A warm day

 A clearer start...then back to double digit temperature...yo yo weather!

This was at 8.05 am this morning 

Like someone said this evening, it was like a September day, without the daylight!

The people at the new gallery in town like the work I took to show them....they have a "guest pop-up table" in the small gallery ...I have the work, now to prepare it for sale..

The table is booked up for a couple of months, so no pressure.

Then some shopping before getting back home...I started a batch of yoghurt..not a lot of work and if I can get back in the routine of making it , it will be cheaper than buying yoghurt. 

The wind got up this evening , back to hoolie status by the sound of it! An evening to draw the curtains and carry on with making bike bits shine again.

Staying indoors

 I dislike staying indoors all day...but....

I woke again at 8am (there are some interesting programmes on in the wee small hours, especially by 5am!)...as it was so grey and dull compared to the past few mornings.

So I missed the recycling collection..no big deal, I don't have much in the recycling bucket stack.

I planned to go for a walk before the wind got up again...did my French practice..then as I made a cuppa in the kitchen I missed a call....no name but the number was half familiar... eventually I received another call and it was from a friend that I haven't seen for years..last time we did a trip through North Wales near where I used to live..she had met Pirate on that trip...and like everywhere he made a lasting impression. She hadn't realised that he had died...

We ended up chatting and catching up for about 1½ hours....at least !!

So next year must have a north Wales trip...so many friends to see there.

As I had my belated lunch the clouds roll in and the wind started whistling around the house again...

One job to be done outside...lift the last of this year's red beetroot..there are a few yellow left to come yet.

Then get on with cleaning a couple of chainrings to sell, as the next loaf baked...I'm trying the middle sized loaf this time. After that finished, time for the turbo..

Just over nine miles in 35 minutes...and the resistance up to 3 for the last 15 minutes...

The knack is to have the radio on and concentrate on that!! 

I'm not keen on it...but if it means better sleep and a healthier fitter me...I'll keep at it.

Sky again

 Incentive to get up in the morning .

"bookends"

 

7.10am...

Then 7.40am

The birds waking...and the commute starting.

Then breakfast with one of the three apples my tree produced

Then the sunset..

Clydeside with the light shining on the river...

And in the distance the peaks of the Bens.. Beinn is the Gàidhlig for mountain.

And the highest we can see, from about 60 miles/100km is Ben Lomond...Beinn Laomainn.

Cleaning

 Washing first, on before breakfast..and by 3pm it was half dry. 

So it is luxury evening with the central heating on low and the dehumidifier by the clothes rack and kitchen radiator!  The house needs a bit of warmth and airing once in a while anyway.  I am mainly keeping the living room warm enough. No point keeping all the house hot!!

A warm living room was needed today as I have been sitting cleaning bike bits..rather cruddy bike bits!! One derailleur ready to sell (and photographed) and the other clean except for one jockey wheel which I need to undo, but the nut is resisting...I have left it to soak with WD....and cleaned and old Campagnolo chainring. It won't bring much in, but it is still usable...and a clean piece sells better.

I've had enough now...more tomorrow...now for French lessons...and then a book!   

I found a Joanne Harris ( of "Chocolat" fame) book in a charity shop yesterday...and it is following the same main character again....The Lollipop Shoes"...

Bread!!

 I got brave last night and mastered the screen of my "new" bread maker...

And the result was tried this morning..with homemade marmalade if course!

A nice extra after breakfast to get energy for a trip to town on the bus.

I went out as near to the bus time as possible...and got quite damp in five minutes!! Thankfully it was dry by the time we reached town..and stayed dry.

Posting done..with quite a wait.. people need to use the post office all year round, not just before Christmas!!

Then I had time to walk around town... today's exercise..the co-op shop's refurbishment is still ongoing..re-opening due on Friday. I didn't need much there so waiting is ok. A walk up to the top of the town followed. There is supposed to be a new art and craft outlet opening..but no sign of it.

I'm not to worried about that, as the proposal is apparently renting a shelf plus a percentage of sales. As it isn't in a part of the town with much footfall I am wondering how successful they will be. 

A little different to the gallery and circle I used to be a member of...now in Frogmore street in Abergavenny, moved in from the outskirts.

