The Donated House

Anna and I got some way on the back porch (after much procrastination) but then unfortunately her Grandmother in Italy died and she had to head off in a hurry. Our thoughts are with her and her family. The porch will await her return.

Yesterday was quite overwhelming and I was having a bit of a down moment, when, as if from heaven, my neighbour Antony arrived with his digger and asked if we’d like a driveway built.

It was a scary moment because I, while ostensibly being in charge, had no idea what the right way to go about it was. But Antony’s done this sort of thing before and was happy to take away the excess topsoil as well as pushing around the bits in order to form the sloped drive we need.

It was really exiting to watch, and we found a bit of large scale treasure in the form of two old milk churns, cast aside who knows how many years ago and left under enough leaf fall and junk to become topsoil on top of them.

The slab of concrete Anna painstakingly uncovered has now been broken up and taken away.

And this is as far as we got yesterday; not far enough to constitute a drive yet, but not all that far off. I need to get a bit more of the lower level ready, and then we can figure out where to rebuild what walls to hold it all in place and make it beautiful.

Anyway, in other news, Balthazar is becoming less of a kitten and more of a cat, at least in appearance, but shows very little sign of growing up in personality. Bit of a teenager.

But he’s really got the cute thing going on. And knows how to work it.

Balthazar has been given the post of personal assistant and is making Elmo’s job easier in any way he can.

We finally finished making and hanging the clothes airer above the stove. Between it and the mangle it’ll be much easier to do the odd bit of laundry without having to lug it all to Barnsley and plan carefully who gets to do theirs which week.

I went on a walk yesterday and took this picture of the local horse and the sun on Todmorden, only it didn’t turn out looking like sun. It was, I swear. Every rooftop was gleaming with the recent rain, making the town look like a shining beacon.

I spent today trimming the bottoms of my bowls and two jugs, and adding fancy bits to the jugs.

Most of the day was about setting my pieces upside down on the wheel and shaving off quite a lot of their bulk, forming a “foot” in the process. It was quite fun and let me improve the proportions of them, since they were a bit bulky as they were. I only accidentally shaved right through the bottom of one piece, and Heidi helped me repair it.

I also added handles and decorations to the two jugs. The other one is not as fancy as this one.

I don’t know when the next session will be, depends on when Heidi is available, but there’s only the glaze left to do. I’m so excited to see them finished.

Anyway, more importantly, here’s a video of Balthazar being really cute.

Well, one kitten. We went to the shelter today and got a friend for Lily.

We’ve called him Balthazar (Anna’s idea) and he’s adorable. He’s black at first glance but quite tabby-stripey if you turn him upside down, which he doesn’t mind at all.

We were after a cuddly cat, since Lily is not at all about laps or even curling up next to you or being held for very long at all. He seems to be quite a tart, lapping up all the attention he is offered. Lily is less impressed, predictably, but she’s tolerating him and she’ll come round, I’m sure.

Lizzy, who is suffering from long-term cat withdrawal after the loss of her two cats recently and the non-suitability of her new house for a new cat, has very much taken to him. We are pleased to provide a surrogate cat service.

Meanwhile, we got the stump out of the hole, with the help of the German volunteers.

We tried to aim it toward the top of the possible landing area, and I’m glad we did because it rolled a long way. If we’d aimed any lower I think it would have taken out the porch supports as well as the flower bed.

It’s now been rolled over to the fire pit and will form the backdrop of many a lovely fire.

Anyway…   KITTENS!!!

I’ve spent the day doing wheel pottery with my friend Heidi at her pottery studio in Derbyshire.

I made ten bowls (well, eight bowls and two things that turned out to be better jugs than bowls, which I later fashioned spouts for and will make handles for later.

Some of it was pretty wonky, but for a first go in 22 years, having only really had a few goes in high school, I was pretty damn smug when I was finished. We’ll see how they are after glazing etc.

Anna made her special lasagna the other night, which was amazing. Unfortunately the second photo is a bit blurry, but it was worth seeing it in all its glory. Delicious.

Our German volunteers have been working on the driveway, removing stones and topsoil from where we don’t want it. Almost time to call in the machines.

Nora picked some reeds from the wet bit of the lawn and made a basket. She said they were much better to work with after drying for a day.

And they’ve all been working hard on the clearing of the back corner of the plot, as well as the turning over of the future vegetable plot.