Saying goodbye

Leaving a garden we used to work in. The house has been sold, the owners moved on...but we are still in contact.
We have the job of clearing a few things for them.
It's the last garden job in a village we moved from in 2012.

Sad, but we do need to reduce working for others.
We need time to do our own garden, I need time to make my own work....if you look at the right side of the blog you will see 'pots'....click on that and you will see a few examples...

rake and roll

 It WILL be a lawn....the customer wants it smooth but undulating...good!

 it was like this a year or so ago...then we helped clear and level it...then they built a house..

 with sky views...

just by here...

We do have to travel sixty miles to work on the job, but we DO get to stay in the house and are well looked after.
All we have to do is work,which the Pirate does too well...he has to learn to stop when told that he has done enough.....then he wont be feeling sorry for himself for a day or more because he has over done it..... still, his appetite and blood pressure are good. So we are getting something right.

We now have internet in the new abode, but not a marvellous connection. Hopefully some judicious tree pruning will help....

walk in the rain

 Yesterday we decided that it was too wet for a ride on our bikes...so we had a walk in the rain instead!

 Up a side valley from Talybont where daughter and family live....

 and back following an old track/footpath...

 heading back towards the village

 or so we thought....this is looking back...the path should come from the left, on the far side of the gate,through where the wall has been built.....
son-in-law knows the Rights of Way officer........

 Photographer at work.....(daughter)

 This is the bottom end of the footpath, all nicely marked.....and here there is no Right to Roam as in Scotland.   You stick to the paths....if you can find them!

 We found another, going down..

 past a nice house we'd all like...

then over a bridge and back home.

It is still giving us heavy fine rain today...another bike ride was planned, but perhaps just chilling out is best.
 Daughter is doing her freelance work in the next room...a job that would have been finished, but the client has a habit of changing his mind on details...luckily he is paying for her design work by the hour!

Tomorrow we head for home with  packing to do for our house move.

answers...

 The QE is an army canteen lorry

 This is a stationary engine, at present towed by a tractor, but would have been behind a steam engine or horses. Used for driving thrashing machines.

Then the last one...not for sowing in rows but for lifting potatoes...a tattie hiker.
It would have been followed by pickers..people putting the tatties in sacks.

A fascinating place.

work

Today's job has been finishing mending an old 1920s shed..part one was making a gulley at the foot along the brick base to take away rainwater runoff.
 Then stripping off the dubious looking weatherboard, revealing a bigger job than was hoped.  
Uprights had to be fitted in using shelf brackets !

We tried to source new timber, but 5 metre boards are special order only...and would have been nearly £50 for five,plus delivery.

"New" boarding came from a "retired" shed, and all the work had to be done with screws...you can imagine what wielding a hammer near a half rotten shed would have done!

Now it is weatherproof, doesn't lean when you put a hand against it and the end wall no longer moves in the breeze. 

Our next job in a month's time is to fix guttering to the shed.

I think our job will cost much less than the £2,000 quotes that the owner received from others but we can understand just why no-one else wanted the job!
Hopefully we'll get paid soon!!

busy again...

 I'm going back to Black and White photography...even if it is telling the digital camera to do it!   It is interesting comparing that with black and white prints done from colour images taken at the same time.  I'm working on a range of black and white cards and notelets....

Only three "zaps" left for The Pirate... he is looking healthier in himself although tired by the treatment and travelling..and if all goes well  and no machines breaking down, we have the Masters National Track Championships next weekend.
 A disappointing entry, so I'm competing against 50 year olds, and I'm the oldest competitor...where is everyone?!!!!

Hopefully we get to stay with my daughter's family after that, go for a ride together and see my grandsons...they will be just four years old!!  How time flies.

And then a rush back  again for yet more treatment for the Pirate, this time for a rodent ulcer on his face....so  all you who drive in the Summer and don't use sun protection as it is in the car, not out in the sun....beware and " Slip Slap Slop" even if you are in the car....

We'd hoped for a week away to relax after this bit of his treatment finished...no such hope!!   However the good news is that I've picked up a cleaning job, combined with gardening...and we are getting other gardening jobs too...so we can save for trips away!

After the ball...

I managed fourth place in the sprint...not bad for one year back racing after thirtyfive off at this level!!
We had a good, mostly dry drive home on the Saturday night, and stayed over with friends in Dumfries..three hour's driving was enough, even with stops.
On the Sunday we had a beautiful hour's drive home, seeing the stretch of road in daylight for a change!!

Then it was to work with a vengeance...airing the house, three lots of washing then and two more the next day!
Back mowing grass again-when will it stop for the Winter?!

We went to the hospital for The Pirate to get his verdict....Bone Scan result fine, a scrip for medicine and injections for two or three months, then the joys of going to Glasgow five days a week for a couple of months.... so all being well, in six to eight months he should be starting to rebuild towards competing again....oh, and an op to improve his 'plumbing'......

The Pirate has never had a stay in hospital, ever, let alone a general anaesthetic.    Lucky man.

Today we went out for a ride to see a cottage we're doing maintenance on, for others.  It was a beautiful day, the colours of the hills brought up by the grey clouds, the road a silver ribbon in the sun. The last five miles are a steady climb, giving us a good start to foundation training for next year's racing.

We had the choice of driving up to Glasgow for a session  on the velodrome, but apart from saving £50 of all the costs of the day out, we chose a ride in the sun and fresh air.
The weather has turned here, wet and windy with sunny periods so far. I can't say that we are looking forward to ice and snow...the log pile is growing just in case, and we're busy foraging from the hedgerows.

quilting work in progress

AS I can't make pots at present, I've been doing a little piecing.......

it is based on 1" squares making up 5" blocks, and will be just over 25" square.
It is made from 100% cotton fabric and thread with 100% wool batting/wadding.

I've been inspired by the success of Andrea from Boxes and Bellows, and when it is finished it will go on sale first here!     Apart from carrying on with the tacking (pink-so that I will definitely NOT miss taking any out!!) ready for the quilting, I must research the price.  I haven't sold any of my quilting since 1998!

Meanwhile the weather here in the Waikato (and further south too, I hear on the weather forecast) is wet.  Goodbye cyclone Evan, that flattened Samoa and Fiji and gave us heavy rain a week after....hello cyclone Freda (?) who is wreaking havoc in the Solomon Islands at present.

working?

I think the laptop is working....a friend has checked it, run it, and it hasn't switched of....possibly the Kiwi style of plug is at fault...they slip out easily....I'll get a surge protector after the holidays too!!

I've been working.....

and.....

The quilt now has an inch border of little squares and a final two inch border of black....next step wadding and quilting!