What a difference a year makes!

Google Photos, which my phone automatically downloads to the laptop, offers a "revisit this day" option, which I usually ignore. But during the rest of August I have a little project to (here we go again...) organise my photos -- or at least, delete the duplicates and a few others, and make albums on the most important themes.

So today we can revisit Rathcoole Gardens, the unreconstructed domicile, newly inhabited, of the Domestic Carpenter and his lovely partner.

The weeds in the back garden had been hacked down and the ground covered to try to prevent them regrowing. We'd just been to the garden centre, but I'm not sure what this measuring was about -

The patio got quite a bit of use, but the kitchen was so tiny! At least it got a cheery windowbox -

These were waiting to be planted in the front garden -

and in window boxes -

The weeds had been removed, and I was sifting the pea gravel out of the soil and replacing it, and it was starting to look more cheerful -

A year later...... after this

... and this ...

the front garden still has some bare patches, mostly in the shady areas near the house -

 The back garden is smaller but coming along nicely -

And now the focus is inside.......

That's coming along too. The plastering is pretty much done, and the internal walls are going up, defining the bathroom, second bedroom, and kitchen/dining areas -

It's a big project to fit in beside the day job. A busman's holiday. 

What's needed now, urgently, is a good tiler - they seem to be thin on the ground, or booked up for months ahead! Otherwise Tom will have to teach himself yet another skill (as you do).