Did you know ...

... that Haar, as in sea haar, is a Scottish word?  Hmmm, learn something every day.  We’re swathed in this sea haar today with 4 more days of the same forecast.  That means March will come in like a lamb and go out like a lion. Ewww.

Aurora has been really daring in coming into my room and waking me up! Then, when I do, she promptly goes to sleep on hubby’s chair and leaves me thinking I could have slept longer.  Brat, but cute.

 

Hubby’s had a, not altogether unexpected, back problem.  No doubt brought about by humfing another ton of logs that arrived last week.  I have recovered from trying to help with the first load, and learned not to do so much upping and downing attending to the stove.  Mind you, with these new logs, that’s not necessary, as they burn for several hours at a time, opposed to just the hour the other ones did.  Anyway, it left him in agony and he’s been spending a lot more time resting to aid recovery.  Me and my sense of humour suddenly remembered the fabulous 3 part shows of ‘Penguins – Spy in a Huddle’.  Did you see it?  It’s superb.  My favourites are the Emperor penguins and with that in mind I likened our strained walking styles to the adorable Emperor penguins ... and waddled around appropriately.  Well, it gave us a laugh, but hubby was in such pain, laughing was uncomfortable, though he heartily did so. I couldn’t get him to synchronise with me.  I could never be a nurse.

Then a little while ago he said that a cat was sitting on our car!  Armed with camera, I managed to catch a pic as it was just about to leap off.  The engine was obviously still warm as hubby had been out to get medication.  Nothing is sacred to a cat, is it?  I love them, but they are not as obedient as woofits.

Oooo the sea haar has thickened quite a bit, can hardly see houses down the road, so I’m off to gaze at the silent wonder of it.  The only things flying are birds and winged bugs.  I guess we won’t be getting any flights today.  Luckly the mail plane got in yesterday and brought my goodies at record speed from ‘Linda Ravenscroft’ http://www.lindaravenscroft.com/index.php .  Ohhhh they are lovely – I got a beautiful scarf and another perfume oil, to add to my increasing collection.  The fragrance is exquisitely haunting and we had a lot of fun trying to guess what is in it.  I need to order more, as that is one I cannot be without.  Have a good day, Susan :)

Ever been seasick?

I was up in the wee small hours again, stepped out in me goony, armed with camera on the night setting to grab a pic of the full moon. Pleased to say I got a great one. But it puzzles me how my feeble eyesight can see the man on the moon, but my camera can’t. I will give it a try with t’other camera tomorrow – if the mist hasn’t arrived – as that one has 30x zoom.

Being a good sailor, I’ve never had that problem – but am feeling rainbow sick from the sitting room being awash with a myriad of little rainbows dancing around from the (mainly) Swarovski crystals.  The sun is blazing, we’ve got a washing out on the lines, having a right old jig in the breeze.  It won’t take long for it to dry today.  Tomorrow’s supposed to be misty, so we must strike while the iron’s hot.  Took a couple of films of the dizzybows owing to camera still being on the night setting, and upon realising, changed it to auto – hence two films, so feel free to spot the difference.

 

 

Aurora has had a crazy morning trying to catch rainbows.  It was hilarious, as she got in a tid and ran into the hallway in a huff and meowed at the wall – doing her ‘Shirley Valentine’ impression haha

 

Right now the outside temp is 8c, inside 31c, solar reading of 339 watts per square meter and UV at 1.1.  I should sit out in the front garden and absorb some Vitamin D, but I’m too lazy.

 
About to close the blinds and curtains as the heat is getting too much in here, then likely make a cuppa and large chunk of chocolate cake, or toddle off to the goose-feather nest for a snoozy.  Have a grand day, Susan :)

Bits n Bobs

Hello,
I’ve had a bit of a mixy-moxy weekend. Muscle power is recovering well after my (for me) epic exertions with the new stove.  What once used to be normal activities is now a procedure for consideration on whether or not is accomplishable. I really don’t want to be sitting like a stooge while recovering from stoking the fire, sweeping and washing the hearth, then feeding logs on an, initially, frequent basis.  The new ton of wood briquettes arrived on Friday and the ash pan was emptied only yesterday! They truly are far less work and cleaner for the stove window – she says, looking at the quietly dancing flames through the crystal clear window.  My own opinion on the straw logs is that they’d be great for a pot-belly stove without a window.

During the course of Friday I was privileged to watch many species of birds take a bath.  The blackbirds think the little pool is exclusive to them, but, the sparrows soon assembled, watching their antics and splashes from the bird table.  Starlings then zoomed in and the blackbirds gave up trying to hog the bird bath.  I didn’t dare move to grab the camera but was thoroughly entertained for about an hour of the birds circling the bird bath brim, sipping water, or diving in for a thorough bathe. Ahhh it was delightful to watch.

Yesterday I glanced out to the bird table to see ... a cute little wannabe bird, sitting on the feed tray section tucked snugly under the roof.  It was the cute little black cat that has recently been frequenting the garden and pestering the birds ... grrrrr.  Aurora and I tried our best to scare her away, but she decided to come closer to the window and say hello!  She is cute, but I wish she’d leave my (ha!) birds alone.  I got some pics, and a tiny video of her – excuse the wobbling about on the latter – was trying to keep reflections of me out of it and the blazing sun in clear skies was really blinding.  Aurora came through and shortly after her appearance the little black cat skipped off the bird table.

