Double troubles

I think I have tried to post photos in too large a format not having learned how to edit to smaller size using iPad. I may have to investigate a friend's method for publishing photos but everything takes so long.  Evidently there is more than one method.  This is an aide-memoir of what I did.

1. go to photos on iPad which have been downloaded from camera. 

2. select with a tick then click square in bottom left which opens new window and click copy.

3. go to new post and press screen and click paste...

4. then I clicked publish so as not to lose effort.

5. then edit title and text as I am doing here.

6. click DONE and

7. click SAVE...... this last is very important or one loses a post like I did a few days ago..
8. click publish ... this is also very important or else no photo!!!
9... but  since writing this I click on the camera icon on edit post, select a photo from my iPad, copy it, position cursor where photo is to be positioned, and paste. 

ROOF and FOOT update:

My foot is still tender and being unable to wear a normal shoe I have not yet driven,  except I am being driven round the bend with roofers and home confinement. Fortunately, no one else is here to suffer my lapses!!!! 

The last tiles were laid on Friday and the hole by the chimney was left uncovered so the lovely rain that afternoon trickled down the chimney wall in the grenier and I did not know. At mid afternoon on Saturday I thought I had better check in the attic; plastic sheets and buckets came to the rescue...as did the patron of the business whom I telephoned. On Tuesday morning I heard my teacher's voice emerge to the normally very good workers to explain that it was irresponsible and lacking in thought to leave no flashing around the chimney, aka a hole!   I think they were so tired on Friday afternoon and looking forward to the long weekend when they told me all was safe as the roof was covered! It can't be an easy job. I wouldn't  like to have to work in the rain or heat of the sun. They were contrite.

The site is being cleared and cleaned. Guttering is being installed. The dormer window will have to wait

as it has to be made to measure. 

I am hoping that we can celebrate their hard work and congratulate their endurance and tolerance of the English Lady who asks a lot of questions and expects high standards. 

But I have provided coffee three times a day and they have used my kitchen every day to eat their meal. I am very impressed that they eat healthily and with variety.  If only they realised me how dangerous smoking is! 

As free as a little bird

Whilst Living in France continues I increasingly feel as if I am achieving more and more to be

 as free as a bird... 

I recognise that I am only imprisoned in my own cage when I forget how to sing and dance or when sadness creeps over me like a dark cloud. 
Yet, when the sky is blue and the sun is warm my varying persona emerge as one and then I love to fly free ... in fantasy, in reality and I become happy.
Is that poetic nonsense or an artistic creative literary style? 

I would have preferred  'l'hirondelle' but this chubby chappy is such fun ...

he will look down upon me and I will always look up to my little bird!

Update

Foot : all healed on the outside, so waiting for swelling to be normal before driving + did two very short walks along the lane. healing is due to my magic concoction of oils!
Roof : wall plate is almost built along the length of the cottage + 2 concrete steps lead through doorway between greniers but more to do in that area.... + the Genoese construction of the flat tiles for the brisis has started . Work will continue for another two weeks!
Weather : rain affects roofwork and keeps the lawn wet and growing. But no further storms since last week.
looking on the bright side of life from time to time .... But no energy or much inclination to explore how to do the myriad of things on the list I started today. Maybe making a list ir Twitter us the first stage of change afoot.... Maybe acceptance of how it is in any current moment is the key as is responsibility to do something about it.
I have too much time to ponder and think and not  enough ACTION.
Need to make some deadlines once the roof and foot look beautiful and motivate creativity once more. 
Hey ho....

Carved out by hand

This is really about a hole in the wall.

In my personal life I am trying to carve out an understanding about the depths of who I am and what I represent, what my values, beliefs, strengths, essence are, not only for me and to me but also for others and to others so that I may move forward (with my new foot and feet), whatever that metaphor says!!!!!

I appear to be removing mental and emotional walls that kept me as mine own prisoner for many years. Looking back at my experiences, (written heartfelt on this blog), I've often spoken about being imprisoned and yearning to be as free as a bird. A very dear friend of mine tried to question this. She wanted to know why I felt I was being punished for this and that, and why I felt imprisoned.  I know this might sound a bit strange but I feel as if walls are coming down.  I feel as if I've broken through a chink in mine own armour and am being released from the past.  I've had some serious conversation today with a friend, whom I value enormously, and it is only now whilst I write this post for my blog about MY HOUSE, that I identify with the fact that MY HOUSE is metaphorically MY BODY and MY SOUL and all that are contained within that.

