Wet.

Grey again today with no wind and a fine drizzle often blocking out the view. But it's not too cold. I was up in time to see the world tinged pink from the sunrise and was surprised to see five surfers out in the bay. There were sufficient waves for them to catch the occasional one for a while but after about an hour or so everything got much flatter and only one lone surfer remained. I wonder if they were surfing before work, on holiday, students or working on flexi time or not at all? It's fun people watching from our window.

Having got up reasonably early I made tea and prepared breakfast, something Peter usually does, and then did all my daily practices before a later breakfast. I much prefer to get jobs out of the way and then relax. Peter finally gave in and took the new medication after checking further and it didn't give him insomnia, depression or mania (those were the 5 in 100 side effects) so hopefully the benefits will kick in soon and reduce the pain in his knee. Continuing with the health theme, I had another attempt to find an NHS dentist. On the local FB pages people were reporting lack of any possibitiy of finding an NHS dentist locally so I thought I'd try in the town about 20 miles away. However when I spoke to the practice their waiting list was four years long and they couldn't accept anybody from outside of the area. A shame because even waiting four years would be better than nothing at all. My denture broke some time ago but I only ever wore it to go out so the compulsary mask wearing has its benefits. But I do have a large molar that I'm sure needs to go so I phoned and made an appointment at the private dentist I went to before. That's not until 14th of March but I had heard horror stories of people not even being able to get a private appointment in town so I guess five weeks isn't too bad.

After breakfast I gave the curtain rings and my fingers another coat of paint before going out to do more sorting in the garage. There I shifted stuff from one container to another and now have all the 3-6ft lengths of wood standing in an old dustbin. which makes it easier to see what you have and takes up less room than leaning them against the wall. There was one 9ft long 1 ins thick plank with hardboard nailed to it that had woodworm so I sawed that into three peices to fit in the back of the car. I'll take it to the dump tomorrow along with some branches cut from an elder bush by the path. While I was in the garden I pulled out the weed seedlings already sprouting in the flower beds. Then it was time for a break watching The Great Pottery Throwdown before threading all the newly painted curtain rings back on the poles and hanging up both sets of curtains in the bedroom. Now looking forward to the soup again for supper, this time with the addition of extra new potatoes chopped in and for a treat thin slices of Lithuanian smoked sausage (like a very chewy and strong tasting salami).

 

Wild.

Very windy today, mainly grey until later in the afternoon when there were some sunny spells as well as some heavy showers.

Looking out of the window this morning (a couple of hours before the photo above) the sea looked as if someone had emptied a tanker of bubble bath into it.

Wanting to also get the curtain rings, 30 of them, painted today I made poor Peter wait for breakfast until I'd taken down the curtains, sanded the rings and given them an undercoat. (I did ask him first but I don't think either of us realised how long it would take.) While I could just buy some white curtain rings not only would that be wasteful but the modern rings are so flimsy you can snap them in your hands. After breakfast I got out the sewing machine and made the wool curtains that I'll hang behind the main curtains. To deter the moths I gave them a spray with the industrial strength household flea spray I keep for emergencies which had Speedy heading for the door.

Sewing done I prepared a big pot of hearty soup made with; bacon, onions, white cabbage, tomatoes, red pepper and potatoes. Should be tasty with grated cheese and some bread and butter. Then it was time to give the curtain rings another coat of paint. They look as if they could do with yet another coat tomorrow so I hung up the bedroom curtains with the handful of white rings I already had. 

 

Wet.

Lots of rain today. The temperature was back up but there was enough wind to create whitecaps across the whole bay with big waves crashing into the cliff. It was lovely watching the wild sea as we sat in our cosy home.

It took most of the morning to get through all the daily tasks and then I decided to bake a cake for Peter. This week's version included chunks of dark chocolate, sultanas and blanched whole almonds. I guess you could call it a fruit and nut cake. The cake was just out of the oven when the builder came round to collect his ladders which he'd put in the garage. He's very friendly so we had a long chat with the smell of fresh cake making the place feel very homely.

It wasn't until later in the afternoon that I began my next project - making the secondary curtains for our bedroom. I'm using a couple of cream wool blankets and I won't bother to line them as the windows already have nets and ventetian blinds so they won't be seen from the street. Today I measured up and cut out the four curtains which I had to do on the floor. That was enough for my back and I ended the afternoon with coffee and a slice of my cake, just to taste of course.

A lone kite surfer and earlier a single surfer were the only people I saw out on/in the water today.

 

Cold.

Much colder today, cold enough for a smattering of snow up on the mountains which had disappeared by the end of the day.

Peter rang the surgery this morning and had a phone consultation with his doctor within an hour. She  prescribed some new tablets which would be ready to collect from the pharmacy in a couple of hours and then she offered to ring again next Friday to see how Peter was getting on. A much better service than we ever got from our very busy GP's Health Centre in Devon.

Having got my visit to town out of the way yesterday I was looking forward to getting stuff done today. Weather permitting I planned to sort out the concrete troughs and tubs for the builders to bring up on to the terrace. As soon as I could I wrapped up well and emptied the compost and a few bulbs from two tubs. Once I'd done that it was time to go and collect Peter's medicine and go for a walk on the beach. When I got to the pharmacy I was surprised to be handed a bag with Peter's monthly stash of medicines. I hadn't brought a shopping bag with me but I managed to stuff the half dozen boxes into my jacket pocket. Luckily I had the sense to enquire if today's prescription was included and .... it wasn't. While the pharmacist sorted that out the assistant suddenly waved another bag at me. That contained all my tablets, another seven boxes to carry. Once Peter's new tablets were ready I headed back to the beach where I sat on the wall and managed to cram all the extra boxes into my other outer pocket and the inside pocket. I felt like a hamster filling its pouches with nuts and it made Peter laugh when I kept emptying boxes from all my pockets. In the end Peter decided not to take the new tablets. Being sensible he read the information leaflet first whereas I usually read it after I've taken the first dose, and amongst the side effects there were a whole range of mental effects from depression to hallucinations and sleep disruption which it said 'can affect 5 in 100 people who take it'  .......... and that they could happen straight away. I wondered at the use of 'can' rather than 'will' with a specific figure but Peter refused to risk it especially as his knee is already improving. At least I collected our monthly prescriptions.

