celtic carole in cornwall

2009-06-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

Look at this wonderful, wonderful sunset. This is Polzeath beach and this was taken this evening with my Nokia N85 phone! What a fantasic camera on this phone. The software that comes with it is horrible,but I've pretty much got it sorted now.

We went for a lovely evening walk, barefoot across the sand, the tide was coming in and the surf further out was roaring. The surfboards were flying into the air as their riders went belly up, nose down. The rockpools were warm, but we trod carefully, mindful of weaverfish, which take no prisoners when it comes to nice naked feet. This was my last picture of the evening, as just after this, the sun came out in full force, which would just white out any image I tried to take.

I love this small county of Cornwall, and apart from my birthplace, Scotland, would never dream of living anywhere else.

Long time yet again...

2009-03-18T16:58:00.001-07:00

How life changes...and some things become more important, and some things less so. Life is hectic; I'm just beginning the process of selling my flat, and giving up my job, to move in with my partner and find work in the Plymouth area.

This is at a time when property values have slumped back to 2006 levels and jobs are becoming scarcer and harder to win. No pressure then!

I'm decorating the lounge right now to get it ready for some pretty pictures in the estate agents. It's the last room to be done and I'm so glad of that, but know that I'll be starting all over again at my partner's place!!

Oh well....

Fireworks!

2007-08-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

...in Plymouth to be exact. We went to The British Fireworks Championships on the Hoe in Plymouth on both Tues and Wed nights this week. Miraculously, the rain stayed off (despite horrendous forecasts) and the pyrotechnics were outstanding. See pic!

What else...well, right in the middle of the school hols, the weather hasn't been too bad since August showed up...although when we went to get some surfing done today, it turns out youngest's wetsuit has somehow shrunk since last summer and he didn't want to get wet without it so it looks like I'm going to have to car boot it and get a new one. Very exasperating - why do kids have to grow so fast???????

Got a birthday to get through next week, another year older, but certainly non the wiser.

My Fish!

2007-05-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here is my aquarium. I keep a mixed tropical freshwater tank. The stock includes several rainbowfish species, congo, bolivian, black neon and pristella tetras, pakistani and horsefaced loaches, two small bristlenose catfish and two ottos. There is also a pair of Nigerian Red kribensis in the tank...but luckily they haven't bred for quite some time so the rest of the residents have been left in peace. There is one solitary blue male gourami. He used to have a mate but she died, and since he himself is getting a bit long in the fin, I haven't replaced her.

That's it for this entry.

Carole.

Moor fun...

2007-05-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

...and what a day. The weather forecast wasn't good, but we decided to go for it. www.treasuretrails.co.uk The Dartmoor Trail. This is a drive/walk trail, and the instructions started from Tavistock. Heading for Princeton, one of the clues was in a churchyard, in what has to be the creepiest churchyard I have ever seen. The sign on the gate looked like something from a Munsters movie, the graves were overgrown, and it was only a stepping stone to imagining a full moon, mist around the gravestones, owls hooting and something creeping up behind you!

Finding ourselves stuggling with another clue, we asked in at the Moor Visitor Centre in Princeton, and while the nice man behind the desk wouldn't tell us the name we needed, he did direct us to the area we needed.

Further clues were picked up in Widdecombe (lovely lunch at the Old Inn), Chagford, TwoBridges, Postbridge and Moretonhampstead. The last stop was Lustleigh, where a very sneaky clue led us to walk a lot further than we meant to! From there it was a 30 plus mile drive back to base. Well over a hundred miles driving and quite a way walking but a lovely day, and...it didn't rain once! What a lovely day.

Carole

Sunny, sunny Cornwall

2007-04-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

Where has all this good weather come from? Three weeks at least of blue skies and temperatures of between 17 and 20 degrees have left us all here in Pastieland feeling chilled out and full of smiles. The shops, hotels and pubs were full of spending Easter Tourists so no complaints from the hospitality industry either I should hope! Wadebridge Bike Hire were doing a roaring trade, icecream was selling, as was the suncream. We managed a trip to Padstow down the Camel Trail. www.treasuretrails.co.uk have trails for Wadebridge and Padstow. Check them out - great fun and a good walk into the bargain.

Till the next time.

Carole.

Long time no post!

2007-04-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yep, yet again months have passed and I've been busy...that's the only excuse I have.

One thing though...the weight is still coming off and I've lost one and a half stone so far. BMI is now 25.3, just outside the normal weight range. It's coming off slow and steady.

