Nattering Along

    The heat is back - high of 29C today - and lovely blue skies with just a few fluffy clouds to give a bit of relief from time to time. I carried on with the painting - the  garage back door this time - and still have a little bit of paint left so I will look around for one other job to do. Then I will start with some black paint for the railings and other front porch accents. That should be it for this year. Now that I have written it, I will have to follow through!

   Things are still very undecided here about the return of school. Today it was announced that the kids will have an extra week and start the fall term on September 14. Some will be back full time. Others, half days and online learning for the other half, and classes will be smaller. Masks will be worn by all but the youngest - we'll see how that works out! I feel for the teachers who will probably be the recipients of complaints from parents and hassles from the administration. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place! I am so glad to be out of it.

   Still trying to stay ahead of the tomato glut, plus one of my tennis friends has been bringing us contributions from her garden. This week it is yellow beans. I like them but will have to eat them every day for a week!

Chilly!

    I was out this afternoon doing a little paint touch up on my porch and I felt cold for the first time since early June. Admittedly I was only in a T-shirt and shorts but I had to go in and put on a sweater and long pants. I just hope this is not a permanent change in the weather. It was warm enough in the sun and we had mostly blue skies.

   Tennis this morning; one set each so a happy outcome all round and we were allowed to stay on court past our allotted time. I have decided I really like to be able to book a court rather than just show up and hope one is free.

    Other than my paint job which took about one and a half hours, I cut both the front and back lawns. Also pulled some more weeds and picked a couple of tomatoes. And that¨s my day!

Hijinks in the Pool

    Quite a change in the weather. We have had fairly heavy rain in the last two days and today the temperature is down and the humidity is gone.

   I managed a bit of gardening this morning but was caught out by a downpour just as I was about to cut the grass. It`s useless trying to cut it when it is wet so that chore will have to wait for another day. Instead I baked a cake!

   It was still hot last Friday so the grandkids came over for a swim. They had spent some time at the zoo and were very hot and sweaty. Even Judy got in the water to cool off!

    As the nights are getting cooler (yesterday was only 14C overnight) This may be the end of their summer of fun. Once the water starts seriously dropping in temperature overnight I am reluctant to use the heater. I will continue to swim until it gets unbearably cold!

Keeping Busy

    The guys came today to measure for my new windows. Another cost. Seemingly the existing windows were a botched job with shims added to fill a gap so, an added expense. Hey ho, nobody said it would be a simple straightforward job! Some extra dollars added to an over extended budget.

   Tennis this morning then the ladies over for coffee. That filled the morning. Reading in the afternoon, my new Ann Cleeves book. It's set in Devon so a bit of a change from her usual locations of Shetland and Tyneside. I have ordered another Kate Atkinson novel featuring Jackson Brodie, her rather unconventional private detective. 

   Still hot, 29C, so I had several dips in the pool. No gardening today. Had bruschetta for my lunch, so used up another couple of tomatoes. So good!