More Clouds.

Very hot again today. By the time we ventured out for a spot of sunbathing the many clouds provided momentary welcome relief from the heat (100-110F/low 40's). Two washes put out earlier soon dried and have since been ironed and put away.

Today at last I was able to have a rest day hoping to speed up my recovery from my personal nasty virus. (Definitely not Covid.) So not too much housework and little gardening.

It's been relatively quiet here. I don't know if people have headed out to the beach though we were already being told of major traffic jams by mid-morning yesterday, or if the heat has driven everyone indoors. Or people could be off visiting friends and family though technically that's not supposed to happen until tomorrow.

Still tempted to go for white painted raised beds. The Pony Tails grass is looking at its best as it comes into flower.

Yesterday I moved the hen's egg onto the central grass where it was soon spotted and eaten by Mr. Crow. 

I waited for the first pass of SpaceX last night but got distracted by my puzzle and the radio. Finding out that it was going round the earth twice I made sure that I was watching in time for the second pass and yes I saw it blaze across the sky. 

PS. Just noticed a whole load of links to gambling sites at the side of the blog with no way to get rid of them. has this happened to anybody else?

Hot.

 The long, hot summer continues. 

The warmth and the sun shining through the window woke me quite early this morning. Leaning out of my study window I saw the resident crow marching around making his regular inspection of the grass. 

He took no notice of Fluffy Cat sitting on the garden wall. (FC is looking up at me because I'd hissed at him to deter him from using the lawn as a toilet.) A little later the crow was still there and with a few squawks sent one of the two black cats off on her way.

As Peter had lost all confidence in Boots I had to go over to Tesco's today to collect our prescriptions. They had nearly everything, I think one item of mine may be still at Boots, but when I asked for the date to collect next month's prescription I was told they didn't know and would send a text when it was ready. It took me a while to process this information. We get 28 days worth of tablets (let's ignore all the spares we somehow have), you can't collect even a day early and a day late compromises the healthcare. Can't wait to use the pharmacy in Borth which is 2 doors down from the surgery. 

As I trimmed the smaller of the blob bushes I was most surprised to find an egg nestled in the flower bed. It was too far from the wall for somebody to have placed it there and if it had been thrown or dropped surely it would have broken. I wondered if it was a gull's egg stolen by another bird but they're speckled. Later on when we were having a conversation with an (unseen) neighbour in our back gardens she mentioned that she had a chicken's egg dropped on her patio. So they must have been stolen by either a seagull, rook or crow. I'll take the egg and carefully leave it on a piece of waste ground to avoid any smells. I do know that somebody keeps chickens in the garden of one of the big houses on the way to the church.

Speedy has finally taken to his new bed. We always spend the evening watching tv with Speedy, minus cone, on the sofa with me to make sure he doesn't lick his foot which is so nearly healed. Yesterday evening I took him back into the kitchen to spend the night where he jumped into the bed and began kneading (making biscuits) the soft rim while purring loudly. I'm glad that purchase is finally being useful.
Change of plan for the egg, I'll wait until evening and leave it out on the grass to see what the crow does with it.

Still Hot.

Hot again today. It's just been announced on the radio that it has been the hottest spring on record and the rainfall for all of May has been a whole 1 cm.

I think I could write a book on the trials and tribulations on our monthly collection of our prescriptions. In theory it should be an almost automatic process, each month you collect one lot of medications and tick all the little boxes on the repeat form which you hand back to the pharmacist for the next month's supply. Today, not only did I have to park further away as car parking charges are back in force but I had to make sure I returned to the car within the hour. Not that bad I know but when I attempted to collect our prescriptions from Boots........ aargh! After a lot of typing into their computer I was told that there was nothing for me and only part of Peter's prescription. According to them several of the items had been ordered 10 days after the other items. They were all on the same form so how did that happen? All I got was a shrug and the advice to phone the surgery as they weren't 'able/allowed' to email or phone our surgery. Nothing I could do. I had my new phone with me but when I went to phone Peter I discovered that the only contact that had been imported when I put in my old sim card was Romas'. Luckily I did have Peter's number in a notebook so I rang him from the car and left it to him to sort out which he has done. On my way back to the car I called in at Wilko's but they had sold out of garden canes the length I needed. That meant a visit to BJ's where I got the right canes. I then did some food shopping at Lidl's and Tesco's. For some reason neither shop had any menthol boiled sweets which I find soothing when my sinuses are playing up. I compromised with some cough sweets. Not much in the way of bargains though I did get some sushi (vegetable and Peking duck) for tonight's supper.

