Frosty out there. We are reminded it is still January. A month of wooly jumpers and warm fire. And smashed avocado on sourdough toast with chopped walnuts, chilli, lime juice and a drizzle of very good balsamic vinegar on top. Side of bacon.
Grilled the toast alongside the bacon. The toast was ready first but I knew that would happen. It was an efficient use of facilities and the output of the toasting was better than had it been done in our crappy toaster.
We are waiting for Tom the Tree Man to rock up this morning. Annual hedge trim plus I’ve got a load of oak logs he gave us last year from a neighbouring job that need cutting down to size for further processing, ie splitting. V heavy they are.
The day ahead offers a mixed bag of entertainments. I have to redo a quote in Euros rather than the originally requested dollars. Then the search for eighteenth century marriage certificates will continue.
The other day, in a Baptist publication, I discovered a fairly extensive obituary of my gggg grandfather the Reverend Daniel Davies of Penybont Chapel and Talgoed farm in Llanfihangel ar Arth. Wow what a guy. Moreover the obit gave me names I didn’t have, the fact that his wife Anne was a Jones not a Harry and a couple of daughters about which I had known nothing. No names but I’ll find them.
Anne Jones was the daughter of a local schoolmaster called, unsurprisingly, Mr Jones of Maesnoni farm. It might have helped had his first name been given but I guess schoolteachers have never been known by their first names. It’s a bit like the fact that my hip surgeon is an Andrew but everyone calls him Mr Manktelow. Doesn’t feel right to me but who am I to say?
Anyway details of Mr Jones the farming schoolmaster remain as yet undiscovered but he is my ggggg grandfather and at least I have something to go at. We are back to the 1720s ish here and records in Wales become scarce. Fortunately as a deeply religious crowd I have a fighting chance. The period under investigation is a time in history where even published historians talk about there being very little written information about an individual if he or she was not of the Gentry.
Turns out that Daniel had two brothers who became vicars of the Established Church and another who crossed over to the Independents and was minister at the church of that denomination in Aberhonddu (Brecon). A cousin, Thomas Phillips was also an Independent Minister at Neuaddlwyd in Cardiganshire who established a famous school for church ministers and missionaries and was awarded a Doctorate of Divinity from a New York University. Hows about that. Daniel’s nephew John Phillip became a famous Welsh Baptist orator and JP’s brother William was one of the first Baptist missionaries to South Africa. Hows about that then. Again.
Plenty of material there including lots of findable stuff online but none of them give me the name of Daniel’s father. One brother’s marriage cert was witnessed by an Evan Davies who could have been daddy but could also have been the Independent minister of Aberhonddu.
Daniel, btw, farmed 163 acres and was considered to be quite well off with a farmhouse that was described as extensive. I know where the ruin is and shall investigate. Didn’t look extensive when I visited in 2008 but there again it was overgrown by trees and I didn’t know to dig deeper, so to speak. Archaeologist Tref.
Tom the tree man is due to arrive any minute now so if this narrative draws abruptly to a halt you will know why.
The other entertainment in prospect today is a trip to the golf driving range with the boys this evening. I won’t be able to hit a ball but we are off to Hickory’s for nosh afterwards. Until it was pointed out I hadn’t realised this was a branch of the Hickorys we’ve visited in Chester. Twas quite good as I recall but it is a long time since we visited.
The main issue with a place like Hickorys is carbs. I expect they have low carb options but temptation will definitely be dangled. I am generally being quite a good boy so the occasional consumption of carbohydrate is ok.
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TtTM came, did his job and went. He does a good job does TtTM fair play. Two of them take half a day to do our hedges and other various jobs. When you think about it, if I had to do it all myself it would take a lot more than a day, even if my hip wasn’t buggered. He has all the right gear and a big trailer for the removal of branches and trimmings. Now have a yuge pile of logs ready for splitting at leisure. The smaller branches don’t need splitting.
I am now sat on a conference call, on mute with the camera turned off. Telecoms fraud n stuff. In the garden THG is beavering away, filling the green bin. We are planning to dedicate a chunk of veg patch to strawberries and using a bit of the lawn nearest the house for veg. Gets a lot of sun there so we figure the beans etc will do better in that spot.