Wall building and camping

Yesterday Bekir and Halil were not in due to a family emergency but Angela and I had a super busy and productive day of our own. I actually almost did an update anyway last night but then decided against it.

Angela tidying up the tomatoes

My old t-shirt gets a second lease of life

Another spike grew over night

Starting to tidy up this area

Old wood and weeds and grass cuttings

Looking much better after lots of clearing

Meeting The Little Lady's guest (who reads this blog)

Dramatic skies

Really tidy tomatoes

First of all during the day while I was working Angela was out working hard in the garden to put the large canes up for the tomatoes, which have grown superbly well so far. She used one of my old t-shirts (a Primarni special from many years ago) to cut strips for the ties., While I was out taking some pictures and getting a break from my desk I saw that the sheep manure had sprouted loads more spikes so I pulled them out before heading back in. At the end of my working day I pulled the mower out and started clearing by the new garden sink and also out towards the fenced garden. Eventually I left the mower behind and went to ripping out weeds with my gloved hands and I almost cleared the whole of the overgrown section before Rosie came back from school. I finished up and then we were invited next door for a coffee by The Little Lady and a lovely guest of hers from Turkey. There was a storm blowing in so we had to leave to get the washing in and as I was doing this it did start to rain. It didn't rain for long, thankfully. The tomatoes are looking so much better now they are properly strapped up and I'm very excited for starting to eat them.

Bekir hosing, Halil hammering

Angela planting, Xena loitering (with intent)

Bekir starts to build the low wall

Thelma sleeping in a patch of sunlight

Blocks ready, the wall extends

Cutting the grass, with the collector taken off

The wall marches up the slope

And so to today, another hot day and lots more progress on the chicken enclosure. I dropped Rosie at school today and got back to find the workmen hosing down the cement and continuing to recover all the wood for reuse in the car port. Angela had got stuck in to planting out some new flowers in the garden as well. The task for the men today, after wetting the foundations, was to do the bricklaying for the low wall and they really cracked on, beginning round by the duck pond. It was a lovely sunny day and Thelma grabbed a spot in the sun to sleep. Progress was good on the wall and late morning I decided to join in the productivity and pulled the electric mower out. I managed to get all along the back where it was too steep for the ride-on, and also took down a load of the massive overgrowth inside the chicken enclosure that was blocking easy access to the washing line. I had to go and see Lyuben the architect in the afternoon for a quote for repairing our front wall (which was huge and so rethinking is occurring) and when I got back I found the rest of the grass in this section had been knocked down by Halil. By the end of the day the first course of the wall has reached the top of the back. We were going to do two courses but have decided to lay an entire first course and see if we want another on top.

Another storm makes noise and passes us by

Rosie passes me a tent pole

Rosie wanting to put the sleeping bag out

Rosie very excited about camping tonight

The weather pattern today was similar to yesterday as after Rosie got home from school a storm rumbled past but this time it didn't rain at all here. This was good as today is an exciting day for us all; Rosie helped me to put the tent up and tonight I am going to camp out there with her. This is her first camping experience and she is very very excited! I will be sure to report back on how it goes next week.

So there it is; Angela is off to an art weekend this weekend so it's a Daddy Weekend, not just Saturday, to look forward to. I hope we sleep well tonight, though a very noisy Turkish wedding has just kicked off in the valley which is typical. Oh well. Thanks for reading. Back Monday.