I don't want a brick on a stick . . .

I am planning an afternoon on the sofa with Elderberry Bunny parts on my knitting needles.  I am not the world's best knitter, and very slow, but I am determined to finish EB soonest.  Last night I finished an ear, and the pinky ear lining.  Didn't take long but lots of increasing and decreasing involved.  I have just started on the first arm.  When I was tidying up last week in the corner of my craft room which has woven baskets of UFI's, I first found the beginnings of the lovely dark green bobble hat I got the pattern and yarn for a couple of Wonderwools ago.  I must finish that - in time for NEXT winter!

Well, big chunks of outgoings seem to be on the books as my elderly Dyson Animal vacuum cleaner is not that efficient any more - certainly not sucking up the carpet from the floor as it did when I bought it.  I have replaced (again) the rotating brush head, and all the filters have been checked and cleaned.  I will have to soldier on with it for the moment as I don't want to cough up £650 (hell's teefs!!!) for a brick on a stick which is what the modern vacuums seem to be.  I don't want a Henry or similar, as I don't care for cylinder vacuums.   Plus, I know this Dyson inside out and how to sort out blockages, change filters etc.  Better the devil you know!  Any recommendations?  P.S.  Not willing to fork out mega bucks either.  UPDATE:  My craft lamp has just snuffed it.  Where the wiring goes into the flexible arm . . .  I am now looking at anything run by electricity with deep suspicion . . .

The water colour class in Aberystwyth this afternoon has been cancelled.  I am not feeling 100% although I slept much better last night - just not long enough as I set my alarm as I was Going Out! So, I am quite relieved not to be going.  The drive back in the dark last Saturday was horrid, up over the mountains climbing much of the time so the angle of approaching headlights (some those horrid super-bright ones) was blinding me. 

I have spent a bit of this unexpected spare time sorting out the email I needed to send to Project Montessori after something purchased from them (for Rosie, and her main present from me) turned out non-compliant with regulations, NOT being marked with the CE or UKCA stamps to show it complied.  Yet the advertisement DID state that it was compliant.  Plus it was about 1/4 of the size of the one in the advertisement and really titchy.  This is all going through the Bank as I bought it with my credit card.  I am now looking for a Wendy House which could be her Christmas and Birthday present. 

My intention to pay more of a chunk into my savings monthly has been thwarted by all the annual December/January outgoings - as the car MoT and replacement bits, car insurance, house insurance, cost of stand at Antiques Fair, and heating boiler service have hit REALLY hard, as well into four figures all at once!  Not dates that I can move around either.  Breaking the insurances up into monthly payments only costs more in the long run.  Yeesh - it goes like that sometimes.  I am hoping firstly that I can get to the Antiques Fair (snow is forecast!) and also that it proves better than last year, when I barely covered my costs.  

I think I need to dive into some archaeology and free my brain up a bit - raining steadily (again) so no walk at the minute.  Hope to get out later.

My friend Rosie in NZ got in touch to say just as well we went on the Black Cat catarmaran when we did, as it recently grounded and people had to be rescued!  There were photos of private boats coming up to help rescue the passengers.

Have a good weekend.

 

Not the day I expected

 We had a list of things to do whilst the girls were here.  Tam replace the broken toilet seat yesterday.  This afternoon we took down the "wrong" curtain pole in the guest bedroom I got neighbour Dave to put up for me.  I then unpicked my modifications to the curtains so they can be rehung on the correct pole, next time Tam is over.  We checked out the guttering on the stables and it appears to not really have much of an incline along the building to the downpipe on the far end.  In fact, the lowest part could almost be said to be where there is a leak. We couldn't find the bigger step ladder which is the right height to clean it out - I think the gardener had used it to cut down branches for me, but I don't know where he left it - hopefully NOT in the middle of the rhododendrons . . . 

Rosie amusing herself - and getting wet!

