What a difference a door makes!

It's been quite a while since I gave an update on the studio, because even though we've been busy there wasn't much to see.  I have been painting, painting, painting until it seemed it would never end.  But there was nothing to show for it because it was all painting in preparation for future use.  I was becoming very discouraged and down about it, and quite frustrated (to put it very mildly indeed) about the lack of apparent progress.  We had reached the stage where it was difficult to progress much further until the ceiling was completed.  Peter and I couldn't do that by ourselves and my brother Terry has been so very busy that he has been unavailable. In spite of promising a couple of times to come and help it didn't eventuate.

Peter built a cabinet for the sink that will go into one corner.  It is ready to have the counter top put onto it.  I can't find a stain colour that I like though, they are all too red or too yellow, too dark or too light for the effect I want.  We haven't put a door on yet until we can get the two desks around here from storage and work out whether the placement I have worked out for them will in reality be okay.  And I can't get my old desk out and strip it off to re-finish it because it has a large dollhouse sitting on it and I have nowhere to put that until there's a suitable surface in the studio.  And I can't finish off the shelves until the ceiling is finished......And so it goes on and on and on in circles!  Can you see why I was so frustrated?

In the meantime I painted.  And painted.  And painted.  How can such a small building need so many parts to be painted?!! And because I am doing all the painting myself and by hand it takes forever.  The days start off at around anything from 3-4degC up to 7degC, many of them lately with a heavy frost.  By the time the frost melts or the heavy dew dries enough to work outside it is around 9am and I can go out and remove the tarpaulins that have covered things overnight.  Some days it has been windy - the cold westerly August winds came early and they are bitterly cold.  And when they blow the paint dries almost on the brush.  But by about 11 am the sun is pleasantly warm, with the temperatures in the teens and the day is lovely - unless the wind is blowing.  By 4pm though it is time to pack up and call it a day, and the sun sets around 5pm.  By then it is cold again.

Peter bought the composite wood covered with melamine that we are using for shelves across the back wall.  I wanted this because I've had my fill of painting.  They are cut to size and ready to assemble into the shelves and we were ready to do just that this Sunday but when we arrived home from a business meeting at the church on Saturday night my brother Terry was at our place, ready to help us for the next couple of days - whoo hoo!!

So on Sunday we got the rest of the ceiling installed. And with that step the room became a room instead of a shed.  It also means that once we do the trim around the edge of the ceiling to cover the join between the ceiling and the wall we can go ahead with putting up shelves.

On Monday he hung the door and installed the windows.  The door doesn't have the hardware on yet because we had the wrong tunnel lock for it but we've changed that today so it will soon have a working handle, and a security lock (deadlock) as well.  The windows will have their handles put on when we have done the interior stop pieces etc.

And here it is now.

The railings aren't fitted yet, Peter just put them there this morning to check the fit.  I want them to be lower than they are in this photo.  On the garden seat at the right you can see the fancy pickets, one of which will go in each section.  The rest of the pickets will be plain white ones.  The exterior trim on the windows and doors still has to be done too, obviously, as does the corner trim..

Peter and I can now go ahead and add the trim to cover the join between the wall and the ceiling.  I will give Peter the honour of punching in the nails in the ceiling and painting that - I'm not permitted up ladders because of my problem with dizziness.

We can add the architraves around the windows and doors.  I've already painted those, they'll just need touching up afterwards.  And we can add the skirting boards after I paint those too.  They will just be simple strip wood ones, nothing fancy.  Then finally we'll be able to lay the vinyl flooring and I'll be able to start moving things in there.

Things like finishing the gardens, bedding in the railway sleepers properly, doing more planting out, and finally landscaping with some sort of gravel or crushed granite for a path and area under the seat and around the garden beds will be ongoing projects, as will be the completion of the exterior.  Once I can get the furniture out of storage I will be working on re-furbishing that, then on moving my minis in there and getting them organized.

