Cake Demolition

Nine cakes fed thirteen mouths and look how much they left...but it was all shared as we took
a slice of each cake home
or a slice of those we hadn't tasted
or a slice of those that we liked the most!
The wonderful thing about the idea of a CCC for me is that I can be creative and bake a cake,  share culinary success or disaster with appreciative foodies, have a laugh as well as be sensible, see new places, listen to conversation or join in, relax, and find something to learn. It sharpens my mind and allows me to get socially presentably dressed for the occasion and be in good expat sociable company.  It's a cake party! This last venue was a long drive with 100 miles recorded on the car odometer but I am not complaining.  Look at the results of CCC eating!  Thank you to everyone for the pleasure and the difference such an occasion makes to living in France... when a special 'English tea shop' style of eating is necessary for homely creature comforts!

Yumminess in Heaven - not for a waspy waistline

More yummy cakes... some bakers claimed that their cakes were 'catastrophes' and some were second attempts but they all looked magnificent full of Autumn mellow fruitfulness and and all tasted pretty moreish to me.  As there were nine cakes, it was a feat to eat, but I tackled it in three sessions, helped along with rosé wine and Earl Grey tea. Extremely civilised!

Gorgeous Caramel with Quetsches, blackberries and other fruits had an amazing contrast of textures, beautifully presented.

Cider cake with sultanas inside and apples on top was like a steamed sponge sultana pudding needing English custard! Brilliant as I'd never had this sort of cake before!

This one had a layer of cherries sticking to the base... deeeelissshous!

Full of fruits from hedgerows and garden....gluten free and healthy!

This was yummy too... although someone joked in a complimentary way about the foam mousse, I love its voluptuousness.

Oranges heightened the taste of this textured Grasmere ginger cake!

Almonds, lemon and elderflower with a lemony cheesey drizzle. Heaven!

Gosh... a sugar fruit fest!!!!!!! Black, red and mellowlelloyello!

Chocolate, Apple and Vanilla Cake

“Yummy Chocolate, Apple and Vanilla Cake”
for Teddy Bears Picnic Cake
for the Cardinal
at the Clandestine Cake Club

This recipe has been created from inspiration in my favourite cake cookery books and from recipes on the internet.  The quantity of ingredients and actual ingredients are not quite the same as any of the recipes that I studied ... I like to tweak culinary ideas! 

Cream together 225g butter and 225g light brown sugar until creamy. Then beat in 4 eggs previously whisked separately. Add and fold in 200 or 225g sieved plain flour with a large teaspoonful of sieved baking powder or bicarbonate of soda, with 50g unsweetened cocoa powder plus vanilla powder or essence according to taste.  Add 100g small pieces of dark black chocolate. I used POULAIN Noir Extra. Add one and half or two dessert apples, which have been cored, peeled and cut into small pieces. Fold in and beat to a firm batter consistency. You may need to add a little milk. Pour into two Victoria sandwich tins oiled and coated with a layer of flour. Bake in a medium to hot oven for 20 minutes but check and take longer at a cooler temperature if necessary. My oven temperatures are not indicative of others! When cool sandwich together with chocolate butter icing.

The theme of the event was: Picnic Cakes... so the fun parent-teacher part of my past thought that A Picnic Cake has to be for teddies!  So.. what kind of cake shall I make? A brown as the earth cake. A green as the grass cake without colourants! Rummaging in my cake decoration collection there is a green ribbon with clover, and look, here are the teddies - mummy, daddy, older teddy with his dog and younger teddy with his book.  A French fêve from an Epiphany cake models Pain du Miel (honeycake) and three bees amongst the daisies with a couple of fir trees in te background could tell the story! The idea of a tartan ribbon blanket disintegrated, so French squared paper and a red felt pen created the perfect picnic rug... but as it was sticking to the squidgey sponge I found the correct size of laminated card... perfect as the models stood or sat in place. They behaved impeccably whilst Great Granpa Bear removed himself from the piano to oversee the event and to present two chocolate liqueurs to 'a happy couple' who will be wed in two weeks time!

 And it wasn't all eaten!!!

