My husband and I are getting older now. And as such, it is rare that we can go through a single night, either of us, without getting up at least once to use the toilet. Calling it what it is, just one of those things that happens as you get older and we're both well into our 60's - well, me a lot more so than him. Unfortunately, I have just realized recently that my bathroom habits are much more regular at night than they are during the day. It's 11:30, 2:30 and 4:30. Yes, TMI!!! Makes it a bit difficult with the cats sleeping with us as I believe my habits have now taught my lovely "sweet baboo" Siamese that she must also get up at 4:30 and she now apparently believes that it is then time for me to stay awake and feed her. As a result, she usually gets banished from the bedroom at 4:30. That aside, I can say that it's not totally written in stone - yet. Some nights are better than others and sleep is more consistent without interruptions but those nights are becoming further and further apart.
Recently my husband and I had a diving trip in Mauritius. What a lovely trip and you can read about it and see my photos in my blog "Diving in Mauritius - and Other Stuff". Getting there is what is referred to in the airlines industry as a "long haul flight". From London Gatwick to Mauritius, it is 11 to 12 hours and 12 to 13 hours on the way back. Luckily for us, they start both ways in the evening so you can try and sleep for most of the flight. As we left Mauritius for the return at 11:35 P.M., the first thing I did once in the air was recline my seat and lights out to sleep. Didn't even care about getting any food at that point.
What is it about airplanes that makes one want to go to the bathroom??? Is it the steady drone, the rocking/bouncing/lulling motion (hopefully without turbulence), the lighting/the heating, the soft murmur of voices (hopefully no kids talking loudly or crying), or something else entirely? I just realized on this flight that something makes me need to get up and head for the tiny closet that passes for a toilet even more than is usual for my nightly habits. From the time I closed my eyes at approximately midnight until the lights were switched back on for breakfast, I woke up and headed to the bathroom no less than 7 times!!! And after breakfast, I went to the toilet an additional two times although I do admit that the last time was just because they said it would be our last time as the toilets would be locked for landing soon.
So 9 times in 12 1/2 hours! AND this is all without drinking anything past 10:30 P.M. when I had a diet coke in the airport. How absurd is all of that!? As I was thinking about it as I climbed over my fellow passengers feet once again, i realized that being in a plane makes me want to pee almost constantly it seems. I have never been on a flight, even a short 40 minute flight, where I have not felt the need to use the toilet. Yes, once again TMI but there it is, out there for everyone to ponder. I would certainly be interested in knowing if there is a study on this. I'm sure there is as governments and some people have way too much time and money on their hands and will spend it on foolish experiments and studies like "Toilet Usage on Planes - Long Haul versus Short" or some such type of title.
Anyway, for now, we are lucky enough to be travelling in business class on these flights but that will change once we are retired. Then what? Nowadays some planes are announcing that you cannot stand in the aisles while waiting to use the bathroom. I can foresee a time when I am booking seats right next to the toilets so that the minute it is open, I can jump up and run into it. It's gonna be that or - horrors - dare I say it - the adult version of diapers. OMG. please NO!!!!
Monday, March 7, 2016
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Naked Piano Course
Just love doing different things. I have many hobbies that I pursue, much to the sorrow, I'm sure, of my long suffering and patient husband. Most of my hobbies are gadget intensive which is really appealing to an engineer (my husband) but can get up there in the price range. Some of the things I do are: scuba diving (he enjoys this with me), stained glass and fusing glass and occasionally glass blowing, (lots of glass and he enjoys this as well), mosaics (we are both just starting in this hobby so still have to get lots of tools and such - yea), jewellery making, reading, and travel. All my life I have wanted to learn the piano as well. AND we have a piano in storage back in the states so it's not like I have to go get one. Thus, several years ago, my family gave me a keyboard to pursue this. While it is a long-time dream, it is still quite difficult to fit it into my schedule and practice and learn because I am an absolute beginner. I tried taking lessons from a piano teacher and she loved me because I would actually go home and practice - not like many of her young school students. BUT because of travelling and school holidays (when she would not work), I wasn't getting too far too fast.
So I am doing the self taught courses of which I have numerous books and two on line courses I am following. Still very hard to find the time. BUT I have found that after I do my exercises in the morning, (some pilates mat, walking on the treadmill, and my knee strengthening exercises), I seem to be in the very mood necessary to sit down and practice my keyboard. My piano teacher told me once that if I wasn't in the mood, don't even waste the time. The odd bit is the desire to practice hits me the minute I come out of the shower and walk into my bedroom, naked as can be, and right there is the keyboard. If I stop to get dressed - which includes doing all the creams and lotions and such as I'm older now and the body needs the special treatment, the mood is gone. So, it's sit down to the keyboard, naked as a new baby, and practice! Luckily, usually, everyone is gone to work or at the gym or elsewhere engaged so I don't have to worry about anyone catching me except the cats and they don't care. Wonder if I could start a trend?
So I am doing the self taught courses of which I have numerous books and two on line courses I am following. Still very hard to find the time. BUT I have found that after I do my exercises in the morning, (some pilates mat, walking on the treadmill, and my knee strengthening exercises), I seem to be in the very mood necessary to sit down and practice my keyboard. My piano teacher told me once that if I wasn't in the mood, don't even waste the time. The odd bit is the desire to practice hits me the minute I come out of the shower and walk into my bedroom, naked as can be, and right there is the keyboard. If I stop to get dressed - which includes doing all the creams and lotions and such as I'm older now and the body needs the special treatment, the mood is gone. So, it's sit down to the keyboard, naked as a new baby, and practice! Luckily, usually, everyone is gone to work or at the gym or elsewhere engaged so I don't have to worry about anyone catching me except the cats and they don't care. Wonder if I could start a trend?
