Saturday 14th November - Leafy lace

 

This is the pattern, called 'Leaf', that caused me so much frustration taught me so much about patience and perseverance! This is the first square which, once I had stopped creating extra stitches every couple of rows (simple really; just keeping concentrating and counting stitches as you go along) was fairly straightforward. 

The second square, though! In the end I put it away for a week or so before battling onwards. 

Ang has posted about her squares, called 'Buzz', here. 

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We've spent a good deal of time moving what we can from the old kitchen to the new one. I'm now trying to operate half in one and half in the other, as the new hob and sink are not connected yet.

The plates and bowls, mugs and glasses, and kitchen utensils, and half the saucepans are in the new kitchen along with all the food. But the knives, forks and spoons are still in the old kitchen. 

Tomorrow it's the turn of the cleaning materials, broom cupboard and non- food items...

Do you remember playing a children's game where one child is looking for a hidden object and the others call out 'hotter', or 'colder' as the seeker walks towards the hiding place? I used to play it a lot with children in music classes, where they played louder or softer on their percussion instruments as the seeker walked around the room.

Well, BB and I are playing that game; 'could you bring me some bowls?'  BB starts prowling round the kitchen while I call 'you're freezing!' or 'getting warmer, hotter, you're BOILING' as he opens the correct drawer...

Friday 13th November - this finish line approaches

 I say this finish line, because it will be one of several, and approaches, because we're quite not there yet...

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Can you spot our new, connected up radiator? Ahhhhh. Warmth.

The fitters are back on Monday to move the dishwasher and fridge freezer through before they start ripping out the old kitchen.

 Presumably they will add the plinths? And the hob is connected, but there is no power to it yet. We need a new consumer unit - what I still think of as a fuse box - with an extra switch for it. So I nay have to be cooking with microwave, slow cooker and air fryer for a bit. Doable. Stir fries might be off the menu.

Our task this weekend is to try and fit a quarter into a pint pot. I've been making plans to try and workout what will go where;

but I have no certainly that they will work until we start moving everything. 

It's so good to have our house back. The fitters are lovely, but they keep up a continuous stream of cheerful chatter between themselves. How do they do it? They work together every day, and still they haven't run out of conversation!

At one point the three of them, kitchen team and the plumber, were all happily busy and chatting together. It's a good background sound though, like the hubbub in a coffee shop, with occasional sudden drilling and tapping  noises instead of the barristers working the coffee machines.

On Monday they'll start taking down the old kitchen units, building a partition and installing the loo and shower. Hammer hammer hammering.....

I'm feeling very tired; I'm all for a simple bowl of porridge for supper and an early night!

Thursday 12th November - day of decisions

Here's the state of the kitchen last night after the fitters had left;

That large piece of worktop on trestles will go on the remaining units out of sight to the right, here;

I am so looking forward to having a kitchen where I am not standing in my own shadow  to cook for the first time ever! And enough electric sockets, all at a sensible height, so I'm not longer everlastingly unplugging and plugging in appliances. No more trailing electric flexes over and around everything.

Decisions... yesterday I chose tiles and bathroom ware; a combination toilet and basin unit something like this, will just fit on one wall,

leaving ample space for the shower at the other end. 

Today they are doing the tiling, tomorrow everything, including the central heating radiator, will be connected. 

It's much warmer today. Yesterday it rained, and wax also the day for cutting worktops. The fitters set up a gazebo just outside (I always thought they were pronounced 'gaze-bo' until I actually said the word out loud...) and had the doors open all day. Today is sunny, and the doors can be kept closed. What a difference!

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There's a little bit of cheerful colour outside the french windows now;

Next week we will have partly moved into the extension and I shall be able to sit and watch them grow. (The blue fabric draped at the top of the picture is the collapsed gazebo).

This weekend we'll have to empty the old kitchen as the same two fitters (shout out to Max and Joe of 'mm Perfection') will be gutting it and installing the shower room.

At some stage the flooring will go down (light oak laminate) and another coat of paint will happen. 

It's all coming together very quickly!

Tuesday 9th November - the kitchen installation has begun!

 All systems go to be up and breakfasted and round to our friend's house (about 5 -10 minute's walk away) for 7:45, ready for the builders to collect our kitchen from our friend's garage....

'Oh, I thought I'd messaged you that we are coming on Tuesday. '

I checked back through the texts. He was explicit about the date, not about the change of day. Huh!

This morning everything went well, and an amazing amount has been done. Update coming tomorrow.

Going back a day;

We had planned to meet family for lunch and a wander around Winkworth Arboretum on Sunday,  but we baled out. It was bitterly cold inspite of the lovely afternoon sunshine that replaced the thick morning fog. My problem is that I walk so slowly that although I'm wearing thick insulated trousers and warm thermals I can't go fast enough to keep warm, and neither can my companions. So the others went there, and we went to a huge, spacious Tates garden centre so that I could walk around in a sheltered space and still enjoy a bit of the beautiful weather in the outside areas. 

At the entrance there are two olive trees, with real olives growing on them. (You may need to zoom in to find them).

We found this lovely oasis, a veritable sun-trap, out of the way of the main cafe seating areas. We each had a sausage roll and a coffee beside a tinkling water feature... very peaceful, with the sound of cheerful children in a nearby play area.

A Perfect Sunday afternoon! 

Sunday 8th November - Remembrance Sunday

 

These are the intercessions read out in our zoom service this morning.

Saturday 7th November - the terrace

 We used to have a bit of a patio - now we have a terrace! It feels like the raised area outside the long windows of a stately home... in miniature... the sort where you step outside to survey the immaculate gardens and rolling acres of parkland laid out before you;

Well, maybe not exactly this big... but it feels like a terrace because it is so much higher than the rest of the garden.

Today BB and my gardener friend set about arranging our garden furniture and the pots she had planted up with ivy and spring bulbs. Here we are;

At one end, against the fence is the garden bench. That's a philadelphus next to it - heavenly for summer scent. At the other end,by the steps down to the garden level, is a little table and two chairs;

Oh, where's the table? BB had taken it (temporarily) to where he was finishing off the blue sentry box, now in position round the side, out of sight. 

The rest of the garden is still in a very sad state, but, hey, step by step... progress!

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I said to a blogfriend I would post the first lesson in Mark Kistler's 'You can learn to draw in 30 days'. Actually I think I'd find it useful to work through the book again; I learned so much first time through. 

Lesson 1: draw a sphere, followed by the extension activities