Weekend recap - Sep 13/14

Saturday was my first proper hockey game in some twelve years.

Thankfully it was just a 'friendly', but judging by some of the on field tears, it wasn't very friendly after all...
As our opponents play in the division above us, we had a graceful, but unlucky 2-1 loss. The last goal, and a fizzer, went in, in the last minutes of the game.


I was surprised and pleased at how little my body ached afterwards, and how un-tired I was! :0
Here is the dork in action:

It was a really hot day! This Indian Summer thing, is kind of proving to be a reality...

As the game was in Dartmoor National Park, and close to another swim spot featured in the book, we decided to check it out and have a swim...

Most of the stream near the bridge was really shallow, with the icy moor water quickly tracing over mossy rocks... but the section just under the bridge was like a huge, (slow moving), whirl pool. The water is peaty, and looks like a strong cup of tea...

Still hot from hockey- and in my hockey shorts, I waded in. The water on the moor is always really bracing, but with the sun beating down, it felt delicious.

Steve took some convincing to get in, but was so pleased he did. We discovered the bridge was a great echo chamber, and gave some good ol' aussie "coeeeees".
I had my first proper visitor since moving here, in the afternoon, with Rob from uke club dropping in. He bought his handmade uke, and a box of ginger biscuits...

Then Steve and I went to a concert, which was part of the Totnes Festival: Baba Yaga...

It was quite mesmerising and really imaginative. I really enjoyed it.

Sunday Steve and I began the morning, enjoying the delicious sunshine with a walk around town. We then had an energetic game of frisbee on Vire Island, where busy squirrels darted between our feet. Hot, (yes hot!), we had a swim in the dart. I don't know if it was the contrast in temperatures, but my head felt like it was going to break off, like an icicle shard...

Then, the life of a farmer being what it is, and the sun actually shining, Steve went to work...

6/7 Recap

I've fallen off the bloggin' wagon... it was only a matter of time. But in hopes of ressurecting this thing, and keeping it up, I write...

Weekend 6/7 September

To start with on Saturday, I had my first hockey training session in hmmmn at least ten years.

It was needless to say, quite a shock to the system!

When the sky grew dark, I slyly did a rain dance, in the middle of our warm up run...

It seemed to work, as the sky cracked open, and the rain came thick and fast-

Arrr what a relief, saved by the rain!

Alas no, in England it rains so much, of course they keep playing, no matter the weather!?

I was very wet, very hot, and very tired at the end of it. I walked like a horse riding granny for about four days thereafter.

This was taken just as I got into the car, having run from training through the driving rain

Sunday Steve and I went on an adventure- just across the border in to Dorset, visiting the 'jurassic coast'. This stretch of coastline, which starts in Devon, has loads of fossils, particularly Charmouth- which is where we went.We were so ridiculously excited by our finds- they were everywhere!

Although we were forced to use some unconventional digging techniques at times! :

But it was well worth it, am-I-not smiling!?:

On our way back to the car, I waited for Steve as he dug out a bunch of iron-pyrite... good thing I wasn't too impatient. Not too far ahead of us, as we were walking back, a huge chunk of the cliff broke away and crashed to the ground...

I feel like a shark these days, swimming pretty much every day, I feel if I don't swim something is amiss.

Our swimming book said that a beach only ten minutes away, was described by "Waterlog" author, as being "Heaven on Earth"- certainly something worth checking out!

We got there at about 5:30pm, and the clouds were just begining to clear, and make way for the patient sunshine. The cliffs which line the beach were like honeycomb.

I announced I was going in. I didn't check the water temperature, I didn't want to- it's always some variable of cold. I dived into the first oncoming wave. The cold made me lose sense of everything for a split second, but then I was off. "Come on Steve, it's great", I hollered, as I bobbed up and down in the gentle waves.

Steve gallantly screamed his way in and quickly swam out to me, grinning. He did a few beeline loop-di-loops in breast stroke before swimming back to shore.

The almost waves made me miss Australian waters. Distance had erased the component of terror involved in body surfing, and left only the resonance of elation. I tried to catch some waves, but it was useless.

