Dog-Sitting Day

Mark, Stuart and their dog Sharpie have been joined at their camp-site by their neighbours John and Leigh, two children Declan and Ewan and their two dogs. I offered to have all the dogs here so that they could go to Portreath beach for a surf.  I was envisaging four small dogs all playing happily together and then they arrived!!  When the car pulled up it had a miniature pony in it!  Grayson is a Leonberger – the Gentle Giant which is about 3ft in height at the withers!!!!  Their other dog was Rossie a 14 month old rescue springer spaniel who fell in love with Hamish and followed him everywhere that he went. 

After the initial investigation of their temporary home they all settled down very well.  Grayson and Sharpie the bulldog spent the morning outside in the shade …

While Rossie kept his eye on Hamish in the house …

In the afternoon I handed over the dog-sitting duties to Mike’s sister Lesley as she’d arrived to keep him company while I spent some time on the beach with the others.  The surf was great and I had a lovely time with them.  Poor John who already had a dodgy back when he arrived, stood on a weever fish and had to visit the Surf Club to get his foot treated.  He had to sit for 15 minutes with it in a bowl of hot water – as hot as he could take it.  Meantime Leigh who was enjoying the sunshine which was topping up her tan, had a seagull do the unmentionable all across her stomach!!  However they all had a fantastic time and have vowed to return to Cornwall another year.

Bedding Plants

Summer is here!  The bedding plants are in!  Who better to help me than Hamish who really just enjoys posing with them when all the work is finished.  And a pasty for lunch when you’re a busy gardener!

High Tide!

It’s that night in the autumn when the tides are at their highest and the wind joined in to make it even more dramatic.

Unfortunately it was already dark so the photos are not that brilliant but they’ll give you a flavour of what we watched and how close the water came to our home …

Odds and Sods

I’ve gathered a few photos lately which don’t really deserve a post of their own so I’m putting them all on this one.

Firstly when travelling on the Park and Ride from Threemilestone to Truro I saw that the Graffiti Grannys (Cornish yarnbombers) had been hard at work and it all looked very pretty …

When we had the short spell of warm weather I managed to get a bit of painting done to the garage wall.  It’s not finished yet but I’ve made a start!

Coffee break time with Hamish …

A mini with eyelashes parked at Tesco last week …

Blossom in the village …

A rainbow a couple of days ago …

and last but not least my two boys fast asleep together …

Meet Amelia …

We went to Tesco for the weekly shop and just inside the door was a tub filled with teddies which were reduced.  They were Mother’s Day presents down from £7 to £1.75 and I may be a sixty-something grandmother but I’m still a sucker for soft toys!!

Hence Amelia is now a  member of the family and she lives on the bed alongside Stewart …

Bottling Chateau Portreath

We’ve had a 5 gallon container of red wine waiting to be bottled for a little while now but with Mike’s poorly eyes it’s a job which has been delayed until he felt able to do it properly.  This morning he suggested that we get it done, apart from anything else we wanted to try it!  I helped him with the specific gravity testing as the marks on the hydrometer are very tiny and then after sweetening it up very slightly, it was over to him to bottle and cork.

At six o’clock the first bottle was opened and it tasted as good as ever! 

Chateau Portreath is the best!  Cheers!

Visitor from Ireland

I suddenly heard a thump and looked out of the window to find a pigeon sitting on our veranda. It was ringed and so I guessed it was a homing pigeon which was stopping off for a rest. Luckily we always have some corn ready to feed the local ducks and so I gave him some which he tucked into …


The next evening he was back again and I managed to read the ring which had IHU on it. Checking online I found that it meant he was an Irish bird. He appeared once more for some food and then he was gone. No sign of him today so he must be on his way home.

Two Down One to Go?

