Just Humans Being...

Wishing you all well and for those of you who partake in the seasonal festivities, we hope you are having a happy and fun time! We had our annual family get-together early this year and enjoyed a weekend in a snowy Somerset. We stayed in a beautiful former church with all the kidlets, where we exchanged our usual Secret Santa gifts, ate, drank, played games and music, laughed and chatted pretty much non-stop! As the snow fell, we said our goodbyes and we travelled through a blizzard up to Stoke-on-Trent, where we sampled the delights of retirement village living with Granddad Gerry and Nana Stip-Pep! We then went on to Snowdonia, just the two of us and stayed in a little Welsh stone cottage, just outside Betws-y-Coed. There we experienced a big thaw with lots of flooding and then it snowed again! We returned home to lots of work and were busy up until Christmas Eve, but have now chilled out for a few days. It's just us and the kitties at home in this little ho

We were travelling home from Falmouth last night and followed this spectacular storm. When we got home it was still raging and probably lasted a couple of hours - this is the view we had from our bedroom window at 1am this morning looking towards Plymouth, which is some 40 miles distant. It was an incredible show, with a constant succession of flashes. Kay and Sime xx

The ladies next door have been giving birth in the field. Their babies are like any other babies - they sleep, they feed, they follow their mums everywhere, they run around, then fall asleep again.  These little beauties are completely unaware of their fate... But we know... And this is one thing which makes living here difficult. How can people eat other beings without feeling terrible?     It just doesn't make sense. Both the posters are from the  Cornwall Vegans  website. If you are in Cornwall or will be on Saturday 22nd April - do support this event! Perhaps you have been considering veganism - this  Vegan Starter Kit  will help you to get started and if you have any questions, need help or ideas for recipes - just ask, we are always happy to talk to folks who want to change their diet for the better. And in case you haven't seen this on iplayer - Here is  Simon Amstell's Carnage . Please, please think seriousl

Spring is supposedly here, though not sure it has truly arrived in this area of Cornwall and it seems like everyone who lives outside of Portmellon is experiencing warmer, drier weather than we are.  Our hibernating season has been a long one this winter, so even though it still has been quite chilly and wet - we thought it was about time we just got out there... We met up with a friend for coffee on Sunday morning in Mevagissey and are happy to report that the newish cafe on the harbour,  She Sells  has very nice coffee and vegan smoothies. It's been months since we walked round Meva, so afterwards we had a walk to the end... Kitty in the window... Not for sale! Heading back up the hill... Caerhays Castle beach - Porthluney - just before sunset... Dusk on the Fal Estuary. Canada Goose watching at Ruan Quay... The Fal is quite high at the moment. Swans further down the estuary... We love taking what we

It's two months since we moved into our little home and despite the fact that it's rained every day since we arrived - we love it! We sleep with the curtains open and wake every morning seeing the sea, although some days the mist has meant we don't see anything for a while, but it's fascinating having such a vast view of the open sea and the coastline into Devon. We see the changes in the weather and the colour of the sea. The blustery and gale force winds bringing rough waves and then days of mill pond calmness. We see storms coming in, the dark clouds and glimpses of blue sky. From the kitchen we look down on Portmellon, which is very pretty and at night is like a Mediterranean hillside village with twinkling lights, next to a glistening sea. We are living in this small space and it is wonderful. Life feels simpler, we have definitely slowed down and just enjoy being cosy and snug with the kitties... We all seem to sleep more too, whic

Thank you Richard for this great photo! :-) ♥

The view from our garden this morning... Low cloud over the sea... Our neighbours new glamping pods... Bleached sky... Portmellon. Our decking...  Looking forward to sitting here in the warmer weather! We are having a cat flap fitted on Monday...  Can't believe we've been here for nearly 4 weeks now and our boys will be so happy to be venturing out! We think they are very much at home now, so we are hoping they won't travel too far...  Bedtime snuggles with Fleaby... And a rare bedtime snuggle with Lupes! Bye for now, Kay and Sime xx

We are loving our new little place and are feeling very much at home... We gave away our juicer to a lovely friend, as our new kitchen is quite small. We do have a Nutribullet too, which is easier to clean and we start each day with a smoothie. These are pineapple, banana, kale, goji berry, pumpkin seeds, turmeric and spirulina. We add a mix of water and home made milk to the ingredients. Delicious! We have been reunited with our milk maker (which was buried in the jam room at Meadowcroft).  It's great making all sorts of milks again...  And the pulp goes into our porridge! This one is brown rice and almond. Porridge!!! Oats with hemp protein powder, chia seeds, ground flax seeds, rose hips, banana, apple, blueberries and water. Topped with milk, cinnamon, ginger and real Canadian maple syrup... Courtesy of our beautiful friend, Richard - who brings it over from Canada every year!!! ♥ An organic veggie feast - we are still gettin

This is 11 years worth of shells and pebbles collected from the beach. They were on every windowsill and shelf, in every room of Meadowcroft...  Over the weeks, we filled a waste paper basket with them and a few days ago - returned them to Hemmick Beach! ♥

A bit late, but Happy New Year! :-) We had a lovely time with all our kidlets over Christmas, which has made quite a change - the first time in years that we have all managed to be under one roof during the holiday period!  We are so pleased that we could do this, as this was to be our last one at Meadowcroft...  Yes, not only are we buying our little French house (which will need lots of TLC before we move in), but we have decided to downsize to a small house overlooking the sea while we visit France and just enjoy ourselves! We only made the decision at the beginning of December, which meant we needed to get busy decluttering... Taking the opportunity to move from our big place in Boswinger to a small, very lovely, fully furnished one bedroom converted garage near to Mevagissey... This was the view from our bedroom early this morning. We were supposed to be managing the property as a holiday let for our friends, but after having a few days break here - we fel

With lots to tell! Kay and Sime xx