Paint the room red (or blue)

We've reached that stage in life.

That stage where you've lived in a house for several years, and now all of it really needs redecorating.

And moreover, your children have Opinions about what colour their bedroom walls should be.

So, we entered the dread portal of B&Q, came out several cans of paint heavier, summoned up some paintbrushes and a lot of extra energy, and got started.

Let loose with a can of red paint...

First up was Toby's room. Previously a light purple, it's now a bold teal with dark blue curtains and lampshade. It's a really nice colour. I painted the ceiling a pale grey, too, but I still need to sort out the woodwork, which will eventually also be pale grey.

I completed Toby's room in the summer holidays. Ever since then, Theo has been nagging to get his room done. A seven-year-old has nagging skills of similar persistence to the unfortunate widow begging for justice in Jesus' parable. Last weekend, I finally gave in and devoted my day to getting covered in red paint.

Yup. Bright red paint. Quite a change from pale yellow.

Theo picked curtains with a distressed silver finish - they look like crumpled tinfoil, but feel nice and soft. He also wanted a rug, so he got a little faux sheepskin one.

We had the usual hassle putting up the new curtain rails (why is that job never easy?) but it is so nice having shiny new poles with smooth-running eyelets, instead of the old plastic ones with hooks which were always getting stuck and falling off.

Two rooms down, and two happy boys. But I have paint for the utility room, and ideas for the landing... so we might be in this stage of life for a while yet.

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One hundred churches

About the middle of January, I was walking to school one afternoon when it occurred to me that I must have visited quite a few churches on my explorations. I started counting them. But I quickly ran out of fingers, so when I got home I plotted them on Google Maps. Not only was the number much higher than I was expecting, it was also tantalisingly close to one hundred. Only a few dozen to go. So of course, every walk since then has had to include at least one church! Last Monday I visited my hundredth church: St John the Baptist, Dethick. It was a beautiful little 13-century building with an unusual tower - I was glad it had claimed the 100 spot. I haven't been inside every church. Sometimes they were locked; sometimes I was in a hurry and didn't try the door. St Leonard's Church in Alton had bellringers practicing, and I almost interrupted a funeral when I stuck my head through the door of St Mary's, Marston-on-Dove. A few, such as St Oswald's, Ashbourne, and St Wys...

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Limestone Way - the end! (for now...)

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Martha's Marvellous Munchies

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