CurtainMels Blawg

Bloomin' flowers!

2008-08-23T15:12:00.001-07:00

Some of the flowers we have blooming around our place right now. The one directly above is from my folks the day they left to go back home. It's just stunning with it's bright red lanterns and the birds love to hide in it as they're approaching the birdbath. And then of course, I couldn't go past the hibiscus bloom in all it's radiant glory without just basking in it for a while. And lastly, the orchids are just blowing me away with their long lasting quite exquisite blooms...

Calling in the snakes

2008-08-15T01:30:00.000-07:00

My Mum, who visited recently, bravely exclaimed two night before she was to leave that she really was disappointed she never got to see Strangles the Python on this trip. S/he hadn't been seen for months. Anyway, this glorious creature turned up as if s/he heard the call! What a thrill for Mum!

Gathering in Mullumbimby

2008-08-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

Friends, family and fun on my 50th!...and Mum's 81st!)

Mum and Dad visit!

2008-08-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

Mum and Dad came to visit us after their fabulous cruise on a luxury liner over the top end of Australia. Here we are enjoying coffee at the Byron Beach Cafe at Clarkes Beach. Look at those beautiful blues in the background!

A Curt foto fest

2008-07-16T00:33:00.000-07:00

A 'Curt feast' for his Moms eyes! Sorry I haven't updated much Rose. Life has a way of getting in the road! Apart from the fact that we so rarely seem to have the camera with us, isn't that always the way. Life is good. My folks are here from WA so we're having a break all round and just enjoying each other. Will post more pics this week........

More tree happenings

2008-05-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist posting this pic of the boys working hard!

In honour of Pablo

2008-05-28T01:48:00.001-07:00

Meet Pablo, he's the beautiful young Columbian born galactic traveller on the left of this pic just above, staying with Sage (seated next to him) our next door neighbour for many months and during his time there, he became a friend of ours too. He spent many hours helping Curt with the heavy jobs, the harder jobs around the garden mainly, cleaning up elephant grass, pruing trees, carting heavy rubbish. And we'd spend many hours afterwards just talking about life, the universe and everything. I always liked to feed him, thinking that his Mum would have liked that. Pablo also loves to sing, forming a group with some other friends called The Mozzarella. Here he is jamming with Curt and his friend from The Mozzarella.
He left yesterday, he's off exploring new worlds, heading up to Brisbane. We'll miss him.
Hey Pablo, if you happen to check this blog out some time, I've lost the link to your "my space" address, would love to link others to your Mozzarella music!

Tree happenings

2008-05-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

Curt's foot is so much better, thanks to all those who sent healing vibes. It's timely too because he's started a new project, one that will eventually lead to the demolishion of the delapidated old studio at the top of our block and the building of a new pole house for guests, utilizing the trees we had taken down when we first landed here.
Some of the guys from next door came to help with the arranging of logs and sawn wood. They're all pretty adept at climbing trees and felling them too. Dav is seen here removing a dangerous limb that is overhanging the old studio.

Lame horse

2008-05-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

Does this look like a man in pain? LOL...hardly. But this is day four, day one was not pretty. That blinking rock went right through Curts rossi boots and pierced the skin! Whipper snipping can be dangerous, even with all the proper gear. His swollen foot looked like a balloon.
Anyway, having Curt outa action gave me a new appreciation of all those things he does around the place...cos I was so busy doing those things and looking after the lame horsey (his chinese sign) that I had no time for claying. Crossing fingers he'll be alright by the weekend...I have a ton of stuff piling up that needs doing...

Nimbin Mardi Grass festival and Curt's birthday

2008-05-08T15:38:00.001-07:00

Nimbin Mardi Grass festival always falls on the same weekend as Curt's birthday and since the Kombi club organized a campout for it, it was a dead cert that we'd go.
The above pic is the line up of VW kombis on the way there...
The next pic is driving through the crowd in Nimbin...
Then there's Curt laughing at the ATM line, since we were organized this time and didn't need to wait in line with them this year!
The one with Curt doing a headstand (see what Nimbin does to ya!) overlooks the view we woke up to every morning... on a beautiful property in Nimbin of some of the Kombi Club members.
Then there's me chillin' in the bus...
And the rest are pics of the festival parade..spot the gunja fairy!
Info about what the Nimbin Mardi Grass festival is all about is http://www.nimbinmardigrass.com/

Event of the month..Mels new glasses!

