Sunny.

What a glorious end to August and the school summer holiday. While there was a bit of an autumnal chill in the morning by the afternoon it was beautifully warm making all those miserable grey days seem but distant memories.

I've got a lot done today with a few small mishaps as well. Having put yesterday's washing back out on the line to finish drying off I filled the machine with the next load of sheets. But my aging machine made some unusual noises during the last spin and when I opened up the door there was a nasty smell of burning rubber. I've put the same amount in the machine before and it's coped well up till now but  Google told me I'd overloaded it. I'll have to keep the loads smaller from now on but at least I hadn't burnt out the motor which had been my concern.

Next on my list was the door frame. Starting with filling the remaining gaps and holes followed by sanding and painting with primer some hours later. My pleasure in getting this job done was marred by the sounds of loud music coming from the next street. And when I say loud I mean really loud. It sounded as if somebody had got in an entertainer for a children's party which due to the lovely weather was being held outside. It was that extreme level of volume you get with a fairground ride with the same overenthusiastic commentary that accompanies such things. As you can tell I was not a fan and breathed a massive sigh of relief when it all stopped. Later when I examined the door frame I could see a few holes that had somehow been missed earlier. That entailed mixing up a last lot of filler and now I'm sure everything has been filled ready for more painting. 

While the filler was hardening I was busy in the kitchen but still managed to get outside and do some gardening, mainly cutting things back or even down. 

Having that marrow sitting in the kitchen had spurred me on to find a suitable recipe to make use of it. Since I had most of the ingredients with just a few substitutes, Polish smoked bacon instead of pancetta and white wine vinegar instead of red (but no red wine ) I went for rings of marrow baked in the oven with a meaty tomato sauce topped with mozzarella cheese. It was all right but nothing special. The sauce was more or less the same as my usual tomato & onion sauce and lets face it marrows are far more exciting to grow than to eat. More successful was the cake I also made. Again another internet recipe which used yoghurt and vegetable oil. I changed the blueberries for cherries as I don't think that blueberries have enough taste in a cake and I threw in some mixed nuts for good measure. The cake turned out nice and soft but not a lot of flavour apart from the cherries. Maybe some jam and cream?

The day was so lovely I kept being tempted to sit outside but there was still the ironing to do. A chore but so lovely to have freshly ironed sheets.

Sunny.

For most of the day it has been very warm but as soon as the clouds appeared, just I arrived back to Borth it got a lot colder.

For once the roads were almost completely empty as I drove to the stables. That is until I turned on to the track that runs along the steam railway. There my way was blocked by the cows that graze that meadow. They had started to move off the road as I reached for my camera and my windscreen is blurry from the sea salt that builds up but I thought it was an amusing start to my day.

When I got to the stables and checked the 'list' to see which horses we had been given I was surprised to see that it said 'hack' rather than lesson. We didn't mind too much as it was a glorious morning but in the end it turned out to be a simple mistake and we had our lesson in the school as usual. I had Cadno as the girl who leases Margaret was riding her in the lesson. We did that odd thing again of riding a 20m circle but with the horse bending the opposite way. It helps the horses' suppleness and is the basis for some of the more advanced dressage movements. It takes a lot more concentration from the rider though at least this time I knew what I was trying to achieve. I didn't do so well with the cantering we did later, I'd run out of steam by then and Cadno was happy to take advantage and fall back into trot before I asked him to.

I still don't know if we're going out for a full day's riding on Monday. I have to wait for a phone call as I think it depends on the numbers.

 

After the lesson I called in at Screwfix on the industrial estate and bought more filler for the doorframe and then went and bought some bright blue gloss paint for the door. 

Town is buzzing at the moment, filled with holidaymakers and petrolheads as Aberystwyth hosts Rali Ceredigion, a rally car event both in town and in the surrounding countryside and mountains. While being aware that motor sports are inherently bad for the environment at the same time it is good to see the town filled with so many people. There are two large areas, the playing fields down by Morrisons and one much nearer to the centre of town where the rally teams are set up and those who are interested can go and stare at noisy cars. There's also a beer festival going on with one of the small side streets cordoned off and given over to tables so that people can enjoy craft beers and listen to more music.

Coming in from the stables I was nipping down the main road at about 50mph, well within the limit for that road, with a steady stream of cars going past me in the opposite direction when suddenly there was a Whoosh and a car shot past me. For a second I thought it was a police car by the way it was lit up but when I looked in my rear view mirror I could see a rally car fishtailing along the road as the driver realised there were cars ahead. That sort of irresponsible driving is not only very dangerous but p.......s everyone else off.

