Limewash and trees

Mon-Tue 30-31 March 2015

Now the plaster is on, we have to put four coats of limewash to weatherproof it.  Same routine - moving the scaffolding tower around for each section.  The window frames need two base coats of paint too.  Dave has found that if we use an acrylic outdoor paint as undercoat which is painted over onto the plaster it forms a good bond with the plaster that doesn't crack and then the limewash goes over the top of that.

 First coat of limewash - startlingly white in the sun in the morning - we will add pigment to the last two coats for a pinky off-white finish

 This is my birthday tree - a present from Amanda, a flowering cherry, already in blossom

 One of Dave's birthday trees (he was given 3!), an Elder from Lin, Pete and everyone at Neohori

 Dave's tree from Amanda - a peach, also in the ground.  Hopefully we'll have quite an orchard one day.

 Tuesday morning we had to go to Lefkas, as the car was showing signs of distress after the trip to Igoumenitsa - which fortunately had cleared up before we got to the garage.  While at Lefkas we saw Konstantine and organised a delivery of stone for Wednesday, as well as picking up the light fittings for the music room and the bathroom - not long now before we can have lights working from a light switch!

The stone is for the SE corner, shown in the photo above and in close up below.  As the wall was built for cob walls, there is a nice curve at the corner, but straw bales aren't so keen on curves and benefit from being tied to the wood frame.  So we have decided to fill in the bow-shaped space between the curved wall and the wood frame, and level off the wall - which was left rough for cob to grip it - so that bales can go flush against the frame.  More stone walling for me!  Hoping we might get bales up this spring ...

Last night gig and farewell

26-27 March 2015

Rob and Dave had been asked to join Steamboat Rooster in Desperadoes for a 'before you leave' gig for Rob, so we had another night of music.  Mark introduced the evening as 'Davestock part II' which was nice, and off they went:

 Dave's new line up: John on guitar, Karen on Sax, Rob helping out with vocals, Dave, and Panos on bass.

And finally, at Igoumenitsa ferry port, leaving for Corfu.  Dave with a tear in his eye behind those shades.

Busy Day

Thursday 26 March 2015

Thinking we still had three days-worth of  'plaster a bit and wait for it to dry' to go, it turned out to be quite a surprise that we finished the wall in a rush on Thursday.  The weather was strangely perfect for the plaster, so that it was ready for sponging within about an hour of going on the wall.

 Dave got the ball rolling ...

 ... Rob took over, and took some photos ...

 ... then there was loads done around the little window on the left above, and I finished up the last bit on the corner

 Look, me in a photo - amazing!

 Tanya had stopped washing up for a brief space

and then Dave went up to sponge the very last bit, and the wall was plastered.  Hurrah!

More plaster

Monday 23 March 2015

Rob working hard on the scaffolding, and Tanya - yet again - doing the mountain of washing up that seems to accumulate in the kitchen at all times.  Tanya being wonderful tackling this on a daily basis.

Another morning hard at it.  But now we are dependent on the scaffolding, and because this is the final coat, we have to plaster an area, and then wait for it to go off just the right amount, at which point it needs sponging to blend into previously done areas and have the right finish.  It isn't worth moving the scaffolding while we wait, because of the time it takes to level and stabilise it each time.  So we wait.

And while we wait, we do other things.  On Monday afternoon, we took a trip to Vassiliki for some stone throwing on the beach.

 

This is the field next to us which was used as a car park for the party, it doesn't seem to have suffered.

Work on

20-21 March 2015

On Thursday 19th, I had a tooth pulled out - it had been painful for months, and taken 3 courses of antibiotics and constant painkillers, and been quite a problem with all the prep for the party - so I was very happy to be rid of it.

Then on Friday, work on the final coat of plaster for the East wall began in earnest.

 I was doing the little bit round the arched window, Rob getting used to plastering with Lime, Dave doing the kitchen door area ...

 ... then we went up a level, and I retired, to take photos!

