More Painting.

We had heavy rain in the night, a few showers in the morning and for the rest of the time it's just been windy.

I have spent the day painting shields, 22 small ones and 2 large. Only the central bosses to stick on and then I can go back to adding to our costumes. Although I've based the shield designs on Viking shields, so easy to do research now we have the internet, I've snuck in some LOTR designs for the large shields. Any fellow fan will recognise our Rohan shields. Peter's shield is a simplified version of Théoden's shield though to make it more 'Viking' I've added runes. But not any old runes, they're dwarvish runes that spell Pete. You would have to be a real fan to work that one out. I've just looked up the runes I painted on some of the small shields and saw they are X, W, T and Q. A truly random choice.

 

Enough of the sweet peas that I planted out survived for me to pick flowers every day for the utility room. Their scent is absolutely gorgeous. (Can't bear hyacinths or paperwhites.)

Shield Painting.

Last night's heavy rain eased off in the morning with the sun making an appearance by the end of the afternoon. It's been windy but still warm.

Pete went into town to sort things at the bank. One of the things in his wallet was his newly bought senior railcard which had cost £35. I'd looked on line and if you lose it a replacement costs £10 which at least is better. But when Pete went to get the replacement because he had a crime number having reported his missing wallet to the police, there was no charge. A bright moment in all the drama and worry. He's also been to the pub and they're going to check the CCTV just in case they see anything. 

In the meantime I was at home busy painting Viking shields with the simplest designs I could find. Next step will be black gloss paint around the borders. From the on line chatter there seem to be all sorts of ideas going on for the boat including oars that will be moved by string and even dummy Vikings to go in the boat. I'll just do my bit and see what everyone else comes up with.

The only bit of gardening I did today was to tie in the rapidly growing tomato plants.

Windy.

Today has been cloudy, windy and warm. In town in the shelter of all the buildings it was very hot but once in the wind it was much cooler.

 

Somehow I managed to miss seeing Pete and the rest rowing the boat back yesterday. Maybe because they came on the far side of the buoys and were hidden by the waves while I thought they would be much nearer the shore. The row was good but to spoil the memory Pete has now realised that he must of dropped his wallet in the pub. He didn't realise this until he came home from working in the RNLI shop this morning. He's searched everywhere and even gone back to check the shop but there's no sign of the wallet. So he's lost cash and all his cards including his driving licence and has had to spend the afternoon on the phone ordering replacements. It's a shame especially as here quite often lost wallets are handed in but no such luck. In case the same thing happens to me I've photographed all my cards and will email the photos to myself. That way I can have all the information where ever I can access my emails.

 

While all that drama was going on I was in town shopping. I followed my usual route starting off with Morrison's then popping into Charlie's to check out their plants. I was tempted by a small hardy geranium with dark purple flowers but didn't get it as I wasn't sure where I would put it. I had a look at the reduced section which is where the purple petunias came from but there was nothing much in there today.

In town I tried on and rejected five pairs of shorts in Sports Direct (my current Adidas ones are far too large) and then found a suitable pair of black sports shorts in a charity shop. In another charity shop I found yet more green glass blobs and some tiny bright blue ones. I also bought a cheap paintbrush to use (and then throw away) with the black gloss paint on the shields. 

Walking around wasn't so bad for my toe but driving was so I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting outside reading.

A Pleasant Discovery.

It has been sunnier today and quite hot at times.

My toe was painful last night which was a sign (as the scar doesn't look inflamed) that I had been doing too much yesterday. So today I tried to take things a bit more easily and so far my toe feels a lot better.

That said I still painted some more shields and did some gardening. I cleared more of the campanula and have begun cutting back the flowering stems of the stachys. Mainly where they have grown right over other plants. I've still left a lot for the insects and you never know, cutting back the stachys might encourage it to put out more flowers. 

For a lot of the time I've been sitting out on the terrace reading or doing more darning of the delicate scarf. 

I've also done a lot of looking through my binoculars trying to spot Peter and the rest of the crew as they row back from Aberdyfi. They went up on the train to collect one of the boats that had been borrowed by the Aberdyfi rowing club for the regatta that didn't happen. I know they had to wait for the tide but so far there's hasn't been a sign of them. I'm not at all worried as they have radios and all the safety equipment and Dave, one of the crew is the RNLI operations manager.

This was my pleasant surprise. On a whim I Googled Dingles and came across this website for their holiday accommodation. They've replaced the old stone woodshed and large Leylandii that were next to it with an open fronted double garage and holiday bedsit above. It all looks very smart and costs from £350 per week. Some work has been done on the gardens and the old orchard/ chicken run which I dug over and turned into beds for propagating the plants has been changed to raised vegetable beds. 

