The 2019 A to Z Challenge . . . Letter A . . .

A rather bizarre, slightly odd and somewhat rambling trip through an A to Z of Plans. . . . . Sort Of

A 

What we need to get through this ‘A to Z thing’ is A Plan, but not just any Plan. What we need is Plan A. A Plan with attitude, Astrology and Ambivalence and maybe an Avocado although personally I am not a fan of the Avocado I am more an Asteroid sort of chap although to be fair Avocados are much easier to find and are generally easier to eat although not always. 

Now in previous years I have always drawn a picture to accompany each of my efforts as I progress through the alphabet towards that Holy Grail of all those who attempt this. . The Letter Z . . . . . .Well not this year O No I plan to put a random picture I have taken of my home or the garden or something that has absolutely nothing to do with the Letter in Question. That is basically what Plan A is all about? It is a rather Abstract Plan.

Well what we have here is a sunset from the garden 

and a mighty fine one it is too to start our journey 

Phew well I think that’s enough to get me to the ever popular letter B . . . . . Good luck everyone you’ll need it . . . . . . See you at Z. . . . 

Har Har Har Shiver Me Timbers. 

The Story of a Shed

For many years I had promised my wife a proper designated space where she could make stuff and not have to pack it up when she needed a break and also a space to chill if need be. Hey I'm a chap I take 10 years to finally get that shelf up so this project was in my mind a long long time. In fact we moved house while I was still pondering

But in 2016 I started on a Workshop/Studio Summerhouse for my wife, much to her surprise.  Over many years I have sort of kept every bit of wood and stuff I thought might be useful to make something arty so I had a lot of useful stuff and therefore this material became the starting point of a project with no design. We already had an old, rather tired and uninspired summerhouse in the garden which we inherited when we moved to our present house in 2012 and this was dismantled in order to recreate something unique. Part of the roof ended up in a wall, and some bits of wall I think are under the floor. 

And so over about the last three years I have build this. its insulated and plastered inside has a decent roof and some power for basics plus a sewing machine and a bit of heating

Yes it has Fairy Lights and plenty of them. 

I always say a chap can not have too many Fairy Lights.Now I'm no expert at making such things but I do have a practical brain and know the vague principles needed to make a decent strong building, So to be safe I have over engineered this which means it will survive storms, Elephants jumping on the roof and Armageddon. Although having said that I have realized some of those recycled bits of wood for the fiddly bits are not entirely weather proof so come the spring (2019) I will be changing them for some Oak I have found in the Attic . . . . . Indeed a mystery but a good one.

There is a canvas covered Patio at the back that faces towards the west so a grand place to sit and watch the sunset

And inside it looks like this. It has a rather posh Chandelier which was a free-bee so you cant do better than that. My only regret was someone beat me to the other five. . . . . DAMN.

I made some Indian styled shutters for the rear window from a wooden unit that was left in the garage by the previous owner of the house. The rear window itself being a double glazed unit from our house when we fitted new outside doors in the dining room 

So there you have it  that is my wife's Sewing studio (Called The Indian Sewing Studio)  I have entered this into the Shed of the Year Competition for 2019 . . .  I loved that show when it was on the box which sadly is no longer the case, but the competition rolls on thanks to CUPRINOL . . . . Well Done CUPRINOL . . . . . 

To see my entry there, the link is   HERE . . . . . . . . . . 

At some point you may get a chance to vote for it and save me from the embarrassment of coming last, I dont mind too much coming last I'm not really a competitive chap, but we should always do our best and give these things our best shot. 

Finally here is a short video (a badly made video) of the Studio at dusk to give everyone a better idea of what its like. . . . . 

  

Hello I am almost back but not quite

 O Yes it is true I am almost back but not quite, you see I along with a friend who is a trusted builder have destroyed the bathroom in my house. I have to say it was planned we did not just say. . . . Hey lets trash the bathroom. . . . And then remove an entire wall, all the tiles off two other walls, the floor and part of the ceiling, leaving an empty shell.  It is the final-ish part of what has been a long term master plan to update the house and after the bathroom has been done there will be no major work left to do just decor to make everything look interesting. My wife and I do not believe in the white wall and minimal content we like colour and I like stuff and lots of it. Although having said that I like nice stuff, you know Indian gods made of ceramics, mummified  ancient chinese fabled flying dragons. and little things that no is quite sure what they do.

This work has meant  Shed of the Year 2099, my own little personal project has come to a halt again for a few days. It has been inspected by my friend and building advisor who has said it is looking good but making twiddly bits can be a bit of a pain. . . I entirely agree and I have to admit he did say not to do it, but it is in my DNA I just have to add towers and little stained glass windows and curves and other architectural texture so that the shed is not just a shed. 

A bit of detail from Shed of the year 2099

Here in Britain we have a TV show called Shed of the Year and the plan is to enter the finished shed, but I have well and truly missed this year's final entry date. The good point about that is by next year this shed will look awesome, although I will admit that may be a biased opinion.

Well thats it I will go now but you now know what I am up too and I will be back soon to blog on a more regular basis . . . But not quite yet.     

The A to Z Reflections Post of 2017

So here we are again the end of another A to Z  . . . . . I do like a good A to Z. Sadly I had to cheat slightly because of my own ongoing project which is now almost water tight. Once it is I will chill a bit, but the thing with all projects based on your own efforts is you need to keep going or it will slow up or even stop entirely. Interestingly this is also entirely true of Blogging in general and the A to Z too. You see if you miss a post or miss a letter then it is always slightly easier to leave it another day or two and before you know it three years have passed or you find that pesky A to Z finished last week. Just as you were about to write a really great post for the letter F all about The Florentines Frog and its ability to Fly in Frozen Fog . . .

But Hey I made it even if at times it all got a little quirky. Which bearing in mind my blog is a little odd anyway may have confused the odd passing blogger as they walked those twisting corridors of the Alphabet curious as to what other folk were up to.

Now next year it will all be different, well I say that but I suspect next year will creep up on me like some sort of silent creeping beast that can move very fast.  Then I will panic and wave my arms about, probably write something mad again and so the cycle continues. But if I start then I will finish as I am a stubborn chap and do not give up without a fight. . . . Unless I am paid loads of money to do so . . . (hint hint).

It was a quiet A to Z for me as it usually is but I know why I just don’t get to enough other blogs to comment. If you want visitors there are two critical issues in blogging and I have been blogging long enough to know what I am talking about. The first is you need to post at least 2-3 new posts every week (and not so long folk don’t have time to read them) and secondly you need to visit and comment on a lot of other blogs and on a regular basis.  At present I do neither although I did post every day for a long time. OK you will never get all those other things done but your blog will be successful. It is all about priorities and right now mine is a large wooden thing in the garden.

OK I am digressing and that is all I am saying on the subject of the A to Z until next year when it might even be possible I might or might not do it again.  . . . OK I probably will I said I’m stubborn. . . .