Another Curtain.

Today has been sunny but not too hot and with just enough wind to dry the washing.

It's always nice to look out and see a yacht moored in the bay. It adds to the general holiday atmosphere even if it is only Freddy's yacht that he keeps at Ynyslas. 

Freddy is part of the RNLI crew and this morning's training session seems to have been  'boarding and towing a vessel in distress'. 

I decided not to go on the Sunday walk but finish off the curtains instead. But before I got to the black-out curtains I had a more pressing sewing project - making a muslin curtain for the terrace door. With yet another heatwave predicted it's handy to keep the door open to let air into the house. But that also lets in the flies which are not wanted in the kitchen.

I had a length of white muslin (the one that wasn't quite 3m), some left over black-out fabric and a long 2" wide strip left over from making the silly seagull curtains, everything I needed to make the curtain. 

But before I did any sewing I had to create a second curtain pole which I did using some plastic tubing that I cut notches into to fit over the existing curtain pole brackets.

I used the strip of fabric at the top of the curtain to strengthen the flimsy muslin and a wide band of black-out fabric at the bottom to add weight and also so that the muslin wouldn't catch on the threshold.

It all took lots of pinning and checking before two rows of stitching at the top and two at the bottom and it was done. 

I didn't carry on sewing as I had ironing and supper preparation to do but I left the sewing machine out on the table for tomorrows endeavours. And I still had time to sit outside for an hour with a cuppa.

As I was sitting outside I heard a clatter and when I looked down there was a crab claw dropped by a seagull or maybe a jackdaw. A nautical version of manna from Heaven perhaps?

Although I didn't go on the walk today I still got to see the countryside .... on the tv. I iron in front of the tv and today I thought I'd try watching Am Dros to see what I could understand. This is a reality show where four people go for walks in Wales. They take it in turns to lead a walk that is local to them and tell the others some facts about the area. They also provide a picnic lunch and organise some sort of game. At the end they score each other's efforts to make it a bit of a competition. It's more about seeing different parts of Wales and for me it's a chance to tune in to basic Welsh conversation. I can understand more now but I still had to refer to my dictionary and guess to understand what they were saying. Once I've seen the whole programme I'll watch it again with the (English ) subtitles.

The second walk today was around Bwlch Nant Yr Arian taking the route that goes past the Big Chair and on to Llyn Melindwr and finished with the red kite feeding. Places I know well and fun to see on the screen.

Shh !

It's been a lovely sunny day today though by the time I went to sit outside in the afternoon it had clouded over and become cooler.

I slept straight away last night and didn't wake until 8.00 this morning. Late as it was the village was completely quiet. 

Apart from a couple of swimmers the beach was empty and almost nothing was stirring in the village. A result of people partying in the field or dancing the evening away at the Star of the Sea. My heart would have loved to be dancing too by my feet would not. 

This morning I drove to town to Next to collect a swimsuit I'd ordered. I have a perfectly serviceable Speedo swimsuit but after seeing so many lovely swimsuits advertised on FB, (worn by slim young models and would not look good on me.) I had a browse of M&S and Next's swimwear and chose one that I hope will be flattering. (Not the £210 I liked from M&S.)

But although I had an e-mail saying it would be there to collect after 3.00 Friday it still hadn't arrived in the shop this morning.

But I did find this pretty cream jug which matches two small coffee mugs I already had. Although the same blue calico design as the Burleigh mugs the jug was made by the Heron Cross pottery which means it was dates from before 1900. 

Back home I cooked up a pot of apples and painted the concrete bit by the back gate grey. Not wanting it to look just like concrete I lightened the grey paint (which is oil based) with white water based paint which created a marbled paint and then did my best to create a muted mottled effect to mirror the grey ceramic tiles of the drive. It might need a touch up before I'm satisfied with the result.

A few more photos from yesterday's carnival.

Sunset last night.

Carnival Day.

Hedge cutting yesterday took its toll on my sleep and resulted in having to stay up until 2.00 to take another painkiller and then still not sleeping properly until a final tablet was taken at 4.00. Not the best before a busy carnival day. I have a feeling I'll be out like a light tonight.

