Showers.

We had some thunder and lightning last night which sent me rushing to disconnect the internet but the predicted rain didn't arrive until the early hours of the morning. 

It has been a lot cooler today with occasional showers. Peter went off to town promote the gig club. They take one of the gigs to the High Street and chat to anyone who is interested. He recruited 1 junior and 4 adults who will be going to the taster sessions tomorrow morning. I stayed at home and got on with various jobs including fixing panels to the wall (screws and adhesive) for the mirrors to be glued onto. This mirror has been a bit of a challenge as the 3 mirrors are different lengths and widths and the wall is uneven to say the least. I have cunningly designed a panel to go across the top which hopefully will bring it all together.

We're off out tonight to the Church Hall in Pilton Street to watch a compilation of photos from the World Gig Championships on the Isles of Scilly. Mike Matthews puts it together well and his commentary is quite amusing. 

Sunny.

I'm guessing they didn't get the forecast quite right when they predicted 'heavy showers with a risk of flooding'. At least not here. Me and the butterflies were only too grateful to have another sunny day.

Naturally I spent most of the day working outside. We are getting near the time when our valley location will keep us in shade all day even when the sun is shining so every sunny moment is special. 

I gave the lavender bushes a thorough tidy up. I hadn't been able to trim them last year and probably didn't do them the year before so they were sprawling everywhere and blocking the path. I found some lavender to pick and dry but most of the flowers were over. I have to give myself a pat on the back for finishing the job properly by clearing up most of the fallen flowers with my leaf sucker. So often I put things off and never quite finish the job but after 50-odd years I'm beginning to get better. By the time the job was done the shade was already creeping across the garden. So I moved back into the sun to weed the bank that overlooks the drive. 

I'm very fond of grasses and these clumps with their red seed heads positively glow in the sun. Later they will fade to a sandy colour but still look good as they sway in the winter winds. Just in case the grey clouds that have appeared do give us 'heavy rain' I checked the run-offs and re-instated the dam across the road. Better safe than sorry.

Warm.

There was heavy dew this morning when I first went outside. I was looking up to check if any pesky rooks were in the big tree at the back of the house (they have already colonised a tree on Paul's land but we are discouraging them from moving any closer to the house by shooting at them with an airgun & if that fails it will have to be the shotgun), when I saw these butterflies warming up on the roof and chimney. I don't know how long the butterflies will survive but the sedum flowers are only just opening and the buddlias are still going strong. I got some weeding done in the morning and sent off my final diatribe about the wind turbine to the planning authorities. It wasn't really a rant but full of facts and figures with appropriate references otherwise your comment gets discounted. 

I had a good afternoon at school with one of the Year 2 classes doing some patterns in their sketch books. It was such a nice afternoon that the children were able to use the field at playtime and we stayed out quite a lot longer than normal. It is strange to look at all the small children who were Reception children last year but are now in Year 1. The new Reception children don't start until next week but they have already spent 2 afternoons with us before the holidays. Some of them may be only just 4 years old as we now only have one intake in September instead of not starting the younger children until January. 

The clouds were beginning to gather as I drove home.. The farmers are rushing to get the latest silage cut in before the promised rain arrives. I got stuck behind this tractor on the way home but was able to overtake it on the long hill coming out of Shirwell. I too was rushing to strim the long grass on the bank and that done I moved to the chicken's run and cut back the weeds that have sprung up. When I had 12 hens they scratched up all the weeds but it is too much for my single hen. 

Sunny.

There's nothing like a sunny day and the knowledge that I have to go to work in the afternoon to get me working at top efficiency. During the morning I cleaned, tidied, hoovered and did some work at the pc before leaving for an afternoon at school. I even got in some gardening out in the lovely sun.

                           

The early morning dew made the spiders' webs sparkle.

The sun brought out the butterflies this morning. I counted nearly 50 on this one bush alone.

At school I ended up taking one of the Year 1 classes for the afternoon. I had a group painting African animals but I was also keeping a close eye on 2 children with special needs who had the potential to wander off. Needless to say they were not in the group chosen to do outdoor learning (with no adult supervision). We had a calm afternoon which passed quickly and I was soon on my way home again. 

I then surpassed myself by mowing all the grass. By 6.00 there was still enough sun in the garden for me to sit out with a cup of tea. All is much quieter in the garden as in the space of a day the swallows have left to fly 6,000 miles to their winter homes in southern Africa.

Greedy Patch spent all day sleeping off his second supper of a whole rabbit (only a paw and a piece of fur left in the conservatory) but he had enough appetite to try and lick out the remains of a tub of cottage cheese.