When I got home it was too hot to simply sit outside but I did work in the front garden using the new canes wrapped with garden string to support all the remaining climbers. I've also put out a tray of water on the paving in the front garden for the birds. (The hedgehogs' tray is tucked under a bush at the front of the garden.)

The lockdown restrictions are being eased and up to 6 people are allowed to come and visit in your garden. No doubt there will be many barbecues and parties this weekend with far more visitors than that and social distancing being ignored.

Last year's lilies and mimulus have made an appearance in the planters by the front door.

Hot Again.

Just as hot as yesterday again. So hot that I didn't stay outside for very long at all. When it's like this we really appreciate the cool marble tiles in the kitchen and hall.

In the morning I baked some chocolate chunk cookies for Peter. Or I should say, attempted to bake. I don't know if I mis-read the digital scales or if they went weird when I zeroed the bowl of ingredients but I seemed to end up with far too much flour making a very dry mixture. Although I generally weigh out the ingredients into separate bowls so that I can add them gradually today I went for the throw it all in one bowl method. I added some milk to the mixture and went ahead with the bake but I have to say the result was more like rock buns than biscuits. However I'm sure Peter will work his way through them.

I haven't been too active today but I did give the larger of the blob bushes a trim with the garden scissors. At the moment I find the scissors easier to use than the garden shears which are not that sharp.

Yesterday evening we watched out of the windows for a sighting of the spacex rocket. Eventually we decided that the gradually building haze had obscured our view only to discover the launch had been delayed due to bad weather and is now scheduled for Saturday.

PS. I've left a comment to test if the unauthorised diversion to a random dodgy site has gone and that does seem to be the case.

Really Hot.

 Hot, hot, hot!

I had another phone appointment with my GP this morning. I think she is almost as relieved as I am that the latest pain meds seem to be working without the side effects of the last lot. For now it's a matter of wait and see.

This afternoon I drove over to Lidl's where suitably masked up I popped in to get a few things. As I came out there was a dreadful clattering behind me. I turned to see a terrified dog running down the road dragging a display trolley behind him. His silly owner(s) had slipped his lead onto one of the large trolleys used to hold pots of plants for sale. Abandoning my shopping trolley I managed to get the dog to slow down and was able to grab his lead. At the same time a member of Lidl's staff arrived to help. We calmed the dog down and fixed his lead to one of the barriers by the store doors in the shade. Before the store worker went to rescue the trolley and the plant pots that had fallen off I mentioned to him that the plants on all four stands were dying due to lack of water. It was sad to see the wilted lavender and other plants but the chap said they just did not have the time to water the plants. That I can well believe as Lidl's is always noticeably understaffed. BTW the dog was a lovely large black labradoodle type cross.

Back home I stayed inside to hand sew the bias binding on my piano cover. I'm very pleased with the result and looking forward to not having dusty keys. Peter and I did sit outside for a while but as can be seen it got very, very hot so we didn't stay too long.

Yesterday evening I was watering the back garden and chatting to my neighbour who was putting things away when I noticed mist swirling up along the hillside. Looking out from the front of the house the river was completely obscured by the mist and the setting sun was dropping through a romantic haze. 

Hot.

Another very hot day. I woke at 4.00 this morning and once out of bed I was greeted by the rising sun reflected in the windows of the house opposite. It's frustrating not to be able to do any exercises but my rib cartilage is still inflamed and it takes very little to set it off. 

I made another attempt to buy the kitchen tap but when I phoned all I got was a recording saying they, or at least the call centre, wasn't yet open. I fared better when I phoned the vet's to order more flea drops for Speedy. The surgery near us isn't open for routine stuff and I thought I'd have to drive over to their other surgery on the far side of town to collect the drops. But no, instead the drops are being posted to me, no extra charge. I ordered 6 months worth rather than 3 to give me more time to sort out a vet once we move. 

For a change I decided to do some cooking today. The owner of the beach café which does the tasty Sri Lankan curries has been putting his recipes on his FB page so I thought I give the dahl a try. Surprisingly I had just about all of the ingredients baring coconut milk. Instead I used less water and added some dry (not sweetened) coconut. It smells pretty good and I'll have some for supper instead of my usual salad. A naan would go well with it but there aren't any in the freezer so a slice of granary bread will do instead. 

