Grey

 Grey, dull, damp and chill.

It isn't actually that cold...but I have had to put the central heating on.

A little garden tidying done this afternoon. I should put those chairs in a shed....but they are all full! I think I have a tarp to tie over them.

I retreated to kitchen sorting, looking out what will sell and what can be dumped...quite a few old bidons are now in the plastic recycling bucket....

And I have sold a new cast iron casserole that we never used...to a friend!!

Next step will be coordinating meeting to deliver said item...they live 150 miles away.. but Gretna is halfway and I go through there when heading south....

A definite incentive to look at what else can go!!

Foraging starts!!

 After dropping the car down the road to the local garage....and having morning coffee....foraging was the order if the day.

A leisurely walk down the big hedge in the field 

Normally you can see Arran....

The hedgerow looks promising.

They aren't ready yet...and there is only one sort of pear and practically no plums this year....the wrong weather at blossom time, cold and wet, must have done a combination of damaging the blossoms and stopping the insects from flying.

In the other big hedge I found small apples...like crabapples but bigger...and small cooking apples, which I thinned out a bit, taking the bigger ones and the windfalls. Also haws, rowan berries and brambles.

I collected the car after lunch. Tyres ok for another month but keep an eye on the safety wear markers. One bit of the front suspension at one corner had gone...the potholes are playing merry hell with everyone's cars, however carefully you drive...

And there was a knocking noise....so back to see Davey.... possibly the apprentice could have tightened the wheel nuts a bit more...so everything was checked for play...and the nuts done with a proper torque wrench, not just the setting on the air driven tool...

Now it doesn't sound like "Three wheels on my wagon" is imminent!!

There is a wee bit of play in the steering rack...but nothing serious...we'll keep an eye on that too. All in all, not bad for a 20 year old car!!

Arrived home to a fleabay sale....hooray!! I probably should list a few more things...one every four weeks is not enough...but at the moment with all retail sales struggling...and with bikes, Wiggle et al ( now owned by the owner of Sports Direct.....) are selling things at knockdown prices....

People are expecting me to sell quality goods at knockdown prices.

I don't play that game...I will be patient....

Lunchtime in Largs

 A day out on the bus...a longer journey than I had expected...going into Ayr takes half an hour, Ayr to Largs takes just under two hours!!

I had about two hours wandering around the town, watching the ferry to Cumbrae (next time!) and having a look and chat at the gallery Studio44.

Quite a small gallery..front room size..with a selection of ceramics, glass, paintings and prints.

She has month long exhibitions, then a complete change to the next one..and is booked up until next year.  She is interested in both my pots and prints...so incentive to get going and to start with prepare the prints for sale and work out how much to charge!   At least I do have a stock of prints...

One of the local food thieves!!

I ate my packed lunch on the bus back from Largs...I didn't fancy sharing!

Maybole Shore

 A walk on the beach.

We met our Dundee friends for lunch at the Coo Shed on their way home from a Galloway holiday....then Reflexology for Pirate in Alloway just over the A77...and Maybole Shore for a walk on the beach. Unfortunately the haar was in, so we couldn't see Arran.  

Pirate remembered paddling at Opononi after Stage 3 of the Tour of the Northland in Aotearoa NZ...so had a go here... the water isn't as clean, unfortunately, but it had the desired effect.

Then home to relax.  

The plan is for a ride somewhere flat tomorrow, but we have to avoid Ayr because of the weekend Air Show.  The weather is forecast to turn on Sunday, so the end of the nice hot weather...summer mark 2!!  We did have rain last night, short and sharp, so the car has Sahara dust all over.

I need to list a lot more on fleabay this weekend as there is an 80% lower selling fees (if you sell in the first time period before the listing renews)

One day at a time

 There is a lot going on at the moment and I am feeling frustrated that nothing much is getting done...just small things, when big things need doing.

I must be stressing as remembering what went on yesterday gets crowded out! So I do need to blog every day!!

Anyhow, today was an awful dreich day, grey all day and rain more on than off.

I sat on the sofa most of the day, gradually re-listing more on fleabay...a pain, but at least I have a file with all the descriptions written on paper...as I forgot to archive them on the website, postings taken off are labelled Unsold, and disappear after 90 days. I couldn't access my account from NZ either....

Anyway I had my first sale this year, today!!

Post run tomorrow 🙂

It is fun taking photos from different angles!!

