Happy New Wotsit !!!
Happy New Year !!
A new year begins here at Lanoy. Well I say new year, but its already February. So far Jan has flown past in a whirlwind, Stevie and I have hardly seen each other since returning to work. Dec and Jan are always busy months for us. Christmas parties, Stevie working away, visiting inlaws, training days away from home and works conferances make the months pass very quickly for us both. So fast in fact that we keep meaning to sit down and plan our next phase, but we just haven't had the time. So Lanoy has stood still and quiet for a while. No building work, no plumbers or electricians making havoc. Its been nice to have the place to ourselves and enjoy a rest from the past years manic refurbishment.
We had snow last week, and it was stunningly beautiful here. The blanket of whiteness muffled the tranquility even more than usual. It was so still, serene.
Our kittens have grown into beautiful cats. Leo with the silkest jet black glossy coat and Thomas with his orange tiger stripes, white chest and white paws. They have the most wonderful life here, chasing each other around the huge garden, climbing trees, exploring the barns, climbing up the scaffolding and bird watching from the top of the barns tin roof. Tango our old boy has accepted them well, and apart from the odd boff around the ear he watches them with curiosity. They have given him a new lease of life as I saw him the other day chase Leo along the drive, and up into the cherry tree. All 3 of them were tree climbing. Admittedly Tango only got 2feet up the main trunk whilst the kittens climbed as high as they could. Precariously balancing on thin bendy branches. working their way higher and higher up the tree.
We have come to a bit of a standsill. Under budget which is good, and on schedule but we really need to pull our finger out and get the project back on full tilt again. We have some electrical work to complete,ie rewire the left hand side of the house, then the 2nd bathroom floor can be fixed back down and the sanitary ware fitted. This is the easy half of the house to do. No rebuilding as such. Just a complete re wire and cosmetic decoration. Then I can order flooring and start making the rooms more homely.
My office at the far left hand side is the most damp room left in the house. I have pencil marked the damp stain on the walls. Most people have marks on their walls measuring the height of children growing over the years, where as i have a mark measuring the receeding dampness in the wall. Its encouraging to know that it is shrinking and Steveies damp meter he penetrates the walls with is gradually showing a lower reading month by month. The barometer is currently reading 45% humidity. This time last year it was 90% humidity. So we know the house is gradually drying out. We have some slight cracking on newly plastered walls but they are just settlement cracks where new ceilings meet old walls.
I still have no kitchen to speak of. Just what was left here when we moved in. which comprises a kitchen sink. 2 cupboards and an old electric freestanding cooker. of which only 3 of the 4 hob rings work. The new kitchen is going to be big and impressive and costly..so we will probably leave that right until the end. I know how i want it to look, i just need to find the right person to build it for me. I met a lovely lady who is a cabinet maker by trade and has a proper wood worknig workshop, she makes and designs bespoke kitchens using reclaimed wood and furniture . So i think she may be the right girl for the job. Ive decided I also want a seperate laundry room and a down stairs toilet, so were going to split a section off my large office off and create another room for that .
I must just finally log this,. My Grandmother ( dads mum) died just before the New Year she was 95 years old. I haven't been to a funeral since my Granny( mums mum) died in the 80s and my best friend Kate in the mid 90s. I was seated in the front pew with my aunt, a friend and my mum. Grandmas name is Joyce. The young vicar had a dreadful speech impairment. He pronounced Jesus, Je'Thuff. so we rejoy'thuffed Joy'thuffs life in the name of Je'thuff.... oh how we giggled...... not the done thing I know !! Made all the more awkward when we 4 ladies in the front pew, finished our hymn and sat down only to discover the rest of the congregation still standing and singing... Somehow we had mananged to miss out a whole verse. I totally blame the bottle of red wine we consumed in the car on the way to church. Purely for medicinal purposes I hasten to add..'to perk us up' as my mum put it. 'to take the edge off' the sombre day ... afterall, Grandma always had a sherry at 11am....
