Wet.

It was dry first thing then the sea mist gave a light drizzle around mid-day. The proper rain arrived in the afternoon and soon became more of a deluge than a shower.

Hoping the rain would hold off, which it did, I went out and painted the wall again before breakfast. Fortunately the warm wind helped it dry before the sea mist arrived. Peter decided to do his exercise before breakfast so I was able to get my DuoLingo done early too. 

That left me free to carry on working in the garden after breakfast. I had planned to move some of the narcissi from their temporary bed in the back garden to the back of the raised bed but after I dug up the first lot I realised it will be easier to wait a while until I can cut back the leaves and just move the bulbs. Instead I finished filling the middle section with top soil from the heap in the back garden. As well as levelling the heap I need to sort the old bricks and broken blocks that I'd used to keep the sides of the heap tidy. Once I've taken out any that can be used to support the plant troughs by the street wall the rest need to go in the raised bed by the terrace before it gets filled. And finally came the fun job of planting up the filled raised bed. I put in a number of hardy geraniums because I've always found them to be tough as old boots and looking at the other gardens facing the sea they seem to do okay in these conditions. The last crocosmia also went in leaving just enough room for something - aubretia? to grow over the front.

After a break I baked a big chocolate cake. I usually eat a slice when it's first baked but after that it's mainly Peter who eats it. This one will be cut up and frozen so should last a while. It might have to last Peter a long time as I'm fed up with having to clean the oven before I even start baking. It wasn't that bad but I don't like the idea of baking on the grease spots (from Peter's cooking) as that just makes the oven harder to clean. (Much as I like the idea of sausages and other meats they're too fatty for my diet and these days my digestion as well.) I had left the sides after spending a long time cleaning the rest of the oven a while back and Peter had promised to deal with them but didn't. So I've told him it's too disheartening to have to clean the oven, bake and then wash up so I shan't bake if the oven is mucky.