The washing machine leaked all over the carpet, so that needed a tidy up and the dehumidifier going in there, and it looks like it may need a new seal although it seems firm enough all the way round.  I will have to find someone local to come out and check it.

Tam then went up to the attic to check out whether I should chuck all the old suitcases (answer yes).  However, she came down to report there was a leak under the chimney stack.  There had been a slight damp area last year, but now it was much worse (after all this rain too).  I phoned my friend Pam who had a sudden roof leak and had been very impressed by the roofing company she got in touch with, who came out straight away (half her roof condemned).  Anyway, she asked the boss if he could come and tell me about the chimney problem.  He's given me a quote to remove the chimney (as to be honest that is the problem and no point in having it repointed - for not far off the cost of removing it.)  I have no working fireplace now and the lower part of the chimney above the fireplace in the kitchen is a cupboard with wiring going upstairs through it! Pricewise, it was on a par with what Tam paid for having her chimney stack removed.  I hadn't bargained on a sudden repair needing doing - and this came just after Gabby and I had booked our few days away in Copenhagen in April. . .  Sod's law.

Oh, and no money coming in from the Lufftwaft photo album as that didn't sell - not too surprised as no photos or details of the breast badges with it, and the only illustrations a very mundane one - not one of the exciting photographs in it . . .  So now I will have to pay for that to be sent back to me and try another auction.

Just to round things off, it looks like Alfie has kidney problems - it has been noticable that he was drinking more when we had snow on the ground and all the drinking water frozen outside.  So, next week I shall take him down to the vet's.  He's 15 now.

I have an empty house again and am tired after doing a lot today.  Tam and I were very late going to bed, and then I couldn't drop off - still awake 1.30 ish.  Then I set the alarm for 7.30 as Gabby was bringing her car up to be MoT'd - but that didn't happen as they couldn't make the bonnet catch open and phoned her.  She said it took two people leaning on it and then it was ok, but they must have just abandoned the idea (and didn't fix the problem as she asked), so it was all for nothing and by 3 p.m. they still hadn't done the MoT so she went and collected it.  A funny old day.

 

Family time

 Tam and Rosie arrived yesterday lunchtime.  I was just baking a Lemon Drizzle cake.  Gabby is arriving first thing this morning  as her car is booked in for MoT at the local garage.  Rosie is what our family would call "all about".  She is speaking in short sentences "There you go, grandma".  She had me LOL last night as I had cooked a really tasty beef casserole for our tea, and she was sat next to me, saying no to mummy's chips and wanting broccoli instead which was declared "tasty"!  She'd already eaten, so this was a top up.  We poured a glass of wine, and I noticed Rosie reaching out for my glass (she likes wine! so we have to make sure she can't reach it.  Anyway, I noticed her little hand heading for the wine and said, "Rosie!" and she said, "There you go grandma" as if she hadn't dreamed of drinking any and was going to give it to me all along . . .  (P.S.  we don't ply her with wine - she grabs a glass if we aren't looking and sips!)

When I came back from my walk, Pippi has been sat on the fence, hoping a vole would move in the grass in the paddock.

We had a sharp air frost on Tuesday night as this is the windscreen of the car . . .  Jack Frost is so decorative with his designs.

The central heating boiler was serviced yesterday and a small part changed, and I was told it was working 98% efficiently.  I am still waiting for my heating oil delivery but hopefully it should be today or tomorrow as I ordered it last week and was told it would be here "next week".  

Storm Chandra certainly made itself unwelcome this week - the 3rd named storm this month, and bringing dreadful flooding in the West Country.  Of course there are videos on line showing idiots driving - expensive - cars into floodwater at speed, thinking that will get them through, but of course that makes it worse as the engine gets flooded even quicker.  The water meadows at Dorchester are under water with a danger to life warning, and Bridport badly flooded too, whilst Ottery St Mary in Devon has its worst ever flooding.  That's the trouble with such heavy rain saturating the ground, and the run off from hills into the rivers - it just can't get away fast enough.  

