getting ready to fill the walls

20.4.2011

BUILDING NEWS

We have had one of those funny days when loads of people work flat out and when I go down at the end of the day nothing looks different! This must be because all the walls were completed yesterday and today’s work was to prepare for filling them tomorrow. We had a few minutes of total panic this afternoon when it looked as if all the arrangements for concrete and the concrete pump had fallen through but after several frantic phone calls Edd managed to get us back on track.
So, tomorrow is the big day! John says he will start setting up to pour the roof next week (once he recovers from Easter) and when his work is done we will enter a totally new stage of the build.

At the weekend we went to a neighbour’s place for a wedding party. They were also burnt out in the fires but have managed to get a new weekend house built and totally fitted out. I was totally impressed. The house is entered through a mega height glass door set in a red tile surround. The building is basically grey, mostly mini orb corrugated iron with two red sloping columns outline the entrance.

To me it symbolises passing through a stage of fire. Once inside peace returns with extra high ceilings and a predominance of white. The kitchen is mostly stainless steel but one bench is beautiful snow like marble with grey grains. Else where a few items; the rim of a light shade, a glass vase and the flowers on the table picked up the red theme.

When everything you own is burnt it is a very good excuse to get new things that all go together. Even I now own my first set of matching pans! In this house some Asian antiques, some art works by neighbours, and some fitted furniture all worked together to create an effect that looked co-ordinated without being over matched. Did I mention that this neighbour works as an interior designer? Is that an excuse for being totally out classed even before I start?

OTHER NEWS

I have found the Bacon avocado and it is now planted in the new food forest along with the citrus trees and its’ mates. I now have to mulch the area but I may need to clear away some logs first so that we can get a trailer as close as possible. As fast as I plant stuff I have a variety of pest trying to dig things up but a good heavy layer of mulch helps a lot.

The pest infestation extends to our living quarters where we have mice popping up through holes in the floor and running everywhere. They are annoying but after all the disasters happening at present they do not count as any great drama. Rats and mice are always an issue in autumn when they look for a warm dry space in which to spend winter.