Wet.

I generally greet Thursday mornings with a groan as I remember it's Welsh class day. To be fair I don't mind the actual lessons, our tutor pitches them at the correct level and we are making progress. It's more the fact that four hours (preparation plus lesson) is a big chunk out of the day.

At least today I was more organised with the other things I needed or wanted to do. I didn't get up especially early as Peter's snoring last night had sent me to the tv in the sitting room for an hour but even so I got a Bara Brith in the oven before breakfast.

Afterwards in view of the rain we could see and feel approaching I broke my routine (so hard to do) and left the washing up until after loading the car with shopping bags, my riding stuff and a number of house plants. They were taking up too much space on the utility room windowsill which gets used for cuttings and (in the spring) sowing seeds. I can't throw out plants but I'd asked in Hahav and they said they could take them to sell in their shop in town so that's where they're headed.

It was only after I'd bagged up some large pheasant grass plants which I'd allowed to grow 'in case' that I came back inside to wash up. I'm not good with changes of routine. Shortly after down came the rain and it's been raining ever since.

 

After class I did the 'would like to do' job of giving the utility room window and sill a clean doing my best to avoid any spiders. It looks so much better. Now I've got some time to relax before going off to disco aerobics.

I played around with this photo to try and get the correct floer colour with mixed results. In reality the leaves aren't as green and the flowers are an even deeper shade of purple. Very similar to the purple of the fuchsias above.

Washing Day.

More sun and wind today so a good day to wash the sheets.

Having cleared most of the plants from the terrace it was obvious that the terrace needed a going over with the pressure washer. This time instead of going all the way down the pavement and then carrying the pressure washer over the shingle garden I gave in and pulled it through the house instead. I had been worried that the wheels would mark the floor but luckily that wasn't the case.

It is always satisfying to see the film of green disappearing from the stone terrace and I was able to get rid of most of the black spots as well.

I carried on to do the the steps and most of the red paving slabs by the side of the house. The ones that lead to the garden steps are very textured and it's impossible to remove all the black algae (?). I may try one of the specific black spot removers that you can buy. 

It was a hard session on my back and I still had the ironing to do. But now I can look forward to crisply ironed sheets tonight after I get home from choir.

 

Going out in the garden to hang up the washing I noticed one of the new clematis flowering. It had snuck up behind the trellis so I hadn't even noticed it was there.

Windy.

Today has been windy and apart from once when a cloud released a few drops of rain, dry. A good drying day.

Before going down to the zoo I painted lots of wood hardener on the rotten soft parts of the wooden garage window frames. 

I spent a happy four hours weeding at the zoo, still plenty more to do next week. At one point another volunteer asked for some help in opening the gate to the giant tortoise run and bit later he couldn't move the bolt to the tortoise house. Hopefully he now knows that when bolts wont open first try lifting the gate (that worked for the gate) and if that doesn't work jiggling usually does (and did). While I was there I hand fed some cabbage to one of the tortoises which was outside. It was interesting to note just how strong their bite is (on the cabbage not me). It was making a kind of huffing noise, a bit off-putting as I didn't know if that was an angry or a happy sound. 

Once I got home I had time to take a break for an hour before going off to Pilates. It was a good session. I was a bit worried about my shoulder but that was okay. Peter is out at a meeting so I'm going to watch 70 Up which he wasn't interested in. 

Now for a few more snippets from St Ives.

This is Barnoon Hill which is on the route I took into St Ives having misheard the Satnav. I had offered to drive the last bit as Peter gets stressed in narrow streets especially when there are people wandering all over the road. Faced with this view I was pretty stressed too and yes the way got even narrower at the bottom. I drove very slowly in first gear and breathed out a big sigh of relief as I turned onto a slightly wider road. 

(Above) That's the view looking up from the bottom of the hill.

