Wordless Wednesday: we've come a long way in a year

This time last year, we had one dog and a concrete slab! Join in wordless Wednesday here.

Learning to slow down...

I couldn't go through another weekend of frantic jobs, just to ensure I ticked them all off my list. We tried to be better at slowing down. Friday night was a good start, a bottle of French red with a lovely French Brie and an Italian hard cheese pressed inside grapes. We lingered at our table chatting and enjoying the cheeses.

The weather was a little kinder this weekend- warmer, some sun, although the occasional shower did catch us unawares. Rob did have an important project- building a compost bin- our compost has been going to waste, and as we don't have rubbish collected making sure we cut down on our waste is paramount. So while he started sawing and measuring, I baked a chocolate cake- after watching Annabel Langbein's tv show, the Free Range Cook, we couldn't resist the book. For once I am trying to be good and cook all the things we'd like to try from a new book- this resolution may be sorely tested soon, Rob has just ordered 15 news books from Amazon (only 13 are cookbooks!)

I made sure we took the time to enjoy a cup of tea, and a few walks around the block to watch the dogs wrestle in the mud.

The hut is quite peaceful- although this weekend we had several types of bird visitors, our resident pair of geese (they have adopted us), flocks of native ducks who appeared to be fighting over the dam, cheeky currawongs that liked to tease Claudia and the occasional robin. I'd love to get clever enough to recognise all their calls and songs. But at the moment I just listen and wonder what they're trying to say.

We did go shopping on Saturday, we've been living without a mirror in our bathroom since we moved in. As someone who is extremely short sighted and has to put in contact lenses every day this has been a bit of a trial- the little hand mirror on the bench top wasn't going to cut it for much longer. So we headed into town to visit our favourite second hand furniture shop, after looking around we couldn't really find the right one, but we had a chat to the owner, and knowing our fondness for retro he ran out the back and came back with a simple blackwood framed mirror. Back home it was actually a bit big for our bathroom, but suited the guest bathroom better so we swapped the round mirror to our room and hung the new mirror up. It was a little marked from water or the sun, but as I was oiling the kitchen joinery I just ran the cloth over the frame and it improved it markedly.

We made good use of our kitchen on Saturday night and cooked a special meal, just for us. I steamed some mussels open, then topped them with a salsa of lemon rind and flesh, roasted and chopped up almonds, garlic and parsley. Then we blitzed them under our grill. I was quite proud of these, sorry I didn't get a picture, they were begging to be eaten. Rob tea smoked a piece of Salmon in the Weber, it just had a marinade of whiskey, sugar and salt. We ate it with a potato bread from Sweet Envy and a bottle of bubbles. The salmon was so tender, meltingly so, like it was confit. A slice of chocolate cake with a wicked ganache icing and a cup of chocolate tea for dessert. Another excellent meal together. It's still such a novelty for us both to be able to cook in the kitchen together. We love it.

Sunday was spent finishing the compost bin, I was even allowed to use the power tools to help! Then we put a second coat of tung oil on the kitchen cabinets, and then while we were at it we decided to oil all our retro furniture, rejuvenating them beautifully.

We're getting better at living at the hut now, maybe we'll be able to relax once the long awaited window seat is finished, which I'm hoping is soon!

Mini-break

Rob and I took a week off. We jokingly called it our honeymoon.
We spent the entire week at the hut.
We (well mainly Rob!) painted the shed doors blue, painted the down pipes to match the roof, coated the remaining timber boards on the back of the laundry hut, oiled the internal timber walls, moved some furniture, moved the rest of our pot plants and planted them in the garden, and helped with the installation of our kitchen, which was very exciting.
It is so very close now.
We had perfect blue skies for most of the week, so one evening we took some shots of the hut with the lights on (mainly just for the novelty of switching them on!)





Some shots of the kitchen in progress- the bench tops are incredibly smooth to touch. Since these photos we have timber cladding and drawers on the back of the main bench, the internal drawer parts have been fitted above, the sink has been plumbed in and the oven and hotplate are installed. Progress shots to come.

Big week...

May I just say that blogger is being so painful- I haven't been able to comment on any of my favourite blogs and it's killing me!

Progress this week at the hut includes:

Finishing off the secret door and cladding the door to the hot water cylinder in celery top. They look great.

Plumbing in the toilets and sinks, outdoor taps and our outdoor work sink (we inherited a second hand kitchen sink to use as a potting bench or to wash vegies one day).

