Still working, will we never learn

What was supposed to be a day of rest has turned out to be a morning of lots of stuff being done followed by a collapse into bed for two hours. I am now feeling mainly recovered and the sound of the paella being prepared behind me is spurring me on to get this done before we eat. We shall see if I can achieve this target.

Early morning mist burning off

After I published last night we pulled the sofa round and had a film night which was really good fun. We watched "Once Upon a time in Mexico" and then, in a fit of Robert Rodriguez fever, "Machete". It felt like the early hours of the morning when I went through to stand on the balcony in the light drizzle before heading to bed but it was only about midnight. I slept pretty well but was woken early by both Rambo and Ralf being really noisy with barking and howling and general disturbance. They shut up when I went out after going to the toilet and told them to be quiet. It was really misty first thing this morning and it had obviously rained quite a lot more then just the drizzle at bed time as the balcony was sodden when I went out to capture the clearing mist as the sun burned through.

Breakfast courtesy of the Little Lady

The actual order of events around this time has disappeared into the mists of forgetfulness however somehow A was outside with the boys when the little lady came over with a couple of breakfast pancakes for us. I have said it before and I'll say it again; when I read all the forums saying how welcoming the locals are and how they will ply you with food and the produce from their gardens I didn't believe it but it really is true; what a wonderful place.

A sparrow on the fence, and the Zinnias still blooming

We sat and ate the pancakes with our brew and then headed out onto the balcony. While feeding the boys this morning (which I had joined in with today) there had been loads of little birds flitting around including what looked like chaffinches. A had even seen a woodpecker on the favourtie pear tree. We took our zoom lenses and sat out on the wet metal chairs for the time it took to drink the brews but they had all disappeared. Isn't that typical. It was really nice to sit up there anyway and I did manage to get a picture of a sparrow sat on the dog enclosure fence. The zoom also allowed me to get a picture looking up towards where the Zinnias are still putting on a stunning show.

Here's looking at you, kid

Ralf and Rambo did their usual dance with Rambo walking round the building and Ralf getting super excited and looking for him all the time. At one point when I wandered to the edge to see if I could catch some birds at the other end of the garden there was a perfect arrangement of A taking a picture of Rambo who was looking up at Ralf who was staring down at him. Because of the zoom I had to take it in two separate pictures but you get the idea.

How many shades of grey?

It was still a really overcast morning with the sun that had burned through the early mist now completely not in evidence however even with this dullness it was a beautiful day to sit outside. Looking up over the top bank the clouds had some attractive shapes in them with different shades of grey; almost looking like distant mountains but there aren't any in view that way. I am actually amazed this picture came out as it was quite a subtle effect.

Downstairs corridor cleared and swept out

The pancakes hadn't been enough to break our fast satisfactorily so we fell back on the original breakfast plan of porridge. While A was preparing it I went downstairs to start clearing out the corridor there. This was the one thing we had agreed would definitely be done today and after this we could rest. I got all the lifting and clearing of large items done and then was just sweeping when the call came for breakfast so I finished collecting the dust into piles and left it to settle out the air while I went to eat.

The firewood is coming back down the bank

While I headed down to finish the last few bits of sweeping of the downstairs corridor, and to start the wood stack for the good wood which is going to be stored there over winter, A went out onto the back bank for a task she had decided would be started today which was to throw the burning wood down towards the back door for storing inside. She got into a good rhythm and pretty soon there was a lot of wood back down where I had originally thrown it from. Skills.

"These are a little too big for me"

With so much wood down in the pit I suggested that we clear it out in case the forecast rain arrived as, those who watched the video the other day will know, it fills up with a lot of water during a storm. There was a lot of mud down there from the last time it flooded (that video again) so she decided to not go down in her flip flops but to borrow my wellies. They were rather large on her but did the job.

We spent a little while doing this, throwing down and clearing two loads. This has got us about half way through the load that will need to be moved so we'll get back to that tomorrow maybe. With the final load passed up to the back door for me to clear A went for a shower and then I followed her and then we headed out to the shops with our rather large list and we had a fully successful trip. We went to go to the leva shop in town but it was shut sadly so we had a little detour out round the back streets where I only got lost once but it was a nice change to drive back a slightly different way.

Slowly clearing the building detritus

I had started feeling quite jaded towards the end of the wood movement and this feeling had developed into a bad headache and draining exhaustion by the time we were heading back home. I was hungry enough to eat some lovely cheese and tomato butties washed down with juice but straight after this I headed to bed and didn't wake up til A came through at 4pm. I was not feeling any better at all at this time but after getting myself moving I started recovering a little bit. I had moved a few of the bricks out of the upstairs corridor into the living room before my shower earlier and so I went to finish this task off and just by pottering and not trying to move too fast I shifted most of my feeling of exhaustion and all of the bricks. After this A came and helped out and we worked steadily and slowly to shift the wood that had been used for the concreting tasks out into the green building, the table top and extra plaster board into the guest suite, and just generally tidied it out.

The sun shining through the clouds

After finishing that I was going to get to bed for another rest but decided instead to type the blog post and get it out the way. The heavy overcast from the bird watching attempt this morning had cleared during the morning and the afternoon was actually a lovely blue sky with warm sun. The clouds have been blowing across very fast since then and I was lucky to get up onto the roof with the camera to capture the sun as its rays burst through from behind a large cloud.

Neighbours' walnut harvest

It is coming time for walnut harvest here (mine is booked in for next Sunday) and this evening the Other Brother was out with a long stick bashing away at the tree in their garden to knock the fruit down for collection on the floor. He then climbed up into the tree and reached right to the top
branches with his stick. This is the technique we shall have to use.

It tasted just as good as it looks

And so there is a plate of paella steaming next to me as I type this; I have got SO close to finishing the post before dinner was served however I haven't quite managed it. This was it just a few minutes ago just before being served; doesn't it look amazing.

Ralf chilling to the max in his bed

The petchka is thrumming in the background and Ralf is totally chilled out in his bed as I draw to a close on this update.

Dinner time!