Restoration and Resilience

One of the nice things about getting older is that you eventually acquire a good range of useful skills. And, if by any chance, you do manage to grow older with the one you've always loved, there's an even better likelihood that you can do quite a large number of useful things between you. So then, in the event that you have lived in the same house for the past 25 years & you open up the door to the fire box & you find the space full of water because the wet back pipe is leaking, it's possible that between the two of you, you might just figure out what to do next. Well actually, it's the boy who is most useful in this instance, but I remembered the advice from the nice lady Annette down the road, about who does the best new wood burner deals (& the best quality).

Rob removed the old warped & worn out firebox & flue all by himself, since the man didn't turn up quite on time. And then he asked for advice at the tile shop & made the new hearth as well.

The nice council man (well so he should be..you have to pay him quite a bit!) came in a couple of times & checked that it was all safe & sound; then signed it all off.

It was all completed just before Christmas which also makes us fully compliant with the new council emission rules & carry on & most of the expense can be paid off on our regional rates over a ten year period.
Since the wood veneer was a bit wrinkly & dark we decided to paper the back with some pretty Cath Kidston wallpaper.

I repainted the bricks, so that tidied up the chippy paint bits & now we will patiently await cooler days to have a try out.

Of course one renewed bit of a house often shows up something else in a rather shabby light...such as the paint job on the walls of the living room. So in the following weeks we have moved things around, filled in holes, sanded & repainted with a similar green. Pretty much the same green as before...the colour of green Carltonware.

With lots of applied skill & some fiddling around, the book case got secured to the wall, in case of earthquakes & just this week there was a big one felt here...right in the middle of me reading & recording my Phone News story! Now that all sounds a bit eagerly industrious...just one wall at a time will do, next one soon. 

In the midst of all this, I noticed one evening, that our ancient plum tree had "moved" quite a bit...in an unhelpful horizontal direction & when I took a closer look I found that the two source main branches had begun to split & the torque on one of them was particularly great because of the trees absurd summer growth spurt & the wind. So, I quickly got out my pruning saw & took some weight off the limbs that very evening.

Some of the branches are so twisted & intertwined, yet there is so much robust life in the tree.

We may eventually have to cut it down before it falls down, but not just yet.

For all it's size it doesn't produce a lot of fruit, & of course some plums are just plain unreachable, unless you're a wax eye.

I love the white hydrangeas of the summer garden.

And the summer sky blue of agapanthus.

They suit Lucy well, don't you think?

I always feel that it's worth while growing cherry tomatoes for the summer. I also tried these little "heart breakers" this year too. They are small growing & compact & so sweet & tasty & best of all when you cut them in half, each one makes a love heart.

Phew we have had some hot days lately. So when I saw Eleanor's post @ Petite Kitchen I just had to make this iced rooibus tea with honey, lemon & chia seeds....delicious!

I thought this lovely old jar I found recently might be a good thing to fill with iced tea for the fridge.

Despite my ardent intentions to bloom, we have found January to be a very challenging month. I truly don't understand why life has to be so hard when you are concentrating on the good & the lovely & not looking for any trouble what-so-ever! Some evenings we have headed for Lucy & got out the Angel Whisper tea tin of scrap paper,

 lighted our tea light jugs & over a cup of Earl Grey tea written out every thing good we can think of & all the compost too!

Our jars are filling fast!

This week has been truly hideous (can't speak of it just now).

 If only resilience were something that you could send for. 

I would order a whole trailer load & then share it around.

Wouldn't it be grand if all the goodness & the hope were visible like this.

"Elvin route made visible".
Thank you for visiting & being my friends.
Hope you have a good week.
MUCH

♥♥♥♥♥