Garden Planning.

The day has been warm and generally grey. Sometimes brighter and almost sunny after a few very light showers in the morning.

My day began as usual, sitting out on the terrace. Not too early but then it never is after a busy Friday. I could easily sit out there for an hour if I had the time and a lot of that time is spent 'garden planning'. That is after I've had a quiet time to absorb the sights and sounds of the view and nature around. Although the re-design of the garden is complete I still occasionally spot a plant that needs to be moved or even removed. That's part of the challenge of gardening, being able to visualise the mature plant while looking at the tiny potted specimen brought home from the garden centre. And sometimes plants surprise you, at 3ft 6ins this lavender flowered hardy geranium below is almost as tall the blue hydrangea it stands in front of yet the parent plants from which this was a cutting are a good foot shorter. 

This morning I thought long and hard about where to plant the new artemisia. I had sat it by the caryopteris where it looked perfect as they are both about 6ins high but I know that won't be for long. In the end I've put it in the shingle garden. As I observe the garden in the mornings I work out the next job to do which now are all quite small tasks. Today I could see that it is time to start cutting back the aquilegia seed heads but only once they have lost all their flowers as the bees love them.

Like me the front garden has a split personality (put me somewhere where I feel confident and I don't stop talking but put me in a strange situation with people I don't know and I'll either hide in a quiet corner without uttering a word or leave). As to the garden, the beds around the edge are filled to bursting with a haphazard abundance of plants while the shingle garden is designed to show off each plant as a separate specimen. To keep it more or less that way I'll need to do some pruning of the more vigorous plants. I'm already eyeing up the tall flowering spikes of the stachys which has grown so well. I'm hoping to establish some at the zoo once the cuttings I took have rooted.

Having done all my planning, later in the day I had a long gardening session, cutting back the aquilegias, fine weeding the shingle and removing more of the blanket weed from the pond. As I scoop it out I have to check for the snails which I put back in the water. The ramshorn snails have been multiplying and there are also some very tiny pointed snails about the size of a grape pip. The more snails in there the more blanket weed they should eat, good!

While Peter was out playing pool I put the picture I bought him at the craft fair in a frame I bought yesterday and wrapped it up as well though his birthday isn't until July. I also put the photos I printed at Morrison's yesterday in the family photo frame and hung it in my study. 

By the time I had finished all my jobs for the day it was cool enough that I needed to fleece on to sit outside to read for a while. (The spiderlings have almost all gone now, maybe into the hedge.)

Traffic Jam.

The morning was grey and damp with the clouds only just above the rooftops. As the clouds rose and fell they loosed a fine mist of rain which occasionally turned quite heavy. After my riding lesson, indoors thankfully, I got really wet as we waited to pay and then got a further soaking at the dump where it took a while to put everything in the correct place. Luckily I had my jacket and a spare long sleeved top which I changed into when I got to Morrisons. In town it was grey and humid while my journey home took me up into the clouds. Arriving back Borth was much like the morning, with clouds/mist then suddenly the it all cleared and we had the most glorious evening.

At the stables I was surprised to find that I was riding Pac Man since he was also booked for the four hour ride in the afternoon. I guess he's a fit little horse. At least he is very nice to ride. There were seven of us in the lesson so Katie gave us two different exercises to do, riding the centre line and coming to a square halt or leg yielding off the three-quarter line. It was just a matter of finding space to do either exercise or a variation such as yielding to the wall and then straight back out again.

Afterwards I went to the dump where I found myself two tins of paint. I keep checking the crates of thrown out paint for any colours suitable for Viking shields but most of the paint seems to be white. Today I struck lucky and found a large tin of brick red floor paint which by the feel of it is half full and another tin which by the drips down the outside is dark brown. And then on to Morrisons. Arriving, the car park was pretty busy and later when I was ready to leave the whole car park was more or less grid-locked. Having seen that it was going to take a long time even to get out of my parking space I left the car where it was and walked over to Charlie's which I would normally drive to. There I bought myself an artemisia Powys Castle. I have the greener version and although I do already have a silver artemisia it looks slightly different. Having walked back to the car the traffic was still just as bad so I joined the queue and inched my way out. I then decided to drive over to B&M and was shocked to see the same sort of traffic jam in that car park. But I wasn't in a rush and people do eventually let you out. These sort of traffic jams work out a lot more smoothly when everyone lets one person out at junctions even though you don't have to. But funnily enough driving back into town the road was almost empty. Everyone must have gone south or east along the main roads.

