Windy.

Wild and windy today. There were some moments of sunshine but for most of the time it has been grey and cloudy.

I've continued trying not to do too much walking around though I did go out and tie up the tomato plants which are growing nicely. I've also done both piano and guitar practice and then went on to do some exercises. 

I can't do my squats but did some shoulder exercises and then lay down to work on my hips and abs. I tried to remember all the exercises we do starting from 'dead bug' and even did 'the hundred'. Anything to keep the core muscles working.

Later I began shortening the curtains in my study, a job I had scheduled for this time. When I made the curtains I kept them long enough to hang below the window sills but they keep catching on the boxes on my craft shelves so up they need to go. I prefer to hand sew curtain hems which I was able to do sitting at the kitchen table. 

Rain.

We're definitely back to typical British summer weather with grey clouds and rain. 

Due to the worsening sea conditions the Aberdyfi Regatta was cancelled for a second time much to Peter's disappointment. He and the rest of the crew had been training hard but hopefully it will be third time lucky or they may even make it to one of the other local regattas. 

My foot is still telling me that walking around is not the best just yet so I'm still trying my best to not do too much. I may possibly have done the odd bit of snipping in the garden whilst checking out the latest flowers to emerge. Fox and cubs, (above) and hypericum (below). And as my contribution towards the meals I've done some food preparation but that has been about it. 

I didn't even get much time sitting outside because no sooner that I sat down than down came the first raindrops sending me scuttling indoors clutching cushions and kindle.

Muggy.

Yesterday.

We had another lovely sunset at the end of a very hot day. Even after the sun had dropped down below a distant cloudbank the beach was filled with families cooling off in the calm sea. A number of people were still there after 10.00.

Zooming in with the camera produced this intense (but misleading) photo.

Today has been warm and humid with a lot of clouds, the occasional moment of hot sun and a few short showers. I'm sure I heard the odd rumble of thunder too. Probably more of a typical summer's day to mark the solstice and the official start of summer.

I've spent the day trying to do as little walking around as possible but I did go round to my neighbours' garden to pick these sweet peas. I'd been invited to do so as there won't be anyone there this weekend and you get more flowers if you pick them as soon as they open.

Peter went rowing first thing and then into town to do some shopping at Lidl. I'd stocked up on non-perishables but we needed fresh fruit and veg and the odd thing that I had forgotten.

Phew !

Even hotter today. First thing this morning (4.30) the sky was filled with pretty pink clouds which then turned into a cloudy and windy morning that was still warm. Then come the afternoon the clouds disappeared, the wind dropped and the temperature soared. Inside the house had been kept comfortably cool by judicious opening of windows.

Following instructions, this morning I removed the bulky bandage and dressing (will spare you the details) from my foot and replaced it with a simple dressing. Everything looked fine though the stitching looks quite basic. But as I'm not planning a career as a foot model that's fine. 

Having decided that I was probably being too cautious by only putting weight on my heel I then started walking a bit more normally only to find that wasn't the best idea. So I'm back to hobbling about. 

Peter had an interesting row this morning, first they had to chase one of the rower's hat which had blown onto the water and then they got to see a seal dozing upright in the water and a dolphin too. Even with those sightings I'm not tempted to go out rowing.

I pottered around in the morning making breakfast, washing up, watering plants and then doing my Duo Lingo before settling down on the terrace with my Kindle. That was while it was still cloudy.

Later on it was too hot to sit in the sun so I moved myself into some handy shade down on the new paving.

As I went through today's photos and began naming the flowers in the bottom corner of the garden (spirea, buddleia, hydrangeas and h.geranium Ann Folkard), I spotted the tiny pink flowers of willow herb which had somehow escaped my regular weeding. 

While the colour didn't clash with the flowers around it it's too invasive to be left. So down to the garden I hobbled but before I could remove it I met the last owner's nephew who had just been visiting next door. Naturally I was only too happy to show him the latest work in the garden and he seemed to be impressed.

