The Barn.....Fixing the Holes
We had a month of rain and discovered to our horror that rain was coming into the barn on the south side above the stairs. As the damp spread we located the gap in the rendering where the beam over the stairs had been put in. Our great friend Antonio, did a great job of closing it up and refused to be paid. We also disovered a huge hole at the apex of the roof on the North side which our previous builders hadn´t closed when they did the roof. So Fraser climbed up once the rains stopped and the tiles had dried out, to remove the shuttering boards and fill it in. Not best pleased!!!
In the meantime one of the guys who was doing our tiling and painting had to have an afternoon off to go and kill his pig.....as ya do! Anyway the next day we were invited into the barn for lunch and discovered that they had grilled some of the free-range pork meat for us in the fire!! A great idea and the meat was amazing. 
I am almost converted to the idea of rearing my own pig now, but Fraser is rather dubious about the whole issue.So here a a few pictures of the barn so you can see the finished product.
Getting ready for solstice and preparing for our winter fires we decided that the time had come to sweep the chimney. We are still finding the traces of the resulting fine layer of soot dust all over the kitchen, despite our careful efforts to contain the soot during the sweep. Fraser had fun playing the role of sweep though and it was good to know it was done.
So then we were getting ready for Christmas and trying not to panic over the increasing power of the euro which has cut so much of our savings and made life that little bit more "interesting" in the Chinese sense of the word. I was delighted to find that, yes, I had really grown parsnips!!!!!!!! 
Not available here. Many of them are amusingly shaped but they still tasted good on Christmas day. 
As Christmas approached we were putting in final touches and managed to use the party room for our Boxing Day Open House. 
We emptied the house of furniture and decorations and had a lovely day with friends. 
So then we were getting ready for Christmas and trying not to panic over the increasing power of the euro which has cut so much of our savings and made life that little bit more "interesting" in the Chinese sense of the word. I was delighted to find that, yes, I had really grown parsnips!!!!!!!! Not available here. Many of them are amusingly shaped but they still tasted good on Christmas day. As Christmas approached we were putting in final touches and managed to use the party room for our Boxing Day Open House. We emptied the house of furniture and decorations and had a lovely day with friends. 
So it only remains for us to wish you all a great new year and hope you will continue to read the blog and come and see us so that you can be featured on it!!!!