I didn't have a very successful shopping time in town. My first mission was to take the mount (from inside a painting I want to hang in our bedroom) to the picture framer in the Market Hall. The mount was affected by the condensation in the loft and has foxing (small marks caused by mould) so I want to have a new mount cut. However after I had tramped all the way up the hill I found the framers was closed with a note on the window saying they wouldn't be opening until September 5th. (A passer-by told me this was due to illness in the family.) That meant having to carry the large mount around the rest of the shops until I got back to the car. Then since I hadn't had my camera with me last night I thought I'd go in the museum and take some photos. But when I got there I found that it was closed for lunch so had to abandon that plan. By this time I was getting hot and bothered in my riding gear especially seeing lots of people in shorts and summer wear.

By the time I got home I was worn out and only had the energy to throw everything in the washing machine before trying to catch the last of the day's sun out on the terrace before the fast approaching clouds rolled in.

To Be Contd./Updated.

I got home a bit too late after the evening at the museum to write the text but will do so tomorrow.......

Thursday was certainly busy. It was still dark when I got up and I was able to enjoy watching the world wake up as I sat outside clutching my mug of tea. I'm still intrigued by the seagulls morning commute Sometimes just two or three birds together but bigger groups too. All heading southwards along the coast. I've asked around and nobody is sure where they are going. I thought the dump but food waste is collected and dealt with separately  so who knows? 

My first job of the day was more sanding of the back gate and frame. I had hoped to begin painting but it could do with a little more filling first.

Next I was off to the community gardens for weeding and digging brambles before stopping for a slice of cake, something with eastern spices and seeds. Tasty as always. The polytunnel is full of red tomatoes while at home my outdoor tomatoes are only just beginning to turn orange. What has grown is this courgette that has turned into a marrow. I'm sure I checked it only a few days ago and now  it is enormous. I've cut it but I'm not too sure yet how I'm going to cook it.

We seem to be catching a little bit of summer in these last few days of August. Peter was rowing in the morning and the sea was quite rough then but by the afternoon it was much calmer.

And of course the big event yesterday was singing in a fund raiser for UNWRA. It was held in Ceredigion Museum which I had not been in before. The museum of Welsh Life is in a restored Edwardian Theatre which in its day could hold 1,000 people and looks very interesting. 

They had put seats in the main auditorium and each act performed up on the stage for half an hour. With six acts that made for a long evening but it was a very relaxed atmosphere and you could go and get drinks from the bar (on the right). Mostly it was music ranging from a group playing medieval bagpipes, to some guys who play at the Folk Club (who might have been a little past their prime but not too bad) to a band called Ninth House. The female singer had a very good voice, you can hear some of their music here . And of course the choir. Over twenty of us squeezed onto the stage and had a lot of fun singing songs of peace and hope. We don't claim to be professionals, just a group of people who enjoy singing but our leader, Susie manages to get a decent sound from us. There was also an excellent story teller who had us spellbound as he spun tales about the history of the museum.

 

Off To The Pictures.

The day began with rain, lots and lots of it. It was somewhat galling to hear that the temperature in Paris today was expected to reach 31C. Maybe a little too hot but not the autumnal weather we've already slipped into. However this afternoon when we came out of the Arts Centre at the uni we were met with a blue sky and some welcome heat. As soon as we got home I changed from leggings and boots into shorts and flip-flops and rushed onto the terrace for 10 minutes of sun before the clouds rolled in from the west.

We had gone to the cinema in the university Arts Centre to see Twisters, a fun action film. We used to watch all the disaster films, many of which we saw on the big screens in Leicester Square, so many years ago. Twisters while not quite as much fun as the last Mad Max film we saw was still worth watching. We had our usual seats right at the front and there were a lot more people in the cinema today, at least 6 or maybe even 8.

Turning out of the university campus the road down to town was completely blocked, nothing at all moving as far as we could see in either direction but our way home was clear. Being such a small town with the sea on one side it only takes one incident for everything to become gridlocked. Sadly I've found out that earlier somebody had been hit by a train. No other news at the moment but it can't be good. There's one place in town where the main road crosses the main railway line and two crossings for the narrow gauge line used by the steam train that goes up to Devil's Bridge.

During the day I practised singing Calon Lan which we will be singing in the concert tomorrow evening. Originally we were going to sing 'I Have a Dream.' in Welsh but a lot of us weren't that keen as although the words are more appropriate they are hard to sing and the psalm tune isn't very cheery. Instead the group voted for Calon Lan, which just about everybody in Wales knows. We may even get some of the audience joining in.

Rain.

Another grey day sprinkled with showers.

