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.

Aber Falls walk

Tryfs, Rhodri and I went for a big walk today up behind Aber Falls. It was a desolate, beautiful empty landscape and although we had a rough start (Tryfan forgot to bring his hiking boots), it all turned out okay.

Conwy Mountain and a Sunday afternoon

 Rhods and Annie and I went for a lovely run this morning around Conwy Mountain and the Sychnant pass area.  The clouds were dramatic and colorful, there were sheep in the field, and it was a great run all around!

In the afternoon, Auntie Jane came round 

Half Term in Wales

We drove yesterday afternoon to Llandudno. It was a long drive, always longer than we expect for some reason. It didn't start out very well - the M25 was at a standstill so the GPS took us on some back roads, which made Annie puke all over the kids and the back seat. Anyway, we got there eventually and were treated to a lovely arrival dinner by Nain and Taid, and it felt so good to be there. It actually felt a bit like coming home to me, even though its not my home. Anyway, we were all really, really glad to get there. 

This morning Rhods and I took Annie on a nice walk up Jampot Hill and through a field of confident sheep.

The sheep very confidently approached us and Annie wasn't sure at all what to do about them

Later in the day we went for a family walk at the beach in Conwy. 

It is so gorgeous here, and what a joy to leisurely amble up and down this huge sandy beach at low tide

Conference and Birthday

This has been a really cool conference and I'm so glad I came. The only bummer is that today is Tryfan's birthday and I have missed the traditional start to a birthday in the family with presents in our bedroom first thing in the morning. But they will wait until later tonight to give presents so I can be there too.

Meanwhile, we had a great dinner last night at the Pendennis Castle with all the conference attendees. What a cool venue!

The conference itself was held at the National Maritime Museum, which was a really cool venue as well. 

I was super impressed with this whole thing, but then again I was a bit giddy to be out in the wide world with actual people in real life. It was quite special.

Walking with Poldark

As part of the conference, the organizer put together an optional hike along the spectacular cliffs of the Cornish coastline. There were about 20 of us who enjoyed this incredible walk. 

It was really cool to be able to walk along chatting and getting to know new people. Most people peeled off after the 4 mile cliffy walk finished, but 8 of us continued to walk for the rest of the day and eventually got back to the hotel at 8pm.A great day!

Not the morning start I planned

This morning I got up early and planned to do some work-work before my all day walk on the cliffs as part of the conference. I had a lovely start with a nice coffee in my room and a bit of breakfast, then i settled down to work. But actually... the sky was so beautiful and the sea was just a 30 second walk from my room, and I was so excited to be there I just couldn't concentrate! 

So I abandoned work and went for a little exploratory run and then a gorgeous swim.

And I didn't regret it one bit...

Solo roadtrip

This morning I woke up early and hit the road. I was invited to attend a conference in Cornwall. I had a fun drive listening to podcasts and appreciating the early morning mist on the moors of Stonehenge and the autumn landscapes.

First on my tour was a stop at a geothermal well at the Eden Project. I wanted to see it in real life after getting excited about geothermal and making some new contacts in this sector. I hung around the site fence until someone came over to answer my questions and chat for an hour!

Here is Mt Recyclemore sculpture which is pretty cool

Then I navigated my way to a beach called the Vault

I had a glorious dip in the clear, lovely water. I was the only one swimming, but there were other people on the beach and it is apparently a famous swimming beach with no undertow, so very safe.

Then I drove along this crazy exposed cliff overlooking the same beach and eventually made my way to Falmouth where I checked into my hotel for the next 3 days. There were some really narrow stretches of road - yikes!

I dumped my stuff in the hotel and then went to the nearby beach cafe for a veggie burger and beer dinner. Niiiiiice

Its gonna be a great few days!

Our girl

She is growing up so fast. Every time I look at her, she has gotten more beautiful.