The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire

So I spent another couple of blissful days up on our bach roof, painting it. How come life's been so good lately? The pessimist in me says, don't worry, shitty times are just around the corner haha. But for now, life's good and I'll just enjoy it while I've got it.

Man! Finally finished the Doyle wall! All done in paint by hand... no pounces, (which are pieces of paper with the lettering all copied from an overhead projector).. nope, all marked up by hand from a 10% drawing. Can you tell I'm happy about that?

Speaking of happy. Man! Yesterday was the best day I ever had! I can't get over it. And I spent all day on a roof! So don't ask me why it was so good. It just was.

It's the roof at our bach. I took plenty of 'before' shots, but no 'after' shots, coz it was late and I had to shoot off. I hope to get it done by winter but who knows. At least I got all the rusty bits done and painted over, and I plan to do the rest a section at a time, coz I can only make it up there on Thursdays basically.

So weve been up to the bach again for another couple of days with friends. Well be going up with different friends next week too. Funny way to do the holidays I know, but things just seem... different this year.

So this is me taking a picture of Catherine holding a crab and me standing at a distance paranoid that if I act scared shell throw it at me. The things that go through my mind some times... I don't know!

And this is the friends who came up with us. Catherine is showing Joe the crab she found. Isn't that great? That's how youre sposed to spend your childhood I reckon.

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And the little boy walking up with his Mum is Brycen. He is turning 2 on Sunday and this is what I made for him.

Little bean bags filled with rice and lavender. He LOVES trucks and cars... diggers etc...!

The illustrations are sewn on with a sewing machine.

I'm not his Aunty, but they are Loas and they call all adults Aunty, or Uncle out of respect...

Another couple of lovely days up at the bach these holidays. We have friends up there at the moment, and I we will be going back up with a few other friends in need of a break soon.

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And look what I found at the second hand shop for $3! My very own cabbage patch kid. I always wanted one of these, and then when I became a parent and saw the price tag I totally understood why I never got one! 80 bucks for a kids toy!? You have to be joking! Well, I have one now anyhow. Yep, mine all mine. Catherine can babysit it, but it's mine.

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And I decided to splash out and buy myself a smart phone. Who would have thought I would love it so much? I can't afford internet on it, but even texting is fun! And I made this little cover for it last night.

Spring is here... or are we actually in summer now? It was hot enough yesterday. Check out my seedling table I made.. put to good use.I actually took that photo after I d taken away alot of punnets to plant, so it was even more packed before.

I also went up to the bach this week and did a bit of work. I wish I'd done a before and after... this is after. It was covered in cobwebs and yellow dust. Actually had the energy to go and mop it all down up a ladder. Probably because I'd spent the whole day before in bed resting... on a Wednesday. I just conk out about once a fortnight. I give myself Sundays to rest, but I'm never tired on a Sunday dammit! Like today. I'm sitting here blogging instead of sleeping.

Anyhow. Just before I left I cleared a little bit beside the garage. Which was actually amazing ! because I always just walk past it like it's this insurmountable job I can't achieve... but it was easy! The ferns just pulled really easily out of the soil and I just clipped away little by little at the massive thorny rose vines.

easter

Just come back from a late Easter up at the bach. Finished off the jumper I was making, took a walk to the park, made hot cross buns, had an easter egg hunt, and watched the Royal wedding of Will and Kate on our crackly old tv set.

Did I ever mention these trees at the Stillwater park. They are Oak trees. My Dad planted them way back. He was a bit of a greeny and was really into planting trees where ever he could. He said it stopped slips (amoung other things). He was also a member of the compost society. Exciting huh. I don't know what they did, but I guess it was in the 50s and 60s when everybody was pumping their soil with fertiliser. Dad was a bit ahead of the times in many ways. He also learnt the Maori language before it was the politically correct thing to do. He reckoned he was in a rugby team with predominately Moari team members, and theyd back chat the ref in Maori, and then when the ref said "what are you saying??" theyd be like "Just discussing the next move, ref".

