Mild.

Mild and wet today, perfect conditions for sea mist and low clouds forming in the river valleys. Apparently it's the first day of spring (if you go by the equinox) though meteorological spring started on the first of March. The birds have been singing since then so I guess they agree with the meteorologists.

Last night I remembered that we still have some covid tests so I tested myself and what do you know? I have covid. No doubt Peter has too but he refuses to test and although he had symptoms several days before me with an altered sense of taste he insists he caught it from me after I went to choir. I put this irrational behaviour down to a lack of sleep as unlike me he has been waking up frequently each night. As to me it's like having a bad cold verging on the 'flu which Vytas assures me is standard for people who've been vaccinated. (For most people vaccination keeps you out of hospital.) Naturally I've pulled out of all this week's activities and am not even doing any painting. While painting itself doesn't take much effort, moving large planks of wood and stretching to get to the ends does so that will have to wait until next week.

I haven't done much today, just split my flowers into two vases, done my Duo Lingo and made a big pot of soup. Sort of vegetable soup, a base of a jar tomato pasta with onions, garlic and whatever was in the fridge; white cabbage, celery, leeks and dry Lithuanian sausage. Comfort food that will keep us going for a few days. 

Photos from Yesterday.

Here we are walking up onto the platform of the old station. The station was closed in 1951 and the line closed in 1963. I love the shape of the roof of the old corrugated iron waiting room in which the handy bench is kept. We brought it out to sit on to eat our lunch and returned it before we left. 

Views of the estate chapel which was also designed by John Nash.

Mothers' Day.

Happy Mothering Sunday.

A day to think about our own mothers and maybe for our children to think about us. For me it's a day when I feel sad that we have chosen to live so far away from our boys but that is how it is in our society. I had cards from both the boys and a lovely bunch of flowers from Vytas was delivered in the morning. (Just had a nice long conversation with him too.) Not to mention a goodly supply of chocolates, fudge and Bailey's from Peter.

Peter is slowly on the mend while I'm going downhill with some nasty cold symptoms. I got a bit of a chill at the end of the walk when we stopped at the outdoor tables to continue chatting, began aching on the drive home and by the time I got home my temperature was 35.8C. That's a cold. A couple of my daily strong painkillers, coffee, fudge and warm clothes and I'm feeling more normal.

Today's walk was in the grounds of Llanerchaeron. An 18thC Welsh gentry estate. 

Again it was an easy level walk mostly on paths and the disused railway line. 

We walked along the River Aeron, a proper sized river this time, and through some squelchy meadows.

We stopped for lunch at the old railway station (photos tomorrow) before crossing the meadow in front of the house and back to the National Trust tea room at the car park. There we sat outside to chat about days gone by. It's amazing to think that amongst us there were those that remembered washing being done with a wooden dolly, scrubbing boards and big iron mangles. More memories of the old twin tub washing machines or machines that had a small mangle on the top. I don't remember seeing or hearing a mangle being used but I loved my little spin dryer.

The light was quite dull and the air had a nasty chill but I'm glad I went on the walk. Even if it was a 45 minute drive away.

 

Misty.

The weather today has been a battle between sea mist and the sun with the sea mist generally winning. It was lovely when the sun shone and I noticed people walking past carrying rather than wearing their coats. A shame that didn't last. Eventually the rain arrived at the end of the afternoon.

It wasn't until 5.00 that I realised it was Saturday and not Friday as I thought. I put this down to not listening to the radio in the morning but getting up straight away and sleepwalking my way through the morning routine. I guessed rightly that Peter would still be feeling rough (he's on the mend now) and when you know that no one else is going to do things you just get on with them. At least that's the way I feel. I have a cough and a tickly throat and some brain fog but generally for me it's only a cold. I ended up getting both my Duo Lingo and piano practice done before breakfast which cheered me up.

I carried on with painting the other side of shelves with primer and have worked out the best way to arrange the shelves for painting. The undercoat and vinyl silk are water based paints so should dry more quickly than the oil based primer and I might even get both sides done in a day.

After starting the next crochet square I was able to fit in a some gardening in the back garden. A little weeding, cutting back of last year's dead growth (hope we don't get another cold spell) and tying in the everlasting pea and a few of of the clematis which are already shooting up.

 

Sunshine.

Warm, windy and sunny. A good drying day which I was happy to take advantage of. Later in the afternoon it clouded over and we had rain again but that bit of sun was a real boost to my spirits. It was so nice to be able to sit outside with a cup of coffee enjoying the wonderful sea colours and then to top it off I had a brief sighting of a single dolphin fishing under the cliffs.

Peter is still feeling rough with his cough and sore throat, not a cold as his temperature went up a degree rather than down but some sort of virus. I'm still hoping that the headache I've had all day is a result of a change in the air pressure rather than the start of the same virus but my throat is feeling a bit tickly, oh no. And I must have been too enthusiastic at aerobics last night as I was woken twice by severe cramps in my leg. At the moment while trying my best to follow the dance moves I'm being careful not to bounce on the balls of my feet yet as I know my knee wouldn't take it but it's hard to judge how much I can do.

