Lazy Hazy Day of Summer

I have had another glorious day in my valley, Ben has been walked and had playtime with other dogs. I managed to get to Ammanford and back with my monthly shop within an hour. I had a very tasty and frugal lunch and then helped to plant a herb garden.
I did not want breakfast so decided to have a much more substantial lunch than normal. I put some AF pasta on to cook, in the 10 minutes that it took I diced and sweated celery, green pepper, a small white onion, the peeled stem of a head of calabrese and 3 cloves of garlic. Into that I put some spicy tomato sauce ( made last week and frozen) a good handful of sweetcorn kernels and a shake of frozen peas. The protein element was a tin of Mackerel fillets in tomato sauce, these are very cheap in Home Bargains so I stocked up.

I am not going to try to price it up but for around £1 I had lunch today and will have the rest cold tomorrow. 

The upshot of my huge lunch was that a bowl of salad was all I needed or wanted for dinner.

I have a few more photo,s from Cardigan to share with you.

The conservatory from the other end, there is one of Godfrey's helicopters on the table.

There are several of these around but this is the largest.

As you can see there is still work going on at the Castle but it is looking very good, the tide was well out but there is still enough water to provide a reflection.

This is a riverside walk that gives a wonderful view of the town across the River Teifi, I have not walked the complete footpath yet, perhaps next time. 

I like the contrast of the Church and the ancient wall and tower with the modern building and its glass fronted addition.

Reasons to be grateful.

1.  Did I mention the glorious weather.

2.  Ben,s skin is in tip top condition.

3.  I am slowly getting the house to rights.

4.  My neighbours are hopeful that they have a firm buyer for their house.

5.  My big shop is done and dusted for 4 weeks.

I know that I have had 6 weeks to get the house sorted but when the sun shines I want to do anything rather than sort out boxes. I have kept on top of the normal chores and I will endeavor to sort Francesca,s room out by the weekend. 

I am slowly getting to know the new machine, as I have a stack of quilt tops to layer that is no bad thing. I want to make some new place mats and I have a dress pattern to get made. 

I have finished sewing granny squares together now I have the ends to weave in and make my mind up as to a border.

I have stacked on a bit of weight over the past few weeks, even with all the walking, so I need to get that sorted, I think that I will find the nearest pool and start swimming 2 or 3 times a week. I do walk but nowhere near as fast or as far as I would like so I hope that swimming will be easier to cope with.

Fran will be home in 3 weeks I hope that James and Cerys will be able to come over on the Sunday.

I am feeling weary and have a busy day planned for tomorrow.

           TTFN                                       Pam

Home from Coed y Bryn

I have been away for the weekend, I slipped off to Cardigan to see James and Cerys and the kiddies. As always I stayed at the small B&B called Coed y Bryn, it is merely a 3 minute stroll from James and Cerys and is a real home from home. It is run by a lovely man called Godfrey who is a retired deep sea diver.

He keeps these on display, a real conversation starter.

The front view with Sally the resident Springer Spaniel rushing towards me for a fuss.

Breakfast is served in the airy conservatory, the grape vine is not solely for decoration or shade.

It takes control not to reach up and pluck a small bunch.

This is the 4th or 5th time that I have stayed here, Ben is made welcome but I do not take him in for breakfast as not everyone is a dog lover.

Coed y Bryn is a really comfortable place to stay, and very reasonable, It is not the Ritz but it does not pretend to be. The rooms are clean, comfortable and spacious, there are no itsy bitsy ornaments cluttering every flat surface or every inch of wall space. I once stayed in a place that had more china than Harrods and spent 2 days petrified that I would knock a priceless heirloom over and break it.

I did ask Godfrey if it was ok to write about my stay but he has no idea what I would say. I will not gain from this and it is purely my own view. 

This morning at breakfast I found that the 2 women at the next table were not only from WA but that I had visited their home town, we had a lovely chat before we went our separate ways. Me to drive home and them to walk to Poppit Sands, they are on a walking holiday.

It is a 5 - 10 minute stroll into town, it all depends on how many people there are for Ben to meet and greet. It is down a fairly steep hill so I take a stick to aid the climb back up, 2 years ago I could and did put Junior on my shoulders and stride up the hill with ease, I could not lift him now but hopefully I will be able to forgo the stick in the not too distant future.

James and Cerys are hoping to move in the next 2 months, they have their eyes on a house much nearer to Cerys,s family, the shops and school. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all goes smoothly for them.

James hosted a barbecue on Saturday and a good time was had by all, Ben managed to acquire a sausage and some steak trimmings so he certainly enjoyed it.

Francesca is back in 3 weeks so I hope that James and co will be able to come here for the day.

Oops the door bell has just rung and I have visitors so...

      TTFN                                                   Pam