Hello Tinkerbell

Monday 31st August: Warm and sunny, winds freshening later in the afternoon.
Steve went off flying with his friend Greg in the morning then he went off to the house to take out more of the kitchen
The boys and I schooled in the morning. For the next fortnight we are studying where foods come from and healthy eating, linked in to a badge Peter and Jonathan are working on at Keas. We got lots of work done and even had time to learn some food names in French and practice some times tables.
After lunch we drove out to the house. Our friend Ralph had delivered a 5-month old calf to graze in our garden for the next month so we went down to the bottom paddock to see her. She doesn't have a name so we thought about Doris and Beryl but settle on Tinkerbell. She seems very shy but hopefully she will settle down and go in with our other animals soon.
The boys enjoyed scooting round the garden on their bikes while I pruned some of the shrubs and bushes.
We drove back into town, quickly popping into the supermarket and library on the way to gymnastics. Some new children have started the class in the last couple of weeks so there was lots of paperwork for me to get sorted out with the parents.
After gym it was a quick dash home for pasta bolognese then ran round to Cubs with Edward. Peter and Jonathan and I walked home and the boys got ready for bed and we had time to read several books with them. Steve got in at 7 then I walked back to Cubs to collect Edward, who had presented the work he had done for his Pet Keeper badge.
The photos are of Tinkerbell and Peter having fun on his bike. Perhaps that sentence should be split into two.....

One man went to mow....

Sunday 30th August: Happy birthday Greg. Today was cloudy and cooler than recent days, but we had some warming sunshine later in the afternoon as the wind began to pick up again.
In the morning Steve went off flying and came back with a lawnmower. Now maybe those two things shouldn't be in the same sentence, but it does remind me of a really charming Percy the Park Keeper book with a flying lawnmower. The boys went to Sunday School and I went to church, then home for a yummy roast lamb dinner with potatoes and yams I dug up yesterday, carrots dug from next door yesterday, leeks from our garden, and sweetcorn from a tin. I think I might get a book out of the library to see if I can grow sweetcorn because we do eat a lot of it. Pudding was a carrot cake. New recipe and well worth repeating.
After lunch we headed out to the house and Edward enjoyed putting the lawnmower together while I did some weeding and Peter and Jonathan rushed around the garden on their bikes. We got a bonfire going for some more wood and dried garden tidyings.
Steve cut the lawns then I went round the edges with the shears. Just as I finished the sun came out so I grabbed the camera and took photos of the flowers already blooming in our garden. There is one area of spring bulbs looking charming at the moment, but also the trees are in bud and the roses have flowers on them. Plus lots of others I can't identify.
Back home for tea - fresh rolls with boiled eggs from the chooks, and the rest of the carrot cake.
The boys were rather stink so they had a nice hot deep bath and soon improved, then we enjoyed the next chapter of our funny bedtime story.

Trees are made for climbing

Saturday 29th August: Today was hot because the wind had all but disappeared. The weather is just like it should be in England at the end of August, but of course we are still in ski season here!
In the morning we went to three garage sales between us. There seems to be at least one every weekend in town and today we bought some blackcurrant bushes.
I walked into town to post a letter and get some shopping while Steve fixed Jonathan's bike puncture. Then Jonathan and bike and I drove out to the house while Steve and the older two boys cycled out there. The boys then had fun through the rest of the day riding their bikes and doing jumps around the garden.
Steve and I were delighted to find that the decorators had popped in since I had left the house Friday afternoon and had done a fair amount of the gib stopping in most of the rooms, s that was a positive step in the right direction.
Steve and I spent the day clearing up electrical wires, plasterboard off-cuts and other mess, removing nails and screws from wood we've removed around the house, lifting carpets and sweeping up floors. Hopefully this will make it easier for the decorators to get on with their work next week.
Gael, a local homeschool mum friend of mine, called round to say hi. We enjoyed giving her the guided tour and she had lots of good advice and tips to help us.
Later in the afternoon Steve started to make a treehouse for the boys in one of the trees in the animals' paddock. The animals were fascinated with what was going on and gathered under the tree to watch!
Back home for a late tea then our new bedtime storybook - A Wizard's Warning, which is very funny.
Steve spent the evening fixing one of his model aeroplanes while I did the blog and some knitting.
The photos are of Steve, the boys and the sheep. I'm sure you can work out which is which!

