Sunny.

Lots of sun today. It felt quite cold in the morning but eventually the sun streaming through the windows warmed the house up. 

I got two lots of washing done and out on the line and later had an ironing session. But for most of the day I've been gardening. I thought it was time to get out the hedge trimmer and tidy up the hedges. With the thick branches cut back last year all it took was a quick swish over and hey presto- neat hedges. It took longer to pick up the trimmings than to do the cutting but I still had to do some stretching to reach the far side of the top of the long hedge. I did the hedge at the end of the garden and this side of the hedge between us and our neighbours. There's no problem with going onto their property to cut the other side but they've come down for the Easter holiday and I don't want to intrude. I'll finish off when they go home. I also did a bit of weeding and general tidying up. Peter was going to go to the dump with all the bags full of garden waste but the dump is closed today. It's open tomorrow and suprisingly on Sunday as well.  

There were lots of people on the beach and in the sea. Peter went out rowing so he's happy too.

Cold.

The day began very cold and wet but by late afternoon most of the clouds had moved on. It was still cold but sunny and the day ended with a pretty sunset. 

Today we got the rest of the shelf uprights cut and later painted, apart from the ones that will be under the lowest shelf as we need to measure in situ. We even planned to put up the first few shelves but ran into a major snag. I'd carefully checked the positions of the stud work in the walls and then marked up a long strip of wood that is the same length as the shelves, with the positions of the brackets and the holes for the screws that will hold the upright pieces of wood. Then I can use it as a guide for marking all the shelves. It was only at that point that we realised that the brackets supporting the lowest shelf would stick out by half a centimetre because of the skirting board. Unfortunately the places in town don't stock the next size down brackets so we had to order them on-line and they won't be arriving until Tuesday. So close to finishing but not quite there yet.

I got all the usual stuff done, Duo Lingo, piano and guitar practice and skipped off to aerobics for some fun exercise. I'n still being very cautious about bouncing through my knees and feet as I don't think my knees can take it yet.

Earlier I went out in the back garden to take some photos and surprised the cat I've been calling Little Ginge. Not so little now, in fact he's quite chunky and though he's usually friendly my sudden appearance had him legging it over the garden wall.

 

Wet.

Grey, wet and cold today.

Even the holidaymakers avoided the beach today. We did see hardy walkers, clad in full waterproofs walking along the coast path this morning and of course there were a few dog walkers on the beach. (The dog ban comes into force at the end of the month.)

I think Peter has given up with his saw, a chop saw not a circular saw as I thought, for the time being. Instead he cut the shelf uprights using a jigsaw. I persauded him to only do half of the uprights today as I could see it was putting a strain on his hands which are affected by arthritis. Hopefully he'll be okay to do the rest tomorrow, if not I'll do them. Once the cutting was done I sanded the cut ends and applied the final coat of paint.

As well as the usual Duo Lingo I did some piano practice and for the first time in a while guitar practise as well. I've been feeling guilty at leaving the guitar for such a long time as I know full well that even a short practice every day will result in eventual progress. 

I also made a bara brith for Peter. I didn't mean it but I now have enough useful Welsh to be able to say - Where are the bookshelves? No shelves, no cake. Other useful phrases in my repertoire are - He's paying, and May I have a coffee and a piece of chocolate cake? No problems in remembering those.

 

Sunny.

Lots of sun again today though with a nip in the air. 

It was a clear night, so cold that in the morning I had to go round wiping off the condensation from the bottom of the windows.

It was nice enough that I could have ridden my bike to the zoo instead of driving but after yesterday's mowing I didn't feel up to cycling. Also I didn't think the cold air would be good for the cough which I still have. The cough is almost gone but from childhood any cold that I had tended to 'go to my chest' as they say and I've often coughed my way through whole winters so I'm being careful.

At the zoo many of the animals were sleeping in the warm sun despite the many families and excited children roaming around. Today I brought some mint and lemon balm to plant alongside a couple of the paths. The ground next to the concrete paths is damp which is ideal for mint and once it's established people brushing past should release the lovely scent. I got the last of the buddelias cut back and as I worked I was watched from across the small play area by the goats. They obviously remembered that last week I gave them buddelias even though those came from the opposite side of the zoo.

I had a nice moment with Buddy the Shetland pony. I never give the ponies treats so they don't nip at my hands. Instead I held my hand to his nose for a while and then gave him a long scratch on the forehead while he dozed off.

Back home I did my Duo Lingo and then spent some time doing my crochet outside. Plenty of families down on the beach and of course children playing in the water. Brits are a hardy people and to children it's logical - if you go to the seaside then of course you go in the sea. Never mind the freezing temperature.

