As the title of this blog says,where does the time go? I hadn't realized that it has been over a week since I last wrote. Apologies to anyone out there who has been waiting in anticipation for the next chapter in my life!
So what has been happening since I last blogged?
THe better half's daughter,partner & 3 grandchildren came up for the day. It was lovely to see them & although I am not a great lover of kids, they are very sweet girls & were well behaved. It was a shame it poured with rain while they were here as they couldn't run around outside, but managed to keep themselves amused mostly by chasing the cats! This was not appreciated by the cats but they tolerated it! I have to say that the 4 year old came up with a novel use for a bidet. On looking round the house & coming to the bathroom, she announced when seeing the bidet "and thats where you bath the cats!" So now you know.
I have not mentioned the wildlife in our garden for a while. Well they are all still here, the pheasant with his mate,the mole(or moles) who have yet to be seen but thanks to the molehills make their presence known, & the ducks from next door's fishing lakes. One in particular has become quite a regular. He obviously has a damaged wing so cannot fly, but waddles round from the front of the house on to the lawn near the back door. I have given him the odd bit of bread so now every day he appears mid morning in the same place & waits for his bit of bread. Woe betide me if I am late coming out! He quacks away at me the moment I appear & doesn't stop until he is fed. We are hanging lots of fat balls for the birds & these are proving very popular. We have all sorts come down & feed & I have noticed how different birds feed in different ways. The blue tits & great tits like to feed individually on the balls, taking turns to come down & feed, whereas the long tailed tits will cluster up to 5 or 6 to a ball no problem. The robins just fight with everyone & the blackbirds & sparrows hang around on the ground waiting for bits to fall off. It does make for fascinating watching, though I don't think I am quite up to being a twitcher.
H has turned up & started on renovating the garage. He is doing a fantastic job & is getting on really well with the help of the better half (who is now christened 'the boy'.) He went home for the weekend but will be back Monday morning to finish the job. Then I can move all my workroom stuff out there & free up some room in the house. I want to be out before the building work starts as dust & rubble don't really mix with fine silks. My 1st lot of costumes are finished & I am now working on Sound of Music frocks. I make the national dress outfits that the girls wear so this is quite a regular job since they grow up & then have to be recast. So it is another trip down to London next week. When I went down last time I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. I thought that being back in London would make me feel homesick. On the contrary, it felt claustraphobic & dirty & smelly & I couldn't wait to leave, so I am obviously a country girl at heart.
We are still getting quotes in & I obviously under estimated the cost of everything. The money is running out fast & I might have to raid next years tax money. It is all slightly frustrating as the time is ticking by & nothing is happening yet. The better half assures me that it will all take off shortly & we will soon be living in a building site. We have made a start on the garden though.
Last weekend J&C popped in to see us. She had done our garden design & wanted to get it to us before they went on holiday. Well it is fantastic & affordable. She has designed it so that it can be an ongoing project & I don't feel I have to try and do it all at once.
So yesterday was such a lovely day that I decided to start to tackle the area immediately behind the house, this will be the area our B&B guests can use. The swimming pool was there so it is just an empty space with some paving now. J has designed a gravel garden which is not too difficult to do & can be planted up gradually. It is also a good reason to take a day off & visit Beth Chatto's garden for inspiration.
Next weekend we have two lots of guests coming, and with H staying all week I have a serious amount of catering to do. My problem is I am running out of ideas of what to cook & feel that my food is becoming boring. The better half assures me it isn't & is always very appreciative of what I cook so I will trust him & carry on as before.
I think I will close now as I am at last getting sleepy. I should explain that I am writing this at 4 in the morning.
Another by product of this project is that there is so much going round in my head that I can't sleep, so have to get up & do things while the better half sleeps soundly upstairs!
Goodnight.