Over the finish line at last

Who needs a take-away when we can have delicious home-made curry and naan bread?

With the weight lifted off our shoulders, N and I are now able to chill a little.  There has been a bottle of bubbly (and a slight fuzzy head in the morning - oh dear, always seems such a good idea at the time!) and a lovely home-cooked curry, a few phone calls to cancel accounts, paperwork to be checked and filed away - but mostly just taking things easy at last.  The flat has finally been sold. 

There are many, many projects and jobs to keep us busy and occupied through the autumn and winter, but we intend to take our time, just pottering along.  Yesterday, with the weather still holding well, we were back in the garden.  The task of bringing order back into the garden is going to take a while, and is a bit daunting if I'm honest, but it will be one step at a time, and we will enjoy ourselves as we tackle it.  

So Saturday found me wielding lump-hammer and chisel as I did battle with some cemented-in brickwork (it is no longer there - it didn't stand a chance with me in demolition-mode).  It is so satisfying to get stuck into something like that.  My thumb now sports a plaster (*sigh*) but the area has been cleared and is ready for N to fill the hole with a bit of concrete.  Just clearing that small patch has opened up the whole area, making it far more accessible than it was previously.

Today N has been sorting out the various pots dotted around the garden, moving some plants into the greenhouse ready for winter and just generally having a bit of a clear up outside.  A little more order has been achieved.  

A couple of weeks' ago we bought a wicker laundry basket from a charity shop.  It was a bit dusty and dirty, and the seat cover needed recovering, but nothing that we couldn't fix, and at £3, a good buy to replace our present basket which is on it's last legs.  I have given it a thorough clean (laundry liquid and warm water), and allowed it to dry naturally outside.  The old seat cover was removed, the foam interior washed and dried, and today I made a new cover from some old curtains I had in my stash.

  

The revamped basket is now in our bedroom, clean, smart and ready to double-up as a spare chair if needed.

Tomorrow we will start on the 'snagging' - all those little bitty jobs that need to be done to finish each room off.  Again we will take our time, and if the weather continues to stay dry, no doubt we will be outside more than inside.  That's fine by me.