Mastodawn

Sara Hjelm Nov 21, 2023

And look now …
#sarasmidwintercount23

@gardening

#sarasmidwintercount23
@gardening

Sara Hjelm Nov 21, 2023

Plus the two large Rhododendrons were severely watered and new soil added in the flowerbeds in need.
My herbs behind the logs along the fence got cover. (I cross my fingers for rosemary and tarragon…)
The pile of branches to be mulched grew as the trees in the far back corner were pruned

#sarasmidwintercount23
@gardening

Sara Hjelm

Very tidy. Also up front
Remains tulip bulbs for me & return to painting in my kitchen without bad conscience
Of course the person accomplishing all this had a just as severe cold as last time he was here (sent him off with Coldzyme & my last copy of @Skolinkvisition ’s book, now on its way to the staffroom in a sec school in Borås of all places)

I’m still shivering … I think I’ll spend some time in bed, planning for dinner (fish perhaps?) & solving #sudoku

#sarasmidwintercount23
@gardening #WinterWeather #snow

Sara Hjelm Nov 22, 2023

Talk about last minute to get rid of those leaves. Here’s the first snow at 8.30 am next morning, Nov.22:nd

The thermometer says +-0° & it’s 29 days, 20 min until the #winter solstice.
This afternoon we expect heavy downfall, rain or #snow & #stormy winds.
I’ll definitly stay inside.

#sarasmidwintercount23
@gardening

It is now 25,5 days until the #wintersolstice. Outside it’s -5°C & the first thin ice is forming by the shore after a few days of hard winds. Next 10 days will stay well below +-0. Seems I’ve completly missed my chance to get tulips and narcissi in the ground. If this goes on the ground will be frozen solid.
Keeping busy inside instead …

Today I’m cooking … “Pressylta”, typical Swedish x-mas food & the one you can buy is both expensive & less spiced. I’ve also prepared an outdoor “fridge/freezer”, lined with styrofoam on the inside - a true recycling project, the other half of an old music case for records & vinyl-player. The top half is a bench in the hallway. Strangely enough I did not have a proper size hatch to protect food from magpies, squirrels & mice.
#sarasmidwintercount23
@gardening
#cooking
#carpentry
#recykling

And finally I’m on my way to paint the wall above the shelf for pasta in the kitchen. Getting very tired of all those huge glass containers occupying my dining table. Cleaned the wall of wallpaper, ready for filler along the corner & primer 👍🏻
Next step of kitchen painting will be to finish all the hinge sides of cupboards before I get my doors back from the paint shop. Very fiddley doing with a thin brush … I’m not looking forward to that
#sarasmidwintercount23
#painting
#renovation #project

And I’m done … at least for today. One bunch of pork and one of beef to assemble + a very rich stock to cook in. Tomorrow will show if I’ll need any gelatin sheets for this or if the fond will be jelly enough.
Bit cold to put it all outside. It’s -10° right now. But at least I can go out to the bins and get rid of all the bones before bedtime …
#sarasmidwintercount23
#cooking #julbord #Swedish #food

Sara Hjelm Dec 10, 2023

Early this morning it was only 12 days until the winter solstice (exact time is half past 4 in the morning). Outside it is +1° and thaw after a couple of really cold weeks. Ice on the lake is melting

After curating my website I’m finally ready for breakfast … scones with walnuts and raisins and lit advent candles

I’ve been super busy these last weeks as my kitchen is getting a new coat of white. Painter did the ceiling and the cupboard doors, I’m doing the rest myself.
#sarasmidwintercount23

Sara Hjelm Dec 10, 2023

You can see the transformation in this corner that I still have to apply some primer to …
It’s unbelievable how dirty the 30 yr old paint was. I should have done this ages ago, but it’s also a matter of cost.

I’d better get going. Get a piece of molding from the garage, feed the birds outside. You can finally buy uncracked nuts, so I have loads of hazels and walnuts to keep the squirrels busy.

Today I’ll apply that finishing light grey paint to all drawers…
#sarasmidwintercount23

This morning at half past 4 it was 10 days until the winter solstice & I wake up to a grey outside. After a few days of thaw almost all snow is gone & we expect another week of cold weather. Almost all snow is gone and the little left is frozen solid. It’s really time for thaw salt.
-1° outside.
And that photo is actually a color one. Hard to believe.
#sarasmidwintercount23

My plans for this week was getting my winter tires on the car, but yesterday was impossible as the workshop had several staff home sick, so end of week instead. That gave me some respite in my kitchen painting. I spent yesterday steam cleaning unpainted surfaces instead and fighting a stubbornly stuck wooden knob on one of the drawers. In the end I had to break it with severe force, leaving a surface badly in need of putty.
#sarasmidwintercount23

The replacement was fairly cheep & matches the rest of the brass handles in the kitchen. Not really my cup of tea any of it, but the original hardware of the kitchen, Ticka, was nowhere to be found, not even in the garage, (new are really expensive) and they left huge holes, like this below, that need to be covered, so keeping the brass is the cheapest option for a kitchen that a future owner will most probably rip out completely….
#sarasmidwintercount23

Time for sanding and primer on the yesterday cleaned surfaces …
And thaw salt.
I’d better get dressed. And avoid the fascinating instruction YT videos of #Chinese #DIY #renovations of old houses (look anyone can do it), apparently part of a new housing & employment policy - back to the empty countryside again‼️, trying to empty the overcrowded cities & using loads of concrete... No wonder they try to vote down any suggestions about scrapping fossil fuels in Dubai.
#sarasmidwintercount23

If you’re interested in how to build a brick wok kitchen (always ripped out and a new similar built, I know enough to build one on my patio by now), how to use bamboo in construction, hand carpentry with chisels and how roofs are made, have look. The foreign comments are a bit hilarious… expecting before/after shots
They have made me wonder about #curriculum in Chinese schools. Are skills like bricklaying, rendering and carpentry, included? At least for boys? Anyone know?
#sarasmidwintercount23

Here is an example of the above with all parts included (to satisfy foreign watchers?) so very long … roofing, sanitary, new port to the courtyard, etc
This time it’s a female in the lead role for once and it does not try to conceal that there is a whole crew and not a single person at work as in most of those videos. https://youtu.be/L2LE0BX2dwQ?si=UQqU0BJlMWUb0Mnh

#sarasmidwintercount23

After the divorce, She Cleaning and Restoration Abandoned house behind the mountain | Renovated

YouTube

https://www.rte.ie/news/leinster/2023/1221/1423137-winter-solstice/

Sara Hjelm Dec 21, 2023

We are now appoaching the longest night of the year, at least on this hemisphere.
It is more or less 12 hrs until the winter solstice at 4.24 am 22:nd of december.

Checking ….

Some luck this morning as it seems

#sarasmidwintercount23