St Patrick's Day

A day I celebrate, not for St Patrick but because it is my Dad's birthday. Today he would have been 82 years old and we would have gone out for a meal to celebrate the occasion, marked with a pint of Guinness.

Dad taught me to enjoy whiskey, I taught him the taste of Guinness was better than a pint of bitter. Of course we had to start off in Dublin for a long weekend, and then the following year we enjoyed a tn day jaunt from Cork to Galway and everywhere in between. We did the ring of Kerry, a farming museum, Connemara national park, kissing the Blarney Stone, Cobh and the infamous Jamieson's distillery visit. We got lost in Waterford, never did find the crystal factory, we met Elvis in Tipperary, but above all we got to meet so many people and enjoyed farmhouse hospitality that made this holiday so special and memorable.

Happy birthday Da xx

Sunny Sunday

It was lovely and sunny here at the Edge of the World, although there was a cold edge to the wind at times. The garden was sheltered enough to enjoy the sun while the washing blew around on the line to dry beautifully.. now all I have to do is the mound of ironing I have although a good film will see me spin through it.

Yesterday I made oriental salmon, marinated in soya, honey and chilli, then baked in the oven the sauce turns rich and syrupy and served with plain rice makes an interesting and healthy meal. Unfortunately I also baked an apple and blackberry crumble, although I made it tart rather than sweet and had it plain rather than with cream or icecream/custard.

This morning saw me put the last of the rubbish I have sorted out into the dustbin. I am still looking for the watercolour set and paintbrushes I know I had but haven't yet found and I am positive that I didn't dispose of them but as it was three years ago now when I packed up the Back of Beyond I can no longer remember clearly.

I have no regrets about leaving, it wasn't the right place for me and I love living here down in Cornwall despite being so far away from the little family I had, but after Dad died I briefly considered moving to Australia until I worked out the costs involved but this was a happy compromise.

The deluge

Yesterday was a deluge from beginning to end... but not a complete waste of time as it allowed me to finish decluttering the study/craft room and finally I have space to use my sewing machine.. hurrah. All my craft stuff bar a few items is now all in one room and in two plastic containers one for materials the other for projects - easy peasy.

I, now, no longer have any excuses not to finish those outstanding tasks which I have to date not finished due to time and machine constraints.. so expect updates on the refitting of curtain liners forthwith.

I managed to declutter some 8 bags of rubbish, it was so lucky that the bin men were due to visit yesterday as that made a huge difference to me and meant that once it was gone it was gone forever and could not be retrieved.

Some of the stuff was temporarily put into the spare room, however this is not the long term home for this and it will be sorted and rehomed as soon as possible as guests are booked in to stay and therefore it needs to be done before they arrive.

Other stuff needs to be put into the garage awaiting someone to pick it up, and others to the recycling points and charity shops.. I even went through my remaining books with a hard head and these will be recycled to the book swaps and charities as I have read them but won't be reading them again.

After another afternoon swim with the pond boys, I left them to dry off while I prepared a red lentil jalfrezi which I had with some naan bread.. and it was lovely, hot and spicy just what I needed after a dry dusty day on my knees which today are sore and aching.

I am still looking for something, without much success although I know I packed it I have no idea of where it might be.. but I have one more cupboard to look through and it can only now be in there so that will be what I am looking for next week while I am on holiday.

The garden didn't make too much progress, after the lovely sunny day on Friday when I managed to dig over a yard of the border and remove about a sack of stones I decided to enjoy the sunshine and read a book while the boys had fun running around. My lettuce leaves are now seedlings, and my lavenders have also taken root while I am just waiting for the sweet peas to produce. I love spring and the idea of growing things don't you?

Penzance

This morning was misty, and cool, as I headed down to Penzance for my normal teaching session at the College. It is one of the perks of my job to travel around the County of Cornwall to see students or to run sessions, and although it is less than it used to be in some ways you really appreciate it more.

I had some very good news on Wednesday, it doesn't start until Sunday but at long last the College have made my role permanent so no more worrying about the end of June and the contract needing to be renewed, now all I have to do is to persuade them that a few more hours a week would make all the difference. But it made for a nice present in time for my birthday - sigh another 21st birthday... that would make ... well let's not go into just how many years experience I have of being 21 :-)

I love this cake, doesn't he look charmingly angry lol although I have just an ordinary sponge cake, not iced and won't have any candles in... there would just not be enough cake to support all those candles :-)

I also had a card from both my nephew and my aunt, my nephew JP has moved to Yorkshire and we managed to lose contact with each other until January this year.. facebook can be quite useful at times.

