Wet.

The forecast was spot on. It began raining in the early hours, progressed to torrential levels during the day with a few hours of sun late in the afternoon. They also said the wet weather would continue until the middle of the week. But it has been very warm.

Feeling that I should finish off one project before starting the next, (the cushion covers) I spent the afternoon cutting sequins off a dress I bought a while back. I began by placing each sequin carefully in a bin as I cut it off the backing mesh but by the end I was chopping at them wildly and spreading bits of sequin all over the floor. I still did my best to avoid cutting the threads they had been sewn on with so that the rest of the sequins wouldn't detach when I'm leaping about in disco aerobics. 

That and cleaning up afterwards took up the whole afternoon.  

 

A flock of tumbler pigeons shining in the sun against a backdrop of dark rain clouds.

Dolphins.

Cloudy and dry today.

We spotted dolphins while we were eating breakfast. As I watched them from the terrace (breakfast abandoned), it looked like there were at least three dolphins. Later I could see one pair keeping very close together and as one was smaller I'm guessing they were a female and her calf. 

Sometimes nearer and sometimes further away they carried on hunting fish for quite a long time. I was still watching them as Pete went down to cox a row. After stopping to take photos they rowed further into the bay and then found themselves surrounded by a pod of four or five dolphins. The dolphins were very interested in the boat swimming around and under the boat sometimes surfacing within touching distance. The crew all agreed it was the best dolphin sighting they'd had.

 

With heavy rain forecast from this evening the group walk was moved to today but I needed to get on with painting the house. 

I had thought that I might even be able to paint a first coat on the whole of the remaining section. But it was not to be. First I had to unjam the ladder. It's an aluminium ladder that you can convert from straight to A-shaped. An excellent design but we've had it at least 30 years and the sections don't slide so easily now.

Ladder sorted next I needed to scrape off some loose paint along a number of small cracks and for good measure seal down all the edges as well as push sealant into the cracks. Might as well do the job properly but it means that I needed to leave the sealant to dry before painting over it. In the end I was only able to paint a small section of the wall. At least I know I can get straight on with painting whenever it is dry again.

Instead I got on with hoovering and ironing and climbed up into the loft to get a box to send the truffles in.

Seal Seen In The Sea.

It was grey again this morning this time not due to the sea mist but because of almost 100% cloud cover. As I drove to the stables I could see blue shining through the smallest of gaps between the lumpy clouds and by the time my riding lesson was over we had blue skies once more. On my home from town however I could see the edge of a weather front over Borth which eventually hid those lovely blue skies.

As I was sitting outside this morning I spotted a seal eating a large flatfish close to the cliff. I wonder if it is the mother of the seal pup that has been parked under the cliff ? I saw it again at the end of the day fishing in the same place unperturbed by a group of paddle boarders.

    

There were only three of us in the riding lesson today plus one of the girls that works there on the new horse, a very chunky 15.1 cob. I rode Cody again and did much better this time. To be fair I wasn't really on the ball last week. Plus we mainly worked on straight lines and square halts though we could add circles if we wanted. This was to give the new horse a chance to settle and get used to things like the Vale Of Rheidol steam train going past blowing its whistle.

Afterwards I took five bags of garden waste and the defunct strimmer to the dump, bought another tub of paint and had a look at the furniture in Hahav before going on to do the supermarket shopping and have a bit of a mooch round town.

Usually when I get home on a Friday I unpack the shopping, throw my clothes in the washing machine and generally collopse with a large mug of tea for the rest of the afternoon. 

But not today. The first extra thing I did was to dip a number of truffle centres in chocolate as I need to send a birthday parcel soon. Then, as a neighbour was offering cooking apples to anyone who wanted them I took some and made a large amount of stewed apple. Most will go in the freezer and some we'll have with our porridge.

Finally I succumbed to the lure of a recipe from FB. I save so many reels, mainly cakes and desserts because they look so tasty. Today I thought I'd try a baked egg custard as it looked quite simple. Just eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla. The only problem was that the recipe was for an air fryer, which we don't have. But somebody had suggested making it in a steamer which I also don't have and then my efforts to construct one didn't work. As a last resort I tried the microwave (no handy hints for that) and blow me down it worked. I did it on high for one minute, left it for a while, had a look and repeated several times. I was doing the truffles at the same time so didn't bother to count how many times. 

That made a tasty treat when I finally got to put my feet up and the two eggs in it were a boost to my protein intake which I struggle with. (We'll just ignore the sugar though there wasn't very much.)

In the afternoon the sea was completely flat, not a sign of a wave. Perfect for the group of paddle boarders who got excited by the sight of the seal.

Views across to the Llyn.