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
The Broken Tooth
Teeth are important and I do try to take care of mine but genetically, I have been "blessed" with less than optimal teeth, hair, nails. Hair is thinning, nails rip and tear off anytime I look askance at them, and teeth like to crack. So there are a lot of crowns - fillings - and even a few caps in there, and one implant. Otherwise, my teeth are still my own so not doing too badly at my age, I guess.
My teeth have personality and minds of their own. They have made it a point to always give me grief when I travel. Is it because they know I am eating strange foods, or they know there is a dentist close by that might not have been trained in hygiene? Whatever the reason, during the last two or three years (and yes, I do travel a lot), I can count on something going wrong inside my mouth either during the trip or immediately before the trip. On occasion, my teeth have messed up the timing - giving me enough opportunity to run to a dentist and get it fixed before I go. Today they have caught me out as we're leaving on holiday tonight and one of my fillings is broken.
Is it possible that dentists are like many manufacturers these day in that they build in obsoleteness into your fillings and crowns so that you have to come back for more? Or are my teeth really sentient on their own and hate to travel while most of my other body parts love it. Whatever it is, for the next two weeks, I must remember to chew only on one side of my mouth, keep my tongue from exploring the broken bit, and hope that it doesn't get worse before my return.
My teeth have personality and minds of their own. They have made it a point to always give me grief when I travel. Is it because they know I am eating strange foods, or they know there is a dentist close by that might not have been trained in hygiene? Whatever the reason, during the last two or three years (and yes, I do travel a lot), I can count on something going wrong inside my mouth either during the trip or immediately before the trip. On occasion, my teeth have messed up the timing - giving me enough opportunity to run to a dentist and get it fixed before I go. Today they have caught me out as we're leaving on holiday tonight and one of my fillings is broken.
Is it possible that dentists are like many manufacturers these day in that they build in obsoleteness into your fillings and crowns so that you have to come back for more? Or are my teeth really sentient on their own and hate to travel while most of my other body parts love it. Whatever it is, for the next two weeks, I must remember to chew only on one side of my mouth, keep my tongue from exploring the broken bit, and hope that it doesn't get worse before my return.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
My glass hobby.
I learned how to make stained glass windows using copper foil (the Tiffany method) back in the 90's when my daughter gave me a class as a present. I loved it and have since spent much time and money working the glass. I also learned how to do leading at the same time but was much happier doing copper foil. When we moved to Houston from California, I set up a workshop in my garage, had a small business, took some commissions and enjoyed it very much.
Subsequently though, we moved to Singapore and then Korea and then lived in various places while my husband worked rotation in Angola and Nigeria. I didn't lose my enjoyment of making window panels and other such stuff with my glass but it was all popped into storage and set aside for a good number of years. .
When we were informed that we were going to live in England for awhile, I determined that I could get my stuff out of storage and take it with me and start up my hobby again. This was gonna be great and exciting and I could hardly wait, I thought. Unfortunately, I had forgotten a lot of what I had learned so my glass and tools sat in the garage of our rental house for well over a year. Our garage was underneath a deck and was just dark and dank. Not exactly a place for the wonderment of having light and glass and colors and such.
Finally, some progress though. I found a place to go learn stained glass again and also learn how to fuse glass. OMG. Do I so love that. I have discovered that in the intervening years between my Houston studio and small business, my osteoarthritis has made it much more difficult to cut glass and shape it into the small pieces I used to love to do with copper foiling. So I am leaning towards loving making leaded pieces now and fusing. Fusing uses powders and frits and glass and all kinds of possibilities.
Over the years, my tools and my lead came that had been in storage for years suffered from the neglect. Traditionally, you get the lead came and you stretch it (I say traditionally because there is a lot of debate on line now as to whether it needs to be stretched or not). Stretching it puts some rigidity into it and helps keep it in line with where you put it. The lead I had in storage was so rigid, I couldn't move it into place at all and finally took it to a metal recycler and just got new lead. So I need to stretch it some. I have a little shed that I have put up for my work. I have a lead vise on a small bookcase and can put the lead into it, pull on the other end, and get some stretch. Unfortunately, the bookcase isn't very heavy and you do have to put quite a bit of umph into the pulling. So I have to stand on one foot, brace the other foot against the bookcase to keep it from moving, and pull hard to get a stretch in my lead. There's a line between pulling the lead too hard and having the bit break off in your pliers and you go flying backwards, and just pulling enough to get any kinks out and give it some rigidity but still pliable enough to shape. Still working on finding the fine balance.
Also, when you lead, you really need a solid steady surface to place your pieces, put your lead on, push them together, fit them together, get it all in good shape before you solder it all. I don't have that. My table is an old craft table that wobbles. So when I am leading, everything shakes, I do a lot of un-doing, re-doing, un-doing again to get it tighter and so forth. So while I like leading a lot now, sometimes it just is too frustrating to finish a piece. AND I am having so much fun doing fusing.
My glass guru is a wonderful artist who studied for years, has worked in the industry for years and has her glass windows all over England in wonderful places like the Tower of London and such. Not a hobby for her but her livelihood and passion. Thank goodness she does love to teach and I take every class I can get from her. Fusing is great. You pile up your glass in a pattern of some sort (having a pattern does help), which might involve cutting some glass, might involve a lot of frits (glass gravel) and such. Then it is cooked in a kiln. You come back later and voila, you have a wonderful piece of fused glass for your window or whatever. I was so fortunate to become a good friend of my guru as well and when she bought a new kiln, she loaned me her old one to use and practice my skills.
