Sunny Solstice.

Happy Summer Solstice. 

While I'm definitely not a druid or follower of any pagan religion I am definitely a sun lover. Not in the sense of trying to get as tanned as possible but in that the sun causes my mood to lift significantly. In other words gloomy days make me feel depressed so bring on the sun. I'm finding the terminology quite confusing, most sites say June 21 st is the Solstice but some say June 22nd. And if it's mid-summer how comes the summer is only just beginning?

Stonehenge this morning.

I was blearily watching Speedy eat his breakfast when I noticed a couple of dolphins by the reefs. They didn't stay long but it was a good start to the day.

The sun has been shining all day with a perfect drying wind. Two loads went out on the washing line which gave me some ironing to do in the afternoon.

Today I've been mostly tidying up in the garden. The water butts went back by the boiler and I sorted a space by the oil tank which gave me the chance to put away some of the stuff still hanging about in the main part of the back garden. Hastened by the hot dry weather more of the foxgloves have finished flowering and are now in the bag ready to go to the dump. Joining them was a lot of the elder bush/tree growing in our neighbours' garden but more easily accessed from our side. Our neighbour had said to cut it back as it's overpowering a laurel bush. There's a whole load more to cut down but if I saw it down I think it will fall in their yard so I'll wait until we've had a chat about it.

For once I left myself a generous amount of time to finish my day by sitting out in the sun. Might as well enjoy it while it's here.

The nepeta I planted last year is doing really well though it got a bit flattened I guess by Speedy or the other cats lying or rolling in it. That's why it's now protected by a forest of short sticks.

 

Sun and Wind.

A beautiful Borthbados day. The morning (above) was wonderful and it stayed that way all day. I took the photo below at 6.00 to show all the people enjoying the water.

We were up early as the plumber was due to arrive at 8.30. He arrived at 9.30 but he did call to say he would be slightly later and that gave us time to eat our breakfast before he came. 

This is our external oil boiler as it is now. When it was installed the kitchen sink pipe was rerouted to a closer gully which turned out to be a soakaway rather than leading to the main drains. That stopped working about six months ago since when we've been emptying the washing up water onto the garden. Today the plumber pulled the boiler forward about an inch and re-instated the waste pipe from the kitchen sink (the white pipe at the bottom left) so that it runs behind the boiler to the gully leading to the main drain. Hooray, no more tipping the washing up water into the garden. The plumber also disconnected the over-bath shower in the bathroom so that we can dismantle the old airing cupboard and take the tiles off the bathroom walls.

This morning Peter took all my bags of garden waste down to the dump and also did some shopping. While he did that I did my Duo Lingo, played the piano and then pottered about in the garden. I found a hawthorn growing in a tub which I replanted by the neighbours' wall. The poor thing was sitting in a bone dry lump of compost and soil. At least now it's had a good drink and will be able to spread its roots. Peter came back with an empty garden bag (nearly as big as a dumpy bag) and already it's 2/3 full with more hedge cuttings. This time I tidied up the inside of the hedge and then the top of the hedge at the end of the garden. 

When he got back Peter took his bike out for the first time and though he did a lot better than I did he still found it quite tough going.

After the usual break sitting out on the terrace where it was quite windy I had a second session in the garden this time chipping away the mortar from the decorative facing bricks I plan to re-use on the raised beds. Some of them were easy to clean, just a couple of sharp taps with the bolster and off came blocks of mortar while for others the mortar is more like pure cement and had to be chipped off fragment by fragment. I did that for a while and then it was time to do the ironing because it had been a great drying day.

 

Windy.

The day began windy, grey and fairly miserable. Later it began to gradually brighten up and by late afternoon though it was still very windy the sea was a dramatic mix of blues and greens with shining white on the tops of the good surfing waves.

It was too windy for the rowing Peter had hoped to be doing in the afternoon but perfect for wind and kite surfing. Yesterday was the first time we'd seen a wind surfer out. I'd put that down to the much bulkier equipment including the long mast needed for wind surfing while the popular SUPs are usually inflatable and fit easily into a car.

Usually I would have wrapped up and gone out to work in the garden anyway but my current projects would have me working right by the garden wall next to the neighbours' sitting room window and as they were here for the weekend I decided to find some indoor jobs.

Something that had been bugging me for a while was the way the curtains in my study were hanging. When I'd added an extra layer on top, as you do, they didn't hang properly from the header tape. It was a simple matter of sewing through all the layers to stop the top of the curtain tipping over. This I did by hand, partly because I wasn't sure how the sewing machine would cope with so many layers and also because I could back up all my photos onto an external hard drive as I sewed and listened to the radio.

