Storm in a teacup?

 So. Hear me out.

I may have mentioned once or twice we are giving our rather small and old fashioned kitchen a much needed make over and as we have gone along 'all sorts of interesting' things have occurred.  Oh, things like unexpected holes in the wall, electrical cables 'loose' and hidden beneath tiles and the external wall just concrete blocks balanced without any mortar..... 

So many repaired holes - still waiting for the plaster to dry, before sanding, skimming and painting

However, we do seem to be getting through all these little delights (apart from our latest 'issue' with the NEW ROOF leaking....) 

soaked new plaster and wet stone wall

It is at this point that I shall quickly add - I do love Himself (greatly) and he has worked hard to repair and prepare the building before we can even get to a point of decorating. 

The start of the painting of the now skimmed and (reasonably) smooth and flat walls

During the day, whilst he is at work, I have been painting the recently skimmed walls now they are dry and assembling the wall units ready to be hung on the freshly painted walls.  Then in the evenings, the units are hung up and then partially filled as we are desperate to clear the kitchen contents out of the dining room and hallway. It will be wonderful to be able to walk through the dining room without stepping over or around boxes or trying to locate where the ingredients for that night's meal are hiding in the hall way....

A job which requires zero collies and yet....

A couple of nights ago once we'd eaten and with the final wall unit being installed with some difficulty - nothing in this kitchen is at right angles or straight despite all our modern plastering and tiling - Himself decided that a quick bit of work on the wall behind the bottom corner of the unit would allow it to hang flush with the wall. Then that bank of cupboards could have their doors added making it another step nearer to a completed kitchen.

Two wall units up - yay!

I was in the hallway sorting out what was to go back next when I could hear a familiar deafening scream of some handheld stone cutter he loves using. It went quiet in about two - three minutes and I returned to see what he had been up to.

Photo taken through kitchen window - I was horrified

He looked at me balefully. (Remember - I do love him - keep that thought in your head) He was covered in plaster dust.  

As.Was.Everything.Else.In.The.Kitchen....

All the units which still need their doors ...... plaster dust

All the just washed crockery on the sink .... plaster dust

All the food stuffs waiting to go back in to the units ..... plaster dust

Plaster....dust......

He looked at my face and said he stopped as soon as he could see what he'd done but he needed to do a little more. 

I had no words.

I emptied every single unit. 

Removed every dusty item out of the kitchen... every(damn) thing..... shut the door behind me and just shook my head.... I still had no words (and for me that is exceptional!) He made that same stone cutter/grinder/massacring sound for another minute or so then I could hear sweeping and wiping noises so I waited until that finished before I entered the kitchen. The dust hung in the air so windows and the external door were thrown open just to clear the room.

We cleaned the kitchen that night, down to its cotton socks, every item had to be washed, dried and put back.  He made me a brew and we sat in the lounge a good couple of hours later and he quietly muttered that he might have to make a very small hole in the wall he then hurriedly added ... but he'd let me know and he'd cover everything up....

And the mushroom photos? From yesterday's work. But the best image is this - it was so windy it was blowing my tea out of my mug.....

Welcome to my life!😄 (I do really love him)

In a Vase on Monday - collateral damage

I did wonder, with an element of trepidation, what I would find in the garden today worthy of picking.

It turns out that it was not so much picking but collecting bent and broken foliage post Storm Austin and Boelo, so today's #IaVoM is brought to you courtesy of some rather frisky weather!

#IAVOM 26.10 featuring Cotoneaster foliage, Lunaria seed heads, unk. grass inflorescence, Fuchsia magellanica, Sedum Autumn Joy and a couple of bashed Persicaria amplexicaulis var unk.

The garden looks like a rumpled quilt, all the shrubs and herbaceous perennials are beneath a deep patchwork of leaves. Very pretty but not quite the look I was going for, so later, when the rain stops, I think I will go and uncover the paths and see what else has been bent or broken by the weather.

And as a nod to autumn - a beautiful cone collected some years ago from the government gardens in Pretoria South Africa on a glorious warm blue sky autumnal day - a complete opposite of today.

Thank you Cathy of Rambling in the Garden, I shall go and see who else has filled their vases with autumnal delights.

Thar she blows

Its a wild, wet and windy day out there so as an antidote we had Italian lemon pancakes to set us straight for a day's 'play' in the kitchen as we try to get the cupboards up - the original walls are neither straight or flat and have had some rather 'nasty' surprises.

Ingredients for our pancakes

The latest horrors now include a disconnected electrical switch complete with 'hanging' live wire hidden behind a cupboard and a whacking great hole in the wall - no wonder the kitchen was so cold in winter - it had nothing to do with poor insulation.

Starting to smell gorgeous!

Our present builders (using that term lightly) are having to come back - the new roof leaks - ok ok Storm Austin and Storm Boelo are probably a little more taxing than standard northern rain ... but still ... that should  not have happened.