It huffed and it puffed

Friday 28th August: I had put some curtains on the line overnight as I knew I'd be busy in the morning. At 6 I was woken up by the strong gusts of wind outside and wondered where I might find the curtains. At 7 I found them just hanging on by one peg each and already dry as it was already 12 degrees! We rushed off for our piano lessons then drove out to the new house. We were due to have our new cooker and fridge delivered this morning but they didn't come until after 2. Fortunately I had taken lunch out with us. The wind was sooooo strong, I actually got thrown off my feet at one point. The boys had taken their kites to fly in the bottom paddock but it was too windy when we tried. However the goat and ewe were fascinated with us and the kites and were running around with us and then enjoyed eating the grass in the different paddock.
When we were stripping paper in one of the bedrooms in the old end of the house we got right down to newspaper. Most of the newspaper came off in such small pieces we couldn't get enough information from it to date it. Finally we saved one piece and I searched on the internet for the story on it, the premiere of the film "Round the World in 80 days" which turns out to be from 1956!
We were home mid-afternoon and the boys exchanged the buttons they earned this week for their schoolwork for computer time, while I cooked a coconut curry and ginger slice for tea. The wild winds finally eased but more are forecast for the weekend so we won't be able to get any skiing in this weekend.
After the boys went to bed Steve and I spent the evening collecting information for our tax returns.
This morning we received permission to demolish the concrete block sheds in the garden. I took 2 photos of the view from the spa on the deck - one with the block shed in the way as it is now, and the other with the view once we get it removed (maybe some grass seed will help too!). The final photo is the view from the front door down to our entrance gate.

Ears in the field

Thursday 27th August: Today started bright but then clouded over and cooled down as the wind picked up. We went to Playcentre and the children enjoyed being out in the garden, making channels for the water to run in the sandpit and making chalk drawings. Edward and I popped into the Teachers Resource Centre next door and borrowed some resources to use in our teaching. At 11am we headed south to Oamaru, bought a lot of milk as usual and headed on to their swimming lessons. Today they spent 2 hours in the pool, playing with the other homeschoolers after their lesson.
We got back to Waimate at 3 then delivered the milk and called briefly into our new house then back into town at 4pm. For tea we had a beef casserole then our babysitter was round at 6pm. I went off to TKD and got home to find the babysitter still at our house because Steve had been called out to a patient.
The first photo is of a car identical to my very first car. I haven't seen one like it in NZ before. The second photo is of a field with some sheep and lambs in it. If you look really closely near the centre there are a small pair of ears poking up in the long grass - the boys spotted them and thought it was really funny. I wish I'd had my big lens with me rather than just a pocket camera.

There's smoke coming from over the hills!

Wednesday 26th August: Hot and blowy today. Great for bedding to get dry, and the hens got their feathers well and truly ruffled.
We schooled in the morning. This week we are looking at muscles and how they work. We also baked fresh bread rolls for lunch.
After an early lunch we drove out to the other house and I stripped even more wallpaper - a piece we hadn't noticed before.
As we left the house we noticed a plume of dark smoke filling a large area of the sky. We were headed for the Waimate Airport and it was in that direction. We finally came across the source of the smoke 15 minutes later!! A farmer was burning the stubble alongside the SH1 near Morven. The field was black but we could also see the line of orange flames so the boys asked me to photograph both. We went to the airport and waited for the rest of the Keas to arrive but they didn't so we headed back to Waimate to the Cub den and found they had cancelled the trip because it was too windy but I hadn't been home to pick up their message.
Instead Peter and Jonathan enjoyed making small planes and throwing them outdoors with the other Keas. Edward played in the adjacent playground and I popped into town to get some more shopping.
After Keas it was still lovely and warm so Peter and Jonathan carried on playing with their new planes in our back garden while I cooked tea. We had a rather 'warm' chilli and the rest of the banana cake for tea, then we finished off the 'Indian in the Cupboard' book.
Steve and I watched a film by Michael Moore about the state of the health service in the US that a patient of his had recorded and wanted him to watch. Then I had a rather juvenile skype chat with my dad while I tried to write this blog so it took ages!

