Showers.

We had lovely weather in the morning and although it stayed warm the showers got heavier and more frequent as the day progressed.

I had one of those days where I woke at 4.00 and gave up on trying to get back to sleep by 5.00. It just reaches a point where the pain outweighs the pleasure of lying in bed. Instead I prepared breakfast and got the early morning jobs done before settling down in front of the tv. I'm currently watching Portrait Artist of the Year, there is something very soothing watching skilled artists capture different facets of the same sitter.

After breakfast I got Peter to hold one end of the 3m gutter so that I could mark up for the brackets. But ..... after fitting the long section I've decided I really do not like the brown gutter against the white wall (the brown mark on the wall underneath is from water splashing off the terrace onto the soil below and will be washed off). The brown gutter is too intrusive especially as the raised bed below will be a focal feature of the garden so I shall have to buy white guttering instead. Unless I can move the brackets higher up so that visually the gutter merges with the edge of the terrace slabs, that's an idea to explore.

And then it rained, and when the rain stopped we were treated to a double rainbow, much brighter than it looks in the photos.

I spent the rest of the afternoon making truffles as there's a family birthday coming up. (I don't think the boys read my blog so it doesn't matter if I post a photo.) The round ones are the usual truffles, this time made with Bailey's and the star shaped ones have marzipan inside. I tried out the sweet moulds I bought in the charity shop and they've worked quite well though next time I'll roll the marzipan into slightly smaller balls. I had some melted chocolate and ganache balls left over so I used the heart shaped moulds to make the heart shaped chocolates which Peter and I can share as chef's perks.

 

Warm.

An incredibly warm day, as good as any British summer's day (not counting those few days of the heat waves) and an awful lot of rain.

The wet weather put paid to our plans for a walk in the hills, instead Peter went to town to do the shopping and I stayed home to clear up some small jobs. Having not recieved any reply to my initial email about the damaged sink unit I had re-sent the email via every one of the emails they had sent me. Only this morning did I see that by linking to a 'chat bot' I could register the damage. After my initial misgivings I found it a very easy process and a new unit is being delivered on Monday. Plus we can keep the damaged unit. It won't be too hard to cut it down and fit it over the boiler controls when the time comes.

The next job done was fitting the toilet roll holder. All I needed to do was to drill two holes in the side of the cupboard to fit the bolts through which wasn't that difficult. A small job that took a long time from initially finding the holder in the ironmongers in Mach. I will admit to being unimpressed by the lack of drill bits in the box in the not very organised workshop end of the garage. We have one of those sets which not so long ago had every size and style of drill bit needed for general work, 38 of them to be exact. However when I opened it up there were only 11 drill bits inside but fortunately the size I needed was there. When will Peter learn to put things back after he's used them? It's such a waste of time to have to search for things before you can even start a job.

Look at the wonderful colours of the sea. There is a faint rainbow in the centre of the horizon but later there were a couple of better ones.

We had a longer dry spell in the afternoon during which I walked down to the pharmacy as they'd sent a text saying there was something to collect. That turned out to be the same tablets they gave me last week so I left those ones but they had just had Peter's repeat prescription so I waited while they made that up. Naturally I went for a walk along the beach while I was out. (No camera in case of heavy rain.) I passed a (younger) lady out with her dogs that I've seen before. She walks three dogs one of which has its hindquarters in a set of walking wheels and another that is missing a hind foot. That's quite unusual as generally with dogs and cats they don't amputate a foot only but remove the whole leg. I'm assuming they are rescue dogs. Perhaps I should get into conversation with this lady to find out more. Also on the beach were the sad but smelly remains of a seal pup. Presumably a vicitm of the recent storms.

 

Weird Weather.

Phew, talk about dramatic weather last night. Driving to choir yesterday evening it was already dark but the car headlights showed my way covered in leaves and the occasional small branch. I thought nothing of it as I left after choir but as I turned back westwards off the main road the whole sky in front of me was lit up again and again. This was happeneing every few seconds but without any rain or thunder. As somebody said on FB it was like War of the Worlds. (This video I found shows it but it is on Twitter.) It was quite unnerving. The drive is normally about 10 minutes but although I wanted to get home as quickly as possible I reduced my speed in case I had to react to branches or even trees being blown down onto the road. When I got home, because there wasn't any thunder Peter hadn't even noticed the storm which must have been way out over the Irish Sea. We stood outside and watched the storm for a time and it was truly phenomenal. There'd be a flash lighting up the sky sometimes with lightning shooting down below the clouds to the sea then immediately another flash slightly to the south, a wait of three seconds and then the whole sequence repeated. This carried on to the west of us for well over an hour gradually moving north-east until another hour or so later it had moved inland beyond Snowdonia and then out of sight.