Around mid-day we had a parcel delivered from Amazon. It had the wrong name but our address. At first Peter was worried that somebody might be buying stuff on his account but when he checked that wasn't the case. He spoke to Amazon and they just said to dispose of the package as we saw fit. He opened it up and it was a jar of sweets with a Fathers' Day message. No note but we knew it wouldn't be from either of our boys (Peter never eats sweets and the boys don't even send him a card. After i reminded them last week I hear one of them has phoned him which is better than a card.) Anyway I put out messages on four village FB groups to see if anyone recognised the name. We got a call later from one of our neighbours to tell us where this chap lives but by then his wife had already come round. Her daughter in America had ordered the present and when it didn't arrive the wife contacted Amazon and recognised our front door from the delivery photo. A happy ending as it made us sad to think somebody wouldn't get their Fathers' Day present.

After an afternoon of sewing I had a little potter around the back garden and got rid of a couple of the foxgloves which had finished flowering. I'm enjoying their tall bright flowers but everything is growing so vigorously the other plants need the space.

Cold.

Well that was the shortest heat wave ever. Here in the morning and gone by the afternoon. Today has been grey, cold and wet.

After a busy day yesterday and a late night I've been feeling quite tired today. We had a power cut at around midnight which lasted about 10 minutes here but at least 5 hours down at the far end of the beach. The power company said it was due to a damaged overhead cable.

After breakfast I walked down to the shop to buy some carrots and potatoes so that Peter could get a hearty sausage casserole in the slow cooker for our supper. 

Back home I did some sorting out indoors and moved some things into the garage and others up to the loft. 

Then I had time outside weeding and doing some tying up in the back garden. Much as I love the wild atmosphere of the community gardens with such a small back garden I feel it needs to be much more managed to create somewhere I feel comfortable in. At least it's very easy to weed.

Once the rain settled in for good I came in, did some cycling (maybe a little faster than usual) on the exercise bike and more Duo Lingo. 

It was such fun photographing the Swedish candles last night.

 

Heat Wave - Maybe?

The day began with blue skies and a lot of warmth. It looked as if we were going to be part of the short heat wave predicted earlier in the week. However the sea mist began to roll in during the afternoon causing the temperature to drop to nearer the levels predicted in the chart below. From what I hear the rest of the country matched the chart too.

Straight after breakfast out came the bike and I rode down to the community gardens via the pharmacy to try and find out what happened to one item that was missing from my repeat prescription. It turns out nobody knows why the surgery missed it off but it will be ready next week. Dim problem as I have sufficient at home. (I'm sneaking in a bit of Welsh there.)

I was a bit less wobbly on the bike and it helped that I'd found a wrist mirror that shows me what is coming up behind me. I'm finding that I get a bit further up the slopes before having to get off each time but I can also say that an exercise bike, unless you pedal like a maniac, is not a substitute for actually riding a bike.

It's worth looking closely at this amusing pictoral map of the community gardens. (There isn't really a vast burnt area around the camp fire space.)

This is where we had our cake and chat. I haven't looked more into the wooden building but it seems to have information and books about organic gardening and other eco friendly subjects. 

The orchard has a good range of apples, pears and other fruit.

The contemporary stone circle at the top of the hill.

As well as the communal gardens there are standard allotments most of which looked very well maintained. Some have 10ft high hedges planted around them which give protection from the winds blowing from the sea.

A lot of the communal garden is a managed wildlife zone.

Looking back to the wooden building across the camp fire space. 

And now back to my highly ordered back garden. After planting up one more trough by the street wall I levelled up one end of the second big bed and planted sugar snap peas. I tied the old front garden gates together to make a fancy support for the peas to grow up. 

This evening we have been to a party on the beach. Good company, baked potatoes, fire and live music were a winning combination.  This is a local walking group and though Peter has been getting information about the weekly walks so far we haven't made it to any of the walks. Now that he has met people and been reassured that we should be able to manage the walks I'm sure we'll actually be going out with the group.

This was the first time I'd seen Swedish candle logs. They were excellent both for the heat they produced and visually. I took lots of photos of the glowing wood and constanly changing flames. The party broke up as the sea mist began to dampen us all and the darkness fell.

Warm.

