Sparkling Seas.

It was sunny enough today for us to take our usual walk along the coast at Morte Point. There were lots of holidaymakers out and there were some red faces and shoulders from those who had underestimated yesterday's sun.

Last week's walk had prove a bit too long for Peter's knee so we stuck to the shorter walk going down by the well and then round Morte Point. The thistles in the coombe seem to have sprung up overnight, I'm sure they weren't anywhere near this tall last week.

Once again the sea was beautifully blue with sparkling white waves. A pleasure to watch as we drank our cup of coffee.

There were a pair of sparrowhawks flying overhead and I finally a got a few shots of one of them as it hovered looking for food. They are not much liked by gardeners as they prey mainly on small birds unlike the much bigger buzzards which eat furry things, beetles and worms.

Our kitchen is looking bare and huge as I've cleared a lot of things out ready for our builder, Fred, to start replastering one corner where the damp has caused the plaster to come away. Being an old building built straight onto the damp clay this is something we would have to do every 10-15 years and now seems a good time to get it done. He's also going to tidy up the walls in the hallway and stairs which are in a much worse state. It will be so nice to have all that done.

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A Quick Stroll By The Sea.

It was raining yet again this morning so I finally got down to doing some school work in preparation for the final half term of the year. Our school issue diaries run from September to September and it is amazing how quickly we are coming to the end of yet another year. (It has been a very hectic year but at least we got outstanding for our OFSTED inspection.) Once the SATs tests are over and the reports done there will be lots of fun activities to do with the children including a whole school outing to the beach. (No going in the water because of health & safety rules! )

The rain was slowing down by mid-day so we went for a stroll down at Barricane Beach. I feel sorry for all those people who have come down to 'sunny' Devon for the half term holiday. There were lots of people at Woolacombe and we were very lucky to get a parking space on the road (£1 for an hour instead of having to pay the whole day charge in the private car parks.) When we left a man rushed up and asked if we would wait while he got his car as he was desperate for a space so we sat there ignoring another car that was waiting for us to leave our space. There were quite a few people out in the water but the waves were not that good either.

The tide was in so we couldn't walk along the beach but stood and enjoyed watching the waves rush in. We didn't bring sandwiches, only coffee which we drank while leaning against the rocks. The weather started to clear while we were there and it was quite warm on the sheltered beach.

Back home it stayed sunny for a while so I did a bit of gardening. I've been repotting my tomato plants into some big tubs which used to be outside but were so old and scruffy I had intended to take them to the dump. I'm going to keep all my tomato plants in the conservatory as our climate isn't good enough to grow them outside. So far all my seedlings are doing well in their individual modules but the test will come when I plant them outside. It will be interesting to see what some of my exotic leaves taste like. Peter went off for a late row with the gig club and has just come home, tired but happy.

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In With The New And Out With The Old.

It was much cooler today but the rain held off long enough for us to go for an hour's walk around Morte Point. Not so many people out today and we did get to see a couple of seals bobbing about in the water and people watching. The pink of the sea thrift made a good contrast against the grey rocks, sea and sky.
Back home my time was spent sanding and oiling a garden table and chairs that I had bought on eBay which was delivered in the morning. I had started thinking last year that my home made pallet table had had its time as not only was the rough surface quite splintery it was also getting very wobbly. I began looking for a second hand table (new being way out of our price range) some time ago and last week I found and bought just what I had been looking for. I wanted a large round, or possibly octagonal, table with good steady legs. So many of the new tables that I looked at had spindly or rickety looking legs which I thought would be a waste of time. I wasn't too worried about the chairs but these ones, though folding are surprisingly sturdy. The set also came with a parasol and the top part of a lazy Susan which I may convert into a small table if I can find a suitable stool down at the dump.

The set after sanding and oiling. While not looking brand new I am still very happy with my buy, the total price of which including delivery and furniture oil though still making it a big purchase for us was at least 1/4 of the price it would have been if we had bought it new. I organised delivery through Anyvan, a site which lets you post your removal requirements and then people give their details and make bids for the job. That worked well for us and it was cheaper and more convenient than hiring a van.

