Sunny.

Sunny again and absolutely roasting in town.

I was hoping that I would be riding Hazel again today so that I could see how much I had retained of last week's lesson but instead I had Meg. Meg is slimming down but still has a tendency to be lazy. I did need to use the schooling whip a lot (only little flicks) to get her going forward. I was still able to use what I had learned last week and eventually got Meg going nicely on the bit. Walking in a straight line was another issue. We had to walk between pairs of poles on the ground which sounds like a simple exercise but with Meg was harder than expected as she tends to swing her back end. It was better when we did the same exercise in trot especially in sitting trot which for me is easier than rising trot. I suspect my arthritic knee may have something to do with that or perhaps I can't concentrate on using my legs for impulsion and steering at the same time as going up and down.

 

After the lesson I went to the industrial estate to buy more paint and called in at HAHAV to look for a chest of drawers for Pete as he wants to replace the one he bought which is too high. No luck this time but I shall keep on looking.

What did catch my eye were these large leather bound Welsh bibles printed in the late 1800s. They appealed to me as objects but I just couldn't think what I would do with them.

This was my charity shop haul - silver plated serving spoons, 10p each from HAHAV, a ball of crochet cotton though I may need to look for even finer cotton for my current project, two notebooks 50p each, (I can never pass up a good quality notebook) and a summer top for £1.50.

Usually when I get home on  Friday by the time I unpack the shopping, throw my riding gear in the washing machine, do the second set of squats and have a shower all I'm ready for is a large mug of tea out on the terrace. 

Today however before relaxing I dealt with the cracks in the garage wall which are mainly around the two doors. The constant banging of the sea against the cliffs sets up tiny vibrations in the ground which over a period of time causes damage to walls and render that is either old or wasn't done to the highest standard. As is the case with the garage. Instead of using mortar or filler for the cracks I splashed out on a tube of white adhesive which hopefully will do a better job and won't fall out. I also bought some white gloss today to paint over the ox blood red door frames which look terrible with the dark blue doors.

Disco Time.

Lots of sun today but also a chilly wind. The beach has been crowded with families enjoying the good weather but it was the sort of day you need a decent windbreak or even a beach tent.

I have been painting again. The garage wall is done and looks very bright. I'd got used to the cream walls and it almost seems too smart for us. I also finished the other utility wall and have moved onto the pink or rather flesh coloured walls. There's still the whole side of the house to do and unfortunately it will take two coats to cover up the old colour. 

This is the wooden letter box I made from oddments, a cupboard door and a floorboard. It looks quite unobtrusive sitting there. When we're home the letters can just sit on the bench so all we have to do is look through the front door window to see if we have post.

In the afternoon I made two Dorset apple cakes with the apples I bought on Sunday. One for now and one for the freezer.

And then it was time for disco aerobics, the first one after the summer break. On went the sparkly trainers for a fun hour of dancing about. Such a good way to exercise.

Tonight's sunset.

That looks a bit overcrowded to me. At least they have a motor.

Cloudy.

Cloudy and a lot cooler today.

But at least it stayed dry. Pete went and got me another tub of masonry paint and while he was out I made a wooden box with an open end to sit over the letter box slot in the porch. This is just if we are away and don't want a pile of letters sitting on the bench seat indicating that no one is home. 

Later I painted most of the garage wall and it was a lot easier than the street wall. For a start the render though textured is old and has been painted many times making it a much smoother. Also apart from the very bottom of the wall I wasn't crouched down or kneeling. Standing on the tall step ladder was more comfortable especially as sometimes I was able to lean back against the facing house wall. I could possibly have gone on to finish the whole of the garage wall but I've come to realise that I need to pace myself. Or face the consequences. 

Hopefully tomorrow will be dry and I can finish off then.

Pete went off rowing in the afternoon. They went out towards Ynyslas and then the wind changed and they had a hard row home.

There have been no comments from our lifeguard friends, just raised eyebrows regarding the jet ski that 'had' to be rescued by the RNLI. The shout the other afternoon was to rescue some people who had gone out in inflatable kayaks despite the red flag up that said 'No Inflatables'. It is too easy for inflatables to be blown right out when it is windy. The beach lifeguard had gone out to them but needed the lifeboat to bring them back to shore.

I'm off again tonight to choir for some relaxing singing.

Zoo and Pilates.

The weather was much the same as yesterday's, cloudy with sun at times.

I wont be growing these round courgettes again as I'm not impressed with the taste but look what magnificent flowers they have.

As I looked out to sea this morning I spotted a flock of cormorants and shearwaters massing above a shoal of fish. But no dolphins.

The day was nice enough for me to cycle down to the zoo for four hours of weeding. I spent the whole time down by the guinea fowl though I postponed working on the main gravel patch by weeding the narrow strips bordering the various pens. I think having those bits weed free makes a big difference but also the bigger gravel area in particular is hard to do. One end has little gravel and is the main route through the zoo so the ground gets compacted and the weeds are harder to remove. Even today's efforts didn't quite get me to the end of the gravel but I'll start with that next week. 

My weeding was accompanied by the sounds of the birds in the nearby enclosures. Chickens clucking, guinea fowl being noisy, quail burbling and fan-tail pigeons cooing. Not to mention George the cockatoo, out of sight but not sound. He's in the 'staff only' area and if no one is around he starts to screech and yell for attention.

