What really makes me tick

 

A view for Andrea.  This was taken on a walk earlier this year, when I went up through the woods onto the steep hill that is best walked down and not UP!

I got my finger dressed this morning but it has gone two steps forward and one back as there wasn't a piece of gauze directly over the finger/wound and so it got ripped open and several bits of sticky holding it together aren't any more.  Chap put an extra thick wad of dressing on and now if I need to wash up or wash my hair, my index finger will only fit in the thumb on my rubber gloves . . .  Back on Saturday to have it removed, but I said I was going to Malvern Flea on Sunday so it would need a covering still.

I did a bit of shopping, went to the Charity shops and got two lovely t-shirts, one with cats on.  That's from M&S and has a Day Dreams Duvet Days tag on it so is meant to be slept in but I shall use it as a t-shirt.  The other one is another coral t-shirt from Primark.  I donated my Sanderson curtains and 3 books - was reading a Susan Hill but it was upsetting to read (little boy kidnapped).  Not relaxing bedtime reading.  That and another of hers went.

I topped up with fuel - should have done it last night as Tesco haven't waited around and it's gone up to £141.9 per litre already.  I'm glad I ordered the heating oil when I did.

From that same walk. Sorry, phone photo again.

This afternoon I had a yen to watch a few Drew Pritchard programmes - I think Keith and I saw just about every one.  We weren't keen when he bought rusty old rubbish.  Our favourites were when he and Tee went  abroad to markets and antique shops.  Finding antiques and collectables were what made Keith and I tick and we were the perfect partners when we did this together.  Sometimes it was almost like greyhounds being let off a leash and we would be amongst other dealers, traders and collectors who set off at a run to the first stalls.  DP had it absolutely right when he said some of his best buys (things often he would never part with) were bought at first glance/instant decision.  It was the same for us - literally just gut feeling decisions.  I had one of those when I passed over the lead horse last month (good gut feeling - bad price!) and am praying it is back still unsold this time, and I will haggle - which is what I should have done last time.  I knew it would go no further than me though!

Of course, watching those programmes  brought back memories and tears hit me again.  I love going to the Fairs, but it's not the same without Keith.  There are hundreds of people there, friends too buying and selling, but it can still feel so lonely.  I miss having Keith happily working in his workshop on his latest restoration project, his excitement at getting a good buy - especially if it turned out to be a VERY good buy, and some of them did.  We lived off our wits, and our knowledge, and I'm not intending to give that up yet. I am just having to re-invent myself to this new existence on my own.

I've got my friend Pam for company on Sunday, and she's driving me, bless her.  I'll treat her to one of the lovely plants which are always on offer there.  

A restful but productive day, and a wildflower walk

 

Here is Nurse Pippi, doing a headstand on the big container of dried fruits and bags of seeds.  She kept me company this morning whilst I sat in the living room and watched the first two programmes of Shardlake on ITVX.  I found I was able to hand stitch perfectly well and I have just finished watching Shardlake, and putting the final hand quilting stitch to the last border . . .  Assembly next.

Bright sunshine on the foxgloves during my walk this afternoon.  I braved the wind which was blowing pollen around, but at least stayed cool on my walk.  I did two miles, up the side of the valley to the phone box and back.

The view a 100 yards further on.

Rosebay Willowherb is just coming into full bloom.  All parts of this are edible and the flowers make a wonderful jam apparently.  The highlighted name gives a link to an excellent foraging page.

As is Meadowsweet.  Whenever I see this I think of the Beaker People and Mead and the Saxons and Vikings and my darling Keith who loved it too - I think he loved the link to Viking times.

A closer encounter with a foxglove.  You probably know this provides heart medicine through its Digitalin content.

These are Common Cow-wheat.  They used to grow profusely on the riverbank by the Cothi back in Carms.  This is used for coughs, colds and digestive problems.

Square-stemmed St. John's Wort.  The flowers yield a deep red oil (from the hypericin in them). This is one of the active ingredients used medicinally, along with hyperflorin.  It has been used to treat nerve disorders for over 2000 years.  It is believed its name comes from the Knights of St John of Jerusalem who used it to treat battlefield wounds during the Crusades.  More Info HERE.  

My new bedroom curtains, blackout ones, and they make a big difference to the light in the room early morning.  I love the pattern too : Emelie, with its flowers and birds.  I bought them on Ebay, still in original wrapping - for under £40 (plus postage) - originally £55 when on Dunelms' shelves.  They go well with the Cow Parsley wallpaper too. They arrived on Saturday, so I ironed and hung them straight away.