I sat down with one of my Library Books last night, having just watched all three episodes of Lucy Worsley's excellent documentaries about Conan Doyle.  The book - Mycroft and Sherlock - the Empty Birdcage - is one where you read the first page and are disappointed, dip into the middle and read a few more lines to get the measure of it, and discard.  Not the style of writing I found easy.

Jobs for the day - empty stable guttering and check it as it is leaking; try to determine where a washing machine leak is coming from as carpet is soaking in there; change curtain pole in guest bedroom; book Copenhagen holiday (half done now, flights booked, just sorting out hotels in two sites as going to see Tollund Man too.)  So, getting there.

Right, family calls.  Granny is in charge of Rosie who is stood on my stool at the sink, with a ladle and some water in the washing up bowl.  This keeps her occupied for hours!

It annoyed me too much

 So I unpicked it and restitched with another bit of green net.

This was the right way up in my photos.  Cant seem to change it,  Anyway, this bottom picture is yesterday's scruffy base and is now much better.

It was a housework sort of day today, and a do a bit more Elderberry Bunny knitting sort of afternoon.  I am on the head now, having finished the body and legs yesterday.  Progress.  

I hope no-one had been directly affected by Storm Chantra but the flooding in the West Country looks dreadful.  I could hear the rain pelting the French Windows yesterday, but didn't realize it was seeping through until I pulled the curtains and saw a couple of small puddles on the tiles at the edge of the window, and splash marks on my Ashford spinning wheel.  It's double glazed, so surely should be waterproof?  Some ingress definitely from the windows as the spinning wheel splashed.   I will have to get busy with some polish when I've rubbed it down.  I've moved it away from the window now.  My box of Christmas decorations, which hides behind the big curtains, had taken in water too so that is moved to the Library now.  No damage inside though.  I will have to get the French Windows checked out - the sill on them needs replacing for starters as where I "mended" it this summer, the paint has come off already from damp.

Ta dah!

 

Here is the other Rowandean kit finished.  I amazed myself with the "fluffy" flowers - still Rosebay Willowherb (Fireweed) , but in flower rather than the French Knot buds.  You cut pieces of chiffon about 1 cm square, then folded them in 4 (fiddly!) and then attached them with invisible stitching.  It worked pretty well.

It looks better from a distance at the bottom.

I wasn't so happy about the ripped net at the bottom as it overstretched and then I had to stitch it totally into place.  The long pink stitches were as per the instructions.  Not so pleased with those and I may alter them...

Today was a shopping day, and I managed to find two suitable frames for the Rowandean kits.  More snow is forecast so I got another box of cat sachets, to have another one spare.  

No walk today as it was not very pleasant out - low cloud, cold and another named storm getting up (Chandra). This will be bringing lots of rain, mostly below us though and the poor West Country will get hit again. Tomorrow's walk may be in wellies . . .

Now, off to find another UFO - it may be knitting as Elderberry Bunny has been abandoned for a year and Tam has asked for her to be finished before Rosie hits her teens!  Confirmation - yes. Elderberry Bunny it is.  I ripped it back to the Big Error I made last year (why it got abandoned, truth to tell), and have knitted right to the neck, where it has the yarn threaded through the stitches and gathered.  I am pleased I made good progress with it, as I watched Digging for Britain.

I am downstairs I am too HOT in bed, and can't sleep.  Typical.

A sad start to my day

 Yesterday morning I heard that Keith's brother had died.  He had gotten very weak, and finally succumbed to Sepsis.  He would have been 88 this year.  That suddenly brought back losing Keith of course, so it was a sad start to the morning.  Gabby and I will try and get across to the funeral, but it's in Essex - HATE the M25 bit of the journey.

