Corruption

Sounds terrible but that’s what happened to the computer so it has been away to be recovered.  Startup Windows became corupted and it went to R to use her recovery console.  It is v good to have it back. 

I have put my large rubber plant out in the rain, it thinks it is the monsoon season.  Was that lovely weather our summer?  With hindsight John should have got the hay done last week, according to his diary he started on 17th Aug last year but it is a bit late.  The grass is not such good quality.

We did have a lovely day out last Saturday though.  We went to Picton Castle, 2nd time for me, 1st for John.  He thought it was beautiful as well.  This time I made sure we had a castle tour.

It’s not very large and is really just one room wide but long.  The rooms are beautifully decorated and they have weddings and functions there.  It is a beautiful setting for that.  The castle dates back to 14th Century and we went into an old part (the undercroft) with a winding staircase going up into the tower.  Health and Safety would not have approved.  The steps were steep, narrow, worn and carrying things up and down must have been very difficult.

The gardens looked lovely in the sun and we sat in the walled garden by the lily pond.  There were very few people there considering it was a holiday time but there is not much for children to do, apart from run about. 

I shan’t want to go back there again this year but it shows what stunning places we have to visit here in west Wales.  On the way back we called in at Llawhaden Castle which is a ruin.  The standing part of a tower and wall looked none too safe hut I suppose it’s been there for centuries like that. 

Sunday afternoon we had an open day at the MS Centre in Cardigan.  All the usual folk there, I didn’t win anything in the raffle but a ticket I sold did although what he’s going to do with a statue of an aeroplane I don’t know.  John thinks it would look good on the bonnet of a big car.

So now I have to catch up on writing tasks.  I have started my Christmas article for the Countryman.  Not easy writing about Christmas in the summer but I have a list of ideas.

warm today

It’s what we call ‘close’ tonight, or muggy, rather warm still at nearly ten o’clock so it’s probably still hot in London.   I love the sun but find this sort of weather very tiring. 

Small caught another shrew earlier and brought it in the lounge.  It was very lively and ran behind the fire.  We left the door open and shut all the internal doors in the hope it would go outside.   It seems to have disappeared so I hope it’s not still in hiding.  I think him or Catty would know if it was still  around.

As I said we went to Picton Castle last Friday.  They have 40 acres of grounds including a walled garden.  I love walled gardens, and this was particularly good with an amazing variety of plants including a herbal border.  I went round on the Powertrike, through lots of different trees, their rhododendrons would be good in the Spring.  ~There was a fascinating avenue of Myrtus trees, Myrtle I presume it is.  They have silky smooth trunks in an orangey/brown colour.  It was most unusual.  We didn’t have time to go in the Castle gallery for a guided tour but hope to do that next time. 

We sat in the courtyard and had lunch, the others had pancetta and salad and I had quiche and mixed salads and it was much better than the meal we had the previous evening at The ship at Tresaith.  I thought it would be nice to go there and sit in the conservatory area and watch the sun go down over the sea.  It is a small cove there, nothing much but this pub.  The service was very slow, I think they wanted you to keep drinking, the menu average and the food ok but somewhat lacking in style and content. 

I wouldn’t go there again.  We enjoyed the scene though and it was a very nice evening.  I suppose we’ll have to try the Cliff Hotel again.  That is right on the edge of the cliffs, I havn’t been too impressed with the food before but it might have improved.

Just when we find somewhere that’s really good it changes hands. 

It’s out wedding anniversary today, 37 years – unbelievable!!   We havn’t done anything special, just the normal jobs etc, making the most of the weather.

Back again

I’m just about in the land of the blog again.   Have had a lovely, busy, socialable few days.  It was my birthday weekendand we all enjoyed ourselves.

Friday came out as predicted.  We all went to Picton Castle and had a lovely time.  John had to stay behind like Cinderella as our neighbour was shearing his sheep  and John had to help.  Real sods law.  Never mind, it was such a beautiful place that I will happily go again soon. 

Now I am using the new keyboard and love the new monitor.  Very smart and so much more room on the table I use. 

Will post again soon…

Busy weekend

It’s been damp today. This is relevant as John is still waiting for our neighbour to have his sheep sheared.   We are planning to go to Picton Castle near Haverfordwest soon and it would be sod’s law that that is the day the shearers are coming.  He needs all the help he can get then as John and others roll the fleeces as they come off.  These have to be done in a particular way and then rammed up tight in a huge wool sheet (sack).

Sunday is supposed to be the best day for weather. 

I’m busy making a gluten free, almond cake,  Mary is bringing blueberries and raspberries to put in it and we can have it for our pudding tonight.

I’m going to clear this desk top now so that I can plug up the new monitor and John can lift this old one out of the way.  So I might not post for a day or two as I am going to be busy sociably, and have a few drinks.

I will look …

very smart in this study/computer room soon.  My new monitor has come today, very efficient service from Aria.  I shall have a go at setting it up and my brother is coming on Friday so he will help me.I saw the computer and keyboard that I gave the MS Centre today and as the keyboard was new and much more modern than the ancient one I am using I shall change that too.

I must keep everything tidier now although it’s not too bad.  Out of sight is out of mind and sometimes I find details of competitions that I put on one side and are now out of date. 

It’s been quite a pleasant day today, but the forecast is not good for the rest of the week and my brother and sister in law are coming on Thurs and my other brother on Friday. We want to go out Friday night and Saturday.  There are a lot of birthdays in the family this time of year so we shall celebrate them all together. 