2008-04-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

After persevering for many months with specs that Curt repaired for me umpteen times, I finally got some new glasses. Very speccy specs! Rimless, graduated lenses for long, mid and short range, non reflective and light as a feather...I totally love em! And cos they're on my face all the time, Curt loves em too...mainly because I'm not saying 'where's my glasses?' anymore!
And look who poked his head out the top of a pipe? Couldn't resist taking the shot.

Kombi Club Campout

2008-03-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

43 kombis from all over the east side of Australia took part in a campout in Eden NSW (near the Vic border). Some drove many thousands of kilometers to be there. The Qld crew met Curt on Pacific Hwy near Mullumbimby and proceeded caravan style down for about 3 days and 1300 km to meet the rest of the crew over the easter weekend.
Here's a pic of Curt's Kombi, renamed Blue Thunder cos it farts blue flames when it backfires going down hills. And a pic of Curt racing toy Kombis.

Close enough to say hello

2008-03-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, we have hot air balloons sail past our place but never as close as these. Not only did they return our waves but they were so close we could say hello to each other.

Mellow out in Mullumbimby

2008-02-25T11:06:00.000-08:00

My folks who live in Perth saw this article (link below) in their local paper...imagine, an article about Mullum! Uh oh, does this mean the secret is out about our gorgeous laid back little town? http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23271800-5005040,00.html
The sun came out on my day off...so I dragged the banana chair out under the jaccaranda tree and spent an afternoon reading a wonderful new book by Hadar Jacobson on metal claying.

More clearing...and movie night

2008-02-21T22:02:00.001-08:00

Ok, so it's not my best look! But this is what I look like when I see the graze on Curts leg caused by the chainsaw and a second of distraction! I was about to do a 'mum' on him, you know, all about chainsaw safety, but stopped myself. He knows. At any rate, he's ok. Just a graze. And what a pile of work he's getting done! He's had the help of a backpacker who's hanging out next door and needs some spare cash. It's great cos Curts much more motivated when he's working alongside somebody...they've had multiple trips to the tip, still getting rid of piled up crap lying around...a dozen old batteries, washing machines, old bikes, just tons of rubbish that was all piled up near the orchard., probably been there for a decade. They've also cleared all that elephant grass from around the orchard area. Amazing how much space there is now! The next photo is a pic of Pablo, our Columbian traveller come work buddy. He's also in the top photo, with some of the crew staying with Sage right now, it's movie night at out place...just a gorgeous bunch of girls...very firey too . The other pic is of our driveway now the elephant grass, barbed wire, old star pickets, you name it... is gone...this is the same spot where Curt was coaxing the car back on four wheels in an earlier post. Big diff eh!

Mt Chincogan and our friendly python

2008-02-13T15:03:00.000-08:00

Did I tell you we had a lot of rain? Well, it's still raining...and with the rain come the creatures, seeking shelter. Here's our friend making his way to his usual hidey hole in the ceiling of our tool shed off the verandah.
And a spectacular shot of Mt Chincogan from the road leading into Mullumbimby. I love that drive back from Byron Bay into Mullum, something about those mountains that touch something inside me. A sense of peace. A coming home...

Party at Sage's

2008-02-02T19:44:00.000-08:00

Party time next door at Sages. Sorry about the dark pics. He's on solar power so it's very dimly lit. But check out the gorgeous 'organic' house will ya. Lovely space. Lovely vibe. Great crew of people there too. Kinda wild and tribal. Very hearty. The drumming went on for hours. You can see Curt in two of the pics, one with him grooving on his Kamali drum and the other dancing...

