The hot weather (it has been 40+ here recently) has brought out an interesting selection of wildlife. This includes a black viper (fairly venomous but also fairly dead), the nasty pine processionary caterpillars, a porcupine (just a grey blur in the car headlights), a wild boar (also trotting across the road in front of us), a house centipede (fuzzy and very, very fast), a hummingbird hawk-moth (the wings are so fast you can’t see them and it just looks like a bee), a swallowtail butterfly, a scorpion in the kitchen (so cute!), various lizards, a strange spider web (maybe Segestria florentina) and, of course, hundreds of mosquitoes.
Luckily, the carpenters were here this week installing all the internal doors and putting mosquito screens on all the external doors and windows. This means we can keep the windows open without getting eaten.
Unfortunately, it is too hot out there to have the windows open (did I say it has been over 40 here recently). But with the improved double glazing and the new shutters it stays a refreshing 28 indoors. Just in case, we got the wood-burner (that we ordered back in March) delivered and installed. Tempting as it is to try it out, I think it can wait.
It is great having all the doors done; apart from a bit of privacy on the bathrooms it also makes the whole place feel more finished.
Now all the building work is finished, we are getting on with finishing off painting the walls, installing all the lights, hanging mirrors, assembling furniture, etc.
Well, nearly all the building work. We still need to get banisters, the railing round the balcony and various other bits and pieces done. It is going to be more than a year before it is all complete. Despite the fact we have had no major setbacks.
Sunflowers and Saffron 