Windy.

Bright and breezy again today.

First thing after breakfast I made a start on sorting out brick supports for the final two troughs to go by the street wall. I tried using the last of the old chimney bricks but I couldn't get them to stack without wobbling. I guess I'll have to use my handy new cold chisel and bash off the mortar that's attached to the bricks. At least it's mortar and not concrete.

But soon it was time to cycle down to the community gardens. My confidence is slowly improving and I'm very pleased to announce that apart from waiting to turn into the High Street I made it all the way home without stopping. That's the first time I've made it right up the steep slope by our front door though there was a certain amount of weaving across the road as I refused to give up for that last bit. And there was a lot of puffing and panting afterwards. But it must be doing me good, surely?

Our gardening task was to pick blackcurrants. That's a nice job when done with others. One of the group will be making jam, or possibly jelly (the person who offered to make it usually makes jelly but one of the group was keen to have jam with the skins and pips in) with the fruit and either result will be sold on the open day which is part of the carnival festivities. There's a lot going on for a village with only 1,200 inhabitants.

I brought along more lettuce to share and took home some broad beans and new potatoes. I podded the beans while we sat and chatted so that I could put the pods on the compost heap. I tried some of the beans straight from the pod and they were very tasty though I think like peas the sugars start to degrade once they are picked from the plant. Also very tasty was the Victoria Sandwich made by my neighbour.  I think all cake eaten in the open air with company is great and made even better when it contains fresh cream and raspberry jam. 

Back home after I'd recovered from my bike ride it was time to get on with the house painting. I got right to the last few square feet and ran out of paint. So I had to change into non-paint covered clothes and drive to town to buy another tub of masonry paint. I've now know enough Welsh that I could have asked for the paint in Welsh but I didn't as fewer people in Aber are likely to be Welsh speakers. As I was there I made a quick stop in Morrisons to pick up a few things. I felt as if I could reward myself for all my hard work (okay any excuse to eat cake) and even went over and gazed at the good selection of fresh cream cakes and desserts before reminding myself that 1- I'd eaten cake that morning, 2- the painting wasn't quite finished and 3- I'm still hoping to lose a few more pounds. Instead I bought a mango and some fresh apricots and a box of frozen hoy sin duck dumplings to try. Supper tonight was mango and cottage cheese and I'm saving the dumplings for when the painting is finished. When I got home I finished off the third coat on the last bit of the wall. Not much more to do.

PS Yesterday evening the sea birds were plung diving again close inshore and we were able to identify them as gannets not arctic terns. I'd been led astray by the information board at Ynyslas which said to look out for arctic terns plunge diving.

 

Windy.

Bright and breezy today. Nice and warm in the sun. The forecast has just said the heat will build back up again until next Tuesday. Lovely for us but not so comfortable inland. I must say I could get used to this warmth where it's a comfortable 24C indoors.

Expecting that it would be hot at the zoo I cycled there in shorts and vest top. With a sunhat, sunscreen and insect repellant on and a drink to hand I was set up for a morning of weeding. This week I weeded the flower beds and then finished off the gravel by the wolf-dogs.  

Lots of visitors at the zoo today but Zeus was busy sleeping in the sun.

Pablo pruning the bamboo watched by one of the silver foxes.

When I got home I had a quick cup of coffee on the terrace before getting on with painting the front wall. I managed to do a bit more than half the area and hopefully there's enough paint left in the tub to finish the other half tomorrow.

 

Cooler.

It was cooler today with full cloud cover and the occasional smattering of heavy raindrops. That all changed at 6.00 when suddenly the clouds parted and we were back to extreme heat again.

The beach was still busy with what looked like a whole school enjoying activities on the sand and in the water.

With the occasional shower and the forecast saying there was the chance of heavy showers I had to postpone my plans to paint the front of the house. Instead once I'd done the housework, Welsh and played the piano I went down to the front garden for a bashing session. I spent the afternoon cleaning off more blocks and was grateful for the occasional drop of rain.

Out at sea there were great rafts of sea birds. I watched with the binoculars for a while but didn't see any birds plunge diving or any dolphins.

What a change for the evening.

 

Hot.

Less wind and even hotter today though with hazy cloud cover increasing from about mid-day. Leaving doors open at the front and back of the house caught what little breeze there was keeping it at a very comfortable level of warmth indoors. I took the thermometer out in the afternoon and despite the haze it was 27C/80F. The sea stayed flat with a hint of a ripple all day long.

This morning we went off to Mach' for our Welsh catch-up coffee morning. I made good speaking-to-strangers progress in that I ordered my coffee and some cake all in Welsh. I wasn't sure whether to describe a brownie as chocolate cake or brown cake and settled on the former which was understood. We went through some questions we'd had on the course and then had a fine time trying to work out more expanded answers before using our dictionaries (real ones) and good old google translate which can be a bit hit and miss. New words today included air fryer -(machine air frying), mobile (phone) and agility (for dogs) plus the surprising fact that the word for school which we know, is also the word for ladder. All in all a good session.

Afterwards I had my usual spin around the charity shops where I got this home-made set of hooks for £4. I don't think you could buy one of those hooks for that and it will be handy in the utility room. It was just verging on too hot as we walked around and I couldn't make the effort to get the camera out of my bag. Instead I took some photos on the journey home.

