My first attempt at selling my book Nicely Out of Tune directly to the public was at Penclawdd Community Centre. I was warmly welcomed in swift succession by the other stall holders and my nervousness at being there quickly dissipated.
A regular trickle rather than a rush of shoppers popped into the centre - some to make a number of purchases, others just to partake of the refreshments for sale and to catch up with friends and neighbours. The quality and range of the products offered for sale was outstanding with eye-catching  displays set out around the large hall. 
The local butcher, Mr. Tucker, presented an array of fresh meat including Gower saltmarsh lamb and also vegetables and eggs. Mouth-watering preserves gleamed like jewels on Penny's table while the  beauty of the wood-turned items tucked in a corner at the top end of the hall caught your breath.
Items from Forest Fern & Moss were artfully arranged on the table adjacent to mine, as seen in the  above righthand photograph. I've already earmarked the delicately scented botanical wax melts and  attractive ceramic burners as future gifts for friends and family. 
Other notable displays were One of 1 Designs and Uniquely Stitched  (see photograph below) with an array of meticulously crafted items on offer!

Equally attractive were the crocheted garments and jewellery for sale at the opposite end of the hall. Such was the lure of the goods for sale, I was quite peeved to have to stay put to market my own wares. Although that said, I was thrilled to sell all of my Welsh cakes, a jar of my husband's bees honey and two books! All in all quite a successful morning.

It all began on a glorious October afternoon with a man standing on our chimney stack... not just any man, only my seventy-three year old other half! The previous week, when it was evident that we needed to replace the television aerial, I had tentatively suggested to my husband that we should, for the first time in forty years, engage someone to do the job. To my amazement, he agreed, which worried me a little as he's not a man to pay another to carry out work that he feels capable of doing himself. He is getting old, I thought, a little sadly.
A few days later a man of a mere two score years, and from the safety of the yard, offered a verbal estimate for the proposed work, for which my husband thanked him. However, the following weekend with the help of our younger son, my husband duly removed the aerial and replaced it with an indoor version which resides in the more safely accessed attic.

Two days after the carnage of Storm Bert we were greeted by a goat, our neighbour's goat to be precise. With the animal returned to its field we were able to get on with preparing for the scaffolders who arrived later that morning. Meanwhile the boomerang goat had returned! 

My husband removed the goat yet again, his temper shortening apace with the goat's lead. Two days later our house was completely encompassed by an intricate cage of scaffolding and, the curious goat was back! Drastic measures were evidently necessary to keep our property goat-free, and not just for the sake of our garden plants but the goat itself... the roofers were on their way!
My husband duly reinforced our boundary fence which put paid to further goat incursion and work on the removal and replacement of the old roof began in earnest. Unbelievably, the whole job was completed during the relatively dry spell of weather between storms Bert and Darragh!

I was slightly emotional when the old slate tiles, batten and felt were taken away in a skip, as forty years earlier my husband had actually used those materials to create our first replacement roof. There isn't much he won't try! Although we both agreed that the new roof was far superior, if more costly. And on closer inspection the family were of the same opinion!