Inside walls painted....and progress in the garden

After a record amount of rain in June, we had a week of wonderful sunshine last week.  Cold nights and cool days, but blissfully sunny!  And we made the most of it too.  On Monday Peter, Nathan and I undercoated the interior walls of the studio (which we call 'The Cubby' because our neighbours and my brother have agreed looks just like a large cubby house).  On Tuesday Peter and I did the first coat of colour and on Wednesday we did the second coat.  It is a pale yellow, chosen because it is fresh and light.  We used the same paint we used in our bedroom.  I keep trying to take a photo but it keeps coming out white!

Today my brother and his oldest son came to help Peter put the ceiling up.  Peter and I were outside early this morning painting the sheets of plywood with undercoat - it will make it easier when it comes to paint the ceiling.  We got half done, so I don't know when we'll get to finish it.

Out of interest I googled the effect of colour on us.  Here is what I found about yellow (this was after I had chosen it by the way).
It says:'Yellow is a cheerful and uplifting colour.  It symbolized wisdom and means joy and happiness.  Yellow is full of creative and intellectual energy, therefore it helps to memorize and recall, think clearly, make decisions and come up with new ideas - that is why you should always use yellow notepads.  It also encourages optimistic attitude and helps to build self-confidence'.

Wow! That sounds perfect for a creative space like a studio, doesn't it?  Note to self: buy a stack of yellow notepads ;)

I want to have touches of blue in the studio (blue is my favourite colour and I love yellow and blue together). Here's what I found about blue:
'Blue is the calming colour.  It represents the night and makes us feel calm and relaxed.  Lighter and softer blues make us feel quiet and protected.  blue inspired creativity, clarity and mental control. Light and dark blue combined, help to convey trust and trustfulness.  Blue is also believed to help memorizing information - use blue paper for writing down speeches or other information you need to know by heart.'

I love the crispness of white to accent the yellow and blue, and plan to have all the woodwork in white for the shelves and trim around windows and door.
' White brings peace and comfort'.

The exterior will be done in a light grey, with a darker grey called 'Bilby' for the trim, and white for the windows.
'Grey is often associated with independence, self-reliance, self-control and self-criticism.  It relates to isolating yourself from everything, remaining separate, uncommitted and uninvolved.  Grey may lead to loneliness.  Also grey can have a cooling effect when placed next to more vibrant colours.  It can make the vibrant colours stand out whilte muting their vibration. Grey evokes authority, practicality and corporate mentality.'

Hmmm.  well, the independence, self-reliance and self-criticism part certainly applies.  The isolation part also applies - The cubby is somewhere I can go and be to create and build away from the hassles of the house.  I certainly won't be lonely because my menfolk will find their way up there, that's for sure ;)  I chose grey because I want it to be cool - our summer sun is pretty fierce in Sydney even though The cubby is on the south side of the house and not on the sunny north side.  I'm doing my best to make it as cool as possible for the summer whilst getting as much sun and light as I can during winter by facing it north and having a deciduous tree on the west.

My favourite colour nowadays for woodwork is a light to mid brown.  Sort of honey coloured.
'Brown is the colour of our mother earth.  Brown can alleviate insecurities and bring a sense of stability and comfort.'

I don't have the luxury of buying new furniture and fittings for the studio but anyway I have lots of second hand stuff that is perfectly fine, it just needs re-purposing to make it suitable and fresh looking. I have been planning on stripping back an old table I've been given and staining it in this honey brown.  I also have a well-loved old desk that Peter and I rescued from the city in the early 60's when his mother's office was getting rid of some furniture.  We stripped it back then and stained it walnut and it served me well all through high school and my first stint at university.  Now it will be stripped back once again and re-stained this lighter colour.  I have also been given two large desks with returns (detachable) from a deceased estate.  they are finished in a walnut laminate and I am looking to find a lighter laminate to re-do the tops and will paint the body of the desks in white.

But before I can get moving on doing the restoration of this furniture I have to let the menfolk put the ceiling up in the studio so they have room to move.  This happened today (Sunday) when my brother was available again to help Peter do it.  He also brought his oldest son Paul to help. He will also assist in hanging the door and installing the windows in the front wall.  Then we can get the glass for the windows and Peter will glaze the windows.

