All this rain has been good for one thing. The veg patch.

Here is today's offering:
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Greek Squask
Kohlrabi
Spinach
Broad Beans
Mach Climbing Beans
Peas
Raddish
Carrots
strawberries

I got that wrong.

Jon and Amanda are off to Glastonbury, without me.

No dogs allowed.

But I am not bothered because I get two new people to come and look after me and take me for long walks and spoil me. And it won't matter if it rains and gets really grim. Like last time.

Hah.

It's a hot, muggy evening here right now. we're all feeling restless.

Off to Glastonbury in 5 days time.

What's in a name?

Meet Peter. This weekend we all went to Peter's first birthday and wiccaning party.

If you are wondering what a wiccaning is, here's what wikipedia thinks:

A Wiccaning, analogous to a Christening for an infant, is the presenting of an infant to the God and Goddess for protection.

And, after experiencing my first wiccaning, here's what I think a wiccaning is:

A made-up ceremony in a back garden, involving a broomstick, a sword, mead, cake and a phallic pinata.

Pete took it all in his stride, lots of people dropped cake which I ate and then we all went across the road to the community centre for a rather-more-traditional knees-up.

Fun in the forest

One of the best things about Amanda's job is promoting new mountainbike trails.

This is the newest trail in Wales. It opened last Thursday.

It's in Brechfa forest and is called the Derwen trail.

Here is Amanda on the inaugural ride. It's graded green, which means that it's very good for novice riders like Amanda.

wild river

Follow the narrow, twisty lane that winds past our garden through the pixie woodlands, up an enchanted valley and along a bubbling brook.

Since we moved here 8 months ago, we've been wondering if there are any good swimming holes on the river.

Today we found one!

After a 20 minute scramble off the path, across the bank and under some fallen trees, we followed the stream to a big waterfall with a perfect plunge pool underneath.

Just one problem: the only way in is a leap off a big rock. And the only way out is over the next waterfall.

This is going to take some planning ...

Big trees

Massive Giant Redwood trees in our garden.

Jon found this website that lists places in the UK where you can find other trees like these.

They are very tall and very old.

Two monkeys

Dylan and Teilo live here at Plas Einion. They came busking round our flat this evening to do a show. They are in character as 'Bob': a man with a hat and a cape, and 'Ivy': a very old lady who gets asthma and dies.
Cheery stuff!
We clapped and gave them 5p each.

Inside a tipi

This is what it looks like inside one of the tipis at Eco Retreats

Friday is tipi-day

On Fridays Jon and I work here at EcoRetreats We clean these tipis and get them ready for guests.

Folks love to come here and unwind for the weekend, escaping the hustle and bustle of modern day life. Thinking about that makes me appreciate that this IS my life.

My last home

Spent the weekend at the Centre for Alternative Technology. I used to live here with Amanda, in an underground house called the Hobbit Hole. We had good times there.

This time Amanda was running a course about community renewable energy schemes, so on Saturday afternoon we took the group for a walk up the hill to look at the two wind turbines that are owned collectively by us and our neighbours in the Dyfi Valley.

People that came on the course were from South Wales, North Yorkshire and Australia. They all had bright ideas of projects they are going to work towards in their communities. Inspiring stuff!

Finally

It stopped raining!

At last.

I am off to play outside.

:)

Fresh veg

Busy, busy Bank Holiday weekend.

Went to see System 7 at Hendre Hall last night, along with everyone we know from North Wales. Steve Hillage still rocks.

Came back home via Betws y Coed (way too busy) and Blaenau (nice and quiet), stopping to explore Llechwedd Slate Caverns, where Jon's been installing a new hydro turbine.

Back in time for supper. We've just started harvesting fruit and veg from the allotments. So far we've had: Tat Soi, Rhubarb and now Radishes!

party season

Went to an outdoor party last night, at Dr Hoska's in Ynyslas.

It's going to be a summer of parties.

We're having our own here at Plas Einion in July, in our top field. We went up there to have a look around.

