Not much excitement here today apart from a constant stream of locals up and down the lane. A cottage to clean, a bank to clean later, and a load of clean linen to stack at the cottages, and that was my lot for the day.

The ankle is getting better - at least the swelling has gone down to some extent, but is still sore in strange places. May go back to the doc if it is not better by this time next week. The dogs are being very patient, but it is not fair on them to be limiting their exercise.

 This was last Friday's harvest - Zucchini fritters, broccoli and blue cheese soup, and gazpacho in a bowl.

 Yesterday dawned with a red sky. This red rainbow in the West put in an appearance just before the sun topped the hills to the East.

And after a day of grey skies, storms and general nastiness, the liquid gold of a stormy sunset highlighted the hills over the back.

The hot today only lasted till lunchtime when a storm brought blessed relief (and localised flooding). Much cooler outside now, but still pretty hot indoors. I will open a few windows later when I get back from cleaning the bank.

While visiting my friend yesterday I discovered the husband of another friend has up and left her in search of a younger woman, so I called in to see how she was getting along today and discovered she has no idea how to do many things simply because her husband has always done them. So I have given her my phone number so I can go in and show her how to change gas bottles when the time comes, and so forth. She is also considering a lawn mower. I suggested she get a self-propelled one as she has a number of physical problems that would make mowing difficult for her. Then I discovered she has half an acre to deal with, so I may revise that advice and suggest a ride-on. The nice man at our local BP can keep and eye out for a cheap secondhand one for her.

Home for a few dog walks and reading a book. I have been working my way through the Rosemary Sutcliffe books (eagle of the ninth etc) and, having run out of the ones in that series am presently reading Mark of the Horselord which I had not enjoyed on the first reading, but which is growing on me this time around.

I am looking forward to a cooler night, that is for sure. Last night was sheets only, and even they were only deployed after midnight!

ergh. I hate hot weather. Hot humid weather is even worse. And today was both, with a strong wind thrown in. Looking forward to that promised thunderstorm, but no sign of it yet.

Called in to see a friend while I popped into town to get some blue cheese and milk, and sat and chatted for a bit, but then home to hide from the heat - unsuccessfully as it is 26 degrees inside the house and unlikely to cool down any time soon. They say we will have 21 overnight, and 27 again tomorrow. Horrible stuff. Thank heaven for lemon barley water and ice!!

Made the broccoli into a broccoli and blue cheese soup which I will be eating chilled tonight. Too hot for a hot soup and I think it will be OK as a chilled one. Will make some toast to bulk it out a bit.

Ironically it will be 16 on Tuesday with five overnight, so it will take a bit more getting used to, this summer. Glad I cleaned the bank last night - tonight it would be just too horrible to face!

Bit of a scorcher today. But I managed to get the cottages cleaned early (one lot did not turn up, so it was only two of them to do), and get home to do a couple of loads of washing, change my own bed and walk the dogs. Not to mention enjoying the easter egg some thoughtful guest had left for me.

The ankle seems to have gone down to normal size once more, but there are a few creaky groany bits in the foot which will require a little more rest I suspect. I have to gird up my loins to go clean the bank a little later. It was 28 today, so nastily hot, but it will be 32 tomorrow, and therefore even worse, so I might as well get it over and done with while I can.

Last night him next door decided to do some running repairs on the pig ark at 8:30 at night. Since I have previously pointed out to him that using power tools at that time of night is not only inconsiderate, but is also a breach of the law, this time i took over a print out of the Nuisance Regulations (a summary page which lists activities and acceptable time frames for it) and asked him to stop, pointing out that this was the second time of asking. The ark is not presently in use as the pigs are still housed in the loosebox, so there really was no excuse.

I will draw his attention to the fact that a report to Council will be a result of any further breaches.

Zucchini fritters today - I had hoped to have a day off at the Garden, but went in anyway to let them know i would not be there and found myself harvesting vast quantities of food. A huge head of broccoli awaits my attentions for tomorrow's dinner, a large zucchini (the foundation of the fritters), half a bucket of tomatoes and an iceberg lettuce (fortunately more moderate in size). And orders to make up a winter planting guide for the bus trip next week!

The compost we made seems to have extraordinary water-retaining capabilities - the bay tree in the pot is still damp! So much so that the sprig I popped in beside it, having pruned it off after planting, is still alive and apparently thriving - maybe we will have three bay trees! The first one we planted died, but has now produced a new plant beside itself which appears to be doing very well. Amazing how resilient these woody plants are. And how important it is not to reef them out when they look dead.

We have heaps coming on right now and can not give it away as the two charities we are aiming for have more reliable sources than us and so are already up to their necks in veges. We have approached a couple of local businesses and will hopefully be able to sell some so that we can put the funds back into the garden. I have quite a few zucchinis coming on in my own garden, so will not be much use in disposing of the ones we have grown in the Community Garden. Perhaps I can experiment with drying some in the back window of the ute as appears to be the latest solar drying method of choice. Though of course there is no parcel tray there, so I will have to balance it and hope for the best.

I had an nice easy day at the cottages scheduled for tomorrow, but some late bookings mean I now have all three to clean. Fortunately only one bed per cottage so it should be OK if I can get in early and pace myself.

I also managed to get to the shop before they added pineapple to all the pizzas and have two large pizzas ready to go into the freezer for future use. Phew!

A nice lazy day apart from hobbling down to the oval several times with the dogs. Seb seems to have accepted I am incapacitated so has been burning off spare energy playing with Smidgen. Smidgen has now retired to the spare room where he is safe from such attentions. And Sebastian has retired to the bed once more.

I put the doona out to dry a bit more and to air, but it has been overcast much of the day so it came in before lunchtime for fear of rain. It did produce a short light shower later in the day, but nothing to write home about.

The ankle seems to be improving. At least the swelling is going down and the strapping may come off this evening, if only for reasons of comfort. So glad I am a fast healer!!