The baby that I was, the little girl who needs love to counteract parental inadequacies, (God bless them for they tried and did their best in their time), the student who studied hard to escape the exigencies of working class life, the rebellious teenager, the hippie with her long auburn brown hair sweeping down over maxi Laura Ashley styled dresses beneath which footless, fancy free and as barefoot as Sandie Shaw, she travelled deep underground from one side of London to the other, then a at the cutting edge of modern practice in the classroom (forget the theory) a teacher and a manager, a person of upper social standing in the eyes of all and sundry, the parent and the patient, the mother and a lover, a retiree which brought the child again when her adult was destroyed by external factors. Now re-discovering the confidence she once held for many years. It's different now. Mature, Grown Up. There one STORY ends. A tale begins anew.

A wall blocks out light but one can still breathe air....so what else did the wall block and keep imprisoned and what will the hole lead to? A sense of freedom of the soul and spirit,  an adventurous stage in a next stage of life.

Stones removed one by one by two young men working opposite each other in different spaces working as a team reveal a hole in the wall to become a passage between two greniers.
For MY HOUSE it opens a doorway to give change to the upper part of this house. I hope to create a habitable space there. If not, at the very least, it signifies a change in the way of life, a change of view, a new doorway to existence.  Optimism is created.

A French gentleman of standing arrives...

It was the lovely Fabien in his light-grey suit with his modern-styled grey-patterned shirt, his striped-grey scarf worn with French aplomb, his wonderful, smiling, deep brown eyes with large black curled-away-from-his-eyes eyelashes. Can you hear a heart flutter? There was no fun to be had ... the artisans and we had coffee, then to business with technical discussion of the re-construction of the lucarne. After all, he is the Architecte de Batiments de France for this region!  We wandered up the lane, at the same time that a huge pantechnicon was delivering a beautiful furnished snooker table, in one piece, using hydraulic gear! Les Parisiens! Fabien explained which of the two examples in the lane was the better one in terms of tradition for when they re-build the sides of the lucarne.  The artisans had replaced the screws with nails in the oak stringer / edge support for tiles. He told me that the artisans were doing good work and he had no complaint.

I showed him the house interior, then the roof from the rear garden, then the interior of the grenier above my large salon. He told me that the bathroom vapour extraction unit has been installed incorrectly.  So I have to get the electrician to return. Oh lah, it isn't easy to get things correct to please 'regles et norms'. But he looked admiringly at the carpentry of the three St Andrew crosses and was in approvement of the hole through the wall that is planned to connect the two attic spaces.

And so...the hat of my house.....

YESTERDAY:

 Unforeseen events continue on the first part of the roof being repaired which was the better part!!!....
1. les panne sablières are renewed either side of the lucarne.
2. le panne faitière had to be built because there wasn't one (back wall plate has had to be built up).
3. the poplar panne intermediare (purlin) was broken and has been replaced with oak!!!!!
4. les chevrons are replaced with new 63 x 75 pine and will be set at a 45 distance to take the lighter weight of ardoise roof tiles.
5. the aerial must be removed from the chimney - oooh triste pour les hirondelles qui reste là et parlent en été.  Enduit or something has to be repaired.  It is unnecessary to replace an aerial when  don't have television and anyway one is not supposed to have an aerila on dsplay if no television is declared for taxes.  If I need one in the future then probably it would be a different aerial system.
6. I gain more wood for kindling.
7. next?   ah.. more rain....but the boss is back for the 2nd time today and so I appreciate his efforts to assist in protecting the floor of the grenier above my nicely finished ceilings below. What a job!!!!!!
8. ah ... I have an idea for a house party!!!!!! 

AT THE CLOSING OF THE DAY:

iphoto might have sorted itself

Let battle commence:

First tiles are removed.....can you hear me gasp?

The straightened toe hopes number 3 will settle

The new panne sabliere to the left of the Lucarne

The old panne sabliere to the right of the Lucarne

The foot of the patient, the hat of the house and electrical matters

Post in the making.......

Photos will arrive but iphoto is a problem making the rainbow wheel spin constantly and boot up takes ages. Evidently the computer has one hard drive but it thinks it has others, so takes ages booting up.  I have to discover how to solve the problem. Why don't computers have brains? So many promises were made to us humans over 30 years ago about technology which would give us more leisure time? Has it heck! All our time is occupied solving technological mysteries and in this instance, where there are several self-generating photo libraries, I can't find photos that I took and uploaded/downloaded yesterday! I used to enjoy learning technology but now it is tedious.  I have other things to do!  All I wish, which isn't actually completely true, is sometimes to be without the machine. Not possible,  as it is my lifeline and limb to the real world beyond my roof, beyond my gates that my two feet would like to travel!

Three days of workmen on site has created dust and havoc. I wasn't really prepared for falling masonry or what is involved with roof tiles being removed.  Yes I had prepared for dust etc. It's not the same as Lego. I wasn't happy that tiles were being thrown into the lorry with some falling onto the road.  I suggested that they bring the lorry nearer, They didn't, yet on the 3rd day they did!   I also think that sweeping skills need further training.  On 3rd day, I suggested they swept the road just as they were about to drive off.  No comment but they did. It took two men. One watched as the client swept the courtyard detritus towards number 2's shovel.  I didn't wish to trip on broken tiles with my hobbly foot.

