Karma.

Yesterday evening I went out on the terrace to watch the setting sun (and to wake myself up as I'd drifted off on the sofa) when something in the water caught my eye. A flash of black followed by a circular disturbance in the water's surface. 

I grabbed my camera and sure enough there was a dolphin making its way down the coast.

It was quite a pretty sunset before the sun went down behind a cloudbank.

Plenty of people in the water escaping the heat of the day and watching the sun go down.

We missed the forecast thunderstorms which had veered off out to sea so no rain for the garden. More watering to be done by me.

This morning it was warm and misty soon turning into a very hot day again.

Down at the stables most of the horses were waiting at the gate for the morning delivery of hay. There were only four of us in the lesson today and I had Betsi again. I don't think I did as well as last week as there were more comments about straightening up (me) and getting on the bit (Betsi). The school floor was mushy in places as they had been riding with the sprinklers on during the hottest days.

A lot of the teaching today was about warming up our horses for a competition in difficult conditions and we were encouraged to keep changing the rein randomly as we did simple transitions or rode small circles. We finished off with turn on the forehand in halt.

Afterwards we sponged our horses down with cold water and as it was so hot I scooped up several handfuls of water from the horses' trough to soak my hair. Sort of a slicked-back look. At least it kept me cool.

Then followed a trip to the dump to get rid of more hedge clippings and the usual round of shopping. In town they were busy setting up barriers along several roads for the weekend's cycling event. Now that summer's here there are all sorts of events going on. Last weekend it was the Aberystwyth (agricultural) Show and I believe a circus was in town. 

And now the reason for the title. As I went to get a trolley at Lidl I noticed that the last person to leave their trolley had forgotten to take out their token which had a small pouch (for a shopping bag?) attached. I removed the token and went after the couple who had just left their trolley. Being so hot I didn't really want to go rushing through the car park so using my best teacher's voice that can reach across a playground I called out to them and eventually they came and collected their token from me. I then went back to sort out a trolley for myself and lo and behold the next trolley still had a pound coin in it. I couldn't see who that one belonged to so I ended up a pound better off. It all helps.

It continued to be very hot and sunny when I got home so I wasn't surprised that Peter was still at the RNLI shop. By the time I had unpacked the shopping, got a saucepan of apples stewing, put all the clothes in the wash and had a shower, clouds had started to appear and a much cooler wind was blowing. Right, I'd better go and collect the washing off the line and water the plants.

Too Hot.

Another blisteringly hot day today with high humidity to add to the discomfort. I've just checked the weather forecast and we are due heavy rain and thunderstorms tonight.

I woke at 3.45 this morning. I had intended to go back to bed but when I went out on the terrace for a moment it was already 21C so I guessed we were in for a very hot day.

As I'd planned to make an early start on the hedge I thought I might as well have some relaxing time outside and then do my Duo Lingo before making starting on the hedge which I did at 6.30. 

It took me until 12.00 (with breaks) to get the street side and top of the hedge cut back to a more manageable height. At the moment it's looking a bit sparse but should grow back soon enough.

Some of the old wood of that part of the hedge had really vicious thorns and I had to warn a couple of early morning dogwalkers not to let their dogs on that bit of the pavement until I'd swept up. Even I got stabbed once through the sole of my flip-flop.

Later on, once I'd cooled down and the hedge was in shade I tidied up the garden side of the hedge. There's a climbing hydrangea in the hedge (under the lamp post) that makes it harder to tidy up the hedge behind. I also chopped down most of a holly tree which I'd foolishly left to grow. The branches are all off and next year when I prune the pink hydrangea in front of the holly, I'll do my best to dig out the stump.

Even with curtains drawn and windows open the house has been quite hot. We sat out in the shade in the front garden from where we could see the sea and the beach. The beach is still busy as some schools were closed today because of the heat.

Disco aerobics has been cancelled, too hot for leaping about.

Still Hot.

4.00 this afternoon.

(This is in full sun which I know is not how meteorologists measure the temperature.)

I was up before 6.00 to find the world hidden inside a blanket of sea mist. The mist rolled in and out all morning. Sometimes the village was there and sometimes it wasn't. It wasn't until the afternoon that the mist dispersed and then the temperature began to shoot up. It's so hot now that I'm considering not going to choir tonight as Tal Y Bont is inland and I doubt if there will be anything in the way of a cooling breeze.

I was out working on the hedge by 7.30 and the combination of the sea mist and being on the shaded side of the hedge made working conditions quite tolerable.