There are some bees there making honey and lots of baby oak trees. We'll have to make sure these places are protected during the party.

Obsessive

I live with two obsessive people.

Jon likes to build machines. This is his bat detector. If you see a bat flying around at dusk (and there are a lot of those around here), you point this machine at it and you can hear the noises the bat is making, amplified to a frequency that humans can listen to.

Amanda is also obsessed with creating things, in a different way. She spends most of her free time in the conservatory sowing seeds and potting up or outside digging and planting in her two allotments. These are her rockets.

122 days until the man burns!

Dave and Thirzie came over last night.

We spent the evening getting excited about summer festivals.

They are setting up a business to do outdoor catering this summer, so will be going to lots.

We showed them pictures of BM and tried to work out creative things you can do with EL Wire.

Watch this space ....

Ynyslas Beach

This evening we went to Ynyslas Beach (Jon says it is an SSSI managed by CCW and he put the PVs on the visitor centre - I have no idea what all those letters mean but they sound impressive). I like the beach, the sand, the space, the sea! There were several cars racing up and down the beach which seemed all wrong, boy racers in pimped up cars showing off to each other. Later I hear there is dogging which i like the sound of, but Jon and Amanda were keen to get away....

Everybody has a cause

I've driven past this sign 3 times now. Today I had my camera with me.

I think it's important to stand up for what you believe in and protect the things that you hold dear.

Such as the Erwood public toilets.

I don't know what the toilets are under threat from. Any suggestions?

Forest of Dean

This week Amanda and I went to the Forest of Dean to learn about Forestry.

We stayed in Symonds Yat at the Royal Lodge, great location at the end of a twisty and steep country lane, right next to the river Wye. Went for long walks along the river bank first thing each morning.

Each afternoon we went on a site visit to look at different forestry techniques, such as: scarification, chainsaw felling, big harvesters, continuous cover and clearfell.

We were also taught how to identify trees and work out how much timber they contain.

The Forest of Dean has some good sculptures, such as this giant chair looking out across the forest.

Sunday Workday

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest.

But once a month we ignore this edict and organise a community work day!

There are six families living here in this 100-year-old mansion. 11 adults, 9 children, 2 dogs, 2 cats and a rabbit.

Thankfully we all have our own flats.

So today was community work day:

We cleared up all the crap that we'd been throwing over the wall in front of the house and built a bonfire.

Billy and Jon tried to find the drain that runs under the carpark, so they could clean it. They failed (again). Channan is now dowsing for it.

Michael and Morgan chopped up the wood from the old staircase, now we all have some more firewood.

Letter to the management

Dear Amanda and Jon

I am tired today.

I was just settling into sleep last night when you came home bringing lots of drunk people with you - and another dog - all without checking with me that this might be acceptable behaviour.

Four hours later everyone was still here, talking nonsense and playing poker.

Both my sofas were occupied this morning.

This is something we need to talk about.

Big sticks

A new table has arrived in the front room. It is made from very big sticks.

I must not chew it.

Jon gave this to Amanda for her birthday. She is very happy.

Jon earned the table by building a website for the South African woodworkers who live at the top of the Dulas valley. You can see more of their work at www.sylvantutch.co.uk

Jon is not happy

His computer has crashed AND he has lost his phone. I am cheering him up by reminding him of the simpler things in life .... like taking me for a long walk in the woods.

Mystery meat

I like dinner.

It is always a surprise. Today I get leftover curry and a selection of bargain-bin mystery meat from the shop.

beautiful day

This is the view from my front room this morning.

It's going to be another beautiful day!

Hog roast

Another good place to hang around was by this pig.

They seem to like dogs much better than they like pigs around here.

It was tasty!

little big voice

This weekend I went to Cardigan.

I Spent the weekend in a field full of tipis with lots of lovely people who took me for walks and fed me tasty tidbits of Welshcake.

The weekend was called Little Big Voice and it was organised by howies (great jeans and Tshirts).

I quickly worked out that lying under the food table at lunch time would get me lots of treats. It was a cunning plan.