Two views of last night's sunset. Above is what the camera saw when I zoomed in and below is closer (a bit too light) to how I saw the sunset.

St David's Church, Henfynyw.

Well, if you're going to have a day of enforced rest then it might as well be when there's a mini heatwave. I've done my best to minimize walking about and my foot has felt fine. 

In fact my sensory processing difficulties meant that when sitting out in the hot sun my legs were nice and toasty but my toes (on both feet) felt cold and at times as if they were in ice water. To the external touch they felt as warm as the rest of my legs and the GP says there's no circulation problem. It's just something I have to ignore.

Apart from generally lazing around I've done a few sewing jobs including adding a cord and fastener to my latest sun-hat so that I can make sure it doesn't blow off in windy conditions.

And since my day has been quite uneventful here are some photos from last Sunday.

An imposing gateway leads to the church at Henfynyw which sits on the site of what was once a monastery associated with St David, the patron saint of Wales. 

I didn't go inside the church but wandered around the churchyard looking at the gravestones which were set in a pretty wildflower meadow. 

The oldest dates I could make out were in the early 1800s. The inscriptions on the older stones were invariably in Welsh and so too on many of the more recent stones. Often, along with name and dates was the person's address. Perhaps because there are fewer surnames in Wales and people may have been referred to by both name and address? I don't know.

While the majority of the headstones being slate there seems to have been a fashion for red granite obelisks at the end of the 1800s.

Some information about St David.

At Last.

Even at 5.00 this morning the air was mild and the day just kept getting warmer.

I'd managed to wake before the alarm despite just three hours sleep. That gave me enough time to follow my usual morning routine ready to leave at 7.15.

By 7.30 I was waiting along with other day surgery patients and as the first on the list by 9.00 I was in the operating theatre. After those years of waiting it took just five minutes to remove the cyst and yes I was allowed to watch. But I didn't watch the injecting of the anaesthetic, four times I think. those were painful (and bled) but the rest was interesting and completely pain free.

My return home did not go quite so easily. I rang Peter while they were still doing the paperwork but having not seen me at the entrance he didn't think to either phone me or go into the day ward. By the time I went and waited outside by the entrance where he'd dropped me off in the morning Peter had decided to drive round to the main entrance on the far side of the hospital. 

It was only after a third phone call that he answered and eventually came to where I had been waiting for half an hour. By that time I was not a happy camper and can you blame me?

To make up for that the weather has been perfect. I've been out on the terrace, foot up and tucking into a few goodies. Dozing off in the sun being caressed by a gentle breeze it only needed the sound of cicadas to  imagine being on a Greek island. Instead there was the sound of the chirping sparrows and the occasional blackbird or seagull with for once no mowers or building noise. And the good weather is set to last for a few more days.

The red geraniums were relocated today. They'd been fine in the corner of the terrace, that was until the tall hydrangea flowers turned a bright pink. It was a real clash but now the geraniums look good against the white wall.

I kept thinking about the porch letter box and came to the conclusion that it really did need to be at the front. Otherwise it would annoy me for years to come. I've sent the builder an email asking him to come and change it round before they do the rest.

Goal Achieved !

After exactly four months I've achieved my goal of losing twenty pounds. That puts me a few pounds lower than I got to after the last couple of long slow diets. I'm proud of myself because I do like food especially sweet stuff. I know that indulging in the treats I bought for after tomorrow's toe procedure will set me back a bit but I'll just go back to watching what I eat until the extra weight goes. 

It was cloudier today but still nice enough for a walk around the Osprey Centre. First we went to Mach to stock up on some goodies from our favourite café. But sadly it was closed. A notice on the door said that due to unforeseen circumstances they would not be opening until tomorrow. 

