Sunny.

Not everyone in Russia supports Putin. This is Yelena Osipova, a 76 year old artist protesting against the war in St Petersburg. May there be many more brave people like her.

Today was still sunny but with more clouds and haze. I woke early, prepared breakfast, played the piano, pedalled on the exercise bike and did some DuoLingo all before breakfast. While cycling I watched the early walkers heading off along the coast path and one brave soul entering the water sans wetsuit for a very brief swim. 

After breakfast I went straight out to the back garden to work on the narrow bed. Even though I'd already gone through it twice a third turning over of the soil yeilded more bits of plastic and rubbish. Mainly pieces of some sort of fabric which initially I thought was garden fleece or matting but now I think are the remains of those little bags you get small plants in. As I don't think that any gardening was done there for at least ten years you can't call them readily biodegradeable. Not the nicest things to find in the soil. After digging out the tree root and meta post I needed to top up the soil (looks like bought compost) with the rougher soil from my big heap. Lots of mixing together and then I walked over the lovely heap of crumbly soil to pack it down before I do any planting. In the meantime this is Peter's hydroponics project on the kitchen window sill. He has been buying Little Gem lettuces for his lunchtime sandwiches and was very interested when I told him that instead of throwing out the stumps he could put them in water and regrow the leaves. He's almost at the point where he can start harvesting the leaves.

While I was gardening in the morning the builder turned up with the replacement ridge tiles for the roof. He had planned to do the work today but his assistant had tested positive for Covid and it's a two man job. Our builder tests daily because his father is 95 and he doesn't want to take any chances. Instead the builder will be coming tomorrow with a different worker so we've had to postpone our planned day out. We're trying to go out one day a week but building works take precedence.

All too soon it was time for our Zoom class. Nothing much of note today but I did have to dash to open the door to the postman. He'd brought me a pair of Japanese divided socks that I can wear with my flip-flops. I have a pair of flip-flops with arch supports that I wear all the time at home but sometimes my feet get cold so the socks should help. I wasn't sure if they would fit as I have large feet and I don't think Japanese people do but the socks do fit. I got the idea when I saw somebody in a television drama wearing them.

After class I pottered around doing small jobs in the kitchen as I waited for somebody to call round but eventually I gave up, changed into my grubby work clothes and went out to carry on gardening. I hate waiting for people.

 

Warm.

The beautiful Carpathian mountains in Ukraine. How sad to think of the country now being ravaged by a war initiated by a despot. (Apparently FB no longer allows people to say what they would like to do to Putin.)

Here it's been a beautifully warm and sunny day.

Maybe not the best weather for planting up the flowerbed at the zoo but there you go. Rain would be better for the plants but not so nice for me. I had lovely conditions to work in and didn't even bring my big coat with me. It was so warm I worked in just a vest top and stayed safe from the sun with an unflattering but servicable sun hat. I had brought six varieties of hardy geranium and four varieties of sedum from home, sigh - I had nearly twenty varieties of hardy geraniums at Dingles but somehow with two moves the numbers I brought with me are much reduced. I planted everything a bit closer together than I usually would to give a better impact this summer and optimistically threw down alyssum and candytuft seeds too. I'm hoping that the people I've asked will remember to water this bed though both the geraniums and the sedum are usually tough as old boots. After I'd sorted this bed I tidied up another patch of ground by a fence digging out the docks which I now know are toxic (to a degree) to rabbits and in their place planted valerian, a coastal wild flower, which grows abundantly in my garden. 

We have a new goat. This is Willow who arrived yesterday. She was unwanted because she only has three working teats and is adept at jumping fences which is why she is tethered with a long lunging rein. She is also very friendly. I went in to unwind the tether from a piece of wood it was caught round and she promptly jumped over the fence you can see behind her, and then hopped back. She is in that enclosure just to keep an eye on her and to weigh and worm her but then she will be going into the enclosure on the hill which has ten foot high fences, hopefully with at least one of the other goats for company.

As I worked I kept hearing Mr Turkey making turkey noises as he kept guard over the turkey hen.

On my way back I stopped to watch the spring lambs in a field. This little group were at the inquisitive stage, rushing up to see what I was doing and then running away as soon as I got the camera out.

These twin lambs were younger, maybe only a few days old, and stayed close to ther mum.

Back home I sat out with a coffee as I watched the waves rolling gently in and then I went into the back garden to finish off digging out the tree roots from the narrow bed. Now all I have to do is tidy up the rusty metal remains of the two end meta posts and mix in some extra soil. 

 

Warm.

Ukrainian landscape by Vladimir Nezdiimynoha. Praying that peace will return to this troubled land. The BBC news says that the Russians have been driven out of Mariupol which is good news but sadly the sity has been reduced to unrecognisable rubble.

Here we've had a beautifully warm and sunny day. The thermometer hadn't even been in the sun but was in the shade on the terrace.