Some more external lights (although there are a few left to finish off).

Finishing all the myrtle skirting boards.

Finally finishing the last bit of outdoor cladding on the laundry hut.

Sanding and coating the floorboards in the living room.

Finishing the flashing on the ends of the hut roof- it looks very smart.

Some progress (but probably not enough) on the kitchen build off site.

Best of all - the builder's portaloo has gone! It was quite a shock to drive down and not see the bright blue tardis!

The other big news is that I became an Aunty for the first time overnight, I'm just about to head off and meet my new neice, Maisy.

Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Nigella patiently waiting for the hut to be finished. She's much better than me!

Our weekend:

We made the most of an unseasonally warm weekend.
Lots of time outside at the block, we have started to move some pot plants (my lily collection) and some box plants for hedging (Claudia was starting to chew on the pots and the poor plants as well as bring them inside on the odd occasion).
Rob also started fixing up the back of the hut so that we can lay some weedmat and gravel as a path.

We stopped in at Sweet Envy on Saturday and bought a delicious Potato bread- salty, chewy, addictive. As well as a pecan sticky bun, a jam doughnut and two macarons. Sorry I didn't take any photos- but I think we'll be back there this weekend looking for that bread again!

Progress has been rapid at the hut site, after my poor me post last week. Sorry about that, sounds like everyone feels this way by the end of the build!
The builder is starting to whisper about occupancy certificates.
Most importantly they finally took delivery of the celery top cladding for the internal walls so they're up, and may I just say that the breezeway looks fantastic.





I can't resist sharing a photo of the view down our hallway either.


The new landscaping in front of the laundry hut, we'll have to encourage some grass to grow there, although that might prove tricky with the two mud puppies.

Hope you had a weekend as lovely as ours.

Impatient to be there

This photo was taken at Easter, some landscaping has happened since, but poor Rob has been flat chat trying to actually work as well as chase up numerous fitting choices such as lights and carpet etc., that I haven't had the heart to ask for a more recent photo.

I have to say I'm over this whole building caper. I should be more excited than I am.
But well, I'm not. Not excited by mess and mud. Not excited about chasing up lights because we didn't realise the house hadn't been wired for low voltage lights. Of the timber not turning up for the internal walls.

I walked around inside on my own yesterday, looking at each room. Trying to picture us there. It's so lovely and quiet inside our hut. It was blowing a gale outside but the sound was muted inside, I felt protected from the Autumn weather.

We were both happy to see our celery top kitchen benchtops start to take shape at the builders workshop. That was definitely pleasing to see! The myrtle window seat and bookshelves look gorgeous too.

I think I'll be excited when I hold that occupancy certificate in my hand. Or when I get to put our things into the kitchen or our wardrobe. Make our bed and go to sleep that first night in our bedroom.

Hopefully our wait is nearly over.

Our Easter

We took it slow over our Easter break.

• Sleep ins.




• Dog walks at the beach.




• Just hanging out at the block, planting trees.




• Snuggling under my Easter present from Rob, a heated throw rug.




• Inviting ourselves to cook a paella at our friends place.




• Eating chocolate.




• Camping at the hut overnight and christening the new Weber Q bbq.

The little hut is getting there, unfortunately the builder has run out of the timber for the back wall. So there may be a little wait til it's completed. I've decided that instead of having matching timber Z strap Barn doors for the laundry hut, I'd like blue doors. Rob has graciously allowed me this slight change of plan!

Yesterday the builders made a big mess at the block by installing the septic tank and water tanks. So there will be mud everywhere. But he's starting to promise the end is near.

Not long now.

It's just a little wet out there

Claudia walking up the drain along side our driveway- I can only imagine Nigella is wondering about the sanity of her sister. A very full dam and a very green block. Nigella likes to inspect things. This is the water pooling above the drain in our drive.

Myrtle trim around the windows.

More myrtle trim...

Just one more - these little windows are my favourites- like framed pictures.

Not big news to most people in Australia this year. Flooding rains.

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

Dorothy Mackellar

It was hideously wet last night in Hobart. We braved it for a quick dinner for Rob's actual birthday. Sushi at Orizuru in town. They made his night by serving it up on the wooden boat. We feasted on oysters, grilled eel, kingfish, tuna, salmon and a myriad of sushi. Washed down with a large Sapporo. Rob was quite happy with his birthday present, I ordered 10 more fruit trees from Woodbridge Fruit Trees, including 5 cider apples, 4 quinces and a plum. To go with this, I'd found an apple picking bag in an antique shop, he loved it and insisted on putting it on in the restaurant (much to his 15 year old daughter's embarrassment!)