I'm wondering...

whether to find a copy of Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan in French.  I tried to read a French version of an Agatha Christie a few years ago but it was too hard!  Inspired, when opening my friend's Orange Penguin collection where there were some French titles...this was on my 'to read' bucket list! I enjoyed the book immensely... an easy read of artful teenager's interference with adults which causes tragedy and heartbreak!

Waiting to be Here

A Red Ferrari parked at least overnight outside LaBelleVue.
An English registered Black MX5 parked for at least a week along my street.

A push to stretch muscles and walk gentle slopes of almost vehicle free lanes,
to the crucifix, to crossroads.
For 50 minutes goodness abounds observing the change of Season.
Enjoy the peace and calm that Autumn brings.
Passing my land I note that it is two weeks since it has been mown,
the longest period of all the year!
Earlier this year, it needed to be mown every five days,
usually every seven at the most!
Dreading the mowing but then a feeling of joy will transcend.
It will be worth it for that!
Knowing that this is the time for other work as well as gardening.
For tidying and clearing, for turning over.
Ploughed fields reveal clean brown terrain.
Ploughed fields bring hope and promise.
In the distance it must be a deer or more running field on field as a result of farm vehicle movement.
In the distance rabbits race like the speed of lightning, bobbing their cotton-tails.
Stamp on recently fallen walnuts revealing mooshiness, fruit blackened rotten.
Stamp.
Wait for solutions.
Waiting.
When one doesn't know what to do one waits.
A friend said that.
I know what to do as well as wait.
Keep occupied.
Much there is accumulated from all the yesterdays.
So for all the tomorrows I'd better sort it.
Let the day unfold.

Cycles turn in the mind.
Dreams wheel and turn.
What would it be like to just walk and walk?
To get there.
Where?
Anywhere.
And then one would be Here.
Here in Peace.
Calm.
Until...

It's hard to tell

... if energies and synergies are being sapped by others OR if I am sapping their positive energy levels.
It's hard to tell...
I am waiting for a recently pulled, central-back muscle to repair, in addition to muscular and nerve tissue problems that have existed for over a year.  Perhaps incapacity has affected this week's lack of energy and is the result of being sapped and sapping energies!
Shattered, drained, confronting cleaning, clearing of chaos that I and others created.
Shattered, drained, unable to consider all that needs to be done. But slowly, do the dishes... Do one thing at a time. I again am aware that I abandoned Self.
Shattered, drained, trying to do less, but one has to keep working for the next event and excitement that is waiting on the forest path!
Fatigue is gradually being repaired.
Exhaustion has a cyclical pattern in Fibromyalgia where people overdo things, become exhausted, rest, feel less tired, again overdo things.  It's a pattern which requires control.
It's a form of behaviour which has boundless energies with certain people, and none with others,  or none when an unpleasant episode happens in a chapter of my life. Then I am forced to retreat and therefore to collapse!
When physical, mental and emotional energies abound, I think I can do everything in my dreams, yet without being like a child, shouting, screaming "I WANT IT NOW!"
LIVING isn't like that. The Reality is that my DREAMS will probably never be achieved. Even so, balance must be regained! I need to rest before energies can resurface.

It's inevitable for 'burn out' when too many tasks, too many interpersonal relationships are being dealt with all at once, when too many dreams for perfection become negated.  One has to pick oneself up, start again, look to see how 'it' could be improved  by being mindful of small things.
Maybe these thoughts are because I live alone or are the result of past trauma. It is true that losing 'purpose in my career' as a result of many issues gained me early retirement and a different kind of work.  I have never looked back on that crisis that caused success!

Where is the Eagle that soars?
For several days I haven't been able to gather energy in my small, frail wings to rise into the sky to look down on Reality.
Where is my Little Bird, my Free Bird?

