Matcha

A cloud covered sky again today, and cool with it. My fitbit has started to be annoying in that it refuses to record several hours of sleep, particular over the early hours of the morning. It tells you you've slept badly when you feel refreshed enough to know you haven't. I suspect it's something to do with our internet being switched off at night. In the bedroom my phone to which it is linked to synchronise data can just about get a stable 4G signal, but some days can take hours to notice there's no internet by wifi. The promise of good connectivity is rarely realised with complete consistency across devices which depend upon it.

Today is Owain's calendar birthday, but our big family celebration yesterday sufficed, apart from a verbal greeting at breakfast time. As a special treat, Jasmine who works some days after school in a Matcha tea shop back home, made us each a cup of her speciality blend mid morning. I've never tasted this kind of green tea, made with tea leaves ground into a fine powder Japanese style and mixed with water, with milk or sugar or neither, hot or cold. It has quite a strong bitter flavour that's not unpleasant. Like all other teas, it seems to me, health benefits are extolled. It's said to be full of caffeine, but it doesn't give you the same kick as a strong coffee.

Rachel and Jas went into town with Owain, in search of a place to have a supplementary birthday treat. before his return trip to Bristol to meet a mate who'd bought them tickets for a gig this evening. A pity that so many places are closed on Mondays in  city which offers such diversity of choice these days. The Chromebook which was our present to him, was much appreciated. After setting it up to check it worked properly, he reverted to watching the European cup football match involving England on mine, as it's small enough to sit with it one your lap. His new one is among the biggest you can get as he wanted to use as a telly.

We had a light lunch, and I siesta's for an hour, then walked around Llandaff Fields until Rachel and Jas returned from town. Rachel cooked supper and then some ginger biscuits of her own recipe. Afterwards Jas and I walked to Thompson's Park to see what birds were on the pond. The muscovy duck is still there and some mallard ducks, but so far no sign of coots or moorhens. By then, the sun was setting, and somehow bed time crept up and ambushed me.