The inconvenience of winter!

Shall I do a Facebook moan, where all these "privileged" people think they can talk others down and that They Know Best. They appear on nearly every post these days.  I follow (amongst many others) the Dartmoor Public Group where there is - almost daily in this cold spell - a big spat between the people who live up on the moor and know how it is up there when it snows, and those people from the towns who see it as their playground, and then block narrow lanes when they park up, get stuck and demand help, or even - for heaven's sake - have to be told to shove off when they come up after dark and build snowmen on the plot in front of people's houses in a certain moorland town, making so much noise that the occupants have to come and tell them where to go as they are waking their toddler!

We're above the snowline here.  Looking out on my slightly slippy walk this morning, you can see the snow is still laying on the hills and all the local lanes.  Pretty though it is, I want it GONE now! I do not need daily updates from the news telling me that we are all in for temperatures "up to minus 20".  Well, some poor devils up in Scotland are, but not this part of mid-Wales.

This is where I turned round on my walk - a big ice slick on the pull in to a barn.  When running water, it had also gone along the lane and it was dodgy in parts so I had to be careful where I stepped.

Icy splinters.

The lane was clear here, but had a border of icy chippings thrown up.

This is the track to our house, still a bit snowy/icy/slippy. Most inconvenient!!  However, I did go down to the town today to visit the Library, and get the Saturday paper, and draw some money out for Malvern tomorrow (Fleamarket).  I may leave a bit later than usual though and will avoid my slightly-shorter-cut along the lanes to Glasbury and stick to the main roads instead.  Will see how it warms up today.  Even with the windscreen cover on the car, I had to put the blowers on full to unfreeze the wipers which had stuck-to on top of it and the windscreen, and de-ice the other windows. I shall take bread and cheese, a flask of  Mulligatawny soup and I'm about to make a Chocolate Apple Cake.

I didn't go out to the Heritage (history) Society Christmas meal last night, as I didn't trust our slippy track and knew there were areas of ice along the lane in, having walked in on Thursday to collect the car from its MoT.  I just wasn't in the mood, and also had slight worries about being hugger-mugger in a tightly-packed room of folk for several hours, and catching the flu which is doing the rounds.

You can guess which one is for Tam to look at!

The last of the light coloured fabrics for the William Morris quilt.  On Monday I shall start cutting out the fabrics.  Executive decision has been made to leave out the square in the Ohio Star block.  Why make things even more testing for me?

Talking about things testing me, I pushed my nose to the grindstone yesterday and MADE myself work on the repairs to the Victorian quilt.  I knew it wouldn't be easy but persevered.  I shall try and do at least one little diamond a day, but it's hard when you are sewing through the cardboard shapes and trying to make any stitches on the back lining invisible and most of all, desperately trying not to rip any of the other VERY fragile silks.  Fortunately, I have a box of Japanese silk remnants which I think it was Elaine (Tales From Parsonage Cottage) kindly sent me a couple of years ago, finally they have come into their own.

Having searched frustratingly high and low in this house for a book I was more than 3/4 way through over Christmas and thought totally lost, I picked up my handy little shopping bag today to take my Library books back in and there it was.  I'm glad about that. (A Whisper of Sorrows, by JD Kirk).  So there was just the gilt cream to finish the frame on the horse picture which I needed to hunt down - again, I had seen it but thought I'd moved it somewhere.  When I looked properly just now, it came to light.  I'm a devil for not looking properly, or making piles of things (WIPs), or putting things off till tomorrow.  That is something I am attempting to put right in2025.  No procrastination!

So, completely fed up with being cold, not being able to get out, not being able to make proper plans, having the weather an unknown and rather worrying factor for future events (including the February Fair) and until today, not being able to get out for a walk either, I shall hold hard to the notion that winter is blardy Inconvenient!  Roll on spring.

Feeling spoilt

 

These BEAUTIFUL flowers arrived today.  I was stunned - then I realized what day it was, despite thinking about this date for the last week.  This would have been Keith and my 36th wedding anniversary. I had to quickly turn away from the deliveryman so he wouldn't see my tears, though he certainly heard them in my choked "thankyou".  The card read "Dad would want you to have flowers today - love, T, G & D."  I have the most thoughtful and loving children and am blessed. 

I have the slow cooker on with Hungarian Goulash nearly ready in it and have just put on the veg. Would you believe, the Broccoli I bought for 8p the week before Christmas is still perfectly fine to use and nowhere near discolouring.  Just goes to show that the stuff we normally buy and never even lasts the week is close to being ready to chuck when we buy it.