In the last few days there have been various suggestions but...
I don't wish to pick up a broom and sweep dust under the carpet! That's not my style!
I don't wish to tread on eggshells anymore.  I shall say it like it is or not say it at all!
I do think when I really didn't think before ten years ago...I was always reacting! - and this thinking thinks about what is right and wrong.
"Does it really matter?" I ask myself before or after asking "What is the point?"
WAIT.  Keep still.
Waiting... that is what we do.... wait for the next thing in life, whatever our age.
My dearest grand daughter waited for the first wobbly tooth to come out and when it did....oh my, the blood and the need to find something to staunch the gap, the excitement and angst for all of us!  
Then she shall wait for faeries... and monetary reward and the next and the next until one day she will realise that she does not wish to wait for any teeth to fall out!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank goodness she kept her first teeth for most of her first six and half years!  It bodes well if she looks after the adult teeth when she has waited for them to appear!
Waiting... 
Today the sun is shining.  It beckons.
I walked a short distance into the heart of the village but my friend was not there.
I don't feel 'Lost in France' but do feel positive that all is meant to be!

Staircase

The staircase created a dark corner in the 40m2 Grand Salon. Workawayer iii started to sand it by hand. This was extremely difficult for him or anyone even though we had the correct sandpaper to remove varnish.  Four years ago when the beams were sandblasted it was thought it would be too harsh for the staircase but I now wish we had tried.  Nevertheless, I asked the Workawayer to paint the underneath; it is surprising how much reflected light has been brought into that corner.  All the paint cans stored below have been removed and the 'cave' (pronounced 'carve') beneath the staircase has a cherry wood lid. That has been treated for woodworm as have the stair treads.  So I am hoping this little niche will become a place to sit and read! The hanging electrical wire is because I need safe electricity upstairs and for some reason the electrician didn't update the wiring or plugs and I need two lights in the attic space. Hence, a trail of wiring!

Before

After

On the Road

Whilst out cycling we saw an old vehicle still in use...

 and a little chateau (pigeonnier) built up high!

River Mirror

A favourite meal

Salmon on a bed of Lentils

Crops

The basket of LONGOR shallots was full at harvest time in early June... and jolly good they were too! The Annabelle potatoes gave a small yield of small but tasty size.... a little pockmarked.  The Roseval gave a slightly better crop but with a few rotten ones within the crop of mixed sizes.  Moving onto a mixed row of 2013 and 2014 soon but the plants above the soil look good and healthy as do the English potato main crop...at least above ground which I hope not to dig up until the plants have died back completely. With all the blight about I must dig a new patch for potatoes for next year's crop and grow fewer plants!
Lettuces look frail and delicate. The cabbage romanesco and another variety look strong so have kept the net over them to prevent butterflies settling... need to raise the net! Courgettes flower and yield not... although I have had two large courgettes and two smaller... Leeks planted in the Spring again don't seem to be doing very well.  Might need to get a soil test kit ... unless someone knows how I can do it without!

Early August accomplishments for Workawayers and their host!

Last Thursday was a push as was This Thursday!
I started to find it difficult to wake before eight so 'twas eight thirty after breakfast, before work commenced. Then they started yawning...  but "onwards... keep up"... the hard-task-mistress said!
Wii painted back of staircase risers a choice of colours and eventually 'first thoughts' won - to use F&B 'Elephant's Breath'... which turned out to be more mushroom than grey!  BUT done it is!
Wiii and I made a start on sorting music and books that were mine and not mine.
The piano music was easy to do.. I shed a tear hear and there! But boxes of recorder music etc remain unopened with a label of what I must do with them.
We started on the books that were mainly fiction. I'm tempted to count how many but that would be OCD!  I sorted information books last September but a few more were discovered.  Some books were assigned to the pile to be read or read again as supplies have run out! ... and some are being kept because they hold sentiment and define who I am...  Some were designated to 'charity shop' boxes for anyone with a vehicle to take to uk! Others were 'bundled' by author or style and are ready for Day One of the 'Book Festival'. Others are designated for ebay sales, but initially will try to be sold at 'book festival'. Others are worthy of ebay sales!  That is PLAN A.
We continued on Monday and Tuesday as more books were found in the car boot sale STUFF spewing over the attic floor, all of which was sorted item by item, designating some for Emmaus, some for 'the hole in the ground'.  The surplus was organised not by price as I had done before but labelled as DIY/Renovation or HOUSEHOLD or CHILDREN's or CRAFTS or CLOTHES...It was one way to do it and made sense to me!