There we did shop duty once or twice a month..those doing two had a smaller percentage deduction from their sales. 

I found a small arts and crafts shop selling materials and finished work..not in an obvious place, but with a surprising number of people passing by..

The owner is friendly, and we have a fair bit in common..so I must get some stock out and take it there, even if just small prints to start with.

There used to be an art and craft and office supplies shop elsewhere in town, and she told me the latest news of the building...the rear now a yoga studio, the front and upstairs a gallery and artists' workshops...

No time to look today, I can look at that next time.

Back home for a rest, then give the cutlery and kitchen tool drawer a good clean and sort out...you don't realise just how grubby they get, even though you are putting clean items in !!

After supper... risotto from the freezer...some gentle mending.

I can't just sit... sitting quietly in good company is one thing. Sitting alone is a completely different matter.

Plans disruption

The garage man has hurt his back..so no work for at least a week..could be just a little twist..but I think that it is linked to when he was knocked off his motorbike by a careless car driver.

So any travelling plans are on hold, even locally.

I sorted a few small electric goods that I don't need..an iron, two kettles, a coffee machine, a couple of fan heaters and a few other kitchen things.

They were collected today by Recycle Ayr, so if they all pass testing they will either go to people who need them or be sold to raise funds.

It has been colder and windy all day, with yet more showers ..the weather system is stuck over the Northern Isles at present, but tomorrow should see some dry and colder weather.

Which is fortunate as I have a fleabay sale to post...some handlebars will be on their way to Bristol.

All packed...my method is the "get out of there without moving will you " method of taping!!

Duolingo French lessons are proceeding...and why did they never teach us celui ci and celui là in school?!!

Just testing

 I'm not showing in my following list...I should be....do you see me?

Weekend

 Trying still to reduce stuff....but then the book looks back at you and you think...Hi, friend.... can't get rid of you!!

Bit by bit, though, weeding out those that I won't use or read any more.

Bert/Caetano has been charging around all weekend, sometimes with added rain...it was officially 10⁰ and lunchtime...with a fierce windchill and savage gusts.

Draught excluding snakes have gone down ..but there is that ankle biter of a draught that gets ankles when you sit on the sofa....still haven't worked out where that one is from...I know where it goes to!

Much chatting on messenger and WhatsApp... including a friend who is having a little tiki tour around before heading to a friend's wedding at Te Anau. He was asking what places to go see.

Then Pirate's great niece in Kent with some good news.

It does break the alone-ness, which I find a hard thing.

4pm this afternoon, with the clouds scudding along.

Job done

 

Mending finished..and it fits me ...it took longer than I thought, but good to see another job done.

Pirate's best  track bike is hopefully on its way to a new home..my club mate collected it today...she is going to a track session that the other girl goes to...she needs to have her own bike to race.

Good to have a good natter over fresh coffee, and shortbread.

Nothing got done outside today, as although it was sunny it was icy underfoot.

Then " chatting " earlier in the evening by message with a couple of friends.

Not as good as in person, but certainly lightened the mood.

Too cold to snow?

 Just found a quote with this explanation 

"This saying is because less cold air (around 0c to 2c at the surface), is usually associated with more frontal activity. Whereas colder temperatures of -5c and below are usually associated with low humidity. This is most true in the UK, where the source of snow is from atlantic moisture and slightly milder temperatures. However in more continental countries, such as eastern Europe and the central northern US, snow occurs more often at colder temperatures."

Which doesn't address polar snow....but it is a start!

Postponed

 Today the garage man wasn't happy with the calipers from his usual supplier....or the price....so they are going back and he will get others elsewhere.

So no travelling until at least the middle of next week... probably best to postpone for a full week, but I will see what the weather will be up to!!

Which gives me more time to get on with things.

I went on the bus to town to get some de-icer..and was pleased to get trigger spray bottles, not cans. 

The snow had turned to cold rain showers....but as I did some sewing tonight I heard what sounded like hail against the windows...I was NOT going to investigate!!

I am mending a long sleeve cycling top of Pirate's, which will either be nice for the retro cycle ride at the end of May...or if it is too big for me will fit our Friend in France...who was also Pirate's clubmate over fifty years ago....