Two weeks have passed and although it is still painful for Mrs Hobble, days are getting better.  The foot is sufficiently healed so as to climb ladders to take photos and then to cause me pain afterwards. I suppose I shouldn't climb the ladder but needs must!  On Sunday, I had permission from the boss to climb the scaffolding which is sturdy and safe taking the weight of 4 men. I wanted to inspect the grenier after the thunderstorm of Saturday night. 30mm of wet stuff called RAIN.  My brain has been as dead as a dodo since the op but there is nothing like drama to wake it up!!!!!
Water appeared where it shouldn't be; between shutters and doors of two rooms and on the kitchen floor.  Quel horreur at 10 am Sunday morning. (My sleep patterns are completely awry.)

Basically the flat part of the wall high up where once there were tiles was not covered with tarpaulins, called baches in France. Water ran down the textile of the bris and flowed either side of the flat surface down either side of the stone wall.  Guttering is of no consequence at the moment.  A real no-no is to get stone walls wet. There had better be no water marks appearing LATER in my decorated rooms!!! On  Friday, I had not noticed the situation on my roof, being "not alert".  On Saturday I emailed the boss and asked if it was covered sufficiently as I could see that it wasn't. Yes, he says,  it will be ok!!!  On Sunday: Nature makes thunderstorms which roofers cannot predict!  H'm... Me and my intuition!!!!!  I have commented to him that it's vital to listen to a woman and more important to listen to the client!

ALSO they replaced one panne sabliere which does look like pine with treated pine but the other seems to look like oak.  On Friday it hadn't been removed. I was in a quandary.  I was tempted to be demanding and ask for oak even if it raised the devis, but was that being silly and unnecessary?  I am a house caretaker.  I want my roof to be beautiful as well as practical.  Yes, I shall have a ten year guarantee but a roof should last 50 years or more. Can I be queen of my domain and get what I want? In the end I had to accept treated pine! The queen submitted to their knowledge!

I've taken photos of the renovation project and think that photos go a long way as a selling feature if I ever have to sell, though as yet I don't want to give in and return to UK!!!!!! Mind you if you heard me a few days ago this would not be true. I have been very low in morale but perking up as days go by!!!

I told the 3 artisans that I don't wish to see screws in the oak finition on the roadside edge. They should fix with proper plugs. I don't know what they are called... but you get a hexagonal wedge of acacia and thwack it into the joint to hold both pieces of wood together.  It's traditional. Screws are useless. I intend to speak to the boss again about this.  He is still looking contrite, even though I've warned him months ago that I have high standards.

Monday: they covered half of the Mansard roof that looks towards the sky, with tarpaulin at the end of the day. Tiles are removed and evidently battens and rafters are in a worse state than anticipated!!!!! I knew it was bad. Then I was told that there isn't a wall plate and so one has to be  built. I need to research what that is! I think it holds the upper layer of slate tiles.

Monday: I find their electrical lead using my kettle socket. Investigation tells me I have no ceiling lights in the Oval room and kitchen, nor exterior light and one socket in the kitchen isn't working. That's why my bread didn't toast. I accepted cold bread because I wanted to leave the men to themselves for lunchtime!  I let them use my kitchen as a dining room. I have no problem with that.   They couldn't just tell me there was a problem, I had to ask why. Well it appears it is because they are now operating the hydraulic ladder to bring down tiles and that needs strong electrical power. We learned that there was only 10 ampere in that particular plug.  So they used the one with 16. Fortunately I had some fuses and each of the fuse switches is different! Only in France!

I'll have to learn about amperes and get the electrician to return because despite consulting him three times the board labels are not correct.. why are there different amperes? .... why are prises and lampes mixed ... why do different rooms go onto one fuse and then other parts of the same room are on another fuse?   I know.  It's France!!!!!!!

To return to the roof. I am less anxious ... but will need to keep an eye on replacement of wood.  It's pretty dangerous in that grenier and really I need to replace the floor structure... but ouch!   I can't afford it as yet!

To return to the foot. It walked me up the lane about 100 yards and the muscles in the calves are not so anguished whilst compensating for walking on a heel. It was lovely to have a view of houses, plants, cars, a cat and know that it is much better to get out of the house!
Postscript Tuesday: the foot did not wish to go far in my house!

I've started a jigsaw and it reminds me of Harriet Edith Turner, my maternal grandmother, whose birthday would have been yesterday. We always did jigsaws, played cards or Monopoly and she showed me how to crochet and knit, to cook simple basic meals like bread and butter pudding, bread pudding, apples wrapped in her own pastry, slow roasts and casseroles. She was a very good bridge player, a gentle soul, always calm, worldly and lovely.

