What a pair!

Look at this girl and her new car!  She is so stoked.  Apparently the car's name is Bartholomew ("Bart"), and I'm sure she is treating him really well.  May he keep her safe and sound when they are out together on the road, and be the vehicle on many adventures!  Welcome, Bart!

Tide Mills, back in the day

 Tide Mills is the name of the place that my friends and I go sea swimming on Saturdays during the winter months.  Of course, it is a lovely place to swim any time of year but we are hardy so we tend to not prioritise our Saturday ritual during the summer since it can get really crowded here on a hot day and in the summer the sun rises too early to bring the same feeling of starting the day together at the sea!  Our friend Sally somehow found this historical photo of the place back in its hey day and also a written description of the place.  

Today its all chert ruins overgrown with vine plants, which has an ancient beauty about it and why I love this glimpse at the hey day Tide Mills must have been like.

Another beautiful Sunday

 What a gorgeous September morning it was today, and upon opening the curtains I was delighted to see not only a morning cloud inversion over the valleys of the South Downs, but also a red hot air balloon drifting peacefully over the land.  Meanwhile Tryfan and Rhodri had another game somewhere, which I didn't see but was glad to hear about afterwards!

What a week!

September has really kicked off in a big way.  I went up to Aberdeen for a breakfast event on Tuesday this week (flew up on Monday afternoon, back on Tuesday afternoon).  That was pretty exciting in itself because I got to see some familiar faces and stay at the very nice Malmaison hotel which is very near to the Net Zero Technology Center, which is where my event was. All good!

In the meantime, over in Santa Barbara, our girl's new car arrived (new to her, not an actual new car).  This was the result of soooo many hours of discussion, phonecalls, internet research, angst, worry, and finally, delivery!  We bought this car for her so she could stop using Grandma's car, and so that she could drive herself to work at GVAC health club.  It was slightly above the budget we had set, but we feel good that she is driving around in a solid, reliable car.  Sounds like it was a bit of a drama actually having it delivered to her work setting, since they left it on the street rather than in the parking lot, and there was so much muck on the windshield that she couldn't actually see through the windshield to be able to drive it into the parking lot from the road.  However, she made all the right decisions in that moment and was able to get her colleague to bring window cleaner from inside the club before she got behind the wheel to move it.  What a girl.

Then back on the other side of the pond this weekend, Rhodri and I decided on Friday night that we would drive over to Folkstone and catch up with our long, lost friends Cristiano and Rachel.  Wow, has time passed us by there.  We were so, so happy to see them and hear about their lives, catch up with the decade that has just passed since we last saw them.

And now it is Sunday and time to rest and get ready for the next week ahead!

Rugby season kicks off

 Its rugby season again and Rhodri is one of the coaches again with Tryfan's team. Can you find them both in this photo?

My gorgeous girl

Oh Rhiannon, you are so special.  

You know what this girl did before she left in July for California? She gave me a box of letters to pull out as and when I need a little lift from her, and some instructions for use.  Isn't this the most gorgeous and thoughtful gift anyone could receive from their child? I am so blessed. 

Today I allowed myself to open one and I felt so loved.  Even writing this blog post (some weeks later), it brings tears of gratitude to my eyes.  She is such a special person.

Late summer dog paddling

Ahh, it is just beautiful right now. The summer sun is finally here and the forest near the Vachery lakes is just so tranquil.  Annie and I went out for our Sunday walk, though Emma and Una couldn't join us today as they normally do.  In fact, Annie was doing very impressive jumps into the water to go fetch sticks, which is new for her.

Friends round

Today was the last day of August, and we had a bit of spontaneity with the Denslow fam swinging round. We thought it would just be Gordie and Anne Marie, but they all showed up and it was fun to be with them (as always).  We didn't do anything in particular, but it was just a normal and enjoyable evening.  Nice to see off the month with our friends round.

Crawley Town at Brighton Hove

Cat and I took the train from Lewes to the Brighton stadium to see Crawley Town football club plan Brighton Hove Albion.  We had amazing seats and it was an excellent game.  Crawley (who we were rooting for) lost 4-0 but the score did not reflect how well they played.  It was a really exciting game but as you can see from the score, the opposition ran away with it in the end.  Before the game started, Cat and I had the most delicious hot savoury pies from Piglet's Pantry https://www.pigletspantry.co.uk/pies/ We were so impressed!

Anyway, it was fun to be out on the town on a Tuesday night with my friend.

My birthday wind flower

 Anne Marie and Emma gave this gorgeous wind flower sculpture to me for my birthday last year and finally I set it up in the garden.  I love it so much.

Jason's party

Our friends Susie and Jason had a big party last night and we had a really fun time there with lots of dancing and laughter, and incredible food!

Wowo wildflowers

Tryfs is continuing his summer job at Wowo Campsite on an occasional basis.  He seems to really enjoy working here actually, even if the specific duties he is often doing are not-too-fun.  But they have this amazing wildflower meadow near the reception area, and it is in full summer bloom now.

Ann is here

I feel so lucky to have Ann as my boss at work.  She is just so wonderful and inspiring, I am thrilled that she flew all the way over here to help launch our new UK based geothermal team.  She is staying nearby and I thought it was quite funny the way the sign is all wonky here.

New Driver in the family!

 She did it! Got her California Driver's License on her first try!  Now she needs a car...

Beaches, mountains and flowers

It is just so gorgeous up here!  What a luxury to be able to walk to the beach, walk to the top of the Vardre, and walk into the middle of the town all from Nain & Taid's beautiful home.  

There was a gorgeous evening that Tryfan accompanied me on a sunset walk to the golf course, which was really nice too.

Rhodri and Tryfan are out doing a private mountain climbing course in Snowdonia, so I have been working from the house and taking breaks over these days to go for walks.  

Cwmorthin walk

 We went on a really cool hike today up a valley and across to a peak I'd never been to.

I got to try out my new Gregory backpack, which I am so happy about!

Our girl in Michigan

 Meanwhile, our girl is over in Michigan visiting Drew for his birthday.  This was a nice surprise for him that Drew's parents organized with Rhiannon.  So cute :)

Up in North Wales for a week

 We drove up to Llandudno yesterday and had a lovely welcoming dinner with Nain and Taid.

Then today Tryfan, Rhods and I went for a walk with Annie and stopped through Deganwy town for a coffee and food.

The hanging baskets at Deganwy Quay hotel were particularly fabulous!

I'm really inspired by these baskets and I want to be able to put one together like this at our house someday... maybe next year.  It is so beautiful up here, but it is really weird to come here without our girl Rhiannon.

A full day in Sussex

Today Leigh and I went for a lovely swim down at Tide Mills, and as we were walking back to the car a group of 4 barefoot men were gingerly picking their way over the stones in their speedos. Such a funny sight!

The flowers in the ruins of the old Tide Mills village were beautiful

Then later in the day I went for a long walk cross country with Sharon because she needed to join her family at a tractor rally. It was quite something to see, all these different tractors and diggers 'playing around' in several fields. 

Good times!

Gladioli

I have a perennial batch of dark magenta gladioli that pop up every year.  I always think of my dear old Dad up in heaven.  He loved these kind of flowers from what I remember, and he would have approved of this lovely selection of flowers from our garden.

Sharon's bathroom sign

 This made me laugh tonight when we went over for dinner at Sharon and Trevor's house!