With the parasol and only 1 chair oiled before the rain started. I'm not sure how much we will need the parasol in this climate but it is fun to have. The old plastic chairs can go back to the dump and Romas can chop up the old table for next winter's firewood.

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Bank Holiday Monday.

It was rather blustery this Bank Holiday so this morning we went for a beach walk. There were quite a few families at Barricane beach which was sheltered and fairly warm. The beach cafe has reappeared, literally. It is in a cabin at the bottom of the ramp leading down to the beach and they must take it away on a trailer for the winter. I like this cafe because you get your tea in a proper china mug and he seems to have an interesting selection of ciabattas and salads. Must try them one day. Out on the main beach it was pleasantly deserted and we walked along the water's edge for a while.
In the afternoon the sun reappeared and although I was meant to be doing my school planning for the week I was tempted out to do more work on the veg garden.

I decided that I would not be doing a proper job if I left that layer of hard packed clay under the top soil so I've started working my way across the whole plot. I often work on my knees in the garden as it is not good for my back to use a fork & spade (which is why I haven't replaced my broken spade and am using a shovel instead) and today I felt like an archaeologist as I scraped the soil away to reveal the hard packed clay and stones. I'm not sure if it is a natural deposit or if it was dumped there when the previous owner was in one of his landscaping moods. In any case the clay and stones are so hard packed that nothing can get through. Fortunately the layer is only a few inches thick before you get to a normal layer of sub-soil which is not so hard. I'm using the clay for the path and then breaking up the lower soil with a mattock. All the weeds went to the chickens who spent most of the time watching me from the gate especially when I spent ages digging out a metal post holder that was in the wrong place. One of the hens even sat herself down comfortably to watch me do this job. Eventually I reluctantly called a halt to this satisfying work to knuckle down to do my planning.



And to finish off a few tropical flowers from the Eden Project.

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Yikes!

We came across not 1 but 2 full grown adders on our walk this afternoon. I didn't see the first one which rushed across the path in front of Peter as we walked down the coombe but the second one was on the path on the north side of the Point. Peter stopped suddenly so that I nearly bumped into him, then I shrieked and reached for my camera at the same time but it was slithering away too quickly into the grass for a photo. I was grateful for the fact that I was wearing walking boots but I did have bare legs so I was glad that Peter usually walks in front of me (that way he can set a pace that is comfortable for his joints and he doesn't have to keep stopping for my photo moments). Maybe that's the reason that the man always walks in front in so many cultures, to be the first to encounter danger! We did get our first sighting of a single grey seal a few paces later. It was a beautiful day and once again there were many people out enjoying the beautiful scenery. (The spring flowers are flowering in abundance, dandelions, celandines, violets, bluebells, primroses, white campion, thrift and vetch to name a few.) People usually say Hello as they pass you but some are too deep in conversation or too rude to even say thank you as you stand aside to let them pass. I had been quizzing Peter about who he had been playing golf with the day before and coming to the conclusion that one of the men who had a slightly unusual surname was probably married to a supply teacher who I have met in various schools over the years when lo and behold, said golfing friend, supply teacher wife and mother-in-law came walking around the corner on a Sunday stroll. As is the way of inhabitants of the area we stopped for a chat (this often happens when shopping) and laughed at the coincidence. Our walk today took us along the coast path and up these steps. These are the easiest of the several sets of steps in the area being only 66 steps to climb while the others have more than 80 but I must be getting fitter as I didn't feel at all puffed out when I reached the top and didn't need 'a moment to look at the view'.

Our choice of lunch spot is dictated by the direction of the wind and if somebody is already on our chosen bench. Today the best shelter was at the Point sitting on the rocks. (Peter is trying to see the screen of his phone in the shade of his hat.) Our lunch of smoked salmon (half a packet of cheap ends) in onion and poppy seed bagels followed by home made apple cake with coffee was to my mind every bit as enjoyable as last week's roast dinner and yet cost less than my one glass of fruit juice.

