Banking the sunshine

Another unforecast day of sunshine today, the river is so low we'll be starting to fret about our water supply soon! The wind turbine has seen no action but at least the solar panel is sucking some energy into the static.

Ady spent lots of the day being mechanics mate. The good news is the car is back in action, the bad news it is only restored to part working order. We will definitely need to find a replacement but of course that tends to be more complicated than in mainland land. We need a 4x4 , something with enough ground clearance to cross a river, it needs to be diesel and it needs to be very reliable. It does not need to be roadworthy, look nice or go more than 10mph! There is hope of a suitable vehicle on the grapevine, we'll see if it comes good.

In the morning I caught up on emails, made two lots of dough - one for bagels for dinner, one for bread and rolls for the next couple of days, did some cheerleading / overseeing / assisting with some spelling on a poster Davies was making for a friend and a card Scarlett was making for another. They adore getting post - it makes them so happy when an envelope arrives on the ferry with their name on it but persuading them that they would get more mail if they sent more and that they get to be the bestower of that excited feeling when it is them sending things to their friends can be an uphill battle. I was telling Scarlett about how I had at least 5 pen friends when I was her age and used to get as much out of writing and sending the letters as I did from receiving them. For non- writing children, particularly in this internet age the simple joy of getting to know someone, sharing news and life stories by way of longhand on coloured writing paper stuck with a stamp seems to be some archaic idea from generations and generations ago, not just something their mummy did when she was a child.

We all had lunch and then deciding that the rain was not going to put in an appearance after all the kids went off to look for eggs  - none - all the birds have stopped laying for the winter I think - and exercise Bonnie who has fully recovered from whatever was ailing her and no longer has a limp. I knitted for a while,did sme reading and then went to do some tidying up in the polytunnel. I've done some organising, a little harvesting, a tiny bit of sowing and generally made our half look less abandoned. I experimented with some hanging baskets for strawberries and just enjoyed being in there without the company of any midges.

Ady arrived home in the car and brought me a cup of tea down to the polytunnel. I joined him in taking the car back up to the fork in the road (we tend to leave in there incase it rains and the river gets too high to cross and it is where any car in the village can get to easily to jump start us if we need it rather than a brave 4x4 driver).

I chopped up the three bags of firewood Ady had carried up the hill and then turned all the dough into dinner and bread.