Wandering and wondering

 Things just go along slowly here..far slower than Pirate had expected.

I don't think that he could take that in before. It doesn't help that the weather has curtailed our activity outside and recovery needs a little more gentle walking than he is getting, so other niggles are growing.

It is reassuring that the district nurse and doctor and Macmillan nurse are all happy with his progress so far.

Meanwhile I am keeping busy.  Necessarily because a house has things doing to keep it going...and we need to eat and there is plenty of washing...

But there are also things to do for myself.

This afternoon I started sorting the greenhouse properly. Rubbish cleared out, dead plants including some that I disappeared from the house...they had been struggling despite tlc...so they got parked out in the greenhouse to "sink or swim"...they all sank.  Next step is to sort out all the plastic trays and pots to see how many I really will need!!

This morning it was wet and cold outside so I "wandered" around quite a few blogs to see old friends and possibly find some new.

I was surprised at how many times I found names I already knew commenting on a blog new to me!!  Another surprise was how many blog commenters have no blog....and no description of who they are and where from...  Not everyone has the time or inclination to write, but it would be nice to know a little more, especially when their comments are so interesting!!

Plus as ever there are those that have stopped blogging for whatever reason.

Some still comment on blogs, which is reassuring. Others have just gone.

Moved on..

 We have now had a night at Hanmer Springs..nearly twice as much as we paid at Picton!! Hopefully our last night of paying to stay anywhere!

I haven't been able to write for a couple of days... WiFi problems...the camp in Greymouth had good signal but no "sign in" page...so no blogging...at least I had farcebook, messaging and online map! Quite funny really with part working really well and the other saying I had no signal!!

Greymouth was peaceful...with the background rumble of the surf...and occasional small airplane as the camp is at the end of the runway.

I will have to do a couple of separate posts about different places...more driving today, back to Christchurch 

Social media..where next?

 Seen on Making a Mark's Blog

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/11/twitter-facebook-social-media-decline/672074/

What do you think?

I am not sure.  I have reconnected with good friends..lost because I have moved so often throughout my life. I have made many more, through printing and ceramics groups with common interests. 

Kept in contact with cycling friends and family all round the world. Even our own children, as they live from three to eight hours drive...plus rest stops...away.

Managed to stay in contact with friends and family in Aotearoa NZ .

Met online friends and family in person  where we could.

I know that the blogosphere is shrinking, although in the past three years a fair number on my following list have returned to blogging.

Morning blog reading

 I catch up with other blogs with morning coffee..

Reading one this morning makes me realize how the weather has changed.

Pohangina Pete in Aotearoa New Zealand writes of his morning tea in words that transport you there.

Reading his blog and scrolling back through older posts reinforces the view that blogging is far better than farcebook. That is just for the Now, not for any considered reading and connection. It does have its uses, but...!!

We used to have breakfast on the bench by the back door every day..at least a cuppa if a little chilly.  I can't remember the last time we did that.

Today, despite being "summer" we have 14C, feeling 11C due to 25 mph winds with regular 40mph gusts.  Friends in Whanganui also have rain and 11C...but they are in winter!!

We had hoped to do more on the outside of our construction today. It appears that we will have to be content with doing what we can, like yesterday, under a loudly flapping tarpaulin! 

Still, mustn't complain. The garden is getting a little much needed rain and if nothing else the wind is stimulating root growth in established plants!!

4th November History

 Just read an interesting blogpost about Chartist history Blogpost

Keith Flett writes well...about history, beer, beards and politics amongst other subjects!

Editing

 I have managed to add Blogroll and Followers...I am sure I used to have them!

Apologies for their placement...click and drag isn't working with the tablet's touch screen.

I should be able to sort it on the laptop! 

Next blog

 I know I have asked this before...there used to be a click button on the top bar called Next Blog where you could wander around the blogosphere, finding fellow bloggers to talk to and read....

