We sold the house!

Just kidding. This week was April fools’ day.

Here’s a rundown of the things that did happen these past few weeks:

We got rid of the litter box

Now that the cats can go outside, I decided that enough is enough and they don’t need the luxury of a toilet anymore, with me as their personal cleaner. This marks the end of cleaning the damn thing every day for the past 2 years. Freedom!!

We made Roman Blinds

On the porch we have one ‘window’ that doesn’t have curtains because there are cabinets in front of it. In Holland we decided that a Roman Blind would be the right solution. With the leftover clipping of the curtains we had hung up earlier, Mirjam made a working Roman Blind, complete with wooden ribs, rings and cords. I was Mirjam’s big helper. We had never made Roman Blinds before, but figured we could. And we did, but it took us 5 hours.

The next day, Mirjam made a small one for the kitchen door.

We went to the Mediterranean coast

One day, we decided to go to a second hand store about 30km from our house, to see if we could find a cabinet for the guest bathroom. They had a humongous amount of stuff, but nothing much we liked. As we left the store, we found out that we were just 10 minutes from the coast. So rather than going home, we decided to go the beach. It was a lovely break from our ‘busy schedule’.

We made bedside tables for the guest room

On a TV-series about people moving to a life in the sun, we saw a lady who had a Bed & Breakfast, where she had made small shelves next do the beds, instead of bedside tables. This was the perfect solution for our guest bedroom, where we needed narrow but deep bedside tables. So, I set out to create bedside shelves with wood that I found in one of the sheds. And just to make things more comfortable for our guests, we added wall sockets on either side of the bed.

We found the perfect place for “The Greeting”

“The Greeting” is a statue by an artist that my parents knew and which they gave Antoinette and me around 15 years ago. It was to symbolized the first time we met. I am very happy that we found a good spot for it, across from the door of the porch.

Catjing is a happy camper

To thank us for all the things we do for him, Catjing brought home a life mouse one evening. Catjang was happier with it than we were and the two of them spent some time playing with it. Then, when the mouse hid under the wine cabinet in the living room and they couldn’t reach it anymore, they both went to sleep. Mirjam and I spent some time catching it and we put it outside.

The next day, Catjing brought us a new mouse. Catjing was happy. And so was Catjang. The mouse, not so much.

We gave the solar floor lamps a second life.

A number of years ago, Ikea was kind enough to sell Mirjam two solar floor lamps. We put them on the patio, where they do a really good job. They are really nice, but the shades were weathered and needed some attention. We found a nice band to finish the shades with.

Our neighbor is a modern shepherd

Sometimes, our neighbor Angel takes his sheep up on the steep hills behind our little corner of the world. The only way to do that is on foot. Sometimes, he takes them through the riverbed to one of the many grazing patches he owns or has access to. Normally, he walks in front of the sheep and they follow him, encouraged by the dogs that walk behind the herd. Occasionally, I have seen him ride a tractor and the sheep still follow him. The other day, I say him drive his car and the sheep followed him. Such a modern shepherd.

We painted the balcony and patio

Well, not entirely, we just painted some of the accents. With the petrol blue replacing the yellow, the entire look has become more crisp and vibrant. We think that the contrast the blue brings makes both areas look smarter.

The pool is looking more and more inviting

We have been keeping the pool clean and can’t wait for the first time we can take our first dip. We are using the pool blanket we have to cover the water. It will prevent the water from cooling down at night and will aid the water to warm up during the day.

I cut the grass

Now, we didn’t really know there was so much grass on the property. And then, after the rain of March 8^th, it started growing. It was knee high at some point and our neighbor Mark, said “I’m sure I left a lawnmower behind for you”. I found it in one of the sheds, but when I put petrol in it, it started leaking petrol and it didn’t seem like a good idea to try and start it. When I mentioned that to Mark, he said “Bring it over and we’ll put it on the operating table.” I had to take the excess petrol out first and I left it laying on its side until I got around to doing that.

Meanwhile, the grass kept on growing and it looked like it was never going to stop. Not wanting to impose on Mark – he had been so kind already, I decided to cut the grass with this little lawn trimmer that I once received as a gift when I bought an electric lawnmower which I had given away when I sold my house in Holland. That border trimmer is a little too small for me, so I have to hunch to be able to reach the grass. Also, the grass is so tough that it makes the trimmer fail every other minute. I figured that if I did a few meters every day, I could get all the grass cut in 2 weeks. After 4 days, I had given up, without admitting it to myself, effectively postponing the next few meters until I was able to face the facts.

Then Mark showed up one morning and said “I have come for your lawnmower.” He loaded it up on his quad and brought it back later that day, and it purred like a cat.

The next day, I cut all the grass in just under 2 hours.

We can’t stop taking pictures of all the beauty nature presents us with.

No further comment needed.

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