The water by now felt delicious and I was in no hurry to get out, but it was challenging doing breast stroke with the buffeting waves. So, I did the Australian crawl, cutting through the waves easily with my reaching arms. It was a whole new experience having my face submerged in that cold, but I felt more fully a part of nature- I was IN it!

When I was exhausted from swimming, I rolled over and floated on my back. I looked back at my Beautiful Steve waiting, smiling beautific on the beach, the glorious cliffs behind him, and the lumious sky above me.

Moments like this make me feel so connected to, well everything. I felt utterly grateful for being alive, being so incredibly fortunate to experience moments like that. Arr complete bliss

Uke club

Sunday swimventure...

As we woke up to rain on Sunday, Steve didn't have to work...

Arrr one of the perils of being a farmer in the Summer- on nice days you have to work!

Anyhow, luckily for us, it turned out to be a relatively nice day.

Steve and I looked on the local map for a new good swimming spot.

We earmarked a few places, before deciding on one really close to home.

Another weir, further upstream the Dart.

It felt like we had stepped in buckets of ice, when we waded in. The dark clouds didn't help with the mood much. It all seemed very unappealing to me! Then the clouds parted, and the blue flashes of damsels zoomed across the water surface, and the fish nibbled, and somehow it began to feel warmer... With Steve leading the way, we swam,(quickly!) across to the little wall of the weir. The sun warmed our bodies, and we set about adding to our rock collection.

Steve collected a mass of skipping beauties, and we had an impromptu skipping stone competition. With 6 it looked as though I was going to be the winner, than out of nowhere Steve pulled a 12, to become the undisputed stone skipping champ.I put our chosen rocks in my swimmers, and swam back to the shore- before dumping my rocks, and swimming back and forth again just for fun.

Steve and I then had hot water, (thankyou thermos), left over baked beans and bread, as we sat on our picnic rug... Arrr the height of civilization! :)
Steve then made like a squirrel and collected some, (not quite ripe), hazelnuts for us to munch on...
We then drove the long and less traveled way home...
Happening upon this lovely, and distant view of Totnes.

Getting back into the swim of it...

On Wednesday last week, I had my first swim post sickness...
It was a strange moment, before diving in to the river... like being reacquainted with an old friend, one part familiar, one part foreign and unnerving...

The weather has been lovely this week though, after morning cloud, the midday makes way for beautiful sunshine. I have been making the most of it and going swimming every day. Really savouring it. I now swim to the other side of the river and back.

On Friday I got 'my' bike fixed- it blew a tyre the other day. And rode like all hell to get to Dartington in time for one of the last, of their summer concert series... as it turned out, I would have been quite late, plus the hills seemed long and winding, and I was feeling the heat, (it's true!)... So almost there, I turned back and headed for home.
[I had bought Steve's camera with me, but as it turned out it had no battery in it!]

It was a beautiful day for a bike ride though, the warm air driving through my nostrils with the lingering smell of wildflowers.... I stopped at the weir for my 2nd swim of the day :)
When leaving, a bike skidded to a halt right beside me, and an older guy got off and stripped down to his bathers... We had a little chat about swimming, and 'wham', he dived into the water, no hesitation and off he swam.

Saturday Steve had to work, but got off early, and as I was still at the weir, sunning myself post-swim, he decided to meet me there. We had a beautiful swim together, and as we went to leave, again this same man screamed in on his bike.
He asked me if it was any warmer than yesterday, and we had a chat about year round swimming and such things.
With the sun retreating, Steve and I headed to a sunshine laden park, and lay in the grass, him reading, me playing uke.

In the evening with jacket potatoes and homemade baked beans, Steve and I watched "Picnic at Hanging Rock"- A first for both of us.

Sick in the head...

I was sick last week... It wasn't good.

I am still not 100%, but am feeling a lot better than I did when this photo was taken!

Around town...

What a great name for a street... who knows how it came to be? :)

(Always) Excited to be home...

