For Rose on her Ninth Birthday

A Wish For Our Children

On this doorstep I stand year after year and watch you leaving,

and think: May you not skin your knees,

may you not catch your fingers in car doors.

May your hearts not break.

May tide and weather wait for your coming

and may you grow strong to break all the webs of my weaving.

Evangeline Paterson
20^th Century

Caldicot

From the outside, forlorn and derelict

On the inside

Warm and filled with the scent of roses

I spent the day spinning and chatting to children.
Perfect.

Cilgerran Castle

Not far from the coast of Cardigan Bay there lies Cilgerran Castle, built by the Welsh out of thin slate slabs, it has been ruined since the 1300's but what a little gem of a place. It is the site of a most Romantic Abduction...one minor Welsh prince fell desperately in love with the beautiful wife of a Norman lord and risking all for love the couple ran away together. I haven't found out what became of them but in all likelihood they were hunted down by the outraged husband and the worst probably befell them...

The castle is haunted apparently by a rather intimidating gentleman in black who watches from one of the towers. He did not stick around when the Freemen went for a ghost hunt late last night...mind you, if I was a spectre I would make myself scarce when faced with that lot with a few beers inside them!

Tomorrow, I am off to Caldicot Castle, one of my favourites to help with an education day for the local schools. Spinning, weaving and dyeing in the fourteenth century has to be made as gruesome as possible in order to appeal to young children. It is a challenge, but thanks to the terrible chemicals used in medieval dyeing and a particularly harrowing martyrdom with woolcombs it can be done.

I hope you have a fun day too.

Of Can Openers

Making dinner this evening, V gets momentarily distracted and returns to find he has mislaid the can opener...

V: Where is it? *Flaps about a bit*...What have I done with it? *Flaps a bit more*... Have you seen it?
Me: Nope
V: Where the heck have I put it? *Rummages through the cutlery drawer* Ah-ha!
Me: What
V: I put it back in the drawer
Me: Heck, no wonder you didn't know where it was

long pause

V: It's only funny when I say things like that