Two good days at home.

 The past couple of days have been profitable.

I've done some garden tidying 

Bean poles are all in, onions weeded and hoed, grass mowed and the clippings used as mulch on the tatties, strawberry plants from the Carpenter planted...and bread trays out over them to dissuade cats and birds!

That was done before the rain came and it turned cold again.

The waterbutts now are completely full, and the garden is growing apace.

Indoors I have been getting on with a new block...

Paper first....then I inked the lino, partly to obscure an unused design, then drew and cut...

Doing the fiddly bits first...just in case...

Printed a small batch...then added the details...nostril, grey legs and beak and dark brown eye. Finally wrote the card backs and added the title.

This afternoon friends from The Isle of Lewis called by on their way South... good to see them...and they left me a present...which I have now planted in a big pot, surrounded by geraniums and placed by the front door.

A very odd day...and diagnosis

 The morning started.....garage man on holiday this week...but he did phone me a while after I left a message....his past apprentice was there clearing up all the small jobs that take time! Back down to the garage...and there was nothing obviously wrong... until he put my car on the ramp....two wheel studs out of four missing 😳 

When he checked all the others on the car, the torque setting was perfect...

He rummaged through the spare studs and bolts drawer..nothing...and had inspiration...swap one stud over so that there were three on both back wheels... meanwhile I had advice from the Oily One by text as to the size required! 

Next stop the car breakers on the edge of Ayr..where I have never seen so many grey cars in one place!! Something to do with grey cars are often the ones you see ...or not...on a grey day against a grey road...with no lights on....

£5 got me two correct studs, and fitted as well.

Time to relax...I had my sewing travel bag in the car for some reason, so sat by the sea in the car, window open for the fresh air and sound of the waves...

Until it was time to walk to the dentist for my annual checkup....clean bill of health!!

Then a successful shopping trip to a supermarket..

That is when the "fun" started..as it was rush hour I chose a less direct quieter way home...but a scraping sound started...and there were road works traffic lights....and the car jammed in gear.....then the clutch plate died just as it was my turn to go. Luckily they were manned lights...and a council lorry with flowerbed maintenance workers appeared..so I got a push just down to the left where I'd already thought to go and stop.

Phoned my breakdown insurance, and as expected they warned of a long wait...but I had food, drink, was off the main road...and had my sewing!!

With that, and contacting people to let them know what had happened, the two hours wait passed quickly...and as the wait would have been longer the main recoverers passed the job on to a local company...

And it was a good drive back, only ten miles, in the big cab with the car getting a ride on the back!

So no plans for the trip away..I need to cancel the campsite and see if Velo Retro will carry on my booking to next year's event.

What a day ! This was the view at 10 pm

Half day out

 The day started well..a cheeky bit of blue sky and sun after a night of welcome steady rain...but deteriorated...

Driving to Galloway for Spring Fling and gallery and workshop visits was.. interesting...strong winds, one minute limited visibility and heavy rain, the next dazzling bright sunshine!! 

Definitely washing machine weather!!

Then the car started making a little knocking noise ..after seeing mine host Phil at the Gallery at Lauriston....Most marvelous coffee..and the Chocolate Ganache cake is back...and the art is the best as well!!...Only matched by the welcome!! I came away with a Lupin, a Dahlia and an Honesty seedling...all grown from seed!

I decided that with the noise gradually increasing I'd just had better not go wandering around Dumfries and Galloway.

One more visit on the way home to Hannah McAndrew and Doug Fitch. 

Lovely to see them and their children...and visiting children! And also the showroom full of people talking and buying pots.

Good to catch-up..we don't get to meet often enough...and give them a plant to try...a new Ghost squash...small and white... something different this year..

And I weakened and bought a mug made by Hannah..I know..I don't NEED another mug..but...

Home steadily through the rain showers until I arrived home in the dry!!

A chance then to transfer the water in the butts that fill from roofs via gutters and downpipes...to the other two waterbutts that aren't arranged that way yet...job finished as it started raining again! 

