It's going to be Very Hot here again today (30 deg) and nearly as hot for the next week or so. I am so fed up with HOT. I don't do hot, especially for months on end.
Sunday was cooler so I rubbed down and finished painting the French doors. I opened them both so I could paint the sill and edges of each door. I was sweltering as the front of the house faces South. The rubbing down of the wood filler wasn't as perfect as it should have been, but I was past caring in the end. When everything was dry, I attempted to shut the door which isn't normally opened (has locks top and bottom - the other side has a key). It jammed. It was an inch off closing at the bottom. I had to take a chisel to it to make room or it would never close at all. At least the front of the house is finished now and it looks lovely.
I retreated into the cool at the side of the house and rubbed down and undercoated the side kitchen window. That needs a top coat but that probably won't happen until it's cooled down again now. The two upper windows have been done and Tam's main bedroom window is rubbed down, masked up and some wood filler put in.
That was really quite a tiring day - the heat is so wearing - and my watch told me I had worked hard.
Yesterday I had to be up at 6, and out of the house at 7, to be across to Tam's early to look after Rosie all day.
She didn't want to sleep. We went for a walk and she finally nodded off and slept about an hour and a half - we were back in the cool of the garden by then. I was sat on the bench, dipping into Radnorshire Folk Lore and taking notes of churches to visit.
Above: Not Going To Sleep!
Below: the bees loved the Borage and were around it all the time we were sat out there. I was trying to show the pink and blue of this flower. It reminded me of the Viper's Bugloss I have here.
It's a great year for apples. This is a russet which we saw on our walk. Tam showed me the orchard which was planted when their close of houses were built and the trees were groaning with fruit. Plenty to keep all the houses there supplied but some elderly people living there who won't bother, so the birds will be benefitting. I ventured into the long grass to pick an apple, and got several bites on my hip - they've been itching like heck and are the reason I couldn't get back to sleep when I woke at 3.30 again.
It was a very slow drive both to Tam's (behind a heavily laden gravel lorry) and back again - behind a Learner driver. Up in the mountains, the road does not really lend itself to overtaking. It was 7.45 before I got home and I will confess to a "popty ping" curry - a really nice Goan Prawn curry - for my evening meal. It was a big portion, so I ate all the prawns and will defrost some frozen chicken to have in the other half of the sauce tonight.
My friend arrives tomorrow, so posts may be a bit haphazard. Time to head back to bed. THere is light enough to see the bats flying around at the end of the house, and they are going back to bed too . . . One last photo, this time of Housemartins clinging to the side of the house and practicing nest making. There were about a dozen on there at one point.
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