Warm.

It's been a day of sunshine and sudden showers but surprisingly warm. Yesterday felt very much like the start of autumn; cold, wet and windy so it was good to still feel some warmth. 

I've spent the whole day cleaning the kitchen. It was satisfying because I knew that once a section was cleaned that was it for a while. And I was able to listen to the radio while I worked which made a change after days of sanding and hoovering with noisy equipment. I had a little DIY to do filling gaps around the window frame but mostly I was washing or wiping. Not only did I wipe down all the cupboard doors but I got carried away and cleaned out some of the cupboards too. The washed curtains were ironed and hung up but I didn't wash the floor length ones today as they need to go out on the line to dry. Because I was doing a total spring clean from top to bottom I haven't quite finished but it will get done tomorrow. Even Peter has remarked on how good things look. He spent the day rowing 2 races in the Ilfracombe Regatta and then on the way home he went over to a neighbouring farmer to have a practice drive of his big front loader. We're going to use it to lift the builder up to re-build the wonky chimney stack. That will be fun to watch.

Cool.

I've spent the whole day sanding and scraping the last of the kitchen counters. Peter went to a regatta at Clovelly and if the weather had been better I would have gone along to this interesting village. Especially as I would have had a free pass. I find it quite wrong that a whole village should be owned by one person and that everyone except the villagers who live there has to pay to visit. As it was it was chilly in the morning and the forecast was for wind and rain so I decided to stay home and work. 

It was only today that I realised that the grease that kept clogging up the sandpaper was not from cooking but was the linseed oil that was protecting the wood. I also realised that it was easier to scrape the oil off the wood with a sharp knife first. Peter's best kitchen knife to be precise. It's really a big cake knife but he sharpens it to a lethal edge using a whetstone. At least the job is now done though I have to wait for some wood filler I bought on eBay as they didn't have the shade I needed at B&Q. And it was half the price. Even with oil on it beech wood doesn't like having water left on it and there is damage and staining to one side of the sink. Wood is probably not the best worktop when you have a careless family.  With the curtains down I can see that there is still some work to do around the window frames so that's what I'll be doing tomorrow.

Sunny Afternoon.

I got the next counter and the window sill done today.It took most of the day and when I finished I had to give the cupboards a wipe over and wash the floor as the dust got everywhere. I can't wait until I get the final counter done because then I can give the whole kitchen a proper clean. I like having the counters clear so I'm trying to re-home as much of the stuff that normally lives on the counters as possible. I wonder how long that will last? I also got one set of the kitchen curtains washed today.

It was wet in the morning but by the afternoon the sun made an appearance. On one of my breaks I treated myself to a home-made lolly made from low fat plain yoghurt and raspberries. Frozen low fat yoghurts have been the nearest I've got to ice-cream this summer and though not the same they are not a bad alternative.

It's turning into a beautiful evening but the forecast for the weekend is not good.

Rainy Morning.

Yesterday evening Peter came home with some DIY supplies from B&Q including an electric sander with a dust box. (Over 60s get 10% discount on Wednesday which is handy in these times of austerity.) I thought that I would be able to get all 3 of the beechwood counters done in one day but after the first hour I revised my plan and decided to do one a day. The vibration does make your hand feel strange afterwards. In the end it took me up until 4.30 to do this one counter. That was with giving myself some breaks to rest my hand. Also that's the dreaded hotplate at the end of the counter where a lot of frying goes on, not by me, and although I thought I had been keeping the counter clean there was still a layer of grease there. I had to scrape the wood clean with a knife because the sand paper kept getting clogged up. Once I had finished I gave it a good coat of linseed oil to seal and protect the wood. Despite the sander having a dust box there was a fine layer of dust everywhere and I will have to give everything a wash when I have done all the counters.

It was raining quite heavily in the morning but by the afternoon it had stopped. There was a warm wind blowing and even a bit of sunshine.  

Up at the scree garden the sedum Raspberries and Cream was covered in bumblebees. There were a few butterflies around, mainly the small whites.

I cooked up some more hummus during the day and right now I'm caramelising onions to mix in the hummus while I wait for Peter to come home from a gig club meeting.

Wet.

I'm a champion procrastinator when it comes to doing household jobs or tidying up. Today's constant drizzle/rain robbed me of my main excuse of having to get things done outside. But then I had to battle against the lethargy that creeps up on me when all is grey and miserable. All I feel like doing on such days is curling up under a throw and reading or watching tv. Luckily I have my list of jobs that I made at the beginning of the holiday and I decided to give the pots and pans cupboard a good clean out. It's one of those cupboards that goes into a corner and has semi-circular carousel baskets that swing out. I don't like those baskets because they don't make efficient use of the space and I did give away one set when we moved the kitchen cupboards about. Cleaning cupboards doesn't come too high on my list of priorities but today's job was made worse by Peter's view that you don't really need to clean the outsides of baking trays or saucepans. He has often accused me of being obsessive when I scrub off all the grease from the outsides and bottoms of pans. Grr.... that's because he isn't faced with greasy shelves to scrub now and again. It isn't helped by the fact that he likes fried food (his cholesterol levels are always normal!). On the other hand he does prepare all the food for his work lunches and especially when I'm eating mainly salads and fruit he is happy to cook on the week-ends too. (He doesn't eat an evening meal during the week.)

The cupboard and contents are now spotless. I even discovered a couple of old baking trays that had fallen down behind the sink, they'll go to the dump. We still have too much stuff just for 2 people but then sometimes we have 8 or 10 in the house. It's hard to know how to strike a balance.

Grey.

I did get out to see the Perseids last night. By 10.00 it was dark enough and there weren't too many clouds so I set off up the hill wearing several warm layers and clutching a camping chair. I went right up the hill, partly because the view is better and that is where the boys and I normally went but also because there are now a number of floodlights on at the stables and the lower part of the valley is fairly lit up. Speedy came up the hill with me and acted as a purring hot water bottle on my lap until he got bored and wandered off. I saw numerous small flashes and a number of proper meteors but after about an hour the clouds started drifting over. Besides scanning the sky for meteors it was just good to be out in the peace of the night looking up at all those stars. Occasionally headlights from cars miles away across the valley would cut across my vision and it was easy to pick out the various farms and houses dotting the landscape. When there were no more stars to see, let alone meteors, I picked up my chair, walked down the hill and was back in bed before 12.00

Today it has been warm, grey, windy and a little wet at times. I was in town in the morning doing some shopping and during the afternoon I got on with housework. I ended up the afternoon brushing my favourite giant throw. It's a lovely big fluffy throw that kept me warm during the winter (much cheaper than turning on the heating) but it does need brushing out after it has been washed. It took an hour just to do one side but it is worth the effort. Off now to another meeting about the turbine.

Windy.

It has been a very windy day with clouds rushing across the sky blown by the wind from the north. 

My morning was mainly spent doing research on the internet for our appeal against the wind turbine. In the end my pc threw in the towel and refused to connect me to the internet. It's stopped sulking now once it had a rest in the afternoon. 

Most of my afternoon was spent cutting all the grass both with the mower and then the strimmer for all those awkward bits. After that I felt justified in sitting up at the scree garden with a book and a cuppa. Part of the time it was roastingly hot and then as soon as a cloud blocked out the sun it got really cold. One minute I had a hat and sunglasses on and the next I was putting on my bodywarmer.  I've been keeping an eye on the cloud cover since I am hoping to get out to watch the Perseids tonight. It's looking hopeful as it has gone from 90% cover this morning to about 30% now. I just find this type of natural phenomenon fascinating and definitely worth staying out for several hours.