Before we settled down for a read in the back garden I spotted yet another damsel fly, this time a Large Red Damselfly. At the moment the back garden is filled with bumble bees, bees and flies busy visiting all the flowers currently out.

Got some sewing done today as well. The t-shirt has had its last repair and alterations to the trousers were completed. I also used the machine to stitch down one side of the bias binding onto the towelling 'piano cover'. I could have used the machine to top sew over the other side but I've decided to do it properly and hand sew it. That I can do outside and I quite enjoy hand sewing.

Hot.

A very hot day with less breeze than yesterday. I washed and hung out the washing early. Not long after I went to turn the duvet cover over and found it already ready for ironing. 

The temptation to sit outside was somewhat reduced by the loud sounds of our neighbours' radio blaring across the garden. We did spend some time outside and I have nearly finished mending Peter's t-shirt. I thought I was done but then found another group of holes which will need a small patch. After this there'll be no more repairs for this old t-shirt.

I've spent a lot of time using 'Paint' on a very old photo of Red Roof's garden in its heyday to give a rough idea of my current design plans. Frustratingly the 'fill' tool in my Paint programme doesn't work. Instead of a single click to fill an outline with a second colour I've had to carefully use a brush tool to colour in, hence the scruffy edges.

Yesterday afternoon I spotted a bright blue damsel fly on the rhododendron bush above the plastic tray filled with water and a few stones for the birds. (My PC refused to upload a second set of photos yesterday. It needs a good overhaul and maybe a better virus and malware checker as I and others have had problems with the comments on the blog. I got it to work eventually but it's still not perfect.)

Sunny Afternoon.

The day began grey and rather gloomy then brightened up in the afternoon. I got some washing out early to dry in the ever present wind, ironed and still had time to sit out in the sun with Peter reading and chatting.

After refusing to go anywhere near the new bed today Speedy was happily sleeping on the cushion tucked into his pillowcase. I think I'll keep the pillowcase (or a brown one) when the pillow goes into the bed. It doesn't look anything like as nice but so much easier to wash and dry the pillowcase.

I put my latest lot of garden canes to good use and made tripods for the pots of climbers out in the front garden. There are still three climbers that need doing once I buy some more canes next week.

I made yet another attempt to buy the kitchen tap from Screwfix. This time I thought that I'd have it delivered here and post it off to Wales myself. However the same problem happened when I entered my details (red stars indicating I needed to put in information) so I wiped out everything. I'll phone instead on Tuesday and make my purchase speaking to a real person instead of filling in boxes on a faulty web site.

I'm currently making a folder of ideas for the make-over of the front garden in Borth. I think the biggest expense will be the construction of raised beds. Ideally I'd love to have minimalist white painted concrete but that would need doing every year which I think would become increasingly difficult as we get older. Bricks would be a good option for the curving walls, (all my garden designs featured flowing curves) and would match the red roof tiles but ....... not a good colour match for my intended grey/white/purple/blue plants. Also brick walled planters feel quite municipal. These concrete blocks have caught my eye, maybe they won't prove too expensive.

Windy.

The stormy weather continues. Bright and sunny for most of the time with strong winds and even fiercer gusts. Combined with the spring tide the waves are 10-15ft. With no lifeguards anywhere the message is don't go in the sea or you will die. 

I bought Speedy a new bed from somebody on FB and she brought it round this morning. My idea was to give him some extra luxury both for the long journey up to Wales whenever that happens, and to help him settle into our new home. However, contrary to the photo above he doesn't like it and may even be scared of it judging by the weird wailing that came from the conservatory earlier. It had been originally bought for a dog but was too small. It smells like it's been washed so maybe either the different washing soap or the dog smell are upsetting Speedy or it looks too much like a strange animal. I've had it out on the line to blow away any smells. Then I'll pop the central cushion into the pillowcase that goes on one of Speedy's beds (he has a choice of two) and see if he gets used to that. I suppose I could put it in the washing machine and I could get some cat calming spray. I'll see how it goes.

I used three of the latest set of canes to make a basic tripod to support the blowsy pink rose. After a little gardening I sat out reading and enjoying the roaring of the wind through the tall trees. I did some sewing today as well, first repairing a cloth shopping bag handle and strengthening the handles. Then I carried on pinning and tacking the trousers that I want to alter. They're still not quite right but I'd done enough for one day.

