The weather has perked up over the last couple of days making it pleasant to be outdoors preparing the garden for winter. The greenhouse is now home to a number of the geraniums from the garden along with some of the pots that have spent the summer in the garden. Peter has dug up the last roots of the second early potatoes, washed them and they are now in a bag, stored in the dry ready for use. The last three beetroots have been pulled and cooked for eating during the week. Peter has planted the garlic cloves and his late sowing of French beans have so far produced enough for eight individual servings. This is a great return for something that was a bit of a gamble, as to whether the beans would germinate let alone, produce. By the end of this coming week we will have eaten the last our Marmande type tomatoes. I used one on Saturday for lunch, making Dakos which is a Greek dish and very popular in Crete. I had to improvise, as neither paximadia rusk type bread or mizithra cheese are available locally. I baked the bread again in the oven to dry out and give the hardness of a rusk and mashed some feta cheese with Greek yoghurt to emulate mizithra.

Just before Sunrise 16.10.16

French Beans

Dakos

My hen, Cate is coming to the end of what has been a very slow moult. She started losing feathers in August, the normal time for moulting, which over her eight years she has rarely conformed to. I have seen no bald patches, just a steady shedding for me to rake up when I move her coop and run onto a fresh patch of grass. For an old chicken, she looks in good condition; maybe all the treats she gets has something to do with this.

I spent Saturday morning in our bedroom, cleaning drawers and wardrobes, putting away summer clothes and bringing out thicker tops, scarves and gloves etc. Always sad to pack away t-shirts and shorts, in the knowledge it will be at least six months, if not more, before the weather will be warm enough to wear them again. During the next six months we have winter walks on the beach to look forward to, when the winter sunshine lights the sea and waves in totally different hues to those of summer and of course, on the food side, there are casseroles and dumplings to look forward to as well! We will also take walks along paths, tracks and field edges where shortly we will see the leaves turn colour and fall. But once we get into the New Year, the bulbs will start pushing their way up, reminding us that spring is not far away. In other words, whatever the season, there is always something to enjoy here in Overstrand.

Towards Trimingham

Hauling In

Towards Overstrand

Since Monday the weather has taken a turn for the worse but not before Tuesday morning when we were lucky to see the sun rising in the east and looking west, a rainbow. The past few days have been windy with showers, some of which have been heavy. The fishermen have bought their boats up from the promenade, with two boats on the turn on the zigzag and the other up on the Fishermen’s Green. After a period of stones and flints on the beach, the sands were starting to rebuild nicely and we were looking forward to, when the tides were right, walking Barney on the beach again in the mornings. However, looking down from the clifftops this morning, the sand has gone and we are back with stones and flints, so no morning beach walks just yet. Some may think we are over cautious by not taking Barney onto the beach when it is rough but we heard the other day that a visitor’s dog cut one of its paws on a sharp flint, necessitating a trip to the vets for treatment.

Moon & Clouds 17.07.16

Westward Rainbow

Sunrise 18.10.16

At our WI meeting yesterday evening the Chief Executive of the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA), Patrick Peal, talked about the charity; starting with its conception and continuing through to the service it provides today. By far the greatest number of call-outs are; to road accidents and heart attacks but there are also a number of incidents involving people falling off ladders. I am therefore, right to be concerned every time Peter goes up a ladder! When the EAAA first started they had one helicopter, carrying three people – the pilot, a paramedic and the patient. Things have progressed since then; they now have two helicopters, with space for, the pilot, a critical care paramedic, doctor, patient, someone close to the patient e.g. spouse, parent etc., leaving one more place, which when Prince William is piloting, is taken by his bodyguard. The EAAA now has two vehicles which carry the same calibre of trained staff and state of the art equipment as the helicopters and are employed, when it is considered a vehicle will arrive at an accident quicker than a helicopter. The EAAA is a charity and receives no government funding. Their annual budget is £11million and each call out costs £3,500, which in a life threatening situation, is not a huge amount. Overall, this is a brilliant service which we are lucky to have in this rural part of the UK.

