Back to work

22 - 28 June 2017

Lovely to see everyone, but also lovely to get stuck into moving the house along again, however slowly as the temperatures ramp up into the 30s.  Dave made a mix in the new mixer, and I stuffed some more straw clay into the top apertures, before Dave fixed boards to make it all neat.

Equipment all ready, sheet pinned up to stop plaster falling on the newly completed wall below

 Board on the right fitted, around the wire pipe

 While I got each section ready, Dave fixed boards elsewhere, this one over the music room door

 All three boards fitted, looking very smart

 Time to start the limewashing.  Three coats all round!

Free Ranging

19 June 2017

Monday evening, after a nice afternoon on the beach, we decided it was time to let the chickens out.  As we haven't had any time to set up barriers to them eating our entire summer salad crop, we have to watch them while they're out.  Wine, olives, and some serious chicken-watching was called for.

Freeeedom!

Chicken-watchers at work

Last night of the visit, supper at 'No Menu' - glorious seafood and vegetarian supper, with us all dressed up in our best.  Phillie very excited by (at last) a fabulous virgin Mojito - as she's pregnant, she's been searching everywhere for exotic non-alcoholic drinks

On holiday

19 - 21 June 2017

Rob left on Sunday, George and Phillie came back from their little yachting trip, and we all spent some time recovering from all the excitement on the beach and round the pool.

Dave & Rob in concert

16 June 2017

Rob being in high demand, the next night we were down at the Tree Bar for what turned out to be a fantastic early evening of classic Rob performance.  Dave loved it, everyone loved it.

Neil & Krystyna's Wedding

15 June 2017

Back from the UK, with George and Phillie, who took off in the boat, while Dave and I went to the wedding.  All very beautiful, and the first of what turned out to be three gigs in a row for Dave and Rob

 Arrived early with Dave's band gear, time to pose on the swing!

 Then the garden filled up

and the band went on

A week in the UK

7 - 14 June 2017

So I went to the UK for a week to do family things, and meanwhile, Dave went on a stag weekend to Albania, with his son Rob among others.  As Dave tends not to bother to take photos, I have no record of the Albania trip - which may be a good thing!

 Arrival at the mass storage location for family members in Plealey Shropshire: from left, Richie (with beer), Jonathan (with wine) Nick, Mike and Mum (with tea) and cousin Judith

 And again, with me (and wine!)

 A retro-evening playing twister - Phillie and Nick take to the mat

 Richie on the spinner

 Jonathan and Sarah locked in battle

 Clash of the titans: George and Richie square up!

 Sarah and Jonathan get frivolous

 Next day, visiting Dad's new house, and meeting Ann's baby Daphne for the first time

 Mum and Daphne get acquainted

 Monday in Liverpool, continuing my tour round the UK

 Mum on her birthday, aged 86, treating us to lunch at G&Ph's neighbourhood bistro

The very lovely, (with forest garden interplanting) garden at G&Ph's new house

and the living area, with cats, still under renovation

Plastering the Entry

Thurs/Mon 1 - 5 June 2017

I'm due to go to the UK next Wednesday, and I'd like to have the plastering done in the utility/entry by the front door before I go, so that everything moved out can be replaced and left organised.

So, two days of hard work: first, the little space at the top of the wall, where the mezzanine joists sit on the ring beam - this is one of the few remaining areas of exposed bales, and requires lots of reaching and stuffing with lime-coated straw to fill the cavity and discourage insects.

Then the wall panels can be plastered, some are internal lath-and-plaster sections, and some have been plastered, but they were our first, trial section, when we thought we'd need to put a second coat on, so they've been scoured for a key.  Therefore, they do need a second coat.

 At the top of the picture: two sections stuffed and plastered, one remaining, still showing the straw, next to the pipe through the wall for electrics

 Next day, lots more panels plastered, covering up the scoring shown in the top photo

 And the lathed interior wall to the left of the door, completed, phew!

Also, as we will have guests coming from the UK to stay: George and Phillie in the music room, and Rob in the studio, I thought it was high time we finished this little (newly green-lathed) patch of wall that we kept open to allow hot air from the music room stove to reach the bedroom.  Next winter we'll use the pipe and fan, instead.

 And I finally got around to having egg for breakfast from the chickens, my first one, and it turned out to be a double yolker!  They are laying 4 - 5 eggs a day now, between them.

Home with the Mixer

31 May 2017

Having become utterly fed up of waiting for a mixer that may never arrive, and we have no claim on, anyway; we pooled our resources and reckoned we could afford our own mixer.  Taa-daa: we bought it on Tuesday, and it arrived Tuesday night (while we were out).  Dave moved it into position on Wednesday morning, greased it all up, threw the switch (it is electric - hurrah!) and made our first mix of 2017!

What a joy to have an electric one - no petrol, no pull cord, no carburettor to clean out frequently.  It takes 700 watts, so it is only slightly more demanding than our little kettle.  Solar powered mix!

 Lugging into position

 I'm helping by taking photos, honest!

 Levelling in the right spot

 Newly greased, very fresh and sparkly - Dave throws the switch ...!  Actually, he presses the button, and it purrs into action ...

 ... and not too long after, three sections of the utility are freshly plastered (by me, so I did do something!)

Eggs update

30 May 2017

The garden is getting horribly overgrown.  Our strimmer won't be fixed, and the friends we've asked to help are too busy.  I have a house on the market in Liverpool, and if it sells, we are determined to get electrical garden equipment - strimmer, hedge trimmer and chainsaw - all using the one battery.  meanwhile, we are overwhelmed by metre-high thistles!

 The salad garden is doing okay, although the celery that lasted through the winter has gone to flowers - so we eat the flowers.  The borage has taken very well, although it is now threatening to take over.  Not as successful as last year, unfortunately.

 The six chickens, well settled in and not scared of us any more.

 There are two types - three that are a slightly darker brown, with straight beaks, and three that are more gingery, with beaks like a dodo's.   These are the two ringleaders of each type: Ginger on the left, and Sparky on the right.

Ginger - who has the most contorted beak of the Dodos, but is otherwise very beautiful

 Sparky (short for Bright Spark) is constantly on the alert, checking out the run - we think she's head of the escape committee

A very nice crop of eggs - four a day, now.

More woodwork

20 May 2017

Still no returned mixer.  We went to visit Robert, who lent it to us, he has borrowed it back because he is building a family house from a pre-fab, and keeps thinking of more things he needs the mixer for.  So, we continued with the woodwork.  Dave did more windows outside, and I started on the music room window boxes, and did some doors, too, for good measure.

 Also this little triangle on the stairs

 

The east-facing music room window, finally painted white.  With trim round the outer frame, and also where the box meets the house frame - including a fancy bit of 45 degree mitre-ing.  The outside still needs doing, so there remains masking tape on the glass.  But otherwise it smartens up the room lots.

 The loo and music room doors, trimmed and painted.  Also various embedded plywood carriers for the light switch and sockets.  I reused the front door blue, as it was what we had, but it looks rather nice, so that's okay.

The west-facing music room window: painted, but not trimmed round the house frame as we ran out of trim.