Today was Hilary's birthday and it started well with a 'phone call from our Sam in Texas, then one from Pat in Exeter and later in the evening a call from her sister Liz. During the day Hilary slaved over a hot stove and rustled up a batch of buns, two cakes, a banana bread loaf as well as making sandwiches, and a jelly. All this was preparation for sister Sheila, brother in law Graham, friends Betty and George, Marlene and Rachel to come over later in the afternoon for a celebratory tea. We did this to the accompaniment of banging, drilling and sawing as all five of our workers came on site to give this project a big push forward. Tony now reckons that if all the plumbing parts arrive on time and with a bit of luck the project as far as his side is concerned could be completed before we go on holiday in August. This of course will still leave us with a lot of tiling, painting and flooring to do but we can handle that in our own time. Tony is off to New York for a long weekend and then we he gets back from that he and Tom are off to Glastonbury for the festival, we think that may be part of the reason that he needs another injection of cash tomorrow.

We had some more rain today, from the time that they started until around 2pm, but the forecast is reasonable for the rest of the week and we hope that by then the roof will be pretty much secure. The men are working in two teams with Simon and Sam on the roof while Tom and Marcus started off by fixing the template for the round window and then carried on by framing up the front of the gable end. The three pictures show how much has been achieved today. No that's not a dartboard on the wall it is actually the shuttering for the round window - much teeth sucking from all the workmen, "That round window has caused us a lot of problems you know." As we investigate further the shape and size of shower trays that we can fit into the master bathroom, we have realised that a glass block wall is not going to happen, so our round stained glass window is going to be a really good substitute to bring coloured light into our bathroom. The second picture is a wider angle shot showing the round window again but also the progress that has been made on the roof, as you can see the lead valley is in and quite a few of the tiles that were taken off the bay have been replaced. The final picture shows how the gable end is shaping up and the large window that overlooks the garden and the moor is framed out nicely. We think that this may well be the favourite room for all our guests as it will have some stunning views all through the year. And yes that is the birthday girl with one hand on hip admiring the looks of our new extension.