Viewing the ISS from Barmouth

Pictures don't do justice to the viewing of the International Space Station (ISS) from Barmouth beach, so I thought I'd try words instead.

Walk from the promenade through the sand dunes to the edge of the dunes by the sea which is at high tide.  The air is very still and quiet.  The edge of the dunes is now more of a cliff face than a dune thanks to the storms that battered them in February.  Below the dunes is the sea, sky blue and gently lapping against the shore, with an occasional crash just to remind you of its power.  To the north west is the Lleyn Peninsula with the remnants of the setting sun.  The clouds and sky are various shades of orange.  The rest of the sky is a very very deep blue, crystal clear.  Many stars are making their appearance.  As you stare at an emerging star you wonder if it is actually moving or not.  To the south east is Cadair Idris.  The clouds just above it are lit up by the moon which is about to rise.  To the east is the town watched over and protected by the mountains behind.

It is time for the ISS to appear.  Far out over the sea a white pinpoint of light appears heading towards you.  Is it a plane?  No, it is moving too fast.  Is it a meteor?  No, it is going too slowly.  It must be the ISS.  It carries on, right overhead towards the town.  Shrieks of excitement from jubilant tourists can be heard coming from the prom. Then the ISS heads down to the mountains and disappears, all in a matter of minutes.

Jennifer's Shortbread

The girls love to help with the cooking.  Jennifer's specialty dish is shortbread.  She makes it in batches usually for special occasions like baking it as a gift for her teachers at school at the end of term or for Christmas.  The recipe book is a children's recipe book and is easy to follow.  She hasn't tried any other recipes yet even though we try and encourage her to.

She can follow the recipe and do everything by herself (except the oven bit).

Dave and Bob

Spiders!  We have spiders living in the house.  I used to live in Basingstoke and had a real problem with spiders.  There were loads of them, big ones, and they were all over the house.  Perhaps  spiders aren't keen on the sea air as we don't get many by the coast.  The ones that we do get are in our bathroom, which is underground.  They live in the corner of the bathroom in a 2 storey web. The spindly one on the first floor web is called Dave and there's Bob on the ground floor web.  They don't bother us.  However, the youngest isn't keen on them watching her when she's on the toilet; sometimes we have to stand in front of them. 

Accepting them means that the children are accepting them too.  They don't panic or freak out when they see spiders.  Recently a big furry one appeared behind the shower unit.  Later that day the youngest pointed him out as he'd fallen into the bath and made his way onto a sponge.  I picked him up on the sponge and introduced him to Dave and Bob.  He hasn't been seen since.

I doubt they catch many flies.  There's no windows into the bathroom.  Occasionally there might be a lost fly in there.  Once they are groggy they are easy to catch and feed to the spiders.  It's easier than swatting them and clearing up the mess afterwards. 

Some people would just clear the web away and swat the spiders, but not us.  They keep themselves to themselves, I clear their web for them when the bathroom gets cleaned so they have to build another one; it gives them something to do.  They don't venture further than their web and after all, they are animals and have just as might right to live on the planet as we do.

They don't carry diseases but they do eat other creatures that might e.g. fleas, mites, flies, earwigs, mosquitoes etc.  They fight each other so you should never have many in one place.  Given the choice between a spider  content to sit in the corner and a host of flying insects, we choose spiders.