Warm.

It has been warm again today. Not the lovely 19C we had yesterday but still very pleasant despite the clouds and much stronger wind.

This morning I was back to riding Hazel. The person riding Margaret this week also had some trouble with her being too bouncy and fidgety which makes me feel at bit less bad about last week. Hazel was less inclined to throw her head about which was an improvement. She only began tossing her head at the end when we were walking around on a completely loose rein so it's not a response to me interfering with her mouth. I've been seeing videos and comments condemning the use of flash nosebands, even cavesson nosebands. As a youngster the stables I rode and helped at was run by an ex-jockey and there were no nosebands. Later I was taught that they had no purpose though a quick check says they are there to help stabilise the bridle and to make the horse 'look smarter'. Hazel has a flash noseband as well as a martingale and although I have every confidence in the way the stables are run I compromised by having Hazel's flash slightly looser. In the lesson today we worked on the usual things, getting the horses going well on the bit and establishing bend and Hazel definitely improved. We did some canter work at the end for which Hazel needs a bit of encouraging but overall I was pleased with the way she went and got positive feedback for my riding as well. 

 

The roads and town itself were very busy today. I encountered four sets of temporary traffic lights on my travels, I suppose they are trying to get roadworks done before the influx of visitors at Easter or maybe they are using up their budgets before April. Also it was an inset day for local schools which explained all the children and young people I kept seeing.

My first stop was the dump where I got rid of the broken up garden chair and a couple of bags of plant material. Then onwards to Morrisons where I picked up some half price bargains. The fresh salmon is our dinner tonight and the butcher's sausages have gone in the freezer for Peter. Next stop was Charlie's where I bought a large plastic tub to keep the re-cycling bag safe from the seagulls. It has the standard clip on lid but I'll make a few adaptions so that the bin men can open it easily with the lid staying attached to the box and not blowing away over the cliff. Finally I stopped in town which as already mentioned was busy. I did my usual trawl of the charity shops and found some things for our carnival costumes. First there was an enormous faux leather jacket for £6 which I won't feel guilty about cutting up and I also bought a lightweight brown djellaba for £2 which will easily convert to a tunic. All I need to do is shorten it and alter the neck slightly. 

Even without going to Lidl, shopping and riding wear me out. Once the shopping was put away and my clothes whirling around in the washing machine (and the waving clematis stems in the back garden secured to the trellis) all I did was relax with a large mug of tea. 

I got the washing back in just as the first rain fell. It's hardly rained for the past month so the garden could do with a good watering.

More Bird Stories.

A beautiful day today, as good as any summer's day. Lightly overcast to start with clearing to blue skies with fluffy clouds and a warm wind.

As I sat on the wall in the sun with my early morning coffee down flew a female blackbird. I had topped up the birdbath but she was after bird seeds. Which I had forgotten to put out on the paving. She sat on the wall about 10 ft from me repeatedly looking down at the ground and then up at me reproachfully. Of course I went and got some seeds which she probably ate later.

A shame that I've had so much to do today. First off I went to town to see the physiotherapist. He was a bit surprised when I said I was now doing three sets of 100 squats a day. Apparently he had meant a goal of 100 a day. But if I can do that many it's good though he suggested only twice a day or even once would be fine. I'll aim for twice a day for now. Overall my sideways stretching is improving and as there is some decrease of my back pain (though of course that means I do more) I'm signed off for the moment. But if I need to go back I can refer myself again and should be seen within a week or so.

As I was already in town I did my Lidl shop before coming home and preparing for our Welsh class. We've now moved on from the initial revision unit and started learning to use sy which in simple terms can be translated as is/are but is really who/that/which is/are. It was helpful that the main exercise where we had to describe the position of items in a picture linked directly to the unit I'm currently doing in Duo Lingo.

As soon as I could after class I took myself to read out in the sun wearing shorts for the first time this year. As wonderful as it is the weather can change at any moment back to cold or even wet. For tonight's disco aerobics I'm wearing shorts again (a less scruffy pair).

 

On yesterday's walk I watched a rook helping itself to the winter fur from the back of a Charolais cross(?) cow on the bog. That will be a cosy nest for its chicks.