The next stage of the bookshelves is to paint the planks, top bottom and edges, with wood primer. I had hoped to get this all done today but only did one side of each plank. Apart from the long drying time for the primer moving 9 heavy planks ranging from 8-10ft round the bathroom and into positions where I could paint them was hard work. It took several hours and I had to do a lot of bending and twisting. I'll paint the other sides of the planks tomorrow and may not even do all of them at once. Best to be sensible.

After painting I baked another bara brith this time following the recipe more closely ie less mixed fruit instead of throwing in the whole packet. I've already had a small slice and it's very tasty.

When I took this photo of the cheerful daffodils in the front garden I thought this was one of the UK's 270 species of bee but a closer inspection reveals it to be a hoverfly pretending to be a bee. (Bigger eyes and only one set of wings.)

Having finished the first of the crochet squares I 'blocked' it not something I normally do but with different weight wools and my initial attempts to work out the pattern it was looking a bit wonky. It has ended up being 22 inches across. All I have to do now is make the rest of the squares the same size.

 

Grey.

Warm, wet and windy today with little to see but greyness.

Peter woke this morning with a nasty cold and I've a feeling he's passed it onto me. However I'm still planning on going to aerobics this evening. Perhaps a good exercise session will boost my immune system, either that or finish me off.

The work on the bookshelves is still on schedule. The wood had two lots of knotting solution dabbed onto the knots. One before and one after class. It's a kind of varnish that stops the sap seeping out of the knots and making yellow marks through the paint. The instructions on the tin said to apply a second coat if needed after 15 minutes. I don't know how you are supposed to tell if you need a second coat as it would be a bit late once you've done all the painting. Some of the knots were very black so I went over them all just to be sure. I also pushed wood glue into any splits. 

Today's Welsh class was more work on those nasal mutations which was combined with brushing up reading place names. Our tutor had an assesor join the class and although she was there to watch our tutor of course most of us went into rabbit in the headlights mode. Then we went into our first breakoutroom with some set questions to ask each other and there was the assesor joining my group. She was a pleasant lady but I get self concious if I have to talk in front of a new person. I'm totally happy to gabble away in pigeon-Welsh with Peter and our friends. The other week I had the library lady in stitches over my version of mango which was the Welsh for man & go (dyn-mynd). (There isn't a Welsh word for mango, you just say mango!)

I've just got time to do a bit more crochet before I go down to the hall. I've nearly done the first square and am doing two rows of black to finish off. Each square will have the same off-set design but in different colours with black around the outside to link them all together.

 

Chop, Chop.

Grey and very wet today.

While Peter went into town I made a start on the shelves. I didn't get very far because after I'd cut the first shelf  I saw that the other end of the plank had a long (2ft) split. I manoeuvered that plank onto the floor, heaved up another onto the chairs and found that one had some small splits in the middle which would put them at the ends of the shelves. At that point I stopped and waited for Peter to come home and give his opinion. (I do listen to him sometimes.) He was able to reassure me that as the wood wasn't split all the way through it will be fine. I can also put some wood glue in the splits to stop them from getting worse. So I carried on and cut all six shelves and didn't have to use the bit with the worst spilt. Peter will cut the 24 short upright pieces with the circular saw. I moved the all wood into the bathroom and sanded down the edges to take off the sharpness. By the time I cleared up the mess that was enough for one day.

Off soon to choir so I better have a quick practice of the current set of songs.
 

A Little Sun.

The day started with an almost cloudless blue sky but it wasn't long before the clouds began rolling in and eventually we were back to grey and even a little rain. We've had strong winds all day so I was able to hang out some washing and get it almost dry. I'm off to Pilates in a minute and we're back to blue skies but with a bitterly cold wind.

Before heading out to the zoo I hung the oystercatcher picture up on the wall. It's only taken me three months to buy a frame and hang the picture, the local builders' laid back ways must be rubbing off on me. 

I definitely won't be taking as long to complete the bookcase project. The wood was delivered today, luckily before it started raining and it's currently taking up space in the hall and the kitchen.

Down at the zoo my first job was to plant up some trays of seeds. Somebody had donated a whole lot of seeds to the zoo and these included packets of wildflower seeds to attract bees and butterflies. I brought some seeds trays from home and sowed one of the packets in those. Hopefully I'll be able to find some places to sow the rest directly into the ground. The trays have gone into the tortoise house which may be a bit too warm but it's the only option. The giant tortoises were all out in the enclosure happily munching on the grass. The rest of my time at the zoo was spent weeding an established flower bed by the wolf-dogs. While the garden plants are only just coming into leaf the weeds keep springing up and some were almost ready to produce seeds. 

As soon as I got home I brought the washing in putting the towels on the airer in the utility room and ironing the sheets straight away. 

Outside I could see the constantly changing colours of the sky and sea. A friend is making a temperature throw where you crochet one row a day matching the colour to the outside temperature. I'm thinking that instead of matching colours to the temperature I could do one row for the sea colour and one for the sky colour at a particular time of day. That way I'd end up with a throw that matched the touches of duck egg blue in the living room. But that project will have to wait until next year as this year I'm making the off-set squares throw for Vytas and Sally.

..... I've returned from Pilates and it is getting really cold outside. Still it was nice not to be walking home in the dark.