An odd placement of a club badge....

Pirate fell off his bike!!  Many years ago.....good thing he kept it.

Still cold...with dandruff

 This morning it had been so cold overnight, that the car windscreen was frozen outside....and inside, like a sheet of little pimples..I should have taken a photo but was too intent on getting it clear so that I could drive  down the hill to the garage!

That left a day to get busy indoors..and today's exercise was going up and down stairs! 

I moved Pirate's papers back upstairs to a sideboard and small chest of drawers. There are still two stacks of boxes in the living room...one is bike bits to be cleaned , priced and sold. The other is three boxes of things from his display in his Celebrations..and a box of things to go to his nephew which need cataloguing and photographing.

The long sideboard is looking a lot better too..still a bit cluttered, but some of that is things to go, like the growing group of things in the kitchen..an iron, two kettles, one usual size one two cup size. A two espresso cup filter machine...or one mug...water in, coffee in, switch on and go...empty and wash the filter afterwards...things I don't need..or don't need multiples of!

I called garage at three...he wasn't happy as the parts had been put on the wrong delivery van at the motor factor...and ended up in the wrong direction at Falkirk!!  They should have arrived just before he finished tonight, so my wee car will have a night in his garage ready for first job tomorrow.

The living room carpet has been vacuumed, the place looks reasonable..and at four in the afternoon we had our snow shower... described as "dandruff" by a friend in the middle of England who has a fair bit more!!

Cold

 We have the coldest start to Winter for a while.. yesterday I stayed indoors all day, it was not just cold, but had a dank feel to the air...so just this and that.. recovering from Sunday's flu and covid jags, letting my body do it's work.

Today has been dry underfoot, so once the landfill bin had been collected I ventured out on nice warm buses!

A pleasant chat on the way into town with a woman who moved here five years ago. And a bus connection straight away. I had hoped to do a little fresh food shopping in town, but the co-op is having a refit and won't be reopened for another ten days.

A small bagful of fresh items... some reduced...and I just missed the return bus. I wasn't going to stand there for 25 minutes, so I walked back into Ayr from the nearer edge of Prestwick. Luckily I was wearing a buff so brought that up over my nose to keep the cold air and traffic fumes out.

Just over half an hour later and the bus passed me just before the bridge over the river Ayr.

Then luckily the bus home was ready to leave the bus station!!

Back home to make soup from the leaves and stalks of last week's and this week's (organic) cauliflower, a couple of leeks from the garden, tatties and coconut milk for a nice creamy soup!

I lifted a yellow beet as well....not sure what to do with that for supper... possibly just in a salad!

Now it is cold and getting colder... possibly too cold for snow, but we might get some during tomorrow. Plenty of places in all directions have had snow already.

I'm snuggled up warm on the sofa with a three ginger tea...supper needs to be something quick to make..it's too comfortable here!!

Kitchen

 Instead of one long blog post I am doing three!!

Today's steady job has been sorting the kitchen....apart from going for a walk before getting the jags (flu and COVID) at the village community room.

So here is the evidence!!

Step one....with encouragement via WhatsApp with my daughter!!

Most of the whisky boxes folded and in the box...now with packing materials upstairs. 

I'm keeping the kettle up there to use on the workshop stove.

The Highdome pressure cookers just need the safety valve, then I can bottle fruit instead of freezing it all. Unfortunately when Prestige changed hands, that valve changed shape and dimensions...I have a new rubber gasket , but no use without the valve. The ones I bought purporting to be the old style, weren't.   I think I will hang fire on that. A new stainless steel one costs £45-£60...and if I can find a second hand one....

The other corner has been done, I'm happy with that...drinks corner!

Plastic storage boxes sorted and all the odd boxes and lids are in the recycling bucket.  Just the baking shelves to do now....how many tins and trays do I keep?!

Yes, Tom....thanks for the nudge! Now I have to keep rolling, room by room. 

It will get easier when I've sold the bikes that I don't need. 

Red sky

 In the morning...7.05 am

7.35

8am

7.30 the birds started... mainly starlings

And at 8 o'clock the gulls turned up!!

