Tuesday 8th September - losing weight

 That's weight off my mind, not so much off my hips...

I got very little done yesterday and and today. Sue in Suffolk is partly responsible for this as she recommended a new-to-me murder mystery writer, Tim Sullivan. I went onto the libby library app, and borrowed one of his books, 'The Teacher', and that was the rest of the day gone. I didn't want to stop until I had finished!

Then, in response to yet another email from HMRC about sending in a self-assessment tax return, I took a grip on myself, pulled myself together, nade a pot of tea (actually BB made it for me) and knuckles down. (I think that's probably enough clichés for the moment).

It took an hour, but I managed it. And felt a weight off my mind... it was worth getting it over and done with. 

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No new photographs of the extension. After all, how can you photograph glazing in the windows? All the windows, apart from the two remaining rooflights and the big triangular end window. So I'm hoping they will be finished, as far as possible, by the end of the week. We don't have any idea of when the fireproof opaque end window will be delivered, so they will most likely have to come back sometime.

Monday 7th September - last night's Prom concert

 Last night's Royal Albert Hall Prom concert on BBC 4 was amazing. It actually took place on Saturday 5th, but was broadcast on television on the Sunday. After a delightful  overture by Louise Farrenc (born 1804, died 1875), Martha Argerich performed  Beethoven's 2nd piano concerto with such flair, expression, clarity, delicacy, brilliance, and control that it was mesmerising. 

Hard to believe she is 85 years old, giving her first performance (Beethoven's 1st Piano Concerto) 77 years ago when she was very young. She must have played all Beethoven's  concertos hundreds of times, and  she made it sound completely fresh.

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More progress on the extension, mostly some kind of external cladding and fascia boards. On Wednesday they will want to take down the garden fence so they can finish they can work on that side. Luckily our neighbours are quite happy about it. They just have hard-standing and flower pots so we don't have to worry about tramplng in their flower beds.

I'm sure my gladioli shouldn't be drooping downwards like this! Perhaps I should have changed the water...

Sunday 6th September - Living water

 This was the theme of today's zoom church service. 

We've experienced both drought and downpour these past weeks, although in a very minor way compared to the serious killer droughts and downpours elsewhere in the world.

I counted; we have seven taps in our house delivering hot or cold fresh clean water whenever we want; another privilege not to be taken for granted.

One of my husband's twice daily jobs from as soon as he was strong enough to work the handle was to pump the water from the spring to the water tank in the house. They were blessed with a reliable source of fresh water filtered through acres and acres of peat Moor above the house.

This was one of the pieces of music in the service;

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I've spent the afternoon sitting at a garden table in the shell of the new extension enjoying the fresh, if slightly chill air. I can't wait for the time when I can meet our friends for coffee, or tea, or meals even, properly protected from the elements and at the same time with good through ventilation to avoid any risk of respiratory infection. 

Or just sit, with the windows open, and look at our garden... 

(Very wobbly drawing on my tablet using free bamboo app and the stylus that came with the tablet)

Saturday 5th September - playing happy families...

But first, Friday;

But even before Friday, Thursday 

Which was a four 'event' day... I usually try and stick to a limit of three 'events' per day. But I syarted with a shower, which counts as an event because I find it quite tiring, then had a lovely piano session with a student in the morning (and also sorted out some music for another student).  

The hup! installation team had an interruption to their teabreak when the legs on their worktable, with both of them sitting on it, and the tea tray between them, suddenly snapped. Everything thing and everyone landed in a heap; the people were unheard but sadly my old Brown Betty teapot from university days did not. Ah well, at least it was only an old teapot that broke, and not and arm or a leg.

Followed by some time spent cooking; lunch, and loading the crock pot. Batch cooking counts as a relatively minor event. 

The architect, and then the electrician, and then the man who will be doing the external rendering all came round too, one after another...

Finally I had the regular weekly zoom with my lovely church group friends. Whew.

So it's not surprising that Friday was a low-energy day.

Today, however, has been a wonderful day. I drew the 10-minute journal in the morning,  before the 'children' - adults, now, of course, got here 

So the future box describes a future that was only a few hours away... I'd had a bit of a planning crisis the previous day when I realised I didn't have oat milk, or dairy-free ice-cream or biscuits in the house. Thank heavens for on-linecgrocery orders... I just placed an order for delivery this morning, adding in the usual weekly shop. Hence the ❤️ box!

We had lunch all together inside the extension - what fun! 

With garden furniture and a table cloth and place settings and no glazing in any doors or windows it felt like a curious mixture of inside and outside dining. 

It was a lovely way to christen the space - a family meal together as we used to. Even when the room is finished and glazed it will be easy to arrange good ventilation for meeting people indoors when it's wet outside. 

They have also sorted through a lot more of the stuff in their old bedrooms, some to take back this time, some to donate or throw, and the rest to keep. Progress!

The weather was sunny amd dry (if a bit breezy) all day, perfect, and a great improvement on yesterday's rain. 

Thursday 3rd September - homemade

After some underwhelming supermarket ready meals last month, and earlier this week, I'm trying to go back to more cooking from scratch. It's easier, too with the cooler weather.

Yesterday, for supper, I made some vegetable soup, just a chopped carrot, onion, stick of celery all softened in olive oil and then cooked in stock with a dollop of tomato puree and dried herbs. I  added a tin of butter beans (drained and rinsed). There was enough for two days, so I served half the veg and all the liquid and put the rest in the fridge. (Lunch was homemade spaghetti with roasted courgettes).

Today I added more tomato, and quite a decent amount of cooked chicken and we had it for lunch with baked potatoes. Supper was a crustless quiche with bubble and squeak. 

I'm very pleased to have used up the eggs and pancetta which were approaching their 'use by' dates, and the leftover potatoes as well! I've also cooked a crockpot-full of minced beef, again, at it's 'use-by' date, to freeze and use in various recipes. 

I am feeling so virtuous!

Today's 10-minute journal;

Yesterday I dealt with bills, etc. Today I tried out my 'keep it handy' container of watercolours, brushes, lidded jar of water, pen etc first to colour the picture,  and later just to fiddle around with. I reckon this setup might suit for a quick few minutes dabbling.

Later in the morning; the first piano session of the new academic year! Good fun for both of us.

A friend came round yesterday evening with a bunch of five of the biggest gladioli stems I have ever seen. They are on the hearth in front of the fireplace and are easily taller than the fire surround! They have started coming out.

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Nothing much to add to the extension progress. They have been very busy all day doing what I xalk 'invisible work', fixing things in place, adding extra screws, fastening things down, tiling the roof, ready for tomorrow. 

Wednesday 2nd September - rainy, but good day

I'm thinking of having a darkish green back wall to the extension; not too dark, not to light, not too yellowy,  not to blue... time to look at paint charts. This feels very daring... we've always ysed light colours. The kitchen units are a pale shell grey,  as I remember. 

The day was cool, even cold at times to people who have been softened upby heatwaves. Frequent showers of rain too. The hup! installers moved the garden table and chairs from the patio to inside the extension so they could sit in the dry for their tea breaks.

The builder, who will be taking on the next phase, turned up with a long ladder. A nice bit of exemplary teamwork, one 'hupper' holding the ladder, and another passing the soil pipe up meant that it was replaced in minutes. He stayed to talk to the huppers about mysterious subjects like 'first fix' and he'll be able to send the electrician round to start work while the huppers are here. The electric cabling will run in the channels round the walls.

The window and door frames have indeed gone in today, as I hoped, ready for glazing.

The panels either side of the French windows are hinged at the side, for opening, but are also hinged at the bottom to tilt inwards. Two of the glazed roof lights will also open and close.