the rest of August

 The remainder of August

The eye check went fine and unless anything else happens to it, it should settle fine.

On the way home I stopped at Judy's near Marazion and she had made me a pasty for my tea!! It was delicious...

...with baked Alaska for pudding!!!!

Absolutely brilliant and I felt well cared for.

The weather has been grey, very damp and mild... not very inviting but I had a walk out on Friday and saw about 8 seals in the bay.

I thought the sea was going to be rougher because we have had such strong winds... but it was just messy.

                        

                                                Other activities have been making a coffee and walnut sponge... actually two... the first one the oven was too hot and burnt the base... the second was too cool so it took ages to cook... I'm going to make another one this week and hopefully the temperature will be just right! 

Keith is coming to stay on Wednesday and I thought he might enjoy one.

Since the mild days the air has freshened and has suddenly got a tinge of autumn... we could realld do with some quiet days to make up for the ferocious recent winds!

My new phone camera does these 360 ones... the moon was rising directly opposite the sunset and it was lovely... these were from last night.

Golf continues to be good fun although the weather has hampered it quite a bit this month.

Chas and Steph our old friends from when the children were little - we used to holiday together... are coming to stay at Sennen in the campsite Mum and Dad used to use.  They come on Saturday and stay till Tuesday - it'll be nice for us all to meet up again... it's a very long time!!!

More fog!

 More fog!

The week progressed through fog and building work! Not mine this time.

   The house in front of mine has had a fence constructed along one side... I so hope they don't put one all along  their back wall too... a low one would be sensible to give them some privacy but please not a high one!

We also had days of fog and damp... but one glorious day!

It was a proper summer day!

The family are all keeping well, Bridgie had fun on a climbing wall on Sunday and the boys have been away for the weekend by the sea.

Keith has been playing some cricket and was sweltering in the hot weather - glad of the shade in his garden across the road or under trees on his walks.

I woke up Monday morning and decided to finally pack away the ancient computer in the corner... and to move my bed!

There was dust to deal with but the room now feels more spacious... and I can still see the sea from the bed!

Plus it's tidy for once!!

We have had a couple of lovely sunsets... 

Today (Wednesday) I pop back up to Helston for the follow up eye test. It seems to have settled down ok.

The next few days are damp and very windy so I'll be battening down the hatches when I get home... although it would be good to  get all dressed up in the rain gear and see some stormy seas... hopefully without visitors.

There seem to be too many here... it does not make for ease of mind. 

...from then till now!

From then till now... (11th August)

Finally I had my hair cut! I was able to go to Hilary's salon... masked up etc and she did it for me... (she usually does it for me at home after we've played golf but it was easier to do safely for her at the salon.) It feels good to have had it done.

I also had the first of the figs from my tree!

It has done well this year... and since then I've had several more! 

Then there was more golf on sunny days...

...and no golf on the numerous days like this...

i had a lovely afternoon teas with Judy and Bronwen (from golf) at Judy's farm near Marazion... she did us proud...

Then last Monday late afternoon I noticed some flashes in my right eye... and to cut a long story short it is vitreous detachment like I had in my left aye about 10 years ago.   (It happened just as Tim and I were going to do the final section of the coast path walk and we had to cancel our plans).

Anyway... I was checked at West Cornwall Urgent Care on Thursday afternoon and saw an optician  for tests on Saturday. It's all ok and I'll be checked again next Wednesday.

In the mean time I upgraded my phone... and arranged for Uncle Tim to have some internet data ... on my old phone. It was all done on the Tuesday which resulted in a trip up to see Tim and pass on the phone and check it all worked. It means that he can at least write and send emails from home now... and maybe be able to do more things in the future. 

The traffic was ok on the way up but was a nightmare on the return journey... taking almost two hours... and I ended up turning off towards St Ives and then heading up over the back roads.

Anyway... hopefully it is all working now. 

My new phone takes good pics... this was experimenting with a panorama setting... 

And this was from today.

