Haircuts

Having had a haircut myself yesterday (jury still out on the local hairdresser), today marked the end of the vine pruning.

With 23 acres covered, hundreds and hundreds of vines snipped, several miles walked and all types of weather encountered, it has been, in many ways, quite a therapeutic experience. Over the course of the last 7 weeks, most days have involved a trip up the hill to keep chipping away at what seemed to be an endless task. While very repetitive, each vine required concentration to ensure that it was pruned correctly. No pruning was done last year by the previous owner and some vines have been lost. Failure to complete the task this year would have severely weakened the remaining vines further and resulted in further losses. This has been quite a motivating factor! The work has taken me to bits of the estate that I hadn't previously explored and given me plenty of thinking time about how I take things forward (as well as plenty of exercise).

Pruning has been juggled with normal domestic tasks, decorating, organising builders (slight problem with a missing lintel above the front door...), wood collection, dental treatment (and the weather) hence why it has taken 7 weeks. I am assured that 10th April is the deadline for pruning so I'm well inside.

With visitors due in April plus my possibly taking some time off for some R&R, the focus now shifts to decorating. Once you get through stripping the dodgy external shell of paint applied just before I bought, things get interesting and dealing with what's revealed results in lots of debris and dust. However, all the wooden beams downstairs have now been stripped and, in the hallway, treated for woodworm and stained. My plastering skills are improving which is lucky as there is alot of it to be done over the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, we seem to be moving in to Spring. Hoopoes and lizards are about and the almond orchards (now in leaf) are alive with singing cirl and rock buntings. Still awaiting other summer visitors to put in more than a fleeting appearance, but the tend is to warmer weather although the usual sunshine has had the odd interruption for reason. Still, it seems more clement here than in England. Listening to the weather and the travel reports on the BBC doesn't make me yearn for going back.