In the meantime I have been moving forward with the garden as well.  Some treated pine railway sleepers have been placed in their approximate positions ready to be partly dug into the soil to hold them in place.  We filled most of the area so marked out with soil and I have planted some shrubs.  Three large concrete tubs are raised on a couple of courses of bricks to raise them to the level of the soil.  Here's a view of the garden on the left front of the verandah - it should look nice once the building rubble is cleared away and the plants have recovered from the shock of being put into the soil and bushed out a bit.

 The largest of the three tubs has a lavender 'Sidonie' in it. This is a small-growing lavender that produces tall, elegant, rich violet-blue flowers all year round, intensifying in the colder months.  It is supposed to be 'a fast growing shrub surrounded by soft leathery foliage to a height of 80 cm' so will fill the pot really well.  For now I have put some pretty white violas around the edge of the tub to fill it up a bit.

 The smallest of the tubs has three burgundy-coloured dianthus plants in it.  They smell gorgeous!  As we walked past them in the nursery the smell was enchanting.  I hope it wafts in through the windows, along with the lavender.

 To give further contrast in growing habit and foliage shape I chose some Diascia for the medium pot. We have this growing in a large pot at the front of the house and it cascades beautifully over the sides of the pot and just keeps flowering and flowering even though it gets the full force of the sun all day long in summer.  I just cut it back when it looks a bit too weedy and off it goes again.  I have three plants in this pot and I think I managed to choose a medium to dark pink, a white and a light pink but I'm not absolutely sure of the colour of the third one.  It will be a nice surprise when it blooms :)  These plants have pea-shaped flowers, which are one of my favourites.

In front of the pots, in the corner is a fan flower.  The label has disappeared and I can't remember what it's name is. This little shrub will fill the space nicely.  The sun washed out the colour a bit - it is a nice dark mauve, nearly a light purple.

Beside that is a Federation daisy that blooms with lovely pink double daisies in spring and all through summer and into autumn given the right care.  Planting this from the pot it has been in for the last four years broke some bits off it and we dipped those into honey and stuck them into another small pot as cuttings.  Hope some at least take.  At the moment this poor bush looks rather sad and folorn, I hope it picks up soon!

Further to the left, at the corner of the garden is another lavender.  This one is the same as one I have out in the front garden so it will probably grow around a metre high and spread for about a metre too. I hope will enjoy this position and grow into a lovely  bush.  I love the smell of the flowers.

Then I have another Federation Daisy called 'Crazy Daisy' pink.  Federation daisies are an improved version of the Marguerite daisy, and are usually smaller and give improved performance in our Australian conditions.  I love them.

Behind this  and tucked in front of the battered old wheelbarrow is a Myoporoides 'Winter Rose'.  This is a small growing native (to 80cm).  It flowers for a long period of time from winter through spring.  an abundance of deep pink buds opening to reveal a pink star-shaped flower which fades to white.  It is covered in buds so hopefully they will open soon.  I love star-shaped flowers too.  In fact you will notice that all the plants I have chosen for the gardens are among my favourites.

The annuals in the wheelbarrow have survived the torrential rain we've had for weeks and have coped with having the shade cloth removed.  Lots of them have come into bloom in the last week since they were planted. The alyssum seed that I sprinkled over the surface is even coming up everywhere so I am hoping that I'll be able to prick some of it out and transplant it when it is larger.

Behind the wheelbarrow and along the side wall of the cubby I have a small Buddlea to plant.  It is a dwarf variety.  I've never seen a dwarf variety before and it is perfect for the space.  Then I have this lovely camellia to go in.  The position will suit it, I think.  It will be protected from the westerly sun but will get the morning sun - just like the faithful one that blooms year after year in our front side garden.  I fell in love with it's drooping growth habit.  It's called 'Little Gem' which suggests that it might not be a big tree when mature, but it doesn't matter what size it is.

It was hard to get a proper photo of it because the sun kept washing it out but here is a closeup of some of the flowers - aren't they just gorgeous?

As well as those two plants I have a flowering fruit tree - I think it's a plum but can't remember.  I do know that I want to get it into the soil soon because it is bare rooted and we've had it for a week.  But I'd better get the wall on that side painted first!

