Tuesday 6th October

Sunday 4th October  - do nothing day. But we did catch the BBC1 Young Chorister of the Year finals for the junior age group. Each chorister sang a well-known hymn with such beauty and conviction... if you didn't see it, do look it up on iplayer. 

Here are the junior and senior winners from 2015;

Their voices were such a contrast to the young singers performing a song from Matilda; 

The human voice is such a versatile instrument. 

Monday 5th October 

The plasterer was working hard all day putting the top coat of render on the outside of the extension. We chose 'parchment', and I'm really pleased. He hasn't yet done the left hand corner...

While I was out there I took a picture of one of the last few leaves on my witch hazel. You can see the beautiful way it is turning from green to bronze;

Tuesday 6th October 

We were up at 6, ready for the builders at 7 and the delivery of the screed at 7.30. This proved to be a large pile of dirty grey cementy looking stuff, tipped out into a heap on a thoughtfully placed plastic sheet.

One lad barrowed it round to the extension and shovelled it through the door. The othe man had the back-breaking job, on his hands and knees, of packing it in and smoothing it down by working a plank over and over the surface. It looked like very hard physical work.

We left them to it, and went out for the day! I did at least make them a cup of tea before I left.

Saturday 3rd October - easy day?

 It's been tremendously noisy all week; I can't remember but did I already say that I consider electric screw-drivers to be a fiendish invention? The electricians had two on the go all through Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,  and then the builders added to, and continued the row for the rest of the week!

I seized a quiet hour today for checking through the finances and paying various bills... interrupted several times by a locksmith coming to measure up and then change the lock on on the front door. Somehow I managed to keep track of what I was doing (maybe?)

A locksmith? We left the builders with a key one day, and it appears to be 'misplaced'. They have agreed to pick up the bill, because BB and I are not keen to just have another spare cut at the cobblers. It just makes everything secure again.

We once changed the lock simply because a visitor accidentally took a key home with them and posted it back to our house, before we could arrange for them to send it via a friend. You could feel the key quite distinctly in the envelope. It's unlikely that someone would copy the key while it was enroute, but changing the lock ensured our peace of mind.

Anyway, I finished the paper work and we have a new lock.

The rest of the day was much more relaxing!

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My little tree has already discarded most of its leaves

I need to find the right place in the garden to plant it. I don't think it is enjoying living in that container. It was such a small spindly little thing when I got it last year and look at it now!

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It was lovely to meet friends at the Cowdray Farm Shop yesterday. It was warm and sunny, the cafes were good, and we had so much to talk about. We only see each other a couple of times a year so every meet-up is special.

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Thursday 1st October - Following a tree

and other random bits and pieces...

Here's my little witch hazel;

We moved it to the edge of the terrace so that I could watch the leaves change colour. They are turning so quickly that I can see a difference day by day.

However, the kitchen door and French windows from the house to the extension are being removed and the empty space temporarily boarded up as I type, so I won't be able to watch my tree any more! 

It will be an incentive for me to use an oxygen cylinder and go round from the front door, the only way in or out of the house for the next three weeks. More steps! Fresh air! That will be good for me.

Talking of steps, I succeeded in getting past 100,000 last month;

I needed to average 3,333 steps per day; a bit of an effort some days. Yesterday I let myself off with barely 2,000 steps, but I shall have to get back on track. I know it can be done...

July and August, the heatwave months, were just too hot to try for the target.

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I told Freddie, the younger electrician, that BestBeloved had rejected my idea of sticking eyes on the screw heads in the switch boxes. So he put them on, before his boss arrived. The Boss made no comment...

We're booked in for our covid vaccinations this afternoon... BB will have the flu one at the same time, but I've arranged to have them separately to give me time to get over the covid one first.

Tuesday 29th September - I promised pictures...

 The electricians have just gone home for today. Although it might seem as though they have left it all in a mess; look again; the cables are laid out ready to start straight away tomorrow morning.