(Ha! They've just said on PM (radio news program) that the hardest word to spell is manoeuvre so lacking spell-check I had a go at typing it in a new tab and got it right. Me with my difficulty with spelling.)

When I got home I measured the troughs and tubs and made some scale drawings to try out different arrangements of the troughs and tubs. It was at that point I decided it would be a shame to bring them up on to the terrace as although they match the walling in the front garden they would be out of place on our more modern terrace. What I really want are some plain plastic troughs but so far I haven't been able to find any that won't cost a fortune. I shall keep on searching and I'm sure something will turn up. Having failed to do much constructive today I did some tidying up in my study before tiredness took over.

 

Sunshine.

We had a sunny morning with a scattering of fluffy clouds in the sky over a calm sea.

As I'm now on a different pc I had to hunt through my emails to find the link to the Welsh course resources website and to our Zoom class. Then I ended up labelled as 'customer' instead of my name which I had noticed but didn't dare go back to try and change it as the class was about to start. Our tutor was being 'observed' for the whole class and even though she said nice things about the lady observing her us ex-teachers knew from bitter experience how stressful it is. We had time at the end of the class to give feedback on our tutor and the course in general and we were all happy to give glowing reports. All duly deserved as she is a great teacher, explaining things clearly and making us all feel very comfortable. 

Once the class had finished I rushed off to town to go to the bank and do some shopping which included this paper weight and small mirror from the Red Cross shop. I could have gone tomorrow but then that would have wiped out Friday. It has been a bit hectic as Peter is struggling with a psoriatic arthritis flare-up mainly on his knee which is now sporting another big lump and can hardly walk. Usually he helps with unpacking and putting away the shopping. Which is fine but then I had a sheet to iron (having been tempted by the light wind and sun) so it wasn't until 6.30 that I was able to stop to eat supper. Pete was quite worn out and took himself off to bed with an ice-pack for his knee straight after supper. 

 

Cloudy.

Overcast all day today with the sun attempting and failing to break through the clouds. Not much wind and not too cold which was a bonus. This evening the world was washed with a strange orange light which turned the sea browish and the sky a purplish shade of grey.

Down at the zoo I caried on with my current project and have completed work on one half of the woodchip play area. I finished straightening up the edges, did it properly with a string line and a handy edging tool and raked it all as level as I could make it. One corner was more sand than woodchip but I have tried my best to blend it in.

I'm quite pleased with the result.

Not much going on at the zoo today, even the pigs had gone to sleep in their shed after they had eaten their morning feed. One of the Billy goats made me laugh. A broom had been left in their run and he had managed to get it across his back and was using the end to scratch the back of his head between his horns.

I spent nearly four hours at the zoo so once I got home I was happy to flop in the armchair and watch tv and the view for a while. I should have gone to play the piano but was too worn out. Instead I had an early shower before blogging and will now hit the Duo Lingo for more Welsh practice.

 

Windy.

Still fairly windy today. I was up early and caught the first glimpses of blue skies over to the west. The wind blew all day and which tempted me to hang the washing out on the line. It didn't dry the towels completely but they were half dry when I brought them in to hang in the utility room.

My early start meant that I got all my daily routine - music etc. done before breakfast. That made our breakfast even more relaxing. The digger moving the shingle was busy working from early morning even though the high tide had the waves reaching right up to the shingle it was scraping up.

Today's diy job was to put up a curtain rail across the door inside Peter's study. This was so we could hang the last of the matching curtains to muffle the sound when Peter watches films. Those are the curtains my mum had made at least 30 years ago which are not only lined but padded with a thick blanket like inner lining which should do the job well. Peter did all the actual work, all I did was to find a selection of curtain pole brackets and unpack the last of the poles bought in Barnstaple charity shops and when it was all done I tightened up some fixing screws in the brackets with the tiniest of allen keys. I also put the rings on and hung up the curtain which was my miniscule portion of the work. As well as there being less sound coming down the corridor the curtain had been taking up a lot of space on the trundle bed in my study so I am doubly pleased.

In the afternoon Borth was bathed in sun and as we needed sweetners from the shop I went off for a beach walk. As usual there were clouds banks over the land, some dark grey and looming and I could see more clouds arriving from out to sea but it was glorious on the beach.

It was such a pleasure to walk by the waves and see the bubbles, many of them just single bubbles, being blown across the sand. I walked to my regular turnaround spot and watched the digger for a while before heading back. Returning I walked along the strand line and kept my eyes open for a piece of driftwood to use for air plants but didn't find anything that was both the right size and an interesting shape. I'm sure something will catch my eye eventually.

Back home I finished off my Welsh homework and for once I was able to use the document out tutor had emailed us. I don't have Office and sometimes I can't work out how to write on the document and return it so I have the write on the paper version in my course folder and send a photo. It worked this time and as a bonus it had a Welsh spell checker on it so at least I know my spellings are correct.

 Clouds sitting over the mountains this evening.