Then a little work in the greenhouse, setting sloping canes for the tomato plants....to get longer stems for the same height of roof..and potting on growing plants.

Most are coming on well . It is a pity to lose the hot weather as that helped faster growth, but after 35 dry days we needed the rain. 

I think that I'll get the matting to set pots on that helps them wick water up ...that would mean that daily watering wouldn't be needed.

Then an early night...to cwtch down warm under duvet and quilt!!

Much needed

 It rained gently last night..and tonight it is raining steadily..after 35 dry days.

This is the River Ayr at Ayr , yesterday.

The lowest I've ever seen it....and not because of the state of the tide...

I didn't do much today...got up late as I stayed nice and warm wrapped in the duvet..finished the backs of the print cards then packed them individually.

It has been grey and cold with intermittent showers...now it is steady rain..and I hear the sound of waterbutts filling!

I tidied the greenhouse a little...the plants in pots aren't quite ready to move into a bigger one yet. The tomato plants I planted yesterday are looking ok.

I put the bread machine on for a loaf and it didn't quite turn out as expected.

And the paddle got stuck in the bottom.

It tastes good though. Probably needs a pack of yeast that isn't quite so old?!

Out...

 It took a while to get organised, but I managed to get out on the bike again...just 10 miles/16km today...up a local lane almost to where it joins the road to Castle Douglas...and back again.

A few sharp hills, so a couple of bits of walking...I'm not fit enough and the bike has racing ratio gears..and I've hardly ever managed the steepest section of the last hill before getting back into our village anyway!!

And apart from very little traffic....and despite the potholes and heaps of gravel that has been knocked out of said potholes and rough road patching....this is why I like this road....

Then a shower, late lunch and hurry for the bus to Ayr...and Italian class this week..but we spent the time discussing coffee...and that it is not Espreso Macciato, it is Espresso Màchiàtto!! And other coffee types...and comparing literal with figurative..."I could eat a horse"....and the placement of adjectives.. before and after can have different meanings...that happens in Welsh as well....but not, I think, in English?

Back for supper and I have ground to a halt....

The rain gently came over just after 5pm, so I'm regretting not changing out of shorts after getting home...as it is grey and chilly once more...but just think...no rain for 5 weeks and we started too dry then....

It seems to have stopped for now so perhaps it is time to plant the runner beans quickly, before tomorrow's promised heavier rain....

Disrupted

 A little after midnight I was aware of two cars with sirens going around the village....and they ended up in a cul-de-sac a little behind the house..and sat there for half an hour with their lights flashing....I'm glad that they are doing their job...but.....

Today's early start went by the board...as did the housework.

First thing I opened the back door and saw one of the local large cats leaving a large dump of shit on a prepared bed!! Now I know how to use the stack of old plastic bakery trays..... upsidedown to protect any bare earth and small plants!!!!

After breakfast and Duolingo French lesson I went out on my bike in the sun for 20 km.  Not very fast...and much in bottom gear....I'm lacking practice and it is geared at least for someone much fitter..and probably a 1960s racing gear!! I only walked one short sharp clip...and stopped to photograph twice..and once to let the recycling collection lorry get on its way from an awkward spot....and I was home again in 70 minutes.

Remember my linocut with two trees?  I've never realised that you can see Goat Fell on Arran behind them. It has always been too hazy or cloudy to see it!!

It is still a bit hazy..but you can see it!

A quick change, then time to get the bike a little cleaner.  Good to sit in the sun and steadily work on it. It needs another going over, mainly a rather grubby transmission, but it looks much better. It is in its original 1961 paintwork...Getting it cleaner shows that really as I'm going to be using it regularly ( hopefully) it should get a check over and respray back to its original state next winter, so that it lasts longer.

Then the job of getting the bean "sticks" up.

First replace the fraying washing line...and use the old one to help keep the sticks up. I really need new poles, but the old ones will have to do. It was difficult to get them in the ground properly as it is so dry. 

We have rain forecast for the weekend....of course, it is a Bank Holiday!! But at least it should make finishing that job easier. 

