TW, having done a major kitchen remodeling myself, I know how much work is involved. You did a great job!

Tellywellies, many thanks for the 'picture' diary of your project, I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing your hard work progress to the finished product. It looks fab!

Another one from Hyde Hall Garden - a fabulous mixed border

TW: I'd post pix of our kitchen reno (done by ourselves), but I neglected to take "before" pictures. Oh well. Anyway, I can certainly appreciate the amount of trouble you've gone to and it all looks fabulous so far!!

ClaraSue: that one with the moon is wonderful. I'd get that one "blown up" at a pro shop and hung on my wall!

The Swan family enjoying a day out at the the Welsh Waterways Festival in Newport despite the slightly dirty water of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal.

awww lovely swans.

Grat result, Martin!

Cooling down after a realllllllly hot day.

We took a walk by the canal and saw these pussies in the well in a garden by the canal.

...and finally, a view from the other end of the kitchen/dining room:



I started doing the tiling by using a glass cutter to score a line and then snapping the tiles but because of the type of tiles they were, this only caused them to break. I thought I was going to have to manually saw the cuts but then someone lent me a cutting machine. What a marvellous tool that was! The spinning disk is diamond cutter. The bottom of it is submerged in water. Not only does that keep it cool but it also prevents any dust caused by the cutting of the tiles. I managed to complete the job and still keep all of my fingers! I'd never use a glass-cutting scorer for a tiling job any more. I might never have to do another one though.

It looks brilliant.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas/Advent ...
(One of two Advent calendars, home made and filled with goodies )

Wonderful Jane.

Realllllly hot.

Wow, Jill, that's like a summer day in Arizona, too! After a few days of that, when the temperature reached 106 degrees F/41 C it actually felt nice outside. Now I know why your terrain is so much like ours.

Chip (or Dale) this summer in West Virginia.

hehe cute.

It's just oppressive heat, isn't it? It's been in the 40s all week, another high 40s today, but on Sunday it's supposed to go down a bit.

On days like that, as soon as I walk outside, I feel as though I need to go back inside and take a nap. It just zaps the strength out of you.

Sunset outside Swanley

The travelling kiwi wondering why the "PuddleDuck" is not going anywhere at the Welsh Waterways Festival in Newport.

I've been trying to take black & white photos this month. I hope this photo subject, washed up at the bottom of the slip in a working harbour, isn't too bleugh for people. I like it because of the contrast and shape. But I wish I'd bent down and removed that stick first!

It's lovely, Chavs! It would look good hanging on the wall (The photo, not its content!)

I wasn't looking at the stick till you told me to! Its a great composition

It being December now I am going to close this in a few hours and open December. Well done everyone it was a great month again!

Thanks, Alex and Ren.