The day began with blue skies but later in the morning the clouds rolled in and for the rest of the day it was a mix of sun and cloud. By late afternoon the sea was completely flat, perfect for the SUPs. Fishing conditions must have been good too as later there were several boats out.

I was enjoying my early mug of tea out on the terrace when I saw the flash of a dolphin's tail. I called to Peter and we and our neighbours were able to watch the dolphing fishing between us and the reefs.

Today's photos, apart from last night's sunset, are from our stroll around Coed Y Bont nature reserve on Monday.

It's been another day of gardening for me. As our Zoom classes have finished for the summer I was able to go down to the community gardens for the 'gardening' club. If you like you can turn up at 11.00 for an hour of gardening before cake and chat. I cycled down for the gardening and very companiable it was too. (I didn't take my camera but will take it there soon to show what a lovely place it is.) Along with a few others I cut back comfrey growing under the apple trees. The garden is run on organic lines and the comfrey was left in situ to act as a natural fertiliser. 

More people turned up for the 'cake and chat'. I think there were ten of us. One lady, the mother of somebody I work with at the zoo, makes the cake and today she brought profiteroles filled with fresh cream and lemon curd, very tasty. It was a pleasant hour of chatting and getting to know more people. I found I had a lot in common with this group. One lady I chatted to was like me; an ex-teacher, lived in London, owned a horse but hadn't ridden for many years, rode in Richmond Park and volunteered with Riding for the Disabled.

The bike ride there and back showed an improvement over yesterday's efforts but there's a way to go before I feel confident especially when cars are going past. Fortunately most of the route was along a very quiet lane similar to the one above in the nature reserve but with a proper tarmac surface. 

Back home I had another attempt to shape the lower section of the hedge but the positions of the woody main stems may mean that I have to abandon my plan to shape it into a bush shape and just keep to a sloping hedge all the way down. I didn't stop there but took my secateurs to a cotoneaster growing next to the neighbours' house. They intend to replace the guttering there and that shrub was sort of in the way. Finally I was able to relax on the terrace with a coffee.

Our routine has been slightly different this evening as Peter has been out. First to meet somebody to discuss rowing club stuff and then to a Borth 2030 meeting, a group to do with local environmental planning and other stuff. I ate my supper while watching tv but with the curtains open (we have come to a compromise and usually have them partly open) as I like to watch the view too.

The ponds at the nature reserve were buzzing with red and blue damsel flies. The information display told us that they have red squirrels (superseded by grey squirrels in most of the UK.) but I think you need to spend time watching from the hide to see them.

Sunset last night.

 

Sunny.

Mostly sunny today with some cloudier spells.

I rode the bike to the zoo. Well I say rode but it was more like a wobble. Maybe I should invest in some trainer wheels. I think part of the problem yesterday was being in too high a gear when I tried to go up the slopes so I began in first and then adjusted up a little. Trust me to buy a bike (from a charity shop) with 15 gears. I was riding along the single track road that leads to the zoo when I pulled over to let the vehicle I could hear behind me go past.Unfortunately the summer growth on the verge hid the fact that there is quite a drop by the edge of the road which made me trip as I put my foot down. Down went the bike and caused me to sprawl in the long grass. How embarassing especially when the workman in the truck that was passing me stopped to make sure I was okay. The ride home was less wobbly but it's going to take a while before my cycling is back to where it was. 

I spent five hours weeding at the zoo. First I finished the small play area and then I moved to the moat around the bantams. It's been a while since I weeded in there but the chickens remember that I push some of the bigger weeds through to them and they wait right next to me. That's fine until one of the cockerels crows right in my ear which he did a lot. For a little chap he's got a big voice. The weeding took a long time as not only had the weeds grown to full size and were firmly embedded in the old carpet under the rapidly diminishing wood chip but I couldn't not roll back the carpet and dig out the dreadful spaghetti-like roots of bindweed that were hiding underneath.

Peter was out rowing when I got home. Even without the taster sessions on Sunday twelve people joined the club and five signed up for this afternoon's row so they were taking a couple at a time out for a short row. When I looked I could see Peter doing some coxing as well as rowing later.

Having so many hands made moving the boat up the beach a lot easier.

Some photos from the forest we visited yesterday.

The trees, especially the native deciduous trees were magnificent as they towered over us. Looking at Google maps I can see that it is part of a commercially managed conifer forest.

The rocks around the parking area are the size of sofas.

These conifers were so tall I couldn't get them in one frame.

Will post some woodland photos tomorrow.