pulpit.

HERE is a link to the Stained Glass.  Most of it dates from the early part of the 20th C.

Hard to read, but I think it is about a generous benefactor of the parish.

St George, but I don't know who his companion is.

The remains of an early stoop in the porch.

We viewed a lovely cottage in this village, right on Offa's Dyke, and with Hergest Ridge above it, with beautiful views and a managable garden, but it wasn't really big enough, had no outside storage and in retrospect, 5 miles from Kington wasn't that convenient for shopping.

It was another hot day yesterday and I got my walk in along the railway line early.  I pottered about and didn't achieve a great deal, but cut back overhanging ivy branches with a plan to make a proper flower bed beneath and transplant the climbing rose Tess of the D'Urbervilles from its planter.  She has never really recovered from a night of minus 12 a couple of years back.  I spent a couple of hours watching a German murder mystery series, The Black Forest Murders, though it had sub-titles and I was busy hand-quilting the last border for the quilt I began before we moved!

Exploring and a bit about Pembridge Castle

At breakfast, I checked out the little Monday auction and there were a few things that took my interest, and decided on a drive out later on.  The sun was shining and scarcely a cloud in the sky.  

Swans and cygnets on the lake at Llandod the other day.

It was nose to the grindstone before I left.  I made myself do a few jobs which had been hanging over me for far too long.  I got busy with the paintbrush in the guest bedroom and did the dado rail and the skirting board (I know - these should have been done before the papering, as they were on the first two walls).  Anyway, that's done and there's just a little bit of touching up on the walls (I'll wait until one of the girls is here) and I want to finally (after being here 4 years) hang some paintings, which will tone down the green a bit.  When it is finally finished, I will stage it and take some photos.

Then it was into my sewing room where I laid out and measured the last long side on a quilt which has been far too long in the making.  I sewed together two strips of lovely soft cotton batting (so much better than the hideous nylon stuff we used to have to use), and then sewed two strips of white backing, and pinned it together, ready to hand-quilt in the evenings.  

Then down to the kitchen, to make the pasta sauce for my evening meal before I left.  It's the work of minutes to chop an onion and some peppers and courgettes, and fry them up with a tin of chopped tomatoes added.  The other half will be a pizza topping tonight.

The separate belltower of Pembridge church, with wildflower meadow beside it, and below, a close up of the Yellow Rattle (now largely gone to seed) which is an indicator of ancient meadowland.

Below: I made sure I walked round to the South side of the church this time, to check out the castle remains (overgrown motte and bailey).  Here is the precis of the archaeological dig they did here.  The castle was originally held by the de Pembrugge family (Henry de Pembridge was disinherited after backing the wrong side at the Battle of Evesham - he backed de Montfort).  In 1265 it became part of the Mortimer estate and was largely used as a Dower house.  Mathilda (also known as Maud) de Braose, widow of Roger Mortimer, lived there following her husband's death. HERE is an excellent link about the history of Pembridge.

I got SO HOT walking from the auction up to get an ice cream and a cold drink at the lovely half timbered village store by the church, and sat on my coat on the grass, in a shady bit by a hedge in the auction car park, waiting for the couple of things I was interested in to come up.  I was the under bidder on one, and decided not to bid on another, and two other things I'd seen were 100 and 200 lots further on and it was already half past four (it doesn't start until 3.30) so I decided to take a different route home, via Gladestry, by Offa's Dyke and Hergest Ridge, so that I could check the church out . . .  That will be my next post.

Llandod Museum

 

A rather splendid Eistedfodd chair.

DO NOT scroll down if you are easily offended.  This is a Sheela-na-gig - a stone carving of a woman displaying her genitals . . .  This one was better preserved than most as it was hidden beneath the threshold of the church.

Mesolithic finds.

It is well worth visiting Cardiff Museum, which has some amazing examples of gold torcs like this, and other archaeology.

We reach the Romans.

Those Mortimers again.  At least this possibly Celtic era head survived.

In case you can't read it (not very clear), this very expensive top-of-the-range toilet was kept locked away as the father of the house considered it unhygenic, and insisted that his family used the long drop toilet at the end of the garden instead . . .  Originally it was thought that this was Kilvert's loo, but then paperwork proved otherwise.