Today began grey and once again warm. I guess it's the warmth that is putting energy into the sea which then gets converted into thunderstorms. (That may not be quite the scientific explanation.)

After a fairly optimistic start when I washed yesterday's work trousers which were mucky from all that kneeling on soggy woodchip and then put a second load in the machine. But all to no avail when we had what could only be described as a prolonged cloudburst.

The rain also put paid to my plans to put up the terrace guttering. I got the short piece at the side attached in the morning but this was the scene that greeted me after our Welsh lesson had finished. Luckily it was only a hammer and screwdriver left outside as I'd brought eveything else back in just in case of rain. When the downpour eventually stopped I tried carrying on but I needed Peter's help to hold one end of the long piece so that I could mark where bracket at the other end should go. Unfortunately Peter was in the middle of doing some admin so came out reluctantly. Not a good idea as somehow my mark ended up 6" from where it should have been. Working alone I took the bracket off and put up another hopefully in the right place. I stopped at that point and shan't carry on until Peter is free to help as it's just not a one-person job.

The last thing I did was climb up into the loft to carry down the dehumidifier to help dry all the wet washing now hanging up in the utility room.

It was a good singing session last night. Missing the repertoire of my old choir I'd been asking our teacher if they ever sang any of the same songs and struck lucky with Shona Malanga (a slightly faster version but this arrangement) which we sang last night. It was new to most of the group so I switched back to the altos and had great fun as it's the sort of song you can really belt out. Everybody enjoyed it which was good too. I'm hoping that at some point we will sing/learn Hallelujah (not the Loenard Cohen song but the word sung in four parts to Pachelbels Canon. That was a favourite with everyone in the old choir.

 

Warm.

The day began quite grey and at times through the day the wind got up and it felt as if it was going to rain but eventually we had some sun. 

With the weather looking a bit dodgy I drove down to the zoo instead of cycling. There I spent my time weeding the woodchip in the smaller play area. It had got very overgrown, not just the odd clump of grass dotted here and there but a lot of grass and other weeds everywhere. Sad to see when I'd managed to keep it clear for so long. And it's half-term next week. It took me five hours and after such a long time, too long really on my hands and knees I didn't feel like walking out to the car park to get my camera. As I was ambling around the rest of the site to see which is the most urgent job for next week and to loosen up I had a laugh by the silver foxes' pen. It was getting close to feeding time, indeed the fox may even have been able to smell its food (don't ask) which was already prepared in the animal kitchen and the bolder of the two foxes was pacing up and down by the fencing (he doesn't pace at other times which would be a bad sign). On the other side of the wire in the gap between the public and the cage, Mr Pea was bumbling about foraging for food completely unconcerned by the fox inches away. That was until the fox stopped next to Mr Pea as it turned to go back. Mr Pea was having none of that and gave the fox a good peck on the nose through the wire. Poor fox.

Back home I had an early shower and began my blog as tonight is choir night. Just got time for my singing warm up and I'll be off.

 

Sunny.

Sunny and mild today. Last night the stars were out and I could see the Milky Way stretched across the velvety black sky. It got colder in the night but the house stays comfortable with the heating turning on once in a while (it's at 17C not 16C as I thought). 

My plan for the day was to fit the gutter back on around the terrace. The first thing I did was clean out the accumulated muck in the gutters after which I had to make a decision. Should I put the gutter back the same way with the faded section facing out, turned around to have the non-faded side plus paint splodges from the original painting or turned around with all the paint scraped off? Every option would function as well but no prizes for guessing that I decided to scrape off every last spot of paint. This I did carefully using a green scrubby and the rounded end of an old table fork so as not to damage the surface of the brown plastic. I also cleaned up the brackets and removed the rusty old screws. By the time all this was done I felt my back had had enough and finished up for the day.

Out in the back garden I potted up some of the many knautia seedlings that have appeared around the parent plants. It seems such a shame just to throw them away. I may try a few in the front garden next year.

This evening I went to the 'proper' pilates class. It was a quite different to the class I used to go to which felt like a real workout. This was far gentler with the emphasis on quietly stretching various muscles. However I shall perservere as I need to get back into shape and restore some of my core strength which has melted away over the last two years. Unless I want to travel into town my only other option is an aerobic disco workout which isn't pilates based. What I really need to do is to get back to doing exercises daily. How will I fit those in I wonder?

We had an almost flat sea today so no surfers. There was enough breeze for the windsurfer but not really enough for the wing surfer.

 

Sunny.

Today it has been bright and breezy with the sun making the waves sparkle. There were already two surfers out in the water by 8.00 this morning and by breakfast time (below) there were more surfers trying their best to catch the big waves. There have been surfers out all day and now that it is nearly dark only the last couple remain on the water.