West Penwith had a lot of fog when the rest of the uk were suffering 38C!

It was cool and damp here... but I've been in the see a couple of times... chilly initially but lovely afterwards.

The family are all ok... we Zoom on Sunday mornings - it's so lovely to see everyone.

21st to 30 July

21st to 30th July

Change!!!

Ah...blogger has changed...(it's been warning me for ages!) it will take a while to adjust I guess! Took me ages to find the button to add a new post! And I can't add photos direct from my phone from here (laptop)...(Ha!! Yes I can!) anyway just a quick post to say hi.

I'm sitting in bed with my morning cup of tea - how different things are now... the amount of traffic on the road has returned to a pre-lockdown amount and the beautiful quiet has gone. There are so many folk in St Just, I feel more concerned now than I have for quite a while and quite expecting there to be a rise of cases.

The family are all well, Bridgie has had a resurgence of extreme tiredness which hits her every now and then... the doctors think it may be 'long covid' as they believe she probably had it in March. She had a test last week but it was negative... (which they expected) it would be interesting if she could have an antibody test but they are not available for general public. She's fine at the moment and is keeping a record of when it hits... and if connected to anything like a long run or similar.

I've been playing lots of golf... I've eaten my first runner beans from the garden - they are last year's plants that successfully grew again this year. Yum!

Leanne and Andy have invested in a couple of these! Hypedomes? Socially distanced group dining...night sky watching... lots of potential... hoping they will withstand our weather!

15th July to 21st

15th to 21st July

Well I seem to have lost track of days even more this week!

Ben, in the Dog and Rabbit, has re-opened  for eating in... carefully socially distanced of course.So I decided mid morning on Tuesday to have a late breakfast... and headed down... to find he was closed... 

I was so disappointed... but lower lip sticking out I made my own poached egg breakfast at home and messaged the family "Ben'd closed on Tuesday's... so disappointed"  ...      Keith replied with a "I thought it's Wednesday today?" 

And it was!!!!!

Oh dear... I have no excuses!

We've had foggy, drizzly damp days and at the end of the week some lovely weather.

We played golf Tuesday evening and I played again on Thursday in a mixed knockout match.

None of the four of us played well but we scraped to a win on the 16th hole. It was fun and we finished just in time as the mist was drawing back in.

Most mornings were misty but usually by late morning it had lifted a bit.

The same was true on Saturday when we played our first official competition. It was damp and mizzly and windy till we were half way through and then it turned into a lovely day.

 My neighbour Elizabeth has come down for two weeks and is so glad to be here and away from London... she's been swimming already (twice) and is feeling better for the change of air.

We had a socially distanced coffee in the garden on Sunday morning and it was good to catch up. 

Yesterday (Monday...definitely!) was a blue-sky day from morning till night and what a beautiful sunset we were treated to!

Today is a catch up on jobs day... I keep putting off some admin type things but I need to get them done. Renewing broadband contract and sorting my phone are the two main ones. 

I remain tuned in to Classic FM and avoiding all news other than a quick catch up in the mornings... there are many visitors... lots being sensible but others too.

I remain on my guard.

Oh and I've enjoyed watching the golf which has been played in America... so good to watch it without the crowds! Brilliant!

Tues July 7th - 14th

7th-14th July

Bridgie went back to work on Monday 6th after Ben had gone but had a lovely walk in the evening.

On the Tuesday after a busy busy day at work she went for a run with the prospect of nothing but fog and rain for Wednesday!

The forecast really was looking grim but despite that we decided to head out after Bridgie'd finished work and we headed for Cot 

By the sea there was no fog but the rest was all dampness and mizzle... you can just see it at the top of the cliff.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             We took the adventurous path back...through shoulder high bracken. The path goes steeply up and I was glad Bridgie was leading the way as in places the track was barely discernible!

 

It was fun!!!!

The following day was similar, misty and damp  but we went up to Perran and then Cubert and had a socially distanced walk with Uncle Tim at Polly Joke and Crantock. It was lovely.  

