Earth!

 Two tons of topsoil are in, and nice looking earth it is..plus a ton of soil improver, in other words bought composted material. 

An investment worth doing we think. No, we won't get our money back in fresh fruit and veg, but it will help us grow decent produce as soon as possible instead of slogging it out for five or ten years. 

Which, at 81, Pirate doesn't want to do!!

So today has been a day off if sorts.  A bike ride around the lanes at lunchtime even though it was a low cloud grey day. No washing, no housework, and just packing up one small parcel , an eBay sold bike bit. 

The hopes that the local yobs won't be harrassing our neighbour again..it started again last night, just when we all thought it had finished.

Success...a good day

 The glass is all in, the outside step is fixed and the dangerous trip hazard hole filled with cement.

Three parcels have been sent out , and when I turned the computer on to add the tracking numbers, another bike bit had sold!! 

So Pirate celebrated our good day by buying my Xmas present.....

He did object however that he has to wait until Hogmanay to taste the Black Bun that I baked last night...flour is on the shopping list now, and fruit cake on the making list!!

Under the weather

 Being stuck indoors is just not us! 

I know that we can wrap up warm and walk..but there is a limit to what we will go out in!

Today has dawned quietly and without rain....so far....

So the glass that our retired joiner friend cut in his workshop for us should be in today. Hopefully with no breakages!  It was bliss to sit in one end of his workshop as he worked, on a chair in front of the woodfired stove (do that and you have the job of feeding it!) The stove runs underfloor heating as well as being used by his wife to cook the evening meal when he has a day in there!  All masked up against dust (and germs) of course.

The eBay selling has picked up again, and I am getting the process streamlined so that it doesn't spread over the table that I work at when linocutting and drawing. It keeps on encroaching though!!

It has been too wet for a month to garden outdoors properly, so I will be starting the rest of the onions and beans in the greenhouse in pots in the Spring.

Meanwhile there is indoor gardening.....

Walk in the Woods

 Sort of!

Just Dumfries House..we had hoped to get local Mossgiel milk from a vending machine..it was in the cafe, but they only did semi skimmed .

I use full fat to make our yoghurt. So it is back to the drawing board to find an East Ayrshire vending machine as we are restricted to our local council area for three weeks from tomorrow.  

I like their milk as it is local , from Ayrshire cows, pasteurised but not homogenised...it is as it comes, near enough. Other milk you get with a specific fat level, is skimmed then the percentage required is returned to it..not my idea of real milk!

It also makes cracking good yoghurt!!

So we just had a short walk in the grounds instead.

Needing Practice

 I am not happy with the finish yet..but the new book press is making it lighter work on my hands.

Just not sure how to get them better using water based printing ink..I thought go for quicker drying than oil based ink.  I know, I should have been doing this at least a month ago!!

Escape!

 We were feeling hemmed in, needing light and fresh air, but the wind and rain have been keeping us in. There are plenty of jobs to do indoors but we needed out!

We grabbed today's weather window and had a walk around our usual loop from the village.

Back home before the rain set in again, having had a much needed walk and met a local farmer about the same age as Pirate who has family moved to New Zealand, so it was good to pick up local news and talk about New Zealand too!

Keeping dry

 It has been blowing a hoolie all day today and raining most of the time as well..Pirate did venture out for some fresh air and digging in the afternoon, but having been lured out with five minutes sunshine, it promptly soaked him!!

I was indoors, keeping dry, dealing with something wet....

Nineteen bottles of apple juice from foraged apples!

On their sides to cool after processing so that the lids are sterilised as well.

Now the tops have been dipped in wax, the bottles labelled and mostly racked...and I have run out of room! 

It really is time to sort out the kitchen storage, but I have been reluctant to...I get a complaint, You've been moving things again, when I do!!

Afternoon forest walk

 From Stinchar Bridge, a path that was strengthened with money from the millennium fund. It needs more work now, and has changed in places due to tree harvesting.

Pirate has been walking the route since 1991, I started about five years ago.

Finished before dusk...just!

At last!

 In its proper place!

We finished at dusk!