This was our week to meet up with our friends in Mach to work on our Welsh. The librarians were so fiendly and welcomed us with a bag of Welsh cakes, a cross between scones and pancakes, to have with the coffees we'd brought along. We had our usual fun going over one of the exercises we did last week in class and then listening to the homework conversation. It seemed clearer from my friend's phone and we were able to work out the information we needed. We finished off by translating the first half of another book for learners until the library closd at 1.00. Back again in a fortnight.

While Peter took our folders back to the car my friends and I cruised the charity shops and this time I struck lucky. Another glass paperweight for my collection, much nicer than the blue jellyfish one I rejected and only £3 and a couple of Alison Utley books which I bought for the illustrations. The older one has a few pen marks so I don't feel so bad about cutting out the illustrations to make Christmas cards while the newer edition has some lovely Christmas themed illustrations. Less than £1 for both.

It was such a good drying day that when we got home I threw some washing in the machine and hung out yesterday's wash which hadn't quite dried on the line yesterday. While the machine was doing its job what better to do than go for a walk on the beach?

Back home I hung out the washing from the machine and did a few small jobs until it was dry enough to iron.

A few trees from yesterday.

This tree was dead having lost all its bark either prior to or after its demise. It was interesting to see the way the plant tissues had grown in a spiral.

This (above) was the 120 ft tree in the holiday park. Definitely a redwood though I don't know if it's a giant sequoia or a california redwood. There is a giant sequioa at Wakehurst which is a similar size, 36m, so this one may well be a Giant Sequioa. Thousands were planted by wealthy Victorians in the 1850s when there was a craze for having arboretums, arboreta? in the grounds of large houses. At the base two people together wouldn't be able to reach their arms around it.

Another of the ornamental conifers but definitely a different species.

 

Dry.

Another change in the weather today. While mainly overcast it was at least dry with just enough wind to make it worth hanging two loads of washing on the line and at times it felt almost warm. The Met Office forecast warned that storms would return this evening and already I can hear the wind beginning to gust.

My day began early, having woken at 4.30 after an hour I gave up trying to get back to sleep and got up. That gave me plenty of time to prepare breakfast, do extra Duo Lingo and then our homework (listening to a fast spoken conversation and answering questions), sort out stuff for the walk, put my work clothes in the machine, do today's Wordle and once Peter was awake run the hoover over the utility room floor which was sandy after my building efforts when I kept walking through the sand scattered across the paving. That was all before we had our Sunday breakfast.

The meeting point for today's walk was on the other side of Machynlleth which meant leaving even earlier than usual. I'd checked out the exact spot with street view which makes it so much easier. (I wouldn't trust a sat-nav to find isolated parking spots in the countryside after meeting so many lost people around Dingles.)

Today's walk was a gentle walk around and across the River Dyfi, 

with a short diversion to go and stand under the new road bridge that is being built. The original bridge was built of timber in 1533, then replaced by a stone bridge in 1681 and then rebuilt in 1805. Apart from being vulnerable to flooding the existing narrow bridge which carries the only main road in the area has no footpath and is frequently damaged by vehicles. The new road and bridge will stand above the flood plain and cross the river north of the town.

Not being a great fan of building works I was relieved when we headed across the water meadows by the river. Here (below) the Afon (River) Dulas joins the Dyfi. There is a second river with the same name joining the Dyfi a bit further up which is a bit strange but I've since found out that locally this one is the North Dulas and the other one the South Dulas. Also looking at the map it is possible that the course of the River Dyfi may have changed as it meandered through the flat valley (remember back to O-level geography?) making the two Afon Dulas appear to be the same river. Or perhaps it was just an inept cartographer?

We crossed the railway a couple of times. It's the one and only train line which goes as far as Aberystwyth and then stops. If you want to travel to South Wales you have to travel north and then east on this line out to England, south through England and back along the bottom of Wales.

We climbed the side of a small hill under twisted oak trees crunching over a carpet of acorns.

Where we were able to look across the flood plain to the foothills of Snowdonia,

before making our way back down to the river. We had  our lunch sitting on the river bank and two of our group found a deeper pool to swim in. 

From there we crossed the river and walked though a cluster of holiday cabins set in the grounds of a hotel. This must once have been a grand estate as there were enormous ornamental trees all over the place including one conifer that on a previous walk had been estimated to be at least 120ft. tall. (photos tomorrow). From there it was a gentle walk along lanes and fields back to the parking spot. A pleasant walk through the muted autumn colours but I really prefer getting out into the hills.

Not much time to do anything much once I got home as watching Strictly and the results show takes up the whole evening.