I don't want to plant anything out unto we get enough rain, but I might have to, as I need plants established before I go travelling again.

Gallery

 Gallery duty today..and I sold two bowls! 

Just the small and medium left of the red ones...

This doesn't show the ribbed and cut feet...

Making is definitely urgent!

I liked at the workshop this evening...and wondered how on earth am I going to get it workable again? So much of Pirate's clutter but I can't just dump the lot ... useful things need to be sorted out and used or rehomed.

After 7 hours in the gallery I feel physically shattered but it is just the mental effect of being there for 7 hours including opening up and closing....

And now the thought of doing all the paperwork properly!!!!

Daunting to say the least!!

Evensong..or even noise at least....

Gardening

 Two days of a bit of catching up in the garden... topping up the green stuff in the compost heap and filling up the green waste bin with brambles and other stuff I don't want in my compost!  ( The municipal composting looks to be done at a higher temperature...and I can get the results just for the cost of going there, now I have the bags)

While I had two days away, I'd taken the smaller plants out of the greenhouse and left the door open but a thin curtain pegged over the door to keep out birds and cats....

Farm worker neighbour came and watered when he realised that I was away and put bale wrap under the pots... He cares about plants as well as animals but has never been a gardener..never had the time.

He had inspiration..I have a few old bread trays that I had been using for storing kiln bricks....he placed one over the seedling beetroot as the sparrows had been dustbathing there! I've put another over the tatties to keep the local cats off.

Behind the tatties you can see last year's Cavolo Nero kale...now there for the bees.

There is still a lot of gardening to do.

I'd hoped to have a hand from the Oily One who was to have had his birthday break here..44 yesterday! But he fell off his bike last week and tweaked his back, so before a long drive he needs it tweaking back into place. 

Bikes!

 Friday afternoon was the Café, biscuits et parler Français at Ayr library ..two hours just flew by, six of us including two tutors, discussing things in French (mostly)..I need confidence...but I'm told that my accent and pronunciation are good!!

Saturday was fettling bike day.. Pirate's Eroba..."new" brake levers and new inner cables...our Fife Friend helped with that. Good to see him and his daughter and stay overnight. Especially with a day of track racing the next day at the Caird Park velodrome in Dundee, and they live two thirds of the way towards there!!

So a good day watching racing, chatting with friends and seeing them do well. Nice to be back in the Cycling Family!!

And three hour's driving (with a break)to get home afterwards!!

Skies , cycling, gardening

 Yesterday's sunset

And today from Prestwick prom

If you enlarge it a bit you can see Arran in the haze....just!

I went to Prestwick in the car, and rode up to Troon and back...only ten miles, but good to settle back into riding Pirate's Eroba road bike.

What inclines there were, were much easier than last year...the results firstly of two months in NZ and secondly of somehow getting back to the weight I was when I returned from there!   Incentive to do more riding and walking....having numbers that start with 7 instead of 8 is a moral boost!!

I mowed the grass last night, and this evening I've started potting on, and pricking out seedlings.  More to do tomorrow.

The Shropshire Whitchurch ...and life goes on.

 After bypassing the town for 50 years, I had time for a short wander....

Monday night I had a much needed catch up with friends in Alsager who had recently quietly got married in Gretna ....

It was good not to go the whole way from South Wales to Ayrshire in Scotland in one go, especially with the hot dry weather. The plants that I brought home definitely needed watering!

Today is catching up at home day!  Washing, dealing with post , cleaning and sorting cupboards and larder... shopping list to be made..

It was heartening to see how many seeds had germinated while I was away.

The tatties had sprouted as well, so they have had their first earthing up.

I've been working from day to day for over two years...now I have to coordinate the year planner, the birthday book and the calendar on my phone!

I thought that I had the next three months sorted with trips and gallery work.

Now I have a birthday party in Canterbury in July to add, and a life celebration of a Cornish photographer who settled in Cardiff in the 70s in the second half of June...sad to see old friends go...but as a coeliac and diabetic for 50 years he had managed well until bowel cancer arrived.

The get together in Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff should be good.