Blocked !

Still hot and it doesn't look like there is going to be much change in the foreseeable future.

This morning I phoned and arranged to see the dentist later in the afternoon. It turns out there are no signs of infection so it's just pain from the extraction that hasn't yet subsided. I will simply have to be patient. Even with strong pain killers I have to put up with a background aching which I shall be glad to get rid of. I decided not to go to choir tonight but to grumble quietly at home instead. 

I'll be riding in the afternoon on Friday (please let it be cooler) and had intended to go shopping on Thursday but since I was in town I bought what I needed at Lidl. First I went into Home Bargains to get some chia seeds and for the first time ever my card was declined. Luckily my bank has a branch in town (which is why we chose it) and the nice chap in there sorted it out. My card had been blocked after a 'suspicious' overseas transaction in the night which turned out to be the renewal of the anti-virus for my pc. At least it means the bank is looking out for suspicious transactions. The bank had sent me several texts to see if it was legitimate but of course I rarely look at my phone or even turn it on. I had my card un-blocked but as it was going to take time for the system to register it I got some cash to keep me going. That took a moment as two of the banks ATMs had run out of money! It's graduation week at the uni so the town is teeming with proud parents no doubt busy spending lots of money.

 

When I got home I finished the main painting of two 'swimmers needing help' for the carnival. That's my prep more or less done as earlier I had cut up the sheets we plan to use to make the sea. 

The once bright blue hydrangea by the garden gate now resembles a pair of very old and worn jeans in colour.

Some other insects enjoying the garden flowers.

Painted Ladies.

Still windy and hot but there are a lot more clouds in the sky this evening. A sign of change perhaps?

This morning as I went to drink my coffee down in the front garden I was amazed to see the garden filled with butterflies. Mostly painted ladies, up to nine at time on the lavender along with some small whites and a hummingbird hawk moth.

After breakfast off I went to the zoo where throngs (or at least it seemed that way) of small children clad in yellow high-vis vests roamed the place. A local KS! (4-7) class had come to visit. I noticed that although the adults spoke to each other and to the children in Welsh most of the children spoke to each other in English. It is the policy in Wales that all children have the opportunity to learn both languages either in a Welsh or English medium school.

George the cockatoo whose aviary is an area not open to the public had realised there were people about and was doing his usual high pitched screeches to attract attention. While I was in that area about 4 small children came in through the doorway to see what all the noise was about. I let them have a few minutes looking at George and to their great delight when they said Hello, George said Hello back. This he did several times and it was the clearest I've heard him speak. 

Later I had a conversation with two older lads. They began by asking me how old the zoo was and then by a roundabout route we got to talking about viruses. I told them about how we have few treatments for viruses and how they are oldest living things and their questions were more along the lines of - Did I know about the rat virus / Hanta virus and which was the worst virus? That stumped me but another of the zoo staff was nearby and came up with smallpox, worst symptoms and the worst death rate. Little boys like that kind of thing. 

I mainly worked down by the ferrets, one of whom kept coming to see what I was doing. Most of the time I was in the shade and when I was in the sun I made sure to keep drinking and paced myself. I had a pleasant break sitting under the dappled shade of a silver birch with my hat and boots off in the company of one of the pygmy goats. 

Back home it was too hot to be outside so I found myself things to do in our nicely cool house. I found that even permanent markers didn't work too well on painted cardboard for the lettering on the carnival sign and ended up using some black paint and my tiniest brush. 

My last job was to polish my few pieces of silver jewellery as every time I go to put them on I stop because they could do with a clean. I'm not really a fancy jewellery person but I do have a few silver and moonstone earrings and necklaces.

This boat moored by the reef is flying a flag to indicate that somebody is diving nearby. I had seen that it was only one person so Peter kept an eye on the boat as really you should dive with a buddy or at least have somebody in the boat. But of course there were no problems.

My jaw is still sore and I'm beginning to wonder if this is just another aspect of my sensory processing disorder. I seem to remember that each time I've had a tooth out the pain has dragged on for weeks despite courses of antibiotics. My spd manifests in strange ways, feeling electricity in light switches, thinking something the size of a bumble bee has landed on my arm only to find the tiniest of greenfly there. Boots and socks are frequently taken off because the smallest grass seed or undetectable item feels dreadful. My body overreacts to insect bites, certain smells are unbearable etc etc so maybe once the nerve has been triggered by an extraction my body carries on reacting. All I can do is carry on taking co-codamols and ice cream is quite helpful too.

Bird Watching.

Still Hot, (and yes, my tooth is still aching.)