Only a half day on Saturday, as 'Boro were on the telly and then we all finished up in George's for supper and a singalong.

Day After

18 March 2015

Sue and Robbie stayed the night, camping out in the music room with Rob and Tanya.  Clean up started around 10ish, Sue, Tanya and I did all the bin bags of bottles and cans and piled up dirty dishes in the kitchen.  It was a beautiful day, so we left Robbie with a box of wine and instructions to stay put and guard the band gear while we went for a walk up a gorge near Haradiatika.

Much to everyone's surprise, we got back to find that Robbie had done all the washing up, the kitchen was gleaming, and he was smugly enjoying the sunshine in the garden!

Dave's 60th

Tuesday 17 March 2015

A great party!  Over a hundred people, lots of live music.  Thanks to everyone who played, sang, danced, brought food, dressed up, wrote and recited a poem in Dave's honour (thanks Jan), made gluten-free cake, brought ice, gave presents, and of course, all those who helped build the house and contributed in so many ways to getting us this far so far ... A huge thank you to you all!

 

Pimping the Party Room

Tuesday 17 March 2015

After a special birthday breakfast - Dave likes steak and eggs once a year - we made the last minute preps.  Dave and Rob went out for charcoal (taking several hours and having a couple of beers) while I hung the hand-made cotton bunting made for us by Jade, and drawing up signs to guide people across the field.  We had got permission from Stelios who owns the next door field, to use it as a car park and footpath - which was very good of him.

At 5ish the musicians arrived, and helpfully sat around drinking beers.  

While Dave and Rob recreated the iconic photo from Bobstock in '11 - four years on, and not looking much older, although where they were sitting is now inside the party room!

 17 March 2015

8 April 2011

Arrival

Sunday 15 March 2015

After getting everything ready, we met Rob and Tanya at Lefkas bus station at 10pm and went for a drink to celebrate.

Dave and Credence, the pub dog, weren't really up for a late night, but struggled on manfully (but not dogfully)

Last minute prep

13-15 March 2015

The shower surround, having been in Lefkas town for two weeks, finally got delivered on Thursday, which gave us Friday to get it installed.  The delivery was ridiculous.  Having decided that large sheets of glass should not be carried in the Punto, we had asked the bathroom shop to deliver.  They rang to say they were at the bypass.  Usually, we meet delivery people at the bypass, and lead them back to our place.  But this time, the delivery man just put the shower surround into the back of the Punto.  Panic.  I was on my own and inched my way back, stopping on the road across the field from the house to phone Dave to come and help.  He walked across and took over the driving, while I hung onto the box to keep it steady down our track.  Very stressful.  Luckily it survived. 

The next day we set out to install it. The instructions were incomprehensible.  It was even more stressful.  It took us all day, and Dave had to work it out as we went along, well done him.  When it was finished it looked pretty good tho'.

 I threw down some mats to cover up the boards on the floor, and Dave brought the gas bottle heater down from the shed, and hurrah! we have an indoor bathroom.  I also made some temporary 'double glazed' windows using a double skin of polythene with the bubble wrap that came with the shower surround - hopefully it'll be quite warm in here.

And the bedroom for Rob and Tanya - cleared out the music room, raked the gravel floor, laid lots of cardboard from the bath and shower boxes and washed all the rugs.  Not too bad for a guest room!

Finding the floor

Thursday 12 March 2015

Most of the scrap wood pieces have now been used, in walls and floors and stored away for firewood.  So it was time to find the floor in the party room.  Naomi had offered to help, which was wonderful, so the three of us set out to clear the bales and workshop furniture and tools out of the way to create a party room.

 From the balcony, after a lot of hard work - this is what we were still up against.

 

 A thick layer of straw and sawdust had to be raked up throughout the room, and laboriously dustpanned into a sheet to be carried outside

 By 5pm, we'd made a significant impact, and the party space was starting to take shape ...

... so I hung up the party banner made from two old Nisos sheets and painted by Amanda, Jessica and me during the last two art meetings.  It looked pretty good.