It’s been a long time between posts, too long. As always with writing, if too long elapses between posts, time and life seems to all run into one big jumble with nothing standing out as being particularly news worthy. It becomes difficult to pick out the important things.

So, what have we been up to. We’ve had two week-end trips up to Perth for friends parties. Both trips and both parties went off very well. We’ve found a buyer for our beautiful white lounge suite, and we’ve bought something more suitable for the lounge.

We’ve bought new Christmas decorations and have decorated the house. It’s not up to our usual overdone Christmas decorating. This time we’ve gone with blues, greens, silver and white, rather than our usual traditional red and green. I’ve never been fond of blue for Christmas before, so I’m surprised how happy I am with this years effort.

Our garden is growing. The Plumbago is starting to flower, and a couple of the agapanthus have buds on that are just starting to show signs of opening.

There’s plenty of annuals filling the gaps, and most are now in bud. Still nothing much that shows up in photos, but they’re only a few weeks off providing a colourful show – maybe by Christmas. If not for Christmas, then they’ll all be in full bloom to provide a colourful welcome for Paul when he returns for chilly England in mid January.

I have found a little part time job as a Food Presenter. I’m only working two days a week on Friday’s and Saturdays at the Bunbury Gourmet Farmers Market. What a wonderful place that is. I’d never been there before I applied for the job. It’s massive and a real foodies paradise. Apparently it supports at least 150 local farmers from the area, and employs over 300 staff. They sell an astounding variety of the freshest of produce.

I’m presenting in the gourmet butchers section. I have a tiny little mini kitchen behind my presentation counter with a little oven, one gas hot plate, a sink and a few cupboards. I cook all manner of gourmet, restaurant quality meats for the guests and customers to sample. I’ve only worked three days so far. It’s tiring, but really enjoyable, and I’m sure there’s no job more suited to me than this one. Cooking and chatting to customers all day, what more could a girl like me want! All the staff seem happy with their jobs, which says a lot, and my immediate boss is very pleasant. I think I’m going to enjoy it there.

While there’s been nothing particularly news worthy to write about, and no trips to new places, life has never-the-less been an un-news-worthy, uneventful, pleasure!

Most of the hard work to get the garden into shape is now at an end. With the mulch now on, all we have to do now is keep it watered, and wait for it all to grow.

Glyn (Paul’s dad) hasn’t shown any significant improvement, and has made the decision that going back to his flat is no longer an option. A care facility has been found for him, and he has moved in on a short stay basis initially. After a month’s stay he will decide if he’s ok with making Neville House his permanent home.

We had so hoped he’d be able to see out his days in his little flat, but it wasn’t to be. All very sad!!

Paul has booked a short trip over to the UK to finalise his flat and make sure his dad has everything he needs initially. He’ll be leaving here between Christmas and New Year all going well. It’ll be a hard trip to make, as we’re just starting to get our new life in Busselton started.

We’re meeting people, and making friends. I’ve joined a women’s walking group who meet for an hour long walk two mornings a week, finishing with a coffee in the local cafe. I gather it’s quite a social group, with regular lunches at local wineries in the district. I’ll go to my first of those on the 30th of this month.

We’ve met two couples in the neighbourhood whom we seem to have clicked well with. The happy hours a couple of times a week that we so enjoyed as part of our life on the road is being continued with the company of these new friends. Two of the women are in the walking group, and one of the husbands loves going out for bike rides. Paul’s managing to get out on his bike often now, and I think they’re planning to get together for some rides soon.

We’ve arranged to commence a four month beginners Tai Chi course, commencing at the end of January. Paul will make sure he’s back from the UK for that, and we’re making enquires about joining the local Bridge club, and the local lawn bowling club. Life is already starting to feel full and lively, and our calendar is close to having very few empty days.

This week Paul is going to get stuck into the remainder of the indoor painting. When that’s finished we’ll have all the major work behind us, and we’ll just be plodding along, maintaining everything and doing the remainder of the work needed at a leisurely, pottering around pace. What a pleasure!

Someone mentioned to me the other day that roses are so hardy and survive under the harshest of treatments that they could almost be a weed. And I have to agree. Bushes buried completely under a mass of other plants and not even visible five weeks ago, are now flourishing, and even providing cut flowers for indoors. Their ability to survive with complete neglect, and then bounce back in such a short time when showed some TLC for such a short time is astounding.