The day stayed sunny and fairly warm so while I mowed the lawns Peter barbecued some marinaded pork which he served up with salads and pitta bread. This corner of the scree garden is where we often end up eating in the evenings as it catches the last of the setting sun. As we ate we once again marvelled at how fortunate we are to be able to enjoy such a beautiful setting with just the sound of the birds in our ears. A far cry from the days we lived in London when all around would have been the sound of traffic, car alarms and music being 'shared' from the pub or community minded neighbours.

This picture is for Elora who wanted to see what the arch looks like denuded of branches. Although turning those 2 trunks into an arch covered in honeysuckle is a possibility it would be a somewhat pointless grand feature and more importantly would reduce the size of what is going to be a small veg patch so I'm going to see if I can dig/cut off the roots and remove at least one of those trunks. Wish me luck with that!

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Where Did The Sun Go ?

We woke this morning to another sunny day. With the outdoor temperature at 20c we set off for another walk. I should have known that wearing shorts, applying sunscreen and opening the car sunroof was asking for trouble. Halfway to Mortehoe the clouds gathered and it started to rain. Luckily it had cleared by the time we got there and I did have a jacket in the car.We did the medium walk going first along the track to Bull Point Lighthouse and then swinging back along the top of Rockham Bay before going round Morte Point. It was too windy and cold to stop at our usual spot so we waited till we had turned back across the hill before we sat and had our Sunday lunch of coffee and bagels. I persuaded Peter to take a photo of me in my summer walking gear, it's the first time my poor little legs have seen the sun this year but they never feel cold so it's shorts from now on, unless it's actually raining.
The rest of my day has been spent doing school work, that never ending task of planning every second of every day.

(PS How does any of the above create a link to Transcendential Meditation, Funeral Arrangements or Waste Disposal ? Great Coffee deals I can follow but how did Google pick those as things I might be interested in ?)

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Glad To Be Back.

Had fun going through all the photos on my camera but first the biggest news is that we have water again. Nearly 2 weeks without any water at all was getting a little tiring. I had to bring home drinking water each day and we used water from the handy stream behind the house to fill the toilet cisterns. At least we had those options but I was relieved when Peter finally pinpointed the problem down to a fault in the electrical system in the outbuildings. He has re-run some wiring but the whole system needs to be re-wired professionally as there are all sorts of fuse boxes, defunct sockets and underground cables involved. Well done Peter. Every day the sun rises 5 minutes earlier so when it is not grey and rainy I get to enjoy the sunrise on my way to school.
I did stop at the pet carrier and take a picture of this mini sales venture. Roadside stalls like this are not a common sight around here but I would rather buy direct from a farmer/smallholder than pay for all the middlemen to take a profit. On the radio last week I heard that the average hill farmer's year's profit was £11,500. No wonder so many are going out of business.

This ornamental feature which now graces all 3 of our chimney pots has put an end to the days of the jackdaws sneaking up and us running outside waving an airgun at them and taking potshots to deter them from nesting in the chimneys.

The cages were put on last Saturday which was a really stormy day. We had thought that the builder (we have neither the roof ladders nor the head for heights to go up ourselves), would postpone his visit but he turned up nonetheless forcing us to leap out of bed where we had been having a lie-in listening to the wind howling through the trees. He did admit to having a few scary moments perched on top of the roof but it was his choice as we would have waited for a calmer day.

Skip on a few days, the weather has been a lot warmer and one morning I was treated to the sight of a great cloud bank sitting over the river valley and covering the town.

The cloud/fog lay there like a fluffy duvet with feathers leaking out of the edges. Not so pretty of course once I drove into it.

Back to last Saturday, we couldn't resist the stormy weather so we wrapped up well, packed a flask of coffee and headed off for a stroll at Barricane beach.

It would have been more spectacular if the tide had been in with the waves crashing against the cliffs but it was good to walk on the beach and blow the cobwebs out of our heads. We found a sheltered spot in the rocks to perch and enjoy a hot cup of coffee. I would do that any day rather than go to the poshest of restaurants.

