A Little Excursion

One of the many things we did today was take a short trip to Lake Vrynwy just over 11 miles away. What a majestic dam wall! It was built between 1880 and 1890 and is still operational, providing water to Liverpool via aqueduct. The road runs along the top of the dam wall. Very impressive indeed.

Those yellow blooms are cheery marsh marigolds, which I also had at my lakeside home.

We thought this next stream habitat was perfect for wagtails, but we weren't rewarded in our expectations at this point. We saw one later at a puddle in the road! There are also some bluebells on the shore in the foreground. Some hillsides were completely blue with bluebells!

The arboretum walk below the dam looked very inviting. I can't wait to go back there when we have more time in hand (as it is, we canceled our planned shopping expedition after spending more time here than anticipated).

I'm enthralled by the depth and diversity of greens! I loved this sentiment engraved into a fallen tree on the site:

"When we stand, and when we fall, we are home to creatures large and small."

Look at what the human foot traffic has done to this surrounds of this tree! It does show though, how the root network forms a kind of 'net' to hold soil in place.

No Events Scheduled

My calendar said I had no events scheduled for today, so I could relax, rest and imbibe my new surroundings as much as I wanted.

Some of you have asked about our container and household goods, and I keep forgetting to update you. Dale (of course) put a tracker on the outside of our container during loading, so we can follow its progress online. It was at a railyard in Worcester, MA for about a week, but has now moved to NJ, where it is presumably waiting to be loaded onto the ship. We have no real indication of when it will arrive here.

In the meanwhile, we're "camping" at home, in style. We have 2 mugs, 2 forks, some drinking glasses, a few plates, computers (but of course), sleeping bags, some towels and pots. We have a bed, desks, a dining table and chairs, as well as some comfy chairs that we got 2nd hand in January. Everything else that we need, we already own, but they're on their own seafaring journey, so we must be patient for proper bedding and a TV.

We're discovering little things all over the place - pails, baskets, gardening gloves and shears, a walker, cement garden ornaments, and two wheelbarrows. We knew that the previous owner had 'a thing' for roses, but I think that 'rose-hoarder' might be a better term. They're everywhere, beautiful yet very, very thorny and overgrown for someone who likes to bushwhack her way through the yard... also a big danger when you're tall and walking along a narrow path or trying to sit down under the pergola. They've GOT to be trimmed back harshly in order for us to coexist. I might have to invest in some chain mail or a suit of armor to tackle this thorny growth, because the thorns have gone through my gardening gloves and my breathable sneakers.

Many shrubs and flowers in the yard are held up with little clips but my purist philosophy can't handle them. They look jarring and unnatural to me. I really don't mind a wild garden (when it's not thorny) that follows natural lines; it really doesn't have to be upright.

The pond liners are leaking, so the water level keeps going down. There are hostas, irises, astilbe, yellow azaleas that smell wonderful, mosses and rough horsetail near the pond.

Only a few spots of rain today. Working in the yard was awesome!

Waking Up in Wales

We wandered far over the last 2 days, spending almost 35 hours in transit, using a car, train, truck, bus and plane. Everything ran smoothly and perfectly, despite there being many waiting periods, connection points and sundry other mini "detours" along the way like buying a car and groceries, returning items to Home Depot and shipping a parcel via UPS. There were no panics either, but also barely any shuteye. Our only hiccup was not being allowed to pay for a spot in the lounge in Paris, where we'd intended sleeping whilst waiting 7 hours for our connecting flight. We were turned away because "there may not have been enough space for their First Class passengers." I was able to lie on the floor of the transit hall and snore heartily, while Dale found the ONLY two seats without an armrest in between them and fenagled a way to sleep there, with his knees bent up over the next armrest - there was no turning over.

Waiting for a train

I'm happy to report that Immigration was a breeze

We were so lucky that there were no flight delays, and that the trains were running on time. This meant we got to the car dealership, as planned, an hour before closing. What a lovely feeling to have our own car here for the first time. 

The countryside on the last leg of a journey was a gleaming mass of green hills in the late afternoon glow, and our garden was an amazingly beautiful array of vivid colors in the golden light. Inside were welcome cards and gifts from neighbors and family. What a soft and happy landing for us!

Somehow, we managed to sleep through till 6:30AM today, which was a surprise. We were expecting jetlag to do a nasty on our circadian rhythm, but maybe I'm in for a rude awakening tonight ...We took it easy today, and did a small bit of gardening (with minimal effort), in between visits from neighbors, unpacking our bags and finding places for our belongings. Dale even rescued his first lamb that had its head stuck in a fence. The birds are gregarious and cheerful around here. On this, our second day in Wales, we have yet to see rain ...

We took a short walk into town to get our bearings, and though we tried stopping in at the pub for a pint, it was not yet open, but we've taken note of the hours now! This is the road/lane that leads up to our house from the town. It's the road you will travel on your visit to see us!

Paradise for Sale

While we sat in Charles deGaulle airport, waiting for our connecting flight to Birmingham, we tried to catch some zzzs.

I'm appreciating public toilet cubicles where the door opens outward.

I won't miss our neighborhood dirt roads and the fine powder that creeps into every nook and cranny of our car.

And now, onward ho! To Birmingham we go

In the meanwhile, there's this to consider:

If you know anyone looking to move into paradise, please share this link with them:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/197-Old-Country-Way-Limerick-ME-04048/300193984_zpid

Paradise for sale