When working full time, preparing for receiving visitors and getting on with life’s everyday needful…… the house, in all honesty, was a bin! The time spent over years of living here in Wales was a collective wake up and go get on with life experience. No time to sit back, look at immediate home and garden surroundings and attend to their needs wholeheartedly. Yes. The lawn was mowed up top garden. Some shrubs planted. But general commitment to looking after and improving the house and garden was really non-existent.
We first moved to Wales 29 years ago and our family and friends often visited. No weekend was ever without people about the house. Glorious memories they are too. I spoke to a local friend about finding time to put our own stamp on the house. This local friend here in Wales said the house would be ignored for years on end probably, as the outside countryside would beckon with it’s charming personality finger and that it was 100% capable of winning you over. Paraphrasing here! The visitors certainly got up in the morning with a view to experiencing the outdoors on a daily basis.
Upshot was, after the initial years of full time work and entertaining visitors, we settled in to a life of myself going into a different professional training. A lot less money than I had on arriving here and working in Social Services. In my adopting nurse training I went on an access nurse training course with no pay, then on to a £500 a month bursary for three years. There were transport fees, University expenses, equipment (stethoscope, etc.) for ward and community placements, technical books and the same household bills to find. My wife began setting up her new business too. All these various commitments led to the house feeling like a poor downbeat forgotten entity. It was a very sad experience living in the home. Visitors still enjoyed coming. But the walls were stripped of paper, needed decorating, carpets were awful from years of adult and children’s’ traffic and really old plastered 1880/90s walls badly needing care and attention. The spring to life ambience within the four walls was born from the familiar exhibited craft collective artefacts loved over a lifetime and people laughing.
Anyways. Since retiring in July 2021 it’s been a pleasure to tackle the house after decades. Been full on though. Yet really a pleasure to see light at the end of the tunnel. Once the living room and study are redecorated, the garden beckons again. March will find a gentler existence within nature’s gift for fixing the mind.
Not great photographs but please tap on individual photographs to enlarge. Here? Garden, house decorating and my wife’s new shop projects. Fun times.
Gray Summers 
You have done an amazing job Gray. Your hall is lovely and welcoming. I know what you mean about being too busy living to actually give the home the attention it needs. I’m sure your wife really appreciates your efforts too.
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Thank you. In the past, and for yourself now I imagine, it was/is so tiring coming home from the types of jobs you and I had/have. Add to that the syndrome of exhaustive state and the burden of carrying on to other needed stuff is like a mountain to climb. I also know how much time lesson planning can take. Of course the blogs too. My wife worked in HR for Morrison’s a fair while back. People asking for your attention a fair amount of time is very intense too. Although a nice atmosphere exists in both HR and teaching it still requires an enormous amount of energy input. My wife can do very long hours at her shop at times. So it is good that there is more comfort now when she comes home. Cheers Brenda.
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It helps that there is some crossover with the blog posts and work, but you’re right, it still requires time for researching and writing. It also helps that today’s posts are reposts from November … for directed study for a class today while I’m off sick.
Youre right, you just find a way to balance, and I’m working on finding the ‘magic’ mix that let’s me do everything
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As Brenda said, “An amazing job.” If I haven’t told you, I love that gate. The house looks amazing, the shop is amazing. Excellent job.
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Cheers Danny. I’m blushing as I type. I do remember you talking about the gate and garden. Started up the thistle discussion I believe. Angie’s shop is going really well too. Both locals and tourists are really positive and love the whole experience. I have been busy on the dip nib collective Danny. Got some lovely little writers alongside the awful ones. Another bulk buy of interesting ones due over the next couple of days. Bought because it had 5 pen nib holders of antique wooden design in there too. I’m buying wisely. Not a fortune at all. Just £5 to £15 pounds a bundle really. Today a bundle of a few hundred for £20. With 3 holders and a bunch of Dremel et Cher’s in there. Separating the decent nibs out presently and over the coming week I will present a written line of each, photograph them all and blog the result. A collective presentation. And that interesting early Mabie Todd Blackbird with the Onoto nib should arrive over the next couple of days too. That’s a puzzler! Thanks for the support Danny.
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Dremel etchers even. 😆 Spellcheck!
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The Blackbird is a very interesting find. Looking forward to reading more about that.
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It will be interesting to see if the section, feed and nib are whole and able to fit a Blackbird barrel. Or they have replaced just the nib. If whatever way, I never thought they would be interchangeable. The seller has it apart with the sac end still seen. So hoping it’s a simple new ink sac requirement. Lever willing! Cheers.
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