Today we had some very mild weather so I abandoned my timetable and took my class out to skip for half an hour in the warm sun. We've had so many wet playtimes recently and you never know when we'll see the sun again. Some of my class came up with the most ingenious methods of skipping together including 3 of them all skipping in a line at the same time with 2 skipping ropes linked together. The boys are happy to skip because they see boxers and footballers skipping as part of their fitness regimes though I don't think much of the current fad of WWF(E) which some of my more active boys are into.

That's all for tonight, back tomorrow.

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Morte Point.

The sun finally came out today so Peter and I went off to Morte Point for a walk in the hazy sunshine. There were a lot of sheep and people about today.
The tide was far out and there was no sign of the seals at their usual spot. We had brought along some coffee to drink while watching the waves gently rolling in. Very soothing.

It was still quite windy but a lot of the other people we saw were in t-shirts or even in one case without, but not totally as happened last year! While I was standing on the point here trying to get a clear shot of a sea bird on a far off rock I heard Peter laughing behind me. A sparrow hawk was chasing a smaller bird directly above my head which I hadn't noticed. It zoomed away too quickly for me to try and get a picture.

A misty view of the beach road at Woolacombe where we were watching the sunset on Friday.

Back home I got some more gardening done, finished off cutting down the crocosmia mansorum and managed to cut back about half of the purple loosestrife that stands in 6ft clumps around the garden. I also cleared the long grass and some brambles growing up through a sprawling rose. Not most sensible to do that with bare arms and I have the scars to prove it.
Finally I've just about finished my school planning for the week. Peter's out playing pool again which is why I saved the planning till now.

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A Balmy Day.

It has been an exceptionally warm day today, a balmy 80F, so much warmer than most of the summer. It was also a really enjoyable day at school with puppet workshops and half my class disappearing off for gardening club in the afternoon. We had a very relaxed day with the children getting on with all sorts of art projects and finishing off work from the week. I wore an elegant Indian tunic over my trousers and we had a Bollywood cd playing for a lot of the time in class. It was so lovely in the evening (and it's due to last for just one more day) that when I got home I suggested we head off to Woolacombe to watch the sun setting over the sea and then have a meal at the Red Barn. It was a beautiful evening and there were quite a few people out watching the sunset and the massive waves. There were a lot of surfers in the water and we hadn't realised how many people park their camper vans and vws on the road for a weekend's surfing (despite the 'no over night parking' signs around).
We are so lucky having this only 20 mins from home whenever we feel like it.

We had a decent meal in the Red Barn, I had Tiger prawns with a Thai sauce and salad and Peter had a barbecue platter. The food is good rather than excellent but the view over the sea from our window seat and the fact that someone else had cooked made the evening most enjoyable. The Red Barn is a very relaxed surfer type of place with a fair sprinkling of kids and the occasional dog around. A blues band were setting up which we would have enjoyed but we decided not to wait as we were feeling rather tired. Our walk back along the road to the car was accompanied by the roar of the waves and the rare sound of crickets in the undergrowth. Before driving off we stopped to lean back up on the car and stare up at all the stars. The street lights behind us spoiled the night sky a bit but back at home we had a clearer view of all those countless stars. What a wonderful evening.

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Back To Work.

A little cooler today but still lots of sunshine. I have started washing the gravel before putting it back on the grass bed. There is a water tap up at the scree garden but I've found that the best way to clean the gravel is to fill up the blue tray and take it down to the stream. It was very peaceful crouching in the water gently swirling the stones around and listening to the birds. Back to work in the afternoon. It was a bit of a shock to the system after 2 peaceful weeks at home. All those little voices wanting immediate attention. This week we are having an Arts Week on the theme of 'Africa' , great for me as art is my thing.

Cherry blossom in the school playground.

In town everywhere is full of blossom and flowers, cherry, magnolia, wisteria and camellias are painted with bright spring colours. Even in the country hedgerows the bright lime green of new leaves is beginning to be seen.
Yesterday afternoon, Peter and I went down to the beach for a picnic lunch. This was our first visit of the holiday as we prefer to avoid the crowds of holiday makers if we can. Even so it was still quite busy as many schools were having a non-pupil day. For once there was no wind at the beach and it was positively roasting. I collected 35 flat slate pebbles so that my class could create some San Bushmen style rock art, luckily I took along a very strong bag. A beach cafe hut has appeared at Barricane Beach so we treated ourselves to a cup of tea which for once was served in china mugs, (plastic/ paper cups so spoil the tea).

