At least we've now got lighter evenings here in Blighty as the clocks have gone forward and Spring takes hold. We've done quite well with our fruit & vegetable plants and wanted to get rid of our excess stock, we havent got the space to grow as much as we seed up and so a trip to the Market was in order. We intended to go to at least two sales and so on Saturday morning we decided to to try Bessemer Road Market in Cardiff which we'd heard was quite a big event. It took an age getting into the place due to poor traffic management and when we eventually got in we were given a plot that wasnt the best. Cloud and wind then featured heavily and it doesnt inspire gardening or a good turnout. We managed to get rid of some of our excess plants though but we wont be going there again. Simply too much hassle. Sunday saw us heading to our local market, this one is a big one and the weather too was much better. We had far more success here and managed to sell off a chunk of the plants. Not too bad considering it's the first sale of the season.We're now onto stage two of the plants when everything now gets potted on into bigger containers also the Runner & Broad Beans are planted up in the raised vegetable beds. All thrilling stuff I know!

Moon Madness

There's been strange celestial goings on this week (14/04/14) We've had a very bright full Moon with a few other planets aligning with our very own planet Earth. Mars has been visible as well. So as to be expected the full moon has sent the majority of us into orbit and no better example was the sudden appearance of Rabbits. Mrs. Gibbs is the proud owner of two insane Egyptian Mau Cats and recently she's been allowing them to roam around the gardens. Their new found freedom has resulted in them catching rabbits and bringing them back to the house. After returning from the market the other day we saw both cats hurtling up the main road dodging traffic, Grant said "They're chasing a Rabbit". We dont really want the cats doing that on a main road and I thought it was another wild rabbit. We managed to get the cats in and then a floppy eared tame rabbit came bouncing into the garden. What followed was more full moon lunacy, about six people got involved with trying to catch "Flopsy". The cats managed to sneak out again and flopsy hot footed it once more onto the main road. Stressful stuff.

The next day on returning home from work I had great hopes of doing some vegetable planting in the garden but on my entry into the homestead I was informed that Flopsy was back.....so this time I took some carrots and tried to entice the bloody thing. It came very close and I even managed to stroke it. Then I struck, but they're not like cats, there's no loose neck flesh so all I was left with was a handful of Flopsy's fur and he bounded off once again. I gave up but then looked outside to see another group of people trying to catch Flopsy, pure insanity. I told everyone to stop it as you wont be able to catch it and that they're just scaring it to death. Then after trying to relax there's a knock on the door and it's my neighbour Don telling me that one of the Maus' is trying to catch the Rabbit.....I try to catch the cat, the Rabbit runs past and the cat is back off up the main road. The other Mau also manages to run out of the house and off they go. I could do without this. Jayne is also pulling her hair out. We get the cats back in and decide to forget about the rabbit. Grant and myself then decide to go for a walk to forget about all this lunacy. Then driving back, you wont believe this, the road is littered with bloody rabbits running everywhere. Grant doesnt manage to stop in time and there's some Rabbit fatalities. If it was a film you wouldnt believe it.

As it was Easter, the Gibbs tribe went to support the local Young Farmer's Club who were holding their Easter Quiz, now we normally dont do very well in this as there's a lot of agricultural questions. The venue was packed and well supported by the other local Young Farmers' Clubs, so our expectations werent too high. There were some decent prizes up for the raffle and we hoped we would get lucky. In the end we exceeded our hopes and won First Prize in the quiz, which was a bag of Easter Eggs. We also won the raffle and picked up the prizes we were after......Grant had his eye on the crate of Magners Cider....so he snaffled that, I had my eye on a bottle of Wolffblass......so all in all it was a great team effort...well done to Ma, Pa, Jayne, Grant & myself. (Our Team name was The Happy Mondays, by the way.)

Boating Season Begins

Grant & I headed to West Wales on Thursday evening, to make the most of the Easter Break, Grant drove and the roads were pretty clear and managed to get to Aberaeron in good time. I was dropped off and Grant went to fetch cousin Clive and the Clan. Clive, Lloyd & Owen arrived and we looked into the Cadwgan Pub, but there was a quiz going on in there, which was being taken very seriously by the locals, so we nipped into the Monachty Pub for a sharpener.
Then onto see Sir Jim at the Black Lion. By our standards we left quite early but only to hit the Vino Collapso back at Chez Scragg. Friday morning was marred by a hangover from Hell.

Breakfast was served at Craig's Fishermans Hut in Aberaeron Harbour - Bacon Rolls & strong Coffee, which helped. I then waited for the tide to go out as I needed to check that the moorings were okay as Peter the Harbour Master told me that a lot of them were in a bad way following the storms in January (See January Blog). On close inspection one of the shackles had come loose and so I headed to the Marina to get a new one and let them know we'd get the boat out on Saturday from it's dry dock. With the work done it was time to head over to Cei Bach as we were all heading off for a hike across the beach to New Quay. The weather was glorious but there was still a nip in the air when in the shadows. It's April, so we're lucky to have the sunlight. It was a good walk but we did get hit by some strong winds. We also forgot to bring the salt for hunting Razor Clams. We headed to the Dolau Boozer for some well earned Ales after the walk and met up with Adele & Brother Dyl. We chased the sun in the Beer Garden and eventually headed back when the shade made it too cold to sit outside. We headed back into Aberaeron and yet another late night was had by all.

Saturday Morning was our day to put the boat back in, Clive & Brother Dyl got the boat and it went in without any drama, which is unsual by our standards. So the boat is back in the harbour, hopefully safely and awaits us all to make the most of it. Admiral Lord Gibbs was at hand to oversee events and was secretly unhappy that none of us had fallen overboard or made fools of ourselves during the mooring. This has happened with alarming regularity in the past. We then decided to make the most of the sunshine and headed over to The Harbourmaster Pub for some afternoon libations. Later on it was time for another hike and so Clive, Grant, Owen & myself once more did the beach walk to New Quay. We'd planned a Beach Barbie for later and so got all the crew together down at Cei Bach for a fire and a feed...(oh and of course some grog). Everyone was well wrapped up, we were joind by the younger folks from Penlanymor who made the journey by quad.....which was a bit difficult as the tide was in. We managed to amass a fair amount of wood for burning and we managed to stay on the beach until midnight. It was good fun and nice to be able to do a barbie at this time of the year. Sunday morning wasnt so bad weatherwise but was definitely changing and so we said our goodbyes to everyone and headed homeward towards the dark clouds and drizzle. We stopped off at the Biker Cafe in Llandovery and bumped into our mates Kev & Roger who were heading back on their Motorbikes from a weekend out west. It was nice to eventually get back home for a rest. As Clive had said before we left Aberaeron - "One of these weekends, we ought to come here and relax", summing it up perfectly.

Gorge Walk, Barbie & Booze Up


This weekend was quite a mad one....there's a thing. We were celebrating Clive Scragg's birthday and so having a bit of a do in our Bar, Wifey McBeaties. Lloyd Scragg brought a team down from Bristol University and so a Gorge Walk was organised for Saturday by Brother Dyl. The weather wasnt great but everyone had a great time, I will write more about this in the week, but for now I'll leave you with some photos of the Gorge Walk and the Party.