Small has come rushing in tonight and gone to hide in the kitchen, Nasty, the Tom Cat  is outside, looking in.  I shall have to teach Small, Kung Fu so that he can stick up for himself.  He can jump very high and he bites, but there’s not a lot of weight in him.

Death to machines

I thought I’d do some sewing as a change from writing.  First, I decided to clean and oil the sewing machine as I have not done that since I had it (two+years).  I knew taking it apart might not be a good idea but with John unscrewing screws I cleaned out under the needle plate with a paintbrush and oiled by the bobbin.  There is only one spot to oil on this unlike the old Singer. 

I put it back together but couldn’t work out how to fit the part under the needle.  We did that then I had the fiddly bit of getting the bobbin case in just right, which I managed eventually.  Then the under thread would not get picked up by the needle so I looked back at the instructions and it said to hold the cotton firmly in the left hand whilst turning the wheel with the right and it did it straight away.

So when I’m in the mood again I can start sewing.  But, it just demonstrates to me how something I’ve been doing since I was 14 in school and done hundreds of times doesn’t go right now I’m nearly 62. 

I never have been very good mechanically, no one has ever shown me and it’s too late now.  If I didn’t have such a clever husband I’d be stuck.

I think school children should be shown how to dismantle sewing machines, change the oil in cars, change wheels etc. 

There is still a lot of cloud about although we’ve just had a bit of sunset, layers of pink, back lit by a blood red sun.  I think the weekend might be better, hope so. 

It looks like the clouds are blowing along from the north/ north/west so it might be drier.  My writer friend K has just come back from Cypress where it was too hot.  110 in the day and 88 at night.  They were really pleased to see the rain…

A new generation

Mark’s friend P is back at his old home in Cardigan this week and I called in with them to see his baby who is now six weeks old.  He is a lovely little boy.  I havn’t held a little baby like that for a long time, and he was ok until he realised he didn’t know me.  I think he’s slowly settling down and P and E will cope well.  I am now of the grandmother generation and It would be good to be a granny one day.

I could see a large mass grey cloud building up and then realised there was a beautiful pink and purple sunset over to the north west. Not that that means anything as it is going to rain tomorrow.

The flowers that M and V brought me are beautiful.  Amazing mauve colours with white roses and lilies.  We never use air fresheners and we certainly don’t need one with the lovely fragrance of the lilies.

My pots of dianthus are good this year and I have been picking them, I love that smell.  They call it clove scented pinks.  The slugs like them as well, every night John picks slugs off them, he throws them into the field.  I suppose if you tagged them you could see how quickly they get back again.

Time flies

The weekend has gone so quickly.  It’s been lovely seeing Mark and Vivi, just a shame they cannot stay longer.  If we didn’t live so far away it would be a lot easier. 

Fortunately the weather wasn’t too bad, sunshine and showers and this evening has been reasonable but very windy again.  There is a huge bank of cloud massing over to the west ready to dump its’ load on us.

So it will be quieter again this week and I should be able to get on with writing work, especially if it rains.  Small had been out all day and is fast asleep on the sofa.  John thinks that Catty might be getting a little bit more tolerant of him (after 8 months) as she is sitting on the sofa as well, all without a single hiss.

God knows (although I doubt it) when Ian will get his sheep sheared and hay can be made.  The summers here are completely different to the weather in the east of England and London way.

If you took a rainfall measurement we probably don’t get that much rain but it’s this wind and the grey days that all add up to very unsummery weather.

If only

it would be like this at the weekend, but It looks like it is going to be foul again.

Now it’s evening, lovely clear blue sky, windy but the contrast of green hedges and blue sky is beautiful.  I took myself along the road earlier looking for wild strawberries but there are not so many this year.  Still some to ripen, the bank has been trashed (mowed off by the council) but the strawberries are mostly tucked in and don’t get chopped.

It’s Mark’s birthday tomorrow, he’ll be 32, I won’t say that it seems like yesterday I was still waiting for him because so much has happened.  It was a hot summer then, we were still in north Buckinghamshire.  The ground cracked with the drought and the night before he was born I climbed the fence and went for a walk down next door’s field!  I was fit then! – and huge!

The foxgloves are very good this year.  We have a champion one on the bank here and it now has two juniors coming up.  It’s a purple flower time of year.

Up a tree

As Small is sitting on my lap as I try and type this I will tell you what happened to him the other night. 

Small went out in the evening as it was a nice night. John went out about 11.30 to check the old sheep in the barn were OK and heard a loud commotion in the conifers.  Small had been chased right up high all amongst the sleeping birds who were chirping and squawking angrily at having their beauty sleep disturbed.

It was probably the tom cat who hangs around here that frightened him.  The next morning Small was a very quiet and chastened cat and didn’t venture out until later having first looked very carefully out the back door.

He didn’t want to go out the next night and I even caught him looking in his cosy pet house in case Mr Nasty as I call the Tom was there.  We don’t know where he comes from or who he belonged to.  Sometimes he is seen looking wistfully in through the lounge window.  Catty sits inside hissing at him.

She will fight him but Small is…smaller than him.

For something to watch tonight I saw the programme about Duncan Bannantyne, the Scottish businessman going to Africa to investigate children smoking.  He didn’t confront the parents of the children who smoked and he didn’t show the children pictures of what happens to lungs.

All in all not a very hard hitting programme.

I’ll try  and watch Andy Murray at Wimbledon tomorrow – we wish him luck – he will need it.