The new kitchen door (the fridge-freezer should just fit in the corner);

The new kitchen window; (the sink will be underneath, with the dish washer beside it)

The new french windows; (the two central doors open outwards, the windows either side tilt inwards from the base or open inwards from hinges along the outer edges)

 

And The Big End Window! It is frosted glass as it looks over our neighbour's garden. The actual floor level in the extension once the insulation and screed have gone down will be level with the sill of the existing patio door, near as makes no difference. 

This is the back wall of the house. The patio doors will be removed and the space left open;

And the current kitchen door into the house; again the door will be removed and the space left open. The right hand side of the existing  kitchen will become a shower room and downstairs loo, leaving space for the boiler and washing machine (both out of sight in the corner) and the left hand side utility room/storage/kitchen overflow.

The plaster is also coming tomorrow to start covering the outside with render. We needed to choose the colour for the final coat so we took the colour chart outside and put it on the terrace. If you zoom in, you will see that we have marked the second and third colours down on the left hand side, 'parchment' and 'honeysuckle'. Final decision tomorrow...

I've started calling it the 'terrace' rather than the patio. I've always thought of a patio as being at ground level, but we've got a sort of raised platform, like paved decking. Whenever I go out there I feel as though I should be declaiming Shakespeare or singing an aria... If I get out there tomorrow I'll take a picture to show you what I mean.

Just one more thing; the electrician is incredibly neat; just look at the way all the cables are coiled symmetrically in the switch boxes, like pince-nez spectacles... 'I've got a thing about symmetry' he said...

BB has Strongly Dissuaded me from putting stickers of eyes (I have a reel of them) on the screw heads inside each loop of cable. 

  
 

Monday 28th September - a houseful

 Today we had six workmen on site. Suddenly the extension seemed very crowded.

At one end, two electricians were drilling and fixing supports for all the sockets and switches that we thought we might need, plus more that we hadn't realised we might need. It was so noisy!

At the other end the big end window was being installed. It is in three large, heavy panels of opaque fire-proof safety glass, because it forms the boundary wall. Each panel took four men lift each one into position. Between them they fill the top half of the end wall. 

We chose to have the glass rather than a cheaper and easier solid end wall to appease our elderly neighbours who were most upset at the thought that our extension would take the light from their garden.

That window has caused so much angst!

I don't think it will make any difference to their garden, but it does make our extension lovely. I  think it also makes what was our dining room brighter. So although I'm more than a bit miffed about the expense and delay, I reckon it has turned out for the best and will be worth the money.

I'll take pictures tomorrow; it's been a long and tiring day!

Saturday 26th September - lists

 A friend was asking me about the 'rules' for drawing the 10-minute journals. 

'Rules' ?

Make them up as you go along, sez I! 

I picked up the idea of 10-minute journalling on substack here from someone called Adam Ming, so can follow that link to see how he does it.

Anyway, here's today's, and I noted the time I started and finished. 

I have a timetable for builders and trades coming in next week... I think that's the first time I've had such a thing!

We'll notice the difference when the back door in the kitchen and patio doors in the dining room are taken out. The space will be boarded up while the dusty work of lining the walls with ply, to take the weight of the kitchen cabinets, and then plasterboard and finally the plastering. It's only for a couple of weeks (I hope).

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Some bloggers post their meal plans...

Here's what we had this week;

My writing seems to have become a scrawl...

Friday 25th September - procrastination

Somehow I have gained a couple of stitches across a row in my current knitting again, and I am in the process of 'tinking'* a few rows, to avoid 'frogging'** which is what I ended up doing earlier this morning. Patience is an acquired skill and I surely am getting a lot of practice!

* if you spell 'knit' backwards you get 'tink' which means working backwards along the row, 'unknitting' every stitch 

**'frogging' is when you abandon 'tinking' and just pull out the needles and 'rippit, rippit' back. Apparently that's what frogs say in USA instead of cro-ak in England. Helpful hint; have a needle several sizes smaller to hand to pick up those pesky little stitches. Your chances of success are instantly improved. 