They say that things happen in threes in which case I'm now sitting here waiting for a third thing to happen. Last Friday when I turned on the PC it wouldn't connect to the internet and when a BT engineer came out on Monday we were supplied with a nice new shiny black Home Hub. Everything was great until Wednesday when we were watching the Tour de France in the afternoon. It was the final sprint for the line and 'blip' the TV went off as we'd had a power cut. In just a matter of seconds the power was back on but would the Sky+ box come out of standby? Would it heck as like! After chatting to a nice chap at Sky who tried everything to get it working for us we had to admit defeat and wait for an engineer to come out. He arrived today and so we now have a nice new Sky+ box but of course all my saved programmes have gone with the old box. Bah humbug!! I dread to think what the third thing will be. I'll keep a close eye on the freezer I think! The washing machine broke down a while ago so I don't think that can be included in my three things. I'm just a little worried ...

Wash Day Blues

We bought our washing machine back in 2003 and it has given us nothing but problems. Thank goodness for insurance is all I can say! The repair man at one stage was coming out so regularly we were on first name terms and the kettle would be on as I knew exactly how he took his coffee!! We have had about a year problem free until just before we were going on holiday when there was an almighty bang. A new chap came out and said the drum needed to be replaced and I could have a new seal on the door. Great news but it couldn't be done before we went away and so I had to wait until today for it to be fixed. Several loads were taken to mum-in-law's machine so that we had clean clothes to take away and Jamie and Phill's machine was used on our way home. Thanks all of you. Well today it was repaired and I now have a fully functioning machine again. About the only part that is original is the shell! The chap took it apart in the kitchen, sorted the drum outside and then rebuilt it again. I never thought I'd be thrilled to bits to be able to do the washing!!

Christmas Decorations

Where has the year gone? I can't believe it's time for the Christmas decorations to come out of the attic but this morning Mike fought his way through all the stuff stored up there and found them. I love my little tree in the window ...

We wouldn't have the room in this house for a big tree but I would hate not to have one and so this little chap is just perfect. The robins are back in the window of the computer room and as I sit here now they are the only light I need to work by ...

When in Norfolk in October I bought some fibre optic lights from Lathams of Potter Heigham (my favourite store for bargains) and we've put them up in the dining room with a fibre optic tree ...

Merry Christmas everybody!

New Bathroom - Finished!

Since the plumber finished his part of the work on our new bathroom, Mike has been hard at it finishing the tiling, fitting the glass door and the new bath panel. It looks so different as it is now light and sparkling.

He had a few hairy moments like when he opened the penultimate box of tiles only to find that about a third of them were broken! We'd bought them ages ago so there was no way we could complain and we just kept our fingers crossed that we had enough to cover. Apart from several small bits there were just one and a half tiles left at the end! Phew!! The other problem was the bath panel. It just didn't want to fit and so the lower part of the door frame had to be cut out, a couple of tiles removed and then it went in! They don't seem to have these problems on 60 Minute Makeover!!

Anyway it turned out right in the end and now we have a super-swish new bathroom ...

New Bathroom - Phase Three!

Tony arrived this morning to complete his work on our bathroom. Mike had taken up the old vinyl flooring last night and laid the pale green vinyl ...

and in no time at all the vanity unit was attached to the wall with the new basin and tap and looking very smart!

I can't believe how quickly all the work was done and all it needs now is the tiling to be finished so that the shower fittings can be fixed, the glass shower door attached and away we go!

Power showers each morning - I can't wait!

New Bathroom - Phase Two!

After lunch it was time to get the new bath fitted ...

We knew it was going to be a very tight fit and it certainly was! Mike had to help by removing some plasterboard and then he had to chisel some channels in the verticals in the stud wall ...

It finally fitted properly and all the plumbing was done ...

so we now have a fully functional bath!

New Bathroom - Phase One!

The plumber (Tony) arrived this morning and work has begun on the new bathroom.

Mike had done a few preliminary things like fitting the towel rail and some of the tiling ...

but things are happening really quickly now. The old shower was taken off the wall ...

and the new one fitted with all the pipework and cables being hidden in the stud wall ...

Then the basin was removed ...

and finally the bath went out ...

It was then tidying up time while Tony went to get some bits he needs.

Mike had to screw some pieces of plasterboard on to the wall as there was a huge gap between the bath and wall ...