About time

So here I am…..getting it done. Who knows what we’ll end up with. 

Getting started is always the hardest bit.

Spring in the garden…..

Some spring blooms that I’m loving right now. Aquilegias. Nora Barlow. She is a beauty.

Snapdragons

Verbascum

Clematis

Kangaroo paw

Leucadendron

Half my time is spent out there just gawking at everything. No wonder I never get anything done. 

The other half is spent trailing and tracking this little human around the place and listening to his stories. 

Cottage News…..

Our new (old) fly wire screen door is in.

And the extra veranda post has been added ( must have been before the door).

Bill proceeded to lift the old bricks and begin laying the new path straight to the gate. He didn’t get far before realising it was going to be way too labour intensive. Lifting the bricks was the easy bit.

We ended up calling in the experts.

This is how it looked before. Just three veranda posts and a path that led to who knows where. 

Out and about in east Gippsland….

This set of 100 timber steps wind their way down an old sea cliff and provide access to Lake King. We timed our visit for late afternoon to see the sunset.

Fairy Dell is a nature conservation reserve full of ferns, moss, vines and old eucalypts. It’s just outside Bruthen.

At home….

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go.

A visit from Bubblegum the little lamb.





By the end of the day, we’re all like this….

Big Drum Roll….

Amy is pregnant. 

With identical twins.

Baby girls are due around Feb/March. 

We

And just like that, Amy and Helen will have extended their little family to five. 

We are all still trying to imagine how it will be.

So much to look forward to.

Cottage Renovation….

We’ve talked about and dreamed about ( me that is )our kitchen renovation  for so long now.

The whole process has been an exact copy of this…..

With “failing” being when we were told that the extension plans could not go ahead because of the proximity to the power pole. Now, months later after rethinking the whole process, we have a door. We’re finally on a roll.

It’s currently at the “getting it” stage.

The back door to the decking ( nothing has been organized on the decking side of things at this stage ), was put in place last week and the cabinets are coming next Wednesday. In the meantime I will paint the architraves and anywhere else that can be done. And then we’ll organize the flooring.

For those of you playing at home, the door has been painted in Dulux Eaves, a soft creamy green.The kitchen cabinetry is in the same colour.

Bird News…..

It’s no secret that we love watching and listening to birds going about their daily business and it seems as though we’ve landed in Bird Central here at Marmalade House.

I’m still a novice when it comes to identifying who’s who compared to Bill , but he is yet to start a Bird List like he did at Frogpond ( probably hasn’t had time, truth be told ). Their bird calls intrigue me and I adore the colours of the rainbow lorikeets and crimson rosellas. But my greatest fascination is with their nest building skills.

Bill found this a couple of days ago.

In an old rusty saucepan hanging from the wall.

Seems like the perfect spot to me. They are wattle bird eggs. A gorgeous speckled colour.

All the Berries….

It’s berry growing time here at Marmalade House. Helen has planted every berry known to man including this one.

I don’t remember eating these before but I’m looking forward to tasting them all.

Loganberries, Raspberries, Golden raspberries, Blueberries, Strawberries.

Back to Painting…..

The buzzer has just gone off which means I need to put the next coat of paint on the door architrave. 

And just to put the record straight, I have no idea what possessed me to volunteer to do the painting. I’m not a painter. I don’t even like painting.

 It’s messy. 

And don’t even get me started on cleaning brushes and paint trays. 

I’m determined to finish the job though.

Up the garden path this morning…..

Have a lovely week everyone. Hope you’ve been blessed with some of this beautiful rain. 

Jack’s Track

It’s been a while.

Every day at Marmalade House brings with it endless entertaining diversions, as you can well imagine.

 So much so that I can’t really tell you where the last six months have gone!

 Seriously. 

And because I am easily distracted, I find myself just living quite happily in the moment. 

Suffice to say that a large part of that time has been outdoors. My favourite place to be.

Jack’s Track.

It’s amazing what a difference a path can make. 

Bill has transformed a huge corner of  native bushland into a delightful bit of woodland greenery by sweeping a path through the trees.

He named it Jack’s Track. 

It provides an important habitat for our birds and wildlife, but now the path makes it more accessible for all of us.

It’s a continuation of the Fairy Garden…. a place full of enormous possibilities that fill us with great anticipation ( me, anyway).

Jack’s aunties, Claire and Sara, helped decorate another Jack’s Track for his second birthday in May.

We celebrated this gorgeous little human with a barbecue at Nyerimilang Park.