Which reminds me; I learned last night on Micheal Rosen's BBCsounds podcast 'the last word' about Scottish Gaelic that sheep say 'm-e-eh, me-e-eh' in Gaelic and Welsh, not 'Baa baa'. There you go. You can now speak Welsh, or Gaelic. But I doubt this will be a useful puece of information...

 So, back to procrastination; I an doing everything except tinking, which is why you have got a blog post. 

Ang's squares arrived yesterday afternoon, but before I started posting I made a pot of tea. I'm not quite as fussy as DS George Cross in the Tim Sullivan books, but I do like a things done a certain way if I'm at home (although I'm happy with what comes my way when I'm out!)

I prefer herbal teas in my glass teapot, with a glass cup, so I can admire the leaves (if I'm using loose leaf) and the colour. For ordinary tea I  like a cup and saucer and loose leaf tea in my blue pot. Although I'm happy to use certain mugs for convenience. My current favourites are these blue and white ones. 

What's this got to do with Ang? 

Her flat gifts were a selection of herbal tea bags (I've already sampled Mint and Verbena, very good, thank you!) and a sweet little wooden spoon which fits perfectly in my tea-leaf jar. I tested the spoon and it delivers exactly the right amount of tea - how did you know that, Ang? The rest of the tea bags will join the others in my 'Tea Ration' tin. Excellent!

And the square? It's beautiful,  a lovely textured stripe pattern with chains of slip stitches going up. I love it. She's knitted the opposite colourway for herself. Block 157, 'Up and Over' from the book by Jan Easton that we are using.

Now, I  MUST carry on with this current square; it's a bit 'three rows forwards, two rows back' at the moment but I won't be beat! I WILL have just 33 stitches instead of 35 by lunch time or BURST!

Thursday 24th September - new kitchen, more squares

#1 So...

Yesterday- no builders, but we have had the radiator delivered. I found a sketch I made of the kitchen-to-be;

I've done it as though I'm standing in the living area of the extension. My main reason was to try and start thinking about how to use the drawers and cupboards. We have changed the end cupboard on the right to drawers. I've seen how easy it is to deal with plates and bowls etc if they are in drawers instead of cupboards in other people's kitchens. 

It's going to be a half width electric induction hob, because I never, or hardly ever, use three pans at one, what with the airfryer and microwave. And we're going to have a counter-top oven instead of a built-in one. Ah, I don't think I have drawn it in! There's always something you miss out!

Another good idea is to label every drawer and cupboard with what lives inside... like our church kitchen. 

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Ang told me that my Double Knitting squares were delivered yesterday so I can post pictures now;

I'm encouraged by how straightforward this was to knit; hardly and 'twinking' happened. The bottom square, which is the one I sent to Ang, is a slightly brighter turquoise than the photo.

Our minds have been running along the same lines for what to do with the squares; we've both been investigating the feasibility of a patchwork jumper... I think I worked out it might take around 48 squares which would mean quadrupling my rate of production.  I'd better get on; I currently have two squares with different patterns on the go and a third waiting for its partner!

I can't stop laughing at these parrots... Just put 'four parrots' into YouTube...

Tuesday 22nd September

 Yesterday we signed off and paid the balance on our new kitchen. To be delivered in the week beginning 19th October in time for the fitter to start on the 26th. I hope that the extension will be ready!

We've had peace, but no physical progress on the extension yesterday and today, but a certain amount of texting and telephoning on my part has extracted the information that

The new radiator will be delivered tomorrow (not sure where to put it!)

The electrician will be back from holiday in time to start 'at the end of the week'

It's likely that the hup! team may perhaps possibly be able to install the big window 'later this week'.

So I shall wait and see... this whole project has been an exercise in patience!

...

Going back to Sunday, we had a lovely walk with friends through Nymans Gardens. I didn't take any pictures, I was too busy looking at leaves and flowers and views... we spent some time watching a wren hopping through a flower border, invisible except when we caught a flickering of movement through the leaves. 

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I've not been keeping up the journal pictures, but here's one for today;

The short daily reflections on my CofE app are themed on National Retreat Week. Yesterday looked at 'Silence' and today was on 'Still'. 

