Before the cold weather arrives

On hearing that cold weather is about to replace the balmy indian-summer days, I suddenly had the urge to deal with some unpainted windows - those at Rathcoole gardens. They've been in place for nearly a year, and did get an undercoat, but somehow this spring and summer they lay neglected.

There are 9 windows, and each has 8 panes of glass. One day I'll work out how many dozens of metres of edges had to be painted along, ever so carefully.

Yes there was the possibility of using masking tape to give a crisp clean edge, but have you ever applied the damn stuff, ever so carefully? It's not the easy option - and rather wasteful.

The ladder was less than ideal - sturdy if properly bolstered, but not very high. I'm not very tall, not like the 6-foot-plus inhabitants, so the very top of the frames will have to wait for another day.

 As will the sills, which desperately need scraping right back.

While I was painting, much else was happening, including outfitting the kitchen - it now has a sink and hob and more drawers, and the cupboard fronts are about to be attached -

essential improvements to the bathroom -

 yet more electrics -

 and taking delivery of many bags of tile cement, for the stone-slab floor in the kitchen (it has underfloor heating) -

 However the water supply remains primitive. It is greatly to be hoped that the plumber will actually show up this week and connect a few pipes and wastes and such.

When I was a child, my father was constantly building extensions to the house, so seeing this happening before my eyes (but without having to live in the muddle) is most interesting. It always takes longer than you think it will, and there are plenty of surprises along the way - and it's a tremendous learning curve - but how exciting when a stage of the process, or maybe an entire room, if finally done. 

When the current builder was a child, his parents were generally doing renovations on the latest property as they moved from Holmfirth to Calgary to Halifax to Oxford, and then on their separate ways. He must have absorbed something from all the carpentry that went on around him.

How to install an "invisible" fridge

Last gardening splurge of the year

 It was hard to be selective, but we came in "the little car" rather than the van.

The window boxes got a major rejuvenation

 ... but didn't get finished till it was almost dark; there was so much else to do!

In the front, much pulling of weeds; a good watering; and finally, planting ferns in the shady spot near the wall. It's good to see that some plants have self-seeded in the cracks between the paving stones -

In the back, Tom dug holes for big plants, which involved relocating some of the smaller plants, and Gemma and I sorted those window boxes.

It was a pleasure to do and is a thrill to see, but it took rather longer than we expected - 3.5 hours for the three of us.

By 8pm we were definitely ready to sit among the fairy lights and enjoy a takeaway curry.

I took the leftover pansies home for my own window boxes;  they'll have to wait a day or two.

Domestic diversion

Some amazing stripey petunias - £1 for 10 plants, who could resist - came home with me yesterday, and 7am found me putting them into the window boxes while drying laundry (mainly bedding) was draped on every surface. Possibly not the best start to a Monday, or to a week. 

This bit of sprucing up beyond the windows led, now that I have a stepladder, to cleaning those windows, which is where it got complicated - the task needed the ledge clearing and furniture moving and all sorts of other distractions, such as moving some plants down to the garden (and doing a bit of maintenance there).

Can you see the difference? Left - clean; right - still to do -

It took till lunchtime to get to the point of "curating" the collection on the window ledge -

and I'd just about had it domestically by then. There are still a few things to put away, and a few plants to repot and/or reposition - but first, a bit of fresh air on this grand summer's day.

Gardening weekend

A year ago, when T&G bought their flat, the front garden had been filled with alkanet, nettles, brambles for years, and well-used by the neighbourhood cats -

but a few trips to the garden centre later, and with the investment of many hours of labour and rather a lot of topsoil, it became "much improved" -

 So hopes were high for the back as well -

and in spring - when, maybe two months ago? - the work started, levelling the ground, building a 3m extension and adding raised beds -

The raised beds were raised further, paving and steps put in, topsoil ordered, and finally the bed for the "grass" could be prepared

 and the beds filled with soil -

 Work had to stop just before noon on Saturday, leaving some soil still be be dispersed -

Early(ish) Sunday, while Tom got on with laying the "lawn", Gemma and I went to the garden centre for some instant floriferous gratification -

 and came back to find Tom watching the World Cup -

before bringing out and assembling the garden furniture bought last autumn in hope of just this moment -

This rose, a birthday present, was the first thing to be assigned a place (where it gets most sun) and after five hours or so, almost everything was planted -

As with the front garden, I'm amazed at how long it takes to get a carload of plants into the ground. The decisions of what goes where ... some plants went into the front (more decisions) ...

After a break for a take-away supper and a chance to enjoy the sofa and the carpet, the rest got done quickly -

 Here it is, in its bare-earth glory - fuchsias, impatients, echinacea, mandevilla, rose, verbena, penstemon, foxglove, snapdragon, lavender, astilbe, sweet william (a rescue plant), lupin, veronica, and the punctuation of those stripey petunias -

south wall

east wall

north wall

 And the (north wall) fence has been rebuilt, though whether it will keep the cats out is doubtful -

Still to come, climbers - evergreen clematis, honeysuckle, jasmine ... all the usual suspects.

Out of the closet - or rather, the wardrobe

Since my art school days, round about 2010, I've been wearing jeans, black jeans, on a rotational basis - one pair on the body, the other in the wash. It's been a liberation to be freed of "the tyranny of the closet", never being able to find the "right" thing to wear. So much easier to put on the jeans, add a teeshirt and other layer, and it's all done, you're set for the day.

And, in theory, it reduces the number of garments in one's wardrobe.

But recently I bought a dress, and then another, "just for a change". In the past few years, dresses have been flooding onto the market. Goodness, I even made one last winter.

Also recently, I became aware that the dresses, and much else, are simply languishing in the closet, probably picking up that unwelcome whiff of oldness that starts to inhabit clothes that rarely see the light of day.

As a result of these actions and thoughts, I came up with a personal project: 

Jeans-Free July

Can a jeans addict wear other garments for an entire month? Are YOU a jeans addict - would you like to try??

Excited by the idea, I had a little rummage in the closet and put a few outfits together in readiness. (Only 10 days to go!)

Dresses -

Latest acquisition - I felt the need of some COLOUR

"Just a long loose teeshirt" - but the golden colour
is so wonderful!

The smocky dress is bit short, needs leggings...

Without the teeshirt, this is perfect in the heat

Oldies but goodies - in fabulous fabrics. I whipped up
the jacket back in the 80s from a remnant, as one did
in those good old days

 Skirts -

That's probably enough* to be starting with, whatever the weather -

Just in case the weather turns chilly, as it can and has done, a number of LBJs (little black jackets) are ready for action. I do love an LBJ...

Leggings, if I dare, "at my age" - and why not! -

With other teeshirts, other shoes....

Love those long loose linen shirts!

Various non-jean trousers emerged, along with some other beloved linen shirts -

Candidates for studio-wear

... and a drawerful of teeshirts -

Too many stripes? No! You can never have too many stripes!!

*A while back I purged my wardrobe, with the help of a friend, in a couple of days of "japanese tidying". This involves gathering everything and going through it piece by piece. In our so-rich western culture, when we gather everything together, it becomes plain that we (I use "we" loosely, there are exceptions...) have SO much and often too much in our fortunate lives ... but that's another story.

At the risk of becoming a little old lady who is still wearing the clothes she bought during her working life - clothes that are now looking a little tired, emitting a gentle whiff and hanging loosely on her gaunt frame - I probably need buy nothing more for the next two decades, just rotate what's already there.

But goodness, isn't it nice to have something new to wear!!