Windy.

A big change in the weather. The wind began to pick up yesterday evening and it rained during the night. Today has been warm but with a veritable gale blowing. Sitting in my study the sun streaming through the window is heating up my back while the window into which I've jammed a piece of wood is letting in tiny but fierce gusts and the sound of the roaring wind. Out in the back garden the poor rose bushes are surrounded by a veritable carnage of scattered petals.

We had some excellent news today, with the paperwork completed Vytas and Sally now have the keys to their new house. So glad that they're finally out of rented accommodation. We had a disappointing letter a couple of days ago saying that the windows suppliers would be starting production on the 6th of July and installation should be 12 weeks after !!!!! Peter spoke to the installer today and we can breathe a big sigh of relief. We should expect installation two weeks after the 6th of July. Phew. Apart from Peter having a good relationship with the boss anyway I think all the help he was able to give him regarding the attempted email scam has also helped. 

Last night was the 9th week of the 'Clap for Carers' and as usual I clapped from the sitting room window. It was funny to see the cows, the ones with the white calf who have only just appeared on the hillside, react to the sound of clapping, whistles and pots being banged by heading away to the top of the hill. There is a call for the clap to stop next week and for the politicians to show appreciation by increasing the pay of all these workers who have put their lives at risk to protect the rest of us.  

Today I needed to go out to collect the latest medication and indeed the last option suggested by my doctor and I combined this with our usual household shopping. Not only were the numbers of cars and people around increased again but in Boots things had also changed. More people allowed inside and although the counters still had the Perspex screens and the 6ft spaces were in place none of the members of staff wore gloves, masks or eye shields. I wonder how they feel about that? Fewer members of the public wearing masks and/or gloves too. I called in at Wilko's for some washing up brushes and garden canes of the right length which saved me a trip to BJ's. I checked out the reduced corner and ended up with some white plastic cutlery trays and a dish drainer which I thought would be useful for storing craft/DIY tools. Added to my pile were a couple of rectangular duck-egg blue cushions which with a couple of loops sewn on will make handy back cushions either for our dinning chairs or the outdoor bistro chairs. In Lidl's I treated myself to some extra ice-cream as I find it cheers me up when I'm feeling rough. They don't have a vast range of flavours but it's good continental ice-cream. There's much more choice in Tesco's but unless you buy the very expensive brands it's poor quality in comparison. In Tesco's I found this lone Calla lily at almost a third of the regular price. Before finishing shopping I went to the home goods section hoping to pick up a few more white towels but the half-price offer was over. There was further disappointment when the big re-cycled glass bowls which on reflection I thought would be good for some of my bog plants had all gone. Should have got them last week.

After the traffic chaos at Woolacombe beach it's been announced that the car parks will be closed for now. Peter spoke to our builder in Borth where there were just 7 people on the beach. Wales has not lifted the lockdown restrictions so driving to go somewhere for exercise is still not allowed. With only a couple of roads leading to Borth it has been easy for the police to set up road blocks and turn people away.

Hot.

Most of the day was very hot though by late afternoon it had begun to haze over and feel warm rather than ultra hot. Late last night I was up watching TV (waiting to take more tablets) when I noticed a flash of light outside. I assumed it was the streetlight at the bottom of the garden turning itself off but an hour later when I was upstairs the flashes happened again. Trying not to drag the radio off the bedside table, ear plugs still in situ, I peered through the curtains to see sheet lightening flashing over the hills to the north. It wasn't the best of views otherwise I would have been tempted to stay up watching the storm. There was thunder but no rain here. A bit later one rumble lasted a good 10 seconds. Nice.