The highlight of Thursday was the hot, hot weather and a four hour canoe event with me sitting as the Queen guarding the picnic and valuables whilst my dutiful servants rowed up stream and down! They wanted to! We all loved it!
Friday
It took Wii five hours to paint all of back staircase two coats of top coat whilst we were in the attic ...and then an hour to clear the site! I had to 'be behind' so to speak, to clean to my satisfaction as there were drips of paint on woodwork and tiling... done it is.
Wiii negotiated cancellation of extra hours to cover travel costs. I accepted a small financial payment.
I discussed the same subject with Wii who was unwilling to pay for that service in any kind!!  To Wii I gave four hours travel and two distances of petrol costs without an exchange!
Friday evening, I reluctantly drove to a music gig for 'Les Heures Vagabonds'... and once I got there, I enjoyed wandering around town, feeling the ambiance, listening to not good singing but ok piano, observing those who watched the performers without a beer in their hands and Brits around the bar!!!!!! and felt that I was being a good host.
Saturday
We were invited for morning coffee but declined to accompany them to a chateau... we had planned to cycle a circular route which took us two hours. This was our second spree on wheels. I'd doubled the distance because it suited me!  It has been wonderful to see my village and surrounding area as if I was a guest!  It was also a baking day, teaching them how to make savoury bread, pear tarte tatin, make jam and cook Lasagne! Whirling dervishes in the kitchen!
Sunday 
After a sort of lie-in and Lasagne leftovers for lunch, we cycled to the premiere of a medieval fete outside of my village.   However, we arrived in the French lunch hour when nothing was happening!  It seems silly to me that punters cannot purchase at unmanned stalls!  Still, harmonious and tranquil besides! We rested with aperos before wandering and cycling home where we all had an afternoon nap! We were invited to an evening meal for six pm start... then proceeded to another friend's garden down by the river for the spectacular fireworks event... (must learn how to take photos instead of clicking happily!)  I was disinclined to go to the fairground with little kiddies and those who were taller than me, but rallied enthusiasm... THEN, quel horreur,  they were invited back to the friends' for drinks and although I didn't wish to, I decided it would be better if I went so I could get them home not too late! (HELP!!! I don't need to be acting like a parent or someone in authority but this developed following the similar experience two weeks ago!) "TIME", I called several times. I left at three in the morning... arrived home less than ten minutes later and started wringing my hands...and phoned twice to see if they had left. At 3h20 I was cross! Understatement! I couldn't turn off lights nor secure gates to potential intruders which would be a most unlikely event... but anxiety won and I was certainly displeased when I noted the winding action as they arrived at my gates. Unusually, street lights were left on past 23h!  I need my sleep at my age, knowing that I had to travel at 8 am to get Wii to his train! A bear with a sore head springs to mind!  Maybe I over-grumbled that morning! Eventually, there were apologies all round and from myself too!
I must learn to let go!
Monday and Tuesday
Displaced hours and energy levels collided but Wiii achieved conquering my belongings into an order that I know now I can continue with.  Looking at it won't strangulate me!  Of course, it will take time over time but I feel that I will be able to chip at the mountain of boxes! It has to be my business to get it done! I am grounded with the cat and my stuff!  Wiii demonstrated how to cook an excellent goat curry and the host demonstrated how to cook duck breast in the French manner...the latter was supposed to be for three, but hey ho two ate it all! On the last day of shared Workawaying Three ladies, C, L, E, newly formed friends, indulged in an English cream tea at The English Tea Shop in the shade of parasols sheltered from hot sunshine.  Thereafter followed wistful farewells.
Wednesday
After another journey to Poitiers train station I did domestics and dishes to make the house look presentable for visitors who wished to admire progress. Then I slept like a baby ... and the next day too! and so did Baby Big Feet!
I know when I am tired because I begin to binge eat, drink copious quantities of tea, my legs ache, the body aches.  I know fibromyalgia, old age and physical tiredness have won!  I have been 'going at it' for what seems to be since February,  helping others and helping myself.  It has been a fantastic, progressive, productive year so far!
Never underestimate WORK! It has to be the Way of Life and what on earth would anyone do if there was none?  I have no intention of being lazy or bored but sleep I must have!

