Another hot day

It has, indeed, been another hot day today and as I sit on the balcony writing this Angela and Rosie are outside with the water pistols having a great time. Soon it'll be pool time again as well!

Pink sky before the sun showed up

The sun chases the haze into the sky

Starting work on removing the wooden shutters

Bekir chipping away at spilled cement

Still working the boards loose

Halil cuts the grass

I was up very early this morning for some reason and at work before the sun was up; this was good in that I got to finish a bit early, and also I could watch the lovely sunrise as it took place. I was working away when the men arrived and started the long and very difficult process of removing the boards around the cement poured yesterday. They were chipping away at it with crowbars for ages but kept at it through the heat and progressed pretty well. I think they finished by about lunch time. After work I pulled Mo out again to finish the top bank and found that Halil was scything the grass that had grown up in front of the wood shed; that's one task I won't have to do tomorrow now.

Half the sand we had delivered today

Halil sorts the planks, Bekir shovels

Xena barking at Bekir as he shovels

While I was away cutting the grass, and learning that driving Mo as slow as possible through long grass was the best more efficient way of working, two truck loads of cement arrived and was dumped out. Rosie was very excited to see this later on. All afternoon Halil was cleaning up the timbers, removing nails and sorting it into a pile, while Bekir shovelled the dirt in around the edges of the new cement footings. It was hot hard work but it is really starting to come together now. I think they'll be doing this clearing for another day or so before they actually start laying the blocks.

The garden is really starting to produce fruit...

But also producing nasty weeds like this

Rosie found an alium in the tortoise garden

Rosie pushes Puppy in the swing

Thelma and Louise join in

Louise and Xena chilling in the shade

Shade from the vine

I wrapped up my mowing shortly after Rosie got home from school and then it was time to play with her while Angela prepared dinner. We all went down to the raised beds to harvest some peas for dinner and then I noticed that the pile of sheep manure was growing lots and lots of spikes. I pulled every one out and got rid of them before spending an enjoyable time by the tortoise garden first of all with Rosie admiring the flower, then pushing puppy in the swing and finally I pushed her for a bit while Thelma, Louise and Xena had fun on the grass also. The final task before we came in for our dinner was to water the grapevine and then I spent some time training the vines a bit along the trellis. It's coming on so well; I love that I've got a successful vine as some of my earliest memories involve my dad growing a vine in our back garden at the house we lived at when I was born. It's awesome!

So there you have it; another day done and summer is rushing in. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.