Happy Halloween/Samhain ......
We went into CB to buy the electrical stuff to wire up the studio/workshop for lighting ready for the first spinning group meeting on Thursday.
While we were in Lidl I bought a bag of sweets for any 'trick or treaters' that might come to the quinta (well the Portuguese equivalent that they do on 1st Nov, All Saint's Day), Brett says I'm wasting my time and money!!!
1st November
All Saint's Day
Of course we didn't get and 'trick or treaters'!
Brett continueded the wiring whilst I rearranged the studio so that I have the table for electrical tools (solder iron, light box, grinder etc) close to the plug sockets - it actually looks much more spacious now.
I keep trying different ways to use the milk kefir - I find it rather acidic in shakes and cream cheese; today I made it into cheesecake (happy Brett).
By the end of the day I had usable lights (happy me!).
2nd November
Day of the Dead
I made chocolate fridge cake (for spinning club), chicken liver pate (for taking to dinner at P&M's on Friday), barbecued ribs (for tonight's dinner).
I leaded up my latest roundel (the one with a slice of agate); hopefully I'll have time to solder it tomorrow.
The Kefir cheesecake is actually ok (as I made it lemony anyway), so at last I've found a way to use milk kefir. Fortunately I really like the water kefir.
3rd November
Brett wired up the sockets in the workshop/studio ready for the arrival of the generator.
We had a few last minute cancellations for spinning and ended up with six participants (well five participants and Lola who came for the gossip and wine!) - me, Mary, Sasha, Jo & Karina. It was a jolly meeting we all (not Lola) managed to spin some wool with a potato and knitting needle. As Jo doesn't drink alcohol I gave her water kefir; after drinking a litre she was drunk!!!! It's less than 0.5% alcohol (sorry Jo!).
Brett had a male gathering, in the house (Vince, Chris and two sons); it was gone midnight when people left.
4th November
Heavy rain; we took the afternoon off, lit the range and watched a film 'Anomalisa' - weird!
We, along with Thomas & Diane, were invited to dinner at P&M's unfortunately Diane's car broke down so they couldn't come (we did offer to pick them up).
Pam had sorted all her surplus clothes to sell ready for their move, I got first choice - I spent 50€.
5th November
Karina knows of a knitting machine for sale, so we (Karina, Jo and me) went to look at it. It turned out it was being sold by an English woman (Anna) in Medelim. Unfortunately it couldn't cope with our homespun wool, so I'm a bit undecided (Karina and Jo are keener); I would be very interested in a spinning wheel though!
6th November
It's getting decidedly chilly overnight.
Jo & Gordon need some fencing doing while they are away, we took Chris to meet them this morning and talk about the job. Came away with lunch - two parasol mushrooms.
Lazy day today as Brett is working for Annika Monday and Tuesday.
7th November
Ice on the animal's water this morning.
I spent most of the morning cleaning out the fridge; Brett keeps complaining there's no space in there (it's all my milk kefir, water kefir grains and various preserves he's actually moaning about!). Anyway I threw lots out (well in the pig bucket) so it's quite roomy now.
I had an email from our estate agents asking us to contact Utility Warehouse re an unpaid bill. I phoned UW, of course they wouldn't give me any particulars, as the bill isn't in our name, but they're inferring that our last tenants left with outstanding debts. Now WE have to send UW all kinds of paperwork, to prove we're not liable for the debt and to make sure the service isn't interrupted as we have a new tenant being vetted atm.
8th November
Another icy start to the day. Brett working.
Horrible finish to the day ......
9th November
Well we weren't expecting that ..... Trump being elected as President of USA (rather like Brexit!).
It was bookclub today, but I didn't go, as I wasn't feeling sociable.
10th November
Jo & Gordon treated us to lunch at O Cave, I ate far too much (soup and bread roll, squid, chips and salad, fruit salad (which I left) and coffee - phew I was full (7€ a head everything included - I could have had a lite of wine too!).
I spent several hours shelling the walnuts that Lola gave us, it's a jolly long winded job.