Part of my Welsh homework. I don't have 'Word' and since a recent update I can't fill in the on-line version of the homework pages. I either write everything out straight on to an email or attach photos of the pages from my folder.

Oh no, now I'm looking at it I'm wondering if I should have used a different tense or added some 'go's in front of 'shopping'. Too late now as I've already emailed it to my tutor. Whoops. Here's my translation - I am shopping every Friday after my riding lesson. First I am shopping for food at Morrisons supermarket. After Morrisons I am driving to big Charlie's to look at flowers and riding clothes. What a surprise. After I go to the town to the small shops and the charity shops. That is my shopping for the week. Hopefully that doesn't sound quite so odd in Welsh. I guess there's going to be a whole lot of corrections coming back.

A Walk at Ynyslas.

This morning was slightly warmer and while our sea views were of blue skies a lot more clouds could be seen inland.

When I put out the recycling this morning I noticed that the contents of somebody's recycling bag was strewn across the road. A bit later I looked out and there was a seagull attacking another bag across the road. I couldn't tell if it was the same seagull that had been pulling the towels off my plants but it's a real nuisance once the gulls decide to go for the bags. To avoid any damage to our recycling bag I placed the large plastic recycling box over the bag with enough bag showing for the bin men to see. I noticed that the neighbour across the road had put his bag in a large clear tub for which he has made a wire netting lid. I think I'll do something similar as it's no fun having to chase all the recycling over the road.  Then when I came home from our walk two bags had been ripped open and scattered in the street next to us. I think that the problem starts when people don't rinse the food out of containers that they put in their recycling bags.

It was such a nice day that we went out for a walk. Peter wanted something shorter so we did a circuit around Ynyslas which took an hour and a quarter and was mainly flat. We opted to park where stones have been laid over the sand. You can park on the sand though not only are there softer spots but the pile of sticks and seaweed at the bottom right hand corner shows where the high tide comes up to!

This is the lovely visitors' centre which the NRW (National Resources Wales- the govt sponsored body which is responsible for the management of the natural resources of Wales.) intends to close as well as the red kite visitors' centre at Nant Yr Arian. Even though these centres run at a profit the NRW thinks they will make more money or have less admin if they franchise out the centres though funnily enough they are not including the car parking in the tenders. They are trying to claim that the staff at Ynyslas are only there for the retail part of the centre but original job descriptions show just how much conservation and education work is also being done. For instance from the 1st of April parts of the beach are fenced off with signs explaining about the nesting ringed plovers. As you can tell we along with many others (13,000 have signed the petition.) are angry about this but I guess our opinions will be ignored.

 

Walking in the sand dunes reminded us of walking on Braunton Burrows though these are considerably smaller.

From the highest point of the dunes we had a clear view along the river Dyfi towards Mach.

Looking back along our route down the beach.

Then it was across the sand dunes and the golf course avoiding being hit by golf balls being hit an impressive distance.

Across the road through some fields of various breeds of cattle, highland cattle on the far side and a belted Galloway? with a heart on its side.

Then past sheep and lambs. Again mixed breeds and the farmer seems to have gone to town with the colour coded marks on their backs.

Lastly round by the boatyard along to the estuary and back to the car. Parked in the boatyard are many expensive yachts that seem to have been in storage there for as long as we've been here. 

I dropped Peter off at the pub so that he could practice pool to improve his Monday sessions with a group of regulars. Once home there was more ironing to do and I treated myself to a pedicure. Or rather I gave my feet a long soak before rubbing off any dry skin and then applied plenty of moisturiser.

I still need to start my homework for tomorrow and then I'll be off to choir. A busy day.

Bird Encounters.

Not a cloud to be seen in the sky this morning and it stayed like that for the whole day. There was enough wind to make it a good drying day too.

I wasn't up extra early this morning (I let my body decide when I start my day) but I still had some outside time sitting on the wall of the raised bed basking in the sun with my coffee. I've found that one of those rectangular foam kneelers is the perfect size to sit on on the stone wall. As I went to sit down I was chirped at by a very noisy wren in the hedge. For being the smallest of our wild birds they have the loudest voice ever. Then the female blackbird appeared hoping no doubt for a repeat of last year's bounty of worms when I was digging over the ground before the shingle went down. Out of luck she pottered around under the hedge instead. 

