Ophelia

I woke up this morning to find that Ophelia had left me enough fire wood to keep me warm through the winter.

It was quite strange though, because all the house roof slates seem to be intact and the poly tunnels weren't a bit torn. The wind must have channeled high speed  through a very small area.

I took a photo today of  a pheasant roosting up in a nearby tree.
He wouldn't have done that yesterday.

Aberystwyth Re-visited

At the beginning of the year, all along the south and west coasts Britain was battered by storms. Seems such a long time ago now. Hard to imagine that only nine months ago, it was all like this.
Aberystwyth on the South Wales coastline was one of the many little towns and hamlets to feel the brunt ....



We live inland about 60 miles away. Last Monday we went out on a day trip. It's funny, when it's winter you can't imagine the summer and in the summer time, winter seems a million light years away.



The sun was shining, but most the holiday makers had packed up and gone home. The children, back in school. The uni and college students not yet back. The boats in the harbour, hunkered down and not a fisherman in sight. The walkway through the castle ruins all but deserted. The last remnants of the wild little pink thrift growing in clumps by the castle wall. Rock pools with fronds of trailing red and green algae and limpets. The sea endlessly swishing as the tide idly ebbed and flowed. You could breathe in the pungent smell of  seaweed trapped on the shore. Just a few of us and the seagulls and I loved it.

Picking up the Pieces

It was a wild one last night! In our thirty six years down here, I don't think I've ever experienced a storm like it. By four-o-clock in the afternoon, the wind was fairly raging and the rain was rattling down in stair rods.  I did my best to mend a small rip in the newest poly tunnel but had to give in and dive for cover into the house.

One look through the bedroom window this morning and this is what greeted us - the 30 foot tunnel on the east side, next to the brook looked as if it had been slashed with a knife. The seventy footer one next to it was torn to shreds. Oh well  - it did need a new cover - we'd been saying for ages. and it certainly does now.

Spent the afternoon, patching the smaller tunnel with Rhino tape. Brilliant stuff for holding it all together. It was just about in one piece again when I came in. I've got spring cabbage, leeks, onions, garlic and lettuce in there right now.

All my plants were in the disaster area, along with some broad beans, I'd sown in cardboard pots.  I'd sown 6 rows of parsnips a couple of days ago. Also got beetroot, broccoli and cauliflowers growing - but they look as though they'd survived okay. It was a bit of a marathon, fleecing up as much as I could, so hope they make it through.

Anyway, the daffodil bulbs are are pushing their heads up where they can.

And the primroses starting to bud..

Good old hellebore flowering again amongst last year's windfall apples.

And Eric? ..... well he slept through the lot of it.
There's another front coming in tomorrow, so they tell us.