Naturally I made sure to check out the three charity shops. This one was a vintage charity shop and looked more like an Aladdin's cave. There were small signs on the shelves saying Yes we are a charity shop, as it really didn't look like one. I believe it is for the local hospice. I bought Peter a pack of vintage playing cards as he finds modern cards difficult to shuffle. The old ones slide between each other much more easily.

Finally, this is Seal Cottage which could have been my home had my mother wished. Mrs Sanders was a good friend to my mother and when she left the cottage to the St Ives Arts Society to be lived in by artists she stipulated that my mother had first refusal. But by that time we had moved to London and my mother turned down the offer.

The other side of the cottage sits on Porthmeor with a handy door onto the sand. I can remember sitting at that window being taught to play solitaire on a wooden board with marbles. Mrs Sanders also left me her piano and I had that piano for over 30 years until we moved out of London.

No Fool Like An Old Fool.

Photos are all evening light on Porthmeor.

I really should have known better than to drink (non-decaffeinated) coffee in the afternoon. Not only did I have a fancy coffee in the café but a while later I had a small cup of Syrian coffee. (Black and no sugar but I'll give anything a go.)

By the time I put my head down at midnight my mind was buzzing. Thoughts raced around my head until I put ear buds to listen to the World Service at 2.00 and I didn't get to sleep until after 4.30.

I was up again at 7.30 and sat outside watching the clouds in the east turn from a subtle purple/pink to plain grey. Nearby sparrows in a neighbour's hedge almost drowned out the gentle shushing of the waves.

But I have still had a busy day. While we were away the neighbours cut back the tamarisk trees by the garage giving me room to get to the windows. And what a state those poor windows were in. A combination of woodworm and the weather has rotted out a lot of the wood. 

Really the windows should be replaced but as it's only the garage and they aren't opening windows I'm going to see if I can restore them enough so that the glass doesn't fall out or rain gets in. 

My first step was to scrape and brush off all the flaking paint. Then as they were going to need more than the small amount of wood worm treatment I have left I ordered some from Screwfix in Aber. Along with a resin wood hardener and a large time of resin filler.

I jumped in the car, still in wellies and my paint spattered work clothes and headed to the industrial estate. When I got to Screwfix it turned out that I'd ordered the 5L tin which was far too much even for these windows. Unfortunately they don't sell 1L tins and neither did Toolstation. 

After dropping off our old house phone at Hahav I then went to Charlies who did have a 1L tin.

As soon as I got home I gave the window frames a though soaking with the woodworm treatment. That's step 2 done.

But my work wasn't quite finished. The windows at the front of the house had so much sea spray on them it was like looking at a foggy day. Nothing for it but to give them a wash. After which I sat down and watched 'Help We Bought A Village'. 

Laughing Yoga And More.

All will be revealed.

We've had a dry day (just taken a quick break to go and bring in the washing from the line) with a bit of a breeze and some sun too.

Before going out for the afternoon I decided to put our suitcases back in the loft as we won't be going anywhere for a while now. Closing up the loft hatch I let it swing back too hard and the screws ripped out of one of the hinges. Repairing that needed Peter going up the ladder to hold the hatch in place while I climbed back into the loft to put in larger screws from above.

Then I went off to sing with the choir in the Arts' Centre at the uni. As well as talks on Bone Health and on The Role of Culture and Literature in Social Cohesion which I'm afraid I didn't go to there were 19 performances of song and dance from different cultures.

 

We missed the first set of performances (that's us in our Sing for Water blue). Instead we met up by the shop (full of nice but expensive books, ceramics and pictures), had a coffee and then went to rehearse in the dance studio. There were great acoustics in there and with people either having practised the songs or written out some of the words (me too) we did much better than at choir on Wednesday. Afterwards some of us couldn't resist doing some ballet exercises at the barre on the wall. How had I known to wear my blue leggings?

This is a version of This is Home, from the internet, our third song. 

Then we were brought to the Green Room where we waited with the other performers until it was our turn to go on stage. In there we watched the young energetic Welsh clog dancers, graceful ladies from Sri Lanka, Indonesian dancing and an Indian singer on the large screen.