We have a weather warning approaching, snow already on Cairngorm and the ski slopes and Shetland, the odd hailstorm in the Western Isles..here by lunchtime it was icy cold steady light rain..we might be on the edge of tomorrow's snow. We shall see...for now the temperature is dropping below freezing point.

Bridge

 Those of you who have driven along the toll motorway by Birmingham will have seen an apparent Bridge to Nowhere.....

It is a canal bridge, constructed at the same time as the motorway, ready to reconnect a length of canal.....

The years have gone by, but at last the land ownership either side has been sorted. 

This is the article in the group magazine....

The Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust is doing fantastic work...Canal have a look and see what they are doing...and they are just one of many groups working hard to revive the canal system.

They are on farcebook too.

Cleaning

 Friday was bike maintenance day..with the help of a friend the "new" saddle went on, height adjusted and pedals off one of Pirate's bikes. I will take those to use on a borrowed bike in NZ along with my shoes..these are things that can cause problems if you don't use your own!

Now all three bikes that I use are sorted, so no regular swapping of components.

Today has been cleaning.

This took far longer than expected. It was always Pirate's job to clean our bikes after a ride while I prepared a meal...but he never wore his specs to do the job...and with cataracts as well he was obviously missing bits....ok, missing most!! 

I haven't ridden this bike for a three years...so the crud was well solidified!!

I haven't done a perfect job, but it is respectable enough to be seen in public!! I will get a proper degreaser when I can...then clean with that, a wipe with an oily rag and you are ready for the next ride.

Next object for cleaning was the little brass box with a wooden liner...now is Indian...tigers...or Japanese...lady in a Kimono and a man in Japanese looking garb.

The designs are the same on opposite sides.

Any suggestions?

Whilst cleaning I have been watching films of potters made by the Goldmark gallery..... getting inspired!

Afternoon

 I have got this far with the kitchen 

Still cluttered...but getting there. Oh for a proper larder!

And a dishwasher!!

Next step is to review the contents again.  Not to hide things....well yes, to hide things that aren't regularly used and it makes sense to have them not crowding out the bench!  Things that are heavy will have to stay though.

Time to get brave and actually learn to use the bread maker ....and if that doesn't suit I can sell it! 

It didn't stay nice and clear....so no gardening. 

I found a print of an old photo of Nantlle in Eryri where we used to live..eldest was born in hospital but the other three were born there...you can just see the roof, farthest away on the right. 1, Tai Baladeulyn.

Tai means houses...it is a row of six.  Bala is where the water leaves a lake...Llyn....Deulyn, two lakes. One lake is a field's distance behind our house...the road leaves the village on its way to the sea and used to go straight on, past Chwarel Dorothea...a 600 foot deep slate quarry, now with over 400 foot deep water in it. Not just rain, the river broke through from where it runs beside the quarry...there are still the remains of a Cornish beam engine used to pump the water back into the river. People practice diving there..and every so often lose their lives.  It is very deep, dark and cold.. dangerous even for skilled divers.

When we had our earthquake in the mid 80s the quarry was between us and the epicentre out to sea...we heard the tremors in the 600' deep loudspeaker before feeling them.

They made a new road with a bridge over the Bala...pont y Bala....and the second lake was drained and the river diverted further from the quarry.

On the left, opposite the Chapel on the right were footbridges over a stream and as far as I know a communal drying garden for washing.

You can see the road going into the trees, and a quarter mile further on was another part of the village and the school.

It took fifteen years fighting to get a path up on one side of the road which was slate walls on both sides...long after we moved...we used to walk the children to school in groups for safety. 

Go up that road and you get to Rhyd Ddu at the foot of Yr Wyddfa, the highest peak...the peak is 8 miles away....and the seaside at Dinas Dinlle is 8 miles the other way.   We didn't often go to either...never been up the mountain even on the railway....that was for tourists.

My daughter wants the print...good...one less thing here!

Morning

 

The difference an hour makes

The first about 7am..and no birds....and the second one the starlings were up and busy.

Still foggy

 It is still dank and chill...friends in Devon had a lovely sunny day!!