On the other side, the right side of the verandah,  I have also put the railway sleepers to mark out the bed but they too still need to be settled into place.  Here you can see the struggling violet bed, mulched with sugarcane mulch on one side.  One of my fairy statues is sitting where I can see her from the verandah.  The poor old bird bath is looking rather manky after the rain, it needs a good clean out.  I'll have to place it on a couple of bricks to provide a stable basis for it because it has gone off level again.

Here is the rear of the same side of the violet garden, with my other fairy figurine.  It says 'There are fairies at the bottom of my garden'.  I've left it clear of mulch where the violets are planted so they can get the runners into the ground - yes, they are there even though you can't see them clearly in the photo.

The rest of this bed is still lacking soil because I am thinking of making a small frog pond there.  But that will take some time to get into gear.

So now I've raved on heaps (again) - hope it's not too boring.  Can you tell I'm excited?

A dream come true........

Way back when Fiona (Bea) Broadwood started putting out her half scale houses and I saw them in a miniature magazine I fell in love with them.  I wasn't even on the internet then and when I was finally connected and found the online Petite Properties group called The Miniature Beehive I was delighted.  By this stage Bea was just starting to release her quarter scale kits for buildings along similar lines, and I started to buy these.  I had no chance of visiting the UK to buy one of her wonderful halfscale creations, which are sold at fairs on a first-come-first- served basis.  But I have always continued to dream that some day, some how, I would manage to find a way to actually get one.

And now - that dream has come true!  One of the members of The Beehive, Caroline, has to downsize her collection and posted that she was selling 'Dandelion Cottage' made by Bea herself and bought by Caroline at Miniatura in 2012.  It comes with a greenhouse complete with potting bench, both also made by Bea. 

Isn't it gorgeous?  Bea added some flower pots to the front of the house.

 Inside, Caroline has added doors and skirting boards, a fireplace by Sue Cook and a fire grate.

Inside the greenhouse there is the potting bench by Bea, gardening tools by Willow Crafts, Flowers by Jan Southerton, the Flower Lady and two plant pots and window boxes by Clive Brooker.

To the side you can see a watering can and lawn mower by Willow Crafts and a water pump by Little Homes of England.

 I am delighted to have these treasures as well. There's no way I have access to some of  these craftspeople or even knew about them. I gather Caroline probably bought the items at a fair, so they are extra special too.   I'm so pleased to be able to obtain all of the collection and to keep it together, and Caroline is also pleased that it won't be split up.  It will be collected by the courier tomorrow and I will be counting the hours until its arrival.  It isn't cheap to have something sent from the UK but well worth it to obtain one of Bea's masterpieces.

Happy, happy dance going on here - such a happy miniature collector I am!

Nearly ready to paint

It is hard to get a photo of the interior of the studio at the moment, it looks far too boring.  But Peter did the first layer of jointing compound on the gyprock on the interior walls yesterday, after he woke up from sleeping after working the night before.  I did contribute a small part by doing the holes where the screws have gone in but he did all the tape where the pieces are joined together.  He is trying very hard to get it ready for painting. We were hoping that we'd be able sand it today and put on the second coat of jointing compound but it wasn't dry enough.  I wanted it to dry in time for us to undercoat it and hopefully put on the first coat of colour on Sunday. 

I'm becoming really excited even though we haven't put the ceiling in yet and still haven't had the electrician in to wire up the power points and light - it is proving difficult to find one to come.  It will be quite a big job, because we will need to have an extra circuit added to the fuse box and cables run from the studio down the back yard underground to the house, under the house and then up to the fuse box.

I've had the paint we bought for the exterior cladding darkened a couple of shades because it just looked virtually white in the sunlight.  It is Dulux Ashville but now that the tint has been doubled it is nearly the same as the next darkest shade, which is Silver Thaw.  Here is a scan of the colour chips but they look much more blue here than they do in reality.  I knew they went well with the dark blue roof but in real life they just look grey.