Thursday recap - Chagford Show

Thursday seems so long ago...
I am only now feeling like I am actually inhabiting the land of the living... I still have not ventured far from the couch.
A nasty cold tackled me with full force on Saturday, out of nowhere it came:
I was having a nice swim, (no, don't tell me it was the swim!), and then I was having sneezing fits reading in the grass... which turned into perpetual runny nose, sore throat, watery eyes, headachey kind of thing by the next morning.

But Thursday? Yes Thursday was lovely!
One of the nicest days we've had in a long while... So Steve, after turning a field while Bilbo and I watched:


took the day off. Not before first, letting me drive, (steer) the tractor to the appropriate field, through other fields, and down proper roads... he took over when we came face to face with the mail van, on a narrow, (they're all narrow) road lined with hedges. Fun, fun :)

Here's the beautiful farm... it's not dry, it's very green under all that cut grass. It's just biding it's time before being made into silage, or was it hay?

And my buddy, the mighty Bilbo, after doing such a great job seeking out the ball, taking a well earned rest... The other day, he chose my rain jacket as his bed in the back of Steve's car... we are firm friends :)

Steve and I went to Chagford Show... a little town, (where he went to school), with a BIG annual agricultural show. There were many impressive looking rams and ewes...

And a village crazy, covered in badges, who ranted at Steve and Bilbo as I took this photo...



Bilbo was very excited to have a day out. There were SO many dogs to sniff! Pure doggie heaven. For the most part he was very well behaved, and a happy trio were we :)



The agricultural tent, with one of the winning scarecrows... There were some beautiful Dahlias again!:



And great kids contributions. This time our favourites, were the vegetable dinosaurs. Here is my personal favourite:



There were many donkeys on display, and I petted them all. This little guy, (he was teeny tiny!), was my favourite. He was softer than a puppy, and so lovely. I really wanted to take him home.



Of course we couldn't go home without getting a dip in. Steve had seen this place on the map, another weir, and we decided to check it out. It was a little work along a public footpath, which actually traversed through someones farm. Along the river Teign, and to this weir. It was very pretty, surrounded by paddocks on one side, and big trees on the other.
There was a rope swing, and yes paretals, after deducing it was deep enough, Steve and I tried it out. It was a first for both of us, but we had so much fun!!!

Colour me Sally...

Bringing a wave of colour to Totnes...

Going to the exhibition opening at Dartington:

My favourite new outfit, (dress £1)...

I feel like I belong in a "Miffy" book in this outfit:

Here I am at the "Sex and the City" screening... Arrrrrr that's a lot of yellow!

Steve and I inside the cinema... There was actually lots of men there- about 1 in 5! haha

Hair cuts...

Yesterday I was reminded why I only get a hair cut once a year or so...

I wonder why I always think this time the hairdresser will actually cut my hair like I ask...

When I got home and looked in the mirror, I almost cried...

I don't know how she managed to cut so much of my hair off without me even realising it.

Steve was very unsure to begin with, but he says it, (unlike my hair), is growing on him...
He says it's a cool kids hair cut.

Do I look convinced!?

Ashprington Walk...

Yesterday Steve got home early, (6pm). As it was raining so heavily yesterday, there was no chance of making silage, so it was a boring day at the office...

Because of this, we decided to do something... go for a walk...


Steve had seen this track on a map, and we decided we'd like to check it out. It looked to be a few kms each way. On went the wellies and rain jackets- although it seemed to have cleared up!


It is really beautiful there, it's about 3 miles away from Totnes, and a lot of the land belongs to Sharpham trust- a Buddhist study centre/retreat/vineyard...The beautiful Dart, looking downstream

We walked on a muddy road, lined with hedgerows...

Unsurprisingly the sky opened up again, and the rain grew torrential... It was so beautiful though, (I really am growing to appreciate this rain stuff- today I went for a 6km bike ride in the driving rain)...

We walked right to the banks of the Dart, passing a beautiful old barn, (still in use). It had a partially collapsed old, old wall surrounding it...

