Snippets

Progress:

I was looking over my photos - there's one of me in a white boiler suit cleaning off bricks (not going to post it; despite pretending to be Anneka Rice, it's not an image I want out there!), and another of a pile of bricks that is fit for the Tate...

It seems so long ago!

Well, in the scheme of things, it is.

Obviously, before we'd even started, we'd missed our deadline of end of May, and then finishing-before-everything-grinds-to-a-halt proved not possible, and now I haven't a clue...

Except: M. Mekki mailed today to say that with the end of Ramadan, he should be able to get workmen to our house next Wednesday, and hopefully all the plastering/building will be finished by the end of the month.

Just in time for the lovely M. Baty to come early next month and fit our windows, and the equally lovely (but in a slightly-less-pin-up way) M. Waeber to come and do the tiling.

After that we just need the builders back to break through to the house (which as it's already been done, and just blocked up, should take about 20 minutes + tidying), and lay the stone floor to join up with the back hall.

And then I can "spring clean" the place!

A lot of dust [that came out as "a love of dust"; NOT Freudian, I can promise!], obviously, which is always part of the fun of having builders in your home, and when we thought it was going to be done by end of July I just left the 'edges'... Still am, but I've pushed the vacuum cleaner round a few times and it's a bit less "crunchy", but until the bare mortar/concrete is covered the dust won't stop.

I don't know what's going to happen with the insulation/plumbing/step upstairs, but David seems a bit more hacked off with T+B than he was, so I think I might just retire to a safe distance; he doesn't blow his fuse very often [I've never seen it in 11 years], but I suspect it will be spectacular should we come to that!

Changing seasons:

Our rose by the letterbox is coming to the end of a fabulous display of flowers, considering I cut it right back, having planted it at completely the wrong time!

Thinking back, we were planting that one by moonlight - not following biodynamic principles, just taking longer than we thought to get the other two in the ground - in an attempt to get them to survive: here in July it was definitely NOT the time to be planting anything other than lettuces!

I cut it back so it could concentrate on sending down roots, rather than blooming, but I guess it had other ideas. The rain has obviously helped, and it's been lovely to see the flowers.

Petals on the ground, fog blocking out the Mairie, a last whiff of mown grass/hay, the increasingly frequent smell of woodsmoke - all reminders that autumn is on it's way.

The nice days are still bringing the lizards out of their hiding places, but no longer am I greeted with the sound of rustling every time I open the front door, as one scuttles out of sight. And I'm opening the front door every time it's warm - to let the warmth in - rather than keeping it closed to keep the heat out.

I love being here, seeing the seasons change, watching the leaves develop from the tiniest of buds, to soft green, then stronger/darker adult foliage. Now I'm enjoying the first of the golds in the process of preparing to drop leaf as part of the winter dormancy. No oranges or reds, yet; that will come, with the dropping temperatures and the first of the frosts.

The fogs are going to get more frequent, and soon I will be lighting the poêle out of need, rather than from the luxury of being able to burn stuff [London being a smokeless zone limits any pyromaniac tendencies to candles!] , so for now I am, like the lizards, basking in the last of the hot sun before it becomes pallid and weak (leaving me longing for sunnier climes).

Of course, we have the festival of light to look forward to at winter solstice and year's end: lighting as many candles as I can find holders for, to burn away the darkness and herald the start of growth for a new year. But that's a long time off...

Still, some sloe gin to be made!

White goods:

We've really joined the 20th century!

First, we bought a washing machine - oh, boy, is that wonderful?!

And now we have a brand-new fridge-freezer; it's currently skulking in the corner, waiting for David to arrive so we can decide where to put it. It's going to be a massive improvement on our temporary fridge that the tenants broke/lost all the door shelves in, and is missing another shelf: we will be able to stand bottles upright, and keep jars in easy reach. Waiting for delivery on Saturday gave me time to catch up on so many posts here!

What we want next is a cooker; it's weird how I rarely use the oven at home [biscuits excepted!], but not having one makes me long for a bake of some kind.

At least I can always go out for a pizza!

Welly pros & cons:

Pros:

• Waterproof
• Cheap
• Can act like a big kid at any age [ooh, those puddles are so alluring]
• Stylish & attractive [!]

Cons:

• Thin soles aren't fun on the sharp pebbles of farm tracks
• Not very warm
• HUGE blisters on the soles of my heels

Sadly in this instance the "cons" outweigh the "pros" and I'm confined to base as each step is too painful to go for a walk. I did think "oh, get over it, they're only blisters!", but literally limping home taught me that I may be tough in some ways, but the skin parting company from my soles is not one of them.

Hmm; blisters are the bane of my life [can't wear my MBT boots for too long as they give me blisters on the backs of my heels]!

On that note, I'm going to hobble off...