The graffiti of the elderly — if not always created by old ladies, this new public art form always cheers up this old girl!
Not to be outspun — Llanidloes postbox had a Welsh dragon
Yesterday (you may have noticed) was VE day…
I don’t know who did them, I suppose that is the point, but thank you!
We had a blowy night and next morning Cwm Cudyn was blocked in 2 places, first with an Oak Tree which put our new electric chainsaw in it’s place — even with Roger helping! It lies right across the carriageway — no carriages will pass this way for quite a while.
Further up where the banks are steep and the soil thin, 5 tall pine trees lost their grip and had a go at skiing, skidding elegantly down the sloping bedrock leaving it glistening in the rain. Continuing the metaphor they all fell over in a tangled heap in the bottom of the cwm.
See how tenuous was their hold.
Still they managed to block the road.
At the bottom, where the lane is high above the river, you can see the lanky oak that normally stands on the edge of the stream with its roots in the water. It had a rough night, resisting the 90 mph gusts, and is now having a lie down. I bet that made the neighbors house shake.
Next day the levels have fallen here.
We worried about the impact of all this water further down stream but there was a news black-out — no power, no internet, no mobile coverage and the land-line was knocked out by the fallen larch on the hill.
We kept warm by cutting and moving the smaller fallen trees that were in the way and by unbunging the culvert by the house to release the Olympic swimming-pool of muddy water that had gathered on the road to stop the cars — not that there were many!
Once power was restored, Assad had fallen in Syria so there was nothing much to hear about trees or floods!
The storm has washed away the last of the snow but doesn’t know when to stop –42mm, 1.65 inches, rainfall over night and still raining.
Remember our little stream?
Here it is today!
Fortunately 30 feet below the house.
And the road’s not a lot better.
Fed by new waterfalls where they shouldn’t be.
Remember our pretty young Barn Owls:
Not so fluffy today in fact so disenchanted that it couldn’t be bothered to fly off!
“Don’t they know I’m famously not waterproof!
I suspect he’s on the balcony because the others are sheltering inside!
Its chilly here and the ground is covered and crunchy.
Food is thin on the ground and creatures need more calories to keep warm.
This is bringing birds that are usually wary of humans closer to the house.
This fine jay has been spotted foraging under the bird feeder and is battling for custody of the windfall apples with the local carrion crow, who sits in the tree posturing aggressively.
By and large jay defers to crow but sneaks back later.
Both hear the Raven up above, getting closer but still never coming to ground.
One regular is undeterred.
The Buzzards sit on the telegraph poles having removed the dead mouse from the patio, which I caught for him in my kitchen! Times are especially hard for him, and the fox as all the little mammals have gone to ground. We see the foxes prints prowling the edges of the fields but no rabbit tracks.
The one lonely fieldfare is not scared of the jay — there are plenty of fallen apples still.
But the little birds must beware!
The sparrowhawk visits daily and sits on the bird feeder — we know he’s there by the sudden eerie absence of everything else.
My new book is now in the publisher’s catalogue with a release date in December 2024!
My dog can’t read, but if I sent him a postcard, he’d sniff it and know I was fine and thinking of him. If I needed to tell him more, I suppose I’d send him one of my socks.
In an insecure world, be cheered by the landscape and friendliness of this quiet, green valley, with its unexploded bombs, stampeding cattle and life-or-death decisions. Diana’s off-beat take on life, honed by her years as a family doctor, is one of the things that made her first book, Iolo’s Revenge: Sheep farming by Happy Accident in Mid Wales, so popular. People who read it ask what has happened since?
Quite a lot actually …
Pre-order at https://logastonpress.co.uk/product/my-dog-cant-read-more-tales-from-an-accidental-farmer/
Yesterday we went looking for the Spring.
Finding only catkins blowing in the breeze which was ominously easterly.
Deep breath — one sneeze.
No yellow stars twinkling in the hedgerow —
ranunculi, the true harbinger of Spring — keeping their heads down.
We’re not there yet! We awake to 8 inches of snow. The fine stuff that clings to the trees who flex their sinews as you pass to dump it on your head — it’s their only pleasure.
Scenery, unrelieved by scarlet berries
Long ago eaten by hungry birds but not long to go now
It’s starting to drip!
1st of March — 1st day of meteorological spring — St David’s day is cause for celebration in Staylittle, Mid-Wales.
A time to meet old friends — here’s Audrey and Gareth.
We were entertained by famous local magician/retired dentist Gareth Jenkins. Sobering to find how apparently easily ones senses can deceive one — except it probably isn’t easy! Thank you Gareth.
We sported our daffs. The real things are a few days late this year. We ate cawl and Welsh cakes. Met new residents —
Here’s Anwen, the newest!
We played stand-up bingo and competed in the darts challenge — no one was injured this year. We nearly all got a raffle prize, I won a large clump of snowdrops to plant on our newly revealed bank and Bill got a birdwatchers mug and gardening gloves — how psychic was that!
The climax of the evening — Nick, who runs the village shop and won the darts challenge last year, defended his title in the final with all the bells, whistles and triumphant hype of the professional darts circuit… and lost to Audrey’s cousin! What a sport!
At last some proper Welsh snow that creaks and crunches as you walk.
The woodmen finished their tree felling just in time but it will be a while before we get it logged and stacked.
Meanwhile — a walk in the woods:
With company all the way!
Encountered by chance at Plas Newydd in Anglesey — reminded me of the power of rain and light.
These specimens seem so much more robust that the ones in pictures from California but I suspect this has to do with the wonderfully consistent rainfall in North Wales and careful arboriculture since they were planted in the 1950s — just look at the carbon they have sequested in my lifetime!
When we planted our 7000 trees in 2006 we didn’t really realise we were replanting a rainforest — but all the clues were there.
Here is some of the evidence of the rain forest potential of one of the wet western parts of Britain in which we live:
Ferns and lichens and mosses taking advantage of every surface.
Shamrocks, violets, wood anemones and blue bells scrambling to catch the light before it is stolen by the bracken or the tree canopy.
This cool, damp, verdant place bursts with life — these boletus fungi appeared all along the path between aspen and oak in the few days we were away, does anyone know what sort they are?
Suddenly it’s the autumn equinox so we can’t waste a moment of late summer sunshine!
It seems the Welsh weather has quite forgotten itself.
dianaashworth 