Some years ago in a fit of enthusiasm, I made elderberry wine.  The enthusiasm lasted long enough to get it into a demijohn, and then faded away, so in the demijohn it had sat ever since ( Read more... )

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I have just come past a neighbour baling out his MX5 with an old Costa coffee cup.

"It doesn't leak!" he announced, in defiance of the evidence. "It's just there's so much condensation!"

Usually we try to go out on the river at high tide, because the upper Tamar is VERY muddy, and low tide involves way more mud than is pleasant. But you don't get a day like this every day in December.  So we drove down to Weir Quay, hoping that would be close enough to the sea to not be completely muddy.  This hope was... sort of fulfilled.  The ( Read more... )

Two photos from a quick paddle up the river yesterday:
1) the Spirit of Mystery.
I thought this was just a random Cornish lugger (and very pretty) but googling turns up a wikipedia page for her that says she is a replica built in 2008,  which was sailed all the way to Melbourne, Australia (to commemorate a previous journey from Cornwall in 1854 ( Read more... )

 On Wednesday we went to Saltash, to join a boat trip going to see the fireworks in Plymouth (the competition runs for two nights, and three professional fireworks companies compete on each night. )   I realised in the car on the way that my hair was down and I had forgotten to bring anything to prevent it flying in my eyes if it should be windy, ( Read more... )

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It has been far too hot recently, and mostly we have done very little.  But on Sat evening and Sunday evening we bestirred ourselves to catch the tide ( Read more... )

The bluebells are fading now, but this weekend I caught these just still scented in the sunlight at Grenofen on the edge of Dartmoor, on a short walk with my mother.  It was rather warm, and we retired to the cafe at the top of the lane for smoothies and ice cream.  The cafe used to be a pub, but there's more market now for selling tea and cakes to ( Read more... )

Pp has gone off to a game expo leaving me in command of the Shop on the Borderlands.  I fear I am inevitably going to screw something up, and am in suspense as to what it will be ( Read more... )