Zoo Day.

Once again we've had a cloudy morning followed by a sunny afternoon with plenty of wind.

Late in the morning I took myself down to the zoo. Driving not cycling in case the clouds turned to rain. There I managed to weed the woodchip in the whole of the small play area. As I weed the woodchip I dig it over to give the very wet and compacted old woodchip a chance to dry out. Often parents tell their children they can't go on the play area because 'The lady is working there.' so I quietly let the adults know it's fine but warn them that it's a bit mucky. Some parents keep their children off the wet woodchip so they don't spoil their holiday clothes and fancy shoes but others don't mind. It's always interesting to listen to how parents interact with their children. 

I was wondering why some areas of the wild flower meadow had all the long grasses knocked down and now I know. Mr Pea likes sunbathing there.

Back home I had enough time to mix up another bucket of mortar and fill the gaps between the coping stones in my rustic fashion. To make sure the mortar didn't fall out of the overhang of the small stones that make the curve at the corner I propped up bits of wood underneath. So far it seems to have worked. I'm also slowly rebuilding a small wall by the front gate. Only a row or two at a time as the stones are solid granite and any more would squash out the mortar.

Then it was time for Pilates. As I walked down to the hall in the warm sunshine I appreciated how lovely it was to be walking beside the sea as indeed I have to do to do anything in the village. Down on the beach children were playing, people were out in and on the water and a small sailboat was coming ashore after an afternoon of sailing. Along the High Street the bunting is going up, strung across the road between lamposts and houses in preparation for the carnival, people are sprucing up their gardens and everything feels very festive.

 

Much Laughter in the Library.

There was heavy rain in the night while the day has been sunny and very windy.

This morning we went off to Mach for our usual meet up in the library. We're getting to  the stage where we can make jokes in Welsh so there was much hilarity. We even make the Welsh speaking librarian laugh as she tries to do her work.

Afterwards I had my usual skip round the charity shops and found some extra long white fur fabric which I can use to make Peter's beard and moustache for the carnival. Finally it has been decided by the rowing club that the theme will be 'The Little Mermaid' and Peter is going to be Triton. He'll be sitting in the boat as the walking would be too much for him. It wasn't until he'd agreed to it that he found out from me he'll need a mermaid's tail and long white hair, beard and moustache and be bare chested. It's a good thing I'm used to making costumes.

On our return from Mach I mixed up some mortar and stuck down the coping stones around the pond. I still need to point between the stones so the job's not quite finished but I'm almost there. 

 

Castell Gwallter.

The morning weather looked quite unsettled and after yesterday's rain I wondered what it would be like later as the forecast was for showers. But in the end it turned out to be a warm and mainly sunny afternoon. Excellent walking conditions.

Once again the walk began half-way up the hill behind the village. In a nutshell we went up the hill, across the top of the hill, stopped at the castle, down the other side of the hill, turned and came back up the side of the hill by a different route, passed the barn where the camper is stored and back down the hill to our start point.

Before these last two walks I hadn't explored the narrow lanes in the countryside behind us. I'm so used to the seaside and estuary terrain that it was strange to be surroundings similar to Devon, apart from fewer beech trees.

I certainly hadn't known that we have our own castle or at least the remaining earthworks of a Norman motte and bailey castle. Above is where we had our lunch sitting on the mound (motte) of Castell Gwallter. Just under a thousand years ago the Anglo-Norman soldiers at the top of the tall wooden tower on top of the mound would have had an even better view of the surrounding countryside.

Below - the defensive ditch with the mound on the left.

A nice mix of farmland and woods today.

And far reaching views.

Looking down at Borth and in the foreground the barn where the camper lives. We were walking along the last stretch when I turned, saw the barn and knew exactly where we were. We ended our walk chatting in a garden with tea and biscuits enjoying the lovely weather.

It was so nice that when I got home I worked out in the garden and laid another paving slab. It was hard to come back inside since you never know what the weather is going to be from day to day.

 

Very Wet.

Very wet today. That put paid to my plan to spend the day mixing up mortar and sticking down those coping stones. Not nice either for the school round the corner that was putting on its summer fete and barbecue this afternoon. I don't know if they were able to move it to inside the school though I expect the rain would have put people off anyway.

Instead I've had a day of inside jobs. All the routine jobs including both piano and guitar and then some outstanding tasks. I've paid up for next year's Welsh course, I may complain about the amount of time I spend learning Welsh but I'm not going to give it up now. Just a couple more years and I should be able to have a sensible conversation in Welsh. I also did and sent in my homework which isn't due in until next term. I'd done half of it and only needed to write a few lines about what I did and where I went last week-end. Most of the homework was about practising how place names change after the word in. The usual word for in is yn but if the place name begins with P,T, C, B, D or G then the initial letter changes to ym Mh, yn Nh, yng Ngh, ym M, yn N, or yng Ng and to make things even more confusing when speaking the in and the name are said as one and the sound at the end of in merges into the beginning of the place name.

Peter put up one more shelf in his study (last time he put up several and had serious problems with his knee for weeks, it's the random twisting that does it) and then helped me put up a few things.

First was this antique metal candelabra which came from my mother's home. Next was a hook so that I could hang a banner in my study (LOTR- Elrond's banner.) This was the outside wall of the original building and the only way to drill holes in it is to use the largest of our drills. It's so heavy I can barely pick it up and certainly wouldn't be able to hold it up to drill a hole. 