I know that has gone...but there was something elsewhere , where you could click on that and find other blogs on a specific subject.....

Otherwise I can carry on wandering though other peoples' bloglists!

The things you think of on another rainy day....the planned outing to Dundee cancelled due to whiny grindy wheelbearing noises from the car...

Never mind...plenty to do here!

Commenting

I like the interaction between bloggers that comments give.

I can understand why some are disabling comments, but it feels a bit sad.

The other frustration is wordpress blogs that use a spam preventer..aktismet or something similar it is called.  You need a wordpress account to comment, apparently...
Perhaps that is why some of those bloggers on wordpress are also on fb....at least you can pass on your views on the postings there!!
A couple of other blogs I cannot comment on, despite also being on blogger, as the comments box takes too long to load...I haven't worked that one out yet.

Still, well over 2000 posts and I still go on. I enjoy the interaction I get, apart from the occasional spam which is deleted from the comments inbox!

postcards

I've just written one ready to post..next step,find a decent,interesting stamp...I might just have some in stock from last year.

Who shall I send the next ones to? Thanks to Zhoen for the idea in One Word..and John in Going Gently for his postcard competition...who knows when blogging might disappear (I've only just discovered that picasa is no longer linked to here) and even electronic communication...

Exchanging email and snailmail addresses seems a good idea in these times...if you want to join in, please do comment...and I wont publish your details as I review all comments.

blogging

So many people seem to be migrating to instagram. I've joined it for business purposes and found a few lapsed/intermittent bloggers on there. However none of these fb owned platforms compare with blogs or forums such as www.downsizer.net where you can access older posts or archived valuable reference material.

I'll carry on..

I enjoy blogging, and if a few share in that...that's fine by me.

back home

Safe home...and we're homesick for Aotearoa/New Zealand.
We left Auckland at 24C, landed in Dubai at dawn...24C...landed in Glasgow on a pleasantly warm and sunny Sunday afternoon.
Three buses later we arrived home, and it was beginning to feel a little chilly...and after a cold night we reached the dizzy heights of 4C!! 
Further North and East from us, up in Aberdeenshire, roads are closed due to snow, and it has been hailing and snowing (but not settling) here. 

Spring??!!

I'm back on my old laptop, so blogging is easier...I just need to transfer the photos to here then I can share a few .

Our Monday afternoon was brightened by the arrival of a parcel from Ohio...a pair of beautiful handwoven towels from Joanne of "Cup in the Bus". A priceless gift.  Also an incentive to get back working myself!!

storecupboard filling..and musing on blogging

The last batch of Seville oranges have gone to make a batch of dark marmalade made with Muscovado sugar.

I'm wondering if I should have a separate,but linked,blog for work, be it prints,cards or pots......

looking back

I've just come across a blog where the writer looked back ten years..I've only been blogging for just over nine years...This wasn't the first post,but near enough nine years ago.

I still like doors and doorways....fascinating things

Wednesday, 11 March 2009

Gallivanting

Gallivanting is a necessary activity. All work and no play definitely makes Jill a dull girl!!
I went to meet friends in Dyffryn Tanat, stayed overnight near Aberystwyth, then came home stopping to see things where I wanted to, going the way I felt like instead of just the quickest route.
The countryside was breathtaking, from the snow locked Berwyn Mountains to the grey sea in Aberystwyth, the halftimbered houses in Sir Drefaldwyn,and back home to our own Mountain.
I wish that my eyes could record and play the sights they have seen to my Mountain Man. I try to describe this to him in words, but how can you describe something that you just sit in silence and wonder at?

 

 

intentions in chilly weather

Blogging about things reassures me that I have actually achieved...and is a spur to carry on!

We are walking or cycling most days..if it is really bad we're on the indoor trainers. Our local woodland/nature reserve takes an hour to walk around the longest walk,from home. It is very pleasing to see how well used it is by all sorts of people.
Taking an hour out and arriving home at dusk, we see many small birds and occasionally deer-especially when the dog walkers are not there!