Of course, I promptly broke the dang thing! how absurd is that. But I managed to fix it so that it still works (and I do promise to get it fixed professionally before I return it). And now I'm happily fusing away whenever I can manage to find time to get enough things ready to pop into the kiln and set it going. I think our electric bill has climbed a bit because of it.
This past year, my family presented me with a gift certificate to learn how to blow glass as well. My husband and I found a groupon for a one day class and we went and made paperweights. Then I got the gift cert and had a day blowing glass at a studio in Cranleigh. That was marvellous as well. I'm not very good at the blowing bit though. My instructor just gives a puff and his glass has a nice bubble and shape. I blowing for all I'm worth as hard as I can to get the same little bubble.
Think that my love is fusing though. It is the easiest for hands and eyes. So I am experimenting a lot. Don't have it all sussed out quite yet. Sometimes my colors come out wonky and sometimes my shapes don't do what I expected but I'm learning and it's great.
Subsequently though, we moved to Singapore and then Korea and then lived in various places while my husband worked rotation in Angola and Nigeria. I didn't lose my enjoyment of making window panels and other such stuff with my glass but it was all popped into storage and set aside for a good number of years. .
When we were informed that we were going to live in England for awhile, I determined that I could get my stuff out of storage and take it with me and start up my hobby again. This was gonna be great and exciting and I could hardly wait, I thought. Unfortunately, I had forgotten a lot of what I had learned so my glass and tools sat in the garage of our rental house for well over a year. Our garage was underneath a deck and was just dark and dank. Not exactly a place for the wonderment of having light and glass and colors and such.
Finally, some progress though. I found a place to go learn stained glass again and also learn how to fuse glass. OMG. Do I so love that. I have discovered that in the intervening years between my Houston studio and small business, my osteoarthritis has made it much more difficult to cut glass and shape it into the small pieces I used to love to do with copper foiling. So I am leaning towards loving making leaded pieces now and fusing. Fusing uses powders and frits and glass and all kinds of possibilities.
Over the years, my tools and my lead came that had been in storage for years suffered from the neglect. Traditionally, you get the lead came and you stretch it (I say traditionally because there is a lot of debate on line now as to whether it needs to be stretched or not). Stretching it puts some rigidity into it and helps keep it in line with where you put it. The lead I had in storage was so rigid, I couldn't move it into place at all and finally took it to a metal recycler and just got new lead. So I need to stretch it some. I have a little shed that I have put up for my work. I have a lead vise on a small bookcase and can put the lead into it, pull on the other end, and get some stretch. Unfortunately, the bookcase isn't very heavy and you do have to put quite a bit of umph into the pulling. So I have to stand on one foot, brace the other foot against the bookcase to keep it from moving, and pull hard to get a stretch in my lead. There's a line between pulling the lead too hard and having the bit break off in your pliers and you go flying backwards, and just pulling enough to get any kinks out and give it some rigidity but still pliable enough to shape. Still working on finding the fine balance.
Also, when you lead, you really need a solid steady surface to place your pieces, put your lead on, push them together, fit them together, get it all in good shape before you solder it all. I don't have that. My table is an old craft table that wobbles. So when I am leading, everything shakes, I do a lot of un-doing, re-doing, un-doing again to get it tighter and so forth. So while I like leading a lot now, sometimes it just is too frustrating to finish a piece. AND I am having so much fun doing fusing.
My glass guru is a wonderful artist who studied for years, has worked in the industry for years and has her glass windows all over England in wonderful places like the Tower of London and such. Not a hobby for her but her livelihood and passion. Thank goodness she does love to teach and I take every class I can get from her. Fusing is great. You pile up your glass in a pattern of some sort (having a pattern does help), which might involve cutting some glass, might involve a lot of frits (glass gravel) and such. Then it is cooked in a kiln. You come back later and voila, you have a wonderful piece of fused glass for your window or whatever. I was so fortunate to become a good friend of my guru as well and when she bought a new kiln, she loaned me her old one to use and practice my skills.
Of course, I promptly broke the dang thing! how absurd is that. But I managed to fix it so that it still works (and I do promise to get it fixed professionally before I return it). And now I'm happily fusing away whenever I can manage to find time to get enough things ready to pop into the kiln and set it going. I think our electric bill has climbed a bit because of it.
This past year, my family presented me with a gift certificate to learn how to blow glass as well. My husband and I found a groupon for a one day class and we went and made paperweights. Then I got the gift cert and had a day blowing glass at a studio in Cranleigh. That was marvellous as well. I'm not very good at the blowing bit though. My instructor just gives a puff and his glass has a nice bubble and shape. I blowing for all I'm worth as hard as I can to get the same little bubble.
Think that my love is fusing though. It is the easiest for hands and eyes. So I am experimenting a lot. Don't have it all sussed out quite yet. Sometimes my colors come out wonky and sometimes my shapes don't do what I expected but I'm learning and it's great.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Spiders, ugh
Not a fan of spiders, any, really. But I can manage to catch them and release them outside, if they are daddy long legs or something I recognize. I am also not too squeamish about squashing them if they are in my house space but I do always feel bad about doing that since I know they are useful. And I have been known to shriek and leave the room quickly and yell for my husband if it's big and nasty and fast. All gametes of spider phobias and dislike and acceptance all in one place so I can understand others being freaked by spiders.
Had to make an emergency run to the vet on Friday. Not for any sick pets, thank you, but I was dangerously low on cat food. Our fuzzy babies are all on special diets and while it wouldn't hurt them to eat something else for a day or two, we're trying to get our two big boys (one of ours and our daughter's cat) to lose some weight and that's what I needed.