This evening I tried out the long looms that Pam and I bought ages ago - I'm making some leg warmers.
11th November
I cut a linoprint design (3 plates) for this year's Christmas card and started printing it up.
12th November
Twelve Christmas cards printed and another design (using gelli plate) started -I LOVE MY STUDIO!!!!!
We were contemplating going to the wine and liqueur festa in San Migel De Acha this evening, but, as we were eating dinner, it started raining heavily - and that made our decision!
13th November
I don't like to tempt fate but ..... it's the 3rd month of hunting and Sundays have been blissfully quiet so far.
We went to the carboot sale (as customers not sellers), it was very small; same bric a brac we've seen before, plus a food stall and preserve stall - bought nothing. But I have bartered a nuno felt stole for a stained glass panel!
Carried on with Christmas cards.
14th November
Brett at work
Karina and Emily came to pick up some of our Muscovy ducklings; as we were catching them I got a nasty wound on my little finger (muscovy's have sharp claws on their feet), it bled for ages (and is rather painful).
This evening we volunteered to take Judith and her dog to the vet's in Penamacor ....... after we'd been waiting for about 10 minutes (you have to arrive early) a man turned up to say the vet wouldn't be coming as he's in Argentina.
15th November
Brett at work.
I had a long list of chores to do including sending all the necessary paperwork to the estate agents; I needed to print a risk assessment form off the internet - typically, today, the internet stopped working! But I did do the washing, make bread
16th November
Bloody estate agent, every year they ask us for more and more information (never keeping a copy of what they've already had) today I posted a letter that weighed 65g (4 stamps) and we use thin paper! They needed proof that we owned the house (they've been letting it out for us for 4 years!), 2 proofs of identity for Brett, risk assessment for Legionella, electrical certificate, insurance certificate, energy efficiency rating (or whatever it's called) certificate for the house, two page form filled in re all other information needed, it just went on and on, makes me very cross .......
17th November
Bloody sheep!!!! I was feeding them this morning, they had an altercation and somehow I got bashed in the side of my knee - now I can hardly walk!
Today was a bitter sweet day; we said goodbye to a friend who died last week. His ashes were scattered at his quinta. We had a nice little informal ceremony; his family said a few words, we toasted his memory and went for a meal.
My goodness be careful what you put on social media. Our estate agents wrote to us today with links to our prospective tenant and her boyfriend's Facebook pages; they have told massive lies on their application form and the estate agents 'strongly advise' that we don't approve their application unless certain conditions are met.
18th November
Brett is building a shed at the front of the house to house our solar equipment and a freezer.
I work on Christmas cards whilst limping a lot.
These are gelliprints not lino prints (the Merry Christmas is on a different card!)
Obviously ditto!
19th November
We got rid of some more Muscovys, so now they all fit in their shed - it was getting quite a squeeze.
Brett watched rugby so I spent my time in the studio on a new linocut which I hope I will be able to use on glass (if the new generator ever arrives!!!!!) and paper/card.
20th November
I heard two shots in the distance .......
Raining more or less all day. I worked in the studio while Brett cooked lunch, then we watched Briget Jones's Baby - very predictable! And this evening we watched The Girl on the Train - not as good as the book.
21st November
Gloomy, rainy, no solar charging going on .......
I printed some greeting cards (from my new linocut) for my craft stock.
22nd November
The generator arrived today, all 170 kilos (that's 374lbs) of it! And we had to get it off our truck. Fortunately we bought a block and tackle the other day (in preparation for pig butchering) which made the process quite easy.
The solar shed floor is concreted; it won't take Brett long to build the walls. He'll finish the boiler shed at the same time - which means soon we could have a proper shower!!!
Some dastardly critter has eaten all our goose eggs! Mrs Goose has been laying eggs in her nest (the same nest she was flooded out of last time she tried to sit); last count there were ten eggs in there. After I had put them away this evening I looked to see if she'd laid any more and the nest was empty. Something has taken at least ten eggs; there were no shells or debris left, just an empty nest.......
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