The clean -up squad at the beach were not the noisy sea gulls which are just as likely to steal food from your hands, but several jackdaws. I have no problems with jackdaws as long as they are not trying to nest in our chimney and attic, Sarah says that some of them have built a nest in the indoor school and she has to pick up a mess of sticks every day.

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Lots Of Work.

Woke up today to a bright but misty morning.

It didn't take long for the mist to clear leaving more lovely sunshine. Out in the garden there are many early signs of spring including these cob nut catkins. It was sunny in the front yard so it was a good time to have a good tidy up. As I swept the paving slabs with a dustpan and brush, (the yard broom yet again has parted company with the handle), I was grumbling to myself on how it is that it is always me that does these tidying up job?. Answer - because nobody else notices or even cares about the mess. So why am I doing it? Because I don't like looking at mess and having a good tidy now makes it easier to clear up on the rare occasion that someone comes to visit. Grumble, grumble. On the plus side, if Peter was one of those people who like things neat and tidy all the time we would have fallen out years ago because although I aspire to tidyness I never quite achieve it.

For our lunch break Peter and I took some sandwiches and coffee down to Barricane beach. In the distance Lundy was floating on a cloud of haze with a few puffs of cloud above.

We sat on the rocks and watched the waves as we ate our lunch. There were quite a few people about which was surprising, early holiday makers? We are so lucky that we can get down to the beach in 20 mins when we want though it was one of the reasons that we moved here.

back home I trimmed the front of the leylandii hedge. It's a horrible job as the position of the hedge means that you are mainly cutting over your head with all the bits falling on your face and into your clothes. I got so hot zipped up in my old gardening coat that when I had finished I had to strip down to my t-shirt to cool off. I have tried to get the boys to cut the hedge but they get fed up and complain that I haven't got electric hedge cutters. The reason is that the hedge sits on a steep bank which slopes in 2 directions and it is hard enough to keep your balance with a pair of shears let alone an electric cutter whizzing away. I got Linas to move the big ladder for me so I could cut the top of the hedge which hadn't been done last year and took a lot of work. I also went up the ladder and blocked the holes to the loft above Romas' bedroom with wire netting to keep out the jackdaws which are still hanging around. All in all a good day's work.

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Clear Skies.

We never know what the weather is going to be like when we wake up these days. Today it was a sprinkling of snow with some crunchy ice which soon melted. It looked as though we were in for rain but once we got to Barricane Beach the sun had come out. Plenty of people were out on the beach enjoying the good weather. The sea was full of kayakers taking advantage of the more settled waves, not many surfers.
A lot of extra shingle had been thrown up onto the beach, at least an extra foot deep across the central part. This made it easy for me to climb out on the rocks to explore the high level rock pools.


With all the new shells on the beach we had a good look for the little purple shells, some kind of oyster species, that I have been using in my jewellery making. It's very hard to tear your eyes away from the ground once you start looking, there always might be another shell or piece of sea glass to pick up.
The air was so clear that it was possible to see individual buildings on Lundy, even with the naked eye. That's 11 miles away! I took some really zoomed in pictures but they were a little too fuzzy to use. (Click on the pictures for more detail.)

Also slightly fuzzy but impressive at 30 miles away is Swansea with the snow covered Brecon Beacons a further 15 miles away.

As we drove home it was so warm we had the car windows open , coats off and sunglasses on. We did shut the windows once we were up high on the hill. To the north we could see right across the Bristol Channel to Wales, and the snow covered Welsh mountains and to the west the hills of Exmoor also had their covering of snow.

Once home I managed some time outside in the garden weeding up by the scree garden where I can work from the paved areas. Dancing On Ice completes our evening and then it's an early night before the start of another working week. I have really enjoyed being at home this week and feel that I am getting somewhere with all the gardening.

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