It had just begun to get really hot when I reached my goal for today and I was running out of bags as well so I came to a halt. Peter has taken another car load of bags down to the dump which was helpful. He said it was really hot at the dump which is inland, and the staff were sprawled out hardly able to move. I don't blame them and they do keep the whole area very clean and tidy.

While Peter was out I washed all the floors which dried in no time. I sat outside for a while and then did some sewing before escaping to the cool of my study.

For the last few nights I've been out watering the plants at 10.00. It gives them a chance to have a good drink before the water evaporates.

Hot.

Last night the setting sun sent out spectacular rays before sinking into the sea in a golden haze. All day and into the evening people had come to the beach to escape the heat. It looked very odd to see people in the sea so late, mostly not swimming but just walking around in the water.

 

Today things got hot again with a light breeze giving some respite. By 5.00 it had got quite hazy and a little cooler though the prediction is for higher temperatures tomorrow and Thursday.

Although the hedges are still calling I went down to the zoo to do some weeding. Because I was determined to clear the rest of the gravel by the ferrets I was there for nearly five hours. Luckily there was some breeze and I made sure to take a decent break sitting in the shade with boots and hat off and something cool to drink.

This evening at Pilates we did a long 'stretch' session and then 'relaxation'. I so nearly fell asleep during relaxation. A few more minutes and somebody would have had to prod me awake at the end. 

Phew !

Today has been very hot. Luckily there's been enough breeze blowing through the open windows and doors to keep inside the house pleasantly cool.

I had an early start and was able to get all the bedding washed, dried, ironed and back on the bed. I hate having a pile of ironing waiting to be done.

 

I have nearly finished cutting back the escallonia hedge between us and the neighbours. I took plenty of breaks but even so I felt shattered by the end. Peter took another car load of hedge clippings down to the dump in the morning before going off for his usual afternoon of pool in the pub.

I keep the hedge quite high to block out the rest of the buildings along the road but after looking at today's effort I see that I can go a bit lower and make the top of the hedge rounder. I just did not have any energy left to do that today.

Pen Dinas (Elerch).

The heat is beginning to build up but in a pleasant way here at the coast. Today as yesterday the beach has been full of people enjoying the good weather.

I woke very early and had a peaceful hour sitting out on the terrace watching the sparrows coming down for their breakfast of seeds and a drink from the birdbath.

Later I had a frustrating time when trying to design a photobook of our recent holiday. I've used Vistaprint in the past to make photobooks and not had any problems before. This time I spent an hour questioning the chatbot and then real people trying to work out how to get to the 'design your book' stage (a two step download) and then failing to find a way to crop my photos. All the editor would do was distort the photo to fit the size I wanted. In the end the only answer I got was 'it is not possible to crop photos at the moment' and gave up.

It was nice to escape the crowds and head out past Tal Y Bont for a walk in the green countryside up to the hillfort of Pen Dinas (Elerch) on the rocky plateau of Mynydd Gorddu.

There were just four of us today. There's so much going on now that summer is upon us people are spread thin, so to speak.

 

After crossing the Leri it was a matter of heading uphill to the highest point.

The higher we climbed the more spectacular the views were. Sitting in the cooling breeze we had a longer lunch stop than usual before scaling the the rest of the hill.

Once up at the hillfort (which is a series of ramparts around the top of the hill) we had views in every direction. No wonder an ancient tribe chose this spot to settle on.

Looking south.

East.

North to Snowdonia.

North-west across Cardigan Bay.

Solstice sunset.

Hedge Cutting.

It looks like a summer heatwave (albeit a mini one) is upon us. After an initially grey start the day became increasingly hot. No doubt it will only last for a few days which is quite enjoyable unlike other parts of Europe where there is talk of temperatures going up into the 40s. Not so much fun.

I have spent the whole day hedge cutting. I began by running a string along the side of the street-side hedge to give myself a line to cut to. My aim for the day was to at least cut a section back from the string all the way along the hedge. This I achieved and then began the harder job of cutting back right across the width of the hedge. 

This was into the old growth so had to be done by hand. Hopefully I haven't over done it. This time I went back to my usual way of cutting up and bagging the clippings as I went along. Not only did that mean I could stop at any time but it also meant that I was moving around more and changing what I was doing.

 

By the end of a long day one third of the hedge has been cut back across the width. I reckon that two more long sessions should get that hedge done and then there's only the hedge between us and next door to cut back.

As usual there were a few conversations with the neighbours including a long horsey chat with the daughter of the lady who lives next door. 

Last night's silvery sea.