Work Continues.

It rained in the night but fortunately although it's been grey the day has been dry.

The builders came again to work on the porch and the paving. (This is worth mentioning as sometime builders don't turn up though I have to say James has been pretty reliable.) 

The rest of the paving slabs were taken up and delivered to the zoo as Dean, the owner had said he would be able to re-use them. Parts of the storage areas get very muddy when it rains so the slabs might be useful there. But I kept back a few slabs to extend the step next to the drive. When the car is parked there I often have to wheel my bike along the brick parapet and then lift the bike down. The double step should make it easier for me to wheel the bike on to the lower path. I also saved some half-slabs to make another step by the curve instead of the random old concrete block that was there.

Out in the front garden the builders removed all the old sand and mud that the top layer of slabs had sat on. That revealed a garish checkerboard pattern of red and yellow paving slabs which probably predated the last owners who were here for 30 years. Not at all to my taste. The builder was only able to get a few buff slabs from the local branch of TP so they're laying those today and the rest should arrive tomorrow. I'm really pleased because I thought the paving would be a job to be done 'in the future'. They also sorted out one of the steps leading down into the garden. One of the street sized paving slaps had been sloping badly but as the wall next to it had been built over it I wasn't able to do anything to level it and prevent it being a trip hazard. The builder cut the slab and re-set it so it is safely level now.

I've spent my day pottering about, making cups of tea (two of them like their biscuits) and generally keeping an eye on things. I've also started trying out different ideas with the glass blobs. I tried using all the blues and greens together but that was too much. I think I'll do greens on one window and blues on the other.

Back garden flowers.

Later I'll be off to Pilates and as it's the first one of the month it's kettlebells. That's hard work.

Work Begins.

Windy and sunnier today.

It's been a busy day. First thing I had to drive to the bank because silly me I'd mixed up two builders and paid the wrong one! The current builder is Mid-Wales Construction Ltd and I'd paid CBS Mid-Wales Ltd who have also done building work for us. Fortunately he's a trustworthy chap and will send the money back to my account. As I drove into town on the 20 minute journey between green hedges with views of field, woods and hills I contrasted that with the time we lived in London when it was a 20 minute walk to the local shopping street or a a 20 minute drive to a main shopping area both of which were through built up areas along noisy, busy roads. City life is not for me.

Once home I went out and washed the sea salt from the windows and balustrade which had developed a frosted effect from all the recent bad weather.

Eventually the builder arrived to start work and by the end of the day they had removed two layers of tiles and flattened the blockwork ready to start on the base of the porch. While he was here I asked the builder about replacing the old red paving slabs in the front garden and he said he would do that this week. He won't order the glass until the side walls and base of the porch are done which means there will be a delay of a few weeks so he'll do the paving this week. Peter and I had planned that we would remove the slabs ourselves as they are only sitting on a layer of sand over an original layer of grey paving slabs. However Peter had already gone out so I set to and carried over 30 slabs down to the garden gate. That was enough for one day.

Last night's sunset. (The camera sees a much more dramatic sky than the naked eye does.)

And now for a few photos from the osprey centre. 

This was taken from the live feed screens in the visitors' centre. You can watch the YouTube livestream here. There are three chicks which won't be named until they are ringed. Nearby was a board showing when the eggs were laid and then hatched.

There was also a display showing all the chicks born there over the years. Sometimes three make it but sometimes only two. Some of the plaques didn't have a name on, just a picture of an egg and the words -Didn't hatch. It looks like there is only one pair of adults nesting each year, I must ask where all the chicks went. It's a very grand set up just for two ospreys but I see on the map it is officially a wildlife reserve and it is a very important wetland area.

The Osprey Centre and Mynydd Cynffyrch.

Today it has been sunny at the coast and a lot greyer inland. It has also been quite windy so it was a good thing that the regatta at Aberdyfi was postponed much to Peter and the other rowers' disappointment but at least they now have a few more weeks to train.