Todays work at the bach

Finally got that durn window painted!

Now for the rest!

Dinner

It's been a while since I did a dinner post. It's good to be grateful for the little things, isn't it? Check this out! Homemade sparkling grape juice! I boiled up grapes from our grapevine, stirred in some sugar, then added half and half fizzy drink.

I also made some homemade basil pesto from the profusion of basil in our garden. Yay for planting basil in our fertile garden area instead of the dry herb garden. Worked a treat! Recipe here.A wee bit salty. There's so much cheese it doesn't need salt... so I'll know for next time. I also used walnuts instead of pine nuts. I think I'll use pine nuts next time.

Here's our cat, Clyde. Missed all the cute poses, but there he is anyway. He's a bit of a wild one. Not too domesticated. Always coming home from the wars.

And here's us tonight at dinner. That's the most natural pose I could get from Catherine.

And me at the bach again today. The life huh?

Sooo... what IS a bach?

Well... here's ours! Bach is short for bachelor... because when land was cheap as dirt, guys could have a little hut or a shack where they could go in the weekends to fish and drink beer (I suppose). Ours in true tradition is still a little shack. Now adays people have bach's that are more like mansions.

Our bach may be small but it's a true kiwi bach. Dad pretty much did the whole thing. Painted signs on the doors, a compass on the floor and the walls are covered with maps of New Zealand and posters, mainly from the 70's, which is cool-as! (excuse the colloquiolisms... that's native talk for "wonderful").

Here's a close up of one of our posters. An old Lord of the rings calender... Dad said hippies loved Lord of the rings because they thought the Ring represented the atom bomb (but the JR Tolkien was Catholic, so he was coming from a whole different angle). And the poster that scared the begeebers out of Luarna the night she stayed here. (He wants YOU).
And the little picture beside it is a magazine ad for donating blood. It starts off "Martin is a vampire..." hillarious! You always look back idillically at the past I think, and I love the 70's posters all around our bach. How did they make the posters before computers? beats me. Alot of skill and forethought probably.

Here's our little pot belly stove. I came up the other day when our South African friends were staying, making South African bread on the stove in a cast iron pot. Yummy too.

And our shed outside. I took these photos today, and the cicaders were deafening. Not complaining in any way... I 'd rather be deafened by chirping animals than listen to the traffic, planes, trains and sirens we hear around South Auckland.

Anywho.... that's us. I love our bach. We are so lucky to have it.

Has the momentum begun?

A quick trip to the bach, lovely and cold... but lovely. Just popped up while Catherine was at school and thought... why don't I do this more often?

and since I don't feel like a legitimate signwriter coz I don't practice, I finally pinned a piece of paper to the wall, and practiced!

Now to keep doing it EVERY day...(she says confidently)

the hols

Seems like yonks since my last post... but only a couple of weeks. Although in cyber terms that IS yonks.

These are some pictures of our recent holiday at the bach. I'm particularly proud of the one of the fence. There's also a picture of my van trying its best to look wimsical but not quite succeeding, and there's Catherine's first ever easter egg hunt where I said Nana could join in and I don't know who had the most fun...
Speaking of which, I am about to have fun. It's school holidays and Catherine is off with Teresa again for a few days and I am planning to sew up a storm, so I'm just warming up the keyboard tonight. I hope to be adding more shortly!

bliss

Ah! epiphanies at the bach

You know... maybe I'm allowed to be happy. Maybe it's my life and I can cruise off to our bach and enjoy stillness if I want to. Maybe I don't have to enjoy playgroup with chattering children (and parents) if I don't want to. Maybe it's ok I enjoy silence and the sound of my own thoughts the best... maybe God made me that way... and maybe it's ok. Maybe I don't have to smile insipidly at the guy in the diary to show Christian "love" like a total friutloop and maybe I don't have to give up my dignity because I think it may be pride. Maybe I can be friendly in my own way... maybe I can have friends yet still have my own life! (I can't understand the way some people live in each others pockets... maybe thats them... and this is me?)