Friday, April 30, 2010

Large Leca sacks and iron oxide pigments arrive

Just a couple of quick videos today. We have been manically painting for the last fortnight, as you know, with paint made from 18 month old slaked lime. Each wall needs at least 4 to 6 layers and we have a lot of walls. Arms are a bit tired as you can imagine. The tiles for the bathroom and kitchen walls and the slate for all the ground floors should be delivered this afternoon too. So next week we'll be tiling and laying floors and building walls to support the granite worktops. Not long to go now before we're in.





(In the vid above I promised to link to the blog post where Von started slaking the lime way back in November 2008 "Horses and Nuclear Waste Monkey Suits")

Von's mum Arlene finally made it on a plane back to London last weekend after the craziness of Iceland's revenge on the rest of Europe. It was so lovely to have her for one more week enjoying the grandchildren and the gardens and the cooking. Come back soon Mum.

Josh and I are off to play our first cricket game of the season tomorrow. We'll post up some video action of the boy. All very surreal. A delightful white picket fenced cricket field in the middle of the Portuguese countryside about 2 hours drive south of here with a real multicultural bunch of fanatics messing about with a bit of leather and some willow. Can't wait.

While we're away, Eli and Von will be at home having fun with the new iron oxide pigments making deliciously coloured wall paints. (I tried to make that sound like there might be some kind of equilibrium or reciprocity in this weekends' activities, but failed miserably. The boys will in fact be playing while the girls are working. "But Cricket is so much more than just a game ma cherie...")

Toodaloo. Té já.

Memphis

2 comments:

Alice said...

wow... I stumbled across your blog (and then some of your old blog) last night and I just wanted to say hi. In 2008 we set off on a similar journey... me and my husband, our young daughter and our dog in a camper around France, Spain and Portugal after selling our house and giving up our jobs. For many reasons, last year we returned to England but we now live a very different life to that which we once knew, on a boat on the waterways. However, our hearts still ache for Portgual, which is a place we fell in love with. We hope that at some point we will have our own space there in the mountains, but for now this is where we need to be and so we're trying to live as creative and kind a life as we can while here in England. Anyway, I'm waffling! I just wanted to say hi and tell you that it's really great to see what you're doing and that I admire your decisions and will be watching your journey with interest. ~ Alice

The Winters said...

Thanks Alice. If you ever want to come out and see this part of the mountains in Portugal and look around for places to buy let us know. We will be delighted to help. More writers, more creatives, more children, more loved dogs, yes please!

Memphis.