Quiet

 Pirate isn't feeling too good, so a down day today.  He said go where you want..but I can't think of anywhere and don't fancy walking alone in a strange place. 

So a quiet day for me too.  The older riders' events that we have mainly come to watch ( but it is fun watching it all and meeting friends of all ages!) have mostly been scheduled for rather late evenings and nights....they reverted to a race schedule from 2019 which apparently wasn't too popular then.  I know they also have to fit in with the schedule of the British track cycling squad...but having sessions of racing 10 am or so to lunchtime...them 6pm until 11 or 12....

I can't really criticise as I am not involved like before...but it isn't good for spectators either!!.. especially as the café has only extended its hours to 7pm!!!

Anyhow...we had a nice short afternoon walk yesterday in Phillips park by the Velodrome, where you can walk, cycle, run, there is a  BMX track and allotment gardens too..

The gates are a bit awkward for wheelchairs and buggies but not impossible..I think they are aimed at keeping the scrambler motorbikes out

A good mural! On the old railway viaduct..there is a path along the top as well.

And looking back at the Velodrome...the curving (and leaky!) roof over the track on the right, the one on the left is the BMX building 

I had a shopping foray too

This is the Manchester City (Etihad) stadium looking like a giant spider crouching with legs sticking up....

And views from the bridge by the Velodrome over the Ashton Canal which reopened in 1974 and is part of two canal round trips, linking up with canals at both ends, the Rochdale Canal in Manchester and Huddersfield Narrow Canal and Peak Forest Canal, by the Dukinfield junction in Ashton under Lyme. Its only six miles long, but a vital link and still used.

It is worrying how Pirate feels..but it is something that has occurred a few times since his prostate treatment...just an internal sore bit that cameras have previously found...but having all the present treatment plus an UTI....say TURP to any older man and he will understand..and wince!  It looks like he has flushed out the problem... thankfully and hopefully.

At least here in the travelodge we are self contained, and this branch is small and quiet..and if everything goes pearshaped, A&E is only 5 minutes away!  Although he is doing his best to stay out of there, understandably.

I am keeping myself entertained, doing my Duolingo lessons, watching S4C (Welsh language TV) programmes about St Ffagans museum where I used to work, reading blogs and writing.  A productive quiet restful day.   A quiet restful healing day for Pirate.

Printing progress

At last the prints have dried enough to frame..just a light plastic frame and no card mount
I've made a new list of how many to finish off the print runs..for most I'm limiting it to 20, which gives incentive to move on an make more designs.

I'll be getting them priced up for posting soon and on my etsy shop..all progress has been limited by the extraction of a very deep molar tooth root with a large attached abcess. Looks like this has been affecting my health adversely for quite a long time by slow and insidious growth, so without it I'm feeling instantly better, if still fighting a secondary infection...we'll get there!

The weather is cold and blustery outside, so I'm busy convalescing inside whilst the Pirate is sorting old tools and stuff and looking after me.

Year's End and Good News...

I think we'll be glad to see the back of this year..it has been very unsettling and hard work for the both of us. Hopefully the coming move will help solve some problems...
I'm watching the weather forecast closely..at present we have a weather warning in force for wind and rain until tomorrow lunchtime...Tuesday we head North on the Bus!!  Four hundred miles and a ferry....and the forecast is not bad so far...

And The Good News? The Pirate's Hormone Therapy injections have finished!!

Solstice is on Monday, so on Tuesday....

Through the door to the next year...and Hogmanay isn't too far off for those who keep to the calendar...

Glastonbury

 The Thorn and the Spring at Chalice Well in Glastonbury. 
I refreshed my Navigator Stone that came from the potter in Paeroa...and was given some spring water for the Pirate...he is busy sorting things he should have sorted nearly 25 years ago.
We must return here together.

 I thought of a potter friend who is in Harefield Hospital getting his heart electrics sorted.  Get well soon Golly....wonder if they have beds long enough for a seven foot potter?

 and Yandles in Martock....wood heaven,plus cafe and gallery and arts and crafts supplies.......

 and this one for Soub....

more gardening

                              Man and his Mower! 

Now for an identification query....what are these?   Are they worth eating or just leaving for the birds?