Sunday 23rd October 2016 - Uninspiring

Not a very inspiring week, with showers and a cold northerly wind blowing most of the time. It almost seems as though, we have moved swiftly through autumn into winter. There has been an improvement today with some sun and a drop in the wind. Taking advantage of the sun, we have both been out in the garden where at times it felt quite warm. Peter has been picking French beans and has dug the first of our leeks to eat with our slow oven cooked lamb this evening. The leeks are far bigger than our vegetable plot usually produces. In view of this, I think I will cook both but keep one to make a macaroni cheese with leeks tomorrow. My time in the garden was spent sweeping up leaves, moving my hen Cate to a fresh area of grass and checking over the plants in the greenhouse.

Saturday Morning

Walks on the beach have been restricted to the area below the promenade where there is plenty of soft sand. The winds are due to change on Wednesday, so hopefully the west beach will rebuild and cover the exposed stones and flints. When the tides permit, we will then be able to resume our morning beach walks.

This coming week we have quite a few things on the calendar so my next entry will probably not be until next weekend.

Saturday 29th October - Catching Up, SNAP, Writing by the Sea and Wolterton

After nearly a week away from my diaries, this entry will be all about catching up on the past six days, starting with the SNAP (Safe Neighbourhood Action Panel) meeting on Monday evening. I may be wrong but there seemed to be a move, on behalf of the Police, to encourage the panel to change two of the regular priorities. However, the panel felt that some of the alternatives put forward were very much Cromer orientated and left out the villages etc. in the C22 Area. As a result both Speeding and High Visibility Patrols priorities were once again carried forward and because the problems at the Skate Park have been resolved; this priority will be replaced by Cycle Safety. As the days are shortening, Cycle Safety was a welcomed priority and talks, given by the Police, at local schools should benefit those youngsters who cycle to school.

On Tuesday afternoon, I gave a talk at the Sea Marge Hotel about self-publishing. Titled ‘Writing by the Sea’ it was one of COAST’s events in their 2016 Festival. The Winston Room at the Sea Marge; was a perfect venue and the cream teas I arranged to be served during the afternoon provided a break with an opportunity for me to talk to those attending. At the end, all expressed how they enjoyed the afternoon and appreciated all the information I provided on the subject. This is the first time I have given this talk and as with anything like this; it’s a case of knowing how to pitch it. Judging by the comments I received, I must have got it right!

Sunrise 27.10.16

Track - Wolterton

Saracen's Head

I took a number of photographs on Thursday morning, of what was; another stunning sunrise. We booked to spend the night at the Saracen’s Head, tucked away in the countryside in Wolterton. We drove over, arriving in good time for lunch which we followed with a walk. Using our Ordnance Survey map we followed the track and then the paths that lead to Blickling Hall. Unfortunately the sign on one of the turns had either fallen or been pushed over so we missed this and continued along a field edge to a point where we knew we had gone too far. Retracing our steps, we spotted the fallen sign, which with the aid of some nearby wire; Peter was able to position upright where other walkers will be able to see it. Back on the right path, there was a brook to cross but the whole area was one mass of mud and not practical to cross with Barney. At this point we decided this was a walk to come back to in the summer when the mud will be dry. We retraced our steps and back in Wolterton, took a walk down the drive towards the Hall; this was sold earlier this year and is no longer owned by the Walpole family. Following the change of ownership it is not entirely clear as to the areas that can be accessed by the public and the Norfolk County Council notice near the gate which appears to cover access was less than clear. In view of this, we stopped at the gates where we could observe the Hall and see that restoration work to the exterior has yet to commence. We always enjoy the food at the Saracen’s Head and were looking forward to ordering the Partridge dish for our main course in the evening. Unfortunately, for us, a number of other diners also ordered this dish and it quickly sold out, leaving us to choose an alternative from the menu. No problem really as most of the menu appealed to our taste.

The weather over the past few days has been warm; we have not needed gloves or scarves and at times a jacket has not been necessary either. This evening we change the clocks by one hour, providing us with lighter mornings but unfortunately we will start to lose daylight when the sunsets around 4.20 p.m. Nobody relishes the dark late afternoons but on the plus side, it’s only about seven and a half weeks before the shortest day, after which the days will start to get longer again.