In town I called in at the bank to pay the builder the deposit for our new porch. Work starts on Monday so we've been told. That, and changing the slabs in the front garden, is the last major job on the house. It will be a relief when it's all done.

Once I'd thrown everything in the washing machine I was able to relax and drink a large mug of tea on the terrace. There I spotted two conglomerations of orb spider spiderlings on the side of the big table. In the two days since I moved the table to cut the hedge they (or their parent) had been busy joining the table and chair with their silken threads. Looking them up I read that if you disturb them they will appear to explode outwards on their threads in an alarming manner but will eventually return when danger is over. I resisted poking them to see this happen but later when they had spread a little a light puff of breath had some of them dropping quickly. The weather was so nice we ate our dinner outside but because we didn't want to disturb the spiderlings we made do with the small side table. No need to be unkind even to spiders.

Grey.

And we're back to the grey again. Warm, very windy but not wet.

I had a later start than usual this morning and drank my coffee sitting on the wall of the raised beds. From there I had a view of the waves crashing on the concrete drain by the slipway. (It wasn't quite as dark as the camera has made it out to be.)

 

Since it is half-term and there was no Welsh class I decided to go down to the zoo to do some gardening. I drove rather than risked been blown over by the strong winds. I was keen to go as I knew that all the weeds would be growing in this warm, wet weather and I also had more plants for the gravel garden. Those included Linaria seedlings, the purple wildflower variety which I think is a lovely plant. They used to grow in the scree garden at Dingles and I've made sure to bring a few with me each time we've moved. At the zoo, as well as planting in the gravel I had a general tidy up of all the flowerbeds and then went on to weeding right by the entrance. I've given up on most of that area, too many weeds & grass and not enough gravel but there's one separate patch that I sometimes do. I kept on until the whole of that patch was clear and looking a lot better. Afterwards I went to spend some time with the pigs who are growing rapidly. It's very relaxing sitting there scratching their bellies and chatting to them and I may even have sung them a few songs. As I sat there I could hear a goat bleating in a nearby closed stable. It turned out that the goat's horn had fallen off (they do a lot of head butting of each other and their shelter). The horn had come off when one of the staff had checked it and the stump had bled copiously so the goat was being kept away from the other goats in case they caused any further damage.

When I got home there was just time to have a rest after doing my squats before I needed to get ready for disco aerobics. It's a good way to end the day and I always feel much better after an hour of dancing about to loud music.

A Break!

No cause for concern, quite the opposite - we had a break in the weather. Brief but extremely welcome.

First thing this morning it looked damp and grey but Peter assured me that looking at the satellite pictures he was sure it would be better later on. And it was! Sunny and warm. I was glad I had heeded Peter's advice and got some washing done ready to hang out on the line.

It would have been a good day to go to the zoo but Peter needed the car to take some people to look at the camper and it was too windy to cycle. Having thought the day was going to be wet again I had planned to do more sorting out in the utility room and have made great progress. Two storage trolleys have been condensed to one with the other being consigned to the garage and I've got some ideas on how to utilise the narrow cupboard built to house the bathroom pipes. Another big job was pulling out the washing machine to give the floor and the machine a good clean. This was made easier by my cunning design of being able to simply lift off the section of worktop that goes over the washing machine. I designed this to give easy access to the plumbing for when we need to swap washing machines but it made cleaning easier too. The last major job was to put back a piece of the outside door that runs across the bottom and stops rainwater dripping inside the door. This had fallen off a while back but I knew I needed to take off a cap piece at the end so that I could slide it over the screw heads. It broke when I tried to prise it off but is now back on with the aid of some strong glue.

After all that I gave myself a break sitting out in the sun before getting out the hedge trimmer to tidy up the long hedge. The new higher steps made it a bit easier but not as much as I'd hoped. Maybe I should look into a longer reach hedge trimmer as this is a job that will need doing regularly.

Another sit out in the sun before ironing and that was my day done.

My riding buddy sent me the photos from our ride last Friday so enjoy.

Here we are at the start of our ride making our way up out of the valley. From left to right the horses are - Griff, Pac Man, Seren, Cadno, Cody and Jack.