Ready for action!

2008-01-19T14:58:00.000-08:00

Curt's all decked out in his new slashing gear. We finally bought the 'kick-ass' whipper snipper with all the 'fruit'...all kinds of blades, even a chainsaw blade for slashing down saplings. You wouldn't believe how everythings grown with all this rain we've had...it was becoming quite clear that something radical needed to be used to keep the rainforest from reclaiming itself all over our house!

Oops

2008-01-12T21:12:00.000-08:00

We've had weeks and weeks of rain, major flooding in the lower regions. It's starting to ease off now but still every day, rain. I love it because it keeps things cool in this summer heat. It wasn't like this last year though, or by all accounts, for the past ten years.
Anyhow, we were pretty stocked up avoiding having to go into town via the flooded areas on the really torrential rain days. But a couple of days ago, I almost drove the car off the edge of our long hillside driveway trying to avoid some vegetation that had fallen across the road, heavy with water. Two wheels were off the road! Curt came to the rescue thank heavens and mananaged to save the day, after a couple of hours of very gradual maneuvers using the jack. Phew! Three weeks to go and the men come to seal the road. That will be pure luxury!

Nine footer!

2008-01-01T12:51:00.000-08:00

Look what our nine foot resident python dropped yesterday! He's not really 'resident', he just likes to crawl into the ceiling to get out of the rain. Then when the weather fines up, he wanders off again...leaving his skin behind him.

Happeeeeee Neeeeeewww Yeeeeeeear!

2007-12-31T13:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, where did that year go??? For us it's been a huge year... Moving house yet again! But ahhhhh, soooooo very happy we did. Curt and I are just delighted to have found a place to be, a place that is both alive with life and soothing to the soul. A home where we truly feel at home.
For Curt it's been a year of fixing stuff, he's certainly been kept on his toes with all the jobs that needed doing and continue to unfold. He also bought a kombi, his new beloved! I love how he likes to start the motor just to hear it run! And that he's joined a kombi club here in Australia! Yayyy!
For me it's been a huge year building the clay business up. I've found a most enjoyable way to teach is by letting people come up one at a time and just going for it. It's a bit more of a challenge because we're flying by the seat of our pants...spontaneous lessons/techniques...switching from one clay to another...but so much fun and so wonderful to feel confident enough to teach this way, having really grounded in expertise over the last 7 years or so. And I totally love my studio with the view. Talk about making it easy to go to work! And then there's the fabulous people I've connected with along the way. Taking over the management of the aussiepolyclayers group and setting up a new forum has also been a highlight for me. I really love the polymer clay communities that I am a part of and it's my goal to continue to foster the generoisty and support that these groups are known for. Yup, it's been a really great year for me.
So...defintely there's been new life breathed into us with having come to a place inside us where we are happy with 'what is'....ofcourse, it helps if most of "the boxes ticked"...you know, in that list we all have till we do away with it!

I wanted to say a big thank you to my family and Curts family for their own generosity and support in all kinds of ways. We love you guys...and to all our friends and family, we wish you a very happy, healthy and peaceful year ahead.

All our love,
Mel and Curt and Wiggles (Shadow's nickname)

Mullumbimby town

2007-12-31T12:55:00.000-08:00

It occurred to me that I hadn't put any pics up of the actual town of Mullumbimby. So here they are. The one of the bridge is Brunswick River bridge. The middle one is Mullumbimby town itself. And the top two shows our much talked about (and many an expletive made about!) crosswalks. Mullumbimby is the only town I know in Australia that has these weirdly (and dangerously) placed crosswalks...right on the intersections of our main road. Talk about causing havok as cars and trucks all converge (or make a break for it!) at the intersection, waiting for the pedastrians. Ofcourse, when you want to take a photo of this 'havoc', there's none to be seen! But you get the idea...

The flowers keep on coming...