Luckily they had about 5 bags of the food and I snatched up 3 of them. I paid cash and the lone young lady working the desk had to go get the safe key from the vet and go get change from the safe. As she is handing me my change, I notice a rather large daddy long legs close to the bottom of her shirt. She is wearing a nurse-type of shirt - buttons down the front but does not tuck into her trousers. I tell her she has a spider on her shirt.
She immediately goes totally rigid and says "I HATE spiders" and her voice is quivering. I tell her to get close and I will brush it off. But that dang spider with all it's little spidey eyes saw me coming and started working it's way down her shirt and the minute I reached for it, he went underneath her shirt.
"Opps" is my comment.
If it was possible, she got even more rigid and says in a squeaky and timorous voice "It went up inside, didn't it."
"Yep". She starts squealing because she's still trying to hand me my change and has dropped a coin. I tell her to forget my coin and run to the back and get help. She manages to scoop up my coin and practically throws it at me as she is dashing to the door that leads to the back of the vets office. Now she is yelling, "Spider, spider, spider, help, get it off me."
Poor girl. I can feel for her. I think she had her shirt unbuttoned by the time she hit the door.
Had to make an emergency run to the vet on Friday. Not for any sick pets, thank you, but I was dangerously low on cat food. Our fuzzy babies are all on special diets and while it wouldn't hurt them to eat something else for a day or two, we're trying to get our two big boys (one of ours and our daughter's cat) to lose some weight and that's what I needed.
Luckily they had about 5 bags of the food and I snatched up 3 of them. I paid cash and the lone young lady working the desk had to go get the safe key from the vet and go get change from the safe. As she is handing me my change, I notice a rather large daddy long legs close to the bottom of her shirt. She is wearing a nurse-type of shirt - buttons down the front but does not tuck into her trousers. I tell her she has a spider on her shirt.
She immediately goes totally rigid and says "I HATE spiders" and her voice is quivering. I tell her to get close and I will brush it off. But that dang spider with all it's little spidey eyes saw me coming and started working it's way down her shirt and the minute I reached for it, he went underneath her shirt.
"Opps" is my comment.
If it was possible, she got even more rigid and says in a squeaky and timorous voice "It went up inside, didn't it."
"Yep". She starts squealing because she's still trying to hand me my change and has dropped a coin. I tell her to forget my coin and run to the back and get help. She manages to scoop up my coin and practically throws it at me as she is dashing to the door that leads to the back of the vets office. Now she is yelling, "Spider, spider, spider, help, get it off me."
Poor girl. I can feel for her. I think she had her shirt unbuttoned by the time she hit the door.
Monday, August 10, 2015
To the Southern End of St. Mary's
Last day with our golf cart so we are heading to the southern part of St. Mary's today. There looks to be a lighthouse on the small peninsula that way out of Old Town and I do like a good lighthouse. We figure to park in the same area by the beach and the path looks fairly straight forward around the end of the island to the lighthouse. Our Scilly Cart map has a couple of local features marked on it that we will pass as well.
As today is Monday, we figure we can head back to the pottery place as well and go to another craft store that is close to the golf cart place. I love looking at crafts and such even if I don't buy anything. Gives me inspiration for trying to do some things.
So we left our BnB and walked to pick up our cart once more
. We took the long way around to get to Old Town and that way we were able to go by the pottery place. He had some wonderful pots there. What we liked the most were his glazes. Really would have loved to get this very tall thin vase but just wasn't sure at all how to get it home and while he probably would have shipped it, we just don't need a tall thin vase. It would have to be stored as one of the cats in our house is rather clumsy and very inquisitive so many of my breakable items have been put into boxes for later enjoyment. We did get a small vase and a candle holder with the glazes that we liked.
Now we've got a package in our cart and while the Isles seem very calm and trustworthy, we still decide to take it back to our room before continuing. No sense leaving it in the cart for temptation. Then we head to the parking at Old Town and start down the path to the end of the island and the lighthouse.
On the way is an old church and a cemetery. As there is a fence in front of us, we guess that the path must go through the cemetery somehow. The church is very small but it is open so we walk in to see the small stained glass windows
. Only has about 5 pews on either side but it appears to still be a working church. The cemetery is rather extensive and while overgrown some, not totally and has a beloved but faded English garden feel. A man is working on the yucca plants and trimming the trees and pulling weeds. We stop to talk to him. He asks my hubby if he wants to help. Ever the gentleman and helpful person, my hubby says of course and asks what he would have him do. Luckily, the guy was kidding and was more than happy to stop work and talk to us for awhile.
He told us some of the history of the area and of the cemetery. He's retired now but he used to work there taking care of the gardens all the time. Now he only does it a couple of days a week for pay but says he seems like he's there much more. Takes a lot of maintenance with all the trees and trimming between gravestones. Finally we get around to asking about the path. He tells us that we go back to the fence and there is a stile over the fence. He recommends that we take that path until we get to the second stile then we go uphill and away from the coastal path because it is narrow and muddy today and probably slippery. Sounds like good advice.
As we climb over the stile, a family comes along behind us heading the same way and since I'm rather slow, we step aside to let them pass
. We are walking along the Old Town Harbour and the tide is almost all out so not a lot of boats in the harbour but lots of exposed rocks and seaweed. As we go around the corner there is a rock beach where people have done the stacking stones ritual. We come across this phenomenon in many places around the world where people have stacked stones just cuz. Originally stones were stacked as cairns and then later as directions. now there are many different stores and histories of stacking stones, too many for this small short blog but you can look it up in Wikipedia but just typing in stacking stones and get all kinds of info. Often when we come across a lot of stacked stones, we will make our own stack as well or if it is one big stack, we will add to it, such as the cairns we have come across in Nepal. But today we stopped for some photos and then went on our way.