 

 

 

A new slant on the spider inviting the fly into its parlour haha

 

Then I got bit in the butt with a memory of my dear brother, remembering how hard his hands were from the rough work of all connected with lobster fishing.  Next thing I knew I was in tears thinking that he won’t have the discomfort and sometimes pain he endured as ... there won’t be anything left – it being nearly 10 years since his passing.  Sighs.  Hubby comforted me and made the most delicious meal.  By then I was ready for the goose-feather nest, reminding myself, think of 123 ... think forward.  Slowly I regained my composure but was slightly nonplussed at the little outburst.  S’been a while since I had one of those. C’est la vie, it’s another day and I might, repeat MIGHT, get some more organising of my new craft room.  That task has been mainly hindered by lack of energy and other pesky health issues.  So today will be slow-motion work, as in, a little bit at a time.  It’s rather daunting the amount that still has to be done, but if I remember that only one potato at a time can be peeled, I’ll eventually get there.  I do so miss pottering away with my paints, card, buttons, bows and sparkly embellishments etc.

I’ve just been standing at the front door filming the moon.  It’s a slither off being full, but the quiet with only the sound of the ocean (and me yapping sometimes) was hard to resist.  Forgive the wobbles on my movies – I will get a tall tripod one of these fine days and make steadier videos to share.

 

 

Oooo I’d put the stove to sleep, but it’s time to give it a boost – though the room temp is now 25c.  Have a good day everyone, Susan :)

 

p.s. The cloud is rolling in, here's a couple of moonset shots. Sunrise in about an hour!

 

 

 

Sunblushes

 

Cold and Frosty Morn

 

 Went out again to catch the sunrise, completely forgetting it would be in a different location to a May sunrise. Duhhhh!

Anyway, I began to freeze in the chill wind as it had begun to make its presence felt.  As for the video, I haven't a clue how to erase the 'beam-me-up Scotty' effect that progressively and annoyingly appeared as the sun climbed. Hey ho, it was pretty though, especially with the bird song accompaniment. :)

 

 

COSY TOES

Having crawled out of my goose-feather nest at the insane hour of 2am, I was pleasantly greeted by a cosy sitting room – it was 24c.  I decided to resurrect the fire in the new stove with the new logs as waiting for hubby to wake, or burning the halogen fire was really not on.

 

Although we started off using straw logs, we thought we’d give the wood briquettes a go.  My goodness, what a difference!  Last night (they arrived in the afternoon) the room temp reached the giddy heights of 27c at which point I felt it was like a sauna, despite the window being open.  Sitting in the empty bath suddenly became a very distinct option.  The advantage with these new logs is that the window on the stove remains clear, so dancing flames are always visible.  They also burn down to a virtual dust, and it looks like the tiny ash pan will not need emptying for a couple of days, opposed to the straw log burn which required at least two emptyings of the ash pan every day.  There’s practically no dust with the new logs – delightful!  The wood logs are made from birch, ash and larch trees, with a dreamy aroma percolating out into the local vicinity.  Really lovely.  Mustn’t forget the savings we’ve made on leccy – at least £20 a week so far!  Have a great day, Susan :)
p.s. The gizmo on top of the stove begins to whir into action as the heat increases, dispersing the warmth throughout the room.

Cooking up a storm

Finally, hubby managed to get all the bits n bobs required to fit the new wood-burning, multifuel stove.  It’s great! Got the window air slots open and the room temperature has still managed to reach a sweltering 25c!  It’s a different kind of heat than that from a leccy guzzling storage heater or other electric fire.  This stove has a kind of surround-a-heat throughout the house. No more huddling up trying to catch some warmth from other forms of heating.  We’re burning straw logs, which fling out a tremendous amount of heat and a sweet scent of cattle feed.  It’s really nice.  We’ve learned that they break (if you want) fairly easily by hand ... extremely useful as they swell up once in the stove itself.  We still have a lot of cosmetic tidying up to do – like the remnants of special cement (the black bits on the marble fire place) and finishing off round the hole the stove nestles near.  There’s less dust with this stove than a storage heater.  Wish we’d got one of them years ago.

No ... we don’t cook on top of the stove – it’s tiny, but could probably boil a good pot of coffee if I can ever lay my hands on a stove top percolator.  We are, however, getting a storm. Yeah ... another one or three.  I just checked the shipping forecast again and notice the Sea State is going to reach Phenomenal!!! Wild as our weather is at times, ‘phenomenal’ sea states are not seen too often from the Met Office.  It means the waves will be anything over 50 feet!  Goodness knows what they’ll be over at St Kilda, or what will end up landing on our shores.  It’s mind-boggling, frightening and exciting all at the same time.  I never cease to tire of our crazy weather.  I will not be going out the door tomorrow and am pretty sure the ash from the stove won’t make it to the bucket, but rather whoosh up the chimney when the Violent Storm 11 hits.  It’s good for the ground anyway, so am not worried.

 

 

 

Am off to spend the rest of the day feeding the stove when it’s hungry and enjoying being roasty toasty :) Have a good day everyone, Susan ...

P.S. Caught Ms Aurora snoozing as usual on hubby's chair, with one paw in the air hahaha I could just hear her saying 'Hey, it's like an oven in 'ere, and while you can kick off your slippers n pad about in yer bare feet, I gotta keep these fluffy paws on'. She has since leapt over to the window, which I had to open as it is rather warm in the sitting room, and is enjoying the gentle (at the moment) breeze filtering in. This pic makes me laugh lol