2007-12-05T22:16:00.000-08:00

This time it's the poincianna tree with it's bright red blooms. And the sunflowers have had their last hoorah, gonna knock their heads off and grow sunflower sprouts for our salads. Here's Curt getting a breathe of fresh air after the paint fume fun!

Paint fumes make you funny

2007-12-05T22:10:00.000-08:00

We bought a great shaped old dressing table for the guest bedroom and we're gonna give it a face lift. This photo cracked me up...looks like the paint fumes got to Curt!

The green room

2007-12-01T21:20:00.000-08:00

Behind our fridge and under the stairs, there's this door which leads to a weird 'room' of sorts that is totally useless because it didn't have a roof. It's been a bit of an eyesore from the outside looking down, even after Curt cleaned out all the rubbish and old weeds, it still looked weird when looked at from the top angle.Besides which it wasn't even usable. So, Curt made a roof from some old green corrugated perspex sheets, now we have a seedling grow room!

Sunflowers

2007-11-23T12:11:00.000-08:00

Goodness, check these babies out! I have never had much success growing sunflowers till now. I planted the seeds into mushroom compost. They're in the sunniest position of the property, getting full sun for around 8 hours a day. And ofcourse, the weather here is ideal, perfect sunny weather intermingled with bursts of rain. These have got to be the happiest flowers ever!

New bus!

2007-11-17T11:26:00.000-08:00

What a big week it's been, esp for Curt. Not only did he get to be all manly with his chainsaw felling great big trees, he also went to Coffs Harbour to buy himself a bus. It's a 73 genuine Kombi with a terrible paint job but fabulous mechanically. Curt's had a bounce in his step and a glint in his eye ever since he picked it up. He and Kombis eh! It's a real love affair. He goes out there and tinkers with it every chance he gets. So wonderful to see him get another kombi. That other unregistered one never got a look in. He basically snubbed it from day one...when he found out how much work it'd take to get it registered in NSW (it has Qld plates)...so it's been basically just parked up there for months. It'll make a great parts bus tho! And will act as a storage shed for his tools.
Anyway, meet the Mystery Machine! That's the name of his new love...

Cocos palms last days

2007-11-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

When we moved here, we were told by a few people that the cocos palms, as beautiful as they are, can become a real nuisance. You see, they drop thousands of these seed pods which are act like ball bearings when you tread on them. We've nearly come a cropper on several occasions. Worse still, when they start to ripen, the fruit bats bring their families for feasting. These fruit bats are the size of tom cats and make these dreadful screeching noises all night long. So now that the fruit is ripening, the decision to cut down the two cocas palms was an easy one! While Curt was at it, he felled the pawpaw tree overhanging the balcony too...for the same reason. Bats love em...and since neither of us like pawpaw and we'd prefer drinking water without batshit, that went down too.

Short n Sassy

2007-11-11T14:42:00.000-08:00

Breathing new life into the hair, I told my hairdresser for short and sassy this time. She's been dying to expose the curls from under the top layer of straight hair so I gave in. And glad I did.
Another addition to the bedroom is this wavy full length mirror from our favourite shop Ikea. I figure if I want to lose weight, I need to see my whole body more often...lol

Froggie television

2007-11-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

The rain brings with it flying insects of all varieties...and frogs! While we're safe from the insects inside with all our flywire, a whole world of action is going on just outside our window. We'll be watching telly and to the right of our vision, we'll be treated to the movement of a frog going 'splat' on our window as he's chasing an insect attracted by the light. Check these guys out!

Sun up!

2007-10-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

Now that the seasons have moved along, the sun is coming right up over the ocean in the mornings. This is what we woke up to this morning...

Two of my favourite people

2007-10-13T00:34:00.000-07:00

What a gorgeous time we had, so nourishing spending time with good friends. Hanging out, eating good food, sittin' and talkin' till the words run out and it's just sittin'! Loads of laughs. We all took a bit of a holiday while Kinz was here! Here's Curt chillin'. And Kinz with her feet up reading a book.

Best friends!