 This is a FB video of us cantering on the ridge near Devil's Bridge with me at number four. We'd been given strict instructions to stay in a line to avoid any rabbit holes. Poor old Cadno is coming in at the end and I think it's pretty obvious he's slowing down in his old age. The photo below is us all grinning wildly after that canter with the sea in the far distance.

Below- the first part of the leading section, the next bit was even steeper. This is another FB video taken just after we had got back on our horses as we crossed over the steam railway line. I'd been given Iola's horse to hold while she helped the other riders remount with the strict instruction not to let go of her as she would disappear down the line heading for home.

Crossing the Rheidol River.

'Scuse the silly face but that ice-cream tasted good after three hours in the saddle. And it was my first ice-cream of the year.

Very Wet.

Still grey and wet today. 

It was too wet to be worth Peter opening the RNLI shop and too wet for any work at the zoo. Instead I set myself the goal of giving my study a good tidy up which has been done. At the same time I cleared the rest of the scarecrow stuff from the utility room putting most of the bubble wrap back up in the loft. (Wallace and Gromit won btw.) I also put Speedy's fluffy bed away as I don't think we'll be getting another cat soon. 

Before putting stuff in bags for the bin men tomorrow I re-recycled the umbrella fabric into small bat wings for Halloween and cut bat bodies from the already black printed cardboard sides of the boxes I'd used to cut shields from for the carnival. 

Another outstanding job was to copy some photos onto a USB stick to print off so that I can replace the faded photos of the boys I have in a multiple photo frame. Then I might even get round to hanging the photos up somewhere.

When the rain finally came to a halt late in the afternoon  I went out and did a little gardening, planting the sedums I got at the fair and moving some oriental poppy seedlings that had appeared in a planter. With luck it will stay dry so that I can walk down to the Hall for Pilates rather than driving.

Here Comes The Rain.

The day began wild and windy. I wondered about doing some washing but with the likelihood of rain being 40% at 11.00, 80% in the afternoon and 95% by the evening it wasn't worth taking a chance. Sure enough the rain arrived just before mid-day and since then it has been cold, wet and miserable. The sort of weather that sucks all the joy out of the day. I've been trying hard (and partially succeeding) to motivate myself to those small indoor jobs that don't get done and then make me feel stressed because I haven't done them. Really I would like to curl up on on the sofa with a coffee, a packet of biscuits and something light to watch on the tv. But no biscuits 'cos I'm still on my diet and there are jobs to do first.

This morning, before the rain set in, I walked down to the Hall for the charities fair. A lot more stalls and people than at the craft fair on Saturday. I try and spend freely and even bought some raffle tickets though I avoid all the tombola stalls. If I did pick a winning ticket what on earth would I do with some random ornament or bath product? What I did buy were; some greetings cards donated by the artist who comes on the Sunday walks (Brooke - overseas donkeys and horses charity), glass tealight holders and a useful fancy set of hooks from a senior citizens group, a brand new pair of very soft leisure trousers/pjs and a light long sleeved top from Next plus a miniature keyring flask from the group raising funds for a new bus shelter and some sedum cuttings from the community gardens. I had seen the same ones growing outside a house on Saturday and thought that I could do with them in the garden so that was fortunate.

 

Gandalf and the BBR got taken down just before mid-day and the rain started to fall. I saved  as much of the bubble wrap as I could and regretted using quite so much gaffer tape as I prised it off the scrap bubble wrap which at least will go in the recycling bag. 

It's too wet to go down to the official announcement ceremony in the village but here are some of my favourite scarecrows. The Killer Bees is my firm favourite while Yr Adar/ The Birds was another good one.

The Little Red Wheelbarrow really is a character in a children's book.

This Florence Nightingale was well done.

I wonder how Miss Havisham's umbrella withstood the wind?

And a few more.

Gone.

Last night's windy weather continued through the day but fortunately the heavy rain didn't and we've even had some sun.

This morning when I went to check I found that the wind had turned the BBR around and poor Gandalf had fallen over and broken his arm. I managed to get them both back to rights with the broken arm tied to the staff for support.