It was good to see as I hadn't wanted to check the place out ever since I saw that the people who bought it from us (and were selling up) had chopped down the wisteria, honeysuckle and roses that were growing on the house walls. From the photo above it looks as if the wisteria on the end wall is starting to grow again. I was also pleased to see that the azaleas, bought as tiny twigs from Tesco's (probably reduced) are doing well on the bank by the side of the drive.

Sunshine.

Lots of sun today, and wind too which kept the temperature down but made for a perfect drying day. By the time I hung the second load out on the line the sheets were ready to be brought in for ironing.

While Peter took a carful of bags of garden waste down to the dump I had a fairly relaxed morning. I painted more shields including some with a darker green that I made by combining two of the paints I scavenged from the dump. The larger shields are bowing slightly so I'm thinking that if I paint the reverse sides as well they might even out.

Out in the garden I began removing the smaller campanula (a save from the original garden) from one of the raised beds. It has grown too well swamping the other plants and looks messy. If I can think where to put it I may take some to the zoo.

 

While sitting by the scree garden with a cup of coffee I suddenly spotted a humming bird hawk moth visiting the flowers. With the wind and the waves I couldn't hear the distinctive humming of its wings which to both me and the camera were just a blur but there was no mistaking the large moth. It spent its time going round and round the lavender bushes with the occasional foray to the thrift. I'm always happy to see more visitors to the garden.

With my thoughts turning to butterflies I've been trying to see where I might fit a second buddleia in the front garden. The one I have is a descendent of one I grew at Dingles and has almost magenta blooms which seem to shine or fluoresce. Maybe because of the orange centres of the individual flowers. My neighbour has a gorgeous nearly black flowered buddleia which looks even darker than Black Night and I know she would let me take cuttings. If I do plant one it needs to be where I can reach it to cut it right back each year.

I also baked a Bara Brith for Pete. I had forgotten to stock up on the bags of mixed nuts so used almonds and hazel nuts instead.

I finished off the afternoon sitting outside suitably clad for the wind. I read and then made a start on mending a much loved but very old headscarf. It's one of those versatile very light Indian scarfs with a fringe and thin silver strips that catch the light. When I was in my twenties I would wear that type of scarf peasant fashion. I've had this one for many years but now it's so delicate it tears easily and already has a number of darns done with sewing thread so maybe this is its last repair.

Cooling Down.

Well we've reached the first of July and the weather has been quite gloomy and not very warm. The patch of blue in the photo below was the one and only moment of brightness in the whole day. The final photo is a better match for the rest of the day. It began warm and muggy but then got noticeable chillier when the wind swung round to the north.

I didn't wake properly until 8.30 which might have been due to taking an antihistamine (for the insect bites which are driving my hypersensitive skin crazy) earlier or simply tiredness catching up. The good thing is that if we need a slow start to the day we can have one. 

Since I've been unable to get out so much I've been making an effort to keep up my piano and guitar practice as quite often it gets left out on a busy day and then I feel cross with myself. Today everything got done.

Look! A pond skater on the pond. Apart from the water snails (there's one in the water just above the pond skater) which I introduced, this is the first pond dweller that has arrived under its own steam in our tiny water feature. I've just been looking up some information and found that they can fly. There are 9 UK species and the common pond skater is also known as a pond strider though I found them referred to as water dancers which sounds much nicer. 

Other jobs done today include painting a second coat of grey on the shields and altering another yoga top. It was at least three sizes too big so I'm guessing I bought it in sale at Tesco's back in Devon. (Where I got most of my 'active wear'.)

The final event of the day was walking down to the surgery to have my stitches taken out by the nurse. There was a bit of an intake of breath when she took off the dressing. Not so much at the bruising on my toe but (I think) at the lack of finesse in the stitching. She remained professional and her only comment was that the stitches looked very tight. But out they came without a hitch. Although I had been hoping to return to Pilates next week her advice was not to do any of my activities for a few weeks yet but let my toe heal up completely first. I shall have to content myself with exercising at home.

It's a good thing that I walked to the surgery as currently the High st is closed due to roadworks and I wouldn't have been able to get as far as the surgery. To get to the other end of the mile and a half long village would involve a diversion of about 10 miles. But they are only digging a trench along the edge of the road and unofficially they've said (so I've been told) that once they go home people can move the cones that are across the road and drive through. (The actual trench has its own set of barriers.)

A Good Morning.

