Silent Disco Walking Tour

 For my birthday back in November, Cat gave me a ticket to attend the Guru Dudu's Silent Disco Walking Tour in Brighton. We took the train from HH and got there in good time to start at 4:00 pm in front of the Theatre Royal, and we met our sea swimming buddies Ali and Emma there too.

We girls did call in for a swift pre-game bev at a really cool upstairs bar next to the theatre, then we went down and put our headphones on to start the event!

These photos do not convey how ridiculously fun, hilarious, and invigorating this event was!

Senor Samba, our host and leader, was fabulous at leading the fun as we danced, sashayed and skipped through the streets of Brighton under the Christmas lights! It was soooooooo fun

In fact, I'd go as far to say that this was the most fun I've had for awhile. I can't wait to join another silent disco walking tour, in London, Brighton, or wherever! Next time I'll bring the whole fam though. Maybe.

After this ended at 5pm, we went out for an early dinner at Brown's, and that was fabulous too. We caught the train back to HH where Rhodri met us and delivered us all safely home. What a great night!

London trip for a 16th birthday

 Today we went into London for the day in order to celebrate Rhiannon's birthday. Rhiannon, Poppy and I traveled in together and did some shopping during the main part of the day before Rhodri and Tryfan met us for dinner later.

The 3 of us girls had lunch at a Hawaiian cafe, which was really great, then we split up and walked around and met again at 123V, which is the vegan restaurant that Rhiannon chose for her special dinner.

Even though it was in the basement of the Fenwick department store, it was really great food and service. We all sat in a booth and had a great meal.

Despite (or maybe because of) the rain and the wind, it was a very festive atmosphere around New Bond Street and Regent Street. It felt pretty busy everywhere actually, which was surprising since it has been Covid restrictions etc all over. 

At the end of it all, we caught the train back to Haywards Heath station and then I drove Poppy home and we all went to be around 11pm.  A long day but a good one!

Rhiannon turns 16!

 Our girl is 16 years old! She has been working really hard these past few months in preparation for the "mock exams" at her school, which have been all of this week and will continue through next week as well. On top of that, she is working at the pub tonight rather than doing anything fun with her friends. At least Sophie could come over today after school and hang out a little bit before Rhi goes to work.

She seems in good spirits about it all, though. And I know she would prefer working to the alternative activity for tonight, which is the annual Chelwood Gate Tree Lighting event. This has always been my favorite event of the year, but with all the stuff going on right now and the fact that it hasn't been well publicized or organized, I'm really not that keen this year. 

[Post-script]

Rhodri and I lead some door-to-door caroling along the main road through the village, which was actually hilarious and cringey. There were only 6 of us to start, with my swimming pal Emma making an appearance that totally made my evening! She is such good value to have along to things - she has a great energy and is always up for stuff! Then about 4 houses into our caroling tour, Leigh and Stuart caught up with us. 

Here is the scene at one of the houses we sang at. They hadn't opened the door yet, but they did eventually! We didn't have as great of a success at other houses - one guy switched the light off and pretended he wasn't there! Another guy totally ignored us although we could see him in the kitchen!

Anyway, we had a heck of a laugh about it afterwards when we went to the pub to visit Rhiannon after giving up on the caroling adventure.

Swift recovery

 Annie seems to be feeling just fine! In fact, I'd say she is acting really bored, clearly prowling around the house looking for trouble. Here she is after having pulled the stuffing out of a toy...

I forgot to mention that we put all our Christmas stuff up, including a lovely tree that we got from the Carter's tree farm down the road. We did all that last weekend when Sions and JJ were here.  But now we are discovering that Annie really likes to nibble on the ornaments, the skirt under the tree, and she also likes to hide behind the tree where we can't reach her! She is such a little minx.

The Big Op

 Annie had her big operation today: she will never give birth to puppies. She really doesn't like going to the vet, and she was also just there a few days ago after wounding her paw somehow. 

Now she is in a body suit and we need to sort of unvelcro the back section whenever she goes outside to do business, and she doesn't enjoy that too much either. Poor girl. Hopefully she recovers swiftly.