The "separated shoes" bottom left were in fact Ox Shoes, which were fitted to cattle before they were taken to the London markets.  The Drovers Roads which were used still exist.

A cheeky looking shepherd and some branding irons once used on sheep.

More heavy rain overnight last night and when I emptied a tub of weeds earlier, draining the water off into a watering can, I got a gallon of rainwater!

Enjoy your weekend.

Safe water sorted for another year, plus added details

 

Since we've lived in Wales, we have never had to pay water rates, as we have always been on a private (own spring at Ynyswen, shared one here) water supply.  Here it runs through a UV system.  Every year we have to replace the UV bulb, and every couple of years, the glass liner it sits in.  The filter gets changed every three months - although because of the sludge in the holding tank, it is full of mud after just a couple of weeks.  When you get to 7 days, the wretched device starts to beep every couple of minutes to let you know it needs changing.  I am always VERY glad when I have a new one installed.

At Ynyswen, we had water from a spring, which was stored in big concrete rings with a gravel filter, and then ran by gravity through a modern blue alkethene pipe, underground, to another concrete holding tank in the yard.  From there it was pumped to the top of the house, but flowed readily from downstairs taps.  It tasted wonderful.  We didn't have a UV system (incoming people insisted on one, which they put in).  The spring was marked on the map, and on our land . . .  The plonker sold us the field with the spring in . . .  We were very glad to get it all set up because before we had to share his water supply which was in a leaky ancient tank on his land, and when it ran low in dry weather, he would top it up with river water - transported in his rinsed-out-once (if that!) slurry tanker.  Needless to say we couldn't drink it, bathing in it was far from ideal (leading to feminine infections) and all the washing came out smelling like slurry.  But it was our sole water supply for years and we got through a lot of bottled water . . .

Here I share my water with the cottages below me, and again it is from a spring, and this one has a name, it has been in use so long, but that is a MILE away, and uphill again, on a neighbouring farm.  It flows through 200 year old earthenware pipes to the reservoir, which is about 1/4 mile away and was built at a similar time and is on another property.  Sometimes the pipes become blocked with tree roots . . . The reservoir has a roof, but also has about 5 feet of silt in the bottom, which our water runs through and although it is sterilized by the UV filter, there is still fine residue in the water.  Not ideal, but if we were all to go on the Mains, that would run through an ancient asbestos pipe (WHY did they use that?!), pressure is awful and will get worse because a housing estate of 40 houses or so is being built and that will have to have its supply from the same system/pipe.  

I paid around £150 a couple of weeks back for the replacement UV bulb, new glass and two filters.  I've just paid the plumber £40 for the changeover, but that included unblocking two U-bends too.  He needs to drop off some eco-friendly drain unblocker though as he said the problem is further along the pipes.  Needless to say, we have private drainage (a septic tank) too.

My Paul's Himalayan Musk is in full bloom.  I am so glad that someone planted this in the past.  It reminds me of Ynyswen, where mine went the full width of the garden and was tremendous.

I did some baking yesterday turning my (own) recipe for Manderin Orange Cake into Muffins, as I thought I was meeting up with a fellow blogger who was in the area and so put some in a bag to give her.  Unfortunately, I had the Dentist in Llandovery at lunchtime, and then was waiting to see when the Plumber was going to be here ("end of working day").  I texted him to get an ETA, but by the time he replied and said it would be this morning first thing, I had missed the window of opportunity to meet up. Such is life.  At least the weather is better today - it just chucked it down all day yesterday and was pretty miserable.  I even put the central heating on for an hour or so as it got quite cool indoors.

Right, this won't do.  I need to go out for cat food and some wine for tonight, and a short shopping list.  Update: I went to the Museum today, to see the new layout, and had a lovely chat (and shown some behind the scenes things).  Ragged Robin - the Kilvert collection has now joined the other half of the Kilvert collection and is on permanent display at Chippenham Museum - makes sense, as he had his roots in Langley Burrell.  Photos tomorrow.