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.

Happy Birthday, Peter.

It's Peter's 76th birthday today. The weather has been glorious but both of us had appointments in the morning which ruled out going anywhere for the day. Peter had a blood test and annual review at the doctors' (all okay apparently) and I had my tooth out at the dentist's.

I gave Peter his usual nice bottles of beer and yet another charcoal landscape by a local artist but the big present was a bit of a cheeky one. Cheeky in that it was something I really wanted but yes he liked it too. What was it you ask? A week in a cottage in Downalong, St Ives at the end of September. 

Although I only spent my early childhood in St Ives I have an emotional attachment to the place, something like Hiraeth for the Welsh and would swap this house for a flat there in a flash if I was on my own. We had our honeymoon there and another holiday the year after and then two more stays with the motor home. 

As St Ives is the UK holiday destination of the wealthy rental prices are astronomical but since it will also be our 50th wedding anniversary (on the day we travel home) and my 70th birthday earlier in August I thought Why not? Something to look forward to at the end of summer.

 

This morning at 7.00 I could already tell it was going to be a hot one. The heatwave is truly upon us and this afternoon the thermometer read 34C. Pleasant enough to sit out in with the breeze but I feel sorry for people inland.

When I was at the dentist I asked him to look at one of the teeth that he had built up with composite, a front incisor, as I thought it was looking a bit rough on the bottom edge. He said it was just a bit stained and he would give a polish but then he added more composite to strengthen the tooth. That was fine since he didn't charge me for that. The extraction took less time than the composite and wasn't even uncomfortable. Of course with the numbing effect of the injections wearing off it has been a tad sore and I did feel kind of woozy when I left the dentist. But since the tooth has been quietly aching since I broke it on holiday I'm happy it has been taken out. I have stocked up on ice cream and plenty of goodies (brownies, cookies, filled doughnuts and pain o chocolat) from Aber Surplus which should last a while.

While in town I got some 'gold' number stickers as my recent hunt for 100th birthday card for a relative had been fruitless, just one boring card in the whole of Aber and Mach. Instead I bought a nice card which I've now customised.

I also found a better frame for the picture I gave Peter as we both agreed that my first choice wasn't the best, too big and overpowered the sketch.

The dentist did tell me to take things easy today so I've spent the afternoon sitting out in the sun and had already pulled out of tonight's choir practice.

Tonight for Peter's birthday supper I shall be cooking salmon with onion and mushrooms in the oven served with peas and new potatoes. One of our favourite meals and easy for me to eat too.

Last night's sunset. 

Grooming Day.

The day began with low clouds and little sun but somewhere along the line the clouds departed and the heat began to build. By the afternoon it was all blue skies and felt like summer once more.

 

It was a good day to do more gardening at the zoo. I began by tidying up the gravel garden after which I cleared the spiral paths of the grass maze.

The zoo's ponies spend most of their time in a field up the lane but now that summer's here they are brought down to the public area. In common to many small ponies they are prone to laminitis so it is actually better for them to be off the grass for most of the day.

When my fellow volunteer who looks after the ponies mentioned that she was planning to groom Buddy, the elderly Shetland to help him get rid of his winter coat I quickly offered my services. 

We had a selection a brushes (I'd already vetoed using the metal curry comb though I know some people do use them directly on horses.) but it turns out I'm a dab hand at stripping out the winter coat by hand. We must have spent at least an hour grooming Buddy who although he was still somewhat fluffy looked a great deal better than when we started. It isn't so much about how he looks but he will be a lot more comfortable in the hot weather. Next week we should be able to get the rest of the long hairs out with the brushes. Pablo has already shed his winter coat but he hung around trying to steal things from my friend's pockets or licking her arm.

Buddy's cute plait was done to keep the hair out of his eye which has a touch of conjunctivitis. In previous years another volunteer (no longer at the zoo) used to chop Buddy's forelock off to about 2" below his poll which looked ridiculous and negated the function of keeping flies off Buddy's face. 

Some of the hair we removed.

When I got home I did a bit more work on the long hedge. I'm cutting it back a bit from the inside so once again it is looking rather sparse but it won't be long before it grows more leaves.

Pilates tonight was kettlebells. I can understand why not as many people come to the kettlebells session as it is hard work. Let's just say I sweated buckets. But I'm sure it is good for me so I shall persist.

A Greedy Pigeon.

Once again the weather has swung between almost hot sunshine and cooler grey spells. Overall it does feel like we are heading towards the next heatwave. I had towels out on the line by 8.00 and they dried nicely even though there wasn't much in the way of wind.

 

Each morning I put out a small handful of seeds for the birds. The sparrows usually appear as soon as they see me, grab a few seeds and off they go. Mr Wood Pigeon on the other hand will stay and polish off the whole lot. I let him eat for a while and then I tell him to move on. But he doesn't take much notice of me and goes and hides where he thinks I can't see him.

This morning we headed off for our usual meet up with our friends at the Mach library to work on our Welsh. Afterwards I went to the Mach Post Office, at the back of the Spar as they often are, bought birthday cards at the nice card shop and checked out the charity shops. I'm not looking for anything in particular at the moment but you never know.

I my first job at home was to go up into the loft (really hot up there and an odd smell, not sure if it's hot plastic or something decaying) to bring down some underbed storage tubs.  I use them everywhere but these ones actually are going under a bed. 

I'm trying a new arrangement with the trundle bed. Instead of keeping the mattress on the lower bed that slides under the other one, I've put the pillows and bedding in the storage tubs and put them on the bed frame leaving the mattress on top of the other bed. I'm hoping I can reconcile the extra bulk vs having a better height work area with pillow piles in the corner. Not sure yet.

And of course I ended the afternoon with some gardening. Mainly cutting back and dead heading plus I did my best to dig out a rather too prolific small flowered campanula which had tried to smother some crocosmia.

And Breathe.

We've had a lovely weekend with our friends whom we've known since our eldest children were born. We used to live near each other in London but since moving to different parts of the country haven't met up so often especially since we moved to Wales.

Sam, Kate and younger daughter Alex arrived on Friday afternoon and we have spent the weekend chatting, eating, watching the sea,  going to the beach and yesterday we went for a walk at Ynyslas.

At the car park we got our residents' parking permit from a rather grumpy chap who asked if the paper Peter was showing him was for council tax and then grudgingly admitted that a water bill was also a valid proof of address.

From the Visitors' Centre, now manned by volunteers from Borth Community Hub we walked along the boardwalk through the dunes to the beach. There we sent Sam off to walk the four miles back along the beach to Borth (Kate has recently had a knee replacement) while the rest of us circled back to the car park and drove home to yet more tea and cake.

Considering how minimalist my cooking efforts are these days all my planning paid off and though I say it myself we ate well. Including lunches, cakes and puddings which we don't normally eat but were enjoyable though I don't think my waistline could survive such a regime for much longer.

Our friends left left this morning and while Peter hoovered and mopped I got the first two lots of washing done, dried and later ironed. Before tucking the trundle bed away I gave it a good clean as when putting it up I'd noticed that it was quite dusty but was too rushed to deal with it then. I also tightened up all the bolts with an allan key and now the bed no longer wobbles alarmingly. That led on to tightening up the bolts of our bed and wiping of the underframe. This cleaning lark never stops. 

Today's weather has swung between short spells of hot and humid and longer spells of cloudy with a cooler wind. In the afternoon I found a bit of time to do some gardening, mainly dead heading thrift. I think I'll use the seed heads to grow more plants in case the ravages/ toilet habits of the local cats cause the demise of the current plants.

Oystercatchers and a dragon.