Winter is done

Wow it has been some time since the last update; I planned on doing regular updates through the winter however of course as you can tell I never started and so now I'm sat here the night before the men are due and I've got to do an update to catch up. With a combined 574 pictures and videos to go through. So I'm just not going to bother. This'll be quite a quick update and tomorrow I should be back to normal service...

Rosie

Princess Rosie and a jigsaw

Another jigsaw

More completed jigsaw

She's proud of this one

Dinosaurs!

In progress (this one still isn't finished)

The one she finished today

Rosie has been really getting into doing jigsaws and is getting really good at them. Just today we did another together and I'm having to buy more and more, and bigger and more complex, to keep her entertained. It is really good for her though so I don't mind at all.

Fish being buried

Awesome shapes on the trampoline

Bicycling

Rosie playing her keyboard she got for her birthday

Out to the new restaurant for dinner

Helping me mow the lawn

Going for a ride at the park

Rosie made these

Doing a puppet show

Our bulbs coming up

First camping of the year

Enjoying the sun and the breeze

So more stuff with Rosie before we go on with a few more subjects and wrap this up. We had one dead fish which Rosie was determined to bury so out we went and put it into a little hole by the cherry tree at the front. She has also had lots of fun with the trampoline, her bike, her keyboard (she's getting good at it already, learning some songs!) and doing things with me like going out for dinner and riding along on the mower as I've already started having to mow the lawn! We also took her to the park a couple of days in a row with her bike which went really well. She's also made some martenichkas and we hung them on some trees. She did a puppet shows in the puppet theatre we made together, enjoyed the spring flowers and last night we camped. Today was lovely and she got to enjoy the warmth on the patio.

Building Progress

Window people fitting tilt and turn

Halil helps lift in the new sofa

Bekir and Halil fitting more posters

More plugs required

We've had a few things happen, all of which almost prompted me to do an update but never quite did. Firstly while Angela and Rosie were away visiting her parents I had the window people in to refit all the remaining windows that we needed to have swapped over. Halil popped over to help the delivery of our new three seater sofa which is now being used every day. They also replaced the broken and missing fly screens. Bekir and Halil were also in for one day only where they put up my picture frames for the stairs and fitted some more plugs in the music room.

Right I'm going to wrap this up here. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

Plastering, and dinner on the balcony

It is so good to have Angela back, though of course she wasn't actually gone for that long but still. Back to "normal" today.

Tidying up around the doorways

One wall looking very good

Another corner is reinforced

Trimming expanding foam from round the doors

Bekir sanding the ceiling

Bekir was on his own all day today as Halil had some chores to do, probably around his flat in town, and just dropped his dad off then collected him at the end of the day. For his part Bekir really cracked on today, first of all installing all the corner protection around the access doors for the crawl space and then plastering over the walls completely; he finished the first coat on the first wall. He also applied the corner protection to the corners as you enter the corridor so this is now really solidly built. Then he was onto the second wall and began the same process, trimming the expanding foam then installing the corner protection and applying some plaster. He didn't quite get that completed so that's for tomorrow. Finally he went into the crawl space and sanded it all down so tomorrow Halil can paint.

Angela enjoying the lovely day in the garden

Set up to sift soil

One batch of soil is done

Rosie enjoying the garden

My original daffs are doing great

More flowers I planted years ago now

Rosie on the trampoline

It really was a lovely day today; Angela got to spend a lot of it out in the garden "pottering" as she put it while as soon as my work day was done I headed out with the shovel and started to sift and spread more soil on the side garden next to the path. When Rosie got home she spent some time outside and we walked around looking at the flowers and enjoying the weather before heading inside to go on the trampoline. It was a true spring day.

Lovely dinner on the balcony

While on the balcony with Rosie on the trampoline I suggested we eat upstairs and so we did, a REALLY tasty chicken and mushroom pie and we had cycling on while we ate. Rosie was over the moon and so was I!

So there it is. A good day indeed. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

Last outside day for a bit

I think today is going to be the last day we have the men working outside for a bit (though thinking about it there is one more garden based task that could do with being done, though I was maybe going to try and do it myself in my after-work-gardening-sessions) and it was a productive day all round.

Rosie pleased with her sparkles

First of all, however, a picture of Rosie with her new hair band that sparkles and glints in the sun, casting amazing reflections everywhere. She was fascinated by this. Great fun.

Bekir finishing the insulation task

Easier than getting the big ladder

Bekir keeping safety in mind

A lovely clean result

Outside the men finished up the securing and insulating of the new cleaning access port on the toilet pipe and then they spent a bit of time making sure that the toilet still worked, which it did. I had also asked them to remove the ventilation pipe that was from the old humanure collection point, and fill in the hole in the shuttering underneath the roof overhang to prevent hornets and birds from getting in, so they did this quickly. The cleaning access point is very nicely done and finished and now just needs an insulating lid over the top of it to keep it from freezing in winter.

Lots of work in the raised beds

Bekir adjusts the wiring for the lights

A tidier situation than before

Steadily getting there with digging this all over

Rosie making a sand castle

Bouncing with balloons

It really was another lovely day today and Angela and Grandma were outside a lot, doing a lot of clearing and planting in the raised beds. After lunch they went with Halil to see our apartment in town which was lovely and while they were gone Bekir got stuck into redoing some wiring in the roof to make it a bit tidier. He also had a look at the toilet pumps again and stopped them from pumping continually once more. After work I took myself into the garden and dug over the next section of vegetable patch. Rosie did some sandcastle making before a bit of hobbying with me and then a lot of fun with Grandma on the trampoline.

So there it is; a fun day and a productive one. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

Winter arrived today

Welcome back and after a quite busy weekend it's been a miserable day today; let's talk through the weekend first though.

Rosie very excited about the tree

The sun rises again on Saturday

New sunglasses and huge smile

Grandma's gift

Hanging on the front of the shopping trolley

Rosie and the Grandson in the tree house

Tinsel up over the pictures

Friday night as I said in the last update Angela and Rosie put up the tree in the library. Rosie is getting very excited indeed for Christmas! Saturday morning dawned bright and it was a lovely day throughout. As Daddy Saturday I had fun with Rosie, first of all playing for a fair while with her and her dolls before we headed into town to pick up a gift for Grandma and do a bit of shopping. When we got back we went to the neighbours and she brought the grandson back to visit for a bit; they went into the tree house among other things, before a nap, then going back over to play with the grandchildren again. It was a fun day. Sunday I was up very early (think 3am) to drive our friends to the airport. I got back in plenty of time but I was exhausted so the only picture from the day is of some tinsel I put up in the library. Rosie and Angela had been putting the main tree in the lounge and it looked great but I didn't get the picture.

The mesh at the start of the day

Damp nasty working conditions

Not outside working weather

Rosie, her presents, and the tree

A huge bounce

Painting black on the sand

The forecast for today was for snow and when the men arrived I suggested they start one of the winter jobs inside and let the weather improve later in the week however they were insistent to finish this up. It was miserable and cold and damp but no snow arrived. They worked steadily to add the missing mesh over the remainder of the chicken run and then went round the entire area again adding more zip ties to hold everything really securely in place. As always they have done a very good job. Tomorrow they'll be starting on the roof including fitting the solar heaters I hope. I do hope the weather holds out for that work on the roof. Angela had another great day and among other things she got all Rosie's presents wrapped up ready for the tree (and there are a LOT!) When Rosie got home from school I showed her the Christmas Train that Angela and I had put under the main tree (though she was more interested in the presents) and then she did some bouncing on her trampoline before we came in here and did some hobbying. A lovely early evening indeed.

So there it is; thanks for reading as always and back tomorrow.