Dry.

The day has been a mixture of sunny & warm, muggy or grey and chilly.

The two builder's lads turned up mid-morning and finished all the work they're supposed to do. The job itself won't be finished and I won't be paying any bills until the kitchen ceiling is repaired and the rendering done on the front. 

Vytas rang yesterday and I got very excited at the news that he and Sally will be coming to spend a weekend with us soon. He asked which wet suits we still have so I sent him a photo of the current collection. I've never had a wetsuit preferring to wear a rash vest over my swimming costume when I do go in. I keep thinking I'll go for a swim but haven't managed it yet.

I planned to have an easy day today which I'm not sure I did. The first thing I did in the back garden was to repot one of the tall acers into a scruffy but much bigger tub that fitted into the space between the oil tank and the raised bed. Pretty as they are the acers don't like being exposed to full sun or the strong winds so I need to find more sheltered spots for them. The new bed is now mostly filled with hardy geraniums and crocosmia which I've split. Hopefully by autumn I'll have plenty of plants to put in the new raised beds in the front garden.

I had decided to stop for the day and was noting the good job the lads had made of sweeping up around the paved areas when I spotted the glint of glass. Had a closer look and the more I looked the more glass splinters I could see. This was nothing to do with the current work but must be from when the lean-to's and utility windows had to come down and the glass had become trapped in the deep grooves of the slabs and the spaces between them which have lost all their mortar. Being worried that Speedy could cut his paws or that we might bring glass splinters into the house on the soles of our shoes there was nothing to do but get back into my work clothes, go down on my knees and scrape and brush up all the glass, everything from tiny splinters to chunks and shards and the accumulated dirt. Now we have lovley clean safe slabs, in this section at least and I have an aching back.

 

Dry.

Cloudy, then sunny and then cloudy again.

Peter went out rowing again this morning. It was windier than yesterday which made the rowing harder much to Peter's delight. While he was out I used the heat gun on the last of the paint on the lip of the window sill. While it didn't make the job easy it was certainley easier and the shave hook was a better tool for the job. It's now all ready to be painted once the builders have finished.

Then I did some gardening working on the soil in the bed by the bricks I laid yesterday. Turning the soil over gave me the opportunity to take out the remaining roots, break up the lumps of clay and mix together the soil and compost I'd dumped there. I brought most of the remaining pots up from the front garden and put them on top of the soil for the moment to discourage Speedy and any other cats from using that nice clean soil as a toilet.

We had a little time to sit and enjoy the view before packing up our stuff for the street party. I didn't take my camera as I'm not confident taking photos of people especially when I don't know them hence no photos. It was a very pleasant street party with bunting strung around the houses and gardens and a section of the road unofficially closed to make room for tables and chairs. It had quite a festival/Bohemian vibe with maybe 30-40 people, mostly older generation with a few younger children. My Rocky Road hadn't turned out too well. They only had the very large tins of Tate and Lyle golden syrup in the supermarket so I made the mistake of buying the supermarket own brand which turned out to be too runny and as a result the Rocky Road was very soft. Althought I took along a packet of wet wipes I didn't dare offer it to the various young children running around in bridesmaids/party dresses. Their parents would have loved having chocolate all over those I'm sure. There was also a minor mishap at our table. We were sitting with two of our neighbours plus their dad in a motorised scooter when he got confused by the controls and ran the scooter into the table. Half over went the table until it was stopped by Peter with the rest of us grabbing the cake stand, drinks and bottles several of which landed in the Rocky Road. Some still got eaten but the remainder is back in my fridge to be eaten in small portions. Order was soon restored after much laughter and not too much damage to food and drinks. The street party was a combination of celebrating the summer solstice and the recent easing of the lockdown restrictions. It always makes me sad to think that from now the nights will be getting longer though the summer proper is yet to come. It was really nice to chat with more of our neighbours, one lady even came running after me as we were leaving to ask about the muslin curtains in my study as she has just moved into her house and would like something similar.

 

Dry.

The day began grey and it looked as if rain was imminent but then the sun began to emerge and we ended with a glorious sunny and hot afternoon. More importantly to Peter the sea was flat calm, perfect for rowing and they went out for nearly two hours. (Yesterday evening's row had been cancelled due to the wind and rough sea.)