When we got home I cleaned some chairs that had been stored in the garage and washed down the large fabric/plastic pet carrier as I'd noticed some spots of mould on it. I left everything out in the sun to dry and settled on the terrace to do some sewing. I altered the strap on a tool bag Peter had bought so that it now has a handle as well as an over the shoulder strap which is what he wanted. Then the chap who hopefully will be installing the glass balustrade on the terrace came to measure up. He took one look and said we really need a top rail for strength rather than just the upright posts we had hoped for. I'm sure he would fit the posts only or even the bottom fixed panels that have no posts or top rail if we insisted but thinking back to the 70mph winds we had last winter we thought it would be sensible to follow his advice. On the plus side the panels can now be a bit wider than 1m.

Taken at 10.00 last night. It was a bit more orange than in the photos, a truly tropical sunset. Too cloudy tonight for a pretty sunset.

 

Hot.

Definitely a Borthbados day.

Early morning.

Mid-morning.

The calm sea brought out the SUPs, kayakers and swimmers. The rowing club had both boats out as nine of the new members wanted to row. Peter had a great time as he really enjoys rowing.

By evening clouds dotted the sky but still both beach and water were busy.

Ta dah! It took me five and a half hours but I got the second coat done on the whole of the front of the house. I was able to work faster partly down to the first coat having filled in some of the roughness but also because I've now got the knack of loading a lot more paint on the brush, easier since the wind wasn't blowing the paint drips around.

After that was done I still had ironing to do and discovered that there's a problem with the French doors when I tried to open them to let some air into the room. Something has caused the doors to drop in the middle making it very difficult to close them. That's a problem as the firm that installed them were taken over by another firm. I finally got to sit out in the sun for a while before supper and while I would have liked to have a lazy afternoon in the sun it was good to get the painting done. 

 

Sunny.

Bright and breezy today.

The fish, the birds (click on photo to see the arctic terns gannets plunge diving) and the dolphins were back. I didn't see the dolphins until later in the afternoon when once again I spotted two dolphins. I'm pretty sure it's an adult and calf as they were almost touching as they swam close to each other. The water was so clear that at times I was able to see them swimming just below the surface.

It was a lovely day for the car boot sale being held at the school just round the corner. Unfortunately there were only five tables, two of which were toys. I was buying this clock for the princely sum of £1.50 when I heard my name being called. It turned out two of the stall holders were friends from the zoo, that's village life for you. There is a weekly car boot sale at the next village along but driving there seems too much effort to bother.

And then it was back to painting. It took almost four hours but I got the front done, the first coat at least. Even though it was a lovely day and warm in the sun in the shade it was another matter. By the end of my stint I felt very cold indeed. Afterwards I warmed up with a cup of coffee and maybe some bara brith in my study which had been heated by the sun pouring through the window before going out to sit on the terrace. That was when I saw the dolphins.

I would have stayed out until supper time but there were the back garden plants to water and my blog to write. That only leaves Duo which I'll do once Peter has gone to bed. Not my best time for concentrating but the program allows you to make one spelling mistake a word before marking an answer wrong. I do get annoyed with myself when I don't notice that it's the and not a in a sentence and get marked wrong for that.

 

Peter's Birthday.

The day began with a quiet, silvery white world as a sea mist filled the air and deadened most of the sound. (I took the photo below a couple of hours later when the mist had begun to clear.) For the rest of the day it felt like a battle between blistering hot moments when the sun broke through the clouds and a sharp chill when the clouds got in the way or the invisible but cold sea mist swooshed in from the sea. 

Today is a special day as it is Peter's birthday, 72 years young and doing very well. So well that yesterday he got himself a job! Only part-time or at least paid for part-time though he reckons there'll be more to do at the start. He wasn't looking for work but when the community hub put out a call for somebody to set up a men's shed, he felt it's something we need in the village. In my mind it's like a pub with tea instead of booze where men can chat and do stuff with tools too.

Before he went to the hub to get through paperwork he opened his presents, he liked the fun rook description that I bought at the craft fair now that he doesn't have to listen to the cacophony from the rookeries at Dingles. Having a bacon sandwich for breakfast was a birthday treat too. The bara brith was also a hit. We had some later in the day, with butter of course but there's only 50gm (1 teaspoon) of butter in the cake itself. In my opinion it's as nice as or even nicer than most of the Christmas cakes I've baked being full of dried fruit, tasty and moist. Peter had to be out for the afternoon but we ended the day with an excellent supper of baked salmon in mushrooms with new potatoes and peas.

In the afternoon I got on with painting the front. It may not look as if I did much but it took me nearly three hours to cut in under the roof and around the doors and work my way up the side. I took a break when I finished the paint in the paint kettle by which time it was 4.00. I thought about doing another hour's painting but then decided to pace myself and carry on tomorrow.

A closer view of the new render and a couple of spectators, a spider and a some kind of bug. I'm wondering if the rough texture is to help the paint stick to the wall? Still don't like it though.

I caught the best of the warmth as I sat out before making supper. I could see several large mixed flocks of sea birds on the water indicating that there were shoals of fish below. The arctic terns were up above doing their dramatic plunges into the sea which sent up great plumes of water as they arrowed their way in. I failed to see any dolphins going after the fish and was disappointed to read on FB that the dolphins were seen just as I was cooking. However as we were about to eat we saw two dolphins swimming side by side, possibly a mother and calf, by the reefs.