River Cottage

Wannabee you are more than welcome to come visit any time. But give me six months notice so I can get the house fit to receive visitors, lol.

Sitting watching a good secondary burn, chucking out loads of heat using virtually no wood

http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f374/davewgcook/?action=view&current=Secondaryburn.mp4

Saturday was an early start - feeding in the pitch black at 4.50, full moon giving me glimpses of what I was tripping over.  Unload cold store into van at 6.00 and drive to Mumbles market, watching the sun rise. A lovely day brought out the crowds and was busy selling all morning - faggots, black pudding, bones and pate all sold by 10. Sold 700 sausages too. Change wheel on van as it had gone flat while we were busy looking the other way.  Drove back and arrived at the farm at 3.30ish.  Frantic feeding before the light went, strawing up arcs etc, then unloaded the van, wash all the stuff and clean down, aprons and tablecloths etc in the wash.

Grandchildren arrived and "Granny burgers" cooked (their favorite!). Small boy given an Airfix kit for his birthday, so the next half an hour spent getting blue paint (they come with paint these days!) off small boy, sofa and cat. Star spotting in the yard until we all got cold, and then a frantic game of Darth Vader with torches and voices to wear smalls out.  Smalls to bed and large glass of wine for me.   A good day!

Wow Paint! When I was a girl you had to con your parents into taking you to the hobby shop several times (the first few because you forgot what colours you needed and whether you needed decals to identify enemy craft). Sigh. Those were the days.

Today was back to work day so an early start to drive down to the big smoke dropping the dog off en route and the luggage at the bedsit. Only to return tonight to unpack the luggage, make up the bed with fresh linen and get dinner ready. Today is, of course, racking day for the two remaining wines, so will have to give you an update on the appropriate thread once I finish my cuppa, make the bed and deal with that little task.

We managed to get a day off, so went to Mottisfontand had a walk round. Sadly the font was very low and not flowing over the weir. We had never seen it like that before, but it has been like that since July apparently. Still some water coming in, so must be just moving through the ground.

Lovely sun, so enjoyed the weather. A bit warm, but some flowers still out in the walled garden including some really brilliant smelling roses.

I love Mottisfont, the Rex Whistler paintings in the salon are really good (grounds only open now though!). Lovely collection of old English scented roses in June too.

Been busy here processing capsicums, bought a load cheap this morning and have been working through them on and off between chopping wood, feeding the stove, feeding the chickens, and feeding myself

Today I have mostly been resigning, knitting, drinking tea, doing admin and letting the Rayburn go out my mistake. Whoops. Cold bath for me then................

lol

You resigned? Do tell!!

Another day in the office. I went out at lunchtime to get some coathangers for the bedsit and managed to escape all my favourite bookshops unscathed. Unfortunately I relaxed too soon and the remaindered book shop had two (yes two) books there that had to come home with me. One is a biography of Joanna, a fourteenth century European queen who lived in turbulent times. The other a novel called Rivers of London. I picked it up to read the blurb as I assumed some relatively meaty discussion of London's hidden rivers, but then I was enthralled by what I read:

'My name is Peter Grant. Until January I was a probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service, and to everyone else as The Filth ...

Then one night I tried to take a witness statement from a man who was already dead but still disturbingly voluble, and that brought me to the attention of Chief Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England ...' and so it goes on.

Now how could I leave a book like that sitting unloved in the shop?

waiting for an electrician to come...getting bits n pieces sorted before the winter sets in.