Windy.

Sunny today with a brisk wind stirring up whitecaps across the bay.

A good day to cycle down to the zoo for my weekly dose of animals other than the cat.

Most of my weeding today was in an established flower bed next to the wolf-dogs who both sniffed my fingers through the wire.

The ponies were sporting smart face masks to keep the flies out of their eyes. I gave my neck and bare arms a good spray with insect repellant before starting work so the only thing that bit me was a vicious rose branch which drew blood. Luckily I carry a mini first aid kit with antiseptic wipes and plasters as plants can have all sorts of nasties on them.

Two very happy pigs.

On my way home a flock of sheep were hiding from the sun in a small grove of trees.

Once home there was just time for a quick coffee before getting on with more gardening in the front garden. At least this time I could do most of it sitting on one of the wide garden steps. I feel bad about putting bucketfuls of crocosmia corms in the bag going to the dump to be composted but there is a limit to how much crocosmia I can keep in the garden. As it is all the troughs by the street have crocosmia in and there is more under the street hedge and down at the far end of the garden. All too soon it was time for a shower before going off to the choir in Tal-y-Bont. Just for fun some of the choir turned up wearing dungarees of all varieties. It's that sort of crowd. A good evening's singing though the last song proved a real challenge. We'd think we'd got the tune sorted but as soon as one of the other groups was being taught their part that would take over and we'd forget our part completely. And this was a song with three verses and a chorus rather than the usual one or two verses. I'm sure we'll get there in the end. Incidentally I noticed this afternoon that the tinitus had gone, what a relief though it has returned in a much milder form tonight.

 

Cloudy.

The day began grey and a little chilly but eventually warmed up to an almost sunny afternoon.

Remember how I was going off to sing last night? Well, I waited at the arranged point, and waited and waited. I gave up 20 minutes after the agreed time, walked home via the house of one of the people I should have been with but no one was in. I wondered if the choir had been cancelled because of the Queen's passing as so many other events have been but when Peter phoned (he had the number in his phone) the person I made the arrangemet with that wasn't the case. Arrangements changed and I was forgotten. It was suggested I made my own way but it was too late and I would have had to look up where to go as last week I'd been in the back of a car on a wet evening. And my ears are still ringing so maybe it was all for the best.

Today I planned a day of working in the garden. My first job was to fit the hose to the water butt and thanks to Lea's suggestion to soften the hose by putting it in hot water I was able to force it onto the spout. Not all the way but I used a jubilee clip to secure it. 

Then I was called by Peter to give him a hand with the bathroom demolition.

Above is how the bathroom looked a few weeks ago. The pink tiles fell off the overhead panel last year and for the past few weeks I've been prising one and sometimes two layers of tiles from the walls. Peter removed the airing cupboard door easily enough but the rest of the structure was another matter.  For a start the frame was built with 2x4 timbers. In places a second layer of timbers had been added when the bathroom was refurbished. That included the panel coming down from the ceiling which was double layered with each layer having tiles stuck to it. It was heavy and awkward work but we got it done. It's a decent sized bathroom but I'm still having difficulty visualising the finished room. It's all so bitty. With the ceiling being so high having half tiled walls will look better but then the shower area will need full height tiles and the original window (with the utility room on the other side) breaks up that wall. I think the bit above where the bath is will become alcove shelves for the shower and we'll box in the rest. 

Peter loaded up the car and took everything down to the dump. Now all that's left for us to to is take out the bath and remove as many tiles as possible from the final wall. After that we will have to wait for the builder to install the window and eventually complete the job.

I had a break and then returned to the front garden where I cleared all the montbretia from a corner of one of the flower beds. I'm going to remove all the montbretia from under the hydrangeas along that wall because not only does the orange of the montbretia clash horribly with the red of the hydrangeas but the montbretia is too tall to be under those shrubs. 

I hoped to see the green flash again tonight but at the last moment there was the haze of a cloudbank stopping the change in colour.

Warm.