Hot for winter

Tuesday 25th August: Happy birthday Laura. After a frosty start the temperatures rose and rose to about 19 degrees. In the sun it felt hotter.
We schooled in the morning and enjoyed fresh bread for lunch. In the afternoon we walked into town and visited the library and supermarket. It seems like ages since we last found time to do this. On the way I asked the boys what we could photograph for the blog today. They suggested the old fire station, so here it is. It's now the Senior Citizens Hall but there is a plaque outside with an interesting story on it, so we photographed that too.
Once home we hopped in the car and headed out to the house for half an hour. No-one had been working at the house today so we cleared up some of the mess of wires and walls over the floor.
Home for home-made burgers and banana cake for tea, then the boys went off to bed and I watched some film that was so awful I can't even remember what it was called! The evening ended with heavy rain, but the new roof seems to have kept it out.

A busy house

Monday 24th August: A gorgeous warm sunny day. Three loads of washing got dry on the line today! High of about 16 degrees in the shade.
Today was a school day but it didn't go very smoothly today. We got some maths and writing and reading done but nothing else. At lunchtime we headed out to the house with a big pot of chilli and a bowl of rice. Today Gordon was still rewiring the house, Steve was busy helping out, the power pole and wires to the house changed, and the ducting for the new heat pumps installed. I popped down to the local carpet store to get a price for the lino I had chosen, and collected the wallpaper from the decorating shop. Back at the house we found lots of jobs to do around the garden. I cleared more of the veggie garden but there's still a lot of work to do there before we can plant anything. The boys were busy making obstacle courses with tree rings and planks for wood.
At 3.30pm we were of to gymnastics for the boys, then rushed home for chilli then walked Edward to Cubs. We walked home via Barney's (Steve's boss) to deliver a fruit cake I had baked for him. Steve put the younger two boys off to bed and I walked to collect Edward from Cubs. Once we were back Steve returned to the new house to help Gordon with some more rewiring until late.
The heating men gave the boys each a length of tubing. The boys ran round the garden waving them round above their heads to get a whistling sound, then Peter found you could twist and tie it into different shapes and blow through it.

Cutting up trees

Sunday 23rd August: Grey and mild again. Peter's head was feeling much better. We popped out to the new house first thing then I took the boys back into town to Sunday School. By lunchtime we were back at the house. The boys and I stayed busy in the garden, Gordon was still rewiring, and Steve was kept busy called out to more patients. Peter and I scraped up lots of broken glass from an old bonfire area in the bottom paddock. We'd like the animals to be able to graze there but not until the sharp glass is all cleared up. We also moved more cut up wood and cleared lots of branches from the veggie garden and made a huge new bonfire.
After all that hard work we were tired and spent a quiet evening home.
The photo is of Peter ready for action!

More at the house

Saturday 22nd August: Warmish and sunny at times. We headed out to the house for another day's work. Gordon the electrician was busy all day and so were we. The boys filled lots of wheelbarrows with wood and emptied them in the woodshed in exchange for a square of chocolate. I moved lots of the large logs from the veggie garden from where a large tree fell down in a sorm a few months ago, doing an impression of an Olympic weightlifter to get them off the ground. I also dug out some short wooden posts from the lawn and moved lots of sheets of corrugated metal lying around the land. Steve was busy in between getting calls to see patients.
For lunch I had a coconut curry in the slow cooker - a new recipe that was gorgeous, followed by chocolate and coffee layer cake. Just at that time some friends turned up and helped us finish the cake.
The large tree had fallen on a rabbit hutch which we decided to pull out an demolish at the end of the afternoon. Armed with crowbars and hammers there was a lot of activity from Steve and the boys for this task (see photo). Just as we were finishing Peter swung the hammer with a little more gusto than usual and smacked the top of his head with the claw hammer side. A lot of blood and a lot of howling later all was better, and to cheer him up Steve and I moved the hutch remains to the bonfire area and set fire to it (see photo).
Tea was sardines on toast then Steve got called out again when it was storytime. I tried to watch Barry Trotter and the Half-Baked Quince but didn't really get into it. However I was amused by an advert in one of the breaks. I know recession has hit Britain badly, but I was surprised to hear that there was 50% off Manchester and 40% off selected Wiltshire! I found out that Manchester is sheets, pillow slips and maybe other things but have no idea what Wiltshire is - any one like to comment please?
The other photos are a charming one of Peter and Jonathan, and one of the back of the house showing how low down the 3 (bare) power wires are coming in to the house - these are being replaced on Monday, providing the weather is dry.

