Design

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,...

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 ...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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 ta...

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...

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...

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 wa...

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 a...

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 Lu...