progress report

it's been awhile since i shared a progress report on the building project. here's what's going on right NOW, as we "speak:"

the floor in the new dining room is 2/3 finished.

they declared that they didn't want any lunch 'til it was done,

but have just changed their minds.

walls in the kitchen are painted (similar yellow to what they were)

oak window ledges went in yesterday.

the window sill near the stove is a bit wider so i can set the olive oil over there.

the glass cupboard has been moved over to this side.

and the backsplash tiles went in on tuesday.

soon i can settle everything into place in the kitchen.

we SHALL be done in time to party.

or at least done enough.

and now this moment...

the little builder avoids the paparazzi as she selects some wood

removing a nail

arranging it just so

and wacking in a nail with her own hammer that far got for her

quite possibly more than her grandfather is capable of. :-)

greenhouse shots

i am so loving this space...it just needs a table now. it smells heavenly thanks to all of the lemon tree blossoms. they're amazing!!!

hope sabin's tomato plant (seen lush and large on the right) is bearing many tomatoes when mom & dad arrive!! it also makes it smell wonderful in there!

not enough sense to come in out of the rain

the work proceeds in full panic mode with T minus five weeks and counting...

a little rain? just cover the drill with a plastic bag.

rafy is so practical.

check out husband's clothes. it's raining more than it shows in this pic.

thank goodness he got a haircut!

rafy's brother pavel continues to measure and cut despite the rain.

it's raining quite a lot more than shows in these pictures!

slag heaps

on the declared premise that a girl looks for a man who reminds her of her dad, husband burned all kinds of nasty stuff in a slag heap this afternoon:

bits of roofing

even screws and a pencil!

it's starting to be a real house!

i shall avoid typing too much and let these pictures of the writing house from yesterday speak for themselves. :-)

the world's most rugged greenhouse

we're building a greenhouse out front of our house.

it will have the same steep roof as our house.

we're trying to use as many recycled/repurposed materials as we can.

i made this brick mosaic floor in one end, using the leftover cut-up bricks from the building of our addition.  i hated for them to go to waste.

it's made of extremely thick beams and is dug into the ground in order to avoid problems with heights and distance from the property line and such things.

there are two beds built along the sides.

the sunken area (where i paved with the bricks) will house a little table and 2 chairs so you can sit in among the plants.

we're recycling these panels which used to be the terrace on the back of our house.

here is one of the panels in place.  we actually have two tomato plants already planted in the greenhouse, but otherwise there won't be that much there this year.

i did plant all of dahlias there (at bit late), so there should be flowers late summer.

next year there will be veggies of all kinds.

down at the end in the two corners we'll plant a peach and a kiwi tree, just for fun.

thinking happy thoughts

i know it's very nerve wracking with the flooding in CR, so i thought i'd post some happy thoughts pictures.  my beautiful new iMac, husband hard at work (with safety gear in place) on the greenhouse, and one of my beautiful peonies.  i hope things are less scary soon!!!