It looked as if the rain was going to hold off until later in the day so I got myself ready to head down to the zoo, only to look out and see big rain drops on the terrace. Thinking the rain was here for the day I suggested Peter took the car down to the RNLI as he had some bulky stuff to take down for the rowing club before he volunteered in the shop.

No sooner had he gone than the rain stopped - typical. Not wanting to waste the opportunity I changed out of my zoo work clothes - old but tidy, into my home work clothes - old, ripped and covered in paint, so that I could do some work on the door frame. I didn't have too long before it rained once more but I managed to do more sanding. It's never going to look perfect it doesn't hurt to do one's best. The important thing was to prevent the door frame from getting worse and to make sure it wouldn't give way with a strong shove (which it won't now it's been firmly fixed to the wall).

Later in the afternoon in an effort to stop myself falling asleep I went out to the front garden for a bit of weeding. Having a compact (that sounds better than small) garden means I can keep on top of the weeding especially if as today I can catch them when they are teeny seedlings popping up in the shingle. There were lots of seedlings of knautia and aquilegia in between the old paving stones to take out too which is the price I pay for leaving those plants to go to seed.

 

Grey.

It was quite grey this morning with a mild wind. We must have been right on the edge of a weather system as every now and again the sky would be all blue and the temperature would shoot right up. I spent a lot of the day working on the doorframe at the back of the house so didn't really see much of what was going on but I'm sure that over the incessant peeping of the last seagull fledgling I heard the rumble of thunder. Though of course it may just have been aircraft.

With a lot of help from Peter the door frame was securely fixed back to the garage wall and the replacement section fixed in place. Having seen how much better that looked I hacked away the uneven frame end on the other side and in a very bodge it manner attached some wood on the other side too. After that I used up the last of the resin wood filler in the remaining holes and gaps. Although the hardener is in a separate container I found that the stuff hardened much more quickly than when I first used it and I had to rush to get it in place before it set. I've already done some sanding, not my favourite job but will need to do more before I can start painting. It won't look as good as if it had been totally redone but at least it won't be falling apart with holes in the rotten wood.

 

This morning we watched some people on jet skis having fun well beyond the marker buoys.

And now for some more photos from yesterday - 

The churchyard of St Michael's Church extends all along the hill and contains around 4,500 graves going back to the middle ages.

This is the third church building on the site and dates from 1875. We didn't go inside yesterday as there was a service about to be held.

The lychgate sits above a stream.

We ate our lunch near the Holy Well which is just a hole in the ground surrounded by slate slabs. I must go back some time and take more photos especially of the 2,000 year old yew tree said to be the oldest yew tree in West Wales. The presence of the yew tree and the well suggest that this was a holy site predating Christian times.

A Local Walk.

Today we should have been in Anglesey for Peter's flying lesson but it was postponed due to the forecast of strong winds. Sure enough it has been very windy today. It started last night when the sound of the wind had me going out to the terrace where I was met with the sight of lightning over the Cambrian mountains behind us. All very exhilarating until a massive thunderclap had me moving closer to the house just in case the storm got any nearer. The rain arrived later and continued through the night but had cleared up by the time I set off to meet my friends for our usual walk. 

The walk started in Borth, handy that, went up the hill past the barn where the camper lives, over the top of the hill and down to the village of Llandre. We had our lunch sitting outside the church  in Llandre and then decided to take the longer but flatter route into the valley via the village of Dol Y Bont and back to Borth.

Getting to the top of the hill behind Borth gave us great views over the Cors Fochno (the bog) behind the village (above) and back along the river Dyfi towards Mach (below). 

 

There was some trepidation amongst a few of the group when we had to pass through these young cows, not sure if they were heifers or bullocks but most of the cattle didn't even bother to get up as we passed by.

From there we walked through wooded hillside (below) and then the interesting graveyard surrounding Llandre Church (will post photos tomorrow). We ate our lunch perched on the church wall by the Holy Well and then made our way down into the village of Llandre.

Most of the houses we went past were fairly modern, pretty but not notable. This small sign made us all laugh as the plaque commemorates the fact that Llandre won the 'Best kept village in Cardiganshire 1957, 1958 and 1960.' I think cutting the brambles and other weeds around the sign was a sardonic comment on the current state of the public parts of the village.

From there it was an easy stroll through gently rolling fields avoiding being attacked by the large flock of gulls. (Not really.) They were actually following a farmer muck spreading on a nearby field.

Finally we walked through the small village of Dol Y Bont with its steep hump-backed bridge and pretty houses before walking past a vast camp site by the River Leri to the back of the zoo.

