Autumn

The last few days have been very mild and damp, some days the fog hasn't lifted at all. Dusk has been eerily quiet with sounds muffled and visibility low.

Misty morning view

The mushrooms have flourished in this weather so I took the camera out to see what I could find. I just wish we had the French tradition of the pharmacies identifying them for you. I don't think my Observer Book of Funghi is up to the job.

Under the willow tree

High rise fungus

Marching mushrooms

These seem so fragile

Before Mortimer decimated them!

Surely these would be good with some garlic & butter?

The apple harvest started late this year and although most of the Bramleys have been picked there are still a lot of Howgate Wonders on the trees. Because it is that bit later the leaves have started to turn giving some gorgeous colours.

Autumn 

Mortimer loves this time of year, cooler weather and an abundance of food!

Of course I wasn't scrumping!

Until next time


Sharon

Tempus Fugit

I feel I should be starting this post  'it's been five weeks since my last post and I have....." but I really don't know where the last few weeks have gone. Each morning 'blog' appears on my to do list, and each evening it gets shifted on a day. I haven't even been catching up on my fellow bloggers (apologies to one & all). So what we been doing?

• Work
• Lots of guests (so nice)
• Work
• Another broken toe for me
• Work
• A growing obsession for jam making (more on that another time)
• Work
• Upholstery course starts again

And so it goes on. The problem is because I haven't been blogging I have a back-log - or is it a blog-log? - of things to write about which are all now a bit out of sync. Oh well! The benefit for you, dear reader, is that instead of a blow by blow account of bathroom progress you can have a whistle stop pictorial guide. Then I can write a couple more posts and have them up my sleeve for later. Cunning eh!

So, when I last posted on the bathroom we were in full plumbing mode and the walls were just studs. Plasterboard went up and Andrew plastered the ceiling (to cover the Artex) and then the walls.

Recipe for arm ache

 A frame was built for the concealed cistern and then it was the floor. We laid plywood down to give a more rigid surface than the floorboards and then started planning the floor.

Laying out the floor tiles

Andrew decided to use a flexible adhesive so there would be no chance of the tiles moving and possibly cracking, but it's horrible to work with and so much muttering went on!

Messy work

Getting there

Supervisor's inspection

Next stage was the grouting, the observant among you will notice that the cistern has now been boxed in and the bottom of the wall has been plastered.

Grouted

It then got quite exciting as the suite went in so the wall tiling could be done. The plumbing was tested and all was dry. Andrew (notice how I don't feature much in this tale? I painted the walls & ceiling and then assumed a management role) then decided that a mere cupboard at the end of the bath was not good enough and constructed an oversized drawer. The dark grey on the wall is a rubbery waterproof coating mainly for the power shower.

Work in progress

We had chosen plain matt white tiles for the walls with  glass terrazzo inserts which we played about with until we were happy with the design.

Mocking up the design

Design approved

Next step was for Andrew to work out the datum line and put up a batten to support the first row of tiles.

Datum lines & battening

And finally yesterday tiling started.

First tiles up

As I write progress continues upstairs and we should have the tiling finished by the weekend. Frustratingly it will take two weeks for the grout to harden sufficiently for the power shower but at least it will give me time to get all the painting finished.

Until next time


Sharon