 I've done the door in Dulux bilby, which is a darker grey with a touch of

brown and a touch of blue to it in some lights.  Again, this scan of the sample chip looks far more blue than it does in reality.

Still not sure whether to go an even darker shade.  The next shade is called Babbler which is appropriate because I seem to be babbling a lot about the studio at the moment ;-) 

On Sunday Peter will sand the posts so I can paint them as well.

I've also been working a bit on the garden that surrounds the jacaranda tree just outside the verandah of the studio.  For years I've been trying to grow native violets in it and they've struggled a bit on and off, with grandchildren trampling over them when they climb the jacaranda tree, or my nephew putting all sorts of things on it when he mows the lawn - he seems to regard it as a storage area for hoses, pots and whatever he wants to move out of the way.  Now it

This is what they are supposed to look like - wonder whether mine will ever get a chance to  look half as good?

has suffered badly from the menfolk again trampling over it during building no matter how I protested, and from building rubble being dumped on it.  So I've enlarged the area somewhat, rescued the few remaining bits of violet I could find, put new sugarcane mulch over the area and planted a new plant that I had growing in a pot to boost the population.  If anyone dares to walk on it now - look out!!  I've also laid down the law that my nephew is to stop emptying the birdbath that is in this garden and leaving it upturned.  He seems to have a real set against having water in it - what does he think we bought it for if it wasn't to have water for the birds?

I have also planted out a Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon' in the area near the end of the verandah.  If this one is anything like the one near our kitchen window it will grow to a good size and flower virtually all year round - it is hard to cut it back because it is always in bloom.  All sorts of birds love it, honeyeaters of various sorts, wattlebirds and rainbow lorikeets to name just a few.  I am really looking forward to watching the birds out of the studio window and  getting them so used to my presence that they'll be happy to be in the grevillea whilst I am on the verandah as well.  I've used this photo before, but here is the one near our kitchen window, with the lorikeets having a great old time.  This one is supposed to be upright but is actually a prostrate form so we have propped it up and even then it grows to about seven foot tall and spreads the same because we prune it back to that so the one we've bought for further up the back will probably grow at least that size too.

There are more plants that need to go in this area between the studio and the fence, to provide shade from the summer sun.  I am looking for some deciduous shrubs or trees that grow high enough for our purpose but don't spread too much for the area.  I also have some native iris and some grasses for lower growing plants that hopefully will help attract birds as well.   I want this area to be quite thickly planted and to be a 'no-go' zone for people traffic.

I dug out some old concrete pots that I've had for over 30 years.  Usually when I plant them up I paint them to spruce them up and I was giving them a good wash intending to do just that.  Then I thought about how in miniature settings we go to all that trouble to distress things like pots to make them look more realistic and I wondered why I was sprucing them up when I had some perfectly fine distressed pots - naturally distressed without any trouble on my part :-)  So I left them and saved myself the effort.  Mind you I might still paint them - if they look just too distressed!

So I'll stop babbling - for now at least.

At last I can ALMOST truly say.....

....that 'Snippets' will be coming from my studio - not my lounge room or my bedroom or my workroom :-).  The saga of my studio is a long one, and one day I will fill you in on the drama.  Mark I was great but short-lived, MarkII is much smaller but nearing completion.  Finally!  Hopefully.

I have waited 3 1/2 years to have this second attempt, and it has taken lots of effort to get it this far but I am becoming hopeful that it will be ready to move into soon.  How soon?  Maybe by the end of the month soon,  but I'm not holding my breath!

We had saved the timbers, cladding, windows and doors, flooring and roofing from the first studio - which had to be dismantled.  However over the last 4 years the timber had deteriorated, my brother had appropriated the door to use in the house that he was renovating, we had used the cladding on our house and  the windows had become smashed because my dear brother and nephew had decided that they wouldn't be used again!  They had underestimated this lady.  Wouldn't you think that after knowing me all of his life my 'little brother' would know how put it politely - determined I am?

