The end is nigh!

Of all our hard work, well for now at least! The Gite is on the last lap, just a few painting jobs to finish and this week the Terrace will go up and we can get tidied up for Winter.

We couldn't find a bed at a reasonable price so my lovely man took the old bed headboard that we kept and made a frame himself at a fraction of the cost of a new bed!

The kitchen cupboards just need to be painted white and the tops varnished (that's my job!).

The bathroom is just about done, just a couple of items to add to personalise it.

The upstairs of our house will be decorated next year and all that's left to finish is the lounge which needs a new fire and a back boiler for our heating system. I'm not sure when that will happen as I'm just looking forward to a rest in between jobs. I need to start earning some money as the budget is coming to an end, eeek!!!

I was beginning to get excited about Autumn as we had a few cold and stormy days, but as seems to be the habit here, summer popped up again and I'm back to wearing vests and shorts.

That's just as well really because we needed to get the pond and grey water gravel garden sorted and neither my son or I wanted to be doing it in the cold and windy rain! I made so many mistakes and have learned so much from doing this. The biggest thing I learned was to thoroughly prepare and then prepare some more! I watched some youtubes about ponds and realised that we should have put more shelf levels in the dirt! Ooops!

Between the picture above and the one below, I frantically pulled the liner back and did a bit of digging and shifting earth, mostly with my bare hands as I didn't want to puncture the liner!
T came with me to get some bags of special pond gravel (no sharp edges) but it wasn't enough! The pond is looking a lot better now but I'll wait until a few plants are in before sharing the next pictures. To me it still looks bloody awful!!!
I'm excited about how it will look in a few weeks though and as I re-read my Moonheart book by Charles de Lint, some ideas formed about this magical little pool :D

On Rain's blog she asked about harvests. My Squashes are once again my biggest successes. My tomatoes either failed to grow or once again developed blight! The peas and beans have been amazing and I have a few tiny aubergines, but that's it!!!

 I'm so looking forward to having a bit of space and time soon to focus on my art work and to be able to get back to blogging. I'm feeling more calm now that I can see the results of all our hard work :D

A hot weekend.

You have to be careful how you talk about hot over here. It's easy to get it wrong and a young farmer who brings us the summer hay often teases me about being hot! Saying it a certain way has less to do with the temperature and is more akin to 'being on heat'!!! Apparently I said it the wrong way last year and he hasn't let me forget it!!!

The bean arch has been great and the beans have enjoyed it despite a slow start. Next year I hope they cover it. I have some noodle beans for 2020 and I'm quite excited about those.

The wonky wigwam will be mainly for sweet peas, but also some yellow beans as they look pretty. It's more of a pollinator feature than a practical growing support!

The area in front of the studio was a disgrace as the potager had to take priority. 

 Using some of the stakes cut by my son, it looks so much better now and the weeding was assisted by the two rogue chickens who WILL NOT be contained!

 My little crystal bowl is for the toads and wildlife (cats) to drink from. It leaks terribly, so that needs to be remedied.

 My lovely man had a bit of spare cement left over so I made this on a whim. I love it :D

This was the potager when we first moved here. Two tiny raised beds that somehow morphed into the enormous squash bed!!!

Now look at it! What a difference!

Well, I'm having quite a lazy morning with just some housework and breadmaking ahead of me. I have an apple press that needs to be put together too, but for this afternoon, I just feel like a few hours of spinning or knitting, or both :D

Autumn is creeping in.

I love this time of year, the chilly mornings and evenings with warm sunshine in between. I'm getting so much done in the garden as the weather is perfect for it. It was just too hot a few weeks back but I'm still adjusting to the climate and how to get the best from it.

Autumn here is a long drawn out affair a gentle slide into shorter days and cooler nights. I've got my wool out and will be finishing a blanket for the dogs. I'm trying to get away from using the cheap blankets we bought as they seem to disintergrate after a few years. We have a big fluffy blanket on the bed, the dogs love it, but each time it's washed a big cloud of fibres fills the air and the blanket is beginning to look quite lifeless! I'm planning a big cream and grey one from my homespun wool. It will have to be squares though as I just don't have the patience for knitting large pieces!!!

This wool was from a farm friend here and as with many sheep bred for meat, the wool is hit and miss. However, despite the huge amounts of VM (vegetable matter), it's wonderfully soft and has lovely colour variations.

 The stripes will probably even out when this is plied and will look a little like tweed.

 This wool was another gift and another surprise. It's as soft and luscious as it looks in this photo. I began knitting a small test swatch, but instead it turned into a glove! Now I have to spin more for the other glove, haha :D

Some sad news, that's really knocked me this week. Our darling little Fae cat staggered home barely able to walk on Thursday. I made her comfortable and left her for 24 hours as I assumed she'd been fighting with the new cat. When I took her out to go to the toilet I was horrified to see that she was much worse. The next day we took her to our local vet, who as it turns out practices Reiki, Homeopathy and is training as an osteopath.  She's awesome!

A thorough examination revealed shredded claws on all feet, a sure sign of a car accident. I'm so shocked as we only have one or two cars go past our house and our neighbours are always so careful. Thankfully Fae is beginning to improve and hasn't any serious injuries other than a misaligned spine. She may need to have another manipulation treatment tomorrow.

I live in a Make Believe World!

A few days ago Social Media showed it's ugly side once again, or should I say, allowed a bully to show their nasty side.

I have my political views to which I'm entitled but when someone verbally attacks my friends and family on FB for sharing my views, I have a right to respond. I gave one reply to the person, a fellow blogger that I've followed and respected for many years, in response I had a tirade of insults calling me fake and living in a Make believe world! I have a temper and I have my limits, that doesn't change because I'm spiritual and care for the environment and animals. Sometimes you have to be strong and stand up for those weaker. Being spiritual isn't all about being hippy dippy and fairy flowers! You have to know when to be a warrior and when to take a stand.

She went on to call my friends Smartass and threw insults left and right because no one would give in to her viewpoint. That's the behaviour of a bully and says more about her than the rest of us.
Unlike Keyboard Trolls who like to shout insults from the safety of their living room, I prefer to fight my battles face to face. Thankfully as the person stated, we are unlikely to ever meet in person which is a good thing as I'm flaming mad!

My life is neither fake or made up. It's damned hard work keeping everything together with a chronic illness and so many animals to care for with more turning up all the time!

Thankfully, my lovely son is still here, helping and working his socks off!

And lastly, in response to what it's all got to do with me....  I may live in another country, but I'm still Patriotic. I hate to see so many people in the UK turning on each other because of the Brexit shambles. My family live in the UK and I'm deeply worried for them and for the outcome of a No-Deal Crash out.
If the deal had been accomplished right away, with the best interests of UK citizens in mind, none of this mess would have developed. However, it didn't happen and many citizens have changed their mind about the vote. Many young people are now eligible to vote and they would prefer to remain. They're the future of the UK, not the old nostaligic people who think life will return to some imagined rosy idea of the past. I remember being very poor when I was young, both parents worked, we had coal fires and constant power cuts but we DID have the NHS! We should be moving forwards not backwards!