Category: Pic of the week

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Nice Nice

In the early hours of this morning we made it home from a wonderful week in Nice. We flew out last Saturday evening, and spent the week based in a small resort: Cros de Cagnes about 15 minutes from the centre of Nice. The “town” we stayed in was lovely, 5 minutes from the train station giving us access up and down the coastline and we had a wonderful view from our apartment: across the road to the sea.

Breakfast everyday was a real treat: we found a boulangerie on the sea front 50 metres from our apartment and we soon settled into a routine with everyday beginning with a two coffees (each) and sharing three pastries, all for just a little over 10 euros.

I took the opportunity to swim daily, the water quickly deepening of a pebble beach. It was rarely flat calm, and on a few occasions, when the wind strengthened, the waves would crash against the shore, enough to deter Becky from swimming much. Both this week, and our fortnight in Greece, have reminded me just how much I just enjoy being in the (warm) sea. My happy place!

We hunted for heart shaped stones

and used the train to explore the coastline, visiting Nice (very Nice), Menton, Antibes, and even a day trip to Italy: Ventimiglia.

It was hot, perhaps at time too hot for exploring the towns and cities we did. We both loved the holiday – an extra, or add on, to our two weeks in Greece, and Becky, in particular, enjoyed trying to recall and use her schoolgirl French from 39 years ago (I struggled with the language – defaulting to Spanish, the realising this was wrong. Once I even found myself using Italian (arrivaderci) – no idea where that came from (this was before we had been to Italy for the day)) But, despite the wonderful art, clean streets and “typically French” architecture, I don’t think it did enough to knock Greece off our number one summer holiday spot.

Whilst we were away, Sam (& Poppy) had stayed at home, so my plants are well watered and the flowers beginning to bloom. After four very different weeks (2 in Greece, Sam’s graduation “week”, and a week in Nice) we are now home know for the rest of the summer, what feels like phase 2 of the summer holidays.

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The Graduate!

On Thursday we went to Cardiff for Sam’s graduation – a 2:1 in History and Economics from Cardiff University. If truth be told, there were times when we thought this day would never come, so particularly proud of his achievement.

Joining us for the day of celebration was Sophie, Poppy and Smithy,

It was a great day – a “fun day” rather than a day of pomp and ceremony.

We’re very proud of him.

I’m posting a bit of synch, on a Saturday, as we’ve been away for two weeks to the Sporades (Alonnissos, Skopelos, and Skiathos) and had a wonderful time, and later today we head to Nice for a week.

We enjoyed lovely weather whilst away, it was also hot and dry here. Sophie came home to escape the heat, and helped keep the garden watered – its looking good.

Not sure how it will fare with another week of neglect, time will tell.

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School’s out !

And holidays beckon

On Friday school finished for the (academic ) year. To be fair, as Head of Year 11 all of “my students” had finished and gone home in the previous week, so if I’m honest I had pretty much checked out myself for the last week or so. But I don’t feel guilty about that – its been a tough year and I have, at times, questioned why I do it. The almost complete lack of emails in the last 10 days or so has been a real treat, and a reminder that there is life beyond school. But the money is good – I am conscious that I am at the peak of my earning power and I will never earn as much again, so its a bit of a balancing act to fill the cofers in readiness for slowing down and, ultimately, retiring. Something had to change, and that change is my year group – I pick up a new cohort in September, I hope that they will be better than the group I have just waved goodbye to. One more cycle – ie year 10 and then into year 11 – as Head of Year is the plan, but plans can always change …

Sam (and Poppy) came home on Thursday, having finally vacated his Cardiff house, and today they have travelled up to London. Early doors tomorrow, Becky & I head of to Greece – flying to Skiathos, then on to Alonnisos followed by six days in Skopelos, so my blog will continue for the next couple of weeks on https://hap-pea-travels.co.uk/ Am looking forward to submersing myself in the Greek sea, and having it wash away all my cares and troubles. Yamas!

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Sophie Ellis Bextor, and Father’s day

Possibly should have been included in last week’s blog, as last Sunday Becky and I went to Bristol (again!) to see Sophie Ellis Bextor at the Bristol Beacon. It was an excellent show, both of us have seen her before (although not together) and we weren’t disappointed with her show of poppy disco, glitter and razzmatazz.

Fast forward a week, and today is Father’s Day. This morning I went over to see my dad, he was looking well for his 86 years, although he’s not as spritely as I remember him from my childhood (this is, of course, to be expected!) And this afternoon I’ve enjoyed video calls first with Sam, and then with Sophie (who also gifted me a couple of books and a snack mix.) I’ll be seeing them in person on Wednesday when the come home for a brief stay en route to see Becky’s mum and Dad (with Becky) on Thursday.