Alice, Paul and dogs (Mavis and Betty) came down and stayed Saturday night. The dogs were delighted frolicking on the beach, and Paul and Alice impressed with the lifestyle options we have being in such close proximity to a such a wonderful walking beach. It’s been inspirational I believe, and their own dreams of a little bit of paradise for themselves on the Swan River in Perth has fired up. Very expensive real estate, but with a bit of a stretch they could no doubt manage it, but it would throw them out of their comfort zone for a while. I would say, ‘go for it’, but they’re not as impulsive as I am. So, time will tell…..

The herb garden has been planted, and all the cuttings and plants Alice brought down have now found their way either into the ground, or have been planted into small pots to get started. Half of the Lilly Pillie hedge has been planted. The other half needs some more work before we can get that going – later this week.

Now it’s all just awaiting mulch, and time to grow.

The sun’s shining today, and it’s warm and bright. A beach walk, and possibly even a swim is definitely on the agenda after lunch. And we don’t even have to get into the car – what a pleasure!

With the worst of the inside rooms now painted, we’ve put the remainder of the painting on hold and have spent most of the past two weeks tackling the garden.

I don’t know if you’ll remember the front garden bed when we moved in. It was overgrown with daisies and whilst were clipping them back we realised they had completely surrounded some very nice rose bushes. We found eight in total. With a bit of TLC they’re responding beautifully.

We found out about a wholesale rose nursery that sells particularly good roses for a very reasonable price. It’s a bit of a trek to get to it, but we decided we needed a few additional roses, so we took a drive to check out what they had on offer – BIG, BIG mistake! They have a huge selection of the healthiest roses I’ve ever seen in a nursery to choose from. We now have an additional twelve bushes in the garden bed purchased over two trips, and I’m absolutely positive I’ll be able to find some space to squeeze in a few more.

When you find a rose nursery as good as this one, it’s very easy to find oneself developing a bit of a rose OCD…. I can’t wait till the Autumn flourish comes around and they’ve had time to establish. I wonder if there’ll still be only twenty bushes!

I only realised today that we have neglected to take any photos of the huge and very ugly orchid/shade house that was occupying almost half of our back garden. Shame, as I can’t post the before pictures of that area, but please take my word for it – it was very big and very UGLY.

It took Paul about three days to dismantle it, and we’ve both spent several more hours each day clearing the debris and getting the soil watered and ready for planting.

We were very pleased when our lovely neighbours, Brian and Kay, approached us to ask how we felt about replacing the dividing picket fence with colour bond fencing. The fence has now been replaced providing a lot more privacy than that which was provided by the pickets, and best of all, it’ll never need painting.

Our side gardens were equally as choked with plants, many of which have been planted in totally unsuitable places. We’ve thinned out some maiden hair ferns in a side garden adjoining our shady morning coffee area. From the same area we’ve removed a flame tree – why on earth would someone plant a flame tree only a few inches away from a fence, the mind boggles! And we’ve transplanted two birds nest ferns into the garden beds. Once they’ve had time to settle in, and when we’ve added a few Elephant Ear palms to the area (Alice is bringing us some on the week-end), it’s sure to be a lovely tranquil place to sit and contemplate.

Paul’s built a raised garden bed with the bricks removed from the foundations of the shade house. This will be our herb garden.

We’ve divided the garden from where the shade house once stood into three. The middle section has been sectioned of with a defined border of white alyssum (sweet Alice). Inside the defined half circle garden I’ve planted a blue plumbago, with a few blue salvias surrounding it until it can grow and can fill the space in it’s own right. Tomorrow we’re picking up some blue agapanthus from someone nearby who has some to spare, and in time, these will form a solid border around the lacy plumbago.

Into one end we’ve transplanted two trees (also both from in-appropriate places in the front gardens). One is our favourite back yard tree, a Chinese Tallow, and the other is a Chinese Snowball tree. It’s absolutely the wrong time of year to transplant both trees, so, it’ll be good luck if they survive rather than good management. We transplanted them yesterday, and so far, so good. With a cool week looming, maybe they stand a chance. Along with a few other perennials and annuals that end of the garden is now showing promise.