Anyway, I was glad that Tam and I were meeting up for our Bundle Dyeing afternoon in Aberystwyth.  There were half a dozen of us, and we had a lovely time.  Some garden flowers gave amazing colours - Scabious Black Knight (purple), and Cosmos sulphureous (orange).  

In the picture, dyestuffs - Rosemary, Ivy, Cleavers (Goosegrass), Brown Onion skins, Rose petals.  These gave shades of yellow, the the petals, a pink.  There were red Onion skins too and they gave a more tawny browny yellow.

We used wool skeins and strips of old sheeting, pre-mordanted with Alum, to lay out and decorate with dye plants.  The bright yellow on the piece at the back is Daffodil petal pieces.

Tam rolling up the bundle, which was then tied with string or wool and then rolled up like a snail-shell, and steamed for half an hour.

Other dyestuffs on offer were Hibiscus flowers (gave a red), Buddleia leaves, Eucalyptus leaves, and Yarrow. 

This looked so pretty even before it was rolled up. My table-neighbour's 2nd piece.

 

My first attempt produced muted colours.  I used Ivy, Cleavers, Yarrow, Brown Onion skins, and a little Hibiscus.  Seen when not through a camera lens, it has a little more colour.

For my 2nd attempt I went for colour:

Sorry, bottom one a bit out of focus.  The bright orange is the Cosmos sulphureous, and the blues and purples from the Scabious.  The yellows are from the Daffodil petals, and Onion skins.  All sorts went on that.

Guess who went shopping this morning?!

In the evenings I am now working on the Rowandean Rosebay Willowherb kit.

The dark leaves are nettles (worked in dark blue wool).  Now I am on the French knots for the Willowherb flowers.  Such pretty pinks in this. 

Hoping you have had a good weekend, and praying that friends in America are surviving the awful winter storm cutting a swathe through the country, and those of you in Australia aren't in the areas affected by bushfires - well, hoping anyone who is can get out safely.

Fantasy Wheelbarrows

 I had written a little list of stuff I wanted to do/grow etc in the garden this year.  Amongst the seeds, Cosmos suddenly came to me when I trotted to the bathroom around 3 a.m.  (I slept well by the way - 11 1/2 hours!  Not right through, elderly bladders don't allow for that, but I woke feeling more with it again.) The list also included pricing up a new two-wheel wheelbarrow.  I looked on line - anything from around £60 upwards.  I then went into the realms of Fantasy Wheelbarrows . . .  Scrolling down, there was a tidy looking one but at £498 that was never going to happen.  I decided to see just how dear wheelbarrows could get.  £681 for a tipping wheelbarrow (don't they all?!)  . . .  then if you want battery-powered, we are talking £899.   Then I found the wheelbarrow of my dreams, totally automated and all-terrain as it had caterpillar tracks - oh that would be perfect on my rough triangles of land!  Only £1,614.98!!!  

Anyway, Pam came to the rescue to take me to the garage to pick up the car.  I mentioned going to the Garden Centre and she said, oh let's go together, so we did.  Mind you, the prices soon quelled our excitement.  They didn't have much choice of seeds in - only Mr Fothergill's, some Expensive Johnson seeds £3.99 - £5.49! and Franchi's.  I bought a pack of Cosmos - Seashells mixed, and a pack of Pak Choi.  Then some Garlic - French hardneck Garlic, Edenrose.  I will dig a bed for this - it didn't do well in a long tub last year.  I wanted a deep pink Hellebore, but wasn't going to part with £21.99.  I knew it would be dear there, but that is ridiculous.  I will hope that they have some at the Crossgates nursery when it opens again next month.  The shopping list includes Rose Feed, young Lupins (lots), a deep pink Hellebore, Pot Marigold seeds, a lawn edging tool (shears), and lots of raspberries, as I am about to dig up the grass edge to the path up the bank to the polytunnel, put down membrane and lots of muck heap beneath it, and put raspberries all the way up. I will mulch it well on top of the membrane.  I would like a Jostaberry too.  I had one bush at Ynyswen, but the blackbirds always beat me to it!  I now need to ask friend Chris if I can lessen her muckheap for her - with two horses it soon mounts up.  A couple more wriggly tin raised beds are also on the list.  Oh, and the wheelbarrow.

