the headliner from Friday night who didn’t make it preached and sang in church tonight – he is a PHENOMENAL blues man, seriously, and it was an awesome night … the diva is threatening to dob me in to the music dept at church (most of whom don’t know that I sing) … she’s giving me a year … and you know, I reckon a year might just be about right …. I stopped singing in 2004, not for a particular reason but basically ’cause I woke up and God said (actual words in the brain, very rarely happens to me so I tend to pay attention) ‘time to stop singing, you’re out from this weekend’ … so I stopped … and it was exactly the right thing for me to do and I have not regretted it. I’ve missed singing on occasion but usually if someone (usually Mr Tasmania) has mentioned that I should be singing in church it’s red flags and no way and run away … but I didn’t feel that tonight in conversation with the diva … so, this time next year I may well be back in church singing – and I’m quite happy with that!

Happy also that I have finally planted the lovely red standard rose that dad gave mum as her ‘bunch of flowers’ on her birthday in Tasmania in February … thought I better get the poor thing in the ground before they arrive after Christmas!

Also planted a yellow banksia rose in position to tumble down over the cliff where it will be seen from the back patio – LOVE banksia roses!

it is POURING! An inch from midnight to 6am and it’s still going (9.46am) … according to www.bom.gov.au (select TAS, NW Takone Radar … we’re in Wynyard) it’s almost finished … but my GOODNESS it’s rained! And been windy with it so it’s swirling around madly. On the up side, I no longer have to find a window washer for our very high outside windows (which will be easy to wash one day when we have a deck) as the rain has been so solid and so swirly it’s washed all the windows quite nicely for me

It’s a great day to sit on our BRAND NEW LOUNGE CHAIRS and just watch the weather … which I may well be doing later today with our very first house guest – the diva – who came to Tassie last night as support and backing vocals for an R&B performance – unfortunately the headliner had flight difficulties and didn’t make it until nearly 10.30pm so the Diva held the whole show together herself – and did a FABULOUS job! I’m picking her up at 11am … a frew of our plans for the day have been cancelled but we’ll still get to hang out and she’s excited to see the house – the first person to see it from my family and friends (Mr Tasmania’s family is, of course, in Tasmania, so a number of them have seen it already!).

JD the wonder dog is currently no longer a lovely blue heeler denim colour … he’s currently orange and brown … as, far from hiding from the torrential downpour, he has decided that this is the ideal time to go out and dig holes in the big plateau out in front of the kitchen – which is mainly clay … he’s looking VERY attractive – not!

So he’s down in his run where hopefully the rain will wash him a a bit and he’ll dry out in his kennel … he’s going to be awfully scratchy tomorrow when he dries out and all his lovely moulting hair starts itching ….

chief amongst the others things being the retrieval of the dryer from the shack, and the movement of the fridge from the laundry into the kitchen. of such seemingly small things are joyous days made!

the washing line is on order so until such time as it arrives I have been using a clothes rack to dry things on (sitting in the window of one of the spare rooms) .. however, as the HUMONGOUS mountain of sheets, towels, teatowels, tablecloths, washers, and assorted other items of linen keep appearing from the steadily diminishing pile of ’stuff’ in the shed it has been becoming quite apparent that the drying rack was just not going to cut it – not the faintest hope in heck of keeping up.

so, the dryer was retrieved (which it was always going to be, just possibly a bit later ie when it got cold again) and immediately put into action – 5 loads of washing on Saturday meant 8 loads through the dryer (always wise to have a slightly smaller load when drying towels otherwise it has to go through twice – so halving a load actually saves you 2 goes rather than using 1 more) … and another load in the dryer yesterday (had to turn it off on saturday, it got dark) – and another load washed and dried today.

Whew! Hopefully we will now resume normal washing service ie two loads a week or so (it’s an 8kg washer, so big, and I really don’t separate, except into scarily red and scarily fuzzy, otherwise it’s all in together – only one minor disaster in 20 years .. and I kinda liked the white linen shirt in its pink incarnation better)

Mr Tasmania has been doing enormous amounts of stuff (including much grass mowing, weeding, and brushcutting, as the grass is almost growing before our eyes, bamboolike) but in the evenings has been pottering along putting together the various shelvings we have chosen for our walk in robe … he went for a full height ‘box’ of shelves and another with 4 big metal baskets on the bottom and shelves on top – i have had baskets before and can’t stand them so went for two boxes of 4 drawers on the bottom and shelves on the top .. he’s now doing the ‘end’ boxes and putting up hanging rails. There will be other shelves added (it’s a 3m high room – I know, it sounds extravagant, but it’s kinda by accident – the robe is off our bedroom, which is the bottom level of the split level house … and we kept the ceilings the same height all the way through ’cause it was cheaper – and actually looked better … we’ll be using that space to store things like ski boots, anoraks, suitcases etc, so things that would probably normally end up in your roof space or in the shed, or under the house).

We have our first house guest this weekend, one of my old flatmates, and so have had the mattress for that room delivered today (no actual bed base of course!) and I have moved all of my clothes from there (my temporary wardrobe) to our bedroom …. which may also explain Mr Tasmania’s amazing speed on the saw and drill in construction … there’s only so long you can live in a room full of handbags, shoes, and cardigans!

well yes, things have been proceeding … and we’re both a bit weary at this end of the year … but I have managed to grab myself 5 days in a row off next weekend (including the weekend) as one of my old flatmates is coming to stay for 2 days, so that will give me a good break … and ’cause I’ll be home getting stuff done that will hopefully take a little pressure of Mr Tasmania as well.

in the meantime, today we are (if it stops raining) having the concrete pad out the front of the garage poured … it’s a kind of wonky triangle/oval, full of pebbles (can’t think of the word yet, need my morning cuppa!), and will be a wide ‘curve’ in front of the double garage extending off to the left (as you look at the house) to become the path up to the front door, so will do double duty. Once it’s all gone off and has been acid etched and sealed we’ll be able to use our front door. We’ll also be able to get a small truckload of lovely topsoil to pour into the smallish garden bed left beside the concrete pad, dig the drainage through it, put down the paving stepping stones and get that sorted, then plant it out! No real idea what’s going in there yet,only that I’m not buying into what has been the fashion for about four years now of lots of stones with a sparse planting of strappy leaved plants with the occasional larger plant. I actually quite like the look when it’s done well but I firstly don’t think it would suit the house or it’s environment and secondly think it’s just about been done to death … so I’ll probably fill it with annuals ‘for now’ or geraniums or alyssum or something along those lines, just to get something green and colourful happening (maybe a Christmas theme?) and leave the proper landscaping planning into 2010. Any suggestions?

In the meantime, here are a couple of pics of the finished flooring in the hallway and kitchen/living room, and the dining room. Dining room arcs and skirts are finally painted so it’s finished … hallway etc have had their arcs / skirts put up and puttied by Mr Tasmania, and are waiting to be painted for when we feel strong enough (it’s really a fiddly job as you can’t get paint on the walls etc as it’s a different colour and as for getting paint on the floor? the horror!)

well, we’re alive … it’s been very busy, still working on lots of stuff but at this point we have a bed, a dining table and chairs, and the bath is a HUGE success. I hope to upload some photos tomorrow night