Temporary kitchen

This is how we're managing while kitchen work is ongoing. It's bigger than the caravan and we're managing quite well. The dust is the bugbear and makes having visitors a bit embarrassing. Funnily enough I had a letter from an as yet unmet distant relative asking me not to visit because she thought we sounded too posh! So I sent her back a little ditty which began:

If you could but come and see
The state in which we are
You wouldn't have an ounce of fear
That we were la-di-dah

Our kitchen has been gutted
The plan is for another
But because hubby is the workforce
It's quite a lot of bother.

The sink is in the laundry room
The cooker's out there too
The fridge is in the garage
There's heaps of work to do.


The style of the arrangement reminded me of another kitchen...............

Gutted

The kitchen is gutted and looks currently not that different to an African one, I think. Amazing what we achieve with paint and tiles to make a place look clean and new. The floor tiles are now down and according to HoF can never be replaced. Just the sort of statement to send me into a flat spin about whether we've chosen the Right Ones. I think our problem is that we don't want to be The Same but are not brave enough to be Different. How I would like to be daring and artistic and do something outstanding yet beautiful. In the end, I fear we have chosen Safe. Next hurdle is choosing worktop and tiles. We've learned that most of the expense seems to go on the unseen things, like the right adhesive.
I'm also gutted because in order to do two sessions of church volunteer work, manning a stand depicting an aspect of Easter, in a church, with others, to accompanied school children, I am supposed to get a CRB check. Can't quite work out why it bothers me. I think it's to do with an attitude that says we have to prove our innocence, lack of trust, state interference. Oh and lots more. Are we rearing a generation of children taught to fear adults? Is there a happy land anywhere this side of heaven where you don't need a police state to keep people in order?

Memories

Seems unbelievably long ago that we were in the sunny lands, what a strange thing time and travel are. Really we go too fast nowadays between places and it leaves me with a sort of jetlag even when there's been no time change. These are some of the sights, contrasting between the exotic and the mundane.

Those cactus are big.

View from my knees.

to prove HoF went in the water. Can you see him?

Cesar Manrique

This was our bit of culture. We went to the Cesar Manrique Foundation. He was an artist, born on the island, but lived away in Spain and New York, then eventually came back and lived once again on the island. He had a great influence on the place, and on laws such as only being able to only build two storey's high, and designed many of the most beautiful sites/sights incorporating the best of island vernacular with contemporary art.

This was his home and studio and is now used to exhibit works of art. The house itself is built on lava bubbles which are linked by tunnels and each has a different name. The one below is the red bubble and the pool is in the central one.

Porsches Galore

Lanzarote

Here we are basking in the sunshine and warmth and very glad to be having a great treat. And if you wondered who came too, here they are. By sheer coincidence, we booked holidays in the same place, though not the same resort. So we met up for tapas and a stroll by the sea. Today we went for a drive, just we two, to a green lake by the sea, across the volcanic landscape to an unsophisticated seaside village rich with colourful succulents, and then before dinner in the evening strolled the other way along 'our' seafront to the harbour of luxury yachts. Oh, and while we were out today we saw a flotilla of Porsches, quite amazing, alternate red and white, about thirty of them out for a promotional tour.

English Snow

Lots of lovely snow this week. News of which made it to the Canadian headlines! How strange. It hasn't affected us too much, and is actually warmer than the extremely cold temperatures at the weekend which did bother us, especially sitting through the rector's farewell concert in the draughtiest church in England.
Now we are on panic stations with the coming holiday as a deadline for kitchen renovations ( the kitchen is moving into the laundryroom temporarily and needs to complete it's move in time, cooker and sink yet to migrate), newsletter progress, packing and with the weekend gathering having hiccoughs (like there being no door at the mo on the chapel loo!)
Funny thing, we heard today that someone else you know is going to holiday in the same place as us.....

Somebody special is four today