I ran 7K today, and I ran a new, 5.5/6K ish route on Wednesday: I ran through the fields to the weir, then along the canal path to the road and, initially, I crossed the road and ran back on the other side, through some very long swish-swashy grass, but then, at the first gate into the next field, I saw a lot of calves and one or two concerned looking mother cows. I decided not to chance it, and just doubled back on myself. It was, however, good to get a mid-week run in, and running cross country was a nice change and also forced me to slow down as you have to keep an eye on your foot placement. I do think I need to get away from thinking about times, and just run; I am starting to enjoy it again, and starting to get re-energised by running. My aim is that, over the summer holidays, I’ll run at least one 10K, just so that I know I can still do it.

The weather has been a bit changeable this week, with some rain at times, but today has been warm and windy, and next week the temperatures are set to soar – after a brief interlude, summer is following on nicely from Spring.

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Sam’s finished!

So after 4 years, a course change, and two different houses, Sam has finished university! He had his final exam on Friday, he think it went well, we now just have to wait until 2nd July to find out his grade. There were times (ie the first year) when we thought he wouldn’t complete university, swapping from Chemistry to History & Economics was the making of his degree and he does seem to have been engaged and interested in his studies, although he admits he is glad to have finished, and won’t be racing back into education anytime soon. What next? Who knows – like a modern day Dick Whittington, he’s going to head to London where the streets are paved with gold to seek his fortune.

Back here in sleepy Somerset the garden continues to look good. The Love in the Mist are beginning to go to seed, but the ox-eye daisies have bloomed to keep the interest going. It still takes a leap of imagination to see my sunflower seedlings go from the spindly things they are now into the big, bold, strong sunflowers I hope they become, but they do seem to be heading skyward. And the pumpkin seedlings have had a growth spurt and are looking strong and healthy, ready to swamp anything in their path.

Last Sunday was the first day of Summer – after the driest Spring on record, summer has not lived up to its billing, being mainly grey, often wet (big rain yesterday) and a little chilly.

On Thursday evening, circa 9.30pm, whilst sat watching telly I spotted a hedgehog that appeared near the shed and rooted around for a good twenty minutes or so. Last night we saw it again, it came from the far end of the shed, and ultimately returned to the compost bin area. A welcome visitor!

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A Busy Week

Its been a busy, but ultimately, fulfilling week as half term draws to a close. Becky’s return from Scotland was delayed by a few hours, meaning it was about 1am on Thursday, her return coincided with an improvement in the weather so it was worth the wait – everything is better with her at home.

My Love in The Mist has burst forth in flower and is looking magnificent

I include the picture below for reference for next year – before it all flowers – to see where there are still patches to be planted.

On Friday I took delivery of the 60 (!) geraniums and 30 lobelia that I had ordered earlier in the year from Thompson & Morgan and have planted them up. Although small, they seem healthy and appear to have settled in well. I also planted the last of my sunflower and pumpkin seedlings out into the big, bad world – so far, so good.

Yesterday I nearly trod on a slow-worm whilst hanging out the washing: a pleasing addition to the garden

and then later on, a baby blackbird thudded into the kitchen window and lay stunned below the outside tap. Later in the day, it seemed to have perked off and we witnessed it flying away

Earlier in the week the Ka had its MOT – it initially failed on one rear tyre, but I’ve had all the tyres replaced (the other rear was also very worn, there was a nail in the front left causing a slow puncture) and on Wednesday I took the Micra to Cardiff for a fleeting visit to collect a load of Sam’s stuff. Its hard to think he is now in the last month of his student days (he has his final exam on Friday) and then the next chapter of his life will open – whatever that may hold.

For info purposes, yesterday we signed up for EasyJet Plus.

Today I ran 7K – having run 6K on Monday and Friday – I get the sense that my running mojo may be returning, something to nurture this summer (although annoyingly for the last two runs, Map My Run didn’t work, so I’ve got no splits data)

Back to work tomorrow – 4 short weeks, and then we’re off to Greece!

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Sam, sun, and Tony Ann

On Monday, Becky and I went to Bristol to see Tony Ann, a young pianist and it was a wonderful evening of culture, a rare outing on a school night!

Having parked up, we ambled across College Green in the warm evening sun, before sitting for a drink, al-fresco, at an Italian on Park Street. It did feel a million miles away from home, and was a lovely evening.

It helped that the glorious weather continuous. We’ve been treated to blue skies, sunshine and (almost) uninterrupted dry weather all week, culminating in another lovely Sunday, spent outside, pottering, reading and snoozing.