Today's walk began at the Osprey Centre. (Will post photos of the ospreys tomorrow.) Only three of us today, not surprising as people tend to have family commitments in the school holidays. The first thing we did was look at the six large screens that were livestreaming from the osprey's nest. Then we noticed an even larger smart screen, about 4ft across showing the Google Earth view of the area. Naturally we started moving the touch screen around to see where we were going to be walking and other places we knew. Our inexperience had the screen going this way and that and turning unexpectedly. We ended up with a 3-d view of the hills from the other side of the valley which was quite impressive. There was much hilarity and no doubt people were thinking who were this unruly group of older people? Then while my fellow walkers sat and had a coffee in the very smart visitors' centre as I took advantage of my pass and went for a quick walk along the boardwalk. (I have a year's pass for the wildlife reserve.)

Sunset last night.

 

As it was quite cool there was a distinct lack of lizards but there were large red signs about asking people not to touch the lizards or any other wildlife. I was able to point out the one lizard I saw to a family group who were just behind me which they got quite excited about.

This was the cosy reading area, somewhat ransacked by children, where my friends were waiting for me. 

From the Osprey Centre we crossed the main road and climbed a small path beside Nant Morben, a small stream in which was growing large groups of skunk cabbage. The skunk cabbage is an invasive non-native species that probably originated in the gardens of the grand mansions that were once the homes of the wealthy.

After climbing over fallen trees we made out way up to the toll or turnpike road that used to connect Mach with Aber in the days when sections of the valley were marshy and impassable.

From there we turned up and climbed Mynydd Cynffyrch (So Far Mountain). Okay so it's only a hill but the name says mountain and from our lunch spot we had great views up the Dyfi valley towards Mach.

And more views across to Snowdonia. This time it wasn't a circular walk and we had to retrace our path back down the hill. The first section by the stream is too uneven for Peter's knees but we can take the easier route up from Derwenlas along the turnpike road instead so that's another one we can do together.

Afterwards we all drove back to Borth and paid a visit to Gill, (the friend who tripped and cracked her hip a few weeks ago) as the chap who organised the walks is also a friend of hers. She's still staying with her friend but the friend had been away for a few days visiting her family and we thought she could do with some company. She can get along on her crutches and has been taking short walks around the block but she has to inject herself (in her abdomen) every day. Something to do with preventing bleeding in the hip. We had a good chat together before heading off to our respective homes. 

Garden Planning.

The day has been warm and generally grey. Sometimes brighter and almost sunny after a few very light showers in the morning.

My day began as usual, sitting out on the terrace. Not too early but then it never is after a busy Friday. I could easily sit out there for an hour if I had the time and a lot of that time is spent 'garden planning'. That is after I've had a quiet time to absorb the sights and sounds of the view and nature around. Although the re-design of the garden is complete I still occasionally spot a plant that needs to be moved or even removed. That's part of the challenge of gardening, being able to visualise the mature plant while looking at the tiny potted specimen brought home from the garden centre. And sometimes plants surprise you, at 3ft 6ins this lavender flowered hardy geranium below is almost as tall the blue hydrangea it stands in front of yet the parent plants from which this was a cutting are a good foot shorter. 

This morning I thought long and hard about where to plant the new artemisia. I had sat it by the caryopteris where it looked perfect as they are both about 6ins high but I know that won't be for long. In the end I've put it in the shingle garden. As I observe the garden in the mornings I work out the next job to do which now are all quite small tasks. Today I could see that it is time to start cutting back the aquilegia seed heads but only once they have lost all their flowers as the bees love them.

Like me the front garden has a split personality (put me somewhere where I feel confident and I don't stop talking but put me in a strange situation with people I don't know and I'll either hide in a quiet corner without uttering a word or leave). As to the garden, the beds around the edge are filled to bursting with a haphazard abundance of plants while the shingle garden is designed to show off each plant as a separate specimen. To keep it more or less that way I'll need to do some pruning of the more vigorous plants. I'm already eyeing up the tall flowering spikes of the stachys which has grown so well. I'm hoping to establish some at the zoo once the cuttings I took have rooted.

