Chez Penny

It's hailing right now. Here. In France. Halfway to the South of France. In April. Nearly Summer.

What can I say - the weather is unpredictable. Often I think I would like to live in a Utopian country where the weather is known on a daily basis.  Always equable - neither too hot nor too cold. Where the rain falls gently - sufficient to fill rivers and streams but not enough to make it impossible to get from the car to the house door without being soaked. (Preferably at night, of course). Where the sun shines gently but persistently in summer on field and moor without ever being too hot for ones feet to touch the ground.

But who am I kidding?  This is not Camelot. And even Arthur had his problems, it seems. Problems...What problems do I have that could not be surmounted by a dozen or so knights of the round table galloping through Le Dorat, stopping at number 10 rue Robert Lapayriere, knocking on the door and demanding to know if the lady of the house would like some Round Table help with her labours.

Oh how I wish....

But no doubt you're eager to hear of my labours today.  Unaided by knights of the round table, although Sir Daniel of Radford has been giving of his precious time in order to supply magic potency to my kitchen.  In other words, he has connected up the hob and cooker (well the cooker will be done at the weekend) and finished the electrical sockets on the wall.

I, dear readers, have spent my time taking paint OFF yet another wall (how many walls does this place have, I hear you cry) and putting paint ON some sections of a lath and plaster partition, which now looks like this...



The bits that I painted today are just earth and straw and were b***dy difficult to paint as the earth had an affinity for the wet paintbrush and did not want to stay in the wall, but rather crumble into the paint tin.  In the end I just lightly skimmed over the left-hand two bits and hope this will hold the earth in place for further painting another day.

The wall that I have been stripping back is the bit behind the door into the room from the stairs - the last bit of wall to receive my ministrations.  I am removing the dark brown paint and some of the other layers underneath, by working along with a chisel.  This leaves it in a sort of mottled state, which I rather like...



I have a mind to leave it (once I have removed all the brown) in this mottled condition and simply polish it as if it were a precious plaster - or as is the modern method for 'posh' cement.  I am now searching for a video on how to do this, from You Tube.

These close-ups show you how interesting the 'new' colour is...





Another chapter to come...