By 10.00 I'd walked up to D's house where a group of us transformed the skiff into a watery scene with lifeguard themed flags and bunting. I went and registered us as 'Cardigan Bay Watch celebrating 25 years of lifeguarding.' Not the usual pithy name but one that reflected our location - Cardigan Bay (we wore silly cardigans too) and Bay Watch / lifeguards. I'm glad we went for the new Bay Watch outfits of blue tops the same shade of blue as the rowing club colours as a large group of walkers had also chosen lifeguards as their theme and were in the traditional yellow tops with red shorts.

Above - having pulled the skiff round to its position with all the other floats we retired back to D's house for drinks and snacks. 'Pamela Anderson' was there with her dog Ziggy and Jake accompanied his shark costumed owner.

 

Above - The judges (in orange vests) came round quite early and we did our best to explain all aspects of our float. We emphasised the fact that lifeguards have been keeping us safe and there hasn't been a single shark attack in Cardigan Bay in the last 25 years (okay we don't have sharks that attack but you never know). 

I took a few photos of the activity before the start of the carnival but will rely on FB to see and share the other floats, walkers and decorated houses.

It's a long walk all the way down the High Street but the crowds, music and general atmosphere made it enjoyable. It was even nicer when people I knew waved or came up for a chat. I had the bubble gun and did my best to keep a steady stream of bubbles floating over the boat.

The float behind us had taken 'The Sound of Music' as its theme and had speakers playing the main songs which kept us dancing along and often joining in. 

At the end of the carnival we pulled the skiff straight to the rowing club's compound rather than the main boat park by the beach. We took time to have a proper break before taking everything off the skiff. 

Peter and I then carried all our stuff home. After unpacking and an ice-cream I went back down to 'The Field' to wander round and take in the party atmosphere.

You really need to be with a group of people to enjoy the rest of the afternoon there. I walked round, had a long browse at a stall selling cheap plastic tat including lots of 'squishies' which are a bit of a draw to someone like me who responds to tactile stimuli but there wasn't anything that was just right. I did buy a metallic green, small jointed 3-d printed dragon for £2 but wasn't going to buy any of the expensive food on offer. Maybe not so expensive if you're making an occasion of the event but I was happy to wait until I got home and we'll have something to eat later.

Carnival Preparations.

Sun and wind today.

The butterflies were back on the lavender this morning. About a dozen of them including a single hummingbird hawkmoth and plenty of bees. Not wanting to disturb these seekers of nectar I've taken to walking over the shingle to get to the end of the garden rather than along the stepping stones close to the lavender.

After breakfast I drove to the other end of the village for the first stage of preparing the skiff for the rowing club's carnival entry. The sun was shining on the many holiday makers thronging the village and the bunting strung across the High St fluttered gaily in the wind.

We are fortunate that one of the club members has moved to the far end of the village and has space round the back of his house where we could put the skiff. Although all the painted cardboard can't be fixed on the boat until the morning in case it rains in the night we got a long rope tied round the boat and were able to work out how everything was going to be put in place. Much better than having to do it all tomorrow morning.

When I finally got home Peter went off to do the shopping and I cut all the hedges. All that earlier hard work reducing the height and width of the hedges certainly made today's trim much easier. Usually I have to spread the work out over several days but although my back was hurting by the end at least it is all done.

Nature Reserve Walk.

There was the very occasional shower this morning but the day has mostly been characterised by strong winds.

Maybe not the best day for a walk but as it's so rare that we manage to find a time that suits both of us to go walking we took a chance anyway. And it stayed dry.

 

I've been wanting to try the boardwalk around Cors Fochno (Borth Bog) for some time as it's so close and gives the chance to be right out on the raised peat bog which once covered all of the flat land between the hills and the sea here. 

It is possible to drive right down to the start of the nature reserve 

but as the boardwalk is only one mle long we decided to park just off the road and walk along the half mile track to the reserve. On one side of the track were blackberry bushes with already ripening blackberries. If we get a sunny day in the next few weeks I might go down to pick blackberries for the freezer and look for more wildlife at the same time.

The first part of the walk takes you through light woodland, mainly silver birch and willows. It was lovely to hear the wind rustling through the branches.

Then the boardwalk takes you right out onto the bog, a vast expanse of heather, bilberries and sphagnum moss. Over time men cut the peat turf for fuel and later dug drainage ditches to create dry fields at the edges of the bog for stock. 

The raised peat bog is full of specialised plants and small wildlife. Adders are common, too cold today though I did catch the swish of a lizard's tail as it scurried off the path. You can read more about the flora and fauna here.

