Christmas and beyond

24-30 December 2013

This is a shot of the back of the house the evening before we got all the tarps up.  I expect it'll be some time before we get the tarps back down.

 Christmas Eve was dark and drizzly, lucky we got those tarps up.  Realising we'd worked flat out for at least three weeks, we took it easy.  Dave went out and pruned this little tree that had seeded itself in the wrong place, and I hung a bit of tinsel on it and stuck it between a couple of the remaining bales.

 Then we went out to check our boat and Pete's, then wandered into George's where an impromptu festive gathering was happening.  

 Christmas Day was still overcast and intermittently rainy, so we needed no excuse to laze about before strolling down to Amanda's house for Christmas supper.

 The weather stayed bad, getting worryingly windy over the next two days.  We cabined up and fretted about the plaster and the straw and the tarps.  The chicken made a nest in the newly walled music room, must be cosy if the livestock move in!

 Worryingly blustery days - but luckily the wind was from the south and the tarps held, although the one taking the brunt of it in the photo above did rip apart in places, but the rope threaded through held, so it stayed up enough to protect the walls.

 Saturday 28th, the weather turned back sunny again, and we did more of the same - plastering, tying in laths on the upstairs part, and stapling blue mesh.  Rowan called by, and we did some lengthy window thinking.  It seems likely that we didn't make the plywood boxes quite right, and will have to fiddle about to put them right.  Hey ho!  The photo above shows our lemon tree - which after three years' effort has finally managed to ripen its one lemon.  We intend to make a ceremonial lemon and honey drink out of it.

 George and Philly sent us these lovely paper angels in a Christmas card, and Dave hung them off the car rear-view mirror - safer than the house, less draughty.

Then on Monday, after an early morning dash to the post office to get the car tax paid before the queues started (it's a very inefficient system), we went with Rowan to the woodyard to get the makings for the window frames (for him) and the rafter boards (for us).  Woodwork again next, as without these, we can't finish the plastering.