Having done all my planning, later in the day I had a long gardening session, cutting back the aquilegias, fine weeding the shingle and removing more of the blanket weed from the pond. As I scoop it out I have to check for the snails which I put back in the water. The ramshorn snails have been multiplying and there are also some very tiny pointed snails about the size of a grape pip. The more snails in there the more blanket weed they should eat, good!

While Peter was out playing pool I put the picture I bought him at the craft fair in a frame I bought yesterday and wrapped it up as well though his birthday isn't until July. I also put the photos I printed at Morrison's yesterday in the family photo frame and hung it in my study. 

By the time I had finished all my jobs for the day it was cool enough that I needed to fleece on to sit outside to read for a while. (The spiderlings have almost all gone now, maybe into the hedge.)

Traffic Jam.

The morning was grey and damp with the clouds only just above the rooftops. As the clouds rose and fell they loosed a fine mist of rain which occasionally turned quite heavy. After my riding lesson, indoors thankfully, I got really wet as we waited to pay and then got a further soaking at the dump where it took a while to put everything in the correct place. Luckily I had my jacket and a spare long sleeved top which I changed into when I got to Morrisons. In town it was grey and humid while my journey home took me up into the clouds. Arriving back Borth was much like the morning, with clouds/mist then suddenly the it all cleared and we had the most glorious evening.

At the stables I was surprised to find that I was riding Pac Man since he was also booked for the four hour ride in the afternoon. I guess he's a fit little horse. At least he is very nice to ride. There were seven of us in the lesson so Katie gave us two different exercises to do, riding the centre line and coming to a square halt or leg yielding off the three-quarter line. It was just a matter of finding space to do either exercise or a variation such as yielding to the wall and then straight back out again.

Afterwards I went to the dump where I found myself two tins of paint. I keep checking the crates of thrown out paint for any colours suitable for Viking shields but most of the paint seems to be white. Today I struck lucky and found a large tin of brick red floor paint which by the feel of it is half full and another tin which by the drips down the outside is dark brown. And then on to Morrisons. Arriving, the car park was pretty busy and later when I was ready to leave the whole car park was more or less grid-locked. Having seen that it was going to take a long time even to get out of my parking space I left the car where it was and walked over to Charlie's which I would normally drive to. There I bought myself an artemisia Powys Castle. I have the greener version and although I do already have a silver artemisia it looks slightly different. Having walked back to the car the traffic was still just as bad so I joined the queue and inched my way out. I then decided to drive over to B&M and was shocked to see the same sort of traffic jam in that car park. But I wasn't in a rush and people do eventually let you out. These sort of traffic jams work out a lot more smoothly when everyone lets one person out at junctions even though you don't have to. But funnily enough driving back into town the road was almost empty. Everyone must have gone south or east along the main roads.

In town I called in at the bank to pay the builder the deposit for our new porch. Work starts on Monday so we've been told. That, and changing the slabs in the front garden, is the last major job on the house. It will be a relief when it's all done.

Once I'd thrown everything in the washing machine I was able to relax and drink a large mug of tea on the terrace. There I spotted two conglomerations of orb spider spiderlings on the side of the big table. In the two days since I moved the table to cut the hedge they (or their parent) had been busy joining the table and chair with their silken threads. Looking them up I read that if you disturb them they will appear to explode outwards on their threads in an alarming manner but will eventually return when danger is over. I resisted poking them to see this happen but later when they had spread a little a light puff of breath had some of them dropping quickly. The weather was so nice we ate our dinner outside but because we didn't want to disturb the spiderlings we made do with the small side table. No need to be unkind even to spiders.

Grey.

And we're back to the grey again. Warm, very windy but not wet.