So I asked whether it would save time/money/effort if we just bought a shed and clad the outside and lined the inside.  Both my husband and brother thought that was a good idea.  I didn't particularly, but if it got them moving and I got my studio I was happy.   Peter had rung the Council to see what details were required for the plans he had drawn up, to be told that if the building was less than 20 square metres he didn't need Council permission.  Good-o!  We would make it less than 20 square metres and not have to jump through Council hoops - I didn't want to wait and I didn't want the paperwork if we could get moving while the menfolk were ready to do so.  After not finding what we wanted in the places that sell sheds around the area I went on-line and found one that was suitable.  We ordered it and within a week it was here.

While we were waiting the area was prepared.  After changing my mind twice about it's orientation (oops!) I finally decided to have it north-facing to get the best light (we're in the southern hemisphere, remember), and the smallest possible area exposed to the western sun.  It will be tucked in under our jacaranda tree (on the right of the photo) and in front of our small pink-flowering yellow gum (at the back), both of which had to be trimmed to fit it in, along with the poor old bottle brush struggling along in the back corner of our yard.   There's also a gum tree against the fence that will provide a bit of shade from the westerly sun, though you can't really see it in the photo here.

It doesn't look it here but there's quite a slope to our land in this corner and the least expensive way was to raise it on stumps.  It's always my preference to have a wooden floor too, because it's a lot easier on my painful knees and back so I had asked for this.

I wanted a shed that was about 4 metres by 4 metres (13 ft 1 1/2 ins) so I could have a verandah on the front but the closest we could get was 3.75m x 3 metres (a tiny bit over 12ft 3ins x 9ft 10ins).    Peter and Terry dug holes and put in treated pine stumps then put down bearers and joists.  My brother is a carpenter and he had some time off so helped with this early bit which was wonderful.

Next step was to put the floor onto the bearers and joists.  I'll be covering it with vinyl or something so we just used yellowtongue pineboard  flooring.

It was a big day putting up the shed, taking Terry, Peter, Terry's son Mark (who lives with us) and me.  But it looked very small when it was finally up.  The guys had made the floor so that the shed slid partly down over the side then rests on the bearers underneath to prevent water from getting into the shed.  Then Terry also put in the bearers etc for the verandah - which he was able to make 2metres wide and still keep within our 20 square metres.  It will be a great place to sit and work or just enjoy the sun.

In between helping Terry, Peter spent some time sanding back our recycled windows with his belt sander.  I had been tackling them with my palm sander but they needed the big brother treatment.

  Being a chippie, Terry was quickly able to set up the posts for the verandah and figure out the support beam for the verandah roof.  He braced it all with these angled beams.

 You can't see it in the photo but there is a layer of thick ceiling fibreglass insulation over the top of the shed roof, then a layer of sisalcraft insulation (sarking) under the mid blue Colorbond corrugated iron.  So the roof is really, really well insulated.

Then Terry cut the holes in the walls to fit the re-cycled windows we had, enlarged the doorway to fit the standard door we  bought, and trimmed out the openings.

Because I want to line the interior and clad the exterior, battens then were put on the higher parts of the corrugations on the exterior.  This meant that there is room to put more insulation in the gaps between the battens.  The summers here are quite hot, and we can drop below 0 deg C in winter so I want to decrease the temperature fluctuations as much as possible and make the studio as comfortable as possible to work in whatever the season.

The children next door are fascinated by the whole thing, as is our neighbour Tarnya.  In conversation with Terry they have decided that the studio looks like a cubby house, and the name has stuck.  Even I am calling it 'the cubby' now :-)

The nice wide verandah will prevent too much sun shining in during summer whilst allowing the lower winter sun to come in during winter.  The little window on the left is on the east side and will possibly have a little awning over it later on if the room gets too warm too early in the day during summer - we do get temperatures in the 40's at times (40C is 104F, 42C is 107.6F) so if the sun stays on a room too long in the morning it does get warm, but being due east I doubt this will.  The rooms facing this way in the house don't.