2007-10-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

Kinzi is here! Isn't it fabulous when old friends come to visit! We've been trying to keep her away from dishes and cooking and anything remotely close to work so that she can really get the most from her break away from a very full life in Perth. Those orange banana chairs have had a workout...and so have our tongues! Yakkady yak, lots to catch up on! We're off to the bead shop and markets today. Hope to have more shots then!

New viewing chairs

2007-10-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

We bought a couple of great chaise lounges (they're called banana chairs here!) the other day, the perfect thing to relax on under the shade of the Jacaranda overlooking the world.

One day blossom

2007-09-28T17:28:00.001-07:00

Couldn't end this lot of posts with a pic of the toilet now could I...here's a much more pleasant view to leave you with. We've had a few of these come up. The flowers are amazing and last just one day.

Painting the dunny!

2007-09-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

Our toilet is situated in the craziest of places, right near our deck. Not only that, we had come around to calling it the 'worst toilet ever' because...well, it was. The old seat had been painted and the paint had faded, the walls were a murky cream, the whole feel was decidedly yukky. For a while, I had big sheets of drawing paper on the door and some charcoal and pencils, so that people could draw pictures and we'd be able to cover the walls with 'art' but they kept falling down and becoming a nuisance. Soooo, I finally got around to painting the 'dunny' as we aussies are fond of calling it! Amazing what a new seat and a coat of white paint will do. I actually like hanging out in there now:)

More lizards

2007-09-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is kinda a cross between a racehorse goanna (body)and a bobtail (head)...and small in comparison to our roof dwelling goanna at around 1 foot long. Almost stepped on this little baby! But he just stood perfectly still, not even a blink...so we had plenty of opportunity to snap some close ups.

Footsteps on the roof

2007-09-23T17:13:00.001-07:00

Since we first arrived, every now and then and only at night, we hear these strange 'footsteps' on our roof. Sounds something like a small person with a limp. Well, the other day Curt got up on the roof with torch to check. He came back saying they were frogs. "Frogs?" I shook my head, not quite believing it cos it sounds so much louder on our tin roof. Anyway, this little culprit ended up on the deck where I could see it for myself. Love that green colour!

Name this flower!

2007-09-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

It's springtime and we're really enjoying watching the flowers pop up. Being our first spring here, every flower is a surprise! We have no idea what this glorious flower is but it's a sight to behold... each individual flower spanning bigger than my hand.

Massage wall

2007-09-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

We have friends in Ballinyup WA who have this great wall made from smooth rocks and painted over. Tania lovingly called it their 'tits and bums' wall. Well, we have a similar wall here running from the lounge to the kitchen, except the rocks they used to build it weren't quite as smooth as the Ballinyup home. This one has little 'pokey out' bits everywhere. Trust Curt to find a good use for it. He reckons if you lean into it with your back and give just the right amount of pressure, you can massage all those little spots that are out of reach.

Curt does stuff!

2007-09-14T00:57:00.000-07:00

We drove to Ballina the other day and bought a tank....it was gonna be a dishwasher but the tank won out...I don't believe it! Seriously though, what with the weather patterns and less rain, tanks are hard to come by, you normally have to wait months to get one as they're very rarely available for sale. So we jumped at the chance. It's a slimline one so it's sits nice and flush to the wall without blocking the view or taking up a ridiculous amount of space. I was told a woman designed it!

Racehorse goanna up a tree

2007-09-10T00:36:00.000-07:00

This gorgeous goanna ran up a tree in the back yard when we were walking there this morning. Such a magnificent creature. Look at that skin! (Be sure to click on this pic to get a close up) I was torn between moving closer to get a better look or leaving him in peace on the tree in what no doubt is "his' back yard too. Curt blocked the hole in the roof so he doesn't live in our ceiling anymore so the least we can do is leave him in peace in his own home. Fair trade.
Nothing much going on this week. Curt's been mending things, gutters and hot water systems, I carted several bags of mushroom compost up the stairs and planted all kinds of seeds. Cucumber, basil, sunflowers, okra, nastursium, sweet potato...lots of little heads popping up this week. So lovely.
Everythings become so greeeeeeen with the rains. And those jacaranda trees are starting to bud up. Little leaves appearing on the grape vine. Buds all over the mango trees. Frog noises coming from the valley. Life is good.