Heading into the depths of August, whilst still feeling the heat of Summer, one is confronted with cold mornings and evenings with moisture on the grass. It feels Autumnal but sunflowers are still aglow in the fields. Yesterday and today rain prevented bedlinen reaching the great outdoors!

Onwards indeed, I have so much to do after sleeping, before the next WORK and the next GUESTS and the next HOLIDAY!   Change is as good as a rest! Meanwhile, that lawn is growing greener!

Wednesday progress

Woke up, got out of bed, had a shower to cure an aching head!
Workawayer ii stripped more ivy off stone wall - it isn't a priority but somehow it became a task to make my other land neat and tidy!  Two feminine creatures assisted W ii by pruning shrubs so that the wall could be accessed. We hauled debris to trailer, car and bonfire pile... and had to concede that   the dechetterie visit involving at least an hour of time was necessary!  More clearance, coffee, chat and then W ii started priming underneath of rough wooden treads and risers of staircase,  whilst we sorted 'someone's books' that I foolishly offered to sort into boxes for English charity shop. Authors will be bundled and I hope to try and sell at book fair on 15th August and if not, the.  goodness where! Some might sell on ebay. Some I keep to read, then dispose of or will display on a book case when I get one!   It has been suggested that i dig a hole in the ground and bury the lot!  I suppose that fate will come to us all!
I have 'a business area' developing in the attic... oh my, it is going to take hours until I change Plan A to Plan B etcetera!  I made progress and could make use of more Workawayers but also it is an i position on daily life and my own expectations.
A friend came to visit briefly. I couldn't stop for long! Lunch was pasta, ratatouille and emmenthal cheese.., then we shopped altogether between time for ourselves.  Evening meal was mackerel fillets, three time sautéed chippies and a green salad, my bread, crottin de chevre and raspberry jam. An American invention! followed by leftovers of Apricot cheesecake! I was too full to eat the last!   A walk was necessary before Scrabble, out of the town, down lanes and into la Place!
Work was a bit lax for us ladies but we need to step up Thursday and Friday! I need to achieve ICT knowledge ... and mow those lawns! Weeds are growing too fast!

Tuesday almost midnight

I absolutely love the smell and action of ironing tea towels which was my first task before the two emerged!
We moved very long, nailed and twisted roof rafters to the newly created shed space. They seriously remarked that I require a Workawayer with a chainsaw, laughingily commenting that best not to advertise for such!  They offered to finish painting the bed which was cluttering the room since Friday when rain ruined paintwork. A little sanding was required and after it was dry, wrapped it in a blue plastic bache and returned it to the attic with stuff left whilst the former partner resides in Asia!
Number ii removed more 'grimpant' ivy from the stone wall. It is surprising how thick the stems are and how they have wriggled through the 60 cm wall.
Number iii helped to sort sheet piano, recorder, accordion and school music and music text books! OMG!!! I reduced the KEEP pile to less than half. Ten years of tears ago I could NOT do that, so it is an achievement. Now there are boxes of music designated to sell, to dispose of and a flow plan telling me the stages and choices of what to do!  The boxes to keep MUST reach a book case...(have got to buy one) to fulfil my self promise to re-learn sounds I love in dark winter months.  There were two boxes unopened since ten years of those tears ago; recorder part music and school music archives. I was proud of my achievements then! Have got to seek advice from English Colleges of Music as to who may be interested in the former... maybe the Society of Recorder Players.  Looking at it all, not hidden under blue baches caused an anxiety and panic attack... It's a process! A friend tells me she has many friends of our age all doing the same. Karma! It's about Memories of our former lives!
Feeling overwhelmed by work... feeling tired after excitement, joy and shared fun company. Thank goodness I shall have just a few days before family arrive.
Famished today! Lunch was three omelettes filled with Emmenthal cheese. We ate it with beetroot, lettuce, walnuts, followed by apricot shortcake and tea. The quality not the quantity was praised!  Evidently, one workawayer HOST served ONE omelette the same size as mine to three people! Workawayer ii was hungry that week!
We each slept for two hours. I knew I was on the edge ...yet, somehow a shower/bath is so, so, so good for my psycheeeeeee!  Then  a bike ride on a favourite circuit... we walked into a field of sunflowers though not as tall as Workawayer number ii...

