Bank holiday

Bob has now finished all the joints for the extension and we've tried putting the various bits together - and they all fit!!!  Upside-down, it looks as though we're building an ark (as you can see).  So, now onto sanding them all down (well the bits you'll see inside anyway) and chamfering (?? spelling ??) the edges.  Once that's done, we'll have to check the weather forecast for a fine day and then enlist some local help to put it all into place.  The two of us have managed on the dry runs, but it's a different matter when it all has to go up together.  It's a bit like a jigsaw - you have to do it in the right order and some bits have to fit into two other bits at once (from different directions), so extra pairs of hands will definitely help.

I think I've finally finished pointing the walls in the kitchen.  I have a theory that mortar pixies live around here and at night they sneak in and undo the work you've done earlier - I seem to have nearly finished it so many times and then when I look again there's another big patch that needs doing.  I daren't look today in case they came again last night!  Next job in there is to sort of plaster over the stone - this is done by throwing bits of mortar at the wall and hoping it sticks . . . . . then scraping it up off the floor and trying again!  We just want to cover the stones but still have the bumpy outlines.  These walls were never meant to be left exposed and some bits are pretty rough.  The people who built it 200 years ago would be horrified at all the efforts to leave exposed stone inside I'm sure.  That said, in some other rooms we will have some exposed stone - in the lounge (which used to be a barn that was built onto the house later) we will have one stone wall because it is really nicely done - it was the outside wall of the house and so good stone was used.

As it is a Bank Holiday today, we're having a more relaxing day.  So, this morning we went for a walk - round the quarry and up the hill the other side through the woods.  Every now and then there is a clearing and you can look across the valley, over the quarry and (if you know where to look) can see our house.  Strange this fascination with seeing your own house from far off isn't it?  Like looking on Google Earth.  We see the house every day, but always try and pick it out when we are anywhere else.

Laura is coming for a few days next weekend - it's her birthday.  So, I'd better get that knitted rabbit finished so she can take it with her - nearly done, just got to sew the ears on.  Then I think Ben and his girlfriend, Lucy, are popping in on Tuesday afternoon on their way home from Aberystwyth.  Busy, busy, busy!