Before setting off for home I was able to pick more sloes and I've now got enough to start the sloe gin.

Pilates is now back on so off I went to the Hall for an hour of bending and stretching. I had thought I would be fine since I've kept up my daily squats and returned to riding. But of course with a break for the toe op recovery and my good intentions of doing extra exercises having fallen by the wayside I'm already feeling like I've run a marathon. And I'd forgotten about the dreaded mermaid  stretch and even worse the exercises where you have to lie on your side. My hips although very flexible do not like those at all. (At one point I had numerous injections into the hips for the soreness from my doctor through to a consultant but it turned out not to be bursitis just random pain.) 

Tonight's sunset.

Still Painting.

There was a certain amount of sun today but on the whole it's been cooler with more clouds than sun.

My main job of the day was to use up the remaining paint on one of the outside walls of the utility room. It worked out that there was exactly enough to finish that wall. Of course there is still plenty left to paint including the whole of the side of the house (the bit people can't see from the street.) I shall do a section at a time and hope to get it all done before winter. 

The next major task was to venture into the loft. Some stuff needed to go back up there and other stuff to come down. It was so hot up there as I sorted through boxes of my mother's photos the majority of which had no names or dates which is very frustrating.

I also did some gardening including moving two plants to where I took out the artemisia. The white lavender was not looking too healthy. I'd cut it back after flowering but hadn't done much in the way of watering. I'll see what it's like next spring.

As I sat outside recovering from my exertions I spotted two empty dinghies by the reef. Was this a Marie Celeste moment?

Nope, just a couple of snorkelers. The guy above even had a light on his forehead. I wonder what they saw? 

The lifeboat went out again this afternoon. It's been a busy week for them.

Tal Y Bont Woods and Honey Festival.

Another extremely hot day and the village has been teeming with holiday makers.

I met up with my fellow walkers in Tal Y Bont where we opted for a gentle walk in the cool dappled shade of the trees. There was also a refreshing light breeze as we walked along easy paths to the ruined cottage.

We found ourselves a shaded spot under a bank next to the stone building where we ate our lunch before returning along the same route back to the village. 

We stopped for a while on a tiny bridge over the River Leri which at that point is about 10ft wide and 1ft deep. Peering into the clear water somebody saw a fish and then we saw an eel, maybe 18 inches long, hiding under the rocks near the bank. I had a clear view of the eel as it swam along but was not quick enough to catch a photo.

On the way to Tal Y Bont I went past the entrance to a festival, Wainwright's Honey Festival to be exact. Some of the group had called in before the walk and said it was worth visiting so I stopped there on the way back. 

By now the festival was nearing its end but there were still quite a few people around (two fields full of cars). There were a number of stalls selling honey from various local producers, beeswax products,  mead, honey slushies, honey ice-cream (sold out) and a few other food and craft stalls. I came away with a bag of cooking apples but resisted buying any plants or the tempting food.

There were also talks (bee stuff), things for children to do and live music. While I was there a klezmer band were playing.

At home once I'd brought in all the dust sheets that were airing on the line, done my exercises and sorted everything out there was nothing for it but to sit out on the terrace for a while.

Yesterday evening the lifeboat was called out (again). Jet skis are not that popular with many local residents due to the noise especially when they ignore the 8 knot speed limit and do doughnuts in the bay. A week or so ago there were two occasions when (not sure if it was the same people) somebody took their jet ski out in the evening. They were either too drunk or too ignorant to realise that you don't start up the engine in shallow water with shingle on the sand. Both times there followed horrible crunching noises as the jet skis pulled stones into the engines which did not do the engines any good. Hah! Now back to last night - the sun had already gone down when there was the sound of a noisy engine in the bay. I looked out to see a jet ski with a definitely unhealthy sounding engine. The jet ski went out and then returned with the engine off. Not much later when it was nearly dark I looked out and there was the jet ski again, about level with the bottom of our garden so about 100yds from the beach. And by the jet ski was the lifeboat. At that distance from the beach I can't imagine any threat to the man's life but he must have called 999 to get a free tow back to shore. Not really what the RNLI is for.

It's just gone 8.30 and the sun is already on its way down.

Done !

Plenty of sun and wind today. Perfect for drying washing and paint. It's already noticeable how much the position of the sun has shifted and in order to find the mid-morning sun I had to move down to the front garden. Still a good view.

This time I made sure to take a break half-way through painting to give my knees/toes/back/hand a chance to recover before going on to finish the job. 

All that's left to do is to replace the small gate and set up a water butt by the drive. And of course wait for the guy to come and spray the  bottom part of the porch.

And since I love before and after pictures - 

2019 - taken when we came to view the house. The chimney has gone as has the large bay window. Having a generous terrace suits us much better. As for the porch, you had to change direction twice to get to the front door through the ramshackle structure. It may have kept the wind out but would have made bringing furniture in very difficult.

Demolishing the porch was one of the first jobs we got our (then) builder to do and we lived with the peach coloured walls until last autumn when the render was replaced and sprayed white.

The new porch and a lick of paint complete the renovation of our sea-side home. (Well there are some walls to be painted on the far side of the house too.)

After the ironing I sat outside doing some hand sewing and toasting my legs.

And in case you were wondering how Hazel behaved yesterday, she still doesn't like THAT corner and she shied a few times but the worst that happened was my foot coming out of the stirrup.