Indoors jobs today....sorting shoes and boots, mainly Pirate's.

Our Friend in France may need some...his feet are the same size as Pirate's!!

Some fit me..with an added innersole...the difference between 42 and 43!

A nice pair of winter cycling boots... unfortunately the country and western style half boots have a hole, with the upper coming away from the sole.

If anyone can mend it it will be our regular cobbler in Ayr...but I'm not holding out too much hope.

Most are too big for me..or I wouldn't wear them, like the Ghillie Brogues....made to go with a kilt...the kilt, socks and jacket went to a friend...but his feet were too small for these 

Not much else done today apart from bottling and processing 7 bottles of pear and apple juice, and bottling 5 bottles ( the small flat flask shaped bottles that had maple syrup in them ) of sloe vodka.

The latter had been sitting on the fruit for two years....it is quite potent!!

So its do my lessons and have an early-ish night...

Weather

 This morning....at 7.30, a beautiful sky...makes you glad to get up and get on with it...but by the time I was waiting for the bus and hour later the colour had faded.

It was a brisk chilly day, but the sun was nice and bright.

Two buses...a lucky change in Ayr so no waiting 20 minutes in a draughty cold bus station!...and I was in Prestwick after an hour. Visa sorted, messaging done ( the WiFi on the bus hadn't worked) and I met with a friend for coffee and catch-up. I brought her a couple of chard plants and garlic to plant now. 

Great to relax and chat. She had driven over from her town five miles further on as there is no café with safe bike parking, sadly....and going out later would be safer..no icy corners... 

Before I headed back I browsed the op shops...there are decent ones there! And found a potato ricer....I can use that with clay.....

A couple of bars in Prestwick..

Twenty minutes until the bus, so today's exercise was walking a mile or more to my usual supermarket for a few things..then the bus from there to town and another back here.

Straight to the garage...the non functional handbrake is not because of the cable, but because what the cable tries to work had seized....he has ordered the parts...and made it so that it will work enough...and hopefully the parts will be here in a week's time... meanwhile I'll only use it in an emergency.

No big deal.

Back to finish mincing and pressing the pears...and now the mixed pear and apple has been filtered again through four layers of tea towel and is sitting settling more fine particles overnight at least.

And by 4pm we had fog....even the Arran ferry was cancelled...

Juice

 Today's pressing is good so far...the apple is quite dry which will balance the sweetness of the wild pears...

The gutter man came and vacuumed the gutters..with a strategically placed camera up top and his phone by the handle...so you could watch the progress! And no ladders., so a lot safer...and you can't use a ladder around the greenhouse.

I am trying to find the identity of a small box.. possibly Japanese? 

It needs a slight clean...the brass is around a wooden box liner. 

I'll take a few more photos tomorrow.

Now it has gone late... chatting on messenger and WhatsApp with friends and there was the time gone!!

'Night all xx

Decluttering

 The process is slow...

I realised today that my de-cluttering started...with the help of my 4 children.with kicking out, deservedly, of their father in 1997. 

But every time you move you sort a certain amount....run out of energy and repack it in boxes ( if it indeed came out) .

I've moved, sometimes had to move, many times since then. It knocks you "back to square one"

The good thing about decluttering is that it gives you more space, physical and mental.

The bad thing is that it takes time away from doing things...but doing things needs the physical and mental space...so it carries on going around in circles.

Keeping too much can be a reaction...I'm like my father in that...a reaction to people who clear out your precious things regardless...

My mother....and my ex....

I have always valued history....and things which prove it....

So I get together with Pirate, who had some of the same experience....and then we moved together, the contents from two three bedroom houses going into a one bedroom one living room (plus small bathroom and kitchen) that we call a"But 'n Ben" !!

We were slowly sorting things...being busy doing gardens for people as well as racing and training doesn't leave a lot of sorting time!...but now I have to sort and reduce for the two of us.

And it has started..one cast iron casserole, never used, sold...a few other things listed..on top of what has already gone to Op Shops.

And not the mug to come from any but an only child.....he put that at the back of the cupboard when that arrived! ( He had three kids...)

Sold...

There's a few more things to clean photograph and post online tomorrow.

Then there are my friends the books.....