It seems like the fates have been conspiring to keep me on my diet. On Sunday I thought I might have some cake at the garden but none of us fancied paying £5 for a slice of cake after already paying £5 admission. Then today not only was the café in Mach shut but when I was tempted by a delicious looking cheese cake Peter just ordered me a coffee. Good but not good. And the coffee was an expresso which I never drink. The lady who brought it to our table kindly went and added frothed milk to make it a cappuccino. 

At the main hide we met our friend Anne (who we meet at the library for Welsh practice), who volunteers there. She's very knowledgeable about the ospreys and birds in general. Her role is to help people with the various telescopes and binoculars set up to watch the ospreys' nest and to answer any questions about the ospreys.

This is Telyn on the nest with the three chicks. Next to the nest are the cameras which live stream video back to large screens set up around the main hide and the visitors' centre. 

In the afternoon I did as much as I could in the back garden. The tomatoes have been weeded and tied in with the side shoots removed. A major job was to pull up all the Welsh poppies growing by the wall and tie back the schizostylis  to give easy access along the side of the tomato bed. I didn't quite finish all the weeding but the back garden is in much better shape for now.

Later I went to Pilates where we finished with twenty minutes of 'relaxation' before a final set of stretches. I enjoy the challenge of the exercises (not so much when it's kettlebells) but winding down with relaxation is a bonus.

No swimming snakes today and not many creatures to be seen in the nature reserve but here are a couple. Judging by the empty case on the stick I would say this was a newly emerged darter.

This water boatman swimming just under the surface looks more like an alien than native pondlife.

Now for an early night as I have to be at the hospital at 7.45.

A Stitch in Time.

The weather has been absolutely lovely today. Sunny with just enough wind to counteract the heat.

I spent a number of hours working on my hands and knees, not at the zoo but on the new paving. 

The chap who did the paving finished off by brushing dry sand to fill the gaps between the slabs. This however was not enough. Apart from there now being a lot of empty spaces (the recent rain?) the sand would be the perfect growing medium for the plethora of poppy seeds already on the paving and seeds from the nearby ornamental grasses which have also begun to rain down. Instead I carefully brushed in dry mortar mix and then cleaned the cement from the tops of the slabs with a paintbrush and water. Hopefully the gaps will now be seedling free as I don't want to have to be constantly weeding out grass and poppies. This is supposed to be a low maintenance garden.

Next on my list of jobs to do was a quick trip into town to buy this picture, a good quality (lithograph?) by Grepp, which I had seen in a charity shop on Friday. I took along a coloured envelope which was a darker shade of the paint in our 'blue loo' to check that the picture would work on the blue walls. It's properly framed with glass so I didn't mind paying £7.

Back home and on to the physically demanding job of using the new hedge trimmer to cut the main hedge. It was really heavy and hard to get used to, especially for my poor back. It worked quite well from the street side especially after my neighbour gave me some good advice on which angle to have the blades but the garden side was another matter. With the top of the hedge being 10ft above me and not such good access it was difficult to get a tidy cut along the top. Hopefully it will get easier with practice.

 

Now for the promised photos of the garden at Ffynnon Las from yesterday. The gardens cover 2 acres and include two lakes, a vegetable garden, an orchard and a woodland garden not forgetting several very large herbaceous beds filled with shrubs and annuals and are a result of 20 years of keen gardening. 

The smaller of the lakes had a Monet style wooden bridge, water lilies and margins filled with native species.

Beyond the lake was a woodland area containing many different trees but what made us all gasp were the orchids growing everywhere.

These were the common spotted orchid which comes in shades of purple some of which were 3ft tall.

Apart from the abundance of the orchids an amazing thing that the lady of the garden told us was that they had all appeared naturally. Her husband had started planting the trees 20 years ago and then allowed the grass and wildflowers to grow and up came the orchids. Apparently orchid seeds can stay for many years in the soil until conditions are right.

I loved this clump of irises.

The larger of the lakes.

There were a number of fences and structures made from living willow.

The chap who plans the walks is going to see if there are any other open gardens that we could combine with our Sunday walks.