Tonight I am going to have a bottle of Weston's premium Organic cider and lift a glass to Keith.  Whilst he was still able to travel and walk, we often went to look around the Antique Shops in Leominster, as there's not many places to go for a day out in early January.  No chance of my heading that way today though, as quite apart from the weather, I didn't get the car back until 4 p.m.

Strangely, I happened to look up my waste-of-rations ex-husband today (before I'd realized the date) and found that he had died back in October.  He was 75 and I was surprised he'd made that age as he was a heavy smoker and never wore a mask when he was spraying cars. I felt nothing.  It was like he had never existed.  We had to meet up with him when Keith and I were moving to Wales, as he was co-signatory as an executor with me of dad's will and we needed his signature before selling my old family home so mum could follow us to Wales.  He refused, just to be blardy-minded and awkward, saying that he didn't think it was in my mum's best interests. Oh goodness, I knew that Keith was about to punch him, and had to grab his arm.  We left, but fortunately his girlfriend had a word with him and he changed his mind and came out to sign before we drove away. Keith and I were together for several years (and had Tam) waiting for the5 years to be up before my divorce could come through.  Once again, he did that on purpose, "barsteward" . . .

Today has been another day of cracking on with jobs which should have been done a LONG time ago.  This is one side of a border for a quilt I made and nearly finished before Covid . . .  These are now going to be hand quilted.  I finished the 2nd side when Keith was so ill. I haven't been able to face working on it again since then.

This booklet of Beatrix Potter x-stitch designs (I won't do the birth chart sampler with all of them) also surfaced today and I am going to start on Peter Rabbit as soon as I have finished brown Santa.  I also found a little envelope of spare embroidery threads which I have wound onto spools now too.

I bet I don't have half the colours!, but I do have plenty of 14 count Aida.

This is the new colour (Verdigris) going up in the guest bedroom.  Pretty with the sun on it  The elderly matt white and blue are going. Tea is ready now.  Keep warm.

Needed - arms the length of an Orangutan's!

 It HAD snowed overnight, not much but I didn't want to be on the roads the moment the garage opened (car going in for MoT).  As it happened, the cats woke me up around 6 a.m. and wouldn't stop pestering and by 8.15 my brain was choosing sleep over wake mode, so I had a snooze on the sofa for an hour.  My friend Pam was happy to pick me up and bring me home anyway.  

I have been feeling guilty that I have not done jobs which need doing since Christmas arrived.  So this morning I glued two handles back on my old wooden cantilever sewing box (cost us £16 at Cottees Auction in Wareham nearly 40 years back now.)  Then I tended to the ornate frame on a fabulous pre-WW1 drawing of a horse by a young lady called Freda Rickard. She was born in 1899 and lived at the Three Salmons in Caerleon, Monmouthshire.  Clearly a very talented artist, who went on to become a Milliner.  Bits of the frame had been knocked/broken off and although I had tried to Gesso the design back into a degree of shape again, I'd got as far as I was able.  So this morning I dabbed them with black acrylic paint, and will dry-brush stipple it with gold to match the rest of the frame.  

This was done in 1913 when she was 14 years old, and clearly a talented artist. It will be going to the Botanic Gardens Antique Fair with me next month.

Those pesky power lines always get in the way, but this is Carneddau and part of Llanelwedd Quarry this afternoon.  

To the right of the Quarry, looking towards Gwaunceste Hill, with the end slope of Aberedw on the right hand edge.

I've just had a surprise visitor, a chap who is doing some work on the end cottage whilst Ed is away. He wanted to borrow a tin opener, and we had a lovely chat and I sent him off with a map and the route to St David's Church if he wants to get out and stretch his legs.

The car failed its MoT - I knew it would as it needed a replacement rear numberplate.  The water pump also needs replacing too, so I've left it down there overnight and will collect it tomorrow afternoon.  Last year it needed new tyres and work done on brake wotsits and cost an arm and a leg. This year a good bit cheaper by the sound of it.

Here is the guest room which I am currently working on.  I took a photo of the painted walls but they are still wet and much darker than the finished colour, so you will seem them later.  I either need to be a foot taller, have arms the length of an Orangutan or a ladder a step taller . . .

This is the sink corner. We put up the neutral wallpaper (left) when we had the big corner sink replaced with a small one.

Not much else to report.  A cup of Earl Grey and some stitching beckons.  

Tears are never far away . . .

