It aint half hot mum!!

While Britain is awash with flood water, we out here are having a mini heatwave. We may still be in June, just, but we are experiencing some of the hottest days we have had since we came out here. The back of our porch is always in the shade, and the thermometer there was registering 41º today, (that's around 105ºF). It is too hot for comfort, and although this afternoon we also have high winds, it is a hot wind so it brings no relief. We are fortunate to have our own swimming pool and we jump in and out of that to try to cool down. We were still in it at 1 o'clock this morning, but at least we were then able to sleep. According to the forecast, it will cool down a few degrees over the weekend. I hope so anyway. In the meantime, I can't face cooking so we are living off cold meat and salad, and bowls of cereal. That's quite a healthy diet isn't it?

In my last post I said there was a strange dog in our yard, but it was only Miki with her 'new look' hair cut. This week there really is a strange dog in the yard. This is Barney. I can hear some of you thinking, "Oh no. She's not daft enough to take on another one"!, but Barney is only visiting while his owners, our friends Julie and Robin, are on holiday in UK. Barney is very different from our dogs, with a long, hard body and very long thin legs. Their usual dog-sitters were unable to have him this time, so he came over to meet our girls and they got on well together, so we said we would give it a go.

He has a lot more energy than Miki, and even Foxy doesn't always want to play. At home he has a long run along a rambla each morning, but Robin has started walking him on a lead to stop him over heating, which is just as well as he has to be on a lead with us.  He trots along well with our two, and when they get home and have had breakfast, they have a good old romp together. We shut them all round at the back of the house first thing as it is much cooler there until lunch time, so they can run and play, and then rest. The only problem we have had with Barney is that he doesn't like cats, but our four soon learned to give him a wide berth, and I encourage them to stay inside as the dogs are mostly outside.

Some days we have had the air-con on for half an hour to cool the sitting room down after lunch, and then we bring the dogs in, but they are restless indoors, and soon want to get back out. So they spend the rest of the day sleeping on the porch, and Barney is happy to lie down with them. In the evening, they play chase round and round the pool. It is a wonder one of them hasn't fallen in by now. He is with us for two and a half weeks, but the first week has gone really fast. We will quite miss him when he goes home, and so will the girls.

While it is so hot I have found it quite difficult to do much in my craft room. I have the ceiling and the floor fans on, but they just blow my papers around. But if the temperature drops just a little, it can be quite pleasant to sit out in the back porch in the afternoon, especially if the usual breeze is blowing, so I was thinking of something I could do out there. I suddenly remembered the kit I bought early last year, to make a bobbin lace fan. So I dug it out from the back of a draw, sorted out all my bobbins, and found some thread. Now I have to wind around sixty pairs of bobbins, which is the worst part of the project, (except maybe, sewing all the 120 ends in when it is finished!). Then I will have to try little bits out to see whether I can remember how to do it! Watch this space, but it could be months before I can show the finished article.