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I finished reading the first Tim Sullivan book 'The Dentist', and also finished rereading Rosamund Pilcher's September. Now for 'Time's Testimony' by Lynda Gillard... 

Sunday 20th September - There's a wideness in God's mercy

The two readings in our zoom church this morning were firstly from the book of Jonah, not the whale bit but afterwards, when the people of Ninevah listened to Jonah and repented, and secondly from the New Testament, the parable of the vineyard where the owner paid the same daily rate to all the workers whether they had worked the whole day or just an hour or so.

Jonah was displeased with God, because he thought the people of Ninevah were so wicked that they should have got what was coming to them, and the workers in the vineyard who had put in a whole day's work were displeased because they thought they should have been given more money than the Johnny-come-lately lot.

But, as this hymn says,

'There's a wideness in God's mercy, like the wideness of the sea...'

Interestingly the leader of the service commented that she particularly liked the words of the second verse, just as I was thinking over how good the words of the last four lines are...

Which lines, I wonder, mean the most to you? 

Saturday 19th September - quiet day

 Such a contrast to yesterday;

We had tentative plans to go for a walk in the afternoon with friends but it was cold and grey. So we'll try again tomorrow afternoon as the weather looks more promising. We're due for a spell of warm sunny weather,  if you can believe it. An Indian summer...

BB got stuck into another jigsaw, we read our books, I sorted out yesterday's beef stew for freezing, just odds and ends of bits and pieces...

A domestic, stay-at-home day.

Friday 18th Friday - whirligig day...

 The extension team are nearing the end (apart from the big window, still waiting for the sill). They are just finishing off putting the lead on the roof.

Now we have to choose the colour for the external rendering... decisions, decisions...

And the plumber came and moved the down pipe from beside the door to the corner of what will be the kitchen. That neant out loo was unusable for about 4 hours... we had to make a quick dash to the nearby nature reserve, just 5 mins away by car, to sneakily use their their loos. Very conveniently for us they are in the courtyard area just outside the café! Nice and clean too! When we got back barely 20 minutes layer everything was reconnected again. Phew.

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Having missed a couple of days of ten-minute-journalism it was a bit of an effort to get going again;

I made a pot of tea, got out my art basket 

and set too...

We had fish pie for lunch yesterday and there was a bit leftover. So I had an excellent breakfast of a dollop of fish pie, fried in a pan with an egg and some tomatoes. Coffee, toast and marmalade to follow as well! A real treat.

Wednesday 16th September

By the time we started the car to drive to Winkworth Arboretum to meet the family for lunch, I think we both felt a bit as though we had been buffeted and tossed about with one thing and another. 

The building control inspector arrive as we were leaving,  but we just abandoned him! 

But, what a lovely, lovely time we had! We just walked round the easy flat route at the top of the valley, passing a bench made from reclaimed signposts;

Do zoom in and read the words

And another bench with carved ends

A couple our age had just sat down, but I asked if they would mind me taking a photograph of one end. They didn't need to move, but, all smiles got up for me to take the picture and settled back down. 

There were lots of benches along the path so that you could take advantage of the fantastic views across the valley;

We, BB and I, have been missing seeing into the distance, looking 'over the hills and far away'.

All the time we were catching up on each other's news,  even though it was only a week or so since we were last together. 

More chatting about this and that over lunch (pasties), a quick prowl in the shop (I had a number of cards to buy) and then it was time for me to go home. I think the others might have stayed to explore the rest of the site - we left them deciding what to do.

.....

The hup! installers said the building inspector was quite happy... good news.

And it may be that the missing window is delivered tomorrow... we shall see!

Tuesday 15th September - I am sooo tired

 From the effort....

....of staying calm... but I think I managed it for most of today...

The hup! installers did manage to get all the glass panels into the roof. No word yet on the likely delivery and installation of the remaining window, the huge triangular pane of fire-resistant opaque safety glass that has to come from France... it will be worth it, I say to myself (it had jolly well better be worth it, I mutter to myself!)