I thought that after two very early mornings I would probably sleep for longer today. But then I was woken at 5.00 by Peter's radio. which had mysteriously turned itself on. Later I found out that we had had a power reduction and then no power at all early this morning. Not only were we woken early but then the radio started to do weird things like suddenly switch stations but the good old method of unplug, wait and plug back in worked.

So once more I ended up on the terrace watching the birds. While most of the birds I watch are not especially rare (though herring gulls are now on the red list due to declining numbers) they are still interesting. On closer inspection those were black-headed gulls bobbing about this morning. The other day checking on a swirling mass of gulls far out in the bay revealed that a flock of shearwaters had joined the gulls hunting a shoal of fish. And of course if there are fish about we are more likely to see dolphins. 

As we'd been busy on the last two Sundays we had our croissants this morning and listened to two episodes of The Archers omnibus . I got another Bara Brith in the oven at the same time since I'd made the effort to get the fruit and nuts yesterday.

Before breakfast I'd done some more work on the hedge which included sawing a thick stem which would have caused problems for the electric hedge trimmer. Bit by bit I'm getting there.

I added some details to the carnival dolphins and also carried on with the panel for the stern of the boat.

Then while we still have the good weather I thought I would make a start on my main summer 'house' job which is to paint the garden wall between us and the neighbours. Initially, to me at least, painting a wall is just putting down dustsheets and then painting. But of course there's the dreaded and messy 'prepare your surfaces' to be done first. No point in doing a rushed job and then having to do the same again in a few years time.

I knew there would be a certain amount of loose paint to scrape off which was a major under estimation. As I set to with  large screwdriver and wire brush thingy for cleaning barbecues I found more and more loose areas of paint. And discovered you can hear where the paint is detached which was interesting. More worrying was hearing even deeper echoes where the stony render under the paint must be coming away from the wall. But as there were no breaks in the surface I just went carefully and it was only in a couple of spots. After all it is only a garden wall.

There's some mortar under the coping stones to replace and then I can start the fun part, painting.

Sing For Water.

Another hot day but this time with a stronger wind blowing from the east. 

It was already hot indoors when I got up just after 5.00 but outside it was chilly enough to warrant wearing my dressing gown as I drank my tea which made a refreshing change.

It was Sing For Water today so after an early breakfast Peter dropped me off in town by the bandstand. The chairs were mostly set up by then so I and another lady handed out leaflets to passers-by. I don't mind doing that sort of thing since I have a set speech to use. I ask people if they would like to come to a FREE concert and I think they are so relieved that I'm not selling something or asking for money, though of course donations for WaterAid are welcome, that they happily take a leaflet whether they intend to come or not.

After a run-through of the mass songs in the cool of the bandstand out we went to sing to the public. There were about 150 of us from over 10 choirs and it was nice to get together to sing for a good cause. After we sang six songs together each choir sang two more songs. Some people sing in more than one choir or have been going to swell the numbers of the smaller choirs.

As it was such a hot, sunny day the beach behind us was pretty busy and the promenade which has recently been widened had a steady stream of adults, children and dogs enjoying the lovely day. (I'm not sure if the dogs were enjoying it.)

During the lunch break I marched down to Lidl to buy some mixed nuts and dried fruit so that I can bake another Bara Brith as Peter has run out of his nightly treat.

Once we'd given a repeat performance in the afternoon I rang Peter who came and collected me. Back home I painted the carnival dolphins (and sharks' fins) grey. The paint dried in under an hour so I've been able to paint both sides. The grey paint came from the dump. It's just the right colour but it's not water based so the paintbrush will have to be thrown out as it's not worth using brush cleaner or white spirits.

One of the empty properties along the sea front. That's not a reflection in the window but the view through the missing back wall. A stage beyond derelict I think.

An Early Start.

It's just as hot again today.

I was up before 5.00 this morning which meant I could have my quiet time outside, do my Duo Lingo and get some gardening done and finished before 7.00 while it was still cool. 

My reward for being up so early was to catch sight of a dolphin. I first saw it very close to the bottom of the garden but by the time I'd got my camera it was out by the reefs. It stayed for a while before heading off north. I have heard that the mackerel are in so hopefully there will be more dolphin visits.

Above is what the camera saw and below is what my mere human eye saw. I wonder which is more accurate? And at sunset is the sun red (as I see it) or white (as the camera sees it)?

I had to wait until Peter got up before putting the sheets in the wash but once they were on the line it didn't take long for them to dry.