The breeze was fresh.  Clouds were moody. I remembered how I love cycling in such weather!
It had to be an alcohol free day... Elderflower cordial in wine glasses tricks my mind!  Dug potatoes created a Tartiflette without lardons but with true Reblochon cheese served with Tim's strangely shaped zucchini with cubed lamb sautéed in honey and cream! Second  helpings finished the dishes.
I can't sleep - worried about 'how to do' the attic,. Maybe I shall just help in the garden to begin with.
There are lawns to mow and weeds to dismiss! Work is the key to living!

The Fibonacci spiral

Monday afternoon

A little space to myself as Workawayer ii, who it seemed did not like walking, has suddenly come alive, and he and the pretty Girl from Ohio have gone for a walk together. I am not sure if she planned to go alone! However, they are both extremely pleasant and hard working!  There are quite a few jocular statements about me being a hard taskmaster, about the teacher in me and how I don't like to waste anything but find a use for it if I can! I used to take the first two statements as criticisms from people but now I laugh it off and this morning I have joked back! ... I am who I am and isn't that wonderful? ... for the first and longest period in my life (about a year) I have really been loving myself!
The dynamics have changed and we are having such fun. I couldn't get to sleep last night because of Workawayer ii keeping lights on until after midnight but I had to get up especially when I discovered the bright light was the fridge door open and Workawayer ii making a comment about a fly in the fridge! I expect he was getting iced water.  He doesn't raid the larder! They are such trustworthy people!
Saturday I was really wound up, nervous and well behind in prepping living areas. It was a two hour return journey so I decided to enter the centre of Poitiers because it was SO HOT and I was too ratched up! I needed to eat a sandwich and instead ate a strange cheap meal.  Later, Wii and I had a terrible shopping experience in a new VAST Leclerc superhypermarche which had the smallest of fruit and veg sections I have ever seen! I was so glad to be home to a cup of Earl Grey tea!

Today, we were supposed to head off into my attic (!!!!!) to sort sheet music.... but I needed to get started things finished... both Workawayers cleaned windows whilst I cleaned the Oval Room and Kitchen.  Wii sawed wood into two correct lengths to replace missing mattress supports, then painted undercoat.  After that he was sent to find woodworm killer and apply, as I discovered some under the staircase treads and in the cupboard beneath that, which the previous occupant used as cold store for wine! My very own 'cave'! Workawyer iii unexpectedly weeded my courtyard, deheaded pot plants and transplanted the almost spent 'pinks'.  It all looks so neat and respectable in my courtyard! I like initiative!
We had a lunch of quiche, sprouted mung beans (neither had tasted those before and one did not like them), lentils, olives, homemade bread and goats cheese, apples, water and tea... oh yes...and bread and raspberry jam.

Tomorrow the attic and remove the ivy from a stone wall!
This pm I poached the rest of the apricots and made an apricot shortcake and bread!
Now there is the top coat for the bed to paint, clear my living room and move paint on a temporary basis so that we can get on with more sorting. I only have four or five days of 10 hours work to make the best of!
It was initially a shock to me. I have worked alongside all my Workawayers and number ii was surprised!  It has been motivating, energising, demanding of my energy, reminded me of proactive planning and reactive planning, been great to have company and someone to share meals with, and occasionally to have someone to cook for me! I have not lived with anyone other than my children, a husband/partner, or when guests arrive for a few days, since 40 years ago when I lived with my husband and his business partner in three different houses (Surbiton and two villages in Suffolk) ...and no, before you think wild things, we were husband, wife and just a very best platonic friend! It was kind of student style but AJH paid us rent!
I have been on an enormous learning curve, having to emerge like a butterfly from a hermit crab lifestyle.
After my fears and trepidations which were immense, I am absolutely loving it!  I love nice people, young people who are willing to learn.  I hope that this week we can learn from each other.  I hope we can share cooking, get some activity, and learn about each other a little more... as well as achieve and finish tasks!
We enjoyed the brocante yesterday but it was too hot to be wandering. I bought a wooden heart shaped box as a future gift for someone!  They made very complimentary remarks about the party that we were invited to that afternoon / evening.  It was an excellent 'do' where food didn't stop arriving and the music was excellent. The international company was interesting and intriguing and celebrated the notional idea that a Granary was 800 years old!  It was good to be amongst acquaintances and new people with my Workawayers.  Thank you to S&S.