There was more excitement here earlier yesterday evening. We were heading off to bed when the doorbell rang. Thinking it was our neighbour I stuck my head out of the study window to see what was going on. Not my neighbour but a chap dressed in black work clothes. Reflecting on it today I could have gone into panic mode  thinking he was a local community policeman bringing bad news. But those thoughts didn't cross my mind at all. It turned out he was also a neighbour, from the beginning of the Close, regarding his cat. It had been missing for two days and he'd just located it locked inside one of the garages. He could hear it and see it so had gone round to the corner house to ask them to let it out. However the house was dark and he couldn't get an answer. The neighbour in-between was out (watching the sunset over the sea) and her daughter couldn't shed any light on where the corner house people were. The chap was following my suggestion to leave a note when the door was answered by the lady of the house. Her husband was at work, in a local care home and wouldn't be back until today. Anxious to free his cat the owner drove to the care home for the key and all ended well. But that wasn't the end of the incident. I'd carried on hanging out of my window and chatting and it turned out that the chap knew Peter from his skittle playing days. That was at least 20 years ago but the story doesn't end there. This chap lived with his brother on his parents' farm not far from us. The parents, I knew the wife in passing as she was also a supply teacher, went off for their first weekend away from the farm leaving their sons in charge. Through no fault of the lads the hay stored in the barn ignited spontaneously. Peter had been involved in ferrying people up the long farm track to help and also in getting things out of the barn. Small world.

Today itself has been uneventful. Nothing more thrilling than the recycling men coming and a fair amount of chatting with the neighbours. I had another attempt to photograph a flying bee. This time there were plenty of frames with a bee in but the ones that had a flying bee had focussed on the flowers not the bee. Better luck next time.

Roasting.

Incredibly hot today, the official temperature here was 26C/79F making it the hottest day of the year for the whole country, no doubt even hotter out in our garden. By mid- morning the police were already posting on FB saying that all roads to the North Devon coast were grid locked and to keep away. Apart from all cafes and restaurants being shut so are all public toilets. Saunton car park had to be closed and parking was a nightmare anywhere near the beaches. We contented ourselves with sitting outside for part of the afternoon. 

Out on the hill a small white calf could be seen out with the cows. 

On and off during the day the buzz of a chainsaw has been filling the air. A close squint at the centre of the photo above (taken through Peter's window) should reveal a tree surgeon dangling from ropes. So far he has limbed three trees but I suspect that those trees will be coming down completely. I know I've cut down trees in my time but I do enjoy the sound of the wind rushing through those trees. 

Between us Peter and I cut the grass out front. Peter mowed, I did the grass box emptying and then mowed our tiny lawn. It's amazing what a pair of poorly old folk can do. I had my phone appointment with the doctor this afternoon. Apart from another change in my pain meds (fast running out of options) it is likely that the cold I'm suffering from has triggered a long standing inflammation of the rib cartilage. I don't recall feeling so bad with a cold before, not surprising when my temperature is down to 33.5C at times. All viral so I just have to wait it out.

This morning I had yet another attempt to buy the sink base unit. Eventually I ended up placing my order with a real live person only to find out that at the moment they are not delivering to that area. The sink itself has already arrived and I'm toying with the idea of buying the tap at a local branch of Screwfix and sending it up by post. Peter's keeps phoning round but there's still no sign of any plaster.

Grey.

Looking out of the window this morning the paving was wet after some early morning rain. It remained grey and cool for the rest of the day. Only now, in the late afternoon are some patches of blue appearing in the sky.

A message popped up for the second time on my PC that I didn't understand so I called for help. It was something to do with an application so I left Peter updating a second security thingy for me.  After running two different security scans I was all set to carry on with buying a sink tap and a base unit for Red Roofs. I'd already sourced the models I wanted but having failed to make a successful order for the base unit yesterday I thought I'd start with the tap. On to the Screwfix site I went. Selected the tap and put it in 'my basket'. There I noticed that to qualify for free delivery I needed to spend £50 while the tap was 1p less. Admittedly the delivery charge is only £5 but I searched the website for the cheapest possible item to add to my order. I could have bought some sort of electrical socket for 68p but decided on 100 cable ties for 88p as they are always useful. So far so good, I proceeded to the checkout, registered for an account, put in our address and the delivery details and filled in my details for payment. That's when it all went wrong. Even though I'd filled it in correctly three boxes were starred as needing filling in and I was stopped from going any further. (Peter tells me the Screwfix site is generally rubbish). I opened up another page to find a phone number for some help but their help dept. is closed. Not knowing what had happened to my bank details I fired off an urgent email and called for my long-suffering home IT support. By that time the payment page had timed out and Peter's advice was to exit everything. That I did but had no energy left to tackle going back to sort out the purchase of the base unit from Wickes. Round three tomorrow I think.

I used some of the canes I bought to support the big pink rose but they aren't really long enough. I'll have to get the longest ones available the next time I go shopping. If this was our permanent garden I'd invest in a fancy wooden tripod support but canes will do.