It rained heavily in the night and today we've had a couple of light showers. The most notable thing has been the warmth, I would say it has been around 20C/68F for most of the day.

Before Peter went off on anther dump run I cut back lots of montbretia for him to take along with the latest load of bathroom tiles. I planned to spend my time getting on with a number of small jobs in the front garden but it wasn't long before the next shower sent me back indoors. There I gave the orchids a thorough tidy up. The dreaded woolly aphids were making a reappearance on some of the orchids so they all had to be sprayed, wiped and sprayed again. Maybe I'll be able to keep the aphids under control this time. Keeping the orchids on top of the fridge gives me a better view of the undersides of the leaves which is where the aphids tend to hide.

Eventually I got back into the front garden again for some weeding and cutting back of the twigs shooting out of the top of the hedge. I also went round and did some trimming on the pavement side. Not so much to keep the hedge tidy but more to save passers by from getting hit in the face by wet leaves after the frequent rains.

I'm blogging early today as it's the Tenovus choir tonight. I'm going to make sure I sit somewhere near the back as my ears are still ringing after last week. If the ringing continues I may have to give this choir a miss.

A couple of photos from yesterday's walk. We all laughed at the top sign which says 'For Your Throat's sake - Smoke Craven A.' 

 

Light Rain.

Mostly grey today with light showers in the afternoon.

This week one of the air plants suddenly began to turn red. I wondered if maybe last Sunday they had had too long a swimming session but when I checked on-line I found out that it's a sign they are doing well. The red colour indicates that the plant is about to flower and sure enough when I looked closely there were a couple of flower buds. Sadly the plant usually dies afterwards and this one hasn't produced any plantlets.

Another walk with the Headless Wanderers group today. This time in the woods/ nature reserve above Cletwr. (cle-tour), Straight off we headed up a very steep track which had signs that in wet weather water runs down the middle.

Up through wonderful beech trees until we took a steep downhill diversion to cross over the stream, (officially a river). In the past, medieval times I think, the water had been channelled to run a water wheel. We could learn a few lessons about harnessing green energy from those days.

We walked beside the stream with frequent small waterfalls before heading up the side of the valley.

At the top of the valley was a silver birch wood. We found numerous puffball mushrooms and later a large boletus aka penny bun aka cep aka baravikas.

In the woods, though I didn't take any photos of them, were many small bird boxes but only about 3ft up the tree trunks. A bit further on we found out that they were in fact dormice boxes as the current UK population is very low. More info here.

From the woods we emerged into rough pasture land,

with views to Aberdyfi,

across the bog to Ynyslas and the sea

and of Cader Idris in Snowdonia. 

We stopped for our break as it was a good spot to enjoy the views. One of the group shared some pumpkin seeds that she had fried in oil and soy sauce. We were sitting spread across a rocky outcrop and she had repeated enquiries as to where she got the seeds (Lidl) and exactly how she cooked them. This turned into a bit of fun especially as it happens each time she brings the seeds to share. They were extremely tasty too. Unfortunately it began to rain, only lightly so we followed the narrow road back into the woods, picked lucious blackberries and down to the village. Another very pleasant walk.

Back home Peter was out coxing one of the two club boats I could see out on the sea along with a wing and a wind surfer. I was glad that I was watching from indoors as the rain began to fall in ernest.

Two flower buds.

 

Grey then Sunny.

The day began with grey clouds looking as it would rain at eny moment. Eventually it brightened up here until we ended up with clear blue skies the only clouds being over the hills and a line of single clouds over the Llyn Peninsula far off on the other side of the bay.

I didn't get a lot of sleep last night which initially was due to Peter's snoring. I escaped to watch tv for an hour and then returned hoping the late hour and the last round of tablets would help me get to sleep. Nearly an hour later I was even more wide awake so I got up again and went and did an hour of Welsh. At least I was doing something useful. I eventually dropped off around four in the morning.