Accomplished on Friday

The shutters are painted...
plus one of my children's old pine bunk beds, which separated and made two single beds... out with the old and in with the new! Now they are Skimming Stone white to match the skirting boards.  I've had them for about 35 years!
One may still continue to belong to my former partner who is out in Asia doing Workawayer and having it seems some unpleasant experiences as well as good ones!   I left him some of my furniture but now he has sold his house and it has all been returned to me for storage If he ever returns to collect or dispose!
Ivy from the stone wall and other rubbish was taken to the dechetterie!
Workawayer ii cooked Tortilla.
The rain came again!
Photos are to come!
Must dash as Workawayer iii arrives today, Saturday!
Private space will be non-existent for ten days!

Accomplished on Thursday

Finished primer/undercoat.
All bar one set of shutters have one coat of topcoat so haven't quite achieved target as 'le chaleur' stopped painting!
Scraped, filled, sanded, primed and repainted bubbled paint on interior of small room.
Cleaned windows therein and damp-wiped floor and all paintwork!
It is the cleanest room in the house! Ready for Workawayer ii to return!
Prepped lunch.
Baked bread; the dough was started day before and kept in cool room to halt rising!
Wrote emails.
Looked at blogs.
Rested in afternoon shade waiting to do a other few hours work!
Whilst the grass was cut by my assistant, I cleared ivy from some of stone wall and the side of my stable/garage but there is more to do!
Took aperos and prepared evening meal!

Accomplished on Wednesday

Work started on sanding shutters and doors which were last worked at by my own fair hands within a few weeks of owning this property. Why? Because they were either white or brown. Can't remember without consulting photographs.  I consulted my son by telephone, as we seem to be getting on much better. He said that if bare wood was showing after sanding, then to prime with undercoat because top coat would key better! So all 7 shutters and doors were sanded and half were coated with B.I.N. primer which does not need sanding! Whoopppeee!  With Workawayer ii, we hope to finish at least one top coat on all 7 on Thursday.
The small room window overlooking the road, though hidden behind shutters, revealed that it had never had a top coat on it...(out of sight, out of mind!)  but it had been sanded.... so a quick damp clean of all the cobwebs and dust, then a light sand.  I managed to get two top coats painted. In all 10 hour man hours of labour,  plus I did an hour at lunch time finding paint, preparing paintbrushes, putting cardboard on ground. The window had to be left open all night with shutters closed because I didn't want the draught insulation tape to peel off, nor the window to stick to the frame. Workawayer ii had to move bedroom, which was a good thing anyway as it needs a clean. Despite what I said about keeping windows and doors closed, or open with shutters closed, to keep his room cool, a plague of flies infested his room! Indeed, today there is an untold plague of flies, unseen in the four years I have lived here, so burning citronella candles and have placed squashed garlic on a saucer in rooms!
In addition, I walked long strides first thing in the morning to stretch the leg muscles, swept the courtyard, watered the potager, washed the linen, did the ironing, prepared fish pie with sautéed potatoes newly dug from my garden, served with steamed broccoli and a nice Burgundian Chardonnay................
All praises sung to Workawayers!
However, although I am a hard taskmaster, I am a good host, so do expect a little extra on the domestic side without having to ask and I was trained to say: "Is there anything I can do to help?" or just pitch in and help!  I am trying to educate but perhaps he thinks it is I with the problem! Hey ho!