So much sand...

I blame me for the weather because I stupidly did that cleaning job to the patio door runners and conservatory floor.  We had terrible storms during the night with thunder and lightning and hail and rain and gales and then this morning we had weird light and pinky brown skies which were laden with Saharan sand which was deposited everywhere during the course of the day.

The mixture of wind, rain and sand is filthy and my windows are testimony to the havoc it has wreaked.  The pool is now a murky browny green and all surfaces are covered in thick pink dust.

John was supposed to be walking with Liselotte but they made a decision early doors that even though they might escape the rain the ground underfoot would be sodden and the wind would have made it difficult.  I don't think either of them were particularly upset and because the decision was made whilst we were still having coffee in bed it meant there was no rush to get up and we made the most of our unexpected lie- in.

We decided that we would nip down to the shops later and do our weekly shop and then batten down the hatches and stay indoors.  The only plus to the weather was that it was very warm and muggy so being indoors was no problem as it was comfortably warm.

We had earmarked a film to watch in the afternoon - we thought it might be suitable for Mum but wanted to see it ourselves first to ensure that the sound was good - it had periods where people were speaking German and we hadn't switched on any subtitles but it didn't really stop us for getting the gist of the plot.  It was called 'Six Minutes to Midnight' and starred Judy Dench and, somewhat bizarrely, Eddie Izzard and was set during the war.  We definitely thought it was a possibility for Mum.

We had brunch, starting with a banana, turmeric, cinnamon and yoghurt smoothie which was lovely and then had a dry fried egg on toasted corn bread with John's chefy Branston Brown Sauce smear!!!  It set us up for the remainder of the day as we had pimped up pizza on the menu for this evening.

On our return from shopping the weather had settled sufficiently enough for us to go outside and assess what we were dealing with - John decided to give the panels a clean because the overcast conditions reduce the power the can generate and then add to that the super thick layer of dust on the top - production was severely compromised.  Whilst he was doing the panels I gave everything in the garden a hosing down including all the windows and doors.  It wasn't going to be enough to clear it all but it was a start.  Rain was forecast overnight so hopefully that would be clean or at least cleaner rain and that would help too.

Whilst John put himself through watching the England Cricket team clutch defeat from the jaws of victory in the first one day test match against India I was making a start on my entries for this week's challenge.

The subject is Window Dressings and I was doing an old fashioned window with a window box full of flowers.  I was experimenting by using watercolours on oil painting paper which gave me some lovely texture but the watercolour just sat on top for quite a while so mixing and blending was quite difficult.

I was pretty pleased with the final result but think I can do better - I shall have a go later in the week because tomorrow I am going to Mum's and then in the afternoon we have been invited to Di and Rob's which we are really looking forward to - we haven't had a chance to have a nice chat with them since it was my birthday.

We are hoping that the current restrictions will be relaxed a little soon but sadly the numbers don't seem to be indicating that this is going to happen.  I pity to poor restaurants and cafes that have opened - the weather has been appalling - who wants to sit outside if you are going to get wet or covered in a layer of sand?