As the rain continued to fall last night, I couldn't help but feel nervous about the driveway at the block. It runs over a creek (with a large pipe underneath) but that quantity of rain in 24 hours is always a worry. Especially with the neighbours dam that sits above our driveway. We woke to hear that the main road that leads to the block was closed due to "deep water". That's not what I wanted to hear.

So Rob headed down there today with the dogs. More to relieve me of my constant worrying than anything else. I'm happy to report that whilst extremely wet, the driveway and hut has survived. I feel a little selfish talking about it with all that has happened around the country this summer- but it certainly brings home just how nerve-racking it can be.

The dam is overflowing, the drains are flowing quickly. Claudia enjoyed a quick dip in her personal pool with the two geese that have adopted us. Rob was slightly surprised to find the builders there as the weather was so foul. But they have been working on the myrtle trim around the windows and doors- INSIDE. It looks great!

It may be a bit quiet here for the next few days- we're preparing for a big birthday party (40 people) at the block on Saturday. With a little surprise for the guests.

Timber progress

Just a quick update- the front of the hut is finished, and the back almost too. Just need to do the ends and the hut is done!

The long goodbye to the blue hut

So the builders have been busy- and the timber cladding is slowly going up. I think of it as a reverse strip tease!

I only had the little point and click camera, and conditions were not the best, but I think you can get the idea.

Rob has been busy painting every single one of those boards with a preservative to stop the boards going silver, or black with mould. It really is very smelly, after a day helping him move the boards around we both ended up with head aches. Not nice. But he's nearly finished. Will post more as the blue continues to disappear.

Timber

Last week was fairly quiet at the hut, a few things were meant to arrive, but they didn't. Which is something we get used to. We did get to see the start of the window seat, the only piece of bespoke furniture we're having made, (sorry I had to use bespoke, so very Kevin McCloud of me). It was nice to see the our timber dressed and being put to good use. The window seat will be made of celery top and myrtle, to match all our retro furniture finds. You may have noticed that Rob and I are a tad obsessed with timber. A couple of years ago we went to an auction in huonville, we ended up with 2 ute loads of timber, and I only left him for a moment! So it's nice to see some of it now being used in the window seat and the kitchen cabinets and bench tops.

Today we headed down to the hut to check on progress. I could see the two water tanks from the top of the drive, and the septic came into view as we got to the hut. Both dogs had to bark at them. I wandered over to the hut, and noticed the workhorses had been moved and there were tyre marks. Now this got me interested, we have learned that builders don't tidy up after themselves unless it's in the way of something else. So I looked in the door, to see timber. At this point I may have gotten a little excited, and squealed for Rob to come and open the door. Inside sat a neatly stacked pile of myrtle for the skirting and trim inside, and the promised half of the celery top cladding for the outside. We've been waiting for it for awhile now. The builder and Rob were hoping for it in December, sadly the sawmiller had lost the order in his ute. Then there was Christmas, then there were issues with the cutting blades for creating the shiplap joins. So he kept promising next week.

Today was that week.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

P.S. Sorry the photos we took were a bit sad (silly little camera and quite dark) so we'll head down for some photos tonight.

Plaster board is all go

Our own personal cathedral, well maybe it's more chapel sized. The top picture is doing my head in, the ceiling looks like it's opening out! Pink bats are quickly being replaced with grey plaster board. The pups love to run up and down, stirring up the dust and fighting over off cuts of timber or plaster.

Every day the hut seems to change in proportions. It will change again when it's painted white inside!

This last photo is Rob's favourite. His shed. It has the cutest little porch for sitting on in the evening, facing west. I can already see us sitting there, glass of something cool in hand.

Sorry if my posts are a little hut focused, but "it's all happening here" as Bill Lawry would say.

The first hut party

So my birthday week continued onto the weekend. We invited some friends to check out the progress of the hut. These are the friends who have listened to our plans for our little home over the years, so it was a pretty special to sit and share food with them inside it!