The student ASMs got us onto the stage efficiently where we sang our three songs pretty well (I think) to a fairly full auditorium. Intriguing was the presence of misting machines at the back of the stage. These weren't providing a special effect but I wonder if they were to stop the air from drying out for the sake of the people singing.

We joined the main audience to watch the final set of performances which included an Indian gentleman who got everyone participating in Laughing Yoga. It was interesting and fun to shed our Western inhibitions for a moment.

Afterwards everyone was invited to The Great Hall to share a delicious chickpea and spinach curry served with rice and naan bread. No need to make supper tonight.

Windy.

Wild and windy today with a few short showers. 

Having heard the dreaded words 'a chance of frost' on the radio I allocated the day to making sure the tender plants would be safe for the winter. But as usual there were things to do before I could move any plants. Trays to be washed and the raised bed behind the cold frame cleared. The knautia that had been flowering all summer had to be cut down and the climbers they'd been hiding tied back on to the trellis.

And there tucked away was my first rose. When we moved from Barnstaple I took some cuttings from a lovely David Austin rose growing in our garden. Two of the cuttings survived and now one is flowering.

Finishing the cold frame was simply a matter of placing two sheets of perspex on top and weighing them down with wood and stone. Before putting the trailing geraniums and the osteospermum in for the winter I cut them right back and then poked in some cuttings into the same pots in the hope that some might grow. 

I had foolishly planted one of the osteospermums straight into a big terracotta pot and it was so heavy that carrying it to the back garden did not do my back any good. To avoid that happening again I replanted the osteospermum in a plastic pot which can be slipped inside the heavy planter.

The succulents including my collection of aeoniums have gone in the porch. As they won't need so much watering hopefully there won't be as much condensation as last winter.

Above - a surfer and a kite surfer in the bay today. Below - a surfing seal on Porthmeor.

You can see just how close it was to the water's edge.

Four hours later it was back again (Peter spotted hit from the window seat). This time it was even closed to the water's edge. (That's the sand right at the bottom of the photo.) It swam along, popped its head up and then decided to swim on its back.

Then had another long look at the people taking photos at one point opening its mouth as if to say 'Feed me', before finally swimming off.

Mostly Wet.

The day began warm and wet then became warm and windy, right up until I was hanging the washing out on the line when a series of short but intense showers began.

Today I was back riding Betsi. I do prefer her to Cody especially as I can ride with a lighter contact through the reins. We had a fun lesson as Chloe (now 8 months pregnant) set up some cones and we were free to were free to canter half circles (no more than two people at a time). 

 

Afterwards I took more bags of garden waste to the dump and then went into Toolstation to see if they had the piece I needed to repair the downpipe. I think there must have been some windy weather while we were away as not only had the piece fallen off but it was nowhere to be seen. No doubt it blew right over the cliff.

Toolstation had the part and suggested sealant, which I ended up getting all over my hands. As soon as I got home I replaced the part and pushed the whole drainpipe upwards as I must have dislodged it when I was sorting out the end that goes into the drain in the ground.

I was on a roll and was going to connect the last water butt in the back garden but the connecting hose I'd bought was too big. I've ordered the correct hose and will deal with that when it arrives.

As usual I went into Hahav and bought this large glass sphere for £4 to add to my cobalt collection. I also asked if they wanted our landline phone which can't be used with the fibre connection. At first the chap said no but one of his colleagues said she had a use for one so I'll take it in next week. Much better than throwing away a perfectly functioning item.

To cheer up this rather wet day here are some photos from my walk on the coast path at St Ives.

A short stroll from St Ives brought me to Man's Head a very distinctive rock formation overlooking Porthmeor.

From there I followed the coast path with a few steep slopes, around some coves to the next headland.

I could have gone further, maybe next time or perhaps we could bring pasties to eat as we enjoy the scenery and the grandeur of the Atlantic.

And then back along the coast path to St Ives.