The weather's been glorious since mid-June, so finding time to blog has been tricky...

The Kitchen Sink

The crazy plan to sink the kitchen sink into an ancient ornate dresser has continued to unfold with the help of French Grey Autentico chalk paint. The ornateness is so uber-ornate that its massive surface area has already soaked up one stratospherically expensive tin of paint, so there is still work to do...

It'll look a whole lot better when the splash-back is tiled and the wall is painted. And the cupboard doors are on. This is Autentico 'Superior Eggshell' paint, so it's waterproof and hard-wearing, just what we need on the kitchen sink surface. Of course, we've had to mastic around the edge and back, but so far, no leaks or strange defects.

I love it!

Kevin's Bits

Sorry to disappoint you, but this is about Kevin's progress with walls, floors, ceilings and wiring in the kitchen. This part of the work feels rather unrewarding, because there's a lot of 'invisible' stuff going on behind the scenes as far as Kevin's bits are concerned. 'Oh yes', he will say, 'it's easy to paint an object and everyone can see that something's happened, but try wiring multiple points and buildings from one little start point'*. Quite.

Kevin has stolen away the doors to subject them to some mystery process that involves different hinges...

Shut Up About the Shutters!

I've finished! You won't have to hear any more about them.

The last two.

The by-product... Orange lead paint chips, anyone?

If stripping layers of lead paint from old metal shutters with a chisel were an Olympic event, I think I'd be in with a chance for a medal. After sixteen shutters, I believe that I have developed a world class technique.

Ready for paint!

The physical hardships...**

And now the work is done and I need to find other things to paint.

What to Paint Next?

In the world of renovation, you think that painting's the easy option, don't you? But think about the preparation! Before touching a brush on this razor-sharp, crusty porridge-like surface, there is a thick layer of ivy feet, moss and mould to remove with a wire brush. The wire brush is not a supportive work colleague.

That's the West-side done. Apart from the door and window recesses- they need some finishing by Kevin first. Now to the dreaded south-side... Using white paint brings the problem of blindness. I wore sunglasses, but the job is unforgiving on the eyes (and knuckles). I've redressed the tanning imbalance on my legs today, however. Don't worry- I slapped on factor 30.

The wire brush and its first blood trophy...

Can you see the patch I've wire-brushed?

The painting begins!

A Little Birthday Tea 

We've made friends, one of whom is Jules, and it was her birthday, so we celebrated with a little bit of tiffin at Sylvie's Cafe in Rilhac-Treignac.

You Know How I Love Sky!

Grumpy face

Mowing

Mowing has slowed down, mercifully. But there's a weed of the dandelion family that is insistent on keeping the growing season going. So, the grass has maintained a pleasing shortness, but I still have to mow! Not just a simple mow, but a double-back style of mowing to ensure decapitation.

Diverse Discoveries

Sewing pattern discovered beside Singer sewing machine in cottage #2. Orders for house coats such as this may be placed via 1965.

Polly delights in playing dead on hot days.

Kevin's Bits Part II

Pretending to work

Pretending more convincingly

Vegetable Update

My friend Sally has a book entitled, '100 ways with courgettes', or something like that. I think I've discovered 20 ways, but I may need to take a peek at the book, as the two courgette plants have proven to be more bountiful than ever imagined!

One of the chillies out of the monster crop is turning red!

The monster crop on one of the three plants

Peppers grow upwards!

* He's never actually said those words, to be fair...

** Yes, I do have a good vein. The blood donor nurses were always pleased to see it.