Things I've done recently include A Day at the Races, and Treasure Hunt! www.treasuretrails.co.uk

Newton Abbot racecourse, 1st of April. A good day for the geegees. Or would have been if I could actually have picked a decent winner. My partner managed to get a profit out of the day by betting on the winner of the last race...clever man.

Right now I'm just enjoying a lovely Easter Break. The weather here in Cornwall has been magnificent for a change and no-one can complain about the lack of tourists.

This is where I'll be very soon...http://www.chycor.co.uk/california/index.htm My fantastic fiance is treating me to a night in the honeymoon suite. Champagne, flowers, fruit and a five course meal. I'm a lucky girl.

This losing weight thing.

2007-01-25T12:55:00.000-08:00

Ok,

Last post was on Big Brother - this one is on the fact that I gave up refined sugar, and went on a low fat diet on the 3rd January. My new year resolution - try to exercise a little, and eat right! My BMI was 29, but last check it was 28, and going down.

I am a veggie, I mayn't have mentioned this before, but I like chocolate and crisps, (for our American friends, that's chips) far too much.
I have switched completely over to a (as far as I know) sugar free and low fat diet, and have started doing early (7a.m. before work) half hour swims three times a week at the local pool. I have gone over to fruits instead of sugary things, no puddings, lots and LOTS of raw veg and upped my physical movement generally. Generally, no sweets, (candies), no crap, nothing that isn't organic or fresh fruit or veg, or vegetarian. (porridge oats for breakfast etc)

Weight loss so far is approx 3 kilos, (approx 6.6 pounds) so not bad at all! I am quite happy about that. Clothes are looser, skin is clearer, I FEEL healthier. Ladies, do it, you know you can.

I haven't counted a calorie yet. All I've had to do is just stop eating rubbish. BTW, I call myself a vegequarian because I do eat some seafood, fish etc, but no land animals.

Big Brother

2007-01-18T14:47:00.000-08:00

Well, everyone else is talking about it - I might as well join in.

I haven't watched any Big Brother programmes, apart from a little bit of the Celebrity one when Jack Dee was in it, as he's one of my fave comedians. Usually it's just too boring for words, where's the fun in watching people sleep, and interminable bits where you can just hear owls hooting, and viewing bits of the Big Bruv set. I know that's all for legal reasons, but it's just very boring, and now I'm getting that way because I'm repeating words!

I have watched this series on and off since the first episode when they all entered the house, and found it highly amusing at the way hardly anyone knew who each other was - as celebs go, it was hardly the most well known crew! Then Big Brother just had to go and throw a firework (or two, or even three) into the room by adding Jade, her boyfriend, (wtf is he anyway? Not a celeb at all) and her loony mother.

Leo I thought was ok until he started turning a bit weird, Dirk seems ok, but it now appears he may have an alcohol problem, (but hey, in these days, don't a lot of people??); as for the rest of them, well!!

The "argument" has certainly sparked off a lot of debate, and atm, it seems the betting money is all on Jade to be voted out, and probably good riddance, as a loudmouthed, more ignorant and rude person you probably won't find on any television programme this year. She seems to think that, having made a lot of money with her new, fit (liposuctioned) body and resulting DVD, she can just say what she thinks about anyone and it doesn't matter. It's a real clash of cultures and I'm thinking that Shilpa is probably on the winner here for keeping her temper slightly cooler than Jade's. We await tomorrow night's results.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas has come and gone and we are already five days into 2007. Now that we all use debit/credit cards for nearly everything, it might be a few days yet before people start having to remember to put the new year's date on cheques etc...but don't worry, it happens to all of us. Some years it's well into February before I get my head around the change.
If I'm not thinking I still put my old address on forms etc., and I've been at my new address for over ten months!
I've not posted for quite a few weeks...I heard on the radio the other day that there are hundreds of thousands of blogs out there that NEVER get updated, so I'm not alone, and especially over the festive bit when everyone's too busy buying pressies/going to parties/eating/drinking etc.
My main "thing" at the moment, is that I HAVE to lose some weight. This is my NY resolution. I got on my partner's bathroom scales this morning and frightened myself to death. I have no-one to blame but myself - a mixture of complacency, laziness, "I'm happy with myself as I am, therefore I'm going to eat and drink what I want", and not noticing that the weight was creeping on until my usual size 12 wasn't fitting anymore and I was having to step up to the dreaded 14 label in the shops. I've been online looking for recipes, tips, all of that stuff, and trying to motivate myself. Exercise definitely seems like a good plan to speed things along, and so I've treated myself to a new swimsuit in the sales and tomorrow am nipping up to the pool at some point for possibly a swim but mainly to get the new session schedule. If I can get up early enough it makes sense to go for their early bird sessions before work...but knowing myself, that is going to take quite a bit of effort and commitment on my part. The last three days until this evening I had been sticking to no sugar and lots of sensible fruit and veg, but earlier this evening I lapsed and had a 100g bar of Lindor chocolate that someone had given me in a Christmas parcel. It had been calling out to me from the cupboard where I'd put it earlier today...however at least it's gone now and I won't be buying any. I am disappointed in myself, but I'm not using it as an excuse to completely lapse, and will get back to the healthy eating plan tomorrow.