More about Strangles the snake...

2007-09-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Look what we found hiding at the top of our water heater in the cupboard off the studio! A snake skin! I've placed my foot there so you can get an idea about size. Certainly answers the question about how big Strangles is. 7 foot! For those into symbology, the act of shedding skin, of sliding out of the old and being reborn, speaks of transformation and healing. The Greeks used the snake as an emblem for healing through wisdom. So there ya go...it's a good sign! No sign of Strangles though...maybe he's gone out to show off his new skin to his friends!

Blood red moon

2007-09-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

Remember the eclipse of the moon last week (in Australia)? I sat out on the deck for a while, enjoying the spectacle. It not only disappeared as it does with an eclipse, it turned this amazing deep red colour. Here's a pic!

Up up and awaaaaaaay

2007-08-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

Look what we saw from our deck the other morning...ahhhhhhh

What's the dog looking at...?

2007-08-27T18:15:00.000-07:00

hmmmmm...? You'll need to click on the photo for an enlargement...then look towards the middle! Kanga and doggy eyeing each other down...hehehe.

Meet 'Strangles'...

2007-08-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

...hehehe...my Mum is gonna have a fit when she sees this. Meet Strangles (thanks to Lisa for the name!), my 'studio snake'. He's the carpet snake of the other day. Seems he's moved into the house now. I was cleaning the studio after the workshop and lo and behold, there he was. Not in a hurry to move off either. I let him alone for a while to see if he wanted to make his way outside but he was quite content to stay there so eventually I plucked up the courage to keep working while he hung out on the ceiling. He wasn't bothered by me at all and certainly didn't want to gobble me up. Now, let me say once again so my Mum doesn't freak...these carpet pythons are NOT harmful to humans...but he might catch a mouse or two!

A joyous sight!

2007-08-22T16:03:00.000-07:00

It's just a shot of our water tank...not very interesting to many...but for us this shot speaks of fabulous soaking rain! Amazing how much more connected we are to the 'natural world' these days. How much more appreciative of rain we are since we rely totally on it for our water. It's been very dry since we moved here, having only had rain on about half a dozen days in almost three months. You can imagine how we felt when we saw our tanks overflowing!
The other shot is of Curt's make shift solution to a sudden leaky roof...in the studio...the day I'm holding a two day clay retreat! Oh no! But he's a genius at coming up with the quick fix ideas when you really need em...which is just as well since this place is full of little challenges like this. Anyway, he saved the day again by creating a plastic wrap 'gutter' underneath the leak so that instead of the water dripping all over the clay table, it was channeled down to a more out-of-the way area, straight into a bucket! It's been raining pretty solidly for four days in a row now...it's raining as we 'speak'...
I've got more news on my clay blog if anyone's interested in the news of our recent clay retreat...
http://clayhappenings.blogspot.com
Till next time...:)

Feeding Shadow

2007-08-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

This funny looking room is to the right of the kitchen, just off the deck. It's a laundry room but we've converted to a tools and store room and a place to feed the doggy.

More reptiles

2007-08-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

A goanna this time! He's been on our roof for two days now so may be taking up residence! We don't mind, he's rather gorgeous to look at through the perspex roofing...

House next door

2007-08-12T15:33:00.000-07:00

Our next door neighbour has literally built his house from the trees on his block. It's very 'organic' and certainly not up to council code...more like a Robinson Crusoe house. He built two places, the one you see is the latest...and something we would actually love to do here sometime. See that wild balcony handrail...those are featured a lot in his places, looks fabulous. All very open. He's not on the grid at all, uses solar power and has his own water tanks.