The car is back (just as well I didn't go mad at the Garden Centre!) and it is quite a novelty to have water jets that spray to the top of the windscreen.  I don't think it has ever done that in all the years we've had it!

Pam walked her dog Foxy before we went to the Garden Centre, and so as it was dry then, I went out with my trusty secateurs and pruned back The Lark Ascending, dead Hollyhock and Echinacea stems, and started on one of the yellow roses I inherited when we bought the house.  They were scared little things when in planters, but now in the ground grow nearly as tall as me and flower from end May to nearly Christmas.

Have a good Friday. 

A Change of Plans

 Well, last night was a write-off in the sleeping stakes.  I have had a flare up of my Diverticulitis in the wake of having had the steroids/antibiotics combo.  I had had niggles since the weekend, but put it down to having had some wine with Tam.  Then last night I was in enough discomfort to keep me awake a couple of hours, until I came downstairs for Panadol.  I crawled back into bed, and Dr Pippi, bless her, knew exactly the spot to settle down on and snuggled into my back, purring, and I was soon asleep.  Cat therapy does work . . .  I am feeling very tired now though, and will go through once I've finished my cup of Earl Grey and have a nap.

I thought to check with the Endoscopy dept. at the Hospital, as I had a feeling that a flare-up might prevent the procedure, and I was right, so it has been put back 6 weeks, to early March.  Sword of Damocles moved a bit further away then . . .  Eating very carefully now - soup for lunch, and it will be some of the chicken casserole with rice for tea tonight.  

I managed to get the car down to the garage this morning, getting Pam to pick me up and bring me home, and then we had a natter which cheered me up.  Always nice to have someone to talk to and catch up on news and gossip!!

Last night I finished the Pippi picture, and am pleased with it. Just need to add another grey stitch to cover the drawn design on the back front leg. (Being a perfectionist). I need to look for a little frame for it now.

So I have started on this one, which won't take long to sew up.

I was in the mood for a chocolate apple cake, so have one cooking in the oven right now.

Still blowy and rainy here.  I have been watching Rewilding Jude on You Tube and he has been busy with his garden, and my fingers are fairly twitching to get out and about in mine.  D also mentioned getting a new Hellebore and so next month I will go to the little garden centre near Crossgates, and get one.  They are a fraction of the price of the Old Railway Line Garden Centre, where they sell around £19.99!  I want to get lots of Lupins too and have big drifts of them to remind me of NZ.  

Getting organized

 Today is NOT the day for an enjoyable walk as it is blowing a hooley (N-Easterly I think) and I have had to lock the catflap because it was blowing that open and there was a heck of a draught around my ankles in the kitchen.  Apparently there is a Yellow wind warning for much of Wales . . .  Pippi not impressed by being kept in but she is not being indulged today.

I have been down to Hay & Brecon Farmers and bought a bag of compost for planters and tubs.  That feels very positive - though it's staying in the back of the car for the moment.  It is NOT a gardening day either!  I took a pile of old books (language primers of Tam's, old paperbacks and books I know I won't ever read) plus some clothes Tam had turfed out to the Charity shop too.  Another positive. 

I have looked long and hard at two things in the living room.  One I have had perhaps 10 years and still love but I don't NEED it. I have checked it out with Lens, and it is a late 19th C Italian Giulia Mangani hand-painted enamelled porcelain urn.  It is SO pretty, but I need to be reducing my personal "stuff".

It is so delicately painted.

It will go to the next Fair with me and look good on the top table.

Then there is this painting which I have had a couple of years, and which has really grown on me.  It's the little soft turquoise door which draws you in.