The third section of the area is currently vacant awaiting three Frangipani cuttings Alice is bringing down on the week-end. Our sturdy, useful, but ugly shed is in this area. We have a couple of jasmine creepers for that. Paul is going to try and put the framework up for them tomorrow and we’ll let them ramble over the shed to cover up the not so good paint job. The rest of that garden area is yet to be decided. I suspect it’ll be a nice place for some golden cane palms and perhaps a few ferns. We’ll wait and see if the Frangipani’s take first though, as ferns will need the shade from them to survive.

It’s been a busy week. But we did take time out for some walks along our beach. What a pleasure!

One week into being a home occupier again, and so far, so good – I think! A few hiccups for sure, the main one being discovering the hot water system needs replacing. We’re waiting for a second quote and hopefully will get that underway later this week.

It’s been a busy week, and we’ve made a start. As our very good friends Wendy and Craig were coming down from Perth to stay last night, we gave one of the spare rooms top priority with a coat of paint.

The room, by no means finished, looked a bit better, albeit still with the old curtains and the second hand dark furniture still to receive it’s Annie Sloan make over.

We’re opting for a breezy, white beach decor. Of course, we won’t remain true to any decorating style. We never do. I’m sure it’ll end up eclectic as usual, this time with a mix of a bit Hampton’s understated beach style, a bit of shabby chic, (seemingly which should never be mixed with Hampton’s style) and a bit of whatever else takes our fancy.

We had a delightful time with our first visitors, too much to eat and too much to drink as we chatted away into the wee hours while playing a Canadian game similar, but more elaborate than Newmarket.

This morning we had a typical American style breakfast of home made pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. I used to think the Americans were weird to eat such a combination – until I tried it. It’s not something I’d have often, but it really is a lot nicer than it sounds. I even went a step further and had banana with mine, North Queensland style.

After breakfast a trip down to the weekly, Sunday market, and a look at Busselton’s famous 2.2km long Jetty. Then our farewells said, Wendy and Craig headed back to Perth, promising to return as soon as we both have a free week-end.

After a welcome 24 hour break we were back to it again this afternoon. Paul started on the second spare room, while I started on the Annie Sloan make over of our second hand bedroom suite.

It’s been a hard week, but we’re already starting to see a bit of an improvement. I can’t speak for Paul, as I suspect he doesn’t enjoy the topsy turvy house makeovers as much I do. But for me, I’m loving it. A real pleasure.

We’re currently in a caravan park in Busselton awaiting settlement of our little Summer House. Settlement is due to take place at mid-day tomorrow, at which time we’ll get the keys.

With this years late spring, it’s cool here. Showery and blustery, so not very enticing for getting out and about, especially when we’re pre-occuppied with house plans. We arrived yesterday morning, and immediately went out and purchased paint, mops and other bits and pieces with which to clean, and start preparing the house for occupation.

With that out of the way, and with the weather the way it is, we were at a bit of a loss today as to what to do with ourselves. The house has been empty for years, so we figured it wouldn’t do any harm to go and have a bit of a look at how to sort out the driveway for the caravan, and to have a good look at the garden and formulate a plan.

One thing lead to another, and before we knew it our pruners were out, and a little bit off here and there soon led to a lot off….. Paul has sorted the driveway, and tomorrow we should be able to back the caravan straight in. It’s still only temporary as all of the paving needs lifting and re-laying, with extended paving for the caravan driveway, but at least our caravan can be parked out of the way of the garage allowing easier access for our furniture when it arrives on Wednesday.

Whilst Paul was getting the driveway sorted, I decided I’d do a light prune of the roses and lavender which are suffering from years of neglect. A bit of a light prune led to a bit of a purge on all the seaside daisies, dozens, and dozens of them. They’ve clearly been left unchecked and have been self sowing for years. I uncovered an additional four rose bushes that were literally smothering beneath them.

I’ve left the Margareite Daisies, geraniums, and pelagoniums for now. Eventually, I’ll probably take cuttings of the nicer ones and start them off fresh. But as with all my gardens, it’ll evolve without any definite plan into whatever it becomes. I’ll leave the roses for now and see what they all are.

It’s still a long way from anything that looks anything, but the front garden is now started. My philosophy has always been, ‘once begun, half done’, so using that philosophy we’re half way there. I’m sure in no time at all, it’ll all be looking as pretty as a picture.

Gardening (even though prematurely) – what a pleasure!

And what to do after the gardening – a short drive to Dunsborough  for  a pint and a serve of crispy hot chips with aioli at Occy’s brewery seemed like good idea. Ahh!! another of life’s little pleasures…..

