A Summer's Day.

Today has felt like summer with the temperature going up to a balmy 20C. There was some wind too which made it a good drying day for the two machine loads I put out on the line.

It was still dark when I woke but my back was too painful for me to remain in bed. Moving around, opening curtains, preparing breakfast etc generally helps to ease my back. Today I needed a couple of strong pain killers as well. I'm pretty sure it was heaving bags of compost into the car that did the damage. Even though I only half filled the bags they were still heavy, I should have known better.

And now to add to my aching back I've got the start of a sore throat. I only hope I haven't caught Peter's recent cold. 

 

Once everything was done including putting the recycling and the rubbish out for the bin men, I settled down to watch the world from the terrace. Out at sea the Genesis was putting out/ taking in? lobster pots while in the garden most of the birds have paired up. It's that time of year. 

With the sun shinning of course I found myself plenty to do outside.

My first job was to give the garden tables and chairs a couple of generous coats of teak oil which I do each year to keep the wood from drying out in the sea air.

Next I took off all the dead hydrangea heads. Now the bushes are no longer wearing their puffy brown winter coats but are looking smart in their fresh green spring outfits. I resisted dead heading or cutting back anything else just in case we have a cold spell. 

I have brought some of the plants (not the succulents) out of the porch and put them back on the terrace. They didn't do too well in the porch as I was so concerned about over watering that I may have let them get too dry. I will try and make a cold frame for next year instead.

In between all the gardening I took my breaks sitting out in the sun and for the last spell before doing the ironing I even put on a pair of shorts. Time to start getting some colour on those legs.

Tribbles!

Remember Tribbles from Star Trek? Well, I went out to load the car this morning and there bouncing and rolling down the road were light brown spheres that were either lightweight hedgehogs or tribbles. The real and not so silly explanation was that my neighbours were cutting the old dry blooms from their hydrangea which were being caught by the wind and blown away before they could catch them.

There was a pleasant change in the weather today. Not a cloud to be seen over the sea and just a few over the mountains. Although very windy it was so warm that I spent my time working at the zoo in just a vest. The forecast for tomorrow says sunny all day and 20C. Wonderful.

 

I was sitting outside having an early coffee when I saw that the RNLI tractor was out. On closer inspection I could see someone attempting to shift the large tree trunk out of the way. It obviously didn't work as the tree is still in the same position. I think he needs a bigger tractor. 

Even if I never left the house there's always something to see. On the road behind the tractor a house is having new roof tiles. The house that is being rebuilt is  three building away on the left and there was a craned delivery of building materials to a house three away on the other side. It seems that building never stops in Borth.

At the zoo I began by planting mint (spares from home) in the gravel garden in a difficult corner where I haven't been able to get anything to grow. Then I went over the whole area picking off the latest offering of cones and catkins. There are still so many left on that tree so I'll be doing this for a few more weeks yet.

Once I got the gravel garden tidied up I cut back the buddleias in a small enclosure. I shared the cut branches between the goats though the two male Welsh mountain goats were more intent on beating each other up. I also took some down to Willow who lives alone in a high sided enclosure by the entrance. 

Before leaving I drove down the lane and loaded up with more bags of compost for my garden.

By the time I got home the clouds had begun to roll in. But there was still enough sun on the terrace for me to sit out and admire the clean paving while planning the next garden jobs. 

I made myself a big mug of tea as I'd felt quite dehydrated by the wind but ended up having to throw it away. As I was about to take a sip I'd looked down and seen a fly swimming in the tea. Not a harmless little greenfly that could be safely flicked out (they only eat plants after all) but something nearer to a horsefly. Not quite as big but just as unacceptable. After making a replacement mug of tea I made sure to keep my hand over the top of the mug to prevent further intruders.

Later I went to the Hall for Pilates. We ended with fifteen minutes of 'relaxation' but had a harder set of exercises before as a consequence. Walking home it felt remarkably warm so hopefully the forecasters will be right about tomorrow.

Pressure Washing.

Today has been grey with a fair amount of rain.

In the morning it looked as if the day was going to stay dry so I decided to get the pressure washer out as I had noticed a green tinge to the terrace paving. Not surprising considering how much rain we've had this year ie just about every day.

I got myself organised and was able to clean up half-way down the path by the house before I had to admit that I needed to stop due to the quite heavy rain that was falling. I was fine with waterproofs trousers and jacket but I don't think I should be using electrical stuff in the rain. (I had put a plastic sack over the pressure washer when the rain wasn't too bad.) Since then the pressure washer has developed an intermittent stutter when I stop using the washer hose, possibly some water has got into the works?

Looking at the forecast I could see that we were due a dry spell at the end of the afternoon. Sure enough the rain eased off and another two hours work saw the rest of the path, the terrace, the steps and the new paving in the front garden all cleaned of that green layer. It wasn't that noticeable before but once you start cleaning there's a real contrast as the water jet moves across the paving. I'm glad that another job is done. It's one of those maintenance jobs that needs doing to prevent slippery paving. And it looks so much better.

 

Mothers' Day.

Today is Mothering Sunday and I was delighted to get a bouquet from Vytas and a planted basket from Romas. Those helped to lift my mood which can be quite low on Mothers' Day. Not helped by the fact that due to Peter's coughing and snoring along with the usual aches and pains I haven't slept well for the last few nights. As usual I found myself filled with sadness at how little contact we have with the boys. Busy lives and distance mean that visits are rare and I guess you never appreciate your parents until it is too late. 

