Shrine to St. Frigerifico

You know how certain shrine icons have niches made just the right size for them to fit into? Well we now have a Shrine to St. Frigerifico, our new fridge/freezer. After lunch today, the 4 brickies unpacked and brought Frigerifico from the sitting/dining area where he had been standing in his box for 3 weeks, out through the patio doors, across the patio, around the utility room, in the back door, and gradually guided him, like a corpulent and yet-to-be-commissioned robot into his niche in the kitchen extension. It was quite an operation with Don giving advice, instructions, and encouragement while I waited with the camera to document the installation. The little galley kitchen, as you can see from the one photograph, isn't wide enough for me to actually take a photo of Frigerifico without going outside and taking the shot through the opened kitchen window.

By the way, the way Frigerifico got his name is that the fridge/freezer box had the word "refrigerator" in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and (we think) Polish. We liked the Spanish the best and started referring to the big box in the corner as Frigerifico. Beginning tomorrow, we'll be worshipping at the Shrine of St Frigerifico several times every day and bringing him both old and new offerings on a regular basis.

The flooring was put down this morning. You can see from the photo the new flooring that runs from the kitchen through to the utility room. It perfectly comliments the cupboards, the worktops, and the new sink. The new piece of the original sitting/dining area carpet is down and looks fairly good next to the old. The old now needs a good steam clean which we'll take care of in early June. It just so happens that our plumber's brother is in that business so we'll call him. If he's anywhere near as reliable and competent as his brother, we'll be in good hands.

The shower room and entryway share a pattern of cushy vinyl which looks like medium-sized stones/pebbles in beiges, warm browns, and a sort of bluey-grey. I'll show you photos of the new shower room tomorrow, once the fitments get fitted. The studio also got cushy vinyl in a lovely warm oak planking effect. Don and I made a start on setting up the studio but need to bring lots of boxes back from Robbie and Peter's and a few boxes back from Margaret and Alec's before it can truly be put back together.

The plumber was back today to put up the rhones (gutters) and downspouts. He may have done all he can until the tiler can put the remaining roof tiles up. The brickies completed their work on the chimney and are almost finished putting in our new walkway (using the old paviers they took up). It's looking very good, especially the graceful curve where the pathway turns the corner around the sitting room and heads toward the new front entrance.

Ally the joiner will be back tomorrow to help us get more of the remaining bits and bobs taken care of. Some things simply won't get done before our guests arrive on Friday but we'll be very close. At least we've already managed to empty out the study of most of the stored items so it can be made into a guest room before Friday morning.

Last night's performance of The History of Hollywood (abridged) by the Reduced Shakespeare Company at the Perth Theatre was a lot of fun. We had seen them do The History of the World (abridged) and History of the Bible (abridged) in Washington but our friends, David and Juliet, didn't know what to expect. Little did we know that the four of us would end up on the stage! After the interval (good thing we each had a drink!), the "director" told the third row to rise, so we did, face right, which we did, and march up onto the stage. Once up there, he had us as a group do some typical crowd strolling from one side of the stage and back. Then he singled out a few people to do some "star turns," including Don whom he had come up to stage left and do jumping jacks. (Assuming Don was British, the director clarified his direction by saying "I think you call them 'star jumps.'") Don gamely star-jumped for about 5 minutes while the director had us "extras" go from one side of the stage to the other and back, once again, only this time as zombies. On our way back to the side we'd started on, he gave us the direction to attack the stars of the "film." Needless to say it was a riot for all concerned but for Don and me, just a return to a few moments of remembered "glory" on stage. For David and Juliet, it was something they wouldn't believe they'd ever end up doing.

I hear the fishmonger's van in the neighborhood. We'll be getting fish for our tea tonight so I must go put on my cardy (button-up sweater).