Ah me.

Half-term but where's the sunshine?

2006-10-26T02:52:00.000-07:00

Blllleeeeeeeeerugh, rain, rain go away!
It's the sixth day of the half-term holidays and we've had one dry sunny day (Tuesday).
We took advantage of the weather and went off to the local stately home, Lanhydrock House. It was more for middle son's A-level English work than anything else, but still, it's a lovely old house, part victorian, part 17th century. The victorian part happened because in 1881 there was a fire, which started in the kitchens. The owners took advantage of the situation in that they enlarged the original size of the building and added new kitchens and other apartments. The kitchen has the largest spit-roast apparatus I have ever seen. Unfortunately we're not allowed to take photographs of the inside of the house, but I'm inserting a nice one I took of the outside.

Due to the almost constant rain, I've had to investigate the local town laundry as I have no tumble drier but plenty of washing because I've got the boys this week. Half an hour to tumble dry a couple of loads of washing (the driers are huge!) and the cost is about £3. At least it gives me a chance to get some course reading done!

Till the next time...celticcarole

Tis nearly done!

2006-10-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

How is the kitchen getting on?? You might ask I reply.
Weeelllllllllll, I've finished the ceiling, the posh chrome light fitting is fitted, and tonight I've been getting the second coat of Quicksilver on and cutting in around the edges (again). Last week after my course day, I popped into B & Q (ok, I'm trying not to advertise, but that's where I went) and bought a fancy little paint guard job that is supposed to stop you messing up your ceiling and get a nice straight line. Well, it's not perfect, but it's no worse than doing it completely freehand and a lot quicker.
Tomorrow I'll get the kitchen back together, (cupboard doors rehung and my chrome racking system in place) and try to convince one of the neighbours to hang my new roller blind for me...which will mean drilling some holes in the external wall. I'll post a pic when it's all done. It's already looking great.
Some of the reading for my course is quite heavy. (Plymouth Uni, distance learning, Foundation Degree for Teaching Assistants, this module [my 5th] is Behaviour Management) I wasn't able to concentrate on any of the reading because of knowing my kitchen was awaiting its makeover, but now it's full steam ahead.

Blurgh

2006-09-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

...spent most of the day repainting the kitchen ceiling, then masking off tiles, skirtings etc and putting on a first coat of Quicksilver, as the colour I've chosen for the walls is called. However, at the moment the boys are saying my kitchen walls look like grey concrete. I've tried telling them it's the industrial look, but they're not listening.

Tomorrow I have to be out in the evening at a meeting of the management committee for the block of leasehold flats I live in, so the second coat isn't going on until Tuesday at the earliest. Also tomorrow, I will be at Wadebridge football ground selling stuff at a car boot sale that goes on there most Mondays from June to September...and that's after a whole day working at school, so I think by late tomorrow evening I'm going to be a wee bit tired!!

Watched the new BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre tonight. It's one of my favourite books, and this version is going to have to go some to be better than the first adaptation they did with Cusack and Jayston.

I should have repainted the kitchen ceiling today!

2006-09-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

...but so farI haven't. First thing this morning, when the sun streaming in through the kitchen window was highlighting the patches I'd missed, I was out doing the charity shops of Wadebridge. Third shop lucky, (Age Concern) I found a pair of Cotton Traders jeans, just my size, for £3.49. A good deal, and I'd been looking for some new jeans for ages.
It was about two years ago I discovered the delights of charity shops. Bargains so far? A pure wool sage green collarless cropped jacket, very Prada, looks fantastic and goes with loads of bottom halves: jeans, skirts etc. Less than a fiver. Various books, tops, jumpers, skirts etc... plus, a find in Plymouth from an animal charity shop, a huge pine framed pic of La Scala opera house in Spain. It'll look fantastic on my lounge wall when it's freshly painted (in a nice warm yellow), and only a tenner! I love charity shops.

