We spent yesterday painting one of the walls in the living room. The colour we finally chose looked completely different on each sample patch we painted, so in the end we chose the closest to what we wanted and slapped it on one of the walls. It looks good. On that wall, and that’s theContinue reading “Christmas Decoration”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Winter Solstice, at last
We have just thawed out after an evening singing Christmas songs and carols around a bonfire in the community wood. It was a good evening. It started with us walking down to the wood with lanterns and lighters and stakes to help light the way from the gate to the bonfire site, and finding aContinue reading “The Winter Solstice, at last”
It’s the Little Things that Matter
I admit, the picture above is an image from the excellent site Pixabay. Nothing quite so festive exists in our house at the moment. We’ve stalled on progress on getting our living room into order; the carpenters who installed the new living room floor advised us to leave it a week to let the oilContinue reading “It’s the Little Things that Matter”
A few days in Lynmouth
We’ve just had a few days’ holiday in Lynmouth, north Devon, to celebrate His Lordship’s 70th birthday. We’ve never been to Lynmouth before, though we did spend a week at Croyde Bay in the late 70’s. Camping. We aren’t that tough these days, especially in December. Don’t be fooled by the photo above, we’ve hadContinue reading “A few days in Lynmouth”
Floored
Our living room floor was a mess when we moved in. It’s a project that’s been waiting its time behind all the others – the leaky roof, the flaky render, the bowed studding, the drunken sailor of a fenceline, the complete lack of flues and chimney pots in the chimneys and the windows that wereContinue reading “Floored”
About wood and water
I had the chance to attend a woodland workshop last week, learning how to light bonfires and whittle spoons. It was fun, taking a small axe to a chunk of birch branch to take off the largest excess parts, then taking a small whittling knife to the wood to carve a more delicate outline, andContinue reading “About wood and water”
Festival Finale
This is the end, I promise, the very end of the Essex Book Festival 2021. Today was the big reveal on the Story Hunters project, the invitation to visit one of twenty nominated sites in Essex, take a photo of yourself to prove you were there and write a story of between 50 and 250Continue reading “Festival Finale”
The Green Man
I had a strange encounter last Saturday, and it’s taken me until now to decide whether to write about it. I doubt the man involved will ever read this blog, but I do worry about upsetting people by what I make public. I went to our community wood on Saturday to help plant the bulbsContinue reading “The Green Man”
Welcome a Board
Preparing the front room for the builders’ return with the new floorboards is a bigger task than we’d bargained for. The cement base for the tiled plinth around the fireplace seemed to have been built in several small chunks, and the old floorboards ran through the middle of one side, like an oak sandwich withContinue reading “Welcome a Board”
Cutting Edge
It was an odd weekend. We’d been so focussed on arriving on time for my aunt’s funeral that I’d put to one side the fact that I’d volunteered for the committee for my local woodland trust, with the first meeting due for this Sunday. While I was on holiday, the call for all hands wentContinue reading “Cutting Edge”
Julia Chalkley 