Showers.

Changeable weather today. We woke to grey mists but with the forecast for a sunny afternoon I put washing in the machine. High up on the hills, when I was taking photos, the sun was breaking through and the temperature was soaring but once I got back home the air was misty and cold. I got the washing out on the line only to have to bring it back inside when heavy rain fell.

In the morning I went off out to the builders' merchants to pay for the stone paving that will eventually be the terrace floor. They'd gone through our builder's account so that I could get his trade discount which although I haven't worked it out in detail seems to have saved us about 30% off the list price. While I was there I picked up a 1L tin of blue garden paint for the OSB board panel in the back garden wall.

On my trip to Aber yesterday I'd noticed how fresh and green everything is getting. I don't think that road is as pretty as my old way home to Dingles mainly because most of the hedges rise vertically from the edge of the road. 

In the few places where there are wider verges patches of cobalt blue bluebells are beginning to appear amongst the green grass speckled with white and pink flowers. There are very few places where you can park safely on the narrow winding roads and it was a bit of a walk to reach a vantage point from where I had a good view of Borth and across to the mountains.

Once I was back home Peter and I worked on the end wall in the back garden. First step was for me to create a card template to turn the boring rectangular board in the centre into a bit more of a feature as the trellis won't be covering that bit. I started off with a more elaborate design but after holding up the template decided on a simpler version (photos when it's complete). With the board cut and replaced upside down it was time to begin painting with the blue paint but ........I was just stirring the paint when down came the rain, not a gentle mist but big blobs that had me grabbing the washing off the line. Washing safely inside all I could do was wipe the excess paint off the brush onto the wood and then bring the paint inside too. End of outdoor work for the day. 

Indoors Peter was having his first attempt at making hummus using the food processor which I think he bought specially for the job. (I used to use the hand held blender which was fine.) Having rejected the offer of my method for making hummus as he doesn't like vague terms like 'some' and 'a bit' he looked on-line. He did follow my advice not to bother with recipes that had measurements in cups as there's nothing so frustrating as having to look up every ingredient to find out how much is needed. Even following a recipe didn't work out too well as the chickpeas, no matter how long he whizzed them in the blender were too hard as the cooking time hadn't been enough and he'd been overly generous with the tahini. However it's fine enough and then he cooked us up a lovely supper of lamb's liver and bacon. 

Meanwhile I finished hand sewing the second curtain for my study, ironed it and hung it up. Now for the light cheesecloth curtains to go against the glass in lieu of net curtains.