The wall had these enormous, (I think they were oaks), growing right on top of the wall, (those sections were remarkably intact!)the roots just reached down over the wall into the soil...

On the banks of the river there was a tyre swing... I went so high I screamed...

It was a hard walk back up the hill, as I was feeling a little queasy after the swing!

We got home at 9pm, and didn't eat dinner til 10pm... bed 11pm... hmmmn

Herding cows...

On Sunday it was dry, but overcast, and the clouds spat on us cheekily, threatening to continue their outpouring of Saturday...

So no silage making for Steve. There were however some cows to herd, and with the quad bike broken it was foot power.



We went to the farm, picking up my (now) buddy, Bilbo...
It always rains even more on the Moor, and thus things were very wet!


In our wellies we separated and ran, making strange primordial sounds as we neared the bullocks... I developed a strange "he-yuh, he-yuh", which was suprisingly effective...
We had them on the run...
In and out the first gate, first time... arrr it felt good, what a triumph! :) hah
The next gate wasn't quite so easy! But eventually we got them to where they were supposed to be.
Steve said it appeared I had been herding cows for some twenty years- hah, I'm not sure if that's a good thing!?



Then with shitty/muddy boots I jumped in the drivers seat, and did a few laps of the paddock...

Bringing some dork glamour to the farm! :) haha

There were two stalls when trying to start, but once we were off it was relatively smooth sailing, (once Steve had pointed out it wasn't a ute- ie slow down Sally!)...

Fun, fun...

Grand Totnes Carnival Parade...

As detailed in my earlier post with the pillow boxing video, Saturday was very wet.

All week the Totnes Carnival has been going on around town.

There has been: the cutest baby competition, running races between the local police and fire departments, teddy bears picnic, floral dance parade etc etc

Saturday night was the grand finale- the Totnes Carnival Parade, which ran all the way down high street, (right past our window)...

Fancy dress galore, local firies, vintage cars, festooned floats, local towns Miss's(pagent queens- shout out to Miss Crookwell showgirl!!)...

It was so wet, and continued to rain heavily as the parade was starting at 6pm...

It was pretty lame yes, but arrr it's great to have and support local things such as this :)

Place your bets...

How long will it take Steve and I to eat these oats, (25kg)?

You can respond in weeks, months or years :)

Rainy day frustration fun...

Today was wet... really, really wet...

Steve and I roamed the house like bored children... frustration mounted...

What are we going to doooooooooooooo!?

Somehow, (although I'm sure it was Steve's idea), we, or should I say, I, started doing this:

This was on the other side of the camera...

He said he needed every one of the pillows!

She's got wheels....

Except they're not exactly mine, they're Steve's... but seeing as he has 4 wheels already, these two are mine :)


I was so excited to go for my first ride today, and as if just for the occasion, it was a proper summers day...
It even had that pervading sense of possibility, like anything can happen... and lots of sunshine!

On the way, I stopped at the weir and had a swim...

Getting out, some local kids had stopped to use the rope swing...


"Do you actually swim!?... Gosh, I'll jump in, but there's no way I'd actually stay in there to swim!"

(Too cold apparently)
I'll admit, today it was a quick swim!- it did feel pretty cold.

I dried off, and rode on to Dartington.
Where I had lunch by the old kilns.

Yesterday afternoon, as I was slowly walking the lower ashprington track, container in hand, collecting blackberries, with the sun warming my back... I thought of Uncle Marks' recent comment:

That Steve and I aren't living a life like the rustic idyll, we are living the rustic idyll...

As the butterflies circled around my hands, (No poetic license, this actually happened! hah), I thought, yes, yes, yes!

Came home and made apple and blackberry crumble- delicious!

I'm excited about autumn and the chance to maybe find some wild mushrooms, and harvest chestnuts- wild food is the greatest! :)

Last night Steve came home with a bunch of beautiful and colourful flowers. His neighbour was selling them, (zinnias), with an honesty box system.

The rustic idyll continued this morning with a trip to the weekly market, where I bought the weekly vegetables: eggplant, red & yellow capsicums, zucchini and garlic...