lizblog

The bench

After promising myself to clean up and treat my fifty bench, I finally got round to doing it. I'm sure it had something to do with the sun shining and its being reasonably warm. Spring is finally here hopefully. So, this is where we started:
  
It was wire brush time ... you can even see the first inroads. Even the birds had added their signature.

After many hours, several sheets of sand paper and gallons of elbow grease things were looking better.
  

That was yesterday. I woke this morning to the sound of rain and despaired of being able to finish it, but it cleared up after lunch and so I set to again. This time it was time for the teak oil, even that took longer than I thought, but now it's all finished. Having said that, the way the teak oil soaked in, it may need a second coat.
  
Thanks offspring ... it IS a lovely bench ... now.

Making the most of the sun

It was such a beautiful day on Monday that I just had to go out for a walk. I walked right round Newbiggin Bay and into the next bay which goes right round to Alcan. Not sure how far it is, a couple of miles perhaps. I picked up some interesting driftwood and even found some sea glass.
It was so very quiet. So quiet that on my way back I found my footsteps, unspoilt, I'd made on my way out.  

The tide was on its way out, but still crashing against the rocks around the bay. Always tough to time the shots quite right, but I got a couple of decent ones.
  
On the way home I stopped by the rock pools and watched the crazy hermit crabs chasing one another and trying to steal each other's shells.

Driving up the coast

I went up to Hipsburn this morning to bid a final farewell to my friend and colleague, Hannah. She's bound for Hampshire on Wednesday. I shall miss her.
It was a lovely drive, idyllic weather, Warkworth Castle wreathed in daffodils, the road to Cresswell bordered with them. I love this time of year.

Digging in Cumbria

Ed and Laura have just started to rent an allotment. I went to see them for a couple of days and was pressed into service!
There's such a lot of work needing to be done to get it into shape that they welcome any help they can get. So here we are, digging, weeding, pulling up tree stumps and planting potatoes. Happily all accomplished in the sunshine.