 Well, I started the day by trapping the zip catch on my warmest coat in the door when I shut it.  Then I couldn't do up the coat.  I was feeling a bit Cabin Feverish, so drove to Brecon, where I found out I didn't have the warm gloves with it either as I had put them in the pockets of my duck-down jacket at the weekend .. .  Brecon is noticably colder than here, so I had a chilly walk to WH Smith to see if the Quilting mag was in - it was, but it didn't have the pattern I wanted (advertised on line) in this issue.  I have to be patient then.  

I searched B&M Bargains in Brecon for the 80 sachet packets of cat food, but they only had the smaller ones.  I got a small plastic container for the new quilt bits (already put in it now), and some compost.  I must have picked up the only sack of compost with a small slit in it - not noticing till I got it to the car.  I thought it was heavy - must have had a gallon of water soaked into it from the rain yesterday.  

I've made good progress on Rosie's Christmas x-stitch present.  The black bit to the right is the sheep's head.  Whilst I don't have the wool listed in the pattern to sew the sheep's fleece with, I do have some fine wool which may do (if I can thread it) instead.  I will find out tonight.  The gold colour is not what was called for (it was a much darker sludgy colour) and the brown of his coat is a different DMC thread too, but my friend Gay said to tell her what ones I was missing and she'd see if she had doubles.  She has several so those will be in the post.  I shan't unpick this one though, but if the wool doesn't work for the fleece, I have the correct colour coming that should have been used for Santa's coat and as an alternative for the sheep.  I'm really enjoying doing x-stitch again and it's giving me a break from the hexies for the dark blue quilt I shouldn't have bought!

I am hoping I will get along to the Quilt Group on Wednesday but the weather forecast is looking a bit iffy.  I drove into Brecon along the "bottom" route, via Erwood and Llyswen, but decided I would come home over the Epynts as Keith loved going that way.  First of all as I left Brecon, it rained.  As I climbed up from Lower Chapel to Upper Chapel, it changed to sleet.  Beyond that as I climbed again, I could see the top of the Epynts disappear behind snow.  But it changed to sleet again, although I could see the furthest hills beyond Builth were becoming white once more.  Of course, that route - and the bit of the Diana Gabaldon book I was listening to on Audible (The Drums of Autumn) - kept mentioning death or "I love you" and similar things - upset me.  Tears are never far away these days, and my mascara had taken quite a hit by the time I got back home.  

I am cooking a pizza for tea tonight.  It was going to be last night, but instead I did the topping (including a couple of sausages from the freezer, cooked and sliced) and had it with Spinach and Ricotta Tortellini (boughten).  It was very tasty.  The other half will be on the pizza shortly.  The alert on the breadmaker has just gone so I will put the oven on and grate some cheese shortly.  I'll freeze one half. Tomorrow it's chicken Stir Fry and later in the week I'm doing a Beef casserole.  

The car is booked in for MoT tomorrow - that should guarantee the white stuff!

And indeed it did snow . . .

 We had about 3" - 4" of snow here.  It was lovely to see it falling - I kept sneaking upstairs to look out of my sewing room window across to Next Door's outside light.  At one point the snowflakes were coming down like 2 bob bits.

I went up to bed at 10, shut the cats down here so I could get an uninterrupted night's sleep for once, and was still awake at 1.30 . . .  

Sorry it's not very sharp.  View at the end of our track.

A bit too cold to take my sewing out to the summerhouse today . . .

No cats sitting on the side lawn today!

Last night it looked so mysterious out there, with the trees delineated with snow, and rooves blotted out.  Snow lay deep on the tops of hedgerows and if it had kept on snowing I think we'd have had double the fall we did.  The A470 was closed at the Storey Arms (that's just below Pen-y-Fan) and the A483 was closed near Crossgates by a crash, whilst a slewed lorry (and doubtless lots of snow further on) closed the A44 near Llangurig.

Not much planned for today.  Some more Richard III and Church book reading, x-stitch and History Hits tv.  I am up to date with series 7, part 2 Outlander now . . .  Will Claire survive the bullet - and the operation to remove it?  I've got the toppings from the freezer for my teatime pizza, and a fresh loaf from yesterday.  I'll not starve.  Several people have reported that supermarket shelves were cleared yesterday, ahead of the snow. Bread and milk I don't doubt.

How have the rest of my UK readers fared?