A red-veined darter.

This noon fly was almost one inch long.

Back home I gave the concrete by the back gate another coat of paint. The brick-red paint which I'd got from the dump had dried to quite a vivid red which I'm not that keen on and is possibly why the can had be taken to the dump. Always up for a challenge I mixed in some black paint which has dried to a maroon brown. It still doesn't fill me with joy so next will be either black or dark grey. Even better, I've just been to check and another of my dump finds is a tin of navy blue which should do the trick.

I had been planning to go to choir tonight but in the afternoon my knee began to be very painful. I'm sure that's not from the walk but maybe either from working on my knees to do the painting or one of the random exercises I've been doing to make up for the lack of exercise classes this month. Peter's gone off for a quiz night with the rowing club and I shall be at home with an ice pack on my knee and some ice-cream inside me. That should take my mind off the pain.

The Trials Of Curtain Making.

It's been a day of heavy showers between spells of great warmth. I only hope this will be enough to damp down the tinder dry vegetation that has been such a fire risk for the countryside.

As it was too wet to work at the zoo I thought I would get to grips and finish the sitting room curtains. As usual things did not go quite to plan.

 

I've always made or at least altered curtains and to be fair they've got to be the easiest item of home sewing to do. Almost as easy as a simple cushion cover. 

Initially my thoughts were - cut 2 pieces of fabric, hem one, pin them together and cover the raw edges with the curtain header tape and sew 2 lines of stitching with the sewing machine. Yesterday I'd done the first steps and thought it wouldn't take long to finish off today.

That was before I decided to pin and press the sides of the muslin (which I'll probably hand sew), narrowly avoided disaster when I stabbed my finger with a pin and began to drip blood and right at the end when I went to trim the loose threads discovered a tangled mass of threads on the 'good' side of the curtain.

That sorted I hung the first curtain just to check I hadn't made any serious miscalculations and saw ..... that because the black-out fabric blocks the light the curtain is a very different white to the wall. More of a 'bright white' than a 'soft white' as light bulbs are described, or even very light grey.

I'm very aware of colours and this stood out a mile but what was I to do? The black-out fabric only comes in white or black and changing the white muslin for cream would be too yellow. Then I had an idea. Look carefully at the bottom right hand corner of the curtain. I pinned some cream muslin behind the white and Yay! it adds that little bit of warmth to the colour.

Off I went to order some cream muslin but even that wasn't without problems. Not many places had cream muslin, one was too narrow and the other took some sorting to get through the payment page. Hopefully once it arrives it won't take too long to finish the curtains though I will have to unpick the curtain headed tape from the first curtain (or maybe sew the new muslin below the tape).

 

Later I did some minimal gardening between showers when I topped up the pond from the water butt and pulled out a few errant montbretia from under a hydrangea.

Rain !

Photos from yesterday's walk.

Quite interesting weather today. It was a little cloudy in the morning but then suddenly became very warm indeed. After our Welsh practice at the library in Mach I had my usual stroll around the charity shops (didn't find anything today). Each time I came out of a shop (they didn't have air conditioning) walking outside was like jumping into a warm bath. An unusual, for the UK, and pleasant experience.

 

 

Back home by the sea the air temperature was not so dramatically warm but not cold either. Then the sky clouded over and for a short time we had rain. It didn't last long here though inland the clouds were very dark so maybe they had more rain.

The first thing I'd done on arriving home was to bake another Bara Brith as Peter was down to the last slice of the one in the cupboard. This time the Bara Brith didn't have so many nuts as somebody had been munching their way through the packet that had been in the cupboard. I did add some extra walnuts from the tub of walnuts we keep to have with breakfast.

Afterwards I'd planned to do a bit of outdoor painting but as it had turned wet by that point I decided to do some sewing instead. 

I had thought it would be simple to get two basic curtains sewn but I only got half-way before stopping for the day. Although I only need to sew six seams it was the careful measuring, cutting and pinning of the 140cm wide fabrics that took time. Knowing my tendency to make silly mistakes I measured and re-measured several times for each of the four large pieces of fabric. 

I've hemmed the muslin which is now pinned to the black-out fabric so all that should be left to do is to pin and sew on the curtain header tape. I've left the sewing machine set up so with any luck I'll finish the curtains tomorrow and won't have to keep climbing on a stool to fix the throw across the window to block out the light escaping around the edges of the venetian blind.