Visiting

 A trip over the "Severn Sea " yesterday...mostly mud to be seen from the bridge on the way there.

With my brother..in his electric van, so we went through the middle of Bristol on the way to Wales for a change!

Good to see my youngest, the Carpenter and his family... although Woodchip my granddaughter was busy with her bestie there !! A leisurely day, a walk up to the allotment to see the chooks...

A meal together 

And no need to stop on the way back as the EV was charged while we were there. 85 miles .. arrived back with 17% still in the battery..17 miles..not bad on a cold day.

Onwards!

 Just a short "hop" today...down the motorway in strong crosswinds and torrential showers ...

Firstly to see a potter friend...who is nearer to seven foot than he is to six foot tall...and had the look of Gandalf from the film of Lord in the Rings...and is indeed a magical person..and his lovely wife...

Discussing Life, The Universe and Everything, as the saying goes...and especially pots of all ages....for nearly three hours....and we could have gone on!! 

At least my brother knew who I was visiting, so wouldn't be worried!!

And by where I parked was this...

Very suitable as we are at Samhain....the Celtic New Year's Eve tonight.

All Souls and All Saints Days.....the Day of the Dead in Mexico...

Wherever you go, an important celebration.

And the year begins as we sow the seeds for next year...the dormancy before the growth in Spring.

I didn't get lost

 Well .just a short diversion quickly retrieved once in each direction!

A small funeral...with less than 50 there which was surprising...Arja was a tough resilient talented woman..77 seemed far too young for her! At least half the people there were cyclists, mostly from their local club in Evesham. Not much talk...but tantalising details that you'd love to hear more about!

A rural upbringing in Finland...a talented skier...a nanny in a British Embassy in Russia (and taught herself Russian)

Tried for a similar job in Germany, ended up doing hotel work in Worcester I think? 

Married a local, one son....took up cycling...and these things happen so her second husband is from Evesham, a former professional cyclist...who introduced her to track cycling 30+ years ago...no looking back!

A talented knitter (no patterns needed) and gardener as well.

A definite no nonsense livewire too!

Naturally all the music was by Sibelius.

Back for another evening of chat and discussion by the fire...doing us both good!

And relax....

 I did get a short walk today, after the rain stopped, to the postbox....

And a friend online found this ...

And madam was definitely relaxed tonight...

And it was good to talk....we share 53 years of memories....

Gone West

 A good journey yesterday, just 160 miles....then I missed the end of the street that I'd recognise....and in an hour and ten miles of wandering around Gloucester, also missed the other end....but at last came at the latter from the other direction and recognised it!!

Now with friend.....and cat.....relaxing....all three of us !

Sadness and joy

 Morning view...I wasn't early enough to catch a view of the rabbits!!

I was early enough for the funeral....I had done much map research....and also took the advice of a cleaner at the travelodge...so with only one slight wibble off route...I was an hour early!! Which gave me half an hour to get on with a little patchwork...

This is the one that I started in February in Mātangi!!

A sad time to say farewell to a cousin of only 65 years, but many happy memories were shared.

Then giving my aunt a lift, over the causeway to Mersea Island and the family and friends drinks and sandwiches in a local hostelry in West Mersea.

Reconnecting with family...some I hadn't seen for a few years..I think the last Rixon get together I went to was 2023...and I hadn't seen my aunt since 2021.... but we both remembered well my first one in 1987!!

My aunt navigated me back to her house..we came across the causeway at high tide and it was only just halfway across the road at the lowest point.. and everyone taking turns politely to pass it. Then out towards Tiptree from Colchester, and if I remember correctly I passed the end of the road where my grandad ( her father) used to live in Colchester!! This avoided the busy A12... even busier in rush hour...I had to go on it from Feering village to return to the travelodge...and the jam into Colchester had just reached back to there!! 

Now time to plan tomorrow's weekend route to my friend's house in Gloucester ...

A quick postscript...the WiFi payment went through without fuss by paypal...so the fault is with the provider's payment system, nothing to do with the travelodge group...

Travelling...the weekend so far...

 

Saturday's sunrise....looked rather ominous, but it was dry and not so chilly as the days previous.

I took to the road just before 9 and had an easy ride...stops vaguely every hour to start with...the Co-op to shop at Thornhill, north of Dumfries, Gretna shopping outlet for another leg stretch and Marks for a couple of bras...of course the pretty blue and green reduced ones weren't in my size...just the ghastly bright pink ones!! I draw the line at pink...

Another hour to Tebay and Westmorland Services.

A  veggie hot lunch....they always have two choices!! I wandered around the shop....but no, I'm not buying chocolate at £5+ a bar... however good!

And going back to the car....this made me think of Steve and his blog....

Then two more hours to the travelodge at Crewe Barthomley, where the road to Stoke on Trent goes under the motorway .

I saw where a crash had been on the other, northbound side, police and ambulances still there..and the traffic backed up for miles, I must have travelled for well over half an hour until I turned off...and it was still nearly at a standstill.