Research or play

 That’s what I’m calling it anyway. Thanks Albert.

Several months ago we were told that our proposed extension to almost double the footprint of the cottage (9m by 9m, just to remind you ) , was not able to go ahead as planned unless we relocated the power pole to the property next door. We were not prepared to pay for that to happen or even suggest that to our neighbour. 

Instead, we’ve been trying to come up with some new ideas for what we already have. 

That’s where all the research has come into play.

I’ve subsequently accumulated more samples than you can poke a stick at.

 Paint colours ( warm undertones and cool undertones and LRVs ), curtain fabrics ( cotton, linen, blockout ) timber floor samples, bench top samples, new stoves, dishwashers , sinks and tapware and on and on.

 LRV is light reflective value for those of you playing at home. It’s important and makes a difference apparently. 

 Finding tradespeople is a whole different scenario. 

Bill’s single request to get the process off and running, was to knock a hole in the back wall for a door, to access a deck on the back of the house. 

We’ve bought the door.

Now to find someone to knock out the wall and relocate power points. 

An electrician came out today to give us some ideas of what to do first to get things moving. I’m still pondering what colour to paint the door, what type of hinges and doorknobs.

 Oh but it’ll be fun we said! And I’m learning so many things. 

Speaking of doors, Helen found this gorgeous old screen door on marketplace for their farmhouse.

 She sanded it back and stained it and replaced the fly screen.  It looks fabulous.

She also found one for us for $20, also on marketplace. We’ll sand it back and replace the fly screen and see what’s underneath the green paint before deciding whether to paint or stain it. It’ll be a replacement for our tired old screen door out the front.

Verandas

I love verandas. 

I’m looking forward to seeing what our new/old door is going to look like out there.

Garden stuff
Working in the garden has been a joy. 

Sowing seeds of hollyhocks and strawflowers, aquilegias and verbascums. I’ve potted up hundreds of seedlings and planted out lots already. Foxgloves and hollyhocks at this stage. Most of the seeds have come from Frogpond so it was a thrill to see them germinate.

Bulb planting

We planted jonquils and daffodils around all the fruit trees. Originally from Frogpond.

The jonquils are just starting to flower.

They can stay where they are for a few years and multiply to their hearts content.

Monarch visitor

I adore these butterflies.

 It was a moment of awe and wonder for me a few weeks ago when this welcome visitor fluttered in.

I have just ordered some milkweed seeds ( swan plant ).

 A haven for monarchs would be a dream. 

Sue E…..thinking of you.

Sorting

There’s something very calming and therapeutic about finding and sorting.

It’s a work in progress.

I scrutinised every cardboard packet that went into the recycle bin for suitably sized letters.

Now that’s a whole new story……We have way too many cardboard packets!  

A folder to document our increasing number of plant tags seemed like a great idea. Helen and I are completely smitten with plants. Thankfully, she is our food garden expert so much of what she purchases is able to feed us.

More sorting….

We have a dedicated Paint Shed here. 

The result of dozens of paint tins left here by the previous owners and left overs of our two families. 

On a whim, I decided to go through them to see what was worth keeping and what could be disposed of. There are a lot of surfaces around the property that have been painted so finding matches was also front of mind. 

I started by using a pop stick to smear the colours onto white paper ( easier than using a brush and having to clean it all the time). 

So far I’ve done 53 paint colours from tins with another 20 or so to come and I have another 26 sample pots to sort through at some stage.

I then added the relevant information, numbered them and stored them all in plastic pockets in a folder. A matching number was stuck on the tin.

An easier way to match up some of the multitude of colours around the place.

Easter

Sam and Karlee visited us at Easter. We loved having them here and taking them to some of our favourite places.








Citrus time
Eating for free…..a banquet.

Mandarines and grapefruit.

Jobs around the farm

Blessed are the wood stackers.

New wood stacks have popped up everywhere. Now we’re reluctant to use the wood from them. They’ve become a much loved feature of the landscape.

Rewiring the front fence.


Removing an ugly painted stump to make way for a relocated tank.









Resident Path Lady 


Amy has started pulling up the old living room carpet in their farmhouse. 

Floorboard reveal day was full of anticipation. Our timber expert ( thanks Bill R ) suggested it might be Baltic pine. We can’t wait to see how it transforms.




Friendly neighbour exchanges over the back fence.



Another bit of daily awe and wonder.

Books I’ve been reading.

Even if it involves being stuck in the Paint Shed!