The chicken sheds

A friend and his son came to lay concrete in the shabby chicken hut area.

Last week I removed the dangerous pile of lengths of wood that filled this area, saved for kindling wood. The wood is too thick for the hand-axe chopping method. I acquired a good one in UK for £2.  I own a small wood saw but my arms are too weak.  So, a Scorpion electric saw has arrived and I just need a sunny day to start creating kindling wood to be bagged up if I can find enough plastic bags. In the deepest depths of winter I need kindling wood on a daily basis!

This week I managed to empty the very dry chicken shit (pardon me!!! manure) out of the hen shed. This job has waited three years.  I bagged it up, as the wheelbarrow wheel was caput, then spread it onto the potager.  Maybe there is too much!!!! I wonder what will grow next year?

After that I tackled the soil in the exterior chicken run.  About 20cm below the soil surface there was rubble, not concrete.  I sliced the compacted soil loose with the garden fork and spade, then proceeded to sieve some. It was hard work though good for the waist line!  That idea was abandoned. Gradually, with the rake and bare hands, I developed a technique for picking out the chicken bones, mussel shells, oyster shells and rubble from the good soil.  The oyster shells and stones were bagged to be used as rubble for the concrete. The bones, plum stones, mussel shells and roots filled a compost bag, destination dechetterie.  I also weedled out broken glass, metal nails and blue poly garden string. Then I levelled what was left with the rake as that area will be laid with textile fabric and small stones.

The new concreted areas are to store GOOD surplus to requirements roof tiles once they are removed from one of my roofs as well as to store kindling wood or lengths of good useful for diy wood. 

As a treat I decided to cook the men a nice meal. It's nice to have people to cook for but also I was keeping an eye on proceedings as I always do and helping where I could, getting the electricity cables, using my 50m hosepipe ... good job I have these things!!!!

I'd bought 30 euros of vegetables and fruit from Ile de Re market on Monday as it all looked so fersh and delicious. I made a Cauliflower Cheese in pastry. I was first introduced to that idea by a school cook.  I thought it strange but it's an excellent idea. It's delicious cold the following day.

For dessert I made Mirabelle Shortcake.
Measure 150 g butter, 75 g sugar, and 225 g plain flour into a bowl Crumble together with fingers. Press the mixture into a 20cm diameter glass flan dish. Whisk an egg with a fork and pour over the shortcake.  Bake in oven 190°C for about 5 minutes. Remove.  Arrange pre-stoned mirabelle plums on the top leaving no gaps. Scatter with sugar, and a small smidgeon of dried lavender flowers. Bake  for about 30 minutes. You can serve it warm or cold, with a dollop of crème fraîche, yoghurt or cream. As a variation use fresh stoned apricot fruits.

No photos of the food as it was so hectic. It was more important that the men ate as they had to dash to other work!  Here are before / after photos:

 The chicken run looks slightly neater ... but still the textile to lay,  roof to fiddle with, guttering to be redefined when better plastic guttering is released from the house roof.

From Work Mess to Clear Living Space

Just a few days ago after the sawbench had been removed. Don't think I have a photo of that!

After I'd cleared the above.

It has two halves so as to sit nearer the woodburner!

Flashback to Spring 2012  

This next photo is how it looked immediately in front of the woodburner! 

That was when the whole house was in chaos. 

The bathroom was being plumbed and prepped for electricity. 

PLUS the small woodburner was being re-installed after the Oval Room wall had been damaged!  

These are the tools for every trade. 

He might have had tools everywhere but his work IS and WAS meticulous.

 The next photos are how it looked before I became the owner of my house.

The varnished beams were sandblasted!   

  I removed every vertical string from the wallpaper and then the paper itself. 

My son prepped and painted the walls.

We had scaffolding.

Out went that chimney. 

Out went those hanging lights.

God, it was a nightmare and He definitely knows what WE THREE went through.  

THE NOW and THE FUTURE

Oh my,  I can see how far the journey has been ..

and how grateful I am for he who was my lover to have given me so much! 

Yes even the bad times I am strangely grateful for. It wasn't all his fault!

I'm telling the Reality.

I'm not ashamed as much as I used to be and possibly the fierce pride is beginning to return.

I love my bathroom and now I can begin to love this large room which is too cold in the spring and summer and not warm enough in the winter.  If I can get those radiators re-installed and the oil system working it would make such a difference in the depth of really cold winter. 

I haven't minded wearing so many clothes but wouldn't like to die of hypothermia when older! 

I'm just waiting to get the decoration of the doors / windows finished, 

paint the skirting board and staircase, add curtains mainly for acoustics and cosy company in the winter, hang art work on the walls and find an appropriate bookcase.   

Complicated it is!  

BUT OVERALL to reduce clutter ... minimalise at all costs, 

 then I can have a ball or a concert in my Salon!!!!!!! 

