"Born of Hope"

"Born of Hope" became available for web viewing from 7pm this evening. I have... and it's wonderful, a triumph!

Click here:
http://www.bornofhope.com

Stairs...

The old stairs, now stripped down and ready to be replaced. This week we have seen most of the walls and ceilings go in and work on the 'stairwell' started. We will be replacing the stairs with a more 'in keeping and safe' stair-set, this being one of the signposts of the nearing competion of the work. I guess we have around 2-3 weeks of building work to go.

Leaves...

With all the work going on in the house, I'm afraid the garden has been rather neglected. So many leaves still to clear before any real work can properly begin. And it rains, and rains and rains...

Cladding

In the nine-and-a-half years that we have lived at Arborfield, the cladding on the SW facing walls (in particular) have been a real problem. At first there was cedar planks here, but they were becoming rotten after 40 years of life, and we replaced with U-Pvc. These worked rather better, but were simply functional -- they looked a bit 'plastic'. Although the new SW side is not completely finished, we think that at last we have solved the problem, and it looks... well, rather more than functional.

After and before...

For those hankering for a rear view, here it is. With special guest apprearance by Amber and Misty in the forground of before...

Before and after...

The scaffolding disappeared yesterday (in torrential rain), and today I have been cleaning up outside. Inside we progress, but there is still much to do. The 'before' photo taken in Sept 2003 and the 'after' one this afternoon.

Downtown Charleston, SC

The lower part of downtown Charleston is full of 17th Century houses built for the most part by rich English traders. Dead opposite this house, for instance, is the Charleston Harbour, so the merchant could look out at all his riches.