Peter has been doing even more clearing in the garage and went off this morning with yet another load to the dump. I spent most of my day grubbing about in the back garden. I managed to remove the tree stump from the narrow bed which I followed by a break on the terrace when I rewrote the list I've made of plants that are toxic to rabbits, goats and dogs. (The dogs' lists came up first when I searched for information.) I did that research to check that I wouldn't be planting anything toxic at the zoo. I'm glad I did so because I've had to reject aquilegias, Nigella and feverfew. I also want to check that there aren't others from my list of 50 plants growing around the zoo. I never knew that dock is toxic to rabbits and there's plenty of that around. I must make sure to dig it all up so that visitors don't mistakenly feed it to the rabbits.

Later I dug out the middle meta post from the bed so I'm pleased with my progress. It was still too warm to hide indoors so I sat out and removed all the plasters I bought yesterday from their wrappers. That saves me time on a Wednesday morning when I need to put plasters on all my toes and fingers. I finished off by doing some more sewing, just some alterations.

 

Amazingly this is how Borth looked on this day 27 years ago. A bit different though I don't think there's been snow here since then.

I'm on my own this evening as Peter is out with the rowing club for a curry night. I could have gone along but eating out is expensive and I'll be happy here with my dahl.

Getting Warmer.

When I see what is happening in Kyiv I realise how trivial my woes are.

Today began grey and gloomy with occasional light showers creating polka dot patterns on the terrace. Later it warmed up as the sky turned blue and I've heard on the radio that we can expect warm weather for the rest of the week. A good thing too as according to the local paper heating oil prices have risen from 'an already high 66p per litre to 148p per litre in just a fortnight'. 

Remember the old photo I posted back in February? Today I stopped at the same spot on my way back from my shopping trip to show how it looks today. Fewer trees but not a lot of difference.

The church is just beyond the cottage on the right.

It was built in 1840 so would have been a modern addition to the village at the time of the first photo. 

I had a walk around the churchyard looking at the gravestones. The inscriptions on the older ones were too weatherworn to make out .

There were some horses in a field behind the white cottage and this lovely cob who reminded me of my old horse, came over to say hello. She didn't mind that I had no treats and stood there gently licking my palm and letting me give her a rub behind her ear.

Most of my day was taken up with a trip to town. That was after I'd given the shower a thorough scrub and done the wahsing up.

I didn't have anything to take to the dump but I still went across town to begin my shopping at Morrison's. They've starting stocking their outside garden sales area again so I bought a couple of bags of compost and some seeds. I refrained from even looking at the cheap clematis as I think I still have enough survivors to finish off planting up the trellis in the back garden. After Morrison's I went over to B&M to look for a plastic container big enough to soak the oven trays in. They didn't have anything so I walked to Charlie's where I found this enormous storage box which will do the job. A flat tray would have been better but although I found something in the gardening section it was too shallow to soak more than one tray at a time.

Then I drove back into town parking by Matalan (3 hours free parking). I went into a lot of shops where there seemed to be a general shortage of plasters. I couldn't find my usual cheap ones but bought a box of a different make as my fingers split easily when I'm doing lots of gardening. I had a good look around the charity shops for something to use to sieve the front garden decorative pebbles before I bring them to the back garden. I had found the perfect thing in Charlie's, a barbecue pan but I wasn't going to spend £12 on it. Maybe I could persuade Peter that he needs it for his barbecue though I'm not sure what state it would be in after all my pebble sifting. Instead I got the metal cutlery tray for £1 and then in another charity shop even better was the metal salad shaker for £1.50. 

I had my camera with me with the photos of the wood in the submerged forest but when I got there the museum was shut. It seems to be open by appointment only.

After stopping to take photos on the way back it was too late to do any gardening so I sat out on the terrace drilling fine holes in a piece of driftwood with my pin drill. I have just enough sea glass to make another hanging thingy.

 

Sunny.

From what we hear that hundreds or according to some reports, thousands of Ukrainian women and children have been abducted by Russia and transported to remote locations. Sounds like it's back to the days of Stalin.

I heard last night that the UK is also sending firefighting vehicles and equipment to Ukraine which is a small ray of hope in this horrible situation.

Here we've had another sunny day Not as windy or as warm as yesterday which was the warmest day of the year so far but good enough. 

After our Sunday breakfast I gave up and had a go at cleaning the oven (Peter keeps saying he's going to do it as he frequently cooks meat in the oven). If only those oven cleaners really did work the way they advertise and all you had to do was squirt the stuff on, leave it for a set time and then wipe off with paper towels I wouldn't mind. But no, it's put the stuff on, leave and then commence scrubbing. Or if only the 'self cleaning oven' actually cleaned the whole oven and not just the back plate. I've probably moaned about this before but it really makes my back hurt.  I've left the trays and shelves for Peter to do as he can do them in the sink. What we really need is a tub big enough to soak them overnight in dishwasher tablets.