Having got nearly all my jobs done in the morning I was then free to mess about making stuff out of cardboard for the carnival. As well as a couple of dolphins and sharks' fins I had agreed to make a panel for the back of the boat. That involved carrying a large piece of cardboard (too big to fit in our little car) down to the boatyard where I could measure and cut in situ. The sunny weather has been perfect for getting started on the painting of the cardboard, two coats on both sides of the cardboard as I don't know how much will be in view once we put it all together.

The beach has been teeming all day and every kind of inflatable, paddleboard, kayak, boat and jet ski out on the water. I'm about to retire to the terrace to nurse my throbbing jaw. Peter gave me some Benzocaine gel which has helped and of course I'm topping up with painkillers. I'm sure it will get better eventually though I do remember having prolonged pain after every extraction. Maybe I'm just a delicate flower.

What a Scorcher !

This was the temperature on the sun lounger out on the terrace this afternoon. Needless to say I didn't spend too long sitting outside.

After a good night's sleep I was up at 5.00 and already by 6.00 it was obvious that we were going to have a hot day. Fortunately there is a light breeze and by opening doors and windows and closing the curtains as soon as the sun began to shine in, the inside of the house is currently very pleasant.

6am. 

It was hot when we were riding today so we were happy to be working on shoulder-in, first in walk and later in trot. I was riding Betsi so once she worked out what I was asking her to do it wasn't too difficult to get at least some steps in the correct position. It's a dressage movement but even if you're not going to doing any dressage tests or competitions it helps to improve the horse's flexibility, and the rider's concentration. 

Afterwards I went to Morrison's where I was lucky enough to find a parking spot in the shade. Today was one of those days where it was lovely to walk into places such as the supermarkets that have air conditioning. And then a shock when you walk outside again.

I kept my town browsing to a minimum before going to Lidl. When I got home I chopped up a bag of apples from Lidl to make stewed apple and found that many of the apples were bruised or had a lot of brown at the core. I shall complain about that next week and no doubt will get a refund as the staff at Lidl are pretty good.

All I did at home apart from the apples was throw my clothes in the washing machine (they're already nearly dry) and have a shower. Peter overdid things when we went for our walk and afterwards he went to the pub with Dave and now his Achilles tendon is very painful. It's so bad he wasn't able to open the RNLI shop this morning and I'll be cooking supper tonight. A nice big frittata type omelette to use up some 'bits' in the fridge. Until I get my dentures in a few months I will have to exist of soft foods as I have nothing to chew with.

5pm.

I'll wait until just before bedtime to water the plants in the back garden. 

Weary.

A combination of not giving myself time to recover after the weekend plus it being kettlebells this week and having my tooth out yesterday has left me feeling very tired. 

It didn't help that last night I woke at 3.00 and didn't get back to sleep until 5.00. That wasn't so much my jaw which by that time had subsided to a moderate throb but because I had given into the the itching of two insect bites on my leg and scratched them while half asleep. That led to my whole lower leg feeling like it was on fire and me trying to find the sting relief cream and an anti histamine tablet in the dark.

My jaw is still throbbing today which is to be expected but I decided to follow the advice to not overdo things after an extraction and will skip disco aerobics tonight. That shows just how weary I'm feeling.

Yesterday evening a cloud bank came in from the north west obscuring the sunset and stretching up along the Dyfi.

It made for an interesting sunset and then a very grey and misty night.

When I got up in the night all I'd been able to see was the sea mist illuminated in a cone under the street light and nothing else.

The mist was still here in the morning though that didn't stop a large group of school children having fun on the beach. I think they were the Year 6s that come each year from a city school for a one week residential break by the sea. There were also a number of coaches parked along the High st that had brought yet more youngsters to the beach.

It so rare that Peter suggests going for a walk that I couldn't turn down his suggestion of a walk at Ynyslas. Out on the boardwalk we met a very chatty local who offered to take a photo of us (I suspect he may have wanted to try out my camera). We managed a fairly decent conversation in Welsh with just a little English thrown in.

From the beach we cut back through the dunes and across the fields filled with swathes of purple vetch.

The air was filled with the smell of fresh cut hay from the circular hay bales in the nearby fields while above skylarks sang.

There was quite an assortment of animals in front of this farmhouse; a bull, cows, calves and sheep all enjoying a siesta in the hot afternoon sun.

After a somewhat boring section of track beside the boatyard we walked beside the Leri until it flowed into the mouth of the Dyfi which brought us back to our car parked on the beach.

Back home Peter went off to talk boat club stuff with his mate Dave while here someone from the carnival committee came round to collect most of the long cardboard boxes I had been storing in the garage. I need to get on with painting my contributions to the boat décor, a pair of dolphins and a large sign for the back of the boat.