It was fairly late by the time we got back to Borth so I passed on the invitation to go to Chris' for apple pie as I wanted to get home. But as we were almost by our house I invited the stragglers of the group, we had got spread out by this point, to come and have a look at my front garden. We're all gardeners and I had spoken a lot about the garden and no doubt bored them to tears with the week by week account of the making of the shingle garden. But I've been to their gardens, we've all swapped plants and it was nice to give them a quick tour of mine.

Another smart Dol Y Bont home.

Sunny.

Sunset last night.

Today has been bright and sunny with a touch of chill in the brisk wind. 

I was at Morrison's again this morning, at least in the car park, to meet up with a fellow blogger and buy this gorgeous captain's chair from her. Ever since we built the bookcase by the front door I've been looking for  a captain's chair for that corner. Something to sit on whilst browsing books or more likely when putting on boots before going for a walk. Also it will be handy if we need a fourth chair at the kitchen table on those rare occasions when we have visitors. I've been lucky enough to have inherited a few nice pieces of antique furniture from my mother (bought in junk shops in London) and I think they fit in well with our white, minimalist beach house (that sounds better than retirement bungalow by the sea). There's something so pleasing to the eye about hand crafted pieces and old polished wood is so tactile. I may make a custom cushion and patchwork? cover for it. That's after my current round of projects is done. 

Speaking of which I went out and began filling the holes, some of them gaping, in the outside door frame. Although the tin was sizeable (the size of a baby's formula tin) the contents were much less. It's the type of resin filler  that needs mixing with a hardener so should at least be durable. I got most of the top of the frame done but it would need at least one or even two more tins to fill in the hole at the bottom of one of the side pieces. I was thinking about fixing more wood to the front to tidy it up but Peter has offered to cut away the worst with a jig saw. I'll leave him to do that and then see what needs doing. It's only cosmetic work anyway. He also came up with a set of wood working chisels and I finally finished the wood for the other side of the frame.

(For Wendy) That might be Bardsey Island on the far left but conditions were too hazy for a clear photo.

Sunny.

A windy morning which turned into a bright and breezy day.

It was wild and windy again this morning but though it has been a long time since I had to put on an extra layer of clothing to sit outside first thing at least it wasn't raining. It was lovely to sit there watching the morning sun lighting up the distant hills. Even nicer was the fact that I had some fancy chocolate with my morning coffee (no tea on Fridays).  

And the reason for the chocolate was that today is my birthday. (68!) Peter had managed to sneak in my presents in the night which is impressive as he drops off to sleep long before me. Along with the chocolates and Baileys was this lovely driftwood heron. I'd seen it in the village craft shop but it was too pricey to buy on a whim. I think it's really lovely and even better it is made by a local chap with wood from the beach.

An enormous bouquet from Vytas and Sally was delivered yesterday evening. There were so many flowers I've split them into three vases so that I can see the flowers better.

When I got to the stables this morning there were only two names on the list and that didn't include me. However I have a tiny notebook that I get whoever books my next lesson to write in for me and this morning was just an oversight. Cadno already there with his saddle on and we always put the bridles on ourselves. There were still only three of us which made for a very good lesson. Instead of the usual warm up routine of walking and then trotting we were told to imagine we were warming up for a dressage test. We could include walk, trot and canter and changes of direction remembering to avoid the other riders in the school. Of course as soon as I had done some walking and trotting in both directions I had fun cantering around working on stopping Cadno from falling back into trot before I asked him. And also keeping him on the bit during canter. We then had an in-depth question & answer session before finishing off with more leg yielding. If only my leg muscles were a bit stronger.

Afterwards I did my usual round of the shops. At Morrison's I picked up these two planters now half-price at £5 having been seduced by the little bit of sparkle in the white part of the glaze. They do match the stone terrace slabs quite well.

Although I didn't bother going round the town shops I dropped into the charity shop by Lidl and found this mirror for the hall. There was a space that needed something but not a picture as it was over a radiator. I'd seen other mirrors that I'd liked before but they were all very heavy while this modern mirror is pretty light. It also has a good bevelled edge to the glass and was a bargain at £15.

This afternoon I put up the mirror, brought some stuff down from the loft and used the wood hardener on the outside door frame. I also carried on sawing the new wood that is going to fill the large hole on one side. It's slow going and I'm wondering if a sharp chisel might be the answer. We don't have any woodworking chisels so I'll have to go and buy one.

Peter suggested getting a take away Chinese meal but rather than have him go all the way into Aber I opted for fish and chips from the local chippy. It was very nice but I'm glad that the Gaviscon is to hand as my system isn't used to fried foods.