The idea had been that we would spend the bulk of the weekend doing Useful Things in the garden, but a couple of very heavy rain showers on Saturday, mid-morning, made us re-think. The Builder did get up and do a few handy things on the allotment before the showers, but I turned my attention to the lounge room.
You may remember that a few weeks ago we took everything off the book shelves in the alcoves in the lounge room. They had been up since we moved in seven years ago, and there they had sat, undisturbed, untended and, above all, unvarnished! Not only were they very dusty when we looked at them recently, but they also proved impossible to clean. So The Builder took them all down, took them outside, sanded them down and varnished them. Then he put them back.
And that was pretty much as far as it went. Everything that had been peacefully sitting on them was now peacefully sitting on the floor and on the couch.
In the meantime, I had been pondering getting rid of the drinks cabinet that the previous owner had left behind, and generally having a sort out of the furniture. Saturday seemed as good a day as any to get around to it. (It is possible that my mind might also have been focused by the arrival next Sunday of some lunch guests, not to mention the arrival in October of some house guests!)
So. We've sorted out all the books. We've got rid of the drinks cabinet. We took the couch upstairs into the spare room and brought down the big, squishy leather chair that Mrs Hallam also left when she moved out. We've shifted around the bookcases. We've cleaned and sorted. I haven't quite sorted out where to put the library books and a few other things - and we have found a plastic bag with books in belonging to The Builder which are about a million years old which I have yet to sort out. But it's not looking too bad:
Sunday we actually got out into the garden, although our grand plans were thwarted not by the weather but by the fact that the garden waste bin is once again absolutely full. And we can't compost the weeds because they're pernicious ones that would simply take over our compost heap, and thence the whole known universe! So we had some Sunday wine and sat outside in the sunshine for a bit. And then repaired inside and ate baked trout (provided by our neighbour Steve who quite often passes a brown or rainbow trout over the fence when he's been out fishing). It was a very frugal Sunday Repast indeed. Free trout, accompanied by potatoes, beans, peas, carrots and zucchini from the garden and allotment, and followed by stewed fruit from the garden.
I have now started turning out the dresser in the dining room. Anyone have any need for about a million drinking glasses?
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