This was a favourite place of Mum's - we walked back across a field of poppies (where the cowslips grow) and though it was past its best the field was still beautiful. (An analogy there too?)

While we were walking on the cliffs it was clear but the drizzle returned as we headed back to the car. Masked up we drove Tim back to his, then headed home.

Bridgie then had work to do - but later in the evening the sky cleared to a bank of cloud  and a dramatic sunset!

 The colours were still beautiful an hour after sunset.

Bridgie's Friday was a university day so she was very busy - we were treated  again to a fabulous sunset.

Saturday 11th 

...the final day with Bridgie... we walked from here to the Cot Valley and over to Letcha where I turned back but Bridgie headed on to Sennen.

Purple Viper's Bugloss in the distant field with the corn marigolds

It was a beautiful day for a walk. 

We went out again in the evening for a final walk at Cape  with another simply gorgeous sunset.

I love the shades of blue/green !

Sunday 12th

Back to London day for Bridgie... masked up and ready to go.

It was lovely to have Bridgie here for so long... an absolute treat.

I popped into Morrisons after waving Bridgie's train away... I was the only person in the whole store wearing a mask (a cotton one made by the shop in St Just). 

I bought some consolation bakewell tarts and  millionaire's shortbread and once back home cheered myself with them and coffee!!

It was a beautiful day so a couple of loads of washing got done... and dried and I had a walk down at Cape.

And so tho this week - I played golf with Lindsay on Monday despite rain forecast ...it took a while to arrive and we got 14 holes done before it arrived... and yesterday I caught up with emails and admin-type jobs... 

In St Just there are a lot of people around...  The Star Inn made the BBC news!!!! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-53389977

It is a worry having so many more people milling around so I will be very careful over the next few weeks.

I am outraged at how our government has behaved and when I read how some of Gove and Cummings cronies have benefitted from PPE supply chain and similar it makes me sick.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/15/coronavirus-contracts-government-transparency-pandemic

I don't know how they have been able to get away with it all...

29th June - July 6th

Another week!

Another week gone by - what a year this is becoming... it all seems really strange.

Today is Monday 6th. The country is officially open for business and it has filled me with anxiety. The thought of hoards of people coming to Cornwall and ignoring sensible actions it what worries me. If folk coming respected social distancing and were scrupulously careful I would be more relaxed but seeing pictures of the 'litter' left at Porthcurno for example after folk visited and camped on the beach was appalling.

i just hope for sense to prevail but I don't hold out a lot of hope.

Putting that to one side we have had a nice week.

 Bridgie worked so hard Monday, Tuesday and  Wednesday, and then her flatmate Ben came to stay in Elizabeth's and Bridgie had a holiday. It was lovely that they were able to go out for the days and I joined them on the Land's End Najizal walk although I stopped just beyond the dinosaur and watched the seals while they walked on. 

Ben sorted out my laptop and while he was here he and Bridgie did some practical jobs for me....  replacing the latch on the gate and making a lovely planter for my geraniums (see below).

Saturday was foggy but they had a walk down the Kenidjack valley and up to the castle, coming back with wet feet from the damp pathways.

You can see raindrops on the path to the Carn!

But there is a bonus now of the heather coming out!

It was a year ago that Leanne and Andy took over the golf club... what a difficult year for them and certainly not one that could have been envisaged.

It was good to get out and play yesterday after the fog of Saturday! Hoping to get more in this week while Bridgie is working.

At the moment the geraniums are just sitting in their pots in the planter, but it's lovely and I may put some lobelia in with them.

Today Ben returned to London and three lots of washing are out on the line...

blue sky and a strong breeze has been perfect for drying!  Bridgie is here for another week which is lovely - hopefully we'll be able to have walks in the evening when she's finished work.

Looking to Land's End

These always make me smile!

We had our usual family zoom on Sunday - everyone is keeping well - Tim was out walking.. how amazing it is that we can have a conversation over so many miles and see where he's walking! Brilliant!