We are moving away from the seashore as we climb higher. There is a path that is still running along the edge of the shore but we think that's where the churchman meant that it got wet and muddy. There are people still taking this path but I'm all for keeping it safe and slow these days. As we get higher, we can see the lighthouse across the small plateau. doesn't look like much of a lighthouse but hey, the views are great and we can see off both sides of the island from here
.
There are several points where you can meander down on the rocks and even get down to the water's edge in many spots but that's a lot of up and down and clambering around on rocks so we're just going to do the ole folks meander across what looks like a moor with the short lavender and other ground plants. We get to the lighthouse and sit down to watch the boats and the sea. There are some bird rocks offshore (lots of birds sitting on the rocks). Ought to be some seal rocks too but we can't find any. Some of the rocks are named in our map like Pulpit Rock. Not quite sure which one it is but there are some that look rather like a pulpit - with a good imagination.
We have some fruit and a drink and enjoy the scenery and the wind and the sun. We're not alone up here as there are a few families wandering around and some couples on the rocks. But it's still a lovely place and feels very solitary. The lighthouse itself has a small building with it but it's not a house that would have ever had people living in it or working in it. just an automatic short tower on a high spot.
After a bit, we head back via almost the same path. There are some stones that could be Standing Stones or they could have been part of a fence at one time. We are choosing to believe that they were Standing Stones in the manner of Stonehenge or Avebury. When you have nothing to go on, why not make it match your desires!
Back at our cart, we head for Hugh Town and stop in the industrial park to find the craft center. It is a center and a workshop and people are inside doing stained glass, my favorite. There are some paintings and jewellery as well but nothing much that we liked. Some of the stained and fused glass was excellent though as it gave a real feeling of waves. I must figure out how to do that!
get some sandwiches to eat on the beach where we can see the quay and watch boats coming and going. A small sailboat comes into the harbor and we watch the sailor tie up to a buoy and take down the sails. We are watching to see how the sailor gets from the boat to show. The person disappears and then comes around the back of the boat in a small dingy
. Don't know where it came from because it wasn't tied to the buoy before the sailboat arrived and it wasn't being hauled behind the sailboat. As the person is rowing into shore, for the first time,we can see that it is a woman. Yea, go girl! She's probably about late 50's from her looks or else she's much younger but has spent a lot of time in the wind on the water. She did really handle that sailboat expertly.
Tonight is our night to eat on the beach on the opposite side of Hugh Town, at the take away trailer of fish and chips so we don't need to make a booking. By now we have walked about 5 miles every day - for me - with my hubby adding the extra miles on golf cart days to return the cart and walk home to the BnB. That's probably about 4 miles more than my knees have been happy with each day so we're done for today too. One nice thing a day is all I've been able to manage but at least I got here and saw stuff which is much better than a lot of the Brits we know (yes, I know, you never go visit what is in your backyard!). So I get dropped off again at our BnB and hubby takes back the cart for the last time.
Some more relaxing with the feet up and then we walk down to the beach to get our fish and chips
. The mobile food truck is quite busy and popular and we are told it will be 45 minutes before we get our meal. wow. Hardly ever will we walk into a restaurant and stay if the wait is that long but this is the thing to do tonight so we find a seat and sit and watch the beach and the waves and the seagulls while we wait.
On the beach is a very unusual sailboat. It has been pulled up on the beach and is sitting about 5 or 6 feet off the beach on "feet". Probably not the technical term and I was also informed that a sailboat of that size (probably at least 35 feet long) is now a yacht!. This boat is from France and comes over here every year about this time. the "feet" are two extensions off the bow that have flat platforms on the bottom so the boat can rest on it. The boat has also a double rudder in the stern that it is resting on as well. My hubby goes down to walk around it. really interesting boat but I'd really love to see how they get it up on the beach like that.
As the sun is going down, it is getting chilly and windy so I move over to some built in indentations in the wall with seats for people. The seagulls are very interested in what everyone is doing on the beach. As there have been a lot of seagull attack information in the news lately, we are being very careful to watch them as well. Think it is Brighton that the gulls will swoop down on people and steal their chips. It's so bad that it has been compared to Tippi Hendron in The Birds. We don't want that.!
Our fish and chips are finally done and hubby brings them down for us to eat. There is a crepe truck there as well but by the time we were done with our dinner, all the trucks had already cleared out and left so no dessert. Good meal and we only had a couple of seagulls try to walk up to us and were quickly shooed away.
Ah foo - only one day left in the lovely Isles of Scilly.
As today is Monday, we figure we can head back to the pottery place as well and go to another craft store that is close to the golf cart place. I love looking at crafts and such even if I don't buy anything. Gives me inspiration for trying to do some things.
So we left our BnB and walked to pick up our cart once more
. We took the long way around to get to Old Town and that way we were able to go by the pottery place. He had some wonderful pots there. What we liked the most were his glazes. Really would have loved to get this very tall thin vase but just wasn't sure at all how to get it home and while he probably would have shipped it, we just don't need a tall thin vase. It would have to be stored as one of the cats in our house is rather clumsy and very inquisitive so many of my breakable items have been put into boxes for later enjoyment. We did get a small vase and a candle holder with the glazes that we liked.
Now we've got a package in our cart and while the Isles seem very calm and trustworthy, we still decide to take it back to our room before continuing. No sense leaving it in the cart for temptation. Then we head to the parking at Old Town and start down the path to the end of the island and the lighthouse.
On the way is an old church and a cemetery. As there is a fence in front of us, we guess that the path must go through the cemetery somehow. The church is very small but it is open so we walk in to see the small stained glass windows
. Only has about 5 pews on either side but it appears to still be a working church. The cemetery is rather extensive and while overgrown some, not totally and has a beloved but faded English garden feel. A man is working on the yucca plants and trimming the trees and pulling weeds. We stop to talk to him. He asks my hubby if he wants to help. Ever the gentleman and helpful person, my hubby says of course and asks what he would have him do. Luckily, the guy was kidding and was more than happy to stop work and talk to us for awhile.