And look! Photos of all the scarecrows are on line and there is another Gandalf. He is down the other end of the village by the public toilets enacting out the same scene. It's a bit small but the writing on his sign says - "You shall not pass, unless you pay a fee." which is a comment on the fact that you have to pay to use these toilets (the ones by the lifeboat station are free). I think it's 40p and the thought going through my head and probably anyone of my generation is "8 shillings to spend a penny!" He's a pretty good Gandalf though.

 

Repairs done I relaxed on the terrace with my tea watching the very wild seas. The ornamental grasses were waving gracefully in the wind and the sun on the pheasant grass made it look as if it were on fire. The aquilegias are already going to seed and will need cutting down to make room for the other perennials, mostly hardy geraniums, growing in the borders. The thrift growing on either side of the path is beginning to look faded but I'll leave the flowers heads for the finches which I've seen feeding on them. Then came the daily Duo Lingo which I like to get done before breakfast. As well as Welsh I've now added Greek for a reason which will become apparent later.

Today's walk was another river walk and after debating between a river walk with company or a wild beach walk alone I opted for the beach walk. Five kite surfers and a single wind surfer were out taking advantage of the wind but there were not so many people on the beach. I spoke to four different people who had brought dogs onto the beach reminding them nicely (I hope) that the dog ban extends right up to the golf course. They were all on a sheltered bit of beach above the tide line that is popular with families so all the more reason not to have dogs there. Luckily they all took it well. I'm the sort of person who feels that rules should be followed, but only if they make sense. I ignore rules that are pointless so I don't think I'd do well in the army.

There were only a few of the big barrel jellyfish on the sand but a number of sea gooseberries which at first I mistook for bubbles in the sea foam. They don't sting at all but catch their prey with sticky tentacles.

I walked right up to the far end of the village and then went to check if the never open shop was open. It wasn't, no surprise there but sadly the wooden birds we had been hoping to buy had gone. Such a shame as they were really lovely.

Instead I walked back to another shop that sells art works. They had some interesting sculptures made from metal objects with prices to reflect that they were original art works. I took photos of some of the paintings to show Peter but at around £300 far above any birthday present budget. If given a choice I would buy either of the two top paintings which show show the headland under the War Memorial or the picture below.

I then cut back onto the beach through a new alley for a windy walk home.

After a few indoor jobs I wrapped up well to sit out on the terrace to read. Wonderful.

Bwgan Brain.

After a night of heavy rain at least the day began reasonably dry with a warm south-westerly wind blowing. I even went as far as hanging the washing out on the line but only minutes later rain began to fall sending me rushing to rescue the washing and hang it up in the utility room.

After yesterday's amazing ride I have to say that I did not have a good night's sleep and am feeling shattered today. But it was worth it. There's another four hour ride next Friday but not only is the weather forecast dire but Pac Man has already been allocated. Maybe if the weather prospects improve I'll ask if there's space for me.

 

Gandalf and BBR survived the overnight rain. although the brim of Gandalf's hat got a bit dented under the plastic bag. In the morning I went down to the Hall for the craft fair. There seemed to be less stalls than usual and overall it felt quite sparse. 

My eye is always drawn to the ceramics and glass but I hadn't seen these bags before. They are made from vintage Welsh fabrics. Interesting though not my style. There were some nice jewellery stalls but I hardly ever wear the jewellery I already have so there's no point in buying more.

I like just about all the felted items on this stall but I couldn't really put any of them on my photographic list (ideas for Peter for my birthday present) as I can do my own felting. It has inspired me to start up another felting project soon. 

These copper animals are fun as are the sardine tin creations but I can't see where I would put them. I did buy a couple of charcoal sketches for Peter from the same artist I have bought from before. After looking around the craft fair I began walking up the High St to see if the shop with the birds and fishes in was open but met up with some people I know who were litter picking (well done them) who said the shop was still closed which saved me going all the way to the other end of the village.

Back home I went and looked at the scarecrows in the road behind us and then did some gardening; cutting back the saxifrage flowers, removing the dead flowers from an azalea and a few other small jobs. All the time keeping an ear open for the comments of people looking at the scarecrows. The children all like next door's Harry Potter, well LOTR was 20 years ago.

I had just gone out to photograph the dark clouds looming over the mountains when I met up with the judges one of whom I know. We had a long chat before I moved away to let them have their own discussion. Not that winning really matters. It was more the fun of following through with an idea and helping with an event that gets the holidaymakers walking around the village.

Bwgan Brain - Scarecrow.