Say allo to the aloe(s) in the barrow :D :

(Notice the very clean stones on the ground)
Latest addition to the office – glass to be used as whiteboard-y thing:

To follow, maybe: photo behind it.
Oops!
Took these photos at least a week ago, but things have been a bit mental around here what with new floors and ceiling insulation and new curtains.
In time-honoured teaser style I bring you photos of none of this but instead: plants! (Pics of awsome dark red cinema curtains and stuff to follow)
Now snuggly nuzzling above the cooker.
Construction by Jo.
Corks by many friends. And us.
In other news: things are afoot in Casa Wrensch.
We are prepping for winter by having Mr Lovely Curtain Guy in (both him and his curtains are Lovely) throwing curtains up all around the lounge.
Last winter was a little bit chilly.
We are also having Cool Builder Guy come back to do various little things.
Nothing as epic as the original renovations – just some fix-ups and stuff. Mainly the dry-rotted floor (mutter, grumble).
Plants! Loads of them. New ones.
Ambassador Kosh. Hallway plant extraordinaire:
Ficus. Was unhappy in the front garden, so we put it in a red thing. Now it happy :) .
Frangipani. Came to the house as a leafless stick, from Casa Tanya (thanks!)
Two new climby jobbies – on the tree, and on the pergola (Wisteria o’ Doom! Growing at a sillyfast pace).
Middle of the succulent patch, finally filled: yay!
Close-up of the amazing airbabymaker:
Along the edges of the leaves, it grows little babies. The babies grow roots, then they fall off and plunge the roots into the ground. They grow up so fast… *sniff*
The Amazing Miracle Tree TM:
Hopefully Parfles will correct me if I’m wrong, but this thing is about a year old and it’s already over 2m tall. Holy leafy goodness, Batman!
And now for some furniture.
2nd-hand bench, painted and shinied by Parfles:
Beautiful (and comfortable) bench bought for us by Eck (thank you!):
Screen for outside shower, made from old shutters, painted and installed by Parfles, with unexpected finishing help from Jean, on Sunday.
Apologies for the low-level commentary.
Work crazy!
Me crazy!
Mad people crazy!
It’s crazy!
There was comedy of errors (without the comedy) following the initial construction of the pergola.
In summary: the quality of the finishings was sub-standard and we asked them to redo it.
In fact, they’re still coming back once a week (sometimes less frequently) for an hour or so to add another layer of varnish / give it sand / etc.
It’s gone beyond annoying into ridiculous now, and we still have half their money (payment due on completion), so we don’t mind if they take their time.
Enough whinging. Behold, shady thing:
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Yay!
Also behold the continued sproingyness of the garden and the daisyness of the daisylawn.
Huzzah!
The sprunging in the garden is most pleasing.
Some front garden action:
[Compare this to just a few months ago: yoinks!]
And a quick bit of back garden goodness:
[compare with April, and when we planted the lawn plug wotsits: yoinks!]
This whole “being outside and doing stuff” might catch on…
Winter time has meant mostly snuggles and fires at Casa Wrensch but now that the weather is clearing up, stuff is happening again. The garden is looking fabulous – things are going sprout! I’ll try and snap some pictures at the weekend.
In the meantime, please say hello to Mr Chalk, the newest addition to the kitchen:
[click to embiggenate]