Time has
taken on that same endless, uniform blankness. Everything just is, warmth and
food are the main priorities, and days emerge only briefly, just to tease us
with a glimmer of life before plunging back into deep, icy cold darkness.
Temperatures have danced between -8°and -15°, even reputedly reaching -20° at
night.
Time
schedules and project plans just cannot be adhered to. Even the daily school
run is hardly a certainty, with the open flat plane at the highest point of the
journey often decked with thick fog or simply covered so completely with snow
that the road is hardly discernible.
The farm
has lost all its contours and distinguishing features. From the moment you step
out of the door, a sea of white dominates the view with only larger objects
like the greenhouse or the linden trees retaining their shape, standing lost
and forlorn like barren rocks offshore.
Just as
the cold front really began to settle in, two intrepid travellers arrived full
of energy and laughter, seeking adventure and work on our desolate farm.
Needless
to say, outdoor work was hardly on the cards, bar hauling in wood and tending the
animals. So for three whole days they tackled the knackered window frames upstairs
that we had stripped way back in the summer and never quite found the time to
complete. With a protective layer of paint the old wooden frames can be
encouraged to last out just another year (or two if we're lucky).
Having
the extra pairs of eyes to keep Maia out of trouble has also meant progress on
the kitchen. The electrician has connected all the wires that we have laid and
we can still hardly believe the magic of flicking a switch to receive immediate
light. The arched doorway is now almost completely plastered smooth, enabling the
final paintwork to happen later this week.
The best
surprise has been our brand new, wood-fired cooking stove – a belated wedding
gift from my mother-in-law! It fits like a glove in the bricked-in doorway that
we have prepared for it, and we have been able to install it with minimal flue
pipe directly into the chimney in the office. It looks like it was made for the
space! With a glass-fronted fire chamber, generous baking oven, warming oven
and full surface area of hotplate, it is a food enthusiast’s dream come true.
Replacing
the window on the north side and installing a door through to the yard will now
have to wait until the spring (along with the floorboards, being the last in
line to avoid trashing them ahead of time). Yet the thought that our Christmas
roast can be made in our new kitchen - albeit with a concrete floor, no units
and draughty windows - is an absolute triumph!