Once I'd got the washing out on the line off to the zoo I went. I took along a bucketful of knautia plants to replant in the flowerbed I weeded the last time I was there. Knautia does very well in this garden and self seeds all over the back garden. I'd left quite a few to grow and it was time to reduce the number of established plants. I'll be happy even if only half of them survive the move to the zoo. Planting done I went around weeding all the usual places and then went over the gravel patch by the wolf-dogs. Before I left I had a check of the woodchip in the large play area. The weeds were minimal but a mole has been busy. There was a line of mole hills just inside the perimeter on two sides, 20 of them! I'll deal with those next time.

I usually stop to say hello to George the cockatoo as his aviary is right next to the food prep kitchen where the signing in sheets are kept. Today another volunteer was keeping him occupied with her phone. George likes music, certain songs especially will have him dancing along the branches he perches on, spreading his wings, bouncing up and down or even hanging upside down. And of course whistling, making noises or 'speaking'. He has favourite tracks one of which is the theme tune to 'The Adams Family'. He also enjoys watching or at least keeping an eye on the videos that accompany the music. 

I made sure not to spend too long at the zoo as I knew I had the ironing to do. Once that was done I sat outside to watch the waves rolling in. I've just got time now to do my third set of squats before going to Pilates. Last week we used sliders for the first time. Think of a sturdy plastic 45 record that you put your hand or foot on to help you slide your arm or leg out along the floor. I'm not sure what I think about them yet but then again it takes me a while to get used to new things.

Caught.

Here is the culprit, a young seagull caught in the act. I did get it on the trail cam yesterday too but having carefully noted down the numbers of the relevant photos I got distracted by looking at photos of Speedy in the garage and deleted everything on the card before copying the ones I wanted to keep. (I need to find out how to change the time as for some reason it is 2 hours out.)

We have had a lot of cloud today making it feel a bit clammy though there have also been occasional brief sunny spells. I have spent some time outside, organising the new chairs (two are now in the garage) and cutting up an old wooden garden chair ready to take to the dump on Friday.  With not much else to do in the garden at the moment I went over the shingle picking up any stray leaves or stems. Each time I find any salsify seedlings out they come as I don't want a garden overrun with those fine but enormous plants. Most plants have survived the winter but so far there's nothing happening for the catananche. That would be a shame as it was a very pretty flower. I'm quite impressed with the brachycome a half-hardy perennial as only one of the six plants didn't make it at all and the others just have some damage on the windward side.

After outlining the letters and a third coat of varnish Speedy's stone is now in the garden.

For the rest of the day I've just been pottering around indoors so here are a few more photos from yesterday's walk.

A typical Welsh cottage (above) with some large red calor gas cylinders for cooking and/or heating outside and below a typical Welsh pony. It was very friendly while looking for a snack. (It may have smelt the oat cakes I had eaten for my lunch.)

And not so typical alpacas. There was also a brown and a black alpaca in the same field. I guess it makes it easier to identify them if they are all different colours.

And back to the typical - sheep on a hilltop.

As we walked along the road Bob was pointing out which of the ash trees had died and we wondered why some hadn't succumbed to the dreaded ash die-back that is decimating ash numbers. (Modern usage of decimate not the original 1 in 10 meaning.) The hope is that some trees are sufficiently diverse to have a type of immunity which can then be passed down to future populations. The broken branch ends of the lone ash tree below probably mean it is already dead. As one of the group said - a perfect lightning rod in its high and exposed situation.

A Walk near Ystumtuen.

It has been a good weather for walking, bright and sunny though with most of our walk at around 1,000 ft there was a distinct chill to the wind.

After meeting up in the lay by at Nant yr Arian we combined into two cars and crossing over the main road drove up into the high country on the ridge above Cwm Rheidol. Our walk took us around several small lakes/pools which had been made to provide power for the lead mines. A comprehensive history of the mines can be read here from their beginnings in 1698 until their closure in 1970.

