Stairs at last!!

The stairs arrived on the last day of October, almost 2 years to the day after we spent our first night in the house after living in the caravan for 6 months.  What a milestone!  We had to wait until now to get all the plaster-board upstairs and get the floors laid in the hall (tiles) and the landing upstairs (pine boards).  Anyway, two guys arrived at about 8am and finished the installation about 6pm, at which point Judy took the first step.

We almost couldn't remember what they were supposed to look like, but they're made of ash wood with brushed steel balustrade.

And the view from above shows that each tread has its own angle as part of the turn from top to bottom.

We really like it as it has transformed the house.  And we've even installed the doors between the hall and the living space.

Bedroom 3 is also finished, although the cupboard has neither shelves nor doors yet.

That's Tuesday's job after fitting the shelves and doors to the cupboard on the landing on Monday.

Judy is in Wales with Nicky as Glyn is back at sea until mid-December.  Baby Bryony is doing as well as can be.  Judy flies back on Thursday, then we have the big walking, eating and drinking event here (La Flamme d'Armagnac) after which we drive back to the UK, originally planned so that we could be there at the birth!

Anyway, stairs and spare bedrooms means we're now open for visitors!

News, news, news!

First, the surprising news

October came around with phone calls back and fore to Nicola as she was really suffering with her pregnancy.  High blood pressure, sickness and eventually a diagnosis of pre-eclampsia.  Then it all went horribly wrong and an emergency caesarian was performed so we had a beautiful 10 week early little girl called Bryony who weighed in at just over 1kg.

I flew over immediately leaving Chris here to hold the fort (we had hoped for the new staircase to arrive but that didn't happen).  Fortunately Glyn was back home, just made it by a few days, so he was able to see the birth.  At the moment all is well, Nicky is recovering and Bryony is a little fighter and is holding her own.  She's breathing on her own and taking food so we're all optimistic.  I'm back in France for 2 weeks then back to UK as Glyn is going back to sea.   Then I have to come back here so that we can drive the car over and be there for Christmas.  It's all go.


August was very hot and we sweated over getting the stairwell painted and the floors laid up and down so that we could be measured exactly for the staircase, and finishing the downstairs loo aided and abetted by Jill who was staying for a week or two while Andy was playing boats.  She also varnished all the cupboard doors we had bought in Trago Mills.  What a star!  Fortunately we have a friend with a pool so when it got too hot that was where we repaired.

All sorts of events happen in August including the Medieval evening, where Chris helped cook (over 300) duck and Judy served the shallots to go with the chicken (also about 300). Three days later it was the Fete at which Chris cooked bacon, sausage and burgers all night getting home at 5 in the morning - they know how to party!

Towards the end of August Keith and Julia came to stay and while helping us fell some dead trees

 Keith came off the ladder and ended up in hospital

with a fetching corset just like the one I had last year only bigger. We also had other friends visit and one to stay for a weekend so were not hanging around doing nothing. The insurance company eventually repatriated Keith and Julia but not the car so Chris and I drove in convoy to Santander so that their daughter could come over on the ferry and pick up the car.  We then spent a very nice week camping in the area - to be recommended.

September seemed to pass very quickly with the trip to Santander and getting bedroom 3 sorted. We featured in a local rag - the integrated Brits - so that was a talking point locally.

The bad news was that the little restaurant at the bottom of our hill which did the best value working mens' lunch in the area, has closed.  It has apparently been sold so we are waiting for a grand reopening so that we can continue with large and liquid lunches.

Hopefully we will have bedroom 3 finished, stairs in and the grass sown before we leave but who knows?
Really looking forward to having Bryony home and spending a Christmas 'en famille' with Glyn's parents as well.  So, busy practising the eating and drinking and trying so see as many people as possible before we disappear for Christmas.

On that note a Happy Christmas to one and all and will update in the New Year.

Work, birthday, anniversary and surprise

We've been back home in France for nearly 2 months now.  We've been working hard at getting the upstairs finished so that we can have the staircase installed in September/October.  So we've done the wiring and plaster-boarding in bedroom 3, and the landing and corridor upstairs.  Then we paid someone to do the stairwell because it was too high and difficult for us.  We've got the hall, stairwell, landing all done so now we have to wait for the floor tiles to arrive and be laid before we can get the final measurements for the stairs.  What a change that will be not having to go up and down ladders for everything!