I love that we can organise this sort of feast in less than a day. After a few phone calls we had a time, the location and everyone was going to bring something along (mostly from their own vegetable gardens). Aren't the best parties spontaneous? I also loved that one of our friends parents were visiting from Andorra, so we got to meet them, and our other friends had some visitors from France so they came too. We got to the hut early and swept out our bedroom moved in the picnic table, laid a cloth and put out some cutlery and plates and that was that.

So what did we feast on? Slow cooked then bbq'd lamb shoulder (so good we have to do it again this weekend), hummus, beetroot dip, cucumber, mint and yoghurt salad, radish and zucchini salad, green salad, olives, zucchini, tomato and cheese salad, and pitta bread. We drank bubbles and home brew beer. The five dogs lay sleeping in the shade around us. Alot of the conversation was in French as more than half the guests were fluent. I only know a few words but that didn't matter, it was fantastic to hear it, and either a hand gesture or translation allowed us to understand eachother!


We moved onto a cheese course (Tasmanian of course) and then thought before dessert a little mid afternoon walk was needed. Rob had cut a path in the long grass to the dam, so the five dogs all got to cool down and chase sticks and then shake muddy water all over us.


Moving back to the table we had my birthday cake, Maggie Beer's cumquat cake from Maggie's Harvest. Unfortunately we didn't take a photo. But it was a beautiful thing. A dense vanilla cake with a filling of sauterne soaked dried cumquats and the most amazing orange scented buttercream icing. We decorated it simply with a a few leaves, flowers and fruit from our cumquat tree. The table went quiet as we ate.

Afterwards we sat outside in the late afternoon sun on folding chairs, drinking tea, chatting about our orchard or the wedge tailed eagles swooping in the trees. This is what it's all about really for me. I said to Rob afterwards, I was so happy and relaxed, and it was a perfect afternoon in terms of weather and company, and he was in total agreement.

Nearly exactly four years ago we parked next to a for sale sign and walked up a simple bush track that opened up into the north-facing slope of pasture that is the block. Nigella ran ahead porpoising her way through the long grass. We knew we wanted it straight away. This was where we wanted to build our home. I know I shouldn't be so attached to physical things, and especially after the last few weeks of great loss of property to flood waters in Australia, I shouldn't let it dictate my happiness. But Rob and I planted our hearts at the block then. Sorry for the sentimentality, but it's true. It's been hard not to live there right away. Sunday was a glimpse of what we dreamed four years ago, a little hut, in which we could welcome friends and family into, and share a meal together. I can't wait for the hut to be finished. Hopefully it's not that far away now.

The builders have been busy last week, finishing the frame, wrapping the hut up in blue insulation and all the wiring has been put up for lights and power. Rob took these photos through the windows one evening.

Our bedroom window


The second bedroom window

Our bathroom window (which won't be frosted)

A roof in a day

Headed down to the build site to find a roof and gutters.

It's looking like a hut now.

As promised...

...the photos of the roof trusses.

It's really starting to take shape now.

We'll head down tonight to check out the progress.

we have walls

Busy times at the hut build site:

• concrete floors polished = tick
• all the walls are now up and bolted down = tick
• Rob has been digging away shifting fill from the house site into our terraced gardens
• we now (as of last night) have roof trusses on half of the hut.

Sadly the pics from last night are still on Rob's camera, so you'll have to be patient.

But the addition of the roof frame is pretty exciting. The hut looks so tall! The steep pitch of the roof is one of the design features we particuarly wanted and it looks impressive.

Apart from the hut, Claudia has been keeping us all amused (and busy trying to make sure she doesn't destroy everything), I've been to Melbourne for work, I've managed to come down with a head cold so spent the last couple of days lying on the couch, and my sister turned up from London to stay with my parents for a month.

Apart from all that we've been decorating the house, writing Christmas cards, wrapping presents and buying dried fruit in outrageous quantities. This year we're only making 2 large puddings and 4 cakes, but the ingredient list was still impressive!

Can't wait to show you the pics of the roof.

Slab = tick

The main hut looking from our bedroom end of the hut.

The laundry/shed hut, which will have a little west facing verandah- perfect for afternoon drinks!

The build continues on. We had a magic day of sunshine before 5 days of showery grey weather, so our builder took his chance and poured our two slabs.
The only disappointment was that we arrived too late to put our hand (or paw) prints in!
The next few weeks will be a bit quiet then the fun begins, I can't wait for the frame to go up, then our little hut will start to take shape.
We'll have to get Nigella a bright orange safety vest, she takes her role as site foreman very seriously!