For Sue in Suffolk, a better view.  It's a little shabby cabin beside a muddy river.  The sort of thing put up piecemeal between the wars and probably without a great deal in the way of planning permission!

So to the Fair it will go.  Keith's Lufwaffe photo album is being auctioned next week, so let's hope that does well.  They have really gone in positively with the description.

Oh, and that ring with the orange stone?  Tam checked it out and says it must have been my aunty's, as it's dated 1974, and is silver gilt, and the orange stone is paste . . .  Ah well.  I can now share what it looks like, now it's not worth robbing me for!

Tea tonight is going to be a chicken casserole.  This is not salad weather here!

The wind has dropped a bit now and I have been able to unlock the catflap, but no self-respecting cat wants to go out in that sort of rain!

Sunshine and birdsong

 Another Positive Post.  We have had a dry day with Sunshine! Yippee.  There was birdsong.  I went to Llandod.  Just to Tesco as I only had a few things to get, then on to Screwfix for a replacement toilet seat.  Tam now fretting that I might have bought the Wrong One!  I pulled over to plug in my phone so I could listen to the last couple of hours of one of my Audible books - Conspiracy by S J Parris.  I can really recommend her novels.  As I looked up from that, the sun was shining through a couple of bare branched trees, but they had been colonised by a fine mossy lichen and glowed green around branches and twigs.  SO pretty.  I listen to Audible when I am out walking too.

Then out for a - short - walk.  Only 1/4 mile or so each way, but so lovely to be out in the fresh air, and looking at what was to be seen in the hedgerows, and what birds were about - some very smart looking Chaffinches for starters.  Snowdrops only just coming through the ground on the first bend, and so I won't walk down to the church yet to see if they are putting on their annual display.  Early February I think that will be.

A touch of colour on some lichen-clad twigs.  First tentative leaves of Cow Parsley, and one - just ONE - small Celandine leaf!

Low cloud in the direction of Hundred House.

I was lucky to find a Derek Tangye book, Monty's Leap, in the Tesco book recycling bookcase.  Years ago (1960s/70s/80s) I read all of his novels, which were about his and his wife Jeannie's life in the far west of Cornwall, near the Minack Theatre, in a tiny cottage with land and glass houses where they grew daffodils on the cliffs, and made early spring posies, both of which they sent up to London.  They grew potatoes too.  I loved reading about their cats and donkeys and lifestyle.  I shall enjoy re-reading this one too.

I have had a letter from a penpal of over 50 years' standing too, and also found a little stitch kit which I got from a charity shop in Llandod last year.  It had got covered in fabric, so I have liberated it to stitch.

Tea tonight is going to be two large Tesco cod fish fingers, with some home-made chips and peas.  I've not had fish for a while.  I bought a tray of chicken breast for the freezer too.  Plus some of those giant spring onions, a red pepper, a nice head of garlic, Maris Piper potatoes, 2 cucumbers, and some nice on the vine tomatoes.  Topping up store cupboard items this week were Plain and S-R flour and a big 3 Kg bag of Allison's bread flour.  

Possible snow again in the offing - "the Beast from the East - a 656 mile wall of snow" is apparently heading our way in a couple of days.  Deep joy, not!  The entire country will be a whiteout.  Anyway, I had half a tank of heating oil at Christmas, and now 3 weeks on will have used a chunk in the cold weather, so have just ordered 500 L.  That will be around £270 as it's 54p a L at the moment.

New jets on car this week - £150 or so also out, and it's time for the central heating boiler to be checked for the year . . .  Food spending will have to go down to the minimum, but can't match the Frugal Sue's out there!!  

Home alone again

 Tam and Rosie were here not much longer than 24 hours, but the house feels "right" with them here, and so empty now they have gone home again.  I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of weeks I have lived alone in my life, before Keith died.  I don't enjoy living alone, hence trying to keep myself busy and doing little things that give me pleasure.