xxx
Jo
A new year begins here at Lanoy. Well I say new year, but its already February. So far Jan has flown past in a whirlwind, Stevie and I have hardly seen each other since returning to work. Dec and Jan are always busy months for us. Christmas parties, Stevie working away, visiting inlaws, training days away from home and works conferances make the months pass very quickly for us both. So fast in fact that we keep meaning to sit down and plan our next phase, but we just haven't had the time. So Lanoy has stood still and quiet for a while. No building work, no plumbers or electricians making havoc. Its been nice to have the place to ourselves and enjoy a rest from the past years manic refurbishment.
We had snow last week, and it was stunningly beautiful here. The blanket of whiteness muffled the tranquility even more than usual. It was so still, serene.
Our kittens have grown into beautiful cats. Leo with the silkest jet black glossy coat and Thomas with his orange tiger stripes, white chest and white paws. They have the most wonderful life here, chasing each other around the huge garden, climbing trees, exploring the barns, climbing up the scaffolding and bird watching from the top of the barns tin roof. Tango our old boy has accepted them well, and apart from the odd boff around the ear he watches them with curiosity. They have given him a new lease of life as I saw him the other day chase Leo along the drive, and up into the cherry tree. All 3 of them were tree climbing. Admittedly Tango only got 2feet up the main trunk whilst the kittens climbed as high as they could. Precariously balancing on thin bendy branches. working their way higher and higher up the tree.
We have come to a bit of a standsill. Under budget which is good, and on schedule but we really need to pull our finger out and get the project back on full tilt again. We have some electrical work to complete,ie rewire the left hand side of the house, then the 2nd bathroom floor can be fixed back down and the sanitary ware fitted. This is the easy half of the house to do. No rebuilding as such. Just a complete re wire and cosmetic decoration. Then I can order flooring and start making the rooms more homely.
My office at the far left hand side is the most damp room left in the house. I have pencil marked the damp stain on the walls. Most people have marks on their walls measuring the height of children growing over the years, where as i have a mark measuring the receeding dampness in the wall. Its encouraging to know that it is shrinking and Steveies damp meter he penetrates the walls with is gradually showing a lower reading month by month. The barometer is currently reading 45% humidity. This time last year it was 90% humidity. So we know the house is gradually drying out. We have some slight cracking on newly plastered walls but they are just settlement cracks where new ceilings meet old walls.
I still have no kitchen to speak of. Just what was left here when we moved in. which comprises a kitchen sink. 2 cupboards and an old electric freestanding cooker. of which only 3 of the 4 hob rings work. The new kitchen is going to be big and impressive and costly..so we will probably leave that right until the end. I know how i want it to look, i just need to find the right person to build it for me. I met a lovely lady who is a cabinet maker by trade and has a proper wood worknig workshop, she makes and designs bespoke kitchens using reclaimed wood and furniture . So i think she may be the right girl for the job. Ive decided I also want a seperate laundry room and a down stairs toilet, so were going to split a section off my large office off and create another room for that .
I must just finally log this,. My Grandmother ( dads mum) died just before the New Year she was 95 years old. I haven't been to a funeral since my Granny( mums mum) died in the 80s and my best friend Kate in the mid 90s. I was seated in the front pew with my aunt, a friend and my mum. Grandmas name is Joyce. The young vicar had a dreadful speech impairment. He pronounced Jesus, Je'Thuff. so we rejoy'thuffed Joy'thuffs life in the name of Je'thuff.... oh how we giggled...... not the done thing I know !! Made all the more awkward when we 4 ladies in the front pew, finished our hymn and sat down only to discover the rest of the congregation still standing and singing... Somehow we had mananged to miss out a whole verse. I totally blame the bottle of red wine we consumed in the car on the way to church. Purely for medicinal purposes I hasten to add..'to perk us up' as my mum put it. 'to take the edge off' the sombre day ... afterall, Grandma always had a sherry at 11am....
xxx
Jo
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