Below is the temperature on the terrace at 11.00. That says it all though by late afternoon the wind picked up and it felt a bit cooler.
I got up early again and enjoyed my cuppa on the terrace. The female blackbird got her handful of seeds and later enjoyed a long splash-about in the birdbath which I keep topped up for her and the other birds. Often especially when the weather is nice once I've drunk my large mug of tea I'll then have my first coffee of the day but today I thought I'd get a few jobs done first while it still wasn't too hot. First I scrubbed my set of fine pliers as the soft plastic handles had gone mouldy (?) Then I turned to something that had been bothering me for a while, the button-like covers over the screwheads on the balustrade fittings. They must be made from a lower grade of stainless steel as they were all turning a tasteful shade of green. One drawback to having a hyperawareness of details is that things like that really stand out and can't be ignored. I looked up how to get rid of verdigris and found the suggested method of using vinegar worked well. Scrubbing with an old toothbrush made cleaning a lot easier and now everything is shiny again. Eventually I got to sit outside with my coffee by which time it was getting extremely hot.
The sea was glassily smooth, perfect conditions for paddle boarding.
And then my keen eyes spotted something different far out by the marker buoys. This turned out to be a lone dolphin which must have been swimming just under the surface. By following the dark lines in the water I was able to get some distant photos when the dolphin surfaced. This was exciting as I haven't seen many dolphins so far this year.
Today was the first day of the summer term for our Welsh class. We began with our tutor telling us about the traditions around Calan Mai (The beginning of May) or Calan Haf (The beginning of summer) which you can read about here. This would be the day when families would move their sheep (and themselves) from the valleys up to higher grazing. The traditions include bonfires, dancing around a Maypole, songs and decorating their homes with greenery.
After class I headed into the garage and built the wooden structure for my Gandalf scarecrow using any scrap wood I could find. It's coming on nicely.
By the time that was done and yet another load of washing brought in from the line the wind was picking up and the formerly smooth sea was dotted with whitecaps. With the wind blowing from the north the waves coming in to the beach, to the right of the photo, had stripes running across them which looked very strange.
And then, with the week's routine back to normal, it was time for disco aerobics. It wasn't too hot in the hall and Rachel had set up iced water for anyone who hadn't brought a drink along.
1 comment:
Wow that was a hot day.
Beautiful sunset.
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