princess of Beechwood

We have our new kitten - Willow,  aged 11 weeks and a female  lilac Burmese. She is having to cope with two different houses and two different positions for the all-important litter tray but so far so good.

Warmth is also important so I kept her kittycave supplied with hotwater  bottles during the day - strange how hard hotwater bottles are to find these days and I had to order them from a pharmacy. Nights are a different story and she took to the Burmese birthright  of sleeping in a human bed.

Willow on her lookout in the Lookout Room

Fishing update: very little has been done since we came back from our cruise.
The weather has been windy but mostly David has been too busy doing things around the house and garden - even though he has bought a tinnie called The Sprat with oars only which he plans to row 50 metres out for some fishing.
But last Sunday he and Rory in waders went gar fishing  off Rory's house and caught six each.

House update: all has gone quiet since before Easter as the builder is working on another project. We're nearly finished, probably 90% finished, but I'm not publishing any pictures yet as every view has something in it not completed. The main thing is we can now sleep there: we have beds, hot water, plumbing and electricity, still no rainwater - it will be nice if it rains this week and fills the two big tanks then maybe we can stop carrying down cask water for cups of tea.
 

 

a visiting cat

Jon brought his cat Zara for Easter: she likes Foote Street but is not at all happy about Beechwood.  Typically Burmese - though no relation to Henrietta - she finally found a nice spot for a sleep on a bed. 

instant lawn

We collected 30 rolls of Sir Walter buffalo grass turf from Masters yesterday morning and the turf-laying team of Jon, Daisy, ChrisB and David covered the area with top-soil then turf. It's a grubby job, hard on shoes and we are grateful.

Keeping sand under control and out of the house is a constant battle and finding good big coir door mats is so far impossible: those with rubber backs are no good on decking as they concentrate the water in one spot. 

first night in the renovations

We worked all day, cleaning, hanging pictures and getting ready for our visitors - the pinot and pizza group plus Jon, except that it was burgers. David assembled the 8 chairs and table which I had ordered online and amazingly they fitted together beautifully and look great. We've resurrected our old cane lounge suite for the sitting room and Di Cameron has re-covered it so it matches everything else. Heather understands about matching and that we've got a green theme going  so she brought Frank's white wine with green label and granny smith apples.

the question is answered

The question of what goes on behind the green door is answered: cleaning.
I haven't done so much housework for 20 years and I am worn out!
The green machine and I have steam-mopped the entire house in the past two days with special attention required for blobs of paint and blobs of plaster left by the various tradies - copious changes of water required and it probably needs at least two more mops to get the gyprock dust off the floor.
Today two beds arrived to their clean floor and all is go for moving in on Good Friday with our new table and chairs.
 

Note the shiny floor behind and the dusty floor in front.

what goes on behind the green door?

I've always wanted a green door so I could sing the song and here it is,  matching the pendant lights in the sitting room. The painters have been hard at work this week so the house is full of drop sheets and cans of paint - everything is getting closer to finished and maybe we will be in for Easter.

saving the swale

Resculpturing the dune turned out to be a job for a front-end loader so very early in the morning Jeff came trundling along the beach on his machine and began moving the hill of sand that came from underneath the beach deck when it was lowered by a foot. David is fanatical about protecting the fore-dune and the natural swale,  which is a shallow ditch halfway up. 

 

Jeff is an artist with the front-end loader: I watched in fascination as he delicately and precisely scraped the sand together then lifted it up without disturbing the vegetation and took it off down the beach - where we hope it will stay and not come blowing back. (Shades of King Canute!)

 

Dune done, David covered the area with remnants of found cargo net while Jeff swapped to the bobcat. Artistry was not needed on the row of old woody lavender between the front/road verandah and the hedge: David has deemed it a fire hazard and in five minutes it was gone. Then Jeff carved away the eastern yard to make a much-needed flat walkway to the sea, loaded up his machines onto his tip truck and trailer and disappeared.

 

You have to love modern machinery!

 

 

David directing operations