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 I have been having a home day today.  There was a very heavy frost last night - in the cleft between Aberedw and Carneddau, the humped hills of Gwaunceste Hill were as white as snow at first light - and first thing I was sat at the computer with a warm wide woolly scarf round me that a friend gave me for Christmas.  When it cools in the evening, I put it across my knees as I sew.  It was minus 2 at 8.30 a.m. - I know, positively balmy for you folk in Canada and Northern America!) but felt colder.

A later view from my bathroom window.


 I did get a walk in, but not very far as parts of the hill still icy, though the Council had been out and gritted it using a small open-back lorry.  

Not this bit though!  This was my sticking point (or falling over point) yesterday.  Like the Cresta Run.

Yet - Periwinkles blooming on a sheltered bank.

The chicken curry (with a tin of tomatoes and veg added to the chicken) hit the spot today.  I have some for tomorrow and some to freeze as well.  I also cooked up the last of the leftover Christmas veg for the freezer (Carrots and Sprouts).

Then I began the 2nd block and that was much easier to assemble an less challenging to match up.  I just randomly chose colours - the quilt will have more paler fabrics in it.  

It is definitely spot the mistakes at the moment, but I now know what to be very accurate with next time, and try not to cut the corners off the square blocks where they meet the half square section on Block 2 (in first photo).  With Block 1 (on the bottom), it was much easier to cut and piece but I need to make sure I have any pattern direction in the right place before cutting.  At least the little squares on it were accurately pieced.  I shan't do any more now until I have got the cream fabric.  I used a piece of rather flimsy white to do these, which stretched when cutting and I had to be careful not to pucker when ironing with a hot iron.  Anyway, those are the two tester pieces.  I should be alright with the Pinwheel border, as I've done those before.

This, by the way, is the tray I fell in love with and asked Gabby to get me for Christmas.  I have it on display on the end counter of the kitchen.

Lots of lovely post today, a letter from Danette arrived, plus her subscription present of Country Living magazine (February), and a letter and a book from my friend Gay in Dorset.  Now I can sit down and look at the book and magazine.

Incidentally, I have just started on a new historical novel for bedtime reading, Anne O'Brien's The Virgin Widow, which is set at the time of the Wars of the Roses and features the future wife of Richard III - Anne Neville.  Coincidence.  Off to look at those, then embroider.

Tomorrow, another longer walk is planned.  I may go up through the woods if it's slippy out.  

Will it snow?

 Threats of snow (heavy????) over the weekend.  It's cold and frosty, and we will see how it pans out. I put an extra (thin) quilt on the bed last night and slept better for it.   I needed rice today as I had run out (plenty of brown rice in the cupboard though).  I got a HUGE 4kg bag,  and more girl-cat food as they are being so fussy about biscuits, and went to Tesco and spent £32 which may have included a bottle of wine. . .  I missed out over Christmas as by the time I was feeling up to having any, all the good stuff had gone!  

I had to abandon plans of a walk up the big hill today - I got as far as the fork in the road and there was a sheet of ice across it, and looking right, more ice down that hill.  I came home and went out later up the steep farm track - hence these photos.

The mild weather so far has encouraged these Daffodils to grow.  It lifted my heart to see them.

The sunshine did me a power of good too.

Just a glimpse of Aberedw Hill through the trees.

I have ordered some cream (Porcelain) material for the E blocks, as we didn't buy that at the time.  I have gotten all the fabrics out and see I need some light patterns too, so got a fat 1/4 of 108" wide backing fabric in Willow Boughs (Ivory) to be going on with.  That should be with me by next week.  I will also find 3 or 4 more fat quarters in lighter WM prints.  Meanwhile I have been making a practice block (Block 2) and have got my brain in a pickle over the bottom row.  I need to start it first thing in the morning as by mid-afternoon when I finally get upstairs, my brain is slightly frazzled as it's been distracted already by "life"! Today it was having a video call with Tam (and Rosie) who was trying to guide me through adding an app to the TV which would apparently give me access to Live TV.  But no it doesn't.  I think it will have to be a roof aerial - more expense.  Mind you, plenty to keep me amused anyway, but it would be nice to watch the horse racing live (or even know where to find it easily!) and to on occasion, watch the news.  Only mainly when there have been Weather Events though.

Block B, on an angle.  

I fear this was 6 years in the waiting, and will be another 6 years in the blardy MAKING!  I plan to go to my Quilt Group next week and then I will have Help on Hand!

Well, many thanks to all my friends and extended family who have phoned to wish me a Happy New Year and Rosie in NZ - it made my day to have that video call with you.  Will do it again soon.