Saturday, November 8, 2014

Back After A Bit of a Break.

Well it's certainly been a while since I last posted.  I've been a little busy at work this last semester, but my dear OH and I did manage to take time to visit with our youngest son overseas.   We spent nearly four weeks driving around Ireland and I can highly recommend the Wild Atlantic Drive if you're ever over that way.  Such spectacular views!

 County Donegal

more County Donegal

 County Clare

We've been busy with a few painting and updating jobs around this old Queenlsander house of ours as well.  It's time for a lot of re-painting which involves a whole lot of preparation first.  We started with the kitchen.


Everything, including the walls, the ceiling, the window frames, the door frames and the cupboard doors had to be sanded back, undercoated and re-painted. 


There was mess everywhere on the verandah, out in the courtyard and there was stuff strewn in various corners of  the house.


The kitchen looked like a work site for a couple of weeks.  When you're heading off to work every day and coming home to this, it can wear you down just a little.  Thankfully my dear OH managed to get most things finished in record time, with a teeny weeny bit of help from me.

I think the job that really tested dear OH's steely will and determination was the rubbing back and cleaning up all the brass knobs, window catches, door handles and window handles!!!  I could hear cries of pain and moans of exhaustion from the workshop every evening for a week! 


Anyway, the kitchen started looking very respectable again this past week.  Those 28 knobs are gleaming beautifully!


Soon we're moving on to re-painting the main bedroom.  We've got another two of three rooms to do after that and it's going to take some time.  I'm not sure I'll be able to blog regularly, but I'll do my best during the coming months.

Of course, while all this updating is going on in the house, the poor plants have been doing it tough. Not only have they endured the usual long dry season since around April, but I've barely had the time to get out there and provide any sort of care and attention.  Consequently, things have slowed down considerably around the garden. 

As most of my usual readers know, my garden is not a candidate for lots of fantastic long shots.  It's not that sort of garden.  I very rarely show long views of anything apart from the courtyard garden and the shadehouse garden.  I'm showing neither of those at the moment, or indeed in the foreseeable future.  They are both looking absolutely terrible, and I really do mean terrible.

Thankfully, despite the neglect by the resident gardener, there are just a few lovely blooms and terrific foliage plants I can share by adding some close-up shots.














I have so much work to do out in the garden to try and bring things back to a point where it all looks decent once more, but I know that won't be happening any time soon.  Once the house is in tip top shape, I can get back to my gardening jobs.  That will probably be after the coming summer and wet season.
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