Grey All Day.

This morning's damp greyness has continued all day. But as we had our three hour Welsh class it didn't make a lot of difference to me.

I did get one minor outside job done first which was to remove the protective film that has been on the bathroom window frame ever since we had it installed.

For the rest of the time I was preparing for through the lesson, going through the file and  writing in the words I wasn't sure of etc. Our homework is to go over the next exercise about 'hobbies' and preparing to speak about our favourite hobby. I guess I better look up all my horse vocabulary.

I'll be off to disco aerobics tonight. This dratted cold is just about over thank goodness. It was a horrible one this year.

 

My PC had an update last night and when I plugged in the card reader to get the photos from the camera everything was different and I couldn't access the photos. Panic! Pete said it was the card reader but I blame the update. I tried a few things and eventually when I moved the USB from the upper slots in the PC to a lower one it worked. I know the slots are different and up till now the top slots are the ones that worked better.

Now as my photos are a bit gloomy and FB has finally worked out I wish to see reels of Plaka here's one taken from the hills behind Plaka. Plaka itself is tucked away out of sight opposite the island of Spinalonga but the reel shows the impressive scenery of the area.

Clammy.

It was cold and clammy this morning. Later the sea mist cleared (mostly) giving a much brighter day. The remaining mist could only be seen at a distance but its cold presence could still be felt. There was enough of a breeze to dry the first batch of my furnishing fabrics which I'd washed to pre-shrink before I start making cushion covers.

While Pete took the car to have a new exhaust fitted (the brackets had fallen off by the time he got to the garage) I got on with painting the house wall with a second coat of white. 

That done I went round to tidy up the lane behind the garden. My plan was to clear away the tall weeds, rubble and broken pots leaving the ground ready for anyone to mow. I took secateurs, rake and my trusty giant screwdriver which makes a great digging and root remover tool. Not wanting to simply dump stuff on the overgrown mess further along behind someone else's garden after turning over the ground I filled three sacks with roots. A lot was bindweed which has been trying to get into my garden through the hedgehog hole. It took a few hours but now that section is level and rock free and hopefully will get mowed. I need to get some grass seed first to give it a head start because of course the bag of seed I'd been keeping got thrown out for the birds.

 

'Scuse the colour clash but this is the first time any of my nerines have flowered. Below is social garlic which has been flowering well all summer. We saw lots growing in tins, decorated feta tins I believe, in Crete but they were much smaller.

Still Sunny.

It was very grey this morning with the flat sea looking much like a mirror. But then the sun came out and for the most part it has been a blue day. Blue sky and blue seas.

Off I went, cycling to the zoo this morning but then realised I'd left my fleece behind. Thinking it would be silly to get chilled only working in a yoga top which was all I was wearing under my fluorescent cycling jacket I turned around, cycled home and collected my fleece. And then never wore it anyway.

 

At the zoo I concentrated on the flower beds cutting back things like the mint and lemon balm as well as weeding. I finished off by weeding the smaller play area. As I worked there was a new sound in the soundscape around me. I could hear Gavin the turkey doing his usual noisy gobbling, the ducks quacking, chickens  clucking and crowing, goats bleating and every now and again a very gentle drawn out whoooo. This was from a greater horned owl that lives in a large screened off aviary. As a result of living all his life with a single owner before being rehomed by the zoo it was extremely nervous and has taken a long to get used to other people. Hearing it hoot is a good sign that it is settling into its new life. Maybe one day the screens can come down so that visitors can see this impressively large owl.

Of course I finished off by giving Otis and Truffle their tummy scratches. They are getting so big now, at least 3ft from snout to tail. Truffle tried leaning against my leg and he is getting quite heavy. I've just looked at a video about kunekune pigs and boars can eventually reach 200- 300 lbs and 4ft long. Quite large then.

I'm off to Pilates soon or as Pete calls it pretzelling. 

Sunny.

More sun today which was nice. Even the towels dried out on the line.

 

While it's still dry and not too cold I thought I might as well get on with painting the side of the house. We saw many houses painted the same shade of pink on Crete but it doesn't work for me here away from the bright Cretan sun. 

I could almost get away with just one coat on this wall but I might as well do it properly so I will give it a second coat before moving on to the last section.

After painting I was going to strim the weeds in the lane behind the garden but when I plugged in the strimmer to check it was working ..... it wasn't. I did the usual things, jiggled the wires and changed the fuse but still nothing. As a last resort because it had a safety plug with the fuse accessed from the outside I cut the plug off and fitted a new one. But still nothing so my trusty strimmer will be heading to the dump on Friday. I don't think I've used it since we left Dingles and the guard over the wire had long gone so I can't complain.