Piano, teeth, kitchen and soft play

Friday 21st August: A frosty start, then sunny late morning but clouding over and grey from lunchtime, high of about 9 degrees.
We started the day with piano lessons for all 3 boys, and their teacher complimented on how well the boys behave when they are waiting for their lesson. Today they got through their maths work. From there we walked to one of the local schools for the boys to be seen by the school denal service, which was fine and they don't need to be seen for a year.
We walked home and the boys did some writing while I got lunch ready. Straight after lunch we drove to Timaru to meet up with the kitchen people to confirm plans and pay the deposit. They have said they will fit it 21st and 2nd September. The boys were beautifully behaved again, and the man in the kitchen shop told them how great they had been, so as a reward I took them to Chipmunks, the soft play centre nearly next door to the kitchen shop. The boys ran and climbed and slid for an hour while I enjoyed a pot of tea and read some gossipy magazines!
We called in at the new house on the way home and were delighted by "Lamb Chops" skipping and bouncing around the paddock while Giddy the Goat and Mummy Sheep were munching on the carrots, cabbage and apple I had brought along.
Home for pork meatballs and ginger biscuit ice-cream. Steve is on-call this weekend but still managed to go off to his friend Greg's to talk some more about aeroplanes.
The photos are of the Chipmunks soft play - much smaller than the boys were used to playing in in the UK but they still managed to burn off some energy.

Spring has sprung

Thursday 20th August: Sunny and 10 degrees but it felt warmer. Thursday is always a busy day for us. We started at Playcentre as usual and the boys had great fun making clay models, something I think we might do at home sometime as they enjoyed it so much. They were also able to play in the garden and huge sandpit there. At 11 we left to drive to Oamaru and we ate our lunch as we drove there. In the fields we saw lots of new lambs skipping around. The boys' swimming lesson went well but all 8 children in their class were there today so it was a busy class. After their lesson we walked across the road and spent a short time in the Oamaru Public Gardens. These are a truly beautiful place to be and contain many different areas - duck pond, Chinese garden, aviary, bandstand, playground and lots of paths and streams meandering through the park. We had a lovely time in the spring sunshine and the tidy flowerbeds are beginning to come to life. The boys got rid of some of their endless energy in the playground too.
We bought 52 litres of milk today and spent half an hour driving round Waimate delivering it to our friends. We ended up only having 15 minutes to visit the house but watered the veggies in the greenhouse and checked on the animals.
We got home just after 4pm and cooked a chicken and bacon pie for tea. Jeanette arrived at 6 to babysit the boys while I went to TKD and set up a game of Monopoly to play with them before storytime. After I returned home Steve received a few calls so was in and out through the evening visiting patients.
The photos show a few images from our visit to the Public Gardens.

The sun shone again

Wednesday 19th August: Sunny and warm! Hooray! What a difference the sun made to how the children and the chickens were feeling! We schooled in the morning and got through lots of work. I also got the ski clothes washed and on the line to dry.
For lunch we had fresh rolls and homemade pumpkin soup - yummy.
After lunch the boys and I went over to the house. The two men working in the house are getting on steadily with putting up the internal walls and are doing a careful job, which is great.
I met another double glazing man and someone to make a kitchen for us, then the boys and I walked round the garden. It's the first time I have walked right round the boundary. We discovered the goat had escaped into the bottom paddock and was munching the grass as fast as she could. We brought down a new bale of hay for her and she went back to her own field to munch on that instead. We found the old remains of two lambs that we need to take some spades over this weekend and bury. There's also a lot of broken glass and drink cans in the bottom paddock that we need to sweep up before we can let the animals in there safely.
Soon it was time to take Peter and Jonathan to Keas, where they were learning about Healthy Eating today. I needed to pop into town to post a parcel and pick up some heavy shopping while I had the car, and I left Edward to play in the playground by the Scout Den while I did that.
After Keas we went home for bolognese pizzas (!) and chocolate cake, then the boys went off to bed and Steve went off to talk about aeroplanes with his friend Greg.
The photo is of Edward in the playground.

More rain

Tuesday 18th August: It continued to rain all day and the garden is very soggy and muddy. And so are the chickens (see photo of Bobby).
Steve was off to work and the boys and I were schooling. All morning long the phone rang from electrician, window man, kitchen fitter, solicitor. These calls all led to me having to make more calls or search on the internet for answers so schooling was very bitty.
After lunch we walked into town to return some library books and get some shopping, and got wet on the way there and back. The photo shows how grey the main street of Waimate was.
The boys did some computer learning while I cooked a roast dinner and a chocolate pudding, then we sat down to watch the film "The American Tail" which was very sweet.

