The calm before the storm

Metaphorically speaking of course. What I mean is that next week will be a very busy one, with decorating to do, a carpet to be fitted and a laminate floor to be laid. So this week is relatively quiet, or at least as quiet as it ever gets around here.

So to round up what I have been up to,

I made bread, a white sourdough loaf with 20% oatmeal (200g of oatmeal to 1000g flour) for our sandwiches and toast. I have a lot of oatmeal to use up as I ordered 10kg for use in Well Bread and never used it all. The price was reasonable and Yvonne can always use the rest in the bath!!
    
The loaf came out nicely, I made two and one has gone already.

Wednesday was foggy, as I discovered on my walk around Sharkham, it came in quickly as you can see,

Fog was the one thing I didn't like in my 40-year seagoing career. You could deal with just about anything else because you could see what was happening. But you never knew what was in fog, even if you were in the middle of the ocean with nothing about. And when I moved into pilotage, close work in the River Thames and its locks and creeks it could make a docking manoeuvre interesting. Once I went into Tilbury lock in a small vessel and the first sight I had of the lock was when I landed the ship on the lock wall. I did it all on the radar and lost about a gallon of sweat in the process!!

I don't miss that at all.

As you might remember I decorated the spare room, well I've now put the new quilt on the bed. 

I like that one.

The next decorating job is the hallway, landing and stairs. I have the paint and the laminate floor for the hallway.

and the carpet is coming on Thursday next week. So I have till then to remove all the pictures and decoration and paint the ceiling, walls and skirting. (after trimming the old carpet)

Then next Friday I can lay the floor.

Meanwhile, the writing is coming on, my cover artist has done me a superb proof which I will share with you as soon as I get a high-res version, it looks superb though and will stand out anywhere. I'm getting on with my next project as well, the sequel to Ribbonworld is 33% complete. All the plot is in place, it just needs fleshing out.

Finally, my fruit trees are waking up from their slumbers and blossom is starting to appear, I hope we have as good a year for fruit as we did last year.

I have also cleared a large pile of rubbish from under the tree house. The whole thing needs repair as the tree has grown since my predecessor built it (he nailed it to the tree) but underneath is now a gravel patio where we can sit and drink coffee when it isn't raining.