Thanks for your continuing interest

It has been a while since our last update (the stone palimpsest photo essay notwithstanding), and people have been asking about progress on the house, and when the next batch of photos would be posted.

In a nutshell: things are right on track and the house will be ready for us to move in as planned, in late October. As to photos, all the worthwhile pictures from our last visit, in July, were posted almost immediately.

Then followed a period of near total inactivity, as most construction trades in France traditionally take the whole month of August off.

Work resumed promptly by September 1st, but so far we've received only one batch of photos, and I hesitated to share them as most deal with details and technical issues that require our review and approval.

Still, below are some of the more interesting ones, with an explanation of their significance in the captions.

This photo shows the "potager" in its new location (briefly: a potager was a primitive stove; embers from the fireplace would be shovelled into the arched opening in the vertical panel, so that pots placed over the holes in the horizontal slab could be kept warm or simmering.).
What makes this shot interesting is that the potager used to be on the left side of the fireplace, while the door to the dining room was on the right. They switched places in one of the few structural changes to the original layout of he house. This required, among other things, dismantling the potager and reassembling it in its new location - not a small feat considering that it's all solid stone.
The space above the potager will now be fitted with shelves and matching kitchen cupboard doors, behind which a flatscreen TV will reside. So, if the relocated potager ever warms up again, it will certainly not be with embers, but quite possibly, as one might imagine, from something no warmer than a cat or a dog who might make it home.
Below: a "before" photo of the same corner, with the old door to the dining room, still in its original location.

The courtyard, looking south, with the new outside stairs and levels taking shape.
We have expressed our concern to the architect regarding the size of the capping stones on the low wall in the foreground. Beautiful stones, for sure, but they look massive to us, and seem out of place in this project. We are awaiting his response.

The new stone steps leading up to the barn that is soon to become my workshop.
The house is on the right.

Detail shot showing a patch of the upstairs newly laid and sanded oak floor, with a length of baseboard about to be installed. This particular spot is situated under the middle dormer window, on the landing, with the stairs to the guest room on the right.