Yesterday I had a very short walk up to the junction, by which time my legs were saying that was it for the day, as I had already been doing housework and tidying things up before T&R got here.  

I wanted to help a friend, and did a "paying it forward" when I ordered her some multivitamins (just as D had done for me).  My friend doesn't eat a great deal (think miniscule amounts) and I know her diet is lacking in essential vitamins and minerals, so I hope that these will help her and she will carry on and buy some more, although she isn't good at spending money on herself.

Rosie has been a joy.  She regularly speaks in short sentences now and is always asking for a hug.  She made us laugh by pointing and saying "It's a monster" - didn't know where that came from until we heard it on one of the tv programmes Tam lets her watch (Tam is very careful with screen time and content).  She's very observant too - having watched me check under the recliner chair in case one of the girls had gone under there, she came to tell me when Lulu went under there so I could get her out!  "Grandma, Lulu under chair".

Tam has been crocheting a beautiful cape and hood I think it is, with a zigzag border to it.  Really pretty yarn too.  She's nearly finished it now.  She doesn't get much time to work on it as Rosie's bedtimes are so irregular, what with going to the child-minder a couple of times a week.

It has been lovely having them here, but now my glance keeps falling on the NHS envelope on the side, with several pages about my "procedure" on Friday, and I am really dreading it. 

I have continued to put the secateurs in my pocket whenever I go outside (and it's dry!) and have been doing some more tidying up.  Just 5 or 10 minutes makes me feel better.  Today I tackled my Jude the Obscure rose as it had grown so much last summer and was about 8 feet tall.  I now have all the others to sort out.

I hope you've all had a good weekend.  

 

 

When you pull open a drawer in this house . . .

Tam and Rosie here, so all is well with my world :)

Freedom!

Right I thought, this morning, I've had enough of this.  I am OUT today.  I set off for Carmarthen at 9.30, and achieved all my tick list bar going to Tesco for more on-offer cat biscuits.  Will do that next week and hope they are still on offer. I went through Abergwili and picked up some good fresh fruit from Chris Thomas (how I miss their warehouse).  

New shoes (slightly too tight) returned to shop, and a replacement pair a size larger ordered - also in purple.  They are v. slightly too big so will need a little tab stuck into the heel.  

3 bags of small Russets £1 per bag, a bag of 5 oranges (£1) and a punnet of Nectarines (not in photo) £1.25.

As I walked through Carmarthen, I noticed vaping shops and side by side gents hairdressers where proper shops used to be.   I remember reading somewhere recently that many of these places are a front for money laundering . . .  I do not miss Carmarthen at all.  It hasn't improved with keeping.  I went into M&S to get some of their Posh Prawn Sandwiches for my lunch, and a can of Brazilian orange fizz.  That was a special treat.

I went to The Works for colouring pens and pencils to go with the Brambly Hedge colouring book I treated myself to (encouragement from Susan there!), and the health food shop for organic Mung Beans to sprout (encouragement from Thelma).  It was a good walk up the town and my body needed it.  Will try and get going every day now.

Then finally to see my friends P&D, for a good natter.  I'd not seen them, apart from extremely briefly to drop presents off at Christmas, for months.  It was good to catch up.

Spoilt . . .

Downhill after that!

 Yesterday?  A write off.  Tam did say that I could well have an off day on the back of my good one and she was right.  I can only assume that my body got hit by suddenly having no steroids.  I didn't even go outside - just so tired and had to sleep morning and afternoon too.  The steroids have brought my appetite back and I have suddenly put on 3 lbs almost overnight, which I could do without.  

I was in bed by 8.30 p.m. and STILL AWAKE at midnight.  Bladder in overdrive too.  Awake at 3 a.m. and now downstairs (4.40).  I am so fed up.  Can we fast forward to Spring please?  

