Passing the Baton

 

At last ... a bit of blue sky and the rain has stopped!!

It's been dire since I set off from home to head home for Wales, don't worry my journey was totally allowable even considering lockdown restrictions as it is all work related, due to Alan being involved in something in London.  So I came back to Wales, picked him up and dropped him off at the train station and he headed down South.  Handing the baton of animal care over in one fell swoop and meeting no other living person in the process.

Being back and the non-stop rain was making me feel a bit blah ... hence I think my splurge pictured on yesterday's post.  God we all need a treat now and then ... and this was mine.

Now, as well as having enough treats to sink a battleship, the rain has stopped and there is blue sky.  I didn't know how long it would last so I dashed out with my camera to get photographic evidence.  Oh, how I would love a frosty, cold, white Christmas, it would see out our time here in Wales in style.  But I doubt it will happen.

The view this morning.  

The fields are still water-logged but there is grass visible and the works along the railway line, that took over a year to complete seem to have held out ... although to be honest I can't recall seeing a single train on the track since I have been back, so who knows!!

Our paddock is saturated but as we drain downhill the water runs off even though the ground is a boggy mire.  Suky hates it, little Puggy feet don't like getting wet and a walk around the edges of the field needs treats of enticement ... maybe it's all a ploy for treats and she secretly loves a good wallow in mud, who am I to know the answer!

The sheep have gone from our land, picked up on Sunday afternoon by Will, the shepherd and his son Taryan.  Five chubby this-years lambs off to over-Winter nearer to Will's home base and be fed on short grass and sheep nuts for the rest of the year.  Our fields will be rested until hopefully any new owner of this land will allow Will to graze his oddments on the grass that grows so plentifully because of all the rain.

It's a good arrangement that keeps the grass down and the land manured in a natural way.

In other news my signed copy of Miguel Barclay's new book arrived the other day.  

It's not a bad book, but to be honest I was disappointed that the recipes are now for FOUR people not the ONE that the other five books catered for, and the 'store-cupboard' banner is slightly misleading in that each recipe uses one or two store-cupboard items but then adds lots of other fresh things too.

So in my opinion it does not have the USP that the others have and like all my other recipe books I either have to do the maths and reduce my ingredients or find the space to store three more portions for future eating ... not easy to do when you have the freezer capacity of a biscuit tin.

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Edited to add:  The rain came back WITH A VENGEANCE.  The skies turned dark and the chickens ran back into the house.  Gloomy North Wales at it's best.  I think I HAVE to go to the shops to be in bright lights and Christmas music ... but first I'm booked in for a much needed haircut.

Sue xx