front gates, timber floors, back to school

Sorry about the long hiatus!

summer holidays are over and Lola is back at school.She has started her next level at the college level(junior high),which is another step up in workload and homework, which in my opinion they were already overloaded with!

It wasnt exactly super hot this summer but we still had plenty of beach time.We are having an indian summer now with more good weather expected;the waves were typically summer type waves with not much for me to get excited about and although small ,they werent very user friendly for the kids.Lola had quite a few sessions but wasnt super keen this year until her last session(last week)that had some perfect little 2ft waves and she couldnt get enough of it.

The seasons have changed and we are now getting some strong swells from the hurricanes in USA.

Work has been slow so i've been getting lots done here at home installing the front gates, which still need to be painted as they were on special as ex display models and are a bit weathered, but still a bargain at 200euros.With Karls help this week we layed the new floor upstairs and recovered the stairs in solid boards.They came prefinished in a sort of oldish looking limed look.Which we are not completely happy with as its got a little yellowy tinge to it and isnt quite the way it looked in the showroom;Anyway ,thats what we have ,and apart from the colour it has changed the whole look of the stairs and hte floor upstairs now looks even and finished.

We are aitnig for the tiles for downstairs and hope to have them delivered in the next week or two.That will be a big job and i want to get into that while karl is still here coz its too much for me to do alone.

Blackberries/new board/lost board

We went for a ride along the river Ardour yesterday looking for blackberries;What a magnificent place;so green ,so picturesque.We froze the fruit as were going back next week to peddle the other direction and get some more to get enough tomdo a crumble or pie and some jam;

Picked up my new board from Christiaan(Bradley) acouple of weeks ago and let it cure well before I use it or take it anywhere near the bloody tourists! Yesterday i noticed that I'm missing my other summer board, STOLEN!!!! I'm not sure where from as i didnt even notice it was gone.Ithink it must have gone from my car at the beach.I did return to the car a couple of weeks ago and noticed that i had accidently left it unlockedwhile i was surfing in thru the forest.Sometimes i have 2 or 3 boards in the car as i dont know which one i'll use until i actually looka atthe waves,different beach sometimes calls for a different board.Strange that none of the many wetsuits or tools went too.The van when locked is very secure and i have never felt nervous about leaving stuff in it.There are no windows and its totally blocked off from the front. Anyway, i'm going to have to be more cautious!!!!!

Stair Handrail

My latest little project has been the installation of the handrail to the stairs.As you can see in the shots i've put in someforged steel rods as balustrade;the posts and rails are pine and i stained them up with a liquid wax stain that when polished up really brings out the grain.Looks great and excactly the aged look that i was after;Very happy with the result.

Julie and Pauline were here for 3-4 days last week as they passed thru for one of paulines buying trips for work.We spoilt them with plenty of good food and wine.We showed them around a little and went to le pas de Roland,and had a picnic lunch by the beautiful river Nive.

Not many waves for the last couple of weeks but its looking up for the next week;Tourists everywhere .The beaches are packed,Lola and i left the beach last week as ther were so many people swimming between the flags we were bumping into others.Not my idea of a rlaxing swim!

Where has summer gone?

After bragging about the hot weather in the last post, it feels like summer has left us!!! very ordinary weather with strong winds for the last 2weeks.The O'neills were in france for holidays i 4 a couple of weeks.We cuaght up with them a few times .Greatto see them all again.I've been busy at work and busy doing stuff around home.I rendered the last big wall ;leaving only a coupla small bits to finish.Just watched cadel evans win the tour de france.Great stuff!!!
Picked up a new board this week but have to wait to let it cure abit before surfing it.

Summer is here

summer has arrived with a blast; its bben warm and its now hot with 38° and 39° the last 2 vdays. Stinking hot!!!!
Waves have been good tha last couple of days with solid crowds so its now time to venture a liitle further away to avoid the traffic.I looked at la gravierre at 11am today and there was about 30 gpeople out so i went up the road about 5 mins and surfed with 4 others.
the tickets are booked so its now official we are back in Oz for chrissy- 4 weeks- cant wait!!!!
stay tuned!!!!