Hotter Still.

The temperature continued to rise as we basked in an almost cloudless day. It was so warm that Peter opened the conservatory door 'a crack' through which Speedy promptly disappeared. When he eventually returned for his food the bandage was still in place and the unbandaged foot undamaged. For once it was very quiet here during the day as I think most people headed out to the beaches. Out in the garden all I could hear was birdsong and the muted rumble of traffic. Things changed later when the end house hosted a party followed by a smaller gathering at our neighbours'. You can't blame people for wanting to sit outside on such a glorious day and evening and all was quiet by 10.30.  

I had a busy and productive day so forgot to take photos of the sun lighting up the acers and had to snatch a few garden shots towards evening. The best of the day's events was the disposal of our sofa bed. We'd inherited it from my mother many years ago and it was useful when we had more visitors than proper spare beds. We had decided not to take it with us to Wales so yesterday I got the two foam arm/back pieces out of the garage. However when we went to set up the sofa so that I could photograph it for the give away FB page I was horrified to find that having the two foam mattresses leaning against an outside wall in Peter's study had caused black mould on the wall and nasty staining on the sofa bed cover. I'd already thrown the cover of one of the arms into the washing machine but when I tried to scrub the main cover it remained quite stained and I didn't think anybody would want it. Thinking that somebody might make use of one or both of the foam mattresses I photographed them and put that on the free site explaining about the covers. This morning somebody messaged me wanting the whole thing which surprised me. It was a friend of theirs that turned up with a van to collect the sofa so I showed him the cover as I didn't want it to be a shock. He phoned his friend who still wanted it so off it all went. That saved a couple of trips to the dump and reuse is good for the planet.

With perfect drying conditions I made a start on washing some of our stored curtains. Knowing how many windows we'll have I thought I might have a fair number of curtains to give away but then I had another thought. While at Dingles curtains were hardly ever drawn, at least not by us, when we get to Borth they'll be needed not only for privacy but also for keeping out the cold. We've abandoned the plans for triple glazing rather than double as all the research indicates that triple glazing is only needed with very low temperatures and Borth doesn't drop below zero even in the winter. The advice was to draw your curtains to reduce heat loss through windows. Old style curtains with very heavy linings are best, our ancestors certainly knew this. So I'm thinking that I'll use some of the heavier curtains I have stored, to line the curtains I planned to use. Today I washed the white/blue/yellow curtains that used to be in the kitchen. It was so hot that the first line of curtains dried by the time the next machine load was done.

Recently I came across a recipe (on FB) published by a blogger who shares her money saving recipes. This was for a mushroom & lentil ale pie which promises to be a good substitute for beef and ale pie. We haven't tasted it yet because while the pie was in the oven Peter announced that he still had half of yesterday's fish and chips to finish up so it's pie tomorrow.   Hopefully it will taste good as I find myself more and more reluctant to eat meat for both health and ethical reasons though I do eat meat occasionally. 

The sun went down through a hazy sky giving a flash of rainbow colours to one side. Looking forward to another hot day tomorrow.