One of the best purchases I think we've made this year is this portable cement mixer (the red thingy at the top right of the picture). Saves on poor aching muscles trying to get that stuff mixed properly!!
This is an entrance from one of the sides.
Here's the back of the fireplace. You can see where Nigel is adding the rock. This wall looks rather plain here, but Nigel planted a small "kitchen garden" in front of it (located between the wall and the front of my studio). I'll try to take photos this weekend and show everyone. We have tomato plants (I just picked two large red ones about an hour ago!!), basil, bell peppers, mint, squash, and sweet pepper. Lovely because it's very small, easily accessed and therefore easily taken care of, and close to the kitchen! Yes, I realize I don't cook anymore, but who has to cook when you can just pick fresh veggies and eat them! YUM!!
Here's the front of the fireplace, with the two "wood boxes" (i.e., boxes that will hold wood for burning in the future). Those slabs on top of each "box" are massive! I had to tease Nigel. He actually made them too thick - and therefore MUCH heavier - than necessary. But working together, I actually helped him get them in place! Okay, okay.....I only helped a little and probably got in the way more than anything else, but I still helped a little. Besides, it was great fun teasing him because his work is usually flawless; nice to know he's a "mere mortal" like the rest of us!
Hope you're all having a lovely evening! Me - I'm enjoying the peace and solitude of an empty house and listening to the rain outside. Absolutely blissful, especially this time of year!
May God Bless, Jan