This was the first lake we walked around, Llyn-yr-oerfa (the cold lake). A lot of our walk was on the road (below) but at times we would divert up onto the rough ground above the scattered farmhouses.

The farms are spread out around around Ystumtuen, which we didn't get to, and apart from those that were obviously Air B&B places all had a number of ponies and assorted other animals. Although high up and appearing remote you can get to Aberystwyth in 20 minutes so I guess you could call it commuter country.

The next un-named body of water was at the highest point of our walk.

Just behind the bank on the left of the photo above we found a sheltered spot behind a wall to eat our lunch and enjoy the far reaching views. Those are my boots (below) and in front of us was a sheep trough made from three sections of road barrier bolted together.

We passed by another small lake, Tan y Graig (under the rock) before taking a circular route which eventually brought us to the start of our walk.

Back home I painted a second coat of teak oil on the wood of the garden chairs having given them their first coat before I left for the walk. Speedy's name stone also got two coats of varnish.

When I got my stuff out of the car at home I noticed an unpleasant pile of entrails on the ground by the garage door. As I looked around wondering who the unfortunate victim was I saw that there was lots of grey fluff by a half empty builders' bag. On closer examination I realised that with the fluff was some fur and a rabbit's paw. Yuck! Goodness knows where the rest of the rabbit went. That's a clean up job for tomorrow.

100 !!

Whoo hoo, I've just completed my third set of squats for the day. 100 each time, which is such an achievement for me as I've never been a 'sporty' person. Active and outdoorsy yes but not sporty. But the way my mind works if someone like a physiotherapist gives me an exercise routine I will follow it to the letter and for years. 

This morning there was an even harder frost so I was glad I'd covered up the succulents. But when I looked out of the window the towels were lying on the paving a few feet away from the plants. That had me confused and worried but Peter reassured me that the plants were covered up when he made our early teas at 7.00. My best guess is that it was seagulls looking for food under the towels. I may get the trail cam out to see if it happens again. 

This morning I went to the Community Gardens where they were holding a small jumble sale to raise funds towards a new bus shelter. The council removed the old bus shelter as it had been damaged by our severe weather and have refused to replace it due to the cost. There is a bench but as you may know it rains a lot in Wales. Not only is the bus used by older people but that is where the youngsters wait for their school bus in the mornings. And most youngsters won't even wear a coat or jacket as they would have to carry it around all day at school. Schools don't have cloakrooms any more as far as I know. So a group of local folk are running jumble sales to raise enough to fund a new bus shelter. 

There wasn't anything suitable for our carnival costumes but I did chat to some familiar faces from Cake and Cultivate (now moved to Fridays so I still can't make it) and had a slice of coffee cake. I could easily have passed on the cake but the volunteers are trying so hard, making cakes and even bringing a camping stove to make tea and coffee that I felt I had to have something.

Afterwards I had a little stroll around the allotments and over by the church.

Back home I varnished all the screws and fittings on the new chairs in an attempt to stop the wet getting to the screws and making them rust. 

Then I did some gardening even though it was quite cold. The azalea I bought last year at Lidl has done well and right now is covered with white flowers so when I saw they had some again (only two left) I bought one to plant over Speedy's resting place. I've also painted his name on a granite 'egg' (one of a set collected by my mother that have moved with us from home to home). That will get a coat of varnish before I put it outside.

Speaking of Lidl - I make every effort to use the same self-service checkout each time as it has a 'fault' which means it doesn't bark out those annoying instructions. Yesterday I was at that checkout when I realised that the checkout next to me was giving those instructions in Welsh. Now that would be interesting. The tannoy makes the 'new checkout opening' announcements in Welsh first but I've never heard Welsh at the self-service checkouts before. Then when the next person came along it was back to English. I can't say I've ever noticed a language option on the screen. Or maybe I was just language confused. It is common to hear people speaking in Welsh when I'm in town and today at the community gardens I was able to follow a conversation and join in at the end. That's progress.

I've just been out to cover the plants and set up the trail cam. The setting sun (which is now visible from the terrace) is casting a pink glow over the village and the Cambrian mountains behind us and windows as far away as Tywyn are blazing with a fiery glow.