I relented and took the tub off his face leaving him with cottage cheese all over his face.

One of Peter's work colleagues returned from France with some Port Salut and a bottle of grapefruit + wine drink. As the wine was specially for me I have had a glass even though I don't normally drink. It was quite strong but very nice. You can buy Port Salut in the supermarket but these smell delicious. Perhaps I'll get Peter to hint that Pont L'Eveque would be even nicer as you don't see that in the supermarket. When I was an au pair in France I was taught that it is a crime to put cheese in the fridge.

Hot.

Sometime while we were in the staffroom spending 5 hours (plus breaks), learning about diabetes; how to use the blood tester, give injections and calculate carbs and link to a pump, the day changed from hazy and warm to blue skies and baking. The training was for a child who is starting tomorrow. He has a pump but will need his blood testing during the day and we need to know how to use the pen injection in case the pump fails. It's all pain free these days and the pump works out and gives the correct dose once you input the blood sugar level and a few other bits of information. We had the opportunity to test our own blood and my glucose level was a healthy 5.6.

At home the sun had brought out the butterflies which were massed on every sedum and buddlia that was still in the sun. I washed my hair and let it dry in the sun while I chilled out and read a book. 

Gemma dropped round to school at the end of the day and gave me the disc of photos from the other day. This is the one Peter and I both like so we are going to have it printed and framed. It is so rare to have a picture of us together.

Hazy.

Well, that's it - the official end to the summer according to both meteorologists and the school year. And what a lovely summer it has been. None of those miserable grey days that characterised the last few years. Even the rainy days usually had spells of sunshine. For me it has been a relaxed summer. Right at the beginning I wrote out a page of 'things to do' and a number got done, mostly the easier ones and some things might have to wait for the next holiday. I was most pleased with my overhaul of the kitchen, sanding the worktops, cleaning out most of the cupboards and changing the cupboard handles. It is a good feeling to have it all so tidy. My summer house mirror should be finished with a couple more sessions and the garden is looking fairly good. I didn't play the piano as much as I intended but there was plenty of time to read out in the sun. Peter and I went for a number of walks in between him going off to various regattas. My birthday was made special with so many messages from friends and family and we finally got to have a curry on the beach. We ended the summer with a visit from Sam, Kate and Alex going for long walks and eating plenty of good food.

The children don't start school until Wednesday but this morning we were all in for a general catch up meeting where we shared our summer adventures. While a few went away on exotic holidays most of us had spent the time enjoying being at home and taking advantage of our local beaches. One lucky member of staff had the magical experience of kayaking in the company of Dave the dolphin  twice at a local beach. I might just be tempted to drive over there later this week though he may well have moved on by then. We were treated to lunch at the Barnstaple Hotel and then I had to rush off for a hydrotherapy session. With the air being a little cooler it felt like getting into a warm bath. There were only 3 of us in the group with 2 physiotherapists. We had a really good workout and afterwards the physiotherapist looked at my foot which has been getting odd pains; a half numb big toe and a seized up Achilles tendon. It's probably due to a big bursa below the ankle but not a lot can be done about it. Afterwards I had to go back into town and have a new tyre put on the car. After accepting the job they found they didn't have a budget tyre of the right size so they put on a better one for the same price.

Windy.

There was just time for Sam to explain the rules of Saga wargaming (does that mean it's for old people?) to Peter so they could have a game this morning. But guess who had to clear away the table? Then it was time for Sam and Kate to take Alex to the station and we were back on our own again after a most pleasant visit. It was dry so I put the first load of sheets in the machine before we headed out for a walk. But we didn't get very far. The slight wobble I had noticed yesterday turned out to be a very flat tyre. It took until we had gone right up our rough drive before I realised it and then I had to try and reverse back. Unfortunately I messed up the tight turn and got the micra stuck between a stone wall and some concrete blocks. There were a few stressful minutes until I dragged the micra back up a bit and then was able to slide down to the flat yard where I changed the tyre. My spare tyre is also pre-owned so tomorrow I'll go and buy a new tyre and have it fitted. That way the pre-owned tyre is just for emergencies.

It was good to finally make it out to the coast  and walk away the stress. We went in Peter's Rav instead as now I don't have a spare tyre. 

The sea was pretty rough so we only saw one seal.

As always it was relaxing to sit watching and listening to the waves.

Back home I finally got around to finishing off my planning. I've had 6 weeks to plan my DT/geography lessons for the Year 2 classes and there I was putting the final touches the night before I need to show them to the class teachers. At least that is the whole term sorted for those 2 classes. The first set of sheets have been ironed and we'll watch some tv before getting an early night.