Stop-motion plastering

30 April 2016

The car started hiccupping and stopped us doing anything on Tuesday (except art and singing) so Plastering started with a vengeance on Wednesday, which dawned fair and beautiful and springsome.

Dave had given me a tripod for the camera for Christmas, and I reckoned this was a good time to try out stop-motion photography, so I set it up, and off we went.  Edited highlights below.  First job was to staple blue mesh onto the exposed wood (me), while Dave put membrane and mesh around the ground floor windows.

 Tea break! (in the sun in the distance)

 The battery on the camera was too low, so it didn't capture the whole morning.  It ran out just as the plastering started: here's the result of two mixes on the wall.

Door Plaques

29 April

Tomorrow is Jessica's 40th, and I've been promising to do some loo door plaques for Tranquilo Cafe for over a year, so I pulled my finger out and got them finished in time for the birthday:

They're a bit corny, although it is a nautical themed cafe, but at least the buoys are local (Preveza and Lefkas channels) even if one of the gulls was spotted in Rome.

The Windows Arrive

28 March 2016

At last, the weather is looking good for several days ahead.  Time to start the final lap of plaster.

Rowan arrived bright and early, bringing Jade as apprentice.  We dropped the tarpaulins, and there it was, the last bale wall, in that lovely fluffy state before the plaster goes on.

 The 'before' shot - a winter's worth of tarpaulins and sailcloth, covering the west wall.  Time for it all to be dismantled.

 Dave doing a gig the night before - his singing is coming along great!

 Lucy joining the band to play flute and sing a couple of numbers.

 Back at the wall - where the plastered face meets the raw bales.  First job is to cover all the exposed wood in blue plasterer's mesh to ensure a good adhesion.  The bales don't need it.

 Rowan and Jade arrive and the loo window is first to be fitted.

 Making the most of having someone young and flexible - Jade inside the old chicken run, digging out the weeds so we can move it around.

Rowan finishes off: ground floor is the loo window, round the corner is the bathroom sink window and the two upstairs are in the bedroom.  Now we can start the plaster.

Jade at Work

19 & 20 March 2016

Saturday 19th was expected to be sunny, and Jade had offered to do a day's work to fund her guitar lessons, so she and I tackled the garden, while Dave continued with the limewashing. 

 Jade decided we weren't digging in the manure properly in our raised beds, so she showed us how it should be done (we do it the lazy way, being old and creaky (and wise))

  A little 'hurrah' moment - Dave finished three coats of limewash on the south wall

 I dug in this Mulberry

 Jade still hard at it

 Dave started on the latest section of plaster - around the front door

 I dug in the second fig, and a nitrogen-fixing black locust, and trimmed the suckers off three of the big olives ...

... and built this (barely visible, behind the new-planted sweet chestnut) rustic fence - entwining olive branches into the neighbour's string and rebar border line, to dissuade the small flock of sheep that roam locally.

Close up of one of our ancient olive trees - the tiny yellow flowers will be next year's crop.

Dave's Birthday

17 March 2016

Dave's birthday was a bit overcast, but we decided to get out and about a bit anyway.  We took off for Vassiliki, to see how it was after the big quake last year, and how the new sea wall was getting on.

 There were still clear signs of earthquake in Vas, and the harbour dredging was continuing.  We found a little taverna with a stove and a big pan of stew for the birthday lunch.  That evening we had tickets for the 1940s musical review, which was involved lots of people we know, and was great fun, and included Dave making an unscheduled stage appearance to do the Lambeth Walk.

Lucy (our friend who sings in the band) was in the review, looking very glamorous, here with Panos her boyfriend (plays Bass with Dave)

Limewashing

16 March 2016

The weather has brightened up a little, but is still too changeable for plastering, so Dave is pressing on with the three base coats of limewash.  He is hoping to get round all the plastered areas with all three coats before we start on the final plastering.

 Here he is tackling the south wall.  He found that he was getting fierce headaches, we think as a result of the splatter of lime off the rough plastered surface.  So he's started wearing the mask which has fixed the headaches.

 I've been doing my bit by getting three coats of acrylic paint onto the window frames.  We extend the paint about an inch over onto the plaster, and then limewash three layers over that.  So far it seems to have been making a good seal, withstanding a 6.5 Richter earthquake, even.

 Meanwhile the painting of Jonathan and Bella in Rome is finished (enough rainy days to get it done!)

One of the trees we had from a few years back was planted in the wrong place, so I moved it.  It seems to be enjoying the new location.  It is an apricot, and the blossoms come early.

Creative Planting

2 - 7 March 2016

The weather is chilly and damp.  We've been told by Rowan that he has the window frames ready for our West wall (the bedroom and bathroom windows - both of which would be wonderful to have).  So we are watching the long-range weather forecast for a one to two week spell of mostly fine weather.  Once we take the tarpaulins down off the West wall, we want a good run of plastering before the next storms.  Currently there are a string of thunderstorms expected, so the windows are on hold.

On Tuesdays we have art group in the studio now, as Mamma Mia is gearing up for the season.  It's nice to be spending time in there.  Then Jade comes to do an hour guitar lesson with Dave.  Then Rosa comes and does an hour each of singing with Jade, Dave and I.  Then it is tea time!  So Tuesdays are the creative (and early morning housework) day.

With the weather so bad, we're doing guerrilla gardening in the dry spells.  We have this fabulous chomper (wood-chip maker) from Bosch that we can feed our olive and oak prunings into and create bucketloads of woodchip for mulching the swales and tree circles.

And whenever I can, I dig in another tree.  Three in a day is a good day.

 The first of two figs to go in.

  A mandarin orange, with a young olive, two hazels and a pine in the background.