Week Sixty-eight

Week beginning 18th September 2023.

It’s Cristi’s last day and she is busy making order of her artworks and tidying up.

Jeff is busy setting up to plaster the vaulted ceiling in the double height space and we are helping him with making sure the scaffolding is set up correctly and is safe.

With that done, Jef is getting on with the plastering and Pete is carrying on building the superstrtucture for our four fitted drawers in our bedroom.

It’s now time for Cristi to get her bus to Glasgow to end her Scottish leg of her European art odyssey. From here she is heading to Sweden for the final art experience.

Unbelievably, the bus to Glasgow has arrived on time and she is off. It’s been great having Cristi here as our first Artist in Residence and she has helped us learn how best to host such an event.

We are not long back at work and our grandaughter, Caitlin, has arrived with our friends Katie, Martin and Peter. The four of them had been on a wee caravan holiday at Glenuig.

It’s so nice to see them and our Caitlin has been having a lovely time, her first away with people outside the family.

That’s another day done and it’s just the two of us tonight. It’s very quiet appart from the sound of the rain on the caravan roof.

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It’s Tuesday so Pete is working in the caravan. Jef is plastering and Molly is boxing in the drawer detail. It’s pouring with rain and we are all keeping inside as much as possible.

Molly has just seen a lorry pull up and, totally out of the blue, the scaffolders have turned up to take down and take away the scaffolding. The poor guys are getting a right soaking but in spite of this they are in good spirits and are working hard.

They are off and it’s only taken them a few hours. We are so happy to see the back of it but we are also grateful to Simon for the amazing deal he gave us to have the scaffolding here. Thanks guys.

Although we don’t feel like we are making much progress because we are working on a very tricky detail and it’s taking longer than we thought, Jef is making great strides and the plastering is really coming along and the scaffolding has gone for good.

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Pete is heading off to North Ayreshire for work today but before he goes he does a bit of organising. Molly has a to-do list and is working through that sorting out small jobs that need to be done.

We are heading off to Edinburgh tonight so that we can go on a much needed holiday. We haven’t had a proper break since our ten days last Christmas and we are feeling it. So, it’s off to Berlin to celebrate Gavin and Michaela’s marriage, then on to Tuscany to spend time with Pete’s sister, Anita, and her husband Gianluca. Happy days!

While we are away Jef will be staying at Gar Bothan to get on with the plastering and to look after the place. It’s going to be very exciting to see what he has achieved when we return.