Finalising the kitchen and arranging delivery at the showroom this afternoon wasn't as easy as it might have been... but having come home and remeasured everything I think I'm confident we can go ahead on Monday...  and breathe...

I drew the journal while having my coffee this morning, and restored some calm with tea and biscuits when we got back from the kitchen showroom this afternoon. 

And the presents are wrapped to hand over tomorrow...

Now I'm sogging in front of the tv; the plan is to watch Sewing Bee (the final!), Celebrity  Masterchef, and then 'off to Bedfordshire' I'll go!

Saturday/Sunday 12th and 13th September

I was awake at half past four in the morning on Saturday,  which did not please me, but then I noticed the stars in the sky, and, could that possibly be a planet? I found my glasses and opened a curtain and twisted my head up to stare at Orion's belt and other stars until I became too uncomfortable and went back to bed. It's rare to be able to see the stars here, but the streetlight outside the window goes off at about 1am and there was no moon. 

I left the curtain open, although I couldn't see any stars when I was lying down. It was just nice to know they were there.

A thought that has come back to me today, a day of clouds and drizzle. We were very late going to bed because we watched the totally brilliant Last Night of the Proms right to the very end, and I've felt tired and bleh all day. 

We haven't been able to go out as I don't have any full oxygen cylinders left until after the delivery on Monday, so I have to stay home and use the mains powered oxygen supply. Otherwise a change of scene might have helped... but there's always the scenery in tv programmes, especially Paul Murton's gentle meanderings around Scotland. 

That's a good thought though about the sun and moon and stars always being there even when you can't see them. 

Like God, always there, no, I should say he's always here...

Thursday 10th September - it's quiet around here today

 We've no builders here today... no pots of tea to make...

BB had a trip to the dentist (prep work for a crown) and I taught two piano lessons, with lovely pieces as well.

His appointment was for 1145, which meant leaving at 1045 and not getting back until after 230... that meant a very late lunch. Luckily I had a COOK lamb tagine lurking in the freezer, which would microwave from frozen. I guess it was gone 3pm before we had lunch, both very hungry!

Do you remember when the illustrations in children's books often only had 2 colours? Like this!

Minimalist journalling today. 

Next-door's cat is very sad to find he is shut out of the new extension now that the doors and windows have all got glass in them.

I've been un-knitting and reknitting the square I finished yesterday.  I found a Serious Error in the final pattern row. Luckily this wasn't too far down, so it's finished again now. 

It's a good job I like knitting. And reading, which is also filling quite a lot of the day...

Wednesday 9th September - too much...

1Well, too many contractors, too many questions, too many decisions, too many unsatisfactory answers...

Our usual two hup! installers arrived, and continued doing whatever they were doing. I hadn't understood that the wrong size glass was delivered for two remaining glazed roof panels, so now we wait for delivery of the correct items, promised for Monday... 

They removed two fence panels so that they could finish the cladding on that side. They have replaced them with temporary screws as they will have to be removed at least twice more. I would have thought it might have been better to leave them out, but hey... they've gone back in now.

Now they've done all they can until the roof glass arrives so that's that until Monday. More delays...

Meanwhile the builder in charge of the next phase rolled up with a plumber to sort out underfloor pipes to connect a new radiator and the new sink in due course. Plus the new shower room...

Much perusal and head scratching over the plans... I want a shower that I could be wheeled into, if it comes to that as my lung function decreases, which does complicate things. There's time to sort this out.

At one point I was wondering out loud if it this was all a great mistake, but James-the-builder gave me a big grin and assured me that come Christmas I'd be thinking it was a really really good idea. 

Well, that's some kind of an end date to aim for...

More chocolate needed...

I had three, yes THREE separate knitted squares for the collaboration with Ang lying forlornly waiting for their partners. Today I finished knitting the twin for one of them, so that's a win...

And I'm trying to finish one of the several books I am reading before getting stuck into another Tim Sullivan (but I have started it, so that resolution has rather gone by the bye!) 

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.

...

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)