With a gloomy start to the day I settled down at the kitchen table to get on with writing up my journal. It takes me a while to get back into the style of slightly elvish font I use with my current choice of a green italic felt pen. This is the sixteenth year of writing my journal and looking back I see my style was more narrative to start with whereas now it's more in report form. Mind you there is so much in the the sections listing all the work done in the house and garden it would be hard to write it as a narrative. It took me all day but now the last four seasons have been written up which is a weight off my mind.

The afternoon was so lovely that after sitting out for a while with a coffee thinking about and rejecting the idea of going for a swim, I had an early shower so that I could let my hair dry in the warm wind. I was giving myself a pedicure when out by the buoys I spotted two dolphins. They must have been a mother and calf as they remained almost touching as they swam around in the bay. A third dolphin was also there surfacing a bit further out.

Unfortunately there was a cloud bank on the western horizon so although there was an interesting sunset there was no possibility of seeing a green flash. I'm always hopeful.

 

Warm.

Last night's sunset, an appropriate end to mark the Queen's passing. A remarkable woman who continued working for the country right up to her final days.

Today looked quite gloomy to start with and I went off to town with an umbrella in my bag only to have the day get warmer and warmer. Better that than the other way round.

I had a number of things to do in town including buying a sim card for Peter's old smart phone, the one I've been using as a back up camera. I've got fed up with my very old dumb phone, at least now I'll be able to see the screen better. With just four contacts I don't have much to put on the new phone. It only took a moment to pop into the bank and give them the new number as the increased security measures mean more confirmation codes sent by text. I got the chap in the shop to put the phone on airplane mode so that I don't accidentally link to the internet and use up all my credit.

I had my usual look around the charity shops, didn't find anything spectacular but while looking at children's books came across a Welsh version of an Oxford Reding Tree book. Wondering why it was in a charity shop I checked inside and sure enough there was the stamp of a local primary school, the one just around the corner. I pointed this out to the shop assistant and offered to return it to the school which she was happy for me to do. I don't like to see school property in the wrong place.

I made a couple of bulk purchases which may have caused other shoppers to wonder. First I found that HomeStores had the plasters I use to protect my toes and fingers. They don't always have them which combined with the fact that I don't go into town often had me buying 20 boxes, well they are half the price of other supermarket plasters. The other thing was finding prunes again at Lidl. A 1kg bag at Morrisons is now £6.25 while the cost at Lidl is £4.60. That's a big difference on something we buy often. 

When I got home my plan had been to carry on with my journal but seeing what a nice day it was went for a walk on the beach instead.

Another new sight, somebody using an inflatable wing to ride a wheeled board over the sand and occasionally jumping up into the air.

Before I left for my walk I spoke to a lady looking for her daughter's chickens. They'd been in her garden but scattered after being scared by a dog. Later I met the lady, her daughter who lives a few houses away and two grand-daughters. So far they've recovered all but two of the hens

 

Wet.

Lots of rain today but still very warm. The air feels very heavy and the pressure is giving lots of people headaches.

The community gardens are even further away so I didn't risk cycling. Instead I drove and parked in the church car park.

The sun was shining as I arrived but it wasn't long before the showers started up again.

Fortunately we were able to keep dry in 'The Watershed' as we waited for the lady that brings the cake. Today it was Dorset Apple Cake, full of moist apples and crunchy walnuts. 

Oh dear, it has just been announced that the Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. While I am not a royalist losing somebody is always sad for the family and it is especially hard when they are under such scrutiny by the world's media. So now we have King Charles III. 

I spent the very wet afternoon catching up with my Hobbit Journal. One reason that it takes me so long to do is that I can't resist reading through at least the most current of the books before I even start collating the daily sentences I jot down after blogging. But that is the reason I write the journals, to provide a summary of our life that helps me remember past events. Otherwise the days simply roll into each other. Reading through revives clear memories and brings home just how much we have achieved.

Peter has gone out for a Borth 2030 meeting (planning for the future of the village) so I've got one of my Welsh songs playing on loop which can get annoying to anyone else who has to listen to it, especially when I sing the chorus with enthusiasm. I've played the piano and the guitar today and just have my singing warm up to do.