Just one of the many leaks coming down the wall

Any hoo - mid way through making the most delicious lemon scented pillowy pancakes - i received a panicky text from my folks. Their brand new shed's windows had blown in (courtesy of previously mentioned storms) and EVERYTHING WAS WET!

Be still my pancake loving heart

So, breakfast was eaten with a little less gusto and a little more gulping as we set off to sort out a miscreant shed.  Fortunately - although yes, the windows had taken off and were found in the neighbouring county, it was soon mended and made water tight and only the workbench had a bit of a puddle. EVERTYHING else was fine.

Shed mending was paid in fruit cake

Back home, hole in the wall filled and made cold winter weather tight, electric wire caped off and made safe, we are now at the stage of hanging the cupboards - wish us luck I am sure something else 'delightful' will show itself as we go along - but first put the kettle on there is fruit cake and coconut flapjacks to sample.

Aaaaand - how was your weekend? Wet, wild and windy? Full of food and fun? A dusty, mucky, kitchen make over? Go on spill the beans, I love hearing what you get up to too xx

A simpler life

While Himself was creating a dust storm in the kitchen, Wills and I decided to get out and clear our collective heads before the weather closed in.

Luckily for us, just opposite our house is a little back lane which quietly wanders through the village which mostly avoids roads - ideal for a dilly dog who hates lead walking.

Leaves are piling up in corners and along walls, I expect there will be plenty more after the next couple of storms. I tried to capture some images of their acid yellow, lime green and greige tones only to be...

Rudely interrupted by an impatient dog wanting to get to the meadow so she could play.

We played so much that I forgot to take any photos of her gleefully bounding through the damp grasses as she chased her ball aka 'Rugger'. All her toys have names - we are practising collecting the toy by name - slow progress but we shall persist.

The meadow becomes a muddy track which rises up to the upper end of the village. These lanes would have been normal thoroughfare years ago, however modern vehicles don't fit easily (thank goodness) so it is just the locals who venture with their cars whilst the rest of us either walk or horse ride along these older paths.

I love that all these little village ways have names, some times they match the ones on the OS but on the whole they all have pet names that are only pertinent to the villagers.

Many years ago - leading up to the second world war - most of the name plates and signs in and around the village were removed .... to confuse any invading force..... I love the thought that an enemy army could be confuddled by the lack of way markers. The thought that they would be parked up in the centre scratching their heads wondering if their tanks would be better turning left or right and not knowing where they would end up..... Life was a lot simpler then wasn't it? 

Moorland gardening

Wrapped in enough layers to keep me warm and dry but not too many so I can not bend or kneel, I went off to work early doors this morning.

There is a sharp metallic tang to the air and a bite in the temperature. Tiny airborne raindrops swirl around, dampening my fringe and making my glasses mist up.  And that furry idiot I call my dog is in such a good mood that she is being delightfully annoying!

The village hill (not actually ours but a very prominent backdrop to our lives) is hidden beneath a thick duvet of low cloud which is promising to do more than just linger. The weather forecast confirms the same.

Walkers and farmers pass by, some just nodding a brief greeting others stopping to chat so gardening is gently put on hold until I can return to the mud. It is that time of year, when the garden is having her last hurrah before slumping down to sleep where roses still have buds,  honeysuckle blossom still smells sweet, geums still nod their brightly orangey red Mrs Bradshaw heads and weeds still cheerfully grow faster than I can remove them out from the cracks in the old cobbled courtyard.

It is only when I notice the compost wheelie bin is almost filled to the brim that I realise the hill behind has completely vanished and the loitering clouds are now releasing sheets of rain across the moor not far from where I am working.

Time to get moving.  Making sure everything is left tidy and a dilly dog is rounded up along with my muddy tools, we leave and head home. 

Just in time it seems.

Time for a mug or two of tea then a shower for all concerned. Hope your Wednesday is a little drier than mine 😊🐕🌱

What was I zinc-ing?

I am supposed to be working today, but the weather report and the view through the window have confirmed that is certainly not happening. I have spoken to my client and she is quite happy for me to take a rain check (appropriate) until later on in the week when hopefully it will have fined up.

So at the moment, nursing a mug of tea and listening to the rain through the open window I thought I'd waffle on a bit about a gardening project I managed to finally finish over the weekend.

My brother and sister in law live in southern Scotland in a lovely 'but-n-ben' wee hoos on a farm with their neighbour being both friendly and their landlord. He works for the local council upgrading the social housing and saves anything which has been thrown out as part of the make over. So he has a barn full of vintage zinc tanks, copper pipes and wooden panelling. My brother told me of such treasures, so in August when we were up there, I asked to see. 

Himself's face when he saw me lugging back three (rather heavy) zinc tanks full of happy chatter of what I was going to do with them! The tanks have quietly sat in my greenhouse for the last couple of months waiting for their moment. And Sunday was it!

We have a row of large tubs either side to the entrance to our back yard and I was waiting for the sweet peas and clematis to fade and the roses to finish flowering so I could cut them back ready to be transplanted into the zinc tanks.