We start another new term

Monday 17th August: It rained just about all day! Very English! Steve went over to the house to do a full day's work there helping take down the internal side of external walls and put new boards up in their place.
For the boys and I we started a new term. This week we are learning about bones, and Edward and Peter are starting their new maths books. The photo shows them hard at work at the kitchen table.
After lunch we all went out to the house and I took down the scrim walls in the back hall. Scrim is rimu wood boards running horizontally with sacks opened up and stapled on the surface. Several layers of wallpaper have been added on top over the years.
Later I took the boys off to gymnastics and then rushed home for a quick tea then drove Edward to Cubs at the last minute. By the time we got back Steve had returned home, just in time for me to go to TKD training.

More time on the skifield

Sunday 16th August: Today dawned bright but low cloud was clinging to the mountains across the lake from the campsite. We got up and sorted and packed up the motorhome and left the site at 10am. We parked the motorhome in Tekapo and drove to Roundhill in the truck. We had a nice hour or so skiing before lunch. I had become a little more confident this weekend and wanted to try some of the steeper slopes so we went to the top of the T-bar and skied some different trails.
While we were having lunch the cloud level descended and the visibility deteriorated. We had two friendly visitors while were cooking our burgers - two little dogs who belong to the skifield owners and roam the car park looking cute. The terrier is called Hector and the scruffy one is called Scruffy!
After lunch we restricted the boys to the lower slopes to keep them safe and they were very good staying there eventhough they wanted more of a challenge. Peter crashed on a jump on the terrain park. This is not unusual and he usually jumps up and laughs, but this time he winded himself and hurt his face and chest. The First Aid team were great and soon he was calmer and more comfortable and had a hot chocolate in the cafe as a treat. I reckon he could have a nice black eye on the way but nothing serious.
By the time Peter was sorted out the conditions weren't good on the slopes so we set off back to Tekapo. Edward and I drove home in the motorhome. He got to sit up front with me for the first time. He asked me what every button on the stereo was for, so it might be his LAST ride up front as well! Steve drove Peter and Jonathan home in the truck and we got home about 5.30pm. I quickly cooked tea and we unpacked the motorhome and truck at super-speed because everyone was helping out.
The boys are now in bed and I am tackling the mountain of dirty washing!

Racing at Roundhill

Saturday 15th August: Today dawned clear except for a low level of cloud lingering over the surface of the lake (first photo, view from the motorhome when we woke up). We got up and sorted and drove up to Roundhill Skifield. We have driven the lakeside road so may times now but the immense beauty and the incredible scale of the scenery continues to amaze and entrance us. It would be even more enjoyable if I wasn't hanging on to the door handle while Steve throws the truck around the bends of the narrow gravel track at 100kph!
We were up and skiing just after 9am and conditions were great. Today Roundhill was hosting a junior ski race. The 4 big skifields around Queenstown each host a race as part of a series, and this year Roundhill and Dobson (near Fairlie) were added to the list. All the junior ski teams turned up in their lycra outfits plus the Japanese junior team was there to compete. We decided to enter the three boys as independents although we thought later that we could name them the "Fish Alpine Race Team" - FART for short! The race bibs looked huge on the boys. The second photo is of Jonathan (looking round at the camera) and Edward (106) in the T-bar queue. Unfortunately the organisation at Roundhill had some problems and so the start was delayed, but the racers got to go down the course with their coaches, so Steve took our three down. The photo looks like Daddy Duck with his three ducklings following him.
The boys all did well and didn't miss any of the gates. Because it was running late we managed to get lunch done while the course was changed for the second run, but then it began raining and it was a long wait on the hill for the children until their turn. This time the organisers put something on the snow around the gates that made it much more icy and tricky, but again the boys did well and we were really proud of them. Jonathan got on with racing on the steep slopes eventhough this season he has been unwilling to leave the learner slopes; Peter has a natural ability to ski and showed good control not to miss gates; and Edward showed good perseverance to wait in yucky conditions for his turn which was much later as he was in an older group.
The rain continued after they had raced so we all skied a little while longer and then returned to the campsite. We got changed and headed for the Godley Hotel for the race results and prize-giving. All the competitiors got a certificate and goody-bag, but we were delighted to find that Peter had finished 4th! He was sooooo pleased with his medal and wanted to wear it to bed!
We got some take-away pizzas from Pepes and ate them in the tv room at the campsite, then it was off to bed for the boys. I finished a PD James book while Steve watched a movie.