He told us some of the history of the area and of the cemetery. He's retired now but he used to work there taking care of the gardens all the time. Now he only does it a couple of days a week for pay but says he seems like he's there much more. Takes a lot of maintenance with all the trees and trimming between gravestones. Finally we get around to asking about the path. He tells us that we go back to the fence and there is a stile over the fence. He recommends that we take that path until we get to the second stile then we go uphill and away from the coastal path because it is narrow and muddy today and probably slippery. Sounds like good advice.
As we climb over the stile, a family comes along behind us heading the same way and since I'm rather slow, we step aside to let them pass
. We are walking along the Old Town Harbour and the tide is almost all out so not a lot of boats in the harbour but lots of exposed rocks and seaweed. As we go around the corner there is a rock beach where people have done the stacking stones ritual. We come across this phenomenon in many places around the world where people have stacked stones just cuz. Originally stones were stacked as cairns and then later as directions. now there are many different stores and histories of stacking stones, too many for this small short blog but you can look it up in Wikipedia but just typing in stacking stones and get all kinds of info. Often when we come across a lot of stacked stones, we will make our own stack as well or if it is one big stack, we will add to it, such as the cairns we have come across in Nepal. But today we stopped for some photos and then went on our way.
We are moving away from the seashore as we climb higher. There is a path that is still running along the edge of the shore but we think that's where the churchman meant that it got wet and muddy. There are people still taking this path but I'm all for keeping it safe and slow these days. As we get higher, we can see the lighthouse across the small plateau. doesn't look like much of a lighthouse but hey, the views are great and we can see off both sides of the island from here
.
There are several points where you can meander down on the rocks and even get down to the water's edge in many spots but that's a lot of up and down and clambering around on rocks so we're just going to do the ole folks meander across what looks like a moor with the short lavender and other ground plants. We get to the lighthouse and sit down to watch the boats and the sea. There are some bird rocks offshore (lots of birds sitting on the rocks). Ought to be some seal rocks too but we can't find any. Some of the rocks are named in our map like Pulpit Rock. Not quite sure which one it is but there are some that look rather like a pulpit - with a good imagination.
We have some fruit and a drink and enjoy the scenery and the wind and the sun. We're not alone up here as there are a few families wandering around and some couples on the rocks. But it's still a lovely place and feels very solitary. The lighthouse itself has a small building with it but it's not a house that would have ever had people living in it or working in it. just an automatic short tower on a high spot.
After a bit, we head back via almost the same path. There are some stones that could be Standing Stones or they could have been part of a fence at one time. We are choosing to believe that they were Standing Stones in the manner of Stonehenge or Avebury. When you have nothing to go on, why not make it match your desires!
Back at our cart, we head for Hugh Town and stop in the industrial park to find the craft center. It is a center and a workshop and people are inside doing stained glass, my favorite. There are some paintings and jewellery as well but nothing much that we liked. Some of the stained and fused glass was excellent though as it gave a real feeling of waves. I must figure out how to do that!
get some sandwiches to eat on the beach where we can see the quay and watch boats coming and going. A small sailboat comes into the harbor and we watch the sailor tie up to a buoy and take down the sails. We are watching to see how the sailor gets from the boat to show. The person disappears and then comes around the back of the boat in a small dingy
. Don't know where it came from because it wasn't tied to the buoy before the sailboat arrived and it wasn't being hauled behind the sailboat. As the person is rowing into shore, for the first time,we can see that it is a woman. Yea, go girl! She's probably about late 50's from her looks or else she's much younger but has spent a lot of time in the wind on the water. She did really handle that sailboat expertly.
Tonight is our night to eat on the beach on the opposite side of Hugh Town, at the take away trailer of fish and chips so we don't need to make a booking. By now we have walked about 5 miles every day - for me - with my hubby adding the extra miles on golf cart days to return the cart and walk home to the BnB. That's probably about 4 miles more than my knees have been happy with each day so we're done for today too. One nice thing a day is all I've been able to manage but at least I got here and saw stuff which is much better than a lot of the Brits we know (yes, I know, you never go visit what is in your backyard!). So I get dropped off again at our BnB and hubby takes back the cart for the last time.
Some more relaxing with the feet up and then we walk down to the beach to get our fish and chips
. The mobile food truck is quite busy and popular and we are told it will be 45 minutes before we get our meal. wow. Hardly ever will we walk into a restaurant and stay if the wait is that long but this is the thing to do tonight so we find a seat and sit and watch the beach and the waves and the seagulls while we wait.
On the beach is a very unusual sailboat. It has been pulled up on the beach and is sitting about 5 or 6 feet off the beach on "feet". Probably not the technical term and I was also informed that a sailboat of that size (probably at least 35 feet long) is now a yacht!. This boat is from France and comes over here every year about this time. the "feet" are two extensions off the bow that have flat platforms on the bottom so the boat can rest on it. The boat has also a double rudder in the stern that it is resting on as well. My hubby goes down to walk around it. really interesting boat but I'd really love to see how they get it up on the beach like that.
As the sun is going down, it is getting chilly and windy so I move over to some built in indentations in the wall with seats for people. The seagulls are very interested in what everyone is doing on the beach. As there have been a lot of seagull attack information in the news lately, we are being very careful to watch them as well. Think it is Brighton that the gulls will swoop down on people and steal their chips. It's so bad that it has been compared to Tippi Hendron in The Birds. We don't want that.!