I had a later start than usual this morning and drank my coffee sitting on the wall of the raised beds. From there I had a view of the waves crashing on the concrete drain by the slipway. (It wasn't quite as dark as the camera has made it out to be.)

 

Since it is half-term and there was no Welsh class I decided to go down to the zoo to do some gardening. I drove rather than risked been blown over by the strong winds. I was keen to go as I knew that all the weeds would be growing in this warm, wet weather and I also had more plants for the gravel garden. Those included Linaria seedlings, the purple wildflower variety which I think is a lovely plant. They used to grow in the scree garden at Dingles and I've made sure to bring a few with me each time we've moved. At the zoo, as well as planting in the gravel I had a general tidy up of all the flowerbeds and then went on to weeding right by the entrance. I've given up on most of that area, too many weeds & grass and not enough gravel but there's one separate patch that I sometimes do. I kept on until the whole of that patch was clear and looking a lot better. Afterwards I went to spend some time with the pigs who are growing rapidly. It's very relaxing sitting there scratching their bellies and chatting to them and I may even have sung them a few songs. As I sat there I could hear a goat bleating in a nearby closed stable. It turned out that the goat's horn had fallen off (they do a lot of head butting of each other and their shelter). The horn had come off when one of the staff had checked it and the stump had bled copiously so the goat was being kept away from the other goats in case they caused any further damage.

When I got home there was just time to have a rest after doing my squats before I needed to get ready for disco aerobics. It's a good way to end the day and I always feel much better after an hour of dancing about to loud music.

A Break!

No cause for concern, quite the opposite - we had a break in the weather. Brief but extremely welcome.

First thing this morning it looked damp and grey but Peter assured me that looking at the satellite pictures he was sure it would be better later on. And it was! Sunny and warm. I was glad I had heeded Peter's advice and got some washing done ready to hang out on the line.

It would have been a good day to go to the zoo but Peter needed the car to take some people to look at the camper and it was too windy to cycle. Having thought the day was going to be wet again I had planned to do more sorting out in the utility room and have made great progress. Two storage trolleys have been condensed to one with the other being consigned to the garage and I've got some ideas on how to utilise the narrow cupboard built to house the bathroom pipes. Another big job was pulling out the washing machine to give the floor and the machine a good clean. This was made easier by my cunning design of being able to simply lift off the section of worktop that goes over the washing machine. I designed this to give easy access to the plumbing for when we need to swap washing machines but it made cleaning easier too. The last major job was to put back a piece of the outside door that runs across the bottom and stops rainwater dripping inside the door. This had fallen off a while back but I knew I needed to take off a cap piece at the end so that I could slide it over the screw heads. It broke when I tried to prise it off but is now back on with the aid of some strong glue.

After all that I gave myself a break sitting out in the sun before getting out the hedge trimmer to tidy up the long hedge. The new higher steps made it a bit easier but not as much as I'd hoped. Maybe I should look into a longer reach hedge trimmer as this is a job that will need doing regularly.

Another sit out in the sun before ironing and that was my day done.

My riding buddy sent me the photos from our ride last Friday so enjoy.

Here we are at the start of our ride making our way up out of the valley. From left to right the horses are - Griff, Pac Man, Seren, Cadno, Cody and Jack.

 This is a FB video of us cantering on the ridge near Devil's Bridge with me at number four. We'd been given strict instructions to stay in a line to avoid any rabbit holes. Poor old Cadno is coming in at the end and I think it's pretty obvious he's slowing down in his old age. The photo below is us all grinning wildly after that canter with the sea in the far distance.

Below- the first part of the leading section, the next bit was even steeper. This is another FB video taken just after we had got back on our horses as we crossed over the steam railway line. I'd been given Iola's horse to hold while she helped the other riders remount with the strict instruction not to let go of her as she would disappear down the line heading for home.

Crossing the Rheidol River.

'Scuse the silly face but that ice-cream tasted good after three hours in the saddle. And it was my first ice-cream of the year.