While Peter was out on the water I had another go at scraping paint off the kitchen windowsill as I would like to paint the front as soon as the repairs to the render have been done. It's hard work on the hands so I'm thinking about getting out the heat gun to soften up those last areas of old paint. 

I'm having fun guessing the colours of the at least 15 hydrangea bushes in the front garden. They are all mop-heads while I much prefer lace-caps and there is a gorgeous deep purple variety I saw in the garden centre but I don't think I really need any more hydrangeas.

I made some Rocky Road earlier as there's a street party in the next road tomorrow. A while back we had a flier come through the door for a 'Celebration Tea Party' saying "bring chairs and something to eat". Peter had a chat with some neighbours from up the road and it sounds like it's more of a general street party rather than just tea. Our neighbours invited us to come and sit with them which is nice as due to the pandemic we haven't had a chance to get to know many of our neighbours.

In the afternoon I finally cemented a row of engineering bricks along the base of one of the raised beds. I was lazy and didn't use a spirit level or straight edge but did the whole thing by eye. I'd gone for the more expensive option of small bags of ready mix mortar which I mixed in a bucket but then again there's no wasteage and though small the bags are as much as I can lift.

I'd had the bricks in place for a while and as I moved them over there was a variety of minibeasts underneath; springtails, woodlice and centipedes but I was very surprised to find a small newt there as well. I took it over to a tray of scummy rainwater into which I put some stones. I left the newt on top of one of the stones but by the time I'd got my camera it had disappeared. (I've since put stones on the outside of the tray too for easy access.)

Later we sat out in the sun and then ate our supper outside.

I took these photos at nearly 10.00, still light, still people in the water and a lone fisherman out by the rocks.

 

Windy.

Very windy today. For most of the day it was bright and sunny but later in the afternoon the dark clouds which had been lurking close inland moved out over the sea changing the sea colours from vibrant greens and blues to depending on your generation, shades of duck egg blue or light avocado.

We  had both the builder's lads here today working on the guttering. It is almost done with just a few small things to do on Monday, providing the rain holds off.

I had a run into town, first destination being the dump to dispose of soggy bags of grass cuttings and weeds. When I got into town my usual route to the industrial estate where the dump is  was blocked by 'closed' signs. I didn't do my usual thing of ignoring the signs on the grounds that either they don't refer to the place I'm going to or they've finished their roadworks and forgotten to remove the signs. So many times I've carried on past closed signs and then had to retrace my way. Instead I went through town and out that way. It's not as if Aber is very big. Reaching the dump I was pleasantly surprised to find no queue at all and it wasn't long before I had emptied the car and was heading over to Screwfix for shelf brackets (for the garage) and a replacement latch for my study door. A quick drive to Morrisons where a search of the plant shelves yeilded two unusual clematis. The blue Rooguchi which flowers  late winter/early spring is a scrambler rather than a climber and valued in Japan as a cut flower. The site I got this information from charges £16 for a plant! The white Cirrhosa is evergreen and flowers between October and January. That's a bonus. I was just putting my shopping on the checkout belt in Morrisons when the fire alarms went off. Everyone had to leave their shopping and exit the building. I smiled when I saw one older lady pick up a chair from the cafe area we were walking through and take it outside to sit on. Very sensible. The fire brigade turned up in minutes but I think it was just a problem with the alarms. Once back inside it didn't take long to pay and then onwards to Lidl as it's on the way home. The new Lidl is right next to the main streets, okay the old one was only at the other end of the car-park, but there wasn't anything I needed to get. I did call in at the second-hand shop though as it's also on the same car-park. I'm still not sure what the ethos behind the place is apart from re-cycling but I did see somebody from the zoo working there. I'll ask him next time I'm at the zoo. There I treated myself to this glass tea-light holder for £2. I'm not into candles, far too dangerous in my view, but it's a nice object in itself.

For the rest of the afternoon I worked on my felted dragon. Wetting the legs helped get them more compact and I've used the same idea on the flap I've added to make the zig-zag down the neck to the tail.

 

Sunny.

Sunny and breezy today.

