Sunny.

Barely a cloud in the sky today, definitely a summery day. Today I planned to cut the boards for the porch ceiling and I didn't think it would be too much of a job to get them up and screwed to the rafters. I even thought I might get a first coat of paint on. Oh how I underestimated that job. Having made all that effort to get boards that would do the whole job in one go it soon became obvious that we could hardly carry the boards and lifting them up over our heads and maneuvering them past the porch light and into the space over the door was an impossibility for 2 old crocks such as we are. Having made the decision to cut each board in half I then had to think which way to divide the boards. Making a vertical join would probably make installing them easier but I thought it would be aesthetically better to have a horizontal line. A moot point I know but I do mind about such things. We did get the first of the 4 boards up and that was hard enough. Apparently I had chosen the wrong screws so I was left holding the board up while Peter went and sorted out more suitable screws. At least I could stand on chairs to do that but the next board will be much higher so it will mean balancing on a ladder. 

Before all that stressful work I had given the conservatory beams another coat of black paint. Now they look like solid beams rather than much repaired damaged beams. Unlike the cats I didn't have too much time just lazing outside but I made sure to catch the last half hour of sun up at the scree garden before calling it a day. 

The bear's breeches that I transplanted in spring is doing well. The flower spikes are only about 3ft high but in future years should easily reach 5-6ft. They do die back in winter but the glossy leaves start appearing quite early in spring and should mask the dip in the ground there.