Before I start babbling on about the ‘next project’, we’ve arrived safely in Perth, and we’re freezing. Spring is normally here by now, but the abnormally wet winter Perth has been experiencing is continuing into spring. Everyone told me to make sure I brought my winter woolies with me, but as our intention is to follow warm weather, winter woolies are something I no longer carry around with me. With the heater on in the caravan, and keeping busy, I’m getting by – just!!

We’ve caught up with Alice, Paul and the grandees, a very warm welcome – and all well and as gorgeous as ever. It’s funny how long can pass between face to face meetings, yet how it can seem like only yesterday that we were last sharing a cuppa and a chat.

And we’ve only just begun to catch up with friends. We had planned to only be staying in Perth for a week before we headed down to Busselton, but the weeks almost gone, and we have so many people still to catch up with, so we’re extending our time here for a second week.

And now the weather report, and the friend and family report’s out of the way, I’d better let you all know how things have turned out with our latest purchase and project – ‘the summer house’.

Today, we had our final inspection. Usually the final inspection is the last of many inspections prior to the changeover. In this case the final inspection was also our first inspection. So, what did we find:

Firstly, no surprises, the house was as we expected.

The house is a small three bedroom, two bathroom house on a 465 square metre block. The most important things are that there’s room to park our caravan, it’s a short walk to Geographe Bay beach (around 3 minutes), and it’s not part of a strata – so no neighbours telling us what we can or can’t do (it has what’s called a green title). The only covenant is that we had to be over 50 to purchase it, and the same applies if we decide to sell it on, or rent it out in the future – only to people over 50.

When I say the house is small, it really is small. We have a challenge to decorate and furnish it suitably so as to make the most of it without having it feel or look cramped. As we both thrive on such challenges though it’s exciting rather than  daunting.

The storage in the house is good. A reasonably sized kitchen pantry and pot cupboards, reasonable cupboards in the separate laundry, a good sized linen cupboard, and built in wardrobes in the three bedrooms. It has a large single lock up garage with parking for a second car in a carport in front of the garage. It also has a second driveway on the other side of the house suitable for our caravan, even though the caravan won’t be kept under cover.

The master bedroom is a small to average sized queen bedroom, and the other two bedrooms will each fit a double bed and bedside cabinets adequately. The ensuite bathroom is reasonable, and the 2nd bathroom is just a shower, loo and small hand basin off the laundry.

The kitchen is a pleasant size with a good work triangle between stove, sink and fridge. The dining room will adequately hold a small six seater table, and the lounge when furnished properly will seat both us and guests comfortably.

It was only build in 2001 but the decor looks more like 1980’s. So, we have a project to bring both the inside and the outside into the 21st century. Firstly, a good light coat of paint throughout and new carpets in the bedrooms. We should get that done in the first week after we take possession on the 10th of October. Then we’ll be able to actually move in. Until that much is completed we’ll remain in our caravan, but will park it in the driveway.

After we move in we’ll tackle the garden and exterior painting. It has a verandah around three sides of the house, supported by heritage green wooden posts, lots of them. The green just has to go…. There’s a huge very ugly shade house in which the previous owner used to tend his prized orchids. Once we demolish that we’ll have some lovely garden space, which we’re just dying to get stuck into.

I shouldn’t think it’ll take us long to get the basics well under way. The kitchen also will need a re-vamp, but that won’t be part of this years project – next year perhaps.

This week has been busy. We’ve been looking for furniture, both new and second hand. So far we’ve bought a second hand double bedroom suite in need of a shabby chic transformation (that’s my job, while Paul deals with post painting). And we’ve bought a new dining suite and second hand lounge suite. We’ve started to check out the replacement curtains in the shops, and we’ve marked things like fridges, washing machines and the other bedroom furniture on gumtree. By the time we move down to Busselton on the 10th we expect to have bought most of the basics and will have them stored up here in Perth until we have the house sufficiently ready for them.

It’s quite a project for such a little house, but what would life be without a project. We’re thoroughly enjoying the planning stages, and I’m sure we’ll also enjoy the work involved, and we’ll definitely enjoy seeing the transformation.

Of all the houses we’ve ever purchased, we’ve only ever bought one that’s been perfect at the time we moved in. It was boring with everything already done. We’d so much rather have to work to make it our own.

We’ll post the before and after photos as soon as we get a chance to get going on it all. This little house is going to be a real pleasure to work on, so keep watching this space.