Sions and JJ visit

 Along with Winnie, we've also had Auntie Sioned and her boyfriend JJ visiting too. It's been super fun to have them around, and to get to know JJ a little bit better.

This morning JJ had to leave a bit early to go practice with his band, so Sions and I dropped him at the train station and then went to watch Tryfan play rugby. 

They played really well and it was fun to be there, although we ended up getting there a bit later than planned, but that is another story!

Doggie cousins

 Winne and Annie got to have a reunion this weekend! They are so cute together, and also well behaved.  It was super fun to see them together.

Thanksgiving thoughts

Today we were supposed to be welcoming Michel for the weekend, and we had all been so excited about seeing him since it has been a long time! But since I have now also contracted Covid, we have had to postpone those plans and just sit tight with no visitors or fun. Boohoo. And on top of that, I have lost my sense of taste and smell as of this morning! Hopefully it won't be gone for too long.

Yesterday was also Thanksgiving in the USA, and while we didn't do too much to celebrate this year, I did bake a pumpkin pie with gluten free crust. In case I haven't mentioned it here, we are cooking gluten free for Rhodri's health regime but that often involves the rest of us too. I think it is fun having this additional cooking challenge, although it has taken some time to get used to reading labels and keeping an eye out for gluten in ingredients listings!

Anyway, we were able to speak on the phone with some of our relatives, and that is always nice. But these days we all seem to be having plans canceled or messed up, and that is difficult. We still have plenty to be thankful for.

Late November blues (and golds)

So we are all locked down now in our house, with Tryfan and Rhodri having tested positive for Covid, and then Rhiannon testing positive yesterday. For now I'm in the clear, but we are keeping to ourselves nonetheless and only going out for solo dog walks, groceries delivered, etc.

Annie and I have seen some gorgeous mornings and late afternoons though, and we merely need to cross the road from our house to get to these beautiful scenes.

I love the burgundy bracken that carpets the forest floor in some spots.

Such a teenager

Tryfan is really good at acting the part of a teenage boy: he lives in his jammies and tie robe on the weekends, mooching around between video games while eating peanuts and sweets. And now that we are all locked down with Covid, there is really no reason for one to change out of jammies...

But he does have a fairly good "response rate", meaning that he does actually keep an ear out for something else that might be going on and requiring his involvement. This photo totally captures the Tryfan of now, as he is 14 years and 1 month old.

A Covid Birthday

Today didn't go according to plan, but it was a really lovely day nonetheless. In fact, it has been a long week. After arriving back home from Cardiff, the next day Tryfan didn't feel well, then Rhodri didn't feel well, then they both tested positive for Covid. So by Thursday we were needing to all isolate here at home and cancel my birthday plans and all that. Here is the view from my seated position in the living room with the rest of the family sitting in relative isolation while I opened my birthday presents!

My two little hunnies kept me well fed with lovely meals and treats through the day

Here is me with my new dry robe at the beach on Saturday morning, for its first outing.

Cousins

 Rhiannon, Gabs, Val and Tryfan made this video using the old photo from a few years ago. Hilarious to see them together.

Rugby weekend in Cardiff

On Friday we left town a bit early in order to drive to Cardiff for a dinner time arrival. We are spending the weekend with our family who live there - Nia, Cris, Gabs and Val in one household, and Sions & JJ in another one. On Sunday night we went to watch a live rugby game at the Principality Stadium in downtown Cardiff!! Saturday morning dawned gorgeous and crisp, and we went for a great family walk up the Penallt behind Nia's house.

The cousins had a great time together, speaking in Welsh and laughing hysterically at what were most likely some dirty jokes. It was hilarious to listen to them. Later on we went to visit Sioned & JJ's new house and went for a walk with them and Winnie in the late afternoon. 

It was our first time meeting JJ and that was really great. He is super fun and easy to be with, and we all had a great time together.  Saturday night Auntie Nia made a delicious dinner for us all, and we indulged in being together as a family.