The day began warm and carried on getting warmer and warmer. Right now I'm very glad of the breeze which is blowing in through the window next to me. Having open doors at either end of the house also helps.

Once I'd been revived by the tea helpfully brought to me by Peter I had a very good morning. I had just got up when one of the builders arrived at 8.00 to reposition the porch letter box. For the sake of an hour's work and one extra concrete block we now have a letter box at the front of the porch. And the letters will land on the bench seat that is going to be built across that end of the porch. It sounds like the rest of the porch is being delivered to the builder this week so hopefully work will continue soon.

Then as we were eating breakfast Peter spotted a dolphin fishing close to shore. It was in such shallow water that it left a wake on the surface as it circled the fish it was hunting. I've not seen the dolphins that often this year so the sighting made the morning special.

After breakfast we headed off to Mach to meet up with our friends to practise our Welsh. It's been a while since we met up in the library since even with only four of us it's hard to find a mutually convenient time. 

 

Afterwards we went to the Café Owain Glyndwr for lunch to mark the end of our fourth year of learning Welsh together. Next year our lessons will be three instead of two hours so we should progress a bit more quickly. For lunch Peter had ham, eggs and chips with really nice ham and I had a bowl of carrot and sweet potato soup. Unlike last time when I found the bacon and lentil soup too salty this soup was perfect with a good kick of black pepper which is one of my favourite spices. 

Afterwards Peter went to play pool while I drove home. I took a chance and did some washing which has almost dried out on the line. 

Then I painted some more shields this time using paint for concrete floors. As it is not water based I didn't want to waste a paint brush but used an old toothbrush to dollop on the strange grey paint. I think it might be textured because it feels as if there is a lot of sand at the bottom of the tin. It doesn't matter so long as it works on cardboard.

I did some dead heading and used up the water from the water butt in the back garden which was beginning to smell stagnant. That butt fills very quickly with the water from the garage roof, one night of rain and it will be full again.

I did some sewing too, gathering the neckline of a top and even found time to sit outside during a sunny and very hot spell.

Warm-ish.

The day began with rain, around mid-day the clouds began to clear and the temperature started shooting up. But that was only temporary and soon the clouds rolled back down from the mountains bringing a low bank of sea mist. Not the best conditions for the washing I had out on the line.

I spotted a new type of board/boat thing? on the water this morning. It looked to be a powered kneel-on (as opposed to stand-up) board. I think I'll make a file of all the different kinds of craft and stuff I see out on the water as there's always something new out there.

Peter made an early trip to Lidl as we were out of a few staples such as milk, croissants, bananas, taramasalata and humus not all of which can be found in the local shop. He got there early and then had to wait (18 minutes) until 10.00 to pay due to Sunday trading rules.

I got some gardening done, did some house cleaning plus my usual routine (but not squats yet) and then later some ironing. Most of the washing is now hanging in the utility room as the light breeze didn't do much to counteract the humid conditions.

Whilst contemplating the garden I was pleased to see a few butterflies, a peacock butterfly and a fleeting glimpse of a small blue butterfly as well as the usual small whites. The buddleia should attract a few more as should the big sedums which are about to flower.

I spent some time watching and photographing the bees and flies in the stachys but with at least 240 species of solitary bee and 270 species of hover fly identification is not that easy. I did find out that the bees with white tails were not white-tailed bumble bees but worker buff-tailed bumble bees. Fascinating though all that is I don't see me becoming a serious entomologist.

PS. For anyone who is interested I've added a video from the RNLI ceremony to yesterday's post.

Out and About.

Although it's been warm I'm sure this doesn't count as a heatwave unlike other parts of the country.

Having stayed home for the last ten days it made a nice change to get out today.

First I drove down to the community gardens for another of the mini jumble sales in aid of a new bus shelter. It was a chance to get out, maybe see a few people I knew and of course eat cake. And that I did. I chatted a bit, had a piece of carrot cake and even found a couple of items in the jumble sale, a useful extra large cotton shopping bag and a cut glass bottle stopper. Today's jumble sale made nearly £100 so with any luck we should have a new shelter before the autumn and the children won't have to wait for the school bus in the rain.

In the afternoon we walked down to the RNLI Station for the official blessing and hand-over of the new D-class lifeboat, D-839 Annie Lizzie. It is named after Miss Annie Elizabeth Niederman who left money in her will for the purchase of a lifeboat. There were some words, fortunately quite brief, said by various people including The Lord Lieutenant of Dyfed (a lady) followed by a service led by the local vicar. Both the Welsh and British National Anthems were sung accompanied by a small silver? band. Amongst all this the lifeboat was officially handed over to the station and had a bottle of something fizzy poured over its bows. Something interesting I learned was that in the 59 years Borth RNLI has been operating over 250 lives have been saved. Not bad for a village of just over 1,000 people.