Just one builder here today. All that's left to do of the guttering is the section across the front above the terrace. Peter had a text to say his prescription was ready so I hiked along the beach to the pharmacy but when I got there they didn't have anything for either of us. In the end they decided it was a glitch in their system. On the beach it was very windy and people were huddled in beach tents or under under blankets. Stepping into the High St. where it was sheltered the temperature shot up dramatically. With no one in the water both the life-guards were sat in their hut reading books. Once school was out in the afternoon more people were in the water including a few surfers. I ended the afternoon sitting outside doing some felting. My latest project is a dragon and getting the legs smaller around the chenille pipe cleaners is a bit of a challenge.

We had an unexpected visitor in the afternoon, the nephew of Chick the man who lived here before us. He was keen to see what we'd done and sounded impressed though it's still a work in progress.

First thing this morning I sorted out the bags of weeds I'm planning to take to the dump and did a little extra weeding. Before I load them up I'll double bag them to stop the insects escaping into the car.

More zoo photos.

 

Zoo Day.

A grey day today with low clouds occasionally dropping light drizzle.

The builders were here again putting up fascias and gutters while I spent a long morning at the zoo.

The building with the sloping roof is the local small supermarket/Post Office. The upstairs was a cafe but it's become a victim to the pandemic and the owner is now turning it into holiday accomodation.

At the zoo I started with the usual sweeping of the main paths. Next to me two of the young workers were sweeping out one of the marmoset enclosures but one kept being distracted by a marmoset that kept sitting on her shoulder. She was having a fun morning. Then I moved on to the never ending weeding of the gravel. I don't mind doing it but I can only do it for so long before it affects my back. So it was helpful when one of the owners mentioned that should I fancy a change there was a flower bed by the wolf dogs that needed weeding. That's it above, after my weeding efforts. Before I started it was a solid mass of 4ft high weeds including some nasty stinging nettles. Those I gave to the rheas. Both of the free roaming peacocks were in the same enclosure and they enjoy nettles too. I began by working my way from the gate to the wire fence and then went along the wooden fence to a lovely rose bush (out of sight) on the right. During this I was closely watched by the wolf dogs, sometimes at ground level and sometimes from the platform above. Being me I chattered away to the wolf dogs and while I wouldn't be so foolish as to put my fingers through the wire when I offered one a long grass stalk she gently ate the leaf. 

When I took this photo the male wolf dog's attention was on a barking dog outside the zoo.

Most of the meerkats were fast asleep while the sentry sat up on top of their tower. (That's a melon hanging from a rope.) 

I spent longer than usual at the zoo today so once I got home, edited my photos and had a rest there wasn't much of the afternoon left. I wanted to buy a large scale OS map for the local area so I can start exploring but very annoyingly the map stops halfway through Borth. That means buying and carrying two maps unless I get the standard scale map.

 

Sunny.

A lovely sunny day today. 

The builders were here again putting up new fascia boards. We were running low on milk and completely out of squash which the lads had asked for so off I went to the shop. Unlike yesterday when I'd worn a jacket today I nipped out in my shorts with flip-flops on my feet. I hadn't planned to walk on the beach so didn't take the camera but the sand called. I guess that counted as my first time in the water this year as I sploshed through the edge of the waves. Lots of families camped out on the dry sand enjoying the sun. With foreign travel banned or at least discouraged no doubt more people will head out to the coast instead.

With things being very noisy at home, lots of banging and drilling, I took a cup of coffee, camera and Kindle out to one of the benches on the cliff for a peaceful coffee break. Guess which dog was being walked? Yup, that's Dougal the scottie that bit me. I exchanged a "Hello" with the chap but he made sure to reel in Dougal's lesd until he was well past.

My gentle prompting, okay maybe nagging has finally worked and Peter has started sorting out the garage getting stuff ready for recycling or the dump. The builder's lads will be taking away some materials left by various builders and the left over boards from the roof can be used to make shelving for the stuff we will be keeping. I took photos of the window with the too high opening and a spare radiator and put them on the selling sites. Might as well try and recoup some of the money we spent. 

My last job of the day was to use a second wool blanket to make the inner curtain for the other long sitting room curtain. One advantage of having the blanket curtains separate to the white curtains is that it means I can still put both curtains in the washing machine separately if needed though I think hanging the wool curtains out in the sun for a while would also freshen them up nicely. I checked out the price of black-out blinds and they would be £200 - £300. Maybe not.