Attacking the Walls - Pt. 1

This trip (April 2012) we went after the plaster on the walls. The walls on the 2nd floor for the mot part are reinforced concrete, which is actually a huge relief, since they sit on top of the 4 ft thick first floor walls and add a great deal of stability to the place. But on the 3rd floor, the walls are covered all around in different types of plaster. The big concern with that is I don't know what lies underneath them. I was reasonably confident that the north and south walls, by the fact that they carried the A-frame roof were likely stone, but the east sand west walls seemed to some degree to have a wood frame. This work would take the lion's share of the trip, partially because we used the wrong tools to start and partially because there were different types of wall and plaster. Using a mallet to loosen the plaster along the stone wall and then a chisel to bring off the remaining plaster without breaking the underlying stone, we started to pull it back. I was right, it was stone. And in pretty good condition... More to come including the right tools to use.

Salles-La-Source

Beautiful, lovely, enchanting Salles-La-Source is near my house. This town doesn't have much to offer in way of restaurants and bars, but what it lacks in amenities it makes up in views. The creek that runs through it accounts for 7 waterfalls as it wends its way from top to bottom. All are fantastic but none more so than the Grotto in the center of town. The water comes flinging off a cliff walled with buildings, down into a deep green pool before spilling down some rocks and below the roadway on it's way to the river below. I am not a good photographer and this place is so beautiful even i couldn't screw it up.
Wikipedia page

It's been a while

I've been back a few times and a few things have changed. 1. I met more neighbors, including the one who owns the two houses that back up to mine. 2. my Chaux experiment failed. I am not getting the mix right 3. I took down all the plaster on the 3rd floor. most importantly my wife came with and saw her house for the first time. She loved it! More details to follow, but first a photo, from our last day there. Double Rainbow all the way!