VISITORS :O)

SUNNY and ETTA came over last wednesday for an overnight stay.   a pure delight - etta explored the house and garden from end to end, we had time on the beach in the afternoon and on thursday we spent the day walking around Queenscliff, out to the marina looking at the boats and a gigantic stingray that was cruising along the boardwalk,  went out on the lovely old pier and had oysters and champagne in glorious sunshine by the water - it was a public holiday in honour of the death of dear Liz and the weather really turned it on for everyone.

these lovely daisy gardens are an inspiration to me, this is exactly the kind of garden i would like to create here, daisies, euphorbias, echeums (never grown those before) grevilleas and other natives to attract birds.

wonderful to see pelicans and swans today, the pelicans are at St Leonards pier and the swans are part of a large group on a small lake halfway between the pier and Indented Head

HOME ONE WEEK - GO AWAY WINTER!!

ANOTHER BLOWY DAY - spring is trying to get started but the rain and grey skies persist.  bulbs are appearing, sparaxis, bluebells, hyacinths and soon ixias are getting ready to bloom. 

I've been in hospital for gall bladder removal, home on the 11th to stay with aileen and max for some special attention and an overnighter.   but next day i felt fine to come home and revelled in the absolute peace after three nights of clatter, beeping and blood pressure tests at all hours.  great care though and the staff were all terrific.

now it's back to trawling the net for bathroom ideas and fixtures, a world of baths, basins, taps, tiles and colours.   just need someone to do it for me!  

today i'm dismantling the yucky vertical blinds, mulberry and cobalt !!  where did they find them??  i have lovely light white ricepaper blinds which will lift all the rooms.  it's a start.

A NICE PIC from luke, etta's last visit

pics from the past two weeks

walks along the foreshore

the local coastal saltbush

this tree is just crying out to be a monoprint

i photographed these cormorants using a lot of
zoom, didn't see the seal behind them until
i looked at the pics on the computer 

i enjoy the view of melbourne across the bay,
it's different every day

     the mudlarks are busily sitting on the nest, it's been a week now, surely there'll be some chicks soon

Yesterday, Sept 19 i found my swimming spot.  I'll 

go and swim with the Salty Bitches group too but 

this is a walkable spot on a pretty little pier not 

far from home.  i like the idea of climbing into deep 

water rather than wading out from the shore

PICS OF RENE and FAMILY - the kids are growing so fast, i hope we get together before too much longer

RENOS RENOS!!

 I'VE BEEN OBSESSING over the bathroom since i moved in.  it's appalling, fred flintstone would've loved it and he'd look completely at home in the bath.  Wilma would've moved out.  barney would appreciate the pebble tile accent, totally out of kilter with the clunky slate wall tiles. a complete mess 😱

so i've been haunting every bathroom outlet - taps, baths, basins, vanities, mirrors, tiles . . . many kms travelled and some success.  a few good websites found,  but now i need a builder to tell me my next step. someone is coming tomorrow, that'll be a start.

over a week now since sunny luke and etta came for the weekend.  it was just lovely, perfect weather to take etta to the beach to make sandcastles, a birthday dinner of coq au vin and chocolate birthday cake.  I'm not sure if etta's seen a cake in the dark with lots of lit candles, she looked totally gobsmacked.  

then sunday we all met susan and sean at jack rabbit for a beautiful lunch and time to sit out on the lawns overlooking the bay, watching etta trying to roll down a hill (she couldn't quite figure out the direction :0)  and simply enjoying the sun.  Sadly jenny and freddie couldn't come because mockie had hurt himself and was due home from the vet.  That was a real shame because they missed halls gap as well.

 

TWO MORE WEEKS!!

AUG 26.   

I MUST BE DISTRACTED - i suddenly thought of the blog this morning and it's been the 11th since i added anything. well, i'm off to tour the bathroom retail outlets so i'll do it tonight :0)

AUGUST 27

so . . . a catch up.  i realise with my shoulder issues over the past year that i don't have much of a record for new doctors so i need to use the blog as a way i can keep track.  apologies to friends reading this for boring old medical stuff 😕

About a week ago i headed off for a lazy day at the Pivotonian to see two movies.  It was a really rainy day and just past portarlington the car started losing power, i couldn't get up a hill.  rang RACV and waited an hour for them to arrive. had to leave the car in the shop and get a lift home.   that night around 10 i had a little pain that i thought i should check on so rang nurse-on-call. she rang an ambulance which arrived 3/4 hr later and promptly got bogged backing out of my driveway!  so they rang the RACV.  'they'll take a while' i told them but we waited anyway. i was feeling ok so no problem, i had a snooze.  but after another 3/4 hr they decided to ring another ambulance to take me in, long story short it was after 1am by the time we got to emergency.  a night in ED half asleep, being woken regularly for tests and blood pressure tests or by noises.  turns out it wasn't a heart warning sign which was my thought, but gallstones!  god!  i feel like i'm living in someone else's body right now.  

so i have two specialists to see, gall bladder guy on sept 1,shoulder sept 7.

the  upside was that sunny came down to drive me home and stayed the night.  very reassuring to have her here and an absolute delight to see etta racing naked around the loungeroom after her bath like an adorable pink little sprite :0)

we found this little rake around the corner in hard rubbish - etta was 

intent on raking leaves away from the pile sunny was working on

love this photo sunny took at the science museum

so, medical stuff aside - more interestingly i've seen friends, become more familiar with my surroundings, discovered a pretty wetland area, had a mini working bee with jenny, freddie, jenny and rob and started planning the bathroom.

I had ken bowen the building inspector here and he's thoroughly checked the house and garage, given me good advice and reassured me that the house is basically stable and on good foundations, has hardwood floors and most of the terrible stuff is visible and i already know about it.  so i feel like i can start planning now. 

 

my starting point - inspiration from these pics

yesterday i did the rounds of bathroom outlets in geelong. wherever i'm living (melbourne, wentworth) i always shop here for bathroom/kitchen renos because everything is in one area. i bought a very large round mirror at kmart for only $42 (compared to others online all over $200) and that's my starting point.

sunny luke and etta are coming today for the weekend, i've made a chocolate cake, a late birthday cake for sunny.   and we're having lunch with susan and sean and jenny and freddie tomorrow.   it'll be great to all be together, we missed jenny and freddie at Halls Gap

gorgeous full moon a couple of weeks ago

gail came over for a lazy saturday afternoon of scrabble and fish'n'chips, we walked down to edwards point just in time for a thunder storm over the bay, vertical forked lightning and a deafening clap of thunder

I'm missing the fabulous sunraysia skies but this one was pretty good

      The sun is over the water for a large part of the day, a lovely silvery sea

two of these fabulous yellow-tailed black cockatoos visited the 

tree on my fenceline a few days ago - i'm slowly seeing some lovely 

birds despite the raucous residents - wattle birds and masked 

plovers which swoop relentlessly, best avoided

this little acacia tree in the backyard is coming into it's own with lovely wattle blossoms

the wetland area at Edwards Point

coastal saltbush - i'd like some in the garden

I'm planning on knitting myself an intricate pillboxy hat 

this pic is my starting point