This afternoon, when I get home I will get an enthusiastic greeting from the Pondboys and we will enjoy a long walk and a game of ball if it not too hot before settling down to a good film this evening and a glass of wine.

Happy New Year 2012

2011 was a mixed bag for me. Lots of friends that were made in 2010 were soon lost, and then forgotten. In the wake of that, a lot of good friendships were borne, and from small acorns those friendships have become strengthened.

I still have friends from 2010 who I hope will stay as friends, even though we are not in daily contact. To everyone on my bloglist today, I hope you have a wonderful day, with no hangovers, and Pray that 2012 will bring you luck and happiness

A Kind Gesture

We are in contact with Jasper's former owner, and it is clear that she misses him badly - I would too if I had to give either of them up for any reason. She kindly sent a picture of him aged 8 weeks... be prepared to go awwwww lol

We don't have any baby pictures of Murphy, though we do know who his Dad is (and he is a Camborne Boy) so this is a picture of one of his other puppies.. and looks similar to how we think Murphy would have been at the same age.

Robinson Crusoe and the Cornish Pirates arrrgh!!!

SOH and I went to the panto last night, the rain poured down, we were both soaked by the time we reached Hall for Cornwall and we only had to walk from Haven House!

We had seats in the balcony, and when the show started we had a great view of the action. Singing, Dancing, Ditties and the traditional sing-along of the audience were all in the package. Some great witty lines, particularly with the female lead who was called Polly (ester, cotton, styrene etc).

My sides ached with laughter, the time went amazingly fast and I only wish I had pictures to show you but photography was not permitted.

My first pantomime, but I am alreadying planning to get tickets for next year which will be Al adin or Aladdin to you all.

I feel very uplifted and christmassy now

I won something!

Nope, not the lottery! ::sigh::

Where I work have had some email competitions recently, I am still hoping to win tickets to see the Cornish Pirates at home but as yet have not been lucky.

So when they had an email to win tickets to see Robinson Crusoe and the Cornish Pirates at Hall for Cornwall, I sent in an email with few hopes, but this morning have found out that I have won two tickets to see a Panto and I am absolutely chuffed to bits.

I remember a lot of my childhood, but never going to see a pantomime, and always felt as though I had missed out on something special; so now I am going to have the opportunity.

The Time Has Come...

My hair has been growing now for nearly 18 months with nigh a trim... but now with the holiday fast approaching I have been planning it's demise.

It is the longest length I have had it since I was about 30, but it increasingly gets in my way at night, during the day and on the bike. It has had bits chopped off the length by me (directed at SOH) but nowhere near hairdresser style.

It is badly in need of a trim, I grew it to get rid of an unwanted fringe, but never found the time to have a cut and blow dry professionally.

Change is good, change is positive and the benefits will be good; though I will miss my built in fly deterrent (pony tail)

Boys first visit to the vets

Today the boys had their boosters, or were supposed to, Poor Murphy has had to start his injections from scratch not much fun for him.

We had him in June and assumed incorrectly that he was protected until this June, Jasper in the meanwhile was due in November but it makes more sense to take them together so Jasper was going early and Murphy a bit later. Only when the vet went through his card, he hadn't had any jabs since his first ones in September 2009 so the poor lad has to start again. His second jabs are on the 5th of next month.

Both of them were good and as a result are now enjoying a rawhide ring to chew on which they are tucking into as I write this.

What happened?

I took the boys this morning over the fields in search of my autumnal harvest of blackberries but it was a very poor selection.

Last year, Murphy and I came home regularly with plump dark blackberries by the kilo. This year they are small, stunted and look dried out before I have had a chance to dehyrdrate them.

I really wanted a good batch to put in the mincemeat this year as an additional flavour but at this rate it doesn't look as though it is going to be possible.

Harvesting

Yesterday afternoon, after a short but good ride on the bikes down to Marazion where we had a cup of hot chocolate overlooking the Mount which looked quite forboding, I took Murphy blackberrying. We managed to collect 1.5Kg on our first expedition and I hope there will be time and weather permitting to get a few more before the season ends.

Murphy will pretty much eat anything, so I tried him with a blackberry about half way through the picking process and he wolfed it down. I have always said he is intelligent, next thing I knew he was helping himself to those ones on his level.

When I had gathered enough, we walked home, but Murphy decided that he found something so wonderfully smelly that he would roll in it.. so he was in disgrace by the time we reached home.

