Bright And Windy.

......with a lot of high cloud keeping the temperature down to around 23C. Right now there is almost 90% cloud cover which does not bode well for sightings of the Perseids which are due to peak tonight. However last night just before I headed upstairs for bed I had a quick check of the night sky. And was greeted by a sky full of stars with the Milky Way stretching overhead. Then ... Woosh, a meteor streaked across the sky. I needed no further invitation. I layered up, grabbed a torch and a jam sandwich (my current alternative to chocolate) and went out for some meteor watching. Usually we go up to the top of the hill and spread cushions on the road so we can lie back and view the night sky. Last night I decided I would be better off on a reclining garden chair so I only went up as far as the ponies' field above our garden. I had to position the chair right up by the fence and as I lay there I could hear Coral prancing about in the field clearly unnerved by this unusual object right by her fence. I stood up and called her over but she was still a little wary. So I went against my strict rule of never feeding horses (it makes them bite), and gave her a small wholemeal crust from my sandwich. Greed overcame fear and she was my friend for life. As I lay back marvelling at the beauty of the skies there were frequent hufflings in my ear as she waited hopefully for more. I was also joined by Speedy and Patch who took it in turns to sit on my lap. Although it wasn't the peak night for sightings I did see 27 meteors, that's not counting satellites, planes and a helicopter taking someone to our local hospital. I stayed out until moonrise simply taking in the glory of the night sky. It's so hard to get your head around the fact that each star is a burning sun with its own planets. And as for the Milky Way, that is too hard to visualise so many distant suns. The brisk weather had me off up the hill for another walk before breakfast.
When I got to Ashelford Corner I turned off the road down to the lane that leads back towards our valley and Paul's hayfield.

It was hot in the lane but when I got to the end the wind was so strong it nearly blew my hat right off. I had a quick walk in Paul's hayfield and saw that he has been able to make about 200 big bales of hay(lage) in these last few hot days which should keep him going until next year. I checked out the blackberries along the lane but they didn't look too abundant.



Back home I hoed the vegetable patch and to the best of my ability cleared up leaves from the front patio and off the raised bed. Even if I can't do the job properly every little helps. Peter was out rowing in Ilfrcombe Regatta. He came home very pleased as both the Veterans and the men's B crew came 4th which apparently is a really good result. Linas mowed the lawns and prepared a barbecue which we had when Peter got home. I was limited to grilled courgettes and boiled new potatoes but they did taste very nice.


Update ..... I interrupted my blogging last night to watch a film with Peter and Linas ( yet another B grade disaster movie), and then not only did it rain but we had a thunder storm that went on till the small hours of the morning. I did hang out of the bathroom window to watch the lightening and saw one meteor cross the patch of open sky.