The over flow pipes had to be either screwed or sawn off and drainage holes drilled in the base (wow that was harder than I expected) and despite wearing ear defenders I could hear it was loud, apparently several blokes (neighbours) all popped out to see what was happening.... Himself just rolled his eyes and said ..... she's making planters and all the men nodded in sympathy for him 😄

I no longer have the strength in my hands I used to and I have to think differently if I am doing something that requires 'blokey brute force'. Handling the tanks and the trugs of soil took some careful planning and judicial using of a wheelbarrow and various levering tools but I got there.

I had fun making a mess all along the back lane

I still have one smaller tank stashed in the greenhouse, that will be for another time, I need the rest of the plants (dahlias, ornamental ginger, salvias and calendula) to die back then I can give them all a refresh and new soil ready to over winter under cover. 

A quick wash down post gardening was needed

In a Vase on Monday - a rather damp day

#IAVOM 19.10 Leycesteria Formosa, Japanese Anemone Honorine Jobert seed heads, 

Crocosmia Lucifer seed heads, one last Cephalaria gigantea head, one last Helenium,  

Cotoneaster and grape vine stalks - voila 

On a rather dreary damp mid autumnal morning where walking into the garden means returning with a wet dog with wet paws, dripping plants and damp feet (should have put my wellies on.....) 

I'd come across Rambling in the Garden a few weeks ago around the time blogger was playing up and one of it's little nasty tricks was not letting me comment on other folk's blogs. Rambling posts a regular floral Monday called 'In a Vase on Monday' (IAVOM) and I thought I would join in.

My garden sadly has a very short flowering season courtesy of neighbouring trees which over the years have grown such that I now and the 'proud' owner of an almost fully shady garden😡. Hey ho.

So, to go out and choose something to pick made me have to look very closely at the bedraggled perennials and shrubs and to my surprise I have found enough to fill a vase.  Albeit supplemented by seed heads, pods and foliage - but it is still a vaseful of the garden now inside the house.

A short post today - I have my folks coming round shortly and we have to sort out all sorts on online stuff they struggle with. Being out in the garden despite the rain and wet dog footprints - certainly has helped.

A dust storm

Stuck in the dining room whilst Himself is scouring channels through layers of old tiles, plaster and brick so we can sink the electrical cables into the wall. Unlike the previous 'make-over' where the tiles were placed DIRECTLY over the cables - which explains a lot about our wobbly walls in the kitchen....

The horrors we keep finding give us new shivers daily, however, what makes it worse - we know who did these 'incredible botch jobs' and he was a builder in the village, used to live in our house .....apparently has only recently retired. How many other houses has he erhm worked on?

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Autumn has crept into the bottom of our garden and sprinkled liberal amounts of fungi.

If they were not so cute I would be despondent at the march on of the seasons towards winter.

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As an antidote - I have been both baking and cooking.

More spicy pumpkin soup to be eaten with crusty bread. And for the first time ever, I saved the seeds, seasoned and roasted them with great success. So much so we have bought a huge bag from a reputable wholesaler and when they land, I shall be roasting them for snacking :)

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I have a 'base' flapjack recipe which I use and just change the 'guest' ingredients, this week's was pecan nut and chia seeds - very tasty, sadly they did not last long. Himself has put in a request for a repeat baking.... I need to be able to see/get to my kitchen first.

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One very fed up dog - she's taken herself off to bed and given up all hope of a walk (silly girl you were out earlier and never mind the construction, it is bucketing it down outside)

Ok, that is my day in a nutshell.  I can see plaster dust swirling out of the kitchen door and hear enthusiastic wall chipping, at least the stone cutter has been switched off - it is both very noisy and a generous dust maker.....

♥.•:¨¨:•.♥.•::•.♥.•:¨¨:•.♥

Not giving up

Last year I painted a series of water colours for chrimbly gifts. Both our sons and their girls have a pair of cats each. So I thought it would be fun to match their cats with a favourite flower or plant and I was rather pleased with the results.

I had issues finding four frames that suited not just the art work, but the owners and their décor however eventually I managed it.

Whilst the gifts were being unwrapped, in the corner of my eye I caught Himself's face and suddenly realised he would have been more than happy to have one of his grumpy cat too and dearly wished I had thought of that before. So I planned that as soon as I could I would paint one just for him.

Then, in February took early retirement and found that I could hardly hold a paintbrush and when I did, the results were not what I was aiming for. So I put away my paints and literally closed the door to my art desk. Fast forward to October and I tried again.....

All my doubts about my work vanished with his delight, I am very aware that I can not paint with the preciseness I used to be able to do, I can not grip a brush with pin point hair by hair painting any more - so I was, to be perfectly honest, disappointed with my efforts. But it appears he certainly wasn't 💗 .

Might not be able to do the teeny tiny paintings that I love doing but will pick up my paint brush a little bit more and get more at ease at the looser style.