Another trip to Tekapo

Friday 14th August: Cold and grey wth a chilly wind. This morning began with the usual piano lessons, which went well. The boys are very god and keeping themselves busy and quiet in the room while one of the others is having a lesson. We are at Ruth's house for over an hour but they enjoy hearing each other play. Usually they have maths to get on with, but as this week we aren't schooling they all chose something to take along and get on with. Edward loves origami so was busy folding boxes and birds; Peter was making a sticker picture of Kung Fu Panda characters; and Jonathan did some drawing and read a book.
We popped in home to drop off their books then scooted down to town to pick up some food shopping for the weekend. From 11am we were sat in the town raffle booth for an hour. Each Firday a charity or local group sits in a booth on the main street opposite the bank and sells tickets for a raffle it has organised the prizes for. Town is busy on a Friday and most passers-by will spend $2 on a page of numbers. Today's raffle was for the Playcentre. Edward was happily in charge of taking money and giving change, and Peter and Jonathan enjoyed chatting with customers.
At 12 we finshed there and rushed home for lunch and to pack the motorhome. The boys and I went off to Tekapo once we were ready. Once we got to Cave it was mild and sunny the rest of the way.
We set up camp at Tekapo and Peter found a deep muddy puddle by the motorhome (see photo) that he could not resist the temptation to wallow in. But then that's what wellies are made for! We all walked down to play on the lakeshore (see second photo) and collected some pine cones before cooking tea. The boys were off in bed by the time Steve arrived in the truck after work.

Drizzly in Waimate

Thursday 13th August: This morning was cool and drizzly. We went to Playcentre - the boys were disappointed they would not be able to go outside to play with the woodworking table. This is their favourite place because they get to use a real drill and saw and hammer and they feel really grown-up.
At 11 we rushed off to Oamaru. Once we crossed the Waitaki River the cloudy sky cleared and it was a mild and sunny day in Oamaru. I collected even more milk than before - 28 two-litre bottles today! The boys swimming went extremely well - they are so much more confident and capable in the water and are all progressing well. As usual they were able to stay on with the other homeschool children and play in the water for an hour after their lesson finished.
We drove back to Waimate, and as we passed the Waitaki River we were once more under dark cloudy skies and drizzle. We delivered the milk to Sharon, Anna and Gael and then headed on to the house to meet another decorator. On the way we stopped b a field of ewes and lambs. it is lambing time here and this field was filled with twins and the ewe looking at you in the photo has triplets.
The other photo shows you the current state of the kitchen, which can only improve in my eyes!
We went home for tea and got the boys ready for bed. I couldn't go to TKD this evening because earlier in the day Steve had admitted my babysitter's husband to hospital!

Recycling explained

Wednesday 12th August: Another cool grey day with some rain - this first in ages. At 9am we were at the house to meet the builder who needed to measure up for wallboard, and another painter/decorator. The boys played in the garden until the rain came down heavily. I raked up more wallpaper from around the house and moved large logs of wood into the woodshed to keep them out of the rain.
At 11am we headed for Timaru where we ordered the new cooker and fridge. The boys and I then had lunch at Subway, then as a treat I took the boys to Chipmunks - a soft play centre - for an hour.
We zipped back to Waimate in time for Keas. This week the children were on a visit to the Resource Recovery Park - in other words the recycling centre. I was parent help so Edward came along too, and they all really enjoyed it. We took along a box of things to recycle and the man there showed us how we could choose the box to put each thing in, showed the tin can crusher in action, and let the children throw lots of paper into the baler and showed them how it squashed the paper, also the conveyor belt where the staff sort the recycled items collected from the roadside collection into the right bins.
The photo shows Peter and Jonathan on the deck (sheltered from the rain) playing with their bows and arrows.

Grey and cool

Tuesday 11th August: Grey and cool. We went to the library first thing this morning and chose lots of new books as we haven't been for a few days. Then we headed out to the house and did even more wallpaper stripping. At lunchtime one of our neighbours called round to meet us as she had heard the boys playing in the garden so knew we were around.
In the afternoon the carpet fitter called round to measure up, then we took the wallpaper stripper back to the hire shop on the way back into town.
At bedtime we enjoyed more "Indian in the Cupboard" and then I had a gym club meeting to go to.
The photo is of yet another bonfire to burn the wallpaper and piles of rotten wood we find around the garden.