Trying to prove to myself that I'm not yet an old lady, I ran a 10 km race on a stupidly hot day mid July. I look remarkably fresh beforehand and very beat after 1 hr 11 mins trotting in the heat. Very grateful for St John's Ambulance start who were misting us with water at the water station!
JC finished building a raised bed in our garden. I wasn't much help as my back isn't strong enough to lift more than ~20 kg of soil so he very much did the heavy lifting.
Our new sofa arrived so the old one went to sofa heaven, courtesy of the council kerbside pick up service.
JC went to Luxembourg for 10 days but whilst there his aunt died, so he stayed on for 2 weeks in total. I am often not great when he's away. I get lonely very quickly, and even though I keep myself busy I feel terribly sad and it takes quite an effort to 'choose happiness'. Of course, I still function: I work, I feed myself, I do some exercise - but it's just under a more grey cloud than usual.
I went to see my nearest neighbour, TP5329, who is looking somewhat buried beneath vegetation. I might take secateurs next time.
Talking of vegetation, our climbing rose in the house in Ottery St Mary fell off the wall. So I spent a Sunday morning when JC was away trying to make headway on that. I cleared off two bags of vegetation.
I moved offices at work and my new one has a deaf person who is accompanied by Eden, his guide dog for the deaf. Eden is very cute and off putting in the nicest possible way. She has a penchant for lying in the corridor in the middle of the room.
I finally discovered the benchmark on the local church, St Andrew's. How I missed that for the last few months is bugging me.
JC arrived home last Friday and on Saturday he had his belated birthday present, a sea kayaking trip. We paddled from Budleigh Salterton to Ladram Bay and back and it was glorious. The Jurassic coastline is incredibly dry and the cliffs look as if they may crumble to dust at any moment - some huge cracks are very visible.
On Sunday we once again tackled the Ottery garden. Our neighbour leant us a ladder and a saw which helped immensely. You can now see the yard again. He also served us fresh coffee which was much appreciated.
This weekend has again been lovely. It started with breakfast with Caitlin and Roger. Caitlin had come to Exeter as she and Rog were off to France/Spain yesterday lunchtime, so I snuck in a coffee and catch up. I also took her Christmas present sheep down to say 'hi' to her. Sheep is too heavy, bulky and breakable to have yet made it back to London with Caitlin.
My aunt and uncle visited yesterday. It is always a delight to see them and we had lunch al fresco, then a decent walk around all of Cullompton's sites. Of course, the first highlight for them was the trig. The building works on the hill have just re-opened the access to the east side of the trig so I was able to bag the flush bracket number.
Linda and Rob are really interesting to walk with as they point out all sorts of features I march straight past. For example, there was this marvellous fungi growing on the oak. I also learnt about the hornbeam tree which I'd never heard of (I know, you're all shocked) and how identify it vs beech by its toothed leaves. And elm trees with their asymmetric leaves. The more I learn the more I realise I know very little.
And today, our friends from Ottery trekked north for lunch with us. Lovely to show Emma and Richard our new des res. They are very taken by our wonky upstairs floors and Emma couldn't stop pruning our lavender. I need all the input I can get on our garden - thanks!