A bitsa day

 Today needed coffee!!! In the Team Arrow (Whanganui) team issue mugs, of course!!

More items have gone on fleabay... unfortunately we were away for over 90 days, so the postings that had gone from live to dormant had just disappeared...luckily I have the listings written on file, so it is just a matter of re-photographing and re- listing.

Anything new will need market research, cleaning, weighing, measuring, describing and photographing.    Mind you, there is plenty to be going on with before I get to that, and as they have been offline since November there may be a better chance of selling!!

It is still bitterly cold, but I needed a dose of vitamin D...so half an hour weeding the roses we have in pots...then sorting last year's runner bean crop

Now to sort the best for sowing soon.

One of those days that you feel you haven't done much....but you actually have.

Easy day

 The garden is really grateful for the rain it is occasionally receiving..I am hoping that the latest seed sowing will succeed. Radishes, beetroot, carrots and now at last the dwarf french beans have germinated..just hoping that the slugs and the birds don't get them!!

Today I have been steadily working on edging the hand towels...interrupted by getting into town on the bus. Our village postal collection is breakfast time...and daughter's birthday is on Monday and her husband's the following Saturday!!

Just before going for the bus I checked fleabay...I had a small sale!! That is the first for over a month. Just like most shops, my sales have really slowed down these days.

Quickly processed it....and left it on the table!!  That can go in the post tomorrow, possibly a ride over to Mauchline if the weather is good.

Now I am pinning up the binding on the last two towels and keeping an eye on the commonwealth games on the TV!

Wet and windy

 A grey day

Today we were supposed to have been going to Glasgow for Pirate to ride the boards for an hour or two.

He isn't feeling happy as a cousin has just died...one younger than him...yesterday.

All sorts of niggly problems and other peoples' sadness gets to him...plus the state of the world.  How can humans be so awful to one another?

The car was packed and he did the usual check round... one soft rear tyre...go to our garage down the hill....no special lock nut opener....

The garaged pumped the tyre up hard...but we didn't make the trip, instead the car had a long overdue sort out. No widgit....back after lunch and leave the car for him to sort tomorrow morning! He makes sure that he keeps useful things like that from any car that gets scrapped...so,live in hope!!

I have done some house sorting while in the mood, making things more accessible in the kitchen and cutting clutter there and in the living room.

Neither are really good, yet, but it's work in progress!!  I can't be too drastic as that would really stress out Pirate!!!!

Now after a cuppa I must head to my study and think what needs doing to get back to doing craft/artisan fairs and markets.  I have a form to fill in,but no point doing that until everything else is ready.  Its been ten years since I did the last proper market selling.

Now I need to make signs and display units and think how I can present everything.

A proper challenge, but a constructive and creative one. A step in the right direction.

Selling and making

 I was set to thinking by Betty's comment...why don't I do garage sales?

I don't think they are common around here. There is a car boot sale on Sundays at Ayr racecourse. 

For one thing at a car boot, you wont get a realistic value, as with fleabay auction, most people seem to expect to get something for pence.

Mind you some things go for silly prices...I bid realistically on something last year and the end price was more than a new item! I was glad not to get that one!

I look at the new price, and the going asking and selling prices before I set what I ask for "buy it now" with a reasonable minimum.

Another thing to consider is that I feel very uncomfortable in crowds, especially crowds of strangers.

I can manage selling my own work at a craft fair or market stall..just!

Today we have a beautiful sunny morning, so Pirate is out on his bike for an hour or so while I pack up the latest couple of sales and list a few more on Etsy...if I can find the photos!! If not that will mean taking new ones.

A load of washing is ready to go on, awaiting his return with sweaty kit..

And I have done a little more on my new mitts...doing the fingers with 20 stitches, 5 on each needle plus the active needle...and the stitches in waiting on two further needles..is like knitting with a hedgehog!! It does mean though, that when I have finished knitting, it is finished..no seams to sew, just the ends to tidy.

Coffee is needed for concentration!!

Sort of snowy

 Hello Gladys! More wind, and added snow showers..nothing is staying here, but a little higher than us there is a little lying snow.

Twenty-five miles north of us they do have fairly serious snow.

 We have been staying in, sorting Stuff...and grabbing a short weather window for a quick walk!

We were lucky late this afternoon as we saw a pair of dippers on...and in! the river.

  I have been reviewing what is on fleabay, and moving some items to Etsy, hoping that they may sell better there.

Incentive to sell better on the latter..and to make some new prints. As I can't make new pots...yet!