Off to Pilates this evening, it's nice that now it's light to walk there and home again.

 

Sunny.

A lovely sunny day with blue skies from morning to evening.

This was our week for meeting our friends in Mach to work on our Welsh. Three weeks ago we were drenched and almost blown over by the wind, today I didn't even bother taking a coat. Afterwards I had my usual visit to the charity shops but didn't find anything to buy. There were lots of tourists walking around and with the sun shining the town looked vibrant and lively. That is apart from the parked police van and police hanging around on the street.

Back home I decided to give the grass its first cut of the year. For days I've been hearing the sound of mowers and today it was my turn. This wasn't easy as the main part of the lawn, the wildfower meadow, had been left to grow all spring and summer last year. But in the absence of grazing animals it needs cutting back at least once a year. After the initial cut I raked and teased the long grass stems upright before cutting again. Eventually the grass will go as it's not an easy option when we're older but it will stay for the moment. The grass done I began dead heading the hydrangeas. I haven't done it before but they do look a lot neater without the dusty brown blooms. 

This lovely Easter card painted by my cousin came today. I have to say that after years of sending out a stack of Easter cards I've cut right back this year. Maybe I'll send a few more next year.

 

A Beach Walk.

Apart from very early on there was little sun today. A generally cold, grey day.

Within minutes of walking up this morning I was making tea and preparing breakfast. Although the clouds were already rolling in I enjoyed sitting outside with my tea musing over the garden. I can see what the next few steps are but haven't yet finalised the plans for the lawn or pond/paving area. Rather than planning from a blank sheet I much prefer problem solving around existing structures and the plants I already have. Sometimes this is long process. Then I was able to start our Welsh homework before breakfast. This week we have to answer questions about a conversation (part of the course resources). I thought I was doing well by transcribing the conversation and understanding it partly by translation and partly by context. It was only later in the day when I looked at the questions that I realised I had listened to the conversation that goes with the next unit. So more stopping and starting of the correct recording until I had that written out. Luckily it was another fairly easy one.

Having had a good start to the day the afternoon seemed quite empty with no group walk. It was only going to be a short walk today followed by a meal in a pub and I don't really enjoy eating out. On the other hand eating outside as in a hot drink and a cake snack while sitting on a rock with a view of the sea and or mountains is my idea of heaven but then I'm strange like that. So instead I took myself off for a walk along the beach. As we're coming up to the holidays there were more people around including small children happily splashing in the waves. The water must have been cold but then children don't notice such things when they're having fun.

I came across a couple of these large, basketball sized jellyfish. It wasn't until I checked on-line that I identified them as barrel jellyfish. All the many barrel jellyfish that I've seen here have been clear but apparently there is a range of colours.

The most frequent bird visitors for the seeds I throw on the terrace are the dunnocks and three collared doves. This afternoon I spotted one of the collared doves having a good look through the French doors. I wonder what it was looking for?

It's quite common to hear and see helicopters here ranging from the coastguard, the military, the chap who flies up from London to land in his back garden, the police (remember them searching for drugs?) and the air ambulance. This afternoon the I could hear a helicopter low overhead and when I looked it was the air ambulance landing a couple of streets away. Not a good sign but nothing has come over the village grapevine (FB) yet.

 

Spheres.

This morning it looked like we were going to have another day of showers but instead we had a windy and sunny day.

Today it was my turn to go into town where there was a bit of a theme to my shopping which was why I was going to title this post 'Balls' but thought that it might be misconstrued. After going to the bank I went to the wool shop for some crochet hooks and found the orange wool in the bargain box while the purple balls of wool came from a charity shop. Unless the colour is just right I try and avoid 100% acrylic yarn but go for at least a percentage of wool as it washes much better. The fish design spoons and the ceramic ball came from yet another charity shop. And not shown is another set of stainless steel garden balls from Homebargains. As I drove home I was thinking how I like objects that are spherical or in the case of pebbles, egg shaped. That led me to realise that it isn't down to my artistic upbringing but simple biology. Humans are programmed to respond emotionally to round shapes so that we care for babies (round head, big round eyes). A fact that has been exploiteded by soft toy designers and cartoon creators not to mention dog and cat breeders. A bit of a downer to think that some of your personal tastes are the result of nature rather than nuture.

There was such a good drying wind that even a few hours out on the line got the washing almost dry. 

It was a lovely afternoon and wrapped up well against the wind I had a good weeding session out in the front garden. I never know when the rain will return so gardening tends to take priority. 

Peter spent the day trying to reassemble the circular saw but even with the help of a YouTube video it isn't ready yet. I just leave him to it.