A Stay at Home Day...

After the long and hot day in Paris, we were all a bit lazy to start with. After breakfast, that dozy feeling soon went away and we got on with ticking off some of the tasks in the 'Job Jar'.

Fellette jumped right back into the pruning scenario, [after two trips across the adjacent pasture to pick blackberries]. They were inside a stinging nettle patch but with wellies [gumboots] and long pants that was no obstacle.





Meanwhile my objective for the day was to assemble the lawn bench that I had been picking away at in between other tasks and a lot of 'outings'. I love doing work like that, even if it means using unfamiliar tools, a bit more challenging, that is all.




In the finished photo of the bench you may notice my masterpiece of attaching a new piece of wood that replaced a rotted patch, bottom left of the back. I dare not tell you how long that took. I was so proud that I have enclosed a close-up of it. [I warned you that our trips are not all nail-biting high drama!]

Later Ian and I removed sod and dirt for a new area for the bench to sit on, rather than the lawn.



Doing that is not my favourite type of work. Besides being hard-packed undisturbed earth for the last 2000 years the soil is full of flint rocks. You heard me, flint, like the stone-age man used. After scrapping it out, we sifted it, to get some useable soil. Good soil is scarce here.

We even went to the neighbour's front garden to get some of his excess flint from his rose bed because we need good flint stones for the garden bench to sit on. [Nothing is easy.]


Nonetheless we had a fruitful day and we feel good about helping to improve the gardens, possibly in some small way compensating our hosts for our rather lengthy home-stay here.

Meanwhile on the kitchen front, we have likely gained more weight here, than on the ship, as I told you, our hostess loves to cook.

Three more sleeps and we board the Silver Bird to whisk us across the pole and to home!