I discovered a new-to-me programme on tv, Great British History Hunters, and watched a couple of episodes of that yesterday.  It deals with the finds of metal detectorists, and boy are there some lucky ones out there!  Imagine finding this:

The amazing Shropshire sun pendant, a Bronze Age piece which was cast into a bog 3,000 years ago and found by a lucky detectorist in 2018.  For some reason this had not crossed my horizon.  Just look how skillfully it had been worked and by a master craftsman who had only his sharp eyesight and skill to make it.  (Photo copied from Portable Antiquity and Heritage Issues Blog).  

At least these programmes cheered me up a bit.  I am just so cheesed off with being stuck in the house and can't even drive far until washer jets sorted.  

Anyway, some very good news for Wales, as the Tour de France is returning to the UK and the route through Wales comes down from Newtown to Cardiff, via Llandod and Builth!!!  Not till 2027 but that will be something exciting to look forward to.  

More of the Pippi picture has been sewn, and I am on the pond now.  I will have to measure it up and look for a little frame for it in the charity shops.

So, not a lot to report.  I hope I will feel a bit more with it today - despite the lack of sleep.  

What a positive day

 I had, in the end, just 4 1/2 hrs sleep last night.  I fully expected to crash on the sofa after breakfast.  But I didn't.  I washed my hair, which made me feel brighter.  I did a small load of washing and hung it up.  I took dried washing upstairs and put it away.  I decided to take some of my sewing projects up to the Craft Room.  That set off a trail of events which had me tidying away Christmas material, picking up several small bags of scraps and putting them into one big bag, then I unpinned a Kantha lap quilt I had started to lay out.  I didn't like the colour combos I had put together.  Then I had to go in search of my tins of pins, as they weren't upstairs.  Then I did a bit of ironing, since I was up there. 

I decided no way could I suffer beneath the Really Hot Duvet any more, so began to strip my bed.  Then I saw the amount of dust on all my furniture and decided I would get that sorted and the room got 3/4 of a deep clean, with me vacuuming round, and vacuuming the mattress.  Then the bed was made up again with a bit of help from Pippi (as always).  I stopped now and again to look at the frosty landscape, and the rolag of mist over the river and quarry.

Whilst dusting, I opened my grandmother's (probably g.grandmother's) box of goodies which my cousins had given me.  Nothing very valuable, just bits of Victorian family jewellery and wot-nots which mean the world to me.  Judging by the over the top hat-pins, granny had style!  There is one Edwardian ring I need to research, which has a central stone that is orange, and so it is probably an orange (hessanite) garnet.  What an unusual colour to choose.  I don't think I've ever seen an orange ring before.  I've had the loupe to it, and can't see any chips, so am pretty sure it isn't glass.  

There were a couple of other little keepsakes too, single enamel cufflinks kept for the pretty pattern, single shoe buckles, some silver Art Deco brooches, and a brooch in the form of a sabre which you can take the blade out of.  It has "mother" on it and dates from about 1910.  There were several Victorian hat pins and brooches in a horseshoe.  This is one of them. It made me feel very close to my grandparents and g. grandparents. 

 

I wrote a bit more of my penpal letter, and then did some family history work, filling in names and dates on the family history paper tree, which will make it easier for Tam, who will carry on the research in future.  I put right a couple of mistakes I'd made on the Ancestry tree too.  

Then it was time to make tea, the stir fry, and oh my goodness, it tasted SO good.  Like proper food has always done in the past.  I ate it down to the last grain of rice!  

I will have the other half tomorrow night.

Here are photos of current reading, first of all, upstairs pile: 

Then the downstairs pile:

I have to say, watching Lucy Worsley's Blitz Spirit the other day, I am enjoying both the WWII MO books, two different writing styles, of which Vere Hodgeson's is the more enjoyable, but I am learning a lot from both.

So, a really positive and enjoyable day and I felt happy and I felt better.  OK, I couldn't go to Carmarthen as planned, but hopefully will manage it tomorrow or Friday.

It is good to feel more like my old self again.  Sewing tonight I think!