Chrissy Phase 2

Rachael arrived pretty well on time on Wednesday morning but the airport was manic. Wall to wall people meant we were not out of the car park until 11 or so. Some shopping followed later that same afternoon and some more on Thursday (Christmas Eve!!) meant we nearly had everything we needed.

Except the kind of good sense and composure which should accompany the celebration of Christmas...

Pressies were opened and far more food than was required was consumed.

Then we got down to trying out the presents. Judy has always wanted a pair of the shoes sometimes seen on the feet of small boys - the kind which allow the child to speed around on small wheel in the heel of the shoe. Here she can be seen trying out the new "skates" with a little help from her daughters.

We have a booking for the hip replacement the new speedy shoes will inevitably necessitate.

Chrissy Phase One

We have already begun our Christmas celebrations with a season of overeating with Jonathon, Danielle and the boys in Bellingen. We travelled up last Saturday and have an apartment at Sawtell, close to both the beach and the family.

On Monday (14th) we had a Christmas celebration tea with them. Grandma and Grandpa picked the boys up after school and had an ice cream with them at what we were reliably informed was Bello's best ice cream shop (can't disagree) before setting out on the 45 or so minute trip to their home.

Presents first - some were hard to open.....


Sometimes what the other had seemed more interesting


And some required quite a bit of concentration.



And some; eg the fish which spew up arms and legs or maggots were both fascinating and gross!



After presents we settled down to prawn kebabs and tiramisu (not all at once).

When it came time to leave we were presented with mid north coast at its very best. Lightning and heavy rain which left us without power back at our apartment for a short while. Camping has its moments but last Monday night we were glad we were not under canvas.

A few more days here and then we head off home to what should be (cartpet and painting aside) a completely renovated house.

Getting there....

Well we are just about there, today the tiles began going down upstairs. Not yet finished but incredible progress for one day's work. A few square metres and grouting to go. The tiler is an amazing tradesman and has done an incredible job.

Downstairs both batrooms are ready for the final fitout, the plumber and electrician will be back to finish their parts of the work in the next day or two. Below is our ensuite.

And here is the main bathroom. The shape has been changed in both to good effect.

Saturday we head up to Jonathon, Danielle and boys for a week to catch their end of school year functions as grandma and grandpa. By the time we return it should all be finished - only painting to go.

Roar and Snore

We had a wonderful time at the zoo. Thank you so much for my fantastic present.
On arrival at our swanky accomodation, we had lovely drinks and fruit and cheese. After settling in to our tent, we were taken to dinner and then shown around the zoo. The day had been hot but by the time we arrived there was a great cool breeze. Our tent had a view straight to the harbour bridge.



The next morning after breaky we were taken to see some of the animals being fed and even got to do some feeding.
We had a great time - despite the 40 + temperature on the Sunday.

Downstairs

On Friday and Saturday the guys worked to remove the two bathrooms downstairs and strip out the slate in the hallway.

All done!

Tomorrow the work begins to relocate the wall within the bathroom (separating the main bathroom from the ensuite) and the installation of the new windows in the bathrooms.

He also said the tiler would be back early this week to get wall tiles in place in the laundry and to screed the laundry floor ready for tiling.

There seems to have been more mess and dust this time than last - not sure why. Perhaps because the fittings have been in place for longer. Not that it matters much we both sneezed and snuffled through last night.

We have a new front door and much to my great pleasure one key that opens all the doors, screen doors, deadlocks and all! So tidy and uncomplicated. I am however still carrying a huge bunch of keys around as I am uncertain which ones are now surplus to requirements...

One down!

This morning the shower screen was installed in the first bathroom, completing that part of the renovations.



We have moved to the upstairs bedroom and Friday morning the strip out of the two downstairs bathrooms will begin.



We have become relatively adept at living with chaos and mess but I fear there are one or two things we shall never again see...

It is, as the photos show; all white with the exception of the floor tiles which are a slightly patterned brown (sounds quite lovely doesn't it?) tile.

The pantry and laundry are taking shape and some tiles will go in there this week but Ric our builder does not want the new floor tiles to go down until the work downstairs is complete in case they are scuffed during the work downstairs. In consequence we are walking on newly laid tile underlay, a kind of fibrous cement material carefully nailed down. No counting was involved but Ric tells me that he worked out around 3,000 nails had to be driven into the sheets he laid - glad I was at work that day.

The renos continue

The good news we now have some walls, the bad news the slate has been removed and things are a little messy.

Here is the new pantry with walls (and a light that comes on when you open the door - we think, it is certainly on when the door opens but is it always on)!


And the laundry.



Here we are looking towards the deck from the kitchen.



And our classy new front entrance....



Turns out the slate in the kitchen area and family room were laid at different times (more than a few years apart apparently and by different techniques). The kitchen was laid using bitumen and hessian the family room by a more modern adhesive. You can see where the extension starts quite easily in the photo above, note the change in floor colour where the bitumen ends. The consequence, the kitchen area lifted fairly easily the family room will need to be stripped by a sander of some sort. The dust is already everywhere with prospects it will get a lot worse.
The tiles have been delivered so it is all go.

The renos begin

Well the renovations have begun, Monday was a public holiday so Tuesday saw the builder on site beginning the clear out. Below is the bathroom before.

And after...



The upstairs bathroom (which had no waterproofing in the shower recess) was the first to go, then he moved on to the laundry.


And after - sadly he had an accident with the classy light fitting and it will now have to be replaced, we had always planned to replace the vent in the ceiling which is hanging at a drunken angle.
Notice the slate was still on the floor at this stage, it is now gone.