Looking out at the view I saw plenty of surfers, a couple of wing surfers, a kite surfer and a few hardy walkers.

 

Dry.

A typical British summer day today, plenty of clouds, a bit of blue sky and sort of warm.

I was glad that I could get out in the garden to work on the paving. I swapped the grey slab for a red one (it's not as if I'm short of spare slabs) and then laid two more. That was done before going to the stables and once I returned I redid another slab that was a bit wobbly and then relaid two slabs on the far side which weren't level. All that remains to do is one slab that needs to be cut to size. Though now I look at the photo I think I'll put down another two slabs so that there are slabs all along the step.

Today was the last RDA class for the summer term though I shall be carying on going to the stables for my riding lessons. I was with the bigger pony Sox again and for once I got to lead her. This was part of my official training. As volunteers range from no experience with horses right up to experienced riders there is a 'green card' with lots of sections to be ticked by the group instructor before you are deemed competent. The person leading the pony is also responsible for checking the tack. My job was not to interact with the child but listen out for the instructions Mainly '1,2,3, stop' which the child joins in with and then stand in front of the pony often while the child does an activity such as finding the correct colour bucket for the bean bags. And then it's 'Ready, steady, go' for walking on. Poor Sox gets bored and doesn't want to walk on so I learnt to start tugging on the lead rope at 'Ready'. She's not so bad at the far end of the school but get near the entrance gates and she tends to grind to a halt. Because I wasn't supposed to be joining in with the talking I kept up a sotto voce one way conversation with Sox which she seemed to respond to.

It's getting a bit cooler at the start and end of the day and although I'm still in shorts I've begun wearing my fingerless mittens and my poor toes can feel the cold draught that swirls along at floor level. I wish we could have just a little of the heat being felt in other countries. Only a few degrees would do. Fingers crossed for some late summer warmth.

 

A Waterspout.

The day began with heavy rain followed by a sunny afternoon.

If only I had looked to the right when I took the above photo I might have seen the waterspout churning up the sea. (photo taken by Gary Hawkins). Trust me to miss these things.

Because it was raining I drove rather than cycled to the community gardens though once I got there the rain stopped and very soon it was hot and sunny. The rain had made walking along the paths there hazardous since unless you were less than five feet tall walking under the low growing willow resulted in an unwelcome shower and if you managed to duck under the overhanging branches then further along branches from the side would get you. Now that I know the code to get into the tool shed I was able to find some secateurs to chop back all the offending branches. Not that going into the tool shed was without danger, the wasps whose nest had been removed two weeks ago, when I got stung, have returned and built a new nest just inside the door. I moved very carefully going in and out of that shed. Not so many people came today for the cake which was a delicious date cake with banoffee topping but we still had plenty of interesting conversations.

Back home I decided to start replacing paving slabs. I really haven't got the hang of this particular skill and each of the slabs had to be picked up and redone many times before they settled in correctly without wobbling. It was as I stood back to admire my work that I noticed I had put in a grey rather than a red paving slab (second from the top on the right). It is hard to tell while the slabs are covered in dirt and sand and when I checked the edge it looked to be red but no it's grey. There's another slab in place to the right of it so whichever way I go I'm going to have to pick up and re-do two slabs. I stopped at that point because the paving slabs are heavy and I was getting worn out.

Instead I sat and contemplated my error from the safety of the terrace before getting ready to head off for an hour of leaping about to disco music. 

 

Flat Battery.

A dry day, cloudy to begin with and then a sunny afternoon. 

First thing this morning we went up to the barn to collect the camper as it was booked in for its MOT. Unfortunately even though Peter had left the battery plugged in with a trickle charge running today the battery was dead. It had happened before which was why it had been left plugged in but now we, or rather the garage man needs to get a new battery. I think that's made Peter even more determined to sell the camper, ho hum.

After that fruitless jaunt I headed down to the zoo while Peter went for his first morning in the Lifeboat shop. (There's been a change of personnel and Peter is now welcome on the team of volunteers who man the shop.) At the zoo I managed to weed the whole of the large play area in three hours which was good going considering how many weeds were growing in there. Lots of visitors as the school holiday season begins.

I did a small amount of weeding at home too and then settled in the sun to do some mending. My ancient jodhpurs had some stitching coming adrift which I dealt with though if I carry on riding I could do with a new pair. Many of the elastic threads in the fabric have broken and are poking through the fabric though thankfully only on the inside. Then there was a pair of lightweight cotton shorts which I wear in bed which have been washed so many times that the fabric tore. They can have one repair but after that the rag bag will be their next destination.

The evening was spent singing. It was a strange mix of voices tonight; eight sopranos, six altos, two (including me) tenors and two bass. At least it meant that when we could remember the tune we could sing at full volume to balance against the higher voices. We learnt a long song that was complicated for everyone else but the tenor part was nearly all on one note. Something that is surprisingly difficult to do especially when we kept forgetting what that note was. We managed it in the end and then threatened to sing the next song all on one note too.

Views of the distant hills.

And a view of the corner of the garden wall . (The firm have said they will come and do the rebuild properly). Look at the pavement and see the tyre marks. Another six inches and the pillar would have been hit again.