After that, I had to do Tesco. I have a love/hate relationship with that place. Firstly, in defence of my shopping habits, since moving to the flat in the centre of Wadebridge, I have shopped in the town centre in small independent traders a good deal more than I ever used to when I lived in Port Isaac. Fruit/veg/bakers/butchers/grocers etc, I'm there. Sometimes though, it's just quicker to nip to Tesco for everything in one go. When it's my turn to have the boys (their dad and I have them a week each since our divorce) I go there and stock up for them. So, after lunch it was up West Hill to Tesco, where I managed to spend £60 in less than 60 minutes, including a new shirt for the youngest son. Tesco don't need my money; they are quite big enough; also I have emailed them several times along with quite a few other big supermarkets about their policy on battery hen eggs and got the usual brush off emails back; and so I consider myself to be one of their more reluctant customers, but go there I still do, and I don't like myself for it. I must make a real effort to avoid the damn place.

This evening it was time to take my youngest to a concert. He plays trombone for the town band and they were doing a gig for the local church. I stayed for most of the first half, then, during the intervalI had to nip back over to "our" side of the river to go to the loo as the nearest loo to the church was at the rugby club opposite! Catch me toddling over there on a Saturday night on my own eh? A bit off I thought, especially as the church "ladies" were serving coffee and tea during the interval which would only have made the stressed bladder situation even worse! I got back to the church 20 mins before the end to pick son up, only to find that the musical director had had said son stand up to take a bow and given him some lovely compliments for exceptionally good playing during "Those magnificent men in their flying machines" and I'd missed it. Drat, drat and double drat as Dick Dastardly used to say.

Tomorrow morning I am def going to repaint the kitchen ceiling!!

Back to school

2006-09-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

After a lovely long summer holiday, I'm now into the third week of the Autumn Term at school. Autumn isn't my favourite time of year...the days are getting shorter, although we are going through something of an Indian Summer here in Cornwall at the moment. The daytime temperature has hardly dropped below 20c since term began...much warmer than most of August!

Shockingly I haven't been surfing once this year, although I did get in a little bit of sailing and canoeing at Roadford Watersports Centre earlier in the summer. I was tempted today, to break out my hardly worn shortie wetsuit and get down to Polzeath. However, the kitchen had to be started (decorating) and I forced myself to haul out the old nails and picture fittings and get the Polyfilla out. Tomorrow I will fill a bit more if nec, and get some sanding done. Decorating is a bit like ironing. Boring, but ultimately satisfying.

Last week passed in a haze of late nights and busy days at school. As per usual, I had left the assignment writing for my FDTA (Foundation Degree Teaching Assistants) until the last minute. Trying to knock out a 4,000 word assignment in a couple of weeks is not good practice, and one I intend to amend for the next module!! In fairness, the last part of the assignment could not be completed until I had returned to school, as part of the Conclusion depended on what I found out in the first couple of weeks back. Still, it was a stressful time. I have until the 28th to get the kitchen decorated before the next module (Behaviour Management) starts.

That's it for now. I spend enough time looking at laptops as part of my daily job!

celtic carole

My first post

2006-08-19T14:41:00.000-07:00

Three weeks of school holidays so far - and not loads to show for it (I'm a teaching assistant). To be fair, I have been away on holiday ( to Scotland, the land of my birth) visiting my sister, Joanne. She lives in Thurso, and while there, I also took the hour and a half ferry journey and visited the Orkney Islands. The picture is part of the Ring of Brodgar, a neolithic perfect stone circle, 5,000 years old. Orkney is lovely, and so are its people. Go there!!
The kitchen has been prepped for decoration, (thanks to Mike, a local handyman and general expert), and now, if I can just choose the right light fitting, I can get the (already bought) emulsion on the ceiling and walls. Add to that a really cool (ok -cheap) chrome racking system - only £7.99 from Lidls, (or Liddells as my sis calls it - she says it makes it sound posher), and a new blind (I can't find one I like yet, it may eventually mean having to make one) and the kitchen will be done.
I've been in this flat since February, and so far have done only the bathroom (start small, and build up), but hopefully within the year, I might, just might, get it all done. The leasehold document says the property has to be decorated every seven years!! Help!!

What I need to add here, is my favourite and most useful webcam site. It's the webcam that shows the best view of Polzeath, my fave bodyboarding beach. This beach is only ten mins from where I live. I just check out the surf before heading out there. Parking is a pain, (and expensive if you're going to make the most of the waves every day) but worth it on a good surf day.
http://www.seascapehotel.co.uk/webcam.html This place gets VERY crowded during July and August when the whole of the UK seems to head for Cornwall, but hey, can you blame them, it's the best place in England to live. (ok, I'm biased)
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