Equinox, weather, friends

 

There always seems to be stormy weather around each equinox.

Eleven years ago we were in NZ and people here were saying to us "don't come back now"..with heavy snow and the telegraph poles along the western side of Arran snapped like matchsticks...

No snow here, but we have been having days of "washing machine weather", four seasons in a day, hail yesterday...we might get a break in this for a short walk.

Pirate now has diuretic tablets..that and non penicillin ABs are working slowly..but worryingly his appetite is still low..if it's not one thing....

Getting there slowly. We will see what the stoma nurse says at his review on Monday.....

I have a sale to post! The six books in the series "Earth's Children"by Jean Auel . I must get more things listed, a sale is a good incentive!

Yesterday we had a friend visit from France. When Pirate came out of the RAF sixty years ago, friend was a 13 year old, getting into racing and noone else in the club they were in then was willing to help. Pirate encouraged him, and for the years that he did race he enjoyed it. He kept on cycling, became a mechanic and ten years later was working with British Cycling squads. I met him at Lilleshall on a Women's Squad training weekend...but I hadn't seen him again since then!

So a good day of reminiscing for us all. 

Equinox , walk and apples

 And now the stormy weather rolls in!

Pirate is determined to exercise every day...even a small amount...

Yesterday we had a forage review walk ...and no bag between us..how remiss!  One of our regular apple trees from previous years had looked to have a thin crop....but it was obviously all "up top"...and the high winds have helped them down. They won't keep, but these will go well in the next batch of juice.

We found a tree new to us as well, going a different side of a hedge to usual...and it looks like an eating apple...must keep an eye on that one. 

Our usual cooking apple tree has hardly any fruit this year.. obviously cold wind at the wrong time.

Today we walked out before lunch, after I had my Winter Jags...flu in the right and covid in the left..as rain was forecast by 2pm.

There are bat boxes, but I couldn't get a decent photo 

Owl box

Apples!!!!

I tried to add a six second video of the wind in an aspen tree, but the system or my tablet wouldn't oblige..things have been a little slow today.

Pirate has been having a siesta, and I have just been "pootering" quietly..and the rain rolled in on time at 2pm.."doing what it said on the tin"!!

He hasn't been feeling too good for a couple of days..but I think the root of that is not getting used to how much more fluid he needs to take in at the moment. Hopefully we have got a handle on that.

Time to wash the apples before we start mincing, using an old hand mincer which is permanently clamped on the end of the kitchen bench....too much faff to take off and on..!! And then pressing the juice from the minced apple pulp.

Autumn Equinox, time.

 The days feel different now, as the day length reduces.

It is a dissatisfied uneasy feeling as I wake before dawn. Changing the clocks will put everything upside down again! At least for a while..until the last Sunday in October...we will only be 12 hours behind New Zealand, which will make Pirate's phone calls to friends easier! No need to guess if he is too early or late!

The cultivated blackberries are giving us about half a kilo a day, we are eating and freezing plenty..plus the wild ones we forage too.  I need to pick some more elderberries as blackberry and elderberry jelly preserve is planned. Also apples for juice,

and keeping too if we can find the right ones.

Pirate has had a reassuring call from the head doctor in our local practice...but we still need that call from the specialist nurse next week.  He is still Mr Grumpy...but it will pass!!

We are watching the fuel situation carefully. It should calm down in 48 hours..after all you can't hoard fuel like loo rolls! It's worrying though, with some neccessary journeys coming up. 

We can't quite make South Wales without a fuel stop..or rather we possibly could, but that would leave us arriving with the tank lower in fuel than is comfortable, especially in an older vehicle.

Therefore one journey might have to be foregone.

Autumn Equinox

 Not an easy day, still tired after yesterday.  The shortening days are no help atall.

Ebaying starts again, with all the money from past sales spent!

Starting with a decent sale sent off today, and then the job of photographing, researching and listing...to start with little bits and bobs to revive the system and hope for the special reduced selling fees offers!!!

Pirate is stressing...another eight days until his specialist nurse phones him...it's a job to keep him positive and he is beginning to lose more hair..I am sure that is as much stress as age and health.

Autumn Equinox

The Equinox...Gwyl Mabon...has crept up upon us. I think we're just too busy at the moment, for our own good.

Medals (a bronze each) have been won in a competition last weekend.
Now we are doing last minute tweaking and testing of equipment to ensure it all goes smoothly in the Masters World rack championships in Manchester...the biggest yet,with nearly 450 entries on the book (there WILL be late additions!) from 33 countries!!

We are noticing the difference in daylight between South Wales and Scotland...it has seemed strange to have half an hour less daylight in the evening.  Now the Equinox has passed, the boot will be on the other foot!

We will both be glad to return to a rural area...no streetlights, no cars racing up and down,no heavy lorries outside the window...