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

Friday 6th November - we have lights!

 A visit from the electrician and his right-hand-man today has resulted in face-plates - I think that's what they are called - being fixed in our extension. We have working ceiling lights and sockets, and the opening sections of the skylights now open and close at the touch of a switch!

This is wonderful! I am ridiculously happy!

BB has been building the little sentry box shed in the relative warmth of the extension - it is warmer than outside and sheltered from the very cold wind. We have checked that it will fit through the doors when it is finished. 

And on Monday the kitchen installation begins... progress!

Wednesday 4th November - poem

I'm reading "I Haven't Been Completely Honest With You" by Miranda Hart,

 the story of  how she found her way through a time of being in a state of complete physical collapse. The was caused by having undiagnosed Lyme Disease since her early teens, and spending decades battling on and pushing through the endless illnesses that plagued her afterwards. It's a fascinating account of how she had to learn to just stop and cease fighting, and what she discovered along the way.

She quotes the second part of this poem by Dorothy Hunt, and I thought I would share the whole poem with you.

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We met the kitchen fitter today... he's starting on Monday and reckons he'll be done by the end of the week!