Sunday was all about the rugby game! Although kickoff wasn't til 3:15 pm, we needed to get into the city center and get into the stadium around 2, which meant catching a train at 12 from Ystrad Mynych station. Things were looking pretty dicey with trains only once an hour anyway, and the previous one cancelled, this one delayed. But we managed to get on and everything worked out fine!

Nia and I bought the Welsh Daffodil headpieces and TRIED to get everyone to wear them but sadly they refused.

So it was Wales vs Fiji as part of the Autumn Series, and it was a really exciting game to watch! Wales won in the end, which was cool. Tryfan, Gabs and Val went down to meet some of the Fijian players afterwards and managed to get the autograph of one guy. It was a great atmosphere and a really fun experience!

Afterwards we all went for dinner at this awesome place called Pieminister.

Guy Fawkes weekend

Friday night was Guy Fawkes night, and it was also my friend Hellie's birthday so we had a girls night out. It was super fun to go "out-out", and we had a great meal followed by distant appreciation of the Lindfield fireworks display

Saturday was a mellow day, where I got to go swimming and grocery shopping with Cat, and that was wonderful too!  Sunday I went for a run and met these little fellows with their impressive horns! They approached me but not too enthusiastically.

And then as a grand finale to the weekend, we went for a walk with Cat and Gary because Gary volunteered to look after Annie while we are in Wales next weekend for the rugby! Win-win-win situation!

Stunning

Some days it is such a treat to look out the window

Beautiful moments with friends

This weekend I got to see two of my favorite homies, Cat and Emma. Cat for a swim and Emma for a dog walk. It is a beautiful time of year and I'm so grateful to be able to share little moments with friends.

In fact, Emma and I spent tonight at the pub. Tomorrow is a school day, and our kids are all too old to trick or treat and too young to go to parties. So Ems and I treated ourselves to a civilized beverage and toasted those past Halloweens where we had been in the background stage whispering to our own trick-or-treater children to say thank you. We had a good laugh.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Tryfan and Oscar spent Halloween doing strength and fitness contests supervised by Rhods.

Makin' money

Our girl has been working hard. She works at least one night at the pub (on the weekend), she helps out a elderly neighbor, and now she is cleaning the village hall once a week.  Here she is having just come in from the rainy walk back with the hoover in pieces in her backpack. She is tough!

Deganwy beach

It is such a luxury to be able to walk to the beach from the house! And look at these gorgeous sand dunes. Every visit is a winner. Love this place!

Ynys Llanddwyen

We went on a family walk today although the weather was torrential! It was so bad it was good!

We drove out to Anglesey and over to a little peninsula that is only available to get to at low tide. The rain was horizontal, although it wasn't actually too bad as we started the walk.

Soon the boys needed to put their waterproof trousers on (Rhi and I already had ours on!)

There was a really cool ancient stone church ruins and buildings at the end

Here is a map showing all of Anglesey and our little location

We found a pub to have a warm lunch in, which was good, and then we drove back to Llandudno. The sky started to open up and illuminate the fields on our drive. 

Walks with my children

I went on two walks today, one with each of my kids. Tryfs and I took Annie to the beach for a very windy walk on the beach in the morning. She ran like a banshee to play with other dogs enjoying the stretch of sand there.

.. and then Rhiannon and I took Annie up the Vardre in the afternoon. We couldn't let her off the leash since there were a lot of sheep around. No sheep worrying allowed!

It was just such a gorgeous day, I couldn't get enough of the landscape, views and sea air

It was also cool to see the male sheep wearing their mating harnesses. I've never actually seen this before, but it is a harness that has a ink pot attached, so when the boy sheep gets jiggy with a girl sheep, the girl sheep gets a colored spot on her back to indicate which boy sheep has been with her. And then each boy sheep has a different colored ink pot attached. In this last photo you can see a boy sheep with a harness on. I think the blue spot on his back must have been put there by the farmer rather than by another sheep, because my imagination just doesn't want to go there to consider any other scenario. Anywho, it was an interesting walk! And such a treat to be out in the wide world enjoying the day with my kids.