HA ha!

End of May

THE GRAND SALON is 40m2 and from floor to ceiling is 315cm  high, including the depth of the beams.

NOW:
No dust anywhere.
No cobwebs that I can see.
No tools.
No sawbench.
No sawdust.
No blue baches hanging from the beams to divide the room and keep workshop dust from living area.
No bed in living area.
Most paint spots scraped off floor tiles. 
Floor mopped.
Furniture moved.
Rugs laid.
Paint has to stay in this room, being an ambient temperature, not prone to overheating or frost,  all not good for paint storage.... and anyway I am hoping the cans will reduce once good weather approaches so I can paint the exterior woodwork.
Bicycle could go elsewhere but it's a reminder for me to get back on my bike after the accident!

I can feel the space and lack of clutter ... just right for the next phase which COULD BE for sorting and de-cluttering historically stored items in boxes from previous lives!

Eeek... I have indeed tried before but the attic has been too cold or too hot or the chaos in my life has meant I couldn't cope with more disruption. It awaits and bugs me! I really don't wish it upon anyone after my existence!

The Bedroom Decor

I have returned to feelings of being in heaven and earth like a princess in paradise! 

Room Aspect and Details: 
The room faces West - colder in the morning than the afternoon.  It measures 240cm high x 410cm long and 330cm wide. The windows are within the doors of the French windows to the courtyard and within the doors of the French windows that lead into the Salle de Sejour. There is also a door without windows leading into the en suite bathroom.
Ceiling: Dulux Roman White between original, fat, sand-blasted, oak beams.
Woodwork: F&B Skimming Stone no. 241: Described as a highly versatile off-white.  'Skimming' refers to its original use as a 19th century skim colour.

Walls: F&B Cornforth White no. 228: Described as Neutral/Cool.  In memory of John Cornforth, architectural historian and author of 'English Decoration in the 18th Century'.  Foremost in the 1970's / 1980's in reviving the Georgian palette of off-whites, stones, drabs and buffs. The Georgian era spanned the kings reigns between 1714 and 1830.
Bay window tiles: 30 x 15cm². Travertin marble bought at Bricomarché. Treated with clear anti-stain STARWAX .   
Oak Floorboards supplied by WoodWorksFrance laid by a competent, experienced builder, who was and is to this day, somewhat still, a very best friend despite all that has happened. I have since treated the wood with 60/40 linseed oil and turpentine.
Bed: Original Victorian iron and brass bedstead, widened and refurbished by Bed Bazaar with a hand made pocket sprung mattress. The story about this bed frame is that in about 1994, I inherited a third of the accident insurance after my father died in Spain.  Having slept on a mattress on the floor ever since my early twenties,  I decided to raise my sleeping level.  I tested lots of beds and mattresses which was fun,  but my heart made me inspect iron bedsteads, battered and bashed which had slept no-one for many an age.  Horrified at the cost, as I'd never spent this much on furniture,  I justified the expense by calculating that it would cost me apx 1p a night for the rest of my life, if I lived to a good old age!  I have never regretted the decision and indeed my retreat has given me great comfort for my soul as well as my body. A bed is very important and not just a sleeping place. It's my haven. I like white bed linen although I have been using a brown satin finished bed cover which has an elephant at the centre - a gift from my daughter's visit to Thailand.
Mosquito net: Ecru colour by Klamboe.

Curtains: Laura Ashley fabric circa 1994 (awaiting adaptation)Chandelier: I expect it is French but I bought it for my previous house - a 400 year old inn - where a mezzanine bedroom on  the third level overlooked the room in which this hang.  In many ways I regret leaving ... but sometimes one has to "move on" and traffic on the street created poor sleeping conditions by vibrating the house. Don't look back except with fondness and memory.
Cheval miroir: Victorian / Edwardian - Inherited from my dearest Aunt Ivy. A little wonky!
Vase:  Long Park Torquay. Possibly Aller Vale era. Terracotta. 45cm height. Inherited from my Aunt Ivy filled with peacock feathers and imitation lilies, chrysanthemums and ivy.
Teacher's desk: My school cleared out a storage shed and were about to dispose of this during the summer holidays on a day I went in to work .. the caretaker gave it to me when I asked about it's future!!!!! To remove the 'hot tea-cup' stains we sanded, oiled and loved it! It makes a good surface to store computer related items but it would be nice to move this from my bedroom one day soon!
Carrying the alarm clock and bedside lamp is a mahogany sewing table; lifting the lid reveals blue quilted satin.  My daughter inherited this from my Great-Aunt Milly (my father's cousin).My daughter will re-inherit it as I am only the caretaker of a house and items.
Chest of drawers: Inherited after my father died 20 years ago. Spanish - 4 drawers and 6 floral tiles. It is promised to my daughter. 
There is no space for the Pine Chest of drawers bought 30 years ago at an antique shop in Suffolk. Lovingly beeswaxed. The space is now the route to the bathroom en-suite.
A wardrobe will have to replace the table.