I have begun to look at my collection..what do I really want to keep?

A difficult job... Now I am looking at things I have collected over the years and appreciating them more!!

Perhaps I need to move the fleabay stock out to the stock shed and bring the collection in and have it on display!!

Out!

 We are trying to push on with selling bike bits..and after getting three away yesterday, I had two more sales this morning!!

A good excuse for a trip out...

Now you see it, now you don't!! Snow showers over Arran heading for Ayr...

We arrived home to another sale..I like this!

Then we managed an hour's walk at dusk, just at the time of day that the wind drops!

I will be busy photographing researching and listing for sale tomorrow....taking advantage of a reduced selling fees deal!!

Office work

 Not my favourite occupation....

Paying subscriptions, doing fleabay research....and finally listing them at last!!

Bike bits, ceramics and stuff..and now I find that I got as far as drafts on two...getting interrupted doesn't help!

 Some things are quite fun...but it all has to go!

A coffee picnic on a teapot?!!

Home day

 A day of getting things straight.

More washing and keeping. Time  to haul things out of my wardrobe and question their existence there! It shouldn't be difficult to find items or to put them in their place.

I have one wardrobe and coats in the boiler cupboard.  I still feel that I have too much!!

Fleabay has come back into action...one sale, which is nice, a few revisions and offers sent. The sale is packed ready to send tomorrow.

Pirate is thinking of selling his Snapon and Cornwell tools after the one went so quickly on fleabay...and at a good price too.  After all he isn't going to do spannering on airplanes any time soon!!

I am envious of my friends at the other side of the Globe, having a view of the Beaver Moon eclipse. Even if it hadn't been at daylight time here, we seem to be getting cloudy nights just when we could be seeing the heavens at their most active!!  

The merest whisper of a meteor shower is enough to bring on the clouds and rain!!

Getting things done!

 A beautiful apricot coloured sunrise for a start...then on with the jobs!!

Washing, then as our neighbour came for his cuppa and putting the world right...I left him and Pirate to it and finished off stripping the sofa..in said neighbour's garage, a very generous offer!

Would you believe it, I found the missing fire safety label...inside the sofa!!!! Inside it's construction, not just slipped down under a cushion.

The leather got packed up , the seat frame will be a small cold frame for me, the rest of the wood, mostly ply, will be firewood for our neighbour's workshop stove.

The webbing will go to Pirate's elder daughter for upholstery, the foam padding will be packing for parcels. I am not sure where the polyester pads will go, but they are clean...and the feet we have already used to raise our present sofa 10 centimetres, making it easier to use.

Then more packing , sales this time, not just some bike bits but an electric guitar case as well...that took a fair bit of construction!!  Pirate had a session riding his turbo trainer while I packed.

With a couple of family birthday cards, that all definitely justified the trip to the post office.

Back home again in time to sell a wheel locally..the best way to do business.

Pirate has been working on my bike, it now has a rack for pannier bags that suits it, we have an old set of mudguards to be fitted and today's "fun" has been working out how to fix a bottle cage with a gizmo...that's what it is called!! It's taken a while, but now he has worked out that the zip ties which hold it don't go the expected way.

It's been one of those days that no photos were taken, but plenty of things got done.

Selling... hopefully!!

 As there was a weekend with no listing fees and well reduced selling fees on fleabay, I had a photographing session....concentrating on the more expensive items of course!

After a morning out starting with another blood test for Pirate, we picked up more bike bits to sell and found a bagful of rather ripe plums, then hot chocolate in one of our favourite cafés that has changed hands.  Thankfully the quality is still there although prices had risen, although our last visit was two years ago, so understandable!

Back home and I got on with listing things to sell and Pirate went out on his local small circuit.  If he gets bored or the traffic is too high, a small circuit means that he can easily get home quickly.

Even more listing after supper....and I had hoped to message a friend...no facebook, Instagram or messenger...... Curious!!  

Plenty of other things to do, negotiating sales and emailing friends...and reading blogs of course!!

A day indoors

 With the cold wind blasting outside and heavy showers intermittently, it was a day for staying in..even if the sun did try and shine briefly as if to tempt me out...before the next shower!!

Today's job was mostly listing things on fleabay....writing and researching carefully then trying not to make mistakes as I post it!! More tomorrow too as it is a reduced fees weekend.

One small sale to post tomorrow too as incentive!!

Pretty things..but I will be glad to see them gone!!