Dinner at the Palace

Yes, we dined at the Palace a few nights ago, where they served the most amazingly delicious Indian food. We didn't sit at the same table as Charles or Camilla though!

The restaurant and take-away is only 6 miles from home in a town called Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain. I drove, but I could tell Dale was on the edge of his seat and couldn't wait to get out. We tried the special Wednesday night offering, which is any starter, main, side and naan (or rice) for a set price. We each picked different items and shared the delectable dishes. Wow! Did we enjoy the varying flavor combinations.

I didn't take any food pics, sorry. We did ask if they had mango lassi, but without any luck. They said they'd try and do that in the future. This restaurant is near a free public parking lot (added bonus).

The name of the restaurant reminds me of a kid's story book that was a favorite for a long while.

Community Garden

Another function hosted by B.R.A.C.E. this week to strengthen community was an open day at the community garden. There were refreshments, plants for sale, a live jazz band, a clothing swap and garden tours.

We can bring compostable materials here if we wish (just a walk down the street)

We've met a lot of like-minded people in this group

Volunteers work here twice each week to maintain the lots, which are not individually owned

This particular tea was among many donated to the event.  Ain't consumerism wonderful? Do you consider yourself to be a strong, down to earth and spicy man? Then this is the tea for you! Or does it mean if you WISH to be  strong, down to earth and spicy then drinking this tea will help?

Garden Insects

 There are 2 different flies here, looking as if they're taking turns at the 'watering hole'

A common green shieldbug

These foamy masses are everywhere - they're sometimes referred to as 'cuckoo spit' but it is a protective froth exuded by spittlebug or froghopper nymphs when they're feeding.

Robin's Nest

I found this delightful little treasure in our yard a few days ago. It's a European robin nest (Erithacus rubecula), which is in the flycatcher family. Its eggs are unlike the robin's egg blue of the American 'robin' (Turdus migratorius), which is in fact a thrush and is not related to the Old World flycatchers. (Wikipedia)

This nest is rather low to the ground, but also well hidden. We saw a bird sitting on the nest when we went by later, but haven't passed through there since. The birds are drawn to gardeners disturbing soil and vegetation (= fresh worms), and I've had the pleasure of having their trusting company near in past weeks. My phone was never in my hands when I was using garden clippers though, so photo record of their neighbourliness.

They are quite long-legged and curious - this sweetie visited us at a picnic table on an earlier visit to the U.K.

Treflach Farm

Llanfyllin has a volunteer organization called B.R.A.C.E. (Building Resilience and Community Engagement). They showcased some of their offerings this past week. We carpooled to Treflach Farm, which aims to show that "small scale agriculture can indeed be environmentally aware, promote biodiversity and remain viable in the modern world" (Treflach farm).

We began with a presentation of their sustainability vision, over a cup of coffee

Then we had a demonstration of  how to make our own biochar (heating branches without the use of oxygen till it becomes a porous charcoal that can be used to improve soils)

This is their community garden area

They raise 'happy pigs'

The chickens are used to do some of the scratching and turnover of compost

We bought a side of happy beef from their farm shop to try at home before leaving this picturesque site.

A Big Day

It felt like Christmas today - our container of goods was delivered, and we are now in the throes of wading through plastic tote bins and packages, each coded, numbered and sealed. Tonight we'll sleep with a real quilt on our bed instead of sleeping bags! Yay!

It was so exciting to see this van backing into our driveway at 9:30 this morning.

The van had to ferry our stuff from the container truck parked elsewhere in town to our house. Three guys did the unpacking and placement into each room of the house, marked with a letter at the doorway. Going through the list of items on my clipboard as they unloaded each crate, brought back memories of the day we packed it all in with Mark, Dina and Bruce helping - it seems so long ago! It took two full loads in this van to disburse all our possessions, and it was all complete (from their end) in 2.5 hours. 

The back of the van was low to the ground initially, 

Photo: D.Schultz

but that soon changed

It's been so exciting. Who'd have thought that being reunited with your old stuff would feel so good? It's only 'things' after all. Even though we got rid of lots, there is still more here than is reasonable for 2 people (in my opinion, anyway).