Peter got all the breakfast ready and did the washing up which is my job, which was nice.

Usually going out with the walking group helps to distract me but there was no walk today. It seems that the walk was changed to yesterday because of the weather but there was no information either via e-mail (which is how we know where to meet) or the WhatsApp where I saw a few other people wondering what was going on. Some people were going to meet up anyway but by that time it was raining and I decided not to bother. 

It had rained on and off all morning but at mid-day, just after low tide, I decided to go for a beach walk. 

First I had a wander around the rock pools and amused myself by looking for silly images amongst the natural objects.

It didn't take much imagination to turn these stones into a fat cartoon penguin.

From the rock pools I walked up along the edge of the water enjoying watching the foam and bubbles being blown across the wet sand.

I walked to the end of this little cove before turning back and heading home.

I spent the rest of the afternoon replacing the zip in a pair of black leggings. All by hand as I wouldn't trust myself or my machine for the job.

Right at the end of the afternoon there was a bit of blue sky and then some golden light as the sun went down.

Chicken Soup.

At last a day of sunshine. (The forecast for tomorrow is not looking so nice and there is still no email regarding the walk so who knows what I'll be doing.)

Peter was coughing badly yesterday evening and most of the night so I decided to make that good old folk remedy, chicken soup. 

I had most of the ingredients but no celery so I went early to the shop to see if they had some. But they didn't, they don't stock so much until the holiday season starts at Easter. They did have things like fresh blueberries and raspberries, tempting but pricey and the leeks caught my eye. Well, they are the same shape and colour as celery but as chicken soup needs hours of cooking they would have turned to mush.

Making the soup has been a good way to use up random veg from the fridge and the last of the Christmas parsnips and carrots. That's tonight's supper sorted. Oh and Peter is hardly coughing today. Let's hope he's on the mend.

 

I sat out on the terrace first thing and later enjoyed the sun sitting on the wall in the front garden. It's been so nice that the washing on the line has dried (I think) but just to make sure it is on the airer in the utility room until tomorrow. I was also able to leave the bedroom window open for most of the day to give the room a good airing.

My afternoon has been spent finishing off Paddington. The length of the legs was a bit of an issue as the original version had short legs but the latest film has him with much longer legs. Still he's done, just a few accessories to do or find and that's another project completed.

Stormy In Borth.

I'm not too sure how to describe the weather today. Possibly changeable or more likely that Borth has been under the edge of a weather front and been bearing the brunt of the grey, wet weather.

The seas were wild first thing this morning but fortunately it was dry so once I'd wrapped up well I was able to enjoy my morning coffee outside.

As I sat there with the wind on my face my thoughts were busy with my next few projects. Once Paddington bear is done, which I hope to do tomorrow, the next thing will be installing two more water butts. 

With almost non-stop rain it's hard to imagine a time when I will need to water the garden but it does seem a shame to let all that water go to waste. One water butt will be at the front of the house and will make it easier to water the troughs of montbretia along the street wall. So far I've ordered all the taps etc that I need and hopefully I can finish that project next weekend. Even though the drain pipe diverters are supposed to shut when the water butts are full I haven't found them too reliable and will be putting in overflow pipes as well.

Once that's done I can make a start on building a compost bin between the garage and the block wall around the oil tank. It will have two levels for old and new compost with removable front panels for easy access. That's the idea, at least. 

We didn't do a lot in our riding lesson this morning, just 10m circles and transitions plus sitting trot. I think that most of us are able to work independently on whatever we and our horses need. For Tex it's softening onto the bit, bending his neck and his body and each week we get a little better. There were seven of us in the lesson today and as well as not running into each other we had to give May the new(ish) horse extra room as she was a bit skittish today. 

When we came out of the indoor school the sky was blue dotted with fluffy white clouds, somewhat different to Borth in the morning. The photo above is when I got home from shopping.

It stayed sunny as I did my shopping with the cloud beginning to build up later in the afternoon and by the time I got home there was little sun to be seen.

In town I took a chainsaw bag with some tools to the Climate shop. The red wellies were still there so I bought them for Paddington. In another charity shop I bought a pad of lined paper and page dividers which Peter had asked for as he's currently organising his paperwork and folders. 

Before my last shopping stop at Lidl I went to Argos. I had noticed that when I switched off the hairdryer I bought there not so long ago, there was often a flash from inside the handle. Not good with wet hair and hands. Today I made sure to have my phone with me as the receipt was in my e-mails but I had forgotten to charge the phone and it was as dead as a dodo. The assistant did try and look on her computer but to no avail so I'll have to go back next week. I'll probably print out the receipt rather than relying on peering at my phone screen. While I was there I bought a new hairdryer, a different one hopefully of better quality.

I spent longer than usual in town and by the time I'd got another pan of apples stewing and prepped a salad for tonight's supper it was a while before I sat down with a big mug of tea and a giant pretzel (one of those bready ones) from the community food place. I'd done quite enough for one day.

Stormy.

Incredibly wild and stormy today with strong south-westerly winds. 

More work on prepositions in our Welsh class. My brain had turned to mush by the end.

After class I did a little work on Paddington's hat, I think I'm getting there.

Will be driving to the hall later for disco aerobics as the weather conditions are atrocious.