Our fish and chips are finally done and hubby brings them down for us to eat. There is a crepe truck there as well but by the time we were done with our dinner, all the trucks had already cleared out and left so no dessert. Good meal and we only had a couple of seagulls try to walk up to us and were quickly shooed away.
Ah foo - only one day left in the lovely Isles of Scilly.
Sunday, August 9, 2015
More Walking to Burial Chambers
Sunday morning and what could be finer than to be on holiday in Scilly. Not too much! Looks like a fine day and we have a golf cart to go pick up and drive around. After our breakfast, we headed towards town and I stopped at the beach while hubby went on up the hill to pick up our golf cart. When he came back to get me, we stopped and bought a T shirt and then back up to the north end of the island to find some other burial sites.
We went as far as possible and parked behind another golf cart and started down the path towards the sea. Couldn't really get lost and we had two options, left or right by the sea or through the woods. We chose seaside walk. We are actually rather high above the sea but we can hear people on the beach below us, playing in the water. Nutty people because that is cold water! Trooping on, we move onto a more narrow path and pretty soon our pant legs are wet with the left over rain and mud
. Seems like we are having to walk a very long way to find this burial chamber but we finally spot some rocks on the hill about 1/4 mile ahead of us and figure that's where we are headed. Yep. that's the spot.
This is the Innisdgen Burial Chambers. According to our Scilly Cart Map, there are two chambers. We are coming from the lower seaside path and climb up the hill to the chamber we can see which has a sign designating it as the "Upper Burial Chamber". Nothing else is in view except a very, very long hanging rope swing from one of the trees.
We are standing on the north end of St. Mary's again but on the other side of the north end from where we were yesterday at the Halangy ruins. Once again, we are high on a hillside and the views are just incredible. The water below us is so clear that it's very difficult to tell how deep it is as you can see to the bottom. There are some sailboats in the breezes and a few small fishing boats just floating along doing their thing.
The actual chamber sits at the bottom of a set of rocks that have been climbed frequently for looking out to sea so I climb up the rocks and from this slightly higher view point, I can see another set of rocks further down the hill and to the right of the upper chamber
. Must be the lower chamber. So we head off in that direction. As we are going there, we pass several directional signs showing how to get to these chambers. great. had we come from the forest route, we would have known where we were going.
The lower chamber is just as interesting as the upper one and we enjoy exploring it for a bit. But by now, I've walked much more than I should have and am not looking forward to the return journey to our golf cart. We study the map to see how to get to the other trail through the forest to get back to our cart and along comes a couple with their dog. They seem to be a local couple so they point us in the right direction to get back via a simpler route. We start to follow their directions and come to a fork in the trail and haven't a clue which fork to take. Luckily, they are already coming back on their walk and point out, again, which direction to go. I'm wishing that we could keep up with them so we don't have to make a choice again on where to go but not so lucky. This trail had another two places where we could have made the wrong choice and ended up back at the ocean but we managed to suss out the correct direction and made it back to the road. We had known that we would come out about 1/4 mile away from our golf cart. Hubby went to get the cart and come back for me but there wasn't any place for me to stand and wait really so I started walking after him
.
I got to the duck pond and there were ducklings playing in a puddle. A whole pond and where do they play - in the mud puddle. There is a lot of racket down the road and some loud beeps - the large truck sounds of backing up. I get to the next corner and there is a whole crew of people cutting the verge and branches over the road and there's my hubby, steering his golf cart around them all on his way to get me!
Our bed and breakfast hostess had told us one of the best places to eat was Juliette's which is across the harbor from them and has a wonderful terrace where you can eat outside and watch the harbour. We didn't think much of having to walk over there at night and then we saw signs that said they were fully booked until Wednesday anyway (a lot of weddings on the Isles this week) but didn't look like they were booked at lunch so we thought we'd stop there.
The wind was blowing and it was a bit chilly but we were determined to sit outside with the rest of the hearty people and enjoy the harbor view
. We tucked ourselves into a table that was next to the back wall and ordered our lunch which included chips and some fancy hot coffees.
As we are sitting there watching the Scillonian Ferry arrive at the harbor and eating our food, we notice there are a great many small birds sitting around us, on the ground, on the wall, and very pointedly watching us eat our chips. I'm a sucker for just about anything that flies or is furry so pretty soon we are "accidentally dropping" bits of chips for the birds. I think they got most of our chips. And like most critters, they knew when the food was gone and went off to another table. it was a good lunch with a good view though so enjoyable.
Back to our cart and as we are driving over to Old Town, I see a potter's place and we pull in but as it is Sunday, he was closed. First time we realized what day it was. We park at Old Town Harbor and walk down to the beach and find some sea glass. Walking very slowly along the beach and bending over a lot to pick up small bits of glass is not really in my hubby's wheelhouse of favorite things to do so we finished that up quickly and headed back to Hugh Town
.
I want to stop at the Co-op grocery store (the only one in St. Mary's) for some drinks and maybe a bedtime snack. Being the only grocery store, it is so packed with people and the shelves are very empty. I fight my way into the store and around to find some drinks and a couple of other items and queue to pay. The locals must know to avoid the store on a Sunday because it looks like just a lot of tourists trying to stock up on beer before the night. When we have come in on the days when the locals shop, it is early morning when the shelves have been stocked and they fill up an entire grocery cart with their shopping. I think I would go crazy to only have this small store as my choice for all my groceries. A lot of them go once a month or so to the mainland and really stock up in Penzance.
Again, we have pretty much finished for the day so hubby takes back the cart after he drops me at the steps of our BnB and walks back by himself. Again, what a man! Some more feet up time before we head for the Bishop and Wolf for dinner tonight. There are enough places where you can eat at a different restaurant every night for a week or more, easily
. We had also seen last night that there is a fish and chips wagon that stops at the beach by the tourist information office. They aren't there on Sunday night but we think we'll eat on the beach tomorrow night.