Yesterday we saw the swan again in the pond..looking a bit lonely..I wonder who arrives first, he or she?

It is good that the village now has a breathing space, but sad that it has little employment actually in the village now that the reason for its very existence, coalmining, has gone.

computers...again!!

Blogging has been on the back burner, as we've been busy riding bikes...and driving...I've done over 2,500 km on four wheels in the past fortnight....
The Pirate was only out of the top 6 in his World Masters events once...and then he was 7th! He won one bronze and one silver in the track events on the Avantidrome in Cambridge and I won a gold and two silvers there.
We have caught up with most of our old friends and made many new ones. If all goes well we'll be back for Summer 2018/9.......
I've managed to cook the battery of the tablet computer on top of all that... When you plug it in to re-charge, and instead of seeing a grey battery shape filling up with blue, you see a thin red line at the bottom, and a large yellow, black edged triangle with a large black exclamation mark.......I think that the battery, at least, is dead!!!!
Now we have landed back in Whanganui to return borrowed kit and say farewell for now to friends I can use the i-site computer and catch up online, before we head off home on Thursday.

arrived in New Zealand

we are in Whanganui now and I'm using the free wifi at the i-site to stay connected.
I brought a tablet computer instead of the laptop, to save weight, but its lack of speed is frustrating!
I'm still learning how to use it...so no pictures on the blog yet....

my bloglist

I've just gently weeded the blogs I'm following and have saved the list on my downloads file....just in case!

The list hasn't disappeared like some peoples' but I could just imagine it,so played safe!!

garden work

working for a gardener,  whose back finally crumbled at 87...now nearly 90 he is happy seeing his garden brought back a little towards his design.

Might not be online much until mid October...busy, not disappeared!

day out, but not day off

We started today slowly...gently does it for the Pirate...another side effect of his treatment is feeling sad, and worse, depression...the counter-attack is enough work and enough bike.....

Today was work, and we found new roads for us to a nice wee village that neither of us had visited...to a house called Inglewood...where we had good coffee and nice cake...and tidied a lawn and woodland area.

Many thanks !!  It is good to meet a fellow blogger at last !

We had hoped that our other local job would continue today, but someone was fencing there today, so no lawn bed preparation.

Instead we had a relaxing lunch at The Mad Hatter in Castle Douglas, a town that we really love. Then a little light shopping, buying mitts and saying hello to Axle the Dog in Castle Douglas Bikes.

We had hoped to see other friends too, but they were busy...so on to Kircudbright down a pleasant and wiggly road.  At last I found a reasonably local shop to buy card ....Kircudbright Working Print Studio !!

Then home along more wiggly roads,both small and large, with much achieved.

A working day out...can't fault it!

Pictures...

 On the podium....

 Meeting The Carpenter's geckos....Bruce, above, then the New Gecko

 Bruce meeting The Pirate. Funny how I've put animals like these on my pots for years..

 Then a ride with the MD...

 While the Pirate rested with her mug....the right Pantone colour of course!!

 We met this one in Aberystwyth station

 Then home to beautiful skies..

 which are quite dramatic in monochrome

 and I can try sepia too...

 The Pirate, pre-haircut...

 sitting by "Miss Willmott's Ghost"...

 Then standing by a Big Boat, all smart and trimmed......pity about the waste of good Islay Whisky though...

 The older warehouses on Rosyth Dockyard had interesting shapes

 and the size of the gantry over the new boat....look at the people up there, for the scale...

Now we're back, catching up on peoples' grass and gardens, getting new customers ( we mended a gatepost today) and co-ordinating who is staying where and when for The Pirate's 75th Birthday Bash....and on top of this helping a friend out of a ghastly employment situation, giving her a refuge for a couple of days while she finds a new job.
So if I'm not here blogging regularly...you'll understand!!