By the time I got home in the evening both rooms were gutted and all the rubbish was in the skip. The next day or so was spent jack hammering the floor of the laundry away to provide a keyed surface to take the bed for the tiles. Then the pantry wall went and was relocated to enlarge the pantry (see below) to suit a domestic goddess who is going to spend much of the rest of her life preserving things.

This was taken from the laundry door (to outside) looking back to what will be the pantry, the studs will form the wall dividing the laundry from the pantry.

Tomorrow (Monday) the plumber is coming to position the pipes and then on Tuesday the electrician will be here to put in the odd power point or two.

So far minimum disruption (4 days in) if you do not count the dust...

More weird weather

As if the dust storms were not enough, Tuesday afternoon a huge storm rolled in with accompanying hail. Our yard rivalled the snowfields we saw in Canada. Phillip didn't believe my report to him and as he came home from work there was no great evidence of it until he hit our street. How weird! In this Spring 'warmth' there were still pockets of hail in the yard the next morning. We had taken all our fire wood downstairs and cleaned out the fireplace but last weekend we had to once again light the fire.

Expecting??

Our bird book suggests that the white faced heron builds an "untidy nest of twigs" not sure if they have read the book but they have built their nest "by the book" - it is an untidy construction of twigs carefully selected (we watched the selection process from out bedroom window) from the many twigs which litter our yard.

I cannot be sure but I think mum is sitting on eggs in the nest - they have built it in a spot which makes it just a little too difficult to see from the ground or the roof of the house. The camera is capable of 18 times zoom but it does not quite do the job at the distance (and I am still learning how to focus manually not so far to great effect) here is another of the mum I suspect.

Spring has sprung

Dad used to say:
Spring has sprung,
the grass is ris,
I wonder where d'em birdies is?

I have no idea where the "poem" comes from - may be someone less aged challenged than I am can enlighten us.

There is no doubt spring has come (sprung) it is already very warm and terribly dry but our Wisteria, Rock Orchids and Cliveas are putting on quite a show.


Added to the colour is a new noise, the sound of I presume a male White Faced Heron who with his lady friend is building a nest in a tree just a few metres from our deck. The nest is taking shape but it still looks a day or two away from holding any eggs with any degree of certainty.
Each morning we have sat in bed and watched them collecting sticks, picking them up, checking out their suitability for a nest and if they pass - carrying them up to the tree for weaving into the nest.

Watch this space!

Susan's Birthday

On Thursday 3rd of September we helped Susan celebrate her birthday, the family gathered and Judy cooked.

She faded early but seemd to enjoy the night.

Look out David Attenborough

Thanks to the uninvited vistors of a week or two ago we now have a whole bunch of new stuff. Two TVs, laptop upon which I am currently typing, iPod and camera.
The old Olympus has been replaced with a Nikon which does some remarkable things - including time lapse videos.

Check it out... This is our fire the other night.



The video runs at 30 frames a second and the minimum exposure rate is every 30 seconds so it take while to get even a few seconds of video but what larks.

I took Friday, Monday and Tuesday off and we had one night in the old Quarantine Station at North Head. I am sure those who found themselves "locked up" there would agree that there can be fewer more pleasant places to be isolated.



The buildings have been retained but modernised and are quite beautiful, cars are not allowed into the complex. The car park is well outside the old Quarantine Station and a shuttle bus and valet parking system operate. All very nice with a restaurant right on the water, cool the night we were there but it would be lovely on a summer's evening.

Up, up and away......

Fourth time lucky, we headed out to Camden Airport a little after 6 this morning and finally got off the ground.


This photo was taken at about 3000 feet by a remote control camera which was hanging off the canopy. Seventeen of us in a basket about 6 feet by 12 feet or so - by the time we landed we were quite good friends. The canopy was huge and it alone weighed in at an amazing 345 kg - nothing more than ripstop nylon and a few stainless cables. It was an impressive piece of engineering and beautiful to boot.


Two large fans were used to partially inflate the balloon and then a blast of few minutes from the huge burners and up went the canopy - we all climbed aboard then we took off....

It was amazing, here is a shot of the canopy reflected in the Nepean River as we passed over it. The basket was the traditional wicker construction which you can see in the foreground.


Sunrise was beautiful, it was a clear day and we could right back to the city skyline and Botany Bay.

It was a fabulous experience, thanks!!

On Sunday we went to help Aunty Betty celebrate her 90th. Karen and Lyndal invited us all to High Tea at Betty's place.



All the old Eastwoodites and rels were there. These are some old friends from soccer days.The girls did a great job - the usual family standard of food. It was lovely too to see Betty's grandchildren and great-grandchildren there.

Ainslie Turns 21

Can you believe it? The Sherriffs, Julia Bourne, Ainslie's boyfriend Tim, Jen and James, Dad and I went to a restaurant at Macquarie shops to celebrate her birthday. I can't believe it means it is 21 years since we started at Ermington church.

New Bed

After some uncertainty we finally settled on our new bed, mattress and bedside tables. Now we feel very happy with them. Dad used his spacial awareness powers to rejig our room layout so that it is more balanced. Unfortunately his powers do nothing for our personal unbalance!

The bed arrived while Jenny and James were at our place for a Mothers' Day brunch.

Kiama - again

Last weekend we headed off with Ian and Susan to Kiama again. When we were there a few weeks ago we saw ads for a Jazz and Blues weekend and decided to grace them with our presence. Susan did a great job picking our lodgings - we had a 2 bedroom townhouse which is just across the road from the town beach (we swam both mornings) and just a few minutes walk from town.
Saturday evening we went out for tea to a favourite Italian restuarant where a group even older than us was playing...
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On Sunday after our swim we went to the Catholic church just across the road from our accomodation where an A capella gospel group was singing, then lunch - we set ourselves a cracking pace!
Then we whiled the afternoon away listening to free concerts in the park.

A great weekend - completed by Monday morning and work....