The drive home

2007-08-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

It occurred to us that you don't have any idea of what the drive 'back home' from town looks like...so here are a couple of shots. You'll see Mt Chincogan again and the cane fields I was talking about earlier. Our house is located on that big ridge on the left (top photo).

Doggy fun in the park

2007-08-11T14:17:00.001-07:00

We often take Shadow with us when we go to town for supplies. There's a lovely park (Palm Park) by the Brunswick River where we can throw the ball for him. The last time we went, Shadow found a little friend who wanted in on the action.

6th anniversary

2007-08-11T14:10:00.001-07:00

It was our anniversary the other day. We had a wonderful day of lounging around on various surfaces, eating great food, cuddling and generally just savouring the moment. Here's Curt cooking anniversary breaky on the barby!

Lounge at night

2007-08-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

A pic of our place at night...taken from the computer 'room' down to the sunken lounge...

Us!

2007-08-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

Just in case you forgot what we looked like

New camera

2007-08-09T14:43:00.001-07:00

We bought ourselves a new camera! YAY! This one is so much better than our old one and hopefully will inspire us to take more pics. These are all taken from around the house. The one with the pointy hill is Mt Chincogan, a local Mullumbimby landmark that can be seen from our property. Just beyond the trees in front of our deck, you can see a fire. That's the sugar cane farm below. They set the whole lot on fire, then harvest it. Awesome to watch.

Permaculture...starts with carpet

2007-08-09T14:35:00.001-07:00

It's looks weird now but in a few months, we're hoping to have piles of mushroom compost thrown down on those old carpets and veggies galore growing out of them. This is all on top of the area that Curt cleared from all that elephant grass. Great way to recycle those old carpets we ripped out of the house. Since the soil is pretty poor (very dry hard clay type soil) we thought we'd better build up the 'permaculture way' instead of digging down, which is near on impossible. Our rocket salad which we planted when we arrived has come along pretty well doncha think?

Snakes alive!

2007-08-04T14:29:00.001-07:00

Check out this fella! He's a huge carpet snake (python) climbing up to our roof. Amazingly beautiful and not harmful to humans, we were happy to have him around.

fairytale

2007-07-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

Just like out of a fairy tale!
Formula for fairy tales...one crystal, one tree and sunlight...
We have a clay retreat here for the next week so things will be quiet on the blog for a while.
Have a good one!

Choppy Chop

2007-07-07T15:56:00.001-07:00

DURING

AFTER

BEFORE

We love trees! That's why we moved here! But not when they drop their gumnuts and branches on our roof. On a windy night, it creates such a racket, keeping us awake all night. Not only that, but these three trees were so close to the house and so enormous that they prevented the much needed rain hitting a good deal of the roof...which for us without 'town water' translates in real terms like showers and flushing toilets! So they had to go. What an exciting day. The boys from Choppy Chop...yeah, that name is for real ...did an absolutely splendid job. We bought em a carton of beer cos we appreciated their efforts. It wasn't an easy job and they're a brave bunch. Me? I couldn't watch, let alone help. I helped by staying out of the way!
BTW, did you know you can see larger pics? Double click on any of these to see. Esp that 'during' one. You'll see Col the choppy chop guy up there in the tree like Tarzan.

2007-07-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

AFTER

BEFORE

Before....and after... weeds

Pulling weeds

2007-07-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a week of pulling weeds. I'm working on the front driveway and Curt's working on the elephant grass near the vegie patch, creating more space for vegies and giving new life to a couple of sorry looking banana trees.

2007-07-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Full moon over the valley...does it make ya wanna hoooooooowl?? Gorgeous eh!

2007-06-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

Going dotty! Thought I'd take advantage of our bedroom colour scheme and do some dot painting since the colours are just right for it. I'm not going to get too carried away with it as the paint will wear off pretty quickly I imagine....but it sure breaks up that poo brown colour nicely.

2007-06-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

Some pics of the leadlights...

See the middle one? If you look carefully you can see how tall the elephant grass is outside in some parts. No wonder they call it elephant grass!