Because there is a sewer pipe between the cubby and the fence we can't plant any more trees there to shade from the western sun.  However, we do want more shade and also to attract more native birds.  So that six foot stretch has now been cleared and prepared for planting in recent weeks, since these photos were taken.  I will be going to the Forestry Commission nursery to get some seedling native plants to establish a 3-layer planting in there - a bit of a jungle to discourage the grandchildren from running through it and disturbing wildlife: some ground cover, grasses,a couple of grevilleas, and some taller growing plants.  I'll cover the ground with mulch, put a few stepping stones for access to the sewer outlet if necessary, some bits of interesting timber for habitat, and leave it to itself.

 Here is the cubby receiving a nice warm woolly coat of insulation all around, then the insulation is covered by sarking.  Double insulation.  The silver side of the sarking is turned inward but it still helps keep heat out in summer and in during winter.

 Below you can see that the verandah has now been finished completely.  Though later on we will be adding two railings around it except for the middle section where the step will be, and probably some pickets between the railings too - it will look even more like a cubby then!

 And then finally the cladding could go on the exterior.  This was really exciting for me.  I chose a hardiplank with a timber grain pattern on it.  

 And today Peter did the almost-last piece of that cladding  - woo-hoo!

I painted both sides of the door with sealer/undercoat.  I wanted to do the windows too but my endurance levels are very low still after being ill.  I was very pleased that I was able to get that door done.  Tomorrow I'll start on the top coat and see how I like the colour scheme I have chosen.

I am feeling very impatient to get in and start setting up inside and organising things, but we still need an electrician to wire up for the six power points and to install the ceiling light.  We have the gyprock ready to put on the walls and I am pushing for us to do that, leaving some broad yellow plastic tape threaded through where the cables will go and let the sparky work out how to get them through, if we can't get one soon.  I just want to get going in there!  We need an electrician!!!!

We interrupt this programme......

for a very important announcement.  Work on the Fairfield has come to a halt for a short time.  To see why, click here .  Please come and visit and leave a comment - it's great to have 'company'!

Today is ANZAC Day.  The acronym ANZAC originally stood for the Australian New Zealand Army Corps who fought and died at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I.  Today ANZAC Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders who lost their lives in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operation and the contribution and suffering of all those who have served.

Traditionally The Ode is recited on ANZAC Day during the services, as it is on Remembrance Day and at funerals of Defence Force personnel.  It Ode comes from 'For the Fallen' a poem by the English poet and writer Laurence Binyon.  Often only the last verse here is recited but this year I have noticed that these two verses were recited at the Dawn Services in France and in Gallipoli, Turkey.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Customarily we also repeat 'We will remember them' in response.

It is an emotional day for me because my grandfather fought in WWI and during WWII my father was a prisoner of war for 3 1/2 years in harsh conditions in Germany and Austria, being one of the Aussies captured in Greece.  After being liberated at the end of the war he was 'rehabilitated' in England by the Army then allowed to spend some time with his Scottish family who worked hard to fatten him up so he was strong enough to stand the voyage home to Australia.  Upon his return home this 5ft 10inch man had been fattened up enough to weigh 6 stone!  Because of the hardships suffered he died when I was just 24 years old and I miss him still.

"Lest we forget"

If the eyes are windows to the soul.....

..... does that mean that windows are the eyes of the soul?  I wonder whether houses could be said to have a 'soul'?  I know they certainly have personalities.  When we first walked into our RL house, it embraced us with loving arms and said "You're home".  The Fairfield definitely has a personality of its own too.  As I've been constructing it, this personality has revealed itself to me bit by bit.   I have fallen in love more and more with this house despite the challenges it's thrown up at me and despite the changes in plans I've made which have made things somewhat difficult at times.

Now I have installed the windows on all rooms except the tower room, and I'll do that tomorrow hopefully. They still need to have the top 'eyebrow' added to most of them. But as soon as I put those windows in the house seemed to come to life.  How about coming across to the Fairfield blog and follow progress as I finish this delightful cottage and 'plant' the garden as well as doing the rest of the landscaping, furnishing and adding accessories?

Front of house

Kitchen side of house

I hope to see you there!

Did I make it?

?

Well it’s April.  Did I reach my deadline, my goal of finishing construction of the Fairfield by the end of March?  

To find out you’ll have to visit the Fairfield blog here and see :)

We're away at the moment....

If you'd like to know where and why, have a look here