 There is plenty for all....

 and the front garden is coming on, with a fruit bed planned in the top corner just to the right.....with flowers too, and a trellis to hide the oil tank!

Our visitors came and it was good to see them, have their company, talk and share meals.  
Then they were off on their travels and we are back to everyday things.

Pirate is still depressed by his treatment,but at least we know that that is one of the..many...unpleasant side effects...but he is still here and alive and kicking!

We'll goon the bikes in a minute, even if just on the turbo trainers for half an hour. It helps.

waiting for friends

Almost ready, we're to be a staging post on their travels. Lovely to see friends,however briefly.

Another friend staying next Monday night too. 

Incentive to stay tidy, sort things, keep up the good work....

Pirate needs visitors. The treatment drags on,is depressing him and thinking "only four more injections, finished next June" only helps so far.
This part of the treatment is the "belt and braces" part....not necessarily necessary, but no-one can be certain.

Deep breath and carry on, practice being mindful...

looking for inspiration ...and moving...hopefully....

Some shots of fields a few miles from here, tried colour and monochrome. I prefer these as I'm seeing the forms....

 Our new home, if all goes well....workshop to the right, if landlady's brother will sell...if not there is a slabbed and painted base for a better one! There will also be left, once a kennel enclosure has been shifted, a very handy base where a kiln can be parked and a small pole barn built around it.....

Nothing is settled until we're in there and can believe it...five more weeks....we're hoping that the landlady will take life a bit easier and let her body heal....meningitis is nasty, whatever sort you have. 

The sun has shone all week,although the wind is still chill an the nights cold.

shoes

I'm wearing a special insole,with a lump in it to press up at what corresponds to a hand knuckle joint and widen the gap between two bones that are pressing on a nerve.  It is, we've worked out, a long standing thing,exacerbated by an ankle that has always been weaker....so will take work over time to correct.

I'm finding HAVING to wear shoes a problem.

No taking off shoes as you enter the house.

No wearing jandals/flipflps/thong sandals...although after six months in New Zealand my ankle was stronger....

It is just going against the grain for a barefoot walker.

more cycling

Riding the bike, whether on the turbo or out in the (Wahey!!!!!)....sunshine..is bringing weight and blood pressure down. So one happier, if a bit tired, Pirate.
He has also stopped the meds that were supposed to deal with the side effects of the main therapy.....as they came with even worse side effects....made life not worth living....an achey growly Pirate was not on!!

Yesterday we foraged a carful( and it was full!!) of elm and beech, so by the evening we had a woodbin metre cube full of cut, stacked wood...and today we were tired!!

After today's chores we headed out to Moniaive with the bikes in the car...and went for a ride...not as far as planned, but enough.

No,not Trumpton!   Built in 1865 as the schoolmasters house,with a clock so that no village child would be late for school!  It is still hand wound and standing to take its picture we could hear the works ticking over.

Now we're sitting in front of a nice fire, burning our labours....

chilling out....

 On Thursday we headed out by car, calling past the memorial to Davy Bell, a cyclist who wrote about many roads and tracks under the name  "The Highwayman"

We parked at Newton Stewart, and after lunch at the Belted Galloway cafe (to be recommended!) rode our bikes along the lanes to Wigtown, then headed inland a little to Spittal before hitting the lanes again back to the coast road and the bike path back into Newton Stewart.

Our route home was up the other side of the Cree Valley,so that I could see this....print inspiration?  Thankyou,Pirate!

 then on to Glen Trool...but the centre was closed

 chainsaw art...a red squirrel..

 and his habitat....crop being logged....

 then on Friday, after the Pirate's latest three monthly injection ( only six to go!) we had a little time to spare between things we needed to do....and headed for Maybole Shore....

 where the mist lifted a little

 evidence of early morning runs in the sand...

 then we returned to Maybole in time to see the mist darken and then reveal the almost full eclipse.
We both felt a little disorientated and queasy for a while...a common effect we found out later.

The living room is being sorted and tidied....one room at a time...and we are expecting our first guest of several on Monday!!

Today the sun shone brightly, making bikes the order of the day once more...and Southwards again, this time past Girvan to meet a friend on the beach for lunch...

About 40 miles ridden today....the housework and bike cleaning can wait till tomorrow!