The blackberries are split into two portions, one is in the freezer in smaller packets ready for pies, crumbles etc. the others are in my dehydrator as I want to use these in flapjacks and cakes etc without having to use the fresh fruit.

Sunset at Tre Agan

Not of tonight, as it is still too early. But this was taken last week when we were treated to the most gorgeous sunsets I had ever seen with the Sun setting out over the sea towards St Agnes. What a lovely place to live Tre Agan is I am sure you will agree.

The World

Is a little quieter this morning, and I don't mean just because the England Football team Prima Donnas'  got knocked out of the World Cup. Not it was much more than that. The long dusty days full of sunshine and heat have mellowed the land into a gray, misty world.

At 6.30am this morning it was already hazy and hot, with the promise of more heat as the day goes on and I for one will be glad when this afternoon is over as I have an appointment with a dentist to fix the problems that the last one caused and I still have inflammation in the gum which the antibiotics couldn't clear completely so hears to hoping this afternoon will resolve it.

I didn't manage to complete the fence yesterday afternoon, it was just a little too hot and I was tired after doing the washing, shopping and ironing so just managed to get just over a metre done and the rest can wait for tonight unless the impending rain stops play.

I can't complain about the last few weeks, we have been treated to just how good this country can be when the weather is clement and she has been spectacularly kind of recent days with the long hot sunny days of Summer.

nowydh da

I didn't have to wait too long to hear the results of the interview, and from September I will officially be a Key Skills Tutor responsible for teaching ICT, Literacy and Numeracy across Cornwall so I will be doing a fair amount of travelling (which is good) and making a lot of use of the Sat Nav initially while I find my way around the county.

It is only part-time, hence the reason for joining Kernowflex which is bank admin to top up the income a bit, though I also hope to pick up some sessional teaching hours as well as private tuition in Computer Skills which should bring in the money. Then I need to have some good record keeping, along with book-keeping skills just in case the tax man cometh. If you are in a similar position, just starting out please drop me a line with any hints, suggestions etc.

After nearly a month of asking, I now have a BT landline installed, not perfectly working but there seems to be a slight problem with the circuitry that leaves the line pulsating. Doesn't bode well with the need to have broadband installed but I have every confidence that BT will resolve it :-) .

Finally, I have ordered the cooker I have chosen, not without it's own problems as ordering on-line is a bit hit and miss as the postcode is not always recognised by the various addressing systems so had to go into the store but who were very helpful in providing me with the on-line prices, and I have ordered a desk for the study from them as well one with a storage shelf system for files and should be all set for the start of term.

The weather has been glorious, blue skies and sunshine wall to wall and late on until the evening. England can be a lovely place when the weather gives us her blessing and none more that we have at the moment. SOH and I went down to Portreath beach on Tuesday evening and walked along the beach with the numerous dog owners and surf rescue trainees; the only thing that would have made it better would have been to have had a nice cold pint of one of the local ales lol but we waited to get back home and open a bottle of Black Tower to celebrate along with a chinese.

Being a Student Again

This time last year, I met with representatives from the Education department of Cornwall College in the hope of doing my CertEd with them. At the time, the house was just about to be put on the market and we were optimistic about a quick sale so I hoped that I would be able to start in the September. I passed the relevant tests, and was offered a place however the quick sale didn't happen and although I could have started in January this year it was during the daytime only and as I had only just started a temporary contract I couldn't really ask for a half-day so had to decline.

Since then I have found out that Truro and Penwith College in Truro do a similar course, and after talking to them in March at an open day I found that actually I could do the PGCE course which is similar but intended for graduates. I submitted my application, only for it to magically disappear, and I had to do another one including a 500 word personal statement about my reasons for wanting to teach and what qualities I could bring to the role.

Where is this going you ask? Well yesterday I had a formal interview for the course, and was accepted on the course. I haven't a clue about funding, but only that this course is something I have wanted to do for a very long time and I now have to make arrangements for teaching as this is a mandatory requirement for the course as over the two years I have to clock up 150 taught hours. Luckily the ICT teaching I undertook recently counts towards my total hours so I already have 30 and would hope to get a few more even if it means undertaking evening work.

So from September, I will be a student again, and collecting more bits of certificate paperwork along the way.

Glorious Sunshine

The weather is gloriously sunny, all I can see is hazy blue skies and sunshine.

Fridays are good because I get to finish earlier than during the week which is nice, and will get home and still be able to enjoy the weather.

Luckily this morning I woke up, albeit a little later than I should have done, but then some numpty forgot to set her alarm last night and so I had some extra snooze time. Still managed to get everything done before leaving for work, including making my lunch and washing up the breakfast dishes.