I say “almost” because on Tuesday evening the sky darkened, thunder rumbled and then the sky was rent asunder with lightening.

For about 30 minutes, it was quite some storm

but the water was welcome. I suspect we may end up in a drought this summer – a price I’d happily pay for the wonderful weather to continue. Its only mid-May, so everything still looks fresh and green, and my sunflower seeds sown a couple of weeks ago show great promise.

And we’ve been blessed with a visit from Sam. He came home on Friday afternoon, and returns to Cardiff tomorrow evening, but its been lovely to have him home for a short while. He has completed all his assignments, he just has one exam to do on the 6th June, and then that’s his university days done. I think he is looking forward to finishing, there are times when it looked like he’d never be a university graduate. but now that’s a racing certainty. He’s not sure what the next steps of his life will be, but I’m sure he’ll work it out.

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A Sunny weekend

After a dry, but not necessarily warm, week, the temperature rose for the weekend, giving us a couple of days of pleasant temperature, blue skies and sunshine. Certainly “usable” weather, and we’ve spent much of Saturday afternoon and Sunday outside. The alliums are currently the “pic of the crop” providing crowns of colour against the green backdrop. They look particularly good in the lawn, and in the trugs by the lawn. I will admit to being disappointed with my alliums in pots – they dried out whilst we were in Crete and now are only producing a few feeble flowers to offset brown, curled leaves.

The difference a few days can make – above are the alliums yesterday (Saturday), below was them on Wednesday.

Have provided us with plenty of blossom flowers, the apple tree is now laden with young fruit:

The hostas are looked full and green, and new to us this year, some dahlias are providing a splash of colour.

Across Saturday and Sunday, I dug up all the bulbs from the front trug – a job that seemed easier this year than I remember from previous years. I suspect it was because the soil was so dry and friable – March, April and now May have been very dry months.

All this work can be tiring, so I took the opportunity to take a quick nap ….

(and just for info, today I planted 5 pumpkin seeds (why five? that’s all I had!) and most of the sunflower seeds planted last week have sprouted.)

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A wonderful week of weather

We’ve been enjoying a wonderful week of weather, a mini-heatwave that begun last Sunday and has continued all week, bathing us in blue skies, and warm weather, nice and warm, but not unbearably hot (although it has got a little warm at night.)

Sadly, though, its all change today – still bright, light and sunny, but the temperature has dropped significantly, and a chill wind whips through you when you step outside. However, it forecast to remain dry this week and beyond, after a dry March and April, it looks like May is following in the same way. The ground is getting hard and, whilst everything remains a lush green at the moment, I don’t think it will be too long before pots and plants begin to dry out. The alliums I planted in pots way back in Autumn have already suffered from the hot dry spell, when we were in Crete – the leaves are wilted and brown at the edges and there is not multitude of strong flower heads that I had hoped for. All is not lost, though, the alliums in the lawn are now in flower, and the ones planted in the small wooden trugs are set to open soon.

Today I sowed some sunflower seeds – 12 “High Hopes”, 24 “Start-a-Garden” and 24 “Earth Walker”, all in the front porch. The bulbs in the front wooden trug have all gone over, I’ll look to lift them in the next couple of weeks ready for these sunflower seedlings, and geraniums that are on order from Thompson and Morgan, due to arrive late May.

We had a little bit of drama on our street this morning – as I returned from my run there were two police cars parked up and four police, ringing the doorbell of a few doors down. Becky kept watch as I warmed down, after a lot of waiting around, the eventually spoke to our neighbour for a few minutes, before driving off.

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Sun!

Today the weather has been glorious, resulting in our first lunch in the sun of the year. I’ve taken advantage of the blue skies to paint the gate. Late yesterday afternoon I got it into my head to do it. so I wire brushed it and washed it ready for this morning. I’ve applied two coats of Cuprinol grey paint (found in the shed from when we painted the shed. Nearly a full tin and, once stirred, as good as new) I’m pleased with the result, it was beginning to look a little weathered and tired (perhaps the look I too often sport!), now looks a little smarter and more cared for.

Returned to school on Wednesday, but before that on Tuesday it was time for a bit of tree surgery, lopping off some branches from the tree in the corner above our compost bin. Does look better, although if you didn’t know, you wouldn’t think we’d taken anything off.

The garden is looking good, the lawn in particular, with drifts of forget-me-nots, swathes of daisies, a few tulips to provide a splash of colour and the first of the alliums about to flower. It has been lovely to spend much of today outside, soaking up the sun, reading, and also finding time for a small little snooze!

(and just for info, to give a point of reference in time to my blog, this week, on Monday the Pope, Pope Francis, died.)