Then the lifeboat was launched and splashed its way dramatically through the waves for a while to show its capabilities after which there was tea and a good selection of sandwiches and cake. I chatted to a few people that I knew before heading for home. Peter stayed on and I understand that they would then be going on to the pub for a while.

Photos from the internet.

The plant supports were waiting for me when I got home so they have been unpacked and used to prop up any of the taller plants that looked ready to succumb to the wind or were resting on top of smaller plants.

Here is a video of the ceremony.

Cloudy.

Whilst some parts of the UK have been under an official heatwave warning here it has been warm but cloudy with steady rain by the end of the afternoon.

I've got so fed up with not doing much outside that today I just got on with things the first being shield painting using one of the paint tins rescued from the dump. There was about a third of a tin of a light sage green paint. The colour that seems to be still very popular for window frames and doors though being a traditionalist I prefer white. I used it to paint one of the large shields and eight of the smaller ones. Being water based it dried quickly and I got three coats done over the afternoon.

I did also finish taking up my study curtains so that's another job done.

 

The other thing I got on with was cutting back in the front garden. Even though it hadn't quite lost all its lavender coloured flowers I cut down the large geranium and discovered it is in fact three plants. I shall dig up at least one when the ground is less dry and relocate it at the zoo. 

I will also make sure to put in more supports next year so that it doesn't flop over everything else. I find the metal bow supports work well and have ordered more of the 100cm ones which should arrive any day. I was able to find a UK firm rather than going through Amzn which I would rather not shop with. And it was a few pounds cheaper even with a the delivery charge.

Below is half-way through the job though in the end I decided to take the whole lot down. There is a lot of bare earth now in that bed but at least I have a better view of the blue hydrangea.

Peter was out manning the RNLI shop this morning and afterwards he met up with Dave to discuss rowing club stuff. As I had run out of frozen cauliflower one of my daily vegetables, I walked down to the shop to see what they had. No frozen cauli which I had expected but I got a fresh one instead and possibly some ice-cream. I also wanted to see how my foot felt after walking all that way and so far so good.

Windy.

The day has been windy with spells of sun.

I have to say that the lack of physical activity is leading to a certain amount of boredom on my part. I can do things like playing the piano and guitar, sewing and of course browsing the internet and even some floor exercises but it is the same each day. 

I have lots to be thankful for including not being in pain or at least any more than usual and a lovely garden and view to look at but I would so love to stretch my legs on a good walk. I've almost finished turning up my study curtains so I could be thinking about starting another craft project. Plus I've still got to paint all the Viking shields for the carnival, 22 small ones for the boat and two large ones for us. So really there is plenty for me to do.

I've sat outside a couple of times today but the warm spells never lasted that long. At least it hasn't been raining.

 

The Sun Returns.

Having been somewhat put out to hear that Aberaeron just down the coast had over nine hours of sun yesterday and had been one of the sunniest places in the UK it was a relief to finally see some sun this afternoon.

The fact that I needed to do less walking about today and the fleeting nature of the good weather meant that as soon as all the usual routine was done I settled myself on the terrace. Sun lounger, kindle and mug of tea all made for a pleasant sojourn though wouldn't you know it eventually a grey cloud loomed and I felt the first spits of rain. 

It was only a fleeting moment of dampness though afterwards the world turned grey again so I did some more curtain hemming. The wide street facing window in my study has a double layer of curtains with instead of a lining, thick curtains made from a woollen blanket that help keep out the cold and the light from the street light on the opposite pavement.

Before getting on with the morning jobs I'd spent some time sitting down by the shingle garden. Although the tall flower spikes of the stachys are starting to look quite dishevelled as the flowers turn brown they are still full of many different types of bee, wasp and fly all buzzing about harvesting the nectar from the remaining flowers so I can't cut the spikes down yet.

I'm also keeping my eye on the hardy geranium in front of the blue hydrangea. There are still too many of the pale lavender flowers for me to start cutting that back. And yes, that is just one plant spreading across the whole of the flower bed.

Another hardy geranium doing well is Ann Folkard which has worked its way into the hedge and is sending out flowers 4ft up. The verbena bonariensis has shot up above the top of the hedge and is contrasting nicely with the brilliant purple buddleia. It's a real pleasure to see so much colour in the garden at the moment.