With little left to wash I went up into the loft, something I wasn't looking forward to after the incident of the wet rafters, but it wasn't bad at all. The outer boxes do feel soft so I need to swap them with the dry ones I've been collecting but the contents were not too bad. However when I checked the box of fabric it all smelt slightly musty so I brought the fabric down and put most of it in the washing machine. The wind blew it nicely dry and then I finished off with an ironing session at the end of the afternoon.

Before I could get down to gardening I put up a couple of big hooks in the garage to hang Romas' surf board (in its bag) from. Yes, even though we hardly ever see him I still look after his surfboard and wetsuit though I doubt it would fit him any more. 

Finally I was able to do some gardening. This narrow bed is the last bit of the back garden that needs digging over. Apart from a few weeds I had to remove all sorts of bits of plastic and polystyrene, yuck! I started at the easy end and have reached the middle where there is a rusty meta post and the roots of a small tree that was growing there. Eventually I hope to grow some salads in this bed or maybe courgettes or squash.

Between gardening and ironing we sat out on the terrace watching the surfers. The morning sea had been very flat covered with ripples as the easterly wind flattened the waves but later in the day the wind changed direction allowing even waves to roll in. Perfect for the surfers.

Sunny.

Today's photo for Ukraine is the heartwarming sight of a convoy of rescue vehicles on its way to Ukraine from Portugal which together with medical supplies and rescue equipment will be donated to the Ukrainian nation.

Here we have had beautiful weather. The light wind developed into a good drying wind and I was able to dry several loads of washing. Which are now dry, ironed and put away which is very satisfying.

This morning I washed all the laminate flooring something I don't often have to do. A daily going over with a dry mop/swiffer is usually enough.

Being such a lovely day of course I had to find something to do outside so I turned my attention to the back garden. My first job was to fit a bar across the bottom of the last piece of trellis. Now that the garage is in a slightly more organised state it was easier to find all the tools and screws I needed to screw all the loose bits of trellis to the beam. I may fix it where it is now unless I come up with a better idea. I then had a fun time weeding including some almost empty looking pots. I am nothing if not optimistic when it comes to plants and at least now they look tidy.

It was a bit cooler on the terrace but I couldn't resist sitting in the sun with a mug of coffee. The first patch of sun hit the terrace at 12.30 and remained until 4.00 which I know will be a terrible temptation for me. However there was ironing to do though that that was still in view of the beach. 

 

Aberdyfi.

Modern Kyiv.

Today has been sunny and warm, a lovely spring day. Perfect for us to go on an adventure. At least it was an adventure for us as apart from two short drives to Ynyslas the only times we've gone out since we've been here have been for shopping, health matters or the dump.

Today we took the plunge and headed out to Aberdyfi [Aber-dove-ee] a small town on the other side of the estuary directly opposite Ynyslas. We can see it from here but to get there takes 45 mins of driving through wooded roads up one side of the river Dyfi [Dove-ee], crossing over in the town of Machynlleth (impossible to pronounce for non-Welsh speakers) and driving all the way back down the river. There's a large pay car park but we were lucky enough to find a free spot on the road. Being able to walk along the river makes the town very visitor friendly plus there was a neat little garden/park, which I didn't photograph, that led to the harbour buildings and jetty and beyond those there is a stunning beach backed by sand dunes. 

Looking across the river we could see Ynyslas and beyond that Borth. I had my binoculars with me and could make out the Memorial and the general shape of the houses along the cliff. (This bit won't justfy.)

Having a small working harbour gives the place a great deal of charm but at 45 minutes further away from the hospital in Aber we would still choose the hospital over the harbour.

Beyond the harbour lies the sandy beach which runs for many miles around the coast line. Wide golden sand backed by low sand dunes, wonderful to walk on but .......... it's not safe for swimming. It's fine for children to paddle and maybe to swim close to shore but the river creates strong currents. It's not unusual to hear of the Aberdyfi lifeboat being called out to rescue swimmers who have got into trouble and sadly not everybody makes it. I can also imagine that the beach gets crowded in summer. However I'm still jealous of that beach.

It's interesting how different locations on the same coast have different beach shells. On the beach at Aberdyfi the strand line was littered with cockle shells and not much else.

We had a good walk along the beach and then returned to the town to buy some fish and chips for our lunch. A treat for us and a way to support the local economy. I waited outside while Peter went in and ordered and then carried on to have a conversation in Welsh. While I would not have been so confident I did understand most of what he was saying. We sat at the edge of the beach to eat our fish and chips and very nice it was too. I ate a whole piece of fish including all the crispy batter, so unhealthy but a tasty treat and never mind the diet, and shared some of Peter's chips. Neither of us felt like eating supper tonight so I just had a small mango this evening.

The sun was still shining when we got home and for the first time this year the sun had reached the terrace so we sat outside for a while. It made a change to be able to simply put our chairs in the sun rather than having to balance on the uneven surface where the old bay window had been. After a reviving mug of coffee I was tempted into the sunny front garden to do some weeding under the hydrangeas. That done I came inside, played the piano and did my second exercise bike session. The first along with DuoLingo was done before breakfast.