Food, pools and wood

Hopefully this update will be a short one; we've had quite a busy day today and both of us are exhausted - I just took a power nap and A is still asleep as I start typing this. I'll break it up into sections as I sometimes do. I'm praying that the clouds that have rolled in today (though the promised for cooler weather with those clouds hasn't come) drop lots of rain so we don't have to water. There's been barely a dribble so far though.

While I was away

I have a number of pictures taken by A while I was away over last weekend which I did want to share; most of the photographs, to be fair, were of Thelma or Louise, or both Thelma and Louise however who can argue with that.

A's excellent idea to go for a kebab

Puppies tired after their 4am start to get me to the bus

Thelma saying hello to me

A about to stack lots of wood

One of several batches of tomatoes to be processed

The Little Lady, Usmivka and their daughter and son in law

The first picture is of me on the day before I went as we went out for a kebab which I had forgotten about. I do love those kebabs there. And so the next day we were both up early and out to get me to my morning bus and while I travelled all day A worked and the puppies rested. They wanted to say hi to me so A sent me some pictures which was very lovely to received. On the Saturday A hit a really super productive streak and was out early stacking the wood which I had sorted for her before I left and then, this completed, she harvested a load of tomatoes and turned them into sauce for the freezer. Unfortunately something that she did that day really hurt her back and so she was in agony for days; it's actually only just got better following advice from one of her friends on some stretches to do. I was very firmly advising her to rest it so thankfully she listened and didn't hurt it worse. She did get invited over to the neighbours as the daughter, who has lived away in Europe for many years, is back over for a visit right now. I've yet to get over to meet them so hopefully that will be this week. Finally a video of Thelma being very vocal over her toy; she does love that tug toy, though it is now falling apart quite badly.

The heat, the drums

And so I got home and was happy to be home and it's been pretty awesome since. Home is definitely where the heart is.

Super happy to be home again

A table full of awesome food, or it was a while before anyway

Sunset, and not a cloud in sight

Starting to clean the pool out

Emptied and ready for washing

The wash commences

Getting a swim in the puppies water bowl

On Wednesday (I having got home late-ish on Tuesday) we went out for our dinner to our favourite restaurant and for the first time for years we sat in the big main hall to eat. It was a lovely meal, I went for my old selection from when I was house-hunting all those years ago and A went for our current and enduring favourite of Lamb in the Oven. The puppies were very pleased with the meat we took back for them. I was sadly back to work immediately though my week was a tough one as I was tired from the travelling so I don't have much to show from during the week however the heat was up and the sunsets were stunning. A's back slowly got better through the week and on Thursday she was able to get into the pool to clean it as it had got quite minging. I helped to empty it after she had scrubbed the grit and bits off the floor then she got the hose and washed it all down. We set the hose to refilling it immediately but our water pressure was low so it took until Friday to fill. One little creature was not prepared to wait; when we went to bed on Thursday night I noticed a frog swimming in the dog bowl in our temporary bedroom!

Back in the pool and loving it

What a gorgeous sunset once again

Final wood is ready for putting away, of this batch at least

Puppies watching us eating doughnuts

When the pool was finally filled we did not wait around but jumped straight in; it was absolutely lovely, having filled slightly slower so the temperature was perfect even though it hadn't been sat in the sun long. We actually went in the pool three times on Friday and twice more on Saturday to make the absolute most of the heat before the forecast change today. There was another glorious sunset on Friday which I headed onto the roof terrace to photograph and I'm sure last night was the same but I missed it. After that sunset shot I was outside sorting the last of the wood for A to stack into the wood store; we have arranged for our next delivery to occur on Monday so the same again will be arriving. A had been shopping for us in the morning so when we settled down with our books and a cuppa in the evening we had a doughnut each, the puppies were most unimpressed that we ate while they had to watch.

BBQ Sauce arrived safely

The scenario I've been waiting to play

My scenery looking the part

The winner with her prize

Another table set up for battle

This is Louise's way of lying when she's too hot

Close combat between Elves and Corsairs

Saturday was a really awesome day from start to finish. As already described we were in the pool a couple of times which was perfect but we also got a delivery from the UK of some awesome BBQ sauce from my friends at Islay Ales. After collecting this A and I played a scenario of SBG that I've wanted to have a go at for ages; it was a very quick game as she rolled as well as she could and I didn't have a chance but it was such fun to use my scenery finally. She won some Norwegian chocolate which I'm hoping she'll still share with me. After this I set up another board and we began a points match game which we played until we decided to pause. In the evening we ate burgers with the last of the original BBQ sauce, watched Face/Off (which is just as close to a "favourite film" as I have) and then finally ended the day sat on the balcony watching shooting stars and drinking tea. Wonderful. I do love this place; days like those are so valuable to me right now!

A day trip

We always say we need to get out into the surrounding area more than we do and so this morning we packed ourselves into the car, after our chores were completed, and took a really enjoyable drive through several areas that we have not explored before.

The tortoise sat in the middle of our gate

He was not pleased to be lifted out of the way

Some hunter had left a cache in the forest

A beautiful peaceful valley we found

Heavy traffic on the roads we were driving along

Another view down a valley towards distant mountains

The castle we climbed up to with my parents a few weeks back

An artist at work

What a beautiful picture this is!

On the way out of our gate I stopped to move a huge tortoise that was in the way; what a beast! We were driving around for about four or five hours, including several stops for short strolls, and found some beautiful spots, some truly peaceful areas, and drove up a few very interesting logging tracks as we followed the satnav along our rough route planned in ten minutes before we left. It was a really lovely way to spend the morning, and the puppies enjoyed sniffing all the smells every time we got out of the car. We were up in the serious hunting areas and found a cache of some sort (I didn't move the tarpaulins just in case) at one of our stop points. The views in a lot of places were stunning. We live in a beautiful part of the world. We got back much later than expected as we'd been having so much fun while we were out and we were both absolutely exhausted. We had lunch, finished our game off (after terrible luck with the dice on Saturday A managed to cut through my models very quickly today but not quite quick enough and I managed to pull a win out of the bag at the end) and then it was time for a rest. I only power napped and got up to do this update and since I've been writing A has joined me in Room 13 and has done a lovely picture with pastels.

Still no rain....

It still hasn't rained, though; we'll have to go do the watering anyway soon.

So there you are; another week gone. I'll be back again as soon as I can, but the next update will not be from me as tomorrow is a very important date!