Last Day of Summer.

Summer went out in style today. As I hung up yesterday's washing for a final dry there was not a cloud in the sky. With a refreshing breeze blowing it was perfect for doing my exercises outside. I even managed to have my head shaded by a towel on the line. It got cloudier during the day so who knows what it will be like tomorrow. 

Having felt for a while that each day was much the same and things weren't getting done today I did a job that I've been meaning to do for years. This small round pine table originally came from my mother's house and then spent 25 years in our conservatory. There it was mainly used as a work bench by the boys who spent many happy hours building and painting 40K models not to mention scenery to create battle scenarios for said models.  While being happy that the boys were being creative I would have been happier if they had thought to protect the table with paper first. (Before they send me outraged messages yes they did so some times.)

Being in a damp conservatory at Dingles didn't help preserve the table though I did put the feet in plastic pots to protect them from drawing up damp through the concrete. However an afternoon of sanding done outside in the garden, mainly with an electric hand sander but also by hand on the legs took off the worst of the marks. I didn't want to remove all the character of the table by getting every last mark out which would have taken a lot longer. One of the top pieces was coming loose and needed repairing. Once the sanding was done I needed to get that done. Out came the electric drill, box of bits, box of screwdrivers, tub of small screws, box of even smaller screws and a tub of various mending plates none of which I needed. The top planks had originally been secured with small floorboard type nails. The loose section had pulled away from the underneath and the nail bent over to the side. When I carefully straightened up the nail, hammering with the end of a large screwdriver over a block of wood fixed the nail firmly back into the under structure.

After putting away all the things I hadn't needed I decided to carry on and wax the table while it was still outside. I put two generous coats of Brywax  on the wood which brought the pine back to a golden glow. I may give it another coat or just buff it over tomorrow. All in all I'm very pleased with the overall result and look forward to spending time working in the conservatory.