A room of retreat

At last flooring and decoration is ALMOST COMPLETE!...... other than touching up paint on the skirting board, putting battens on both sides of the door windows, adding draught-proof seal around  doors and painting external woodwork on doors.

"I'm really happy" is an understatement, but it's been a long haul since November when my bedroom was vacated and the Salon became a workshop (still is).
I'm extremely pleased that I chose to repaint the walls which we had repainted with inexpensive Wickes Ivory.  Previously, it was only ever intended as a temporary base coat when the initial re-decoration was accomplished in 2010 when walls were stripped of paper. However, the walls continued to suck up the paint and became very streaky and patchy. So Farrow & Ball it was, at huge cost, but I like it!

My friend feels satisfaction that he then chose to remove the Three Valleys between the plasterboard sheets (positioned in 1985), then had to eradicate the teeny weeny air bubbles that appeared in the recent plaster filling. Lots of filling and sanding between painting was a nuisance, but the outcome is a happy one.  He says it is elegant.  How very nice!  How very kind! That is also an understatement.

No more bare concrete floor, no more carpet, no more gaps where there was no skirting board and I'm going to attempt to ban myself from storing stuff under the bed.  DIFFICULT when I need cupboards!

I'm looking for a suitable armoire for clothing (aka wardobe) but there's not a lot of space with doors on three walls.  In the Autumn I will have to consider whether to re-install the radiator because of the 'not much wall-space' factor.  I'm intending to hang curtains across the courtyard doors. I'm trying to decide which rail to buy when existing curtains from my UK house have the plastic hooks and gathers plus the hem needs letting down to make them longer. Hopefully hang one or two pictures without cluttering the visual space.  Minimalist is now an aim!  I've never been able to achieve that!

Achievement is a wonderful feeling... and so to bed, to sleep, and not to dream of re-decorating this room ever again!  Thank you to a friend.

March madness

The VMC developed "a sound" in January and since I was going away,  I informed the electrician that he could repair it on my return. It had been installed in the attic with a hanging loop of tube which collected condensed water.  In January it was disconnected, the water removed,  but we considered there might be another loop. It's difficult to describe but the fitter had taken the tube the longest route forming a huge C shape!
The company boss, not the man who installed it, arrived and admonished me for not running it 24 hours each day.  Fair enough, I can understand his logic. When I protested that it would withdraw the heat from the room, he explained that thermic shock is created in the winter when turning off the electrical supply. The tube is exposed to cold air in the attic and steam that is travelling upwards which has not yet evacuated into the environmental air, gets condensed. In the summer, he says it is OK to turn it off after 3 to 5 hours following someone having a shower or bath.  He thought that as it only costs 30e per year to run 24 hours x 365, it should not be a problem!  Although I spoke about saving the planet and my purse, he shrugged his shoulders in the Gallic manner, and said that until recently there wasn't another option in France!!!!!! Hmph!!!! He argued the advantage that new air was being drawn into the room as it has no opening window.  Point taken I suppose! I cannot dispute with such a charming man!
He re-connected the tube to the extractor machine. Thank goodness I took him into the bathroom and switched it on because the sound was even louder.  He commented that there was another loop filled with water!  Into the attic the fragile wood flooring was removed AGAIN, new holes cut into it and into the wood flooring that was below that floor level, yet above the ceiling of the bathroom.  My friend helped by sawing various access holes, being careful not to cut any floor supporting timber, nor any beams. Then the electrician carefully smashed a hole through the terracotta brick suspended ceiling that we'd left in situ when we lowered the ceiling of the bathroom.  Now the flexible pipe could be withdrawn from its former position, taken vertically upwards with no twists, turns or hanging loops of pipe, thereby shortening the tube and distance that the steam has to travel.  He also adjusted the VMC vanes so that less warm air is extracted.  His employee had not set it with that option!  It is now working silently.