Getting in tinternet was....a problem....I had to set up my account ( instead of Pirate) ...but to do that you needed internet to get a code they send you....and when I managed that their payment system said that my postcode isn't valid....

Read the newspaper, do the puzzles, watch TV instead....and use the 30 minutes free ( every 24 hours) in the morning...

So that was 240 miles...

I filled up the petrol tank this morning...30p a litre more than I usually pay !!!! ...and next time I come this way I'll use the service station 15 miles down the road....only 10p more than usual!!

I headed across country through Stoke on Trent, seeing all the familiar place names! 

Mainly on A roads as I didn't fancy motorways and the M25 around London!

Still mainly dual carriageway driving, with a stretch of motorway...and the further South I got, the more aggressive and unpleasant the driving!!

Another 9-3 day, with just two decent stops.just 200 miles..and now I'm west of Colchester in another small travelodge..I choose them as they are more personal and friendly and generally have easy and free parking!!

Light

 

This morning at 7.45 am....no wonder I feel reluctant to get going!! I'm looking forward to getting back to GMT time and briefly lighter mornings..still just under two months to Solstice.....time outside when weather permits is the prescription at the moment.

I've been busy organising... getting what produce that is left in safely... putting to one side things that need to go to different people... bringing in ten bags of clay to the kitchen in case of freezing temperatures that would make it unusable.

Pots cards and prints taken to the gallery 

I hope these sell after all the work 

Last minute sorting and cleaning today.

Travels southwards start tomorrow.

Shiny Pots!!!

Little glaze test bowls...and a few glazed pots 

 I glazed a few more today.. hopefully they will be fired on Friday.

I couldn't put any out in the gallery...as I forgot my price labels!!

But it was good to have a chat with a fairly new member of our collective... another printer, but very colourful work unlike my monochrome!!

Back home to get the nicely dry washing in..such a relief when you can get things dry outside in the breeze...and we had sunshine as well today!

Then I did a photo session....

Dragons eat dragonflies.. don't they?!

Loose ends

 Carrying on juicing today, adding some which gives a sharper dry juice, to counteract the sweetness of the others.

Tidying bits here and there, gradually being able to see the kitchen bench... until you use the space!!

Five litres, six bottles...they'll get wax on the tops tomorrow. This is the kitchen bottle rack...the bottom four rows are last year's apple juice. I found the last of the '23 vintage last week...still good!

The weather was rather miserable...

There were a few breaks in the wet and windyness,  which gave me a chance to take a few things down the garden to the workshop...but I wasn't going to stay there today with the temperature feeling like single figures, just....and getting cooler...

I sorted the apples I still have...five trays are up in the cool sewing room, three still down.

I think that I remember correctly that these ones make good apple rings...

I've started getting things together and organising places to stay for my end of month trip.

Two funerals..a cousin in Essex and a friend in Cheltenham. So I can stay with a friend in Gloucester...I phoned her and she was with her daughter in France!! But she will be back in plenty of time.  Next step book travelodges for the first leg...as it is over 400 miles I'll do that in two days.

And work out which way to go after Gloucester!!

Achieving plenty

 I did quite a lot today... despite a slow start.

Why am I always busy? A habit, perhaps....it was far nicer being busy together, then we could have time to do something else...

I seem to be alone a lot of the time now. I know I dislike crowds, but you can have too much of your own company!!

Anyhow.... garden review as the coffee was brewing....

I must sow the tomatoes, aubergines and squashes earlier next year...they really got going too late in the season!!

And I found three more squashes lurking in the undergrowth!! The two bigger ones are Crown Prince type squash...and the little white one a "munchkin" type called Ghost.

A sweet treat on top of breakfast!!

Then potting up yoghurt...this batch came out nice and thick....I'm not sure what I did differently!! Usually I have enough liquid after straining the yoghurt, for the next loaf of bread to be baked.

The large jar is the latest batch, the wee jar is that reserved as a starter for the next 

Then a little bit of ironing....I think that it is time to use the cover as a pattern to make the next one!!

Then Duolingo....

Before lunch I tried out the "new" lawnmower...and at about 95 years old it works well...where the modern one would struggle!!

My neighbour cut the "meadow" this afternoon...with a petrol mower that Pirate gave him! He will take all the cut grass..which should mean better wildflowers next year.

Then apple juicing all afternoon....

One small bowl of apples....makes a bigger bowl of cut apples...cut to go through the mincer easily.

Each bowl makes three of the rectangular dish full...which is enough for one pressing...

Minced apple in the muslin. Disc on top of that and the screw presses the plate down....and squeezes out the juice...which is filtered through two layers of cotton pillowcase.

I had thought to have a day out to watch a cyclo cross bike race tomorrow....there are important ones this weekend at Callander House by the Antoine Wall ...but the thought of high winds and heavy rain.....I'll be getting on with the juicing!!

And now a second dose of Duolingo....

Camera at the ready..

 I couldn't resist this the other day....just a door..

Then today in the library they had a new dictionary...

From A...( And it put these photos in the right order!!) ....to Z...

Cards done.!

 Typical!! Ok read these photos in reverse!!