The garage allotment of totes

Photo: D. Schultz

I've unpacked a lot of boxes and totes, but now I need to figure out where in my kitchen it must all go - how did I end up with so much stuff after all the clearing and selling we did? 

Some containers didn't fare as well as others and got a bit bashed and damaged, but so far, we've lost 3 glasses and found a broken wooden strut on an oak chair. That's all. Not too bad!

I have been doing yard work without a rake, thinking we'd packed one, so I struggled on, waiting for it to arrive instead of buying a new one. Ha! Yes we packed a rake, a metal tined rake only, not a plastic leaf rake. So now I need to go out and buy one anyway, and it would have been super helpful all this time. Silly me!

The house is already starting to feel more like our own.

Insect Magnet

This highly fragrant and exquisitely beautiful California lilac (Ceanothus) in our yard is almost vibrating with moving insects

Peacock butterfly (Aglais io) and painted lady butterfly enjoying the bounty

Red Admiral

Photo: D. Schultz

The shrub has been buzzing with honeybees since the end of May - the busy hum is very obvious as you approach.

An Eventful Turn of Events

Our neighbour asked us to be part of the audience for their band's amateur videotaping they'd planned in a chapel at the end of our lane last week. The owner of the 1857 Methodist chapel (and also of the Old New Inn), is a local artist, who uses the chapel as his home and studio. He is one of only 133 artists (Dan Llywelyn Hall) to have been commissioned to paint Queen Elizabeth's portrait, and which we were lucky enough to see in its natural habitat.

The Recursives set up their equipment amidst the stained glass windows

 

and paintings,

dressed up, added lights, smoke, dancers and then worked through 3 'takes' of their chosen song, "Delilah". They created quite a dramatic scene. Dale and I were to wave our arms in the air from the pews and shake tambourines at an assigned time.

As we were wrapping up, our neighbour suddenly became very ill with chest pains, sweating profusely. It was incredibly sudden and there was no clue, no warning, that he'd been working up to having a heart attack. The 999 emergency line advised giving him an aspirin (which he was unable to swallow or dissolve) and making him as comfortable as possible, in whatever position he could tolerate. His wife arrived and pleaded with emergency services to send an ambulance, but they couldn't get one to him right away and couldn't say how long it would be. We waited outside for at least 50 minutes, thinking it would be there soon, and we could show them exactly where to go. Another call to 999 revealed that it could be 3 hours before an ambulance could get there!

Dale happened to have his Welsh knight's suit of armour with him, so he readily volunteered to drive the couple to the hospital 45 minutes away, risking speed cameras (which could jeopardize his driver's licence) at every turn. Our neighbour was seen right away and taken into surgery to have a stent inserted, after which he recovered in hospital for 5 days. He returned home this afternoon - Dale helped save his life, and he has been deeply thanked.

What a horribly, scary turn of events that evening took. It was all so bizarre and frightening to see someone struggling to stay alive and there being NOTHING that could help him.

 

This disquieting scene painted by Dan encapsulated the turn of the evening's mood.

Ironically, we have an ambulance service stationed on our lane, but they closed at 8PM that night, so obviously one needs to pick a convenient time to have a medical emergency!

Whimsical Pond Plans

This is how our pond area looks from our patio. Quite a presentation!

The pond liner leaks though, and Dale's been enjoying toying with design ideas related to fixing the leaky pond. He's imagining creating an intriguing trickling brook that will incorporate and hide that ugly ass radiator retaining wall on the far side of our house. 

By building another retaining wall parallel to it, filling it in and placing pond forms and channels within it, he reckons we could have a wonderful mossy, babbling brook, which can flow into an infinity pool where this mess of pebbles has been placed.

Water flowing over the edge of this pond can trickle along the base of the next retaining wall (in the garden space between the 2 parallel strips of concrete walkway), and then into the existing pond. We are both aware that this is a very ambitious and elaborate plan, so we are really trying to reel ourselves in and simplify it. If it's going to need too much upkeep and maintenance, we'll regret it.

It'll involve a lot of excavating and filling, as well as moving plants ...very elaborate, but oh so tantalizing!

Here is a very roughly executed presentation of our playful idea - maybe this project will satisfy Dale's creative engineering side if he doesn't find the space and interest in redoing a train layout.

Llanfyllin Lines