Other jobs we've been doing.

This week, the sunniest of the lot this summer I'm pleased to say, Luke and I have been on holiday. We decided we wouldn't go on holiday but stay home and get some jobs done around the house. After having some fun making soap and bath bombes it was time for proper work!

When we first saw the house the driveway wall was fine but the fortnight before we exchanged contracts we had snow in anbundance and once that cleared it seemed to have blown the rendering from the wall. So, Luke has diligently chiselled it off, I've pressure washed it and then Luke has rendered it again. Heavy rain today (our last day off) has meant that he can't put the finishing coat of render on but here are a few pictures of his progress.


















































Meanwhile I've been bashing out the old fireplace so we can have a wood burner in it's place. Some work still to do on this though. I've been given the task of clearing out the black mortar between teh bricks which Luke will repoint. The picture of my hand below is after I'd hit it five times with a hammer after missing the chisel! Since then I have hit it twice more and now have a lump there, the spoils of war!

Girl's visit

This week we hosted a birthday tea for Fiona. The guest of honour didn't come though; she was laid low with 'flu. I had made sure all the pots and tools were tidied away so the garden would look it's best. Last time they came here we had cleared away some of the old conifers and laid out the two borders by the decking and conservatory but everything was in it's infancy. I was looking forward to hearing their thoughts on how the garden had changed since their last visit.
Ana immediately asked if she could see what we had done with our top room, a large converted loft. Even though I told her nothing had been done she still said, dispiritedly on her return, "It's just the same as last time". Jamie strode up the garden to check out the greenhouse contents and El arrived when we were all tucking into the food and so had no time to see anything but a plate put before her. We had a nice evening but not one of them mentioned how different it was. I have to be honest, I was disappointed that they hadn't noticed the amount of work we had done. Still, Ana left with a huge marrow so at least the garden proved it's worth in some part.
Lucky I do it for my own enjoyment with pals like that, hey?

More gifts from the garden.

Along with the flowers we have enjoyed some produce too. We should have erected the greenhouse earlier (there's a saying in gardening that the difference between a good and bad gardener is two weeks) as taking so long to get that sorted meant that we were late with everything. Tomatoes, sweetcorn and peas were all too late. Only the beans and potatoes went in on time. Next year we will be on top of it but there's no point being depressed about it as we've still enjoyed the gardening aspect of it despite the fact that the tomatoes have not ripened, the sweetcorn is only two feet tall and we missed out on several vegetables altogether.
We've had enough beans to give several lots to Jack, next door but only enough peas for two meals but that is probably because I eat them straight from the pod as I am picking them. Our mint has been great but that's not saying much as it grows like a week.
Here are some gifts though which we've been most grateful for.