I have a busy weekend ahead of me, tomorrow I have an appointment with the building society, then later a trip to a rescue centre at Newquay before heading to Penryn to watch a rugby match in aid of a young man paralysed by the game. Then on Sunday, the bike trip to Jamaica Inn, my first trip on the bike in almost a year.

It was once of the sacrifices I had to make, yes I could have taken him out on my own up at the Back of Beyond but more urgent things like decorating/tidying up/decluttering needed to happen and that allowed me to come down to the Edge of the World. One little sacrifice I didn't mind taking.

The bikes are now safely in the garage, the house is gradually taking shape with things in the right places though I fear it will be a long job, but this weekend is for us to enjoy ourselves and Saturday night will be the Chinese take-away from the Hong Sing which does the most wonderful food and extremely bad for the diet.

Have a good weekend all.

Brain Drain

With all the heavy lifting duty of the move on-going, we are moving what we can in the car to limit what we have to do on Saturday. The house is therefore full of boxes, probably all in the wrong spot but we don't care. They will get unpacked in time, over time and if not at least are tidy lol

We have a lorry hired for Saturday, and will now move all the heavy stuff like the washing machine, fridge freezer and garage stuff then finally we will be in formally and fully. No more caravan nights for a while, the luxury of a shower or even bath when we want and running water.. it all seems a little dream like at the moment.

With the limited facilities we have in the kitchen at the moment, it is still possible to cook up a decent meal, last night we had jersey royal potatoes, carrots, peas and lamb shanks in mint gravy (the latter being on special from Asda) and it was absolutely gorgeous - who needs a cooker - well actually I do, just waiting on the monies being returned from the solicitors and then I can go and order the one I want... Tesco's here I come, well I might as well bag a swathe of club points which we might be able to use against the hire car for September.

I move stuff in the mornings from the caravan to the house, while SOH moves stuff in the afternoons from the container to the house... still we are both tired, sore and drained by the end of the day and with the warmer weather coming I am finding it a bit stuffy at night so last night I got the window open by me and slept in a nice cool draft of air. Better than the night before when I woke up feeling all stuffy and then developed a migraine which while it didn't stop me teaching, it did stop me driving :-( not too good for work really.

Roll on the weekend, bring the work on... for it is good.

What fun it is

We had a busy weekend, we are luckier than most in that we can unpack slowly due to the bulk of the goods being in a storage container. I think those people that have to move out of one house and into another the same day or the following day are brave souls, and probably have a removals company to help.

Costs were limiting, we couldn't afford the house and a removals company so have had to do the bulk of the work ourselves and by that I mean SOH has as he provides the muscle; apparently I have a wonderful knack of doing the wrong thing at completely the wrong time even though I think I am helping. So I get to move things that I can move like boxes, and he directs operations.

We have got some stuff in, and we have had our first meals cooked at the house albeit with a combi microwave and a steamer but even so it was more than edible and we enjoyed it very much. The cooker has yet to be brought, and reluctantly even I have come to realise that the lustful item is not going to happen instead I am looking at a double oven by Indesit that is a fairly unique colour of stainless steel (it almost appears to be a pale gold colour). This gives me extra money to spend out on a dishwasher and tumble dryer; I prefer where possible to dry clothes naturally, and I hate spending money on drying clothes but I have a lack of drying space in this house unlike the other house which had a car port I could use to put a clothes line up so hopefully I won't be using it very often.

The curtain poles are going up, they are satin steel extendable ones and apart from a lack of curtains hooks we have at least got one pair of curtains up. and have a working television for those moments when we sit down and have a cup of tea surveying all that we have done and all that we have yet to do.

It is nice to be able to shut the door and know that we are in our own home, all brought and paid for, every single brick and tile :-) we are very lucky people.

Tre Agan (Our Home)

It's officially ours, the money has been wired and I will be collecting the keys to Tre Agan this afternoon.

So long to the old homestead at the back of beyond which now belongs to someone else who I hope is very happy with her choice.

Say hello to Tre Agan, the official residence of Sage and SOH

With views from the front door over to the North Coast and Portreath (only 3 miles away), and views of Carn Brae from the rear it is a good location.

PS. anyone noted that the downsizing didn't really happen as this is also a 3 bedroom house with a garage lol...

Still it has plenty of storage, and isn't too near to town, but not to far away to be within walking distance. Just need to ring the utility companies and sky to arrange for a satellite dish.