Meanwhile the chaos upstairs has been left until Monday when we can reposition the flooring whilst removing stones, bricks, pieces of fibreglass, nibbled walnuts and animal nesting material! ..... I hate to know that there is a mess hidden unseen behind walls or floors of buildings!!!!!   There is about a metre of space between the ceiling of the bathroom and the attic floor.
In addition, the leak below the bath doesn't seem to have an explanation and does not always pour forth water onto the tiles floor when the bath water is emptied ... so the bath panel is off!  Plus, I'm still trying to decide where to buy the bath screen!!!!! England it will be, as I want it higher than the normal dimension.
The bedroom was about to get the final coat of paint now that the F&B paint has successfully covered the cheap and nasty Wickes paint. However, this morning, my friend commented on the concave dips between the sheets of 'plasterboard on polystyrene' panels that were installed in about 1985.  Those three vertical hollows have been filled, require sanding when dry, then re-filling, sanding again, before paint can be added to that last and largest wall of that particular room.  Patience is required before I can return to sleep there.
The large Salon continues to have 'le rideau bleu' across it, haha, to keep the wood dust that side of the room and the woodburner dust this side!!!!!!  I am continually sweeping and vacuuming both sides!!!!! I decided to sort out HIS tools, screws and nails. It is worse than a ravelled ball of knitting!!!! However, we discovered screws etc that he didn't think he had and so a saving has been made on going to Brico shops.
Preparation is being made to start to replace the glazing of 4 exterior French doors.
The warmer weather is arriving.... OR IS IT??????  Forecast suggests lower temperatures!  Easter is coming and 'hey ho' the weeks and months pass by as I dream of another life not renovating. I am unskilled and to some extent I love updating a house.... if only I'd been younger!
The garden beckons after the grand clear up ... but I might just avoid it tomorrow and go to my pottery class.
I am in relatively good health. However, I am in shock this evening to hear how a very good friend of my son has serious spinal problems, her husband also has bone and joint problems, coupled with work difficulties or unemployment PLUS looking after a 3 year old.  Life is not fair.

January renovation round-up

At the end of the first month progress has been slow but beautifully meticulous.
It is lovely without draught, therefore warmer. A heady 18 degrees this morning even though the woodburner was out.
Last jobs are battling with F&B paint to stick to ancient gloss around two sets of French doors. YES, a bedroom with 5 doors, but it should make a lovely chambre d'hôte! Tiles in the bay window will soon be bedded and jointed.
We'd re-painted the walls which had been done nicely two years ago, but my attempt at moving the roller on a broom handle was so inadequate and BAD that when the last of the work is finished we are going to remove the bed and repaint the walls.  Anyway, I never liked the colour of Wickes Ivory. It was suppose to be a base coat but frankly I do not recommend it even though it was inexpensive. Y' pays yer money!   The problem is also the texture of the plasterboard...we may have to sand it to get rid of the bobbles.  I'm thinking of a very pale grey to go with Skimming Stone.

When the Spring weather arrives I shall paint the outside of the external doors and windows to 5 rooms.

I could never ever dream of diminishing the efforts that my friend has made in his life to support and help me and though there are changes some things never change.  I can as always commend his workmanship and so do others. It is not perfect but his perfectionism is a joy for me to enjoy and always has been ever since I met him 39 years ago when he dug a ditch  to provide foundations to a house where we discovered the extension was subsiding!  We always got on well even then and so it was a surprise when we discovered we were both single about 15 years ago.  It has been somewhat of a shock that our friendship and his dream to be with me has suffered for lack of perfection, has suffered because we could not bring it back from the brink or we did not have the attributes to save ourselves.

'Twas a birthday treat

I can return to the renovated room, with its new oak floor instead of concrete and carpet. The doors and bay window tiling are to be completed ... but hey ... what a happy day! A special day! We celebrated with expensive morning coffee, Agen prunes and Turkish delight.  Then a birthday lunch -

♠
Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Soup

♣
Chicken Breasts stuffed with Sundried Tomatoes,
Goats Cheese, Garlic and Thyme
on a bed of buttered oat grains
and lemony leeks with Bourgueil wine

 ♥

Goats Cheese and Épautre bread 

(a smidgeon of each) 

♦
Triple layered Chocolate Orange Clementina Cake
with Teddy who had been mowing the lawn,
the garden well,
and 8 candles as 60 had been eaten
by two Capricornian  goats!!!!!!
I raided the farm set!

At the end of the day we divided the salon with a blue screen. On the woodburner side, much warmer as the room has been divided into ⅔ and ⅓, is the piano, dining table and settee.  In the smaller section will be his wood machine. Wood dust will be contained as it is far too cold to work outdoors.  His gifts were opened and appreciated.  My gifts were to be told it was a memorable meal and to regain sleeping quarters rather than spend the nights amidst a melange of chaos that many a French man or woman seem so heartily to accept, if you glance through windows whilst on an evening walk! Although it was quite cosy and comfortable to witness the woodburner alight in the witching hours.

Phase Eight - sixth week

It was a tiring week even though shortened to 3 days work. The floor, fully covered with oak parquet, looks glorious. I'm going to give it a light wipe of turpentine, then a good coat of 50% linseed oil mixed with 50% turpentine maybe even 60/40, let it fully dry followed by a light buff. One coat rather than two as  I don't want 'glossy' but do wish to feed the wood before I reclaim the room as a bedroom.  We re-routed the computer and telephone wiring.
I'm not going to further report on this saga, except when I have a final photo. Needless to say jobs to be done are:
Skirting board, fully painted, is ready to be fixed.
Oak cover-strips in 3 doorways are almost ready to be fixed.
External and internal French doors need double glazed unit installment.
The same doors need several coats of paint on both sides.
Various holes in architrave and bay window lambris have to be filled, sanded, painted same colour as skirting board.
Bathroom door on bedroom side to be repainted a different colour.
Chandelier to hang.
I should think we might be finished by end of January!