2007-06-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

Can ya tell we're dog lovers? This is Charris with the bits of bush all over her face. She's Rhian and Micks gorgeous baby, a mixture of wolf hound and mystery dog. She doesn't stand still for long enough to take pics usually but I got lucky.

2007-06-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

Meet Red! Actually we don't know his real name but he's that to us. He came visiting the first week we arrived, snuggled up against our legs for a pat, played with Shadow for a bit and then lounged around in a sunny spot on our deck for a few hours. Guess he feels at home eh! We've had the pleasure of his company a few times now.

2007-06-19T21:54:00.001-07:00

The drive up to our place is pretty hairy. Even though it's perfectly safe and most of it is bitumen (till our drive anyway), it's really steep and snakes around at all kinds of angles and you really don't want to be backing down the hill if you get lost...one of the reason tradesmen are nervous if you tell them it's a multiple occupancy. And so, Curt and I painted some signs for our visitors peace of mind.

2007-06-19T21:52:00.001-07:00

Anotherway to get rid of the junk!

2007-06-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

While I'm finally free to settle into my studio and clay, Curt's been doing the hard yakka. Here's a trailer load of junk collected from around the house on it's way to the tip.

2007-06-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

Here I am writing this blog! More next time...too nice a day to be sitting inside. We're off to the Mullumbimby markets to buy some plants...

2007-06-15T16:43:00.000-07:00

This is the kitchen during the day. I love the brightness of this house. And all the gorgeous leadlight made by the wife of the guy who built this home.

2007-06-15T16:31:00.000-07:00

Kitchen shot, see those three blue and white tiles resurrected from your grandparents (or parents?) home in Holland Dad? They too have found a home.

2007-06-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

This shot is take from the lounge looking up to the left where the stairs lead to our bedroom behind the buddha bamboo curtain. Check out the die dye man! Genuine bought-at-a-Grateful-Dead-concert way back in the day. Curt loves this tie dye and it's finally found a place where it really belongs, a real hippy home!

2007-06-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

The guestroom is coming along...has a lovely country feel to it. There's a little room off this one that Curt set up with a telly and some comfy ikea chairs and a bookcase full of books. Turn your chair in the right direction and you can see the distant ocean.

2007-06-08T14:43:00.000-07:00

While we were painting the bedroom, we moved our bed out the door and had a nap right there. Bliss!

2007-06-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

The sun comes through the windows first thing in the morning. It's glorious! These old couches are wearing out (like me!...talk about feeling muscles where I didn't know I had em!) but they're too darn comfy to chuck out...and since we have a dog who is a prize couch potato, we're on a mission to buy some yards of farbic to throw over em.

2007-06-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

Remember the 'thunderbox' hanging on the edge of the hill I talked about earlier...this is it. And look! It's has two holes so you can poo with a friend!

2007-06-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

A rare sighting...Mel washing windows!

2007-06-08T14:09:00.000-07:00

We decided to go for a terracotta colour for the floors since it's the same colour as the earth that will no doubt be traped in by our four legged darling and for better or worse, Aztec Glimmer Gold for the walls. Certainly it's better than the puke purple hidden behind it...but not much. We had a huge laugh about it this morning. All that work and for THAT! LOL! Oh well, maybe with the right rugs and wall hangings, it'll bring it all together. Stay tuned!

2007-06-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hello folks!
We've arrived!!!! And couldn't be happier!
Feeling a bit scattered cos everywhere you look there's something you need to do! It's such a huge project this one and around a hundred different things to do at once...they left the place a mess, huge piles of crap everywhere (think in terms of around 20 trailer loads to the tip), filthy windows and shelves and carpets. They did clean the kitchen though...I was grateful for that. First thing we did the afternoon we arrived was rip the carpet out of the main bedroom and vacum 30 years of dust away...I'd much rather have clean concrete than god knows what in that carpet!!!...and ofcourse there was no water at all!!!, the previous tenants having ran the tanks dry......but at least we had Nev the water guy come yesterday so we joyfully showered three days of dirt away