I have managed quite well with Poorly Finger.  I needed to check if I could drive or whether I would need a lift to A&E again tomorrow (check up), but I was OK as long as I stuck my finger out.  I just drove up to the Co-op and back.  I managed to get my bra on and off ok too, and ditto clothes on and off.  Washing up needed care but I put the left hand washing up glove loosely on to keep finger dry and just rinsed off plates and cutlery under warm water, mainly using my right hand.  Now I have to negotiate hair washing - left hand in glove and right hand washing. This is to remove the pollen from my hair before bedtime.

A trip to A&E . . .

 

Well, that is sewing knocked on the head for a few days.  All my own silly fault.  Whilst trimming the ears of the edge off a block, a swift swipe and a lack of attention embedded the rotary cutter deep into my finger and it did not want to stop bleeding. . .  20 mins of pressure and arm in the air, and I had to call a neighbour to take me to A&E in Llandod.  Not a place they can stitch as it won't hold together, so taped with tiny strips and I go back on Tuesday,  I may need to choose a different victim to drive me if I'm not up to it.  Meanwhile under strict instructions not to do anything - bar some one fingered typing . . .  Tea is fishfingers and oven chips.

As an afterthought - how the HELL am I going to get my bra on in the morning?

A sewing afternoon

 I was able to sit down and sew in my craft room for  a couple of hours yesterday, although it is far cooler downstairs in the kitchen which sits at the back of the house and is protected from the sun by having the old stables (utility and hall) in front of it.  The big window of my sewing room faces due South and it gets hot up there.  I was careful and sewed some good blocks, whilst listening to Diana Gabaldon's "Voyager", which I had downloaded this week after Audible's offer of 3 mths at 99p a month offered temptation I succumbed too.  I don't mind paying that price - £8 off each month.

Lizzy D from Gone to the Beach asked to see my Baltimore Quilt border so I will oblige.  Apologies to those who aren't quiltmakers.  I began this at my patchwork class in the run up to Covid.  I have been working very sporadically on quilting the borders since then - not helped by losing one of the hand-quilted borders in the move, and also the spare fabric. (Would you believe I found the spare fabric only last week?  Too Late the maiden cried . . . ) I had to match as best I could, but of course it isn't perfect.  I am hand-quilting the final long border at the moment.  

Sorry it looks a bit washed out because of the strong sunlight.  The old hexagon quilt is to catch the cat hairs . . .

Hand appliqued design, with tiny blanket stitches to fasten it in place.

As you can see, I was able to hand quilt as I went along, because there were different components to the quilt.  I just machine stitched these borders together as I went.

The final long strip (70") which I work on in the evenings as I watch tv.  Very soothing.

I will finally trim and machine stitch it all together and as the back looks a little messy with the strips sewn, I may put an extra backing over before edging.  I'll see how it looks.  

Well, it's grey and rainy this morning, and 19 deg. C and I can cope with that and shouldn't need to water round as mightily today.

Enjoy your weekend, all.

The cool of the morning - and brief update

A quick note for Anon's leaving comments.  I get some folk leaving a message on a very old post - always dodgy, and they get zapped.  Had an anon earlier, posting on this post.  Glad you like the new header, and if you can let me know who you are, I will add your comment.  

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 ice-cream.  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.

I thought this was a Mullein (didn't check leaves too closely to see if they were felty).  Anyway, looking at the buds it is clearly a yellowy Hollyhock.  DIMWIT!!!  Of course this is Mullein.  I think I was thinking of Foxglove leaves.  Hollyhock leaves are ROUND. It has now flowered and is a gorgeous MULLEIN.

Has anyone else ordered heating oil in case there is a full blown war in the Middle East?  I thought I could hear Keith at my elbow, telling me to top up just in case.  Indeed, it has already gone up in price - last Friday, and again on Tuesday, so I didn't get my usual summer bargain but at least I will have a winter's worth of oil if I am frugal with it.    

Still overcast but hot and muggy.  I couldn't get parked in town for love or money, and lots of holiday makers in the Groe car park too, so I couldn't park and look at the fruit and veg stall there.  I ended up parked by the school, and walked up to Boots for my prescription, and stopping to buy two lovely Nectarines, got given a punnet of use-'em-up-quick strawberries for nowt.  No complaints.  Upstairs to sew now.

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.