Dinner is good and filling and then back to the BnB for another good night's sleep but no stars. In spite of only doing about one main thing a day, we are clicking off the time here at a rapid pace, it seems.
We went as far as possible and parked behind another golf cart and started down the path towards the sea. Couldn't really get lost and we had two options, left or right by the sea or through the woods. We chose seaside walk. We are actually rather high above the sea but we can hear people on the beach below us, playing in the water. Nutty people because that is cold water! Trooping on, we move onto a more narrow path and pretty soon our pant legs are wet with the left over rain and mud
. Seems like we are having to walk a very long way to find this burial chamber but we finally spot some rocks on the hill about 1/4 mile ahead of us and figure that's where we are headed. Yep. that's the spot.
This is the Innisdgen Burial Chambers. According to our Scilly Cart Map, there are two chambers. We are coming from the lower seaside path and climb up the hill to the chamber we can see which has a sign designating it as the "Upper Burial Chamber". Nothing else is in view except a very, very long hanging rope swing from one of the trees.
We are standing on the north end of St. Mary's again but on the other side of the north end from where we were yesterday at the Halangy ruins. Once again, we are high on a hillside and the views are just incredible. The water below us is so clear that it's very difficult to tell how deep it is as you can see to the bottom. There are some sailboats in the breezes and a few small fishing boats just floating along doing their thing.
The actual chamber sits at the bottom of a set of rocks that have been climbed frequently for looking out to sea so I climb up the rocks and from this slightly higher view point, I can see another set of rocks further down the hill and to the right of the upper chamber
. Must be the lower chamber. So we head off in that direction. As we are going there, we pass several directional signs showing how to get to these chambers. great. had we come from the forest route, we would have known where we were going.
The lower chamber is just as interesting as the upper one and we enjoy exploring it for a bit. But by now, I've walked much more than I should have and am not looking forward to the return journey to our golf cart. We study the map to see how to get to the other trail through the forest to get back to our cart and along comes a couple with their dog. They seem to be a local couple so they point us in the right direction to get back via a simpler route. We start to follow their directions and come to a fork in the trail and haven't a clue which fork to take. Luckily, they are already coming back on their walk and point out, again, which direction to go. I'm wishing that we could keep up with them so we don't have to make a choice again on where to go but not so lucky. This trail had another two places where we could have made the wrong choice and ended up back at the ocean but we managed to suss out the correct direction and made it back to the road. We had known that we would come out about 1/4 mile away from our golf cart. Hubby went to get the cart and come back for me but there wasn't any place for me to stand and wait really so I started walking after him
.
I got to the duck pond and there were ducklings playing in a puddle. A whole pond and where do they play - in the mud puddle. There is a lot of racket down the road and some loud beeps - the large truck sounds of backing up. I get to the next corner and there is a whole crew of people cutting the verge and branches over the road and there's my hubby, steering his golf cart around them all on his way to get me!
Our bed and breakfast hostess had told us one of the best places to eat was Juliette's which is across the harbor from them and has a wonderful terrace where you can eat outside and watch the harbour. We didn't think much of having to walk over there at night and then we saw signs that said they were fully booked until Wednesday anyway (a lot of weddings on the Isles this week) but didn't look like they were booked at lunch so we thought we'd stop there.
The wind was blowing and it was a bit chilly but we were determined to sit outside with the rest of the hearty people and enjoy the harbor view
. We tucked ourselves into a table that was next to the back wall and ordered our lunch which included chips and some fancy hot coffees.
As we are sitting there watching the Scillonian Ferry arrive at the harbor and eating our food, we notice there are a great many small birds sitting around us, on the ground, on the wall, and very pointedly watching us eat our chips. I'm a sucker for just about anything that flies or is furry so pretty soon we are "accidentally dropping" bits of chips for the birds. I think they got most of our chips. And like most critters, they knew when the food was gone and went off to another table. it was a good lunch with a good view though so enjoyable.
Back to our cart and as we are driving over to Old Town, I see a potter's place and we pull in but as it is Sunday, he was closed. First time we realized what day it was. We park at Old Town Harbor and walk down to the beach and find some sea glass. Walking very slowly along the beach and bending over a lot to pick up small bits of glass is not really in my hubby's wheelhouse of favorite things to do so we finished that up quickly and headed back to Hugh Town
.
I want to stop at the Co-op grocery store (the only one in St. Mary's) for some drinks and maybe a bedtime snack. Being the only grocery store, it is so packed with people and the shelves are very empty. I fight my way into the store and around to find some drinks and a couple of other items and queue to pay. The locals must know to avoid the store on a Sunday because it looks like just a lot of tourists trying to stock up on beer before the night. When we have come in on the days when the locals shop, it is early morning when the shelves have been stocked and they fill up an entire grocery cart with their shopping. I think I would go crazy to only have this small store as my choice for all my groceries. A lot of them go once a month or so to the mainland and really stock up in Penzance.
Again, we have pretty much finished for the day so hubby takes back the cart after he drops me at the steps of our BnB and walks back by himself. Again, what a man! Some more feet up time before we head for the Bishop and Wolf for dinner tonight. There are enough places where you can eat at a different restaurant every night for a week or more, easily
. We had also seen last night that there is a fish and chips wagon that stops at the beach by the tourist information office. They aren't there on Sunday night but we think we'll eat on the beach tomorrow night.
Dinner is good and filling and then back to the BnB for another good night's sleep but no stars. In spite of only doing about one main thing a day, we are clicking off the time here at a rapid pace, it seems.
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