Cold.

It's turning really cold now with the icy wind blowing down from the north whipping up choppy waves. The only person I've seen out on the water was a solitary wing surfer. The brief showers that we had throughout the day were also bitterly cold.

I slept like a log last night but this morning my back was aching. I must not try so hard in Pilates. The trouble is our teacher talks us through one exercise which we do a number of times. Then she makes the exercise a bit harder and we all do that. Then she says if we really want to push ourselves we can try an even harder version but only do it if we feel able but if not just keep on doing one of the easier versions. Naturally everyone including me goes ahead and attempts the hardest exercise, at least that what it looks like when I have a quick look around. Most of the time especially when we are doing floor work I have no idea what other people are doing. I either have my eyes closed as I focus on what our teacher is saying or I'm staring up at the ceiling. 

As I ate breakfast I was almost hoping that the rain would settle in properly so that I had a good reason not to go to the zoo but in the end I drove down for three hours of weeding. Most of my time was spent tidying up a bed full of mature shrubs and bamboo which gets everywhere. I could see plenty of red cornus in there but it wasn't until I cleared a lot of dead grass and chopped away another shrub that I found a small cornus midwinter fire. (Photo from the web.) The odd coincidence is that I came across this when I was looking up cornus after last Sunday's visit and thought Wow! I found one branch that needed pruning so instead of going to the compost heap it's come home to see if I can get it grow.

For a change at the very end I grabbed a hammer and nails and fixed a bit of fence around another flowerbed. Oh what exciting work I do there. 

Having had a good work session, which after my initial reluctance I enjoyed (there's no expectation apart from my own, that I go there each week.) when I got home I put my feet up to watch the sea from the comfort of the armchair. Didn't even do any crochet. Then it was time for Duo Lingo and next I'll do some voice exercises before heading out for choir.