Mid week I went to the final pottery session of the year to glaze my donkey and made a second donkey with raku clay. We started with a shared lunch! What a feast with several savoury choices and weighed down with gateaux. I made a chocolate orange cake, then there was a delicious to die for macaroon cake  - I'd like the recipe, then someone had made their own Broyeux biscuit cake, another lady had made chocolate and vanilla muffins and someone else produced hand-made chocolates.... plus a non-alcoholic punch to start with, wine, water and laughter!  Of course, we don't always have lunch but a combined pottery with learning to speak/hear French is a wonderful social occasion apart from pottery sculpture looking easy but isn't. Good for the mind though!

Thursday- our prayers were answered. LIDL sold Parkside sanders...we bought two! After a short shopping expedition for food and petrol we headed back to the funny farm to do what we could, tidy up HIS tools and say our blessings on my house being made into a home.

If anyone asks ... do not suggest house renovation in retirement!!!!!!! Unless of course one has no other dreams!

Phase Eight - fifth week

Monday: Checking the two French doors which access the courtyard, we realised they would not skim the surface of the new floor tiles and oak floorboards, both planned to be at the same level, as there was a miniscule rise in the chipboard level.  Slight planing necessary. Then, realised that bridging the gap between the oak and the tiles will be the oak cover strip and this will be a few millimetres deep. So it necessitates a greater amount to be removed from the bottom of the doors.  The doors came off and on, off and on, off and on, until down on our hands and knees yet again, we felt confident there would be no problems.  Problem solving, mathematics, anxiety, professional expertise, caution and two heads ensure the job WILL be successful.  If we hadn't spent time we would never have managed to remove the doors off their hinges. It really is not as easy as it looks!  Meanwhile, the rows of oak lengths have been chosen for one half of the room.  Lengths have to be considered so that the ends meet at staggered positions to avoid horizontal joints being visually displeasing.  I've mixed up the lengths from the packets so that a variety of colour, knots and grain look more interesting. I've tried to use the longer lengths as much as possible. Then they have to be stacked in reverse order.  We started at a central length in the room and went to the south wall.  Then he made a new oak splint to be the tongue so that we could go to the north wall. This was not easy as power tools are failing!    Each plank receives a number of screw holes, proportionate to length.  After ensuring the edge of the previous row is straight with the plumb line, which it normally is, he knocks the plank into position, ensures it is straight and level and screws home.  This not easy as the wood drill bits keep breaking....We've bought some recently and some were his older ones.  Got to buy more. Repeat along the length. Final piece has to be measured and sawn to create corrected length. A strap connected to the south wall edge pulls the plank into position onto this newly splinted tongue but which needed tiny splinters of oak to be pruned off with the stanley knife. 
End of Thursday - the 20th day: ¾ of oak parquet laid... but annoyingly two clicks at joints have occurred in two different places....I should have walked up and down each row as I did in the other two rooms!!!!

Phase Eight - fourth week

Continuing to get chipboard as flat as possible. I'm really impressed how my friend uses a straight metal bar to find the very slightest of rises on the cement floor. Although he used the grinder to make the cement more level, the chipboard began to move up and down very slightly in some places. Ingeniously, he manages to put 'mousse expansive' below the chipboard to counteract the problem.  Lots of vacuuming lifting every particle of dust made us seem obsessive but any minor particle can create a problem with floor level. We re-painted the walls with the same colour to erase the minor grubby marks. It was first painted 29 months ago! Day 3 - lengths of oak parquet are arranged on the floor starting at a central line.  Important consideration has been given to measuring and problem solving, so that doors can be trimmed to open and close above what will be the new floor level. there is a slight change of floor level between rooms.  Day 4 was a rest day but I took advantage to attend a pottery class. Day 5 - DIY shopping day and the TAX MAN!!!!!!

• I still won't pay to update Google Legacy storage plan.  HENCE even though I have just deleted some photos from Picasa, the system will not allow me to upload photos for this posting.
• Why has Picasa absorbed all the photos from my laptop?
• Does it mean this blog is full and I have to start another?
• How can I stop it doing that?
  Do I really have to pay to enter photos onto this Google Blog?

Phase Eight - third week

Exterior and Interior doors have been adjusted to accommodate the new flooring. Interior ones need  double glazed units but otherwise these 4 doors are ready for painting. The new boiler had to have a new pressure valve so I may have to investigate a water softening system. Plastic film and chipboard are laid but we ran out of floor screws. The week skittled past fast.