A MAN UNDER MY HOUSE

When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

C. S. Lewis, “On Three Ways of Writing for Children”

There was a man under my house today. He was digging some holes to pour concrete in and make new footings to underpin the old ones. Every now and then I heard a jack hammer going. Two of the footings under my house need to be underpinned.

The footings under my house have been like this for about 8 years. My ex-husband had been going to put a room down there and dug right up against the footings, but left before it was finished. P:-) has been quite concerned about this for a while and especially now that I am going to sell the house. He thinks a building inspector wouldn't pass it. It is true that the clay base is starting to crumble and crack.

So I called in an engineer. P:-) was right. The footings need underpinning or they are likely to give way at some stage. A scary thought. My house would just fall down. Anyway, it is underway today, and thankfully not too expensive.

So this was what had been completed by the time I left about 2:30.

P:-)'s 5th grandchild was born last week. Little Jake. P:-) now has 4 granddaughters and a grandson. I don't usually put photos of people on my blog but I don't think P:-)'s son M or daughter-in-law K would mind as they have posted his picture on Facebook.

His full name is Jake George Stephen.

I was lucky enough to nurse him before he was 24 hours old!


Beautiful lichen covers a rock in my front yard.

Lichens are interesting organisms made up of symbiotic relationships between a fungus  and  a green alga  with the fungi providing the structure and the algae the green ‘chlorophyll’ part.  

I imagine this lichen  is very common but  I have been  unable to identify it

 
After much thought and procrastination I finally ordered Jamie Oliver's new book,  Save With Jamie. 

I ordered it from UK Amazon. The total cost including postage is $33. To buy it from Penguin Books Australia  it was going to cost $49.99, not including delivery fee. Books arrive really quickly from UK Amazon - usually within a week.

 It is the Australian tax that makes them so expensive. A quick internet search failed to provide  any information on the rate of tax on books in Australia. On one occasion I bought an Australian  book whch was going to cost me $140 in the local book shop, through UK Amazon and it cost $60 including postage.

Interesting sites

 1.

Montana Magica

 

Photo source

This is Montana Magica Lodge in Los Rios, Chile. It is accessible only by foot and intrepid guests must brave a swinging rope bridge to enter it. It looks fantastic.Click here to read more.

2.

Rhone Glacier covered in blankets

 

Photo source

Each summer the Rhone Glacier is covered in white blankets to stop it melting. Click here to read more. 
 
3.

Remove stress from your life

 

Photo source

Click here to learn about 17 ways  to remove stress from your life.