funny old day

 I ended up sleeping late after a long day...and missed a third of one of my favourite radio programmes..."out of doors"

I wish that I could sleep with the curtains open ..but some of the "security" flood lights from various houses at the back light up my bedroom...I hate missing daylight especially with the shorter days

Forecast checked...washing done promptly and on the line!!

Housework done..meh!!

I decided to see what the Coastal Artisans craft fair was like in Ayr...off on the bumpy bus . The roads are doing no favours to the buses sadly.

The fair was ...ok....but I didn't feel impressed. I'm not sure why.  They looked to be making some sales which is good anyway.

Then a bit of a wander

and a cookie and hot chocolate in the Beastie Brews café before catching the bus..

More apples!!

 Today started with taking the last builders bag of prunings to the cowp. I helped one couple lift up theirs and empty it..a bit of a job as it had been a bush with small prickly holly like leaves..and he had rammed the bag full!! Then they gave me a hand with mine...being half full of honeysuckle that was less of a job!!

Fill four bags with free compost then back home!!

It was a beautiful morning, fairly warm with a light breeze...time to go for a walk eith a bag and a box...I got a few elderberries for the box, and filled the bag with apples..These are not too juicy, but add a certain acidity and stop an apple juice blend from being excessively sweet. They probably help it keep better as well

I watched the mallards on the main pond in Hannahston nature reserve. With the ducks chasing the drakes...

No sign of the coots or moorhens.

I saw a couple of large dragonflies but couldn't get a decent shot of them

going back home past the denizens of Hannahston Farm..the very popular alpacas

The front of the sole if one of my work shoes had come adrift this morning. After foraging walk, a brief lunch  and slightly less brief rest I headed back to Ayr on the 3pm bus...as it, as forecast, started raining! 

First stop the Wee Cobbler for shoe sticking, which he did for £2!! But also pointed out that they were "on their last legs"..and because of their construction a whole new sole when it came to that wouldn't be possible. Bother!! So for now they are for the studio only, no walking or even gardening.

On to Lidl to replace the sugar on the larder shelf that had gone to make the last batch of chutney. While in the shop the wind and rain arrived with a vengeance!! Another customer commented that his fishermen friends in Girvan were staying in harbour for two. days!!

Back home to "decompress"...make and have a quick supper...write a blogpost...do a leçon and bed!!

Talking of blogger...the following/reading list is back..but does yours load slowly too?

Preparation

 I've got another builders bag and a smaller bagful of laurel prunings ready to go to the cowp...booked for tomorrow..no slots today.

Apple foraging done near the beach on the rough ground between the beach and the coastal path..there are a few trees there, a combination of bird sown and someone throwing an apple core!

A little further West is where I usually pick elderberries..nothing! I asked a friend and apparently they were finished nearly a month ago !  I suppose the difference between there and home...where I've only just finished picking mine...is about 400 feet higher above sea level ..and ten more miles inland.

Then "food foraging" in asda...what they call their Whoopsies....400g Red Leicester at 90p?...I'll have two!!...packs of falafel at just over £1...four of them...and plenty left for others!! and a (full price) proper sourdough granary multiseed boule...

and home again...

No reading tonight...I am working through "A brief history of France" An introduction to the people history & culture by Cecil Jenkins.

It is well written...and fascinating.

Stiff and stuff

 For much of this morning my lower back has been saying You Should Not Have Done That!!! So it has been a relatively take it easy day. Not just sitting still...that would have made it worse!!

After a night full of high winds...only down to 30 mph gusts by the morning..and driven rain...I opened the curtains and couldn't see Rankinston!!..only a light of an engineers yard by Sinclairston. It was a relief when the clouds lifted and the sun shone brightly by lunchtime. Mid afternoon the wind abated for a while, which gave me a chance to use the 'half moon" edge trimmer on the paths .

Doing the runway as well so that I can see the edge when reversing in!!

One squash is still growing nicely in the greenhouse

but the other may need more support than string!

I wonder if they will ripen?

The tomatoes are on the windowsill and have just started showing colour other than green! They are a really tasty variety..but I doubt if they will taste half as good as the fresh ripe ones we eat in August last year in Limousin!!

I finished off the afternoon indoors as the wind picked up again..and made Fig and Date chutney with the Fresh Figs that I'd bought in Lidl.

That should be nicely matured by Burns Night...which is also Diwrnod Santes Dwynwen. The Welsh saint of lovers...so if that one is missed they have a second chance on Valentine's day!!

Breezy

 A definite understatement!!

At least I got a lot done before the rain returned..but today's wind means business.

A modicum of housework done , I finished packing the back of the car with three of the four builders bags of prunings and some scrap wood. All to go to the recycling centre eight miles away at Skares which is on the back road to Cumnock. All that to the relevant skips and four bags filled with free compost....back home for brunch and a rest before going to Ayr by bus. 

The cormorants were in the middle of the river on the pillars of an old railway bridge, drying their wings.

 

I thought that I had to pick up my laptop...but the email I'd received was an automated one! Hopefully the required part will arrive today.

I'd needed to go to Ayr anyway.. and it was a good excuse for a hot chocolate in Beastie Brews!!

They have a good mural..

There is a crack in the glass...obviously the mouse did it!!

Home, then I strimmed the edges of the grass at the front and the grass at the back. Enough for a good four inch layer of grass cuttings on the compost heap.

If the wind hadn't been "up" and  feeling ominous  I could have just done half..but who leaves half a job undone??

A long day

 The gallery is only open from 11 to 4.30...but it does feel a long day when you add 1½ hour's total travelling on top..and that is the quickest, in the car!

Still...a long time ago...I was doing 8 hour shifts....

Thanks to Fresca in Minneapolis (of Astronave blog) I have an idea for a print.

I'm not sure whether to make this bigger or stick to the 75mm square...

It's a wee bit blustery

 Understatement!! It was also rather wet today too..so the only exercise was half an hour on the turbo, watching the Weather go by, to the sound of live baroque music on Radio France!?

Washing was done...drying on the rack by the dehumidifier...

Washing up done....

Leçon done....(and another short one once I've done here..)

After late lunch, adapting a line drawing of Zola, a friend's Wisla.   Not so easy as Inscrutable Indeg my daughter's Stealth cat..

Daughter advising..well she is a graphic artist with a leaning towards printing....

Working on quilting designs for Our Shirts quilt with her as well

She has been organising her FiL's finances, along with her husband...a certain Scottish power company was holding several thousand pounds of credit...plus he had just been ripped off by people who got the job of cleaning his drive.....

Not for nothing is she not called the DD....but the MD !!

So this afternoon she helped organise cheaper fuel bills  for me, still with the same company and variable direct debit....nice one...so I still pay for what I use and no more!!

One of our longstanding friends died yesterday in Leith. A true friend, coach, mentor, competitor, a brilliant photographer. He'd been unwell for a few years, but that doesn't make it any less sad.

If you ever saw track events televised from Glasgow velodrome...he was The Man in Black...on the derny pacing motor.