We've also been doing the downstairs loo which is now a delicate shade of violet - quite bright!

In mid-June we went back to the UK to celebrate Judy's father's 90th birthday.  



The party was at Nicky's house in North Wales and her brother came from Ireland, one sister from Spain and the other from Cambodia.  Grandchildren and other offspring all arrived too so it was a full family get-together. 

 

And the cake was amazing!
 
 
 When we arrived we had a huge surprise - Nicky is pregnant!!!  We're all very happy about this, but there was a down-side.  Nicky was very ill and had been in hospital twice because she was so badly dehydrated with the vomiting.  Glyn had to go back to his ship just after the party so we stayed on an extra week to play nursemaid, housemaid and animal carers.  But all is well now and we'll be back in December for the birth and Christmas en famille.

It was also our 40th wedding anniversary while we were there and we had a weekend of parties set up that we had to cancel.  But we had also booked a couple of days in Carcassonne with friends who also had their 40th in early July. 

So we stayed in an expensive hotel and dined superbly at a Michelin 2-star restaurant (Le Parc).  

 

Liked Carcassonne although the chateau was a bit too well restored more like a Disney castle, but the old town was more interesting

 
and there was an art trail to follow, 
 

and circus in the square one evening.
 

 Then back to work on the house during the heatwave, fetes and things to help at and enjoy.  Friend Jill is here at the moment and is having to wave a paintbrush as well and do helpful things like the ironing but we're managing some outings as well.  Off to play tennis now so 'a bientot'

 

 

 

 

Big bits of the USA, and the end of the trip

The next stunning scenery was at Arches National Park, so named because of the amazing rock arches including the Landscape Arch

 and the iconic (it's the symbol of Utah) Delicate Arch where we arrived all alone for a few minutes.

 We had stayed at Monticello in the Blue Mountain Motel (good) but shopped in Moab (very expensive to stay) then headed off to Monument Valley.

On the way we detoured to Hovenweep, a 13th century Pueblo Indian settlement with great ruined stone buildings

and a bright (colour) lizard.

We had booked (the only thing we had booked in advance) a 3-hour horse ride in Monument Valley (John Wayne country) for Judy's birthday treat even though it was Chris' birthday.

It was great, visiting placed where no vehicles could go.

We woke up on the morning of Chris' birthday in a traditional Navajo 'hogan'
 that looks like a mud hut from the outside

 

but is a beautiful bit of woodwork inside covered with soil for protection and insulation.  Probably our most basic stay but we were served with cooked brekkie.

On to the big one - the Grand Canyon - which was as superb as expected.  After an early start from Monument Valley, despite it being C's birthday, we arrived late morning then hiked down the South Kaibab Trail. Oh wow, oh wow!

Accommodation was horrendously expensive so stayed about 25 miles south and enjoyed steaks for dinner - the first time we had dined out.  The next morning we went to Hermit's Rest and walked down to Santa Maria springs where we rested in a superbly appointed hut and met a group who had hiked up from the bottom - 5 hours!  It was about 3 miles down and then back up again for us.  Great scenery all the way.

The last weekend in May is Memorial weekend, a national holiday with the start of the school holidays with everyone out and about, so we decided to head for Phoenix because everywhere in the countryside was awfully expensive.  Could only get as far as Flagstaff and the first motel we tried wanted 129$ for a  basic room!  Eventually found somewhere cheaper and then a great Indian take-away.,  Not impressed by Flagstaff, even though there was a free concert in the square.

Went via the 89A to Sonora (grossly over-rated) which we drove straight through to avoid the tourist traps and on to Cottonwood (grossly under-rated)

where we had a coffee, resisted the temptation for great food, had a really pretty walk along the river then visited two nearby Pueblo Indian sites.

We had booked a hotel in Phoenix - what a great deal!  Almost the cheapest stay of the trip in a Marriott Residence with a pool, and an apartment with kitchen.  Arrived, headed to the pool and met an extended family who plied us with alcohol!  Who needs more for a holiday weekend??

Don't normally do slobbing about poolside, but really enjoyed it for a couple of days.  Managed a walk up Camelback Mountain, a really rugged climb in the middle of Phoenix which sprawls a long way.

Then slowly to San Diego, stopping to see some masses of petroglyphs at 'Painted Rock' should have been called painted rocks there were so many.

and across the desert

with an overnight stop at Yuma in the far south-west of Arizona.  Here we spent J's birthday meal by the pool - the magic 64 (exchanged the cottage on the Isle of Wight for a house in France) This was great value, a much bigger and more interesting place than we had thought, and has a huge siphon of water under the Colorado River to irrigate the very fertile valley. It has great historical value as it's the narrowest crossing of the Colorado and so has been used and settled for hundreds of years. We saw fields of crops and masses of hay-fields al the way through the desert.  A massive change of use and environment.

San Diego has a great maritime museum with ships and submarines.  

Balboa Park is the home of lots of museums and galleries (we resisted the temptation) and great gardens too.

Decided to spend our last weekend on the beaches between San Diego and LA, so headed north through La Jolla where there were more seals and sea-lions and found a good beach and a cheap motel not too far away.

For the benefit of anyone else considering a trip in the USA, travel is very easy and motels are cheap with a continental breakfast often included.  We always went for one with a microwave and fridge (typically about $50-60 a night) so that we could largely self-cater and found plenty of good supermarkets, even some that only sell organic food.  Salads and veg were easy, rotisserie chickens can be very good, or deli counters for meats etc.  We think it's more comfortable and cheaper than a camper van (or RV as they say here) but you can't camp in a standard car!   We bought a cheap cool-box to store food during the days we were travelling between places, but will bin it now.  Other things are bring a corkscrew because because wine bottles are not screw-top as in Oz.  And a few plastic plates and eating tools.  Easy and fun.

Strange to think we'll be home in a few days.  And back to work!
`

Sublime, ridiculous, sublime again

We left the coast and headed slowly for Death Valley and places east.  Spent a day walking in the mountains just above the valley, at about 8,000 feet which made us realise what a big hole in the ground it is.  Then drove across to spend the night in a small town called Beatty before heading back down to walk among the badlands at Zabriski Point.  It really is quite a scary place - don't know how the early settlers managed to cross it.

and then to the lowest (geographicallly) point in North America (-282 feet).  

Had got in early to avoid the heat so had time to drive to the other lowest point (culturally) - Las Vegas!

One nigt here was spent walking the Strip, watching free extravaganzas like the pirate ship battle at Treasure Island casino,

 and watching the mugs lose their money.  An experience we wouldn't have missed, but...

After Vegas we went to see lots of rocks - Utah is just amazing with jaw-dropping scenery wherever you go.  We spent 3 nights at a place called Cedar City and began to realise how high most of Utah is: it seem to start at about 5,000 feet and go up from there.  Zion Canyon was magnificent.  We climbed up to Observation Point at the head of the canyon with jaw dropping views all round,

 over 2,000 feet above the valley floor.  But there were chipmunks


and flowers everywhere, 

except the vertical rock faces. 


Had warning lights on the hire car on the way back so next day we had to change it which took us about 100 miles out of our way (to the next town)(but got an upgrade)  then walked the amazing Bryce Canyon, famed for its weird rock formations, or hoodoos.

  Here we started at 8,000 feet and walked down.

Next was a long and stunning drive along scenic highway 12, stopping at Kodachrome Basin to see the rock chimneys,

 then Calf Creek to admire more flowers and rocks, with a waterfall at the end.
 
A bit further along the scenery changes to bare rock, almost as far as the eye can see.  

Spent the night in a camping cabin (more like a shed but it did have a heater) in a very cold park.

Continued along highway 12 stopping to admire more rocks in 'The Narrows' at Capitol Reef where we watched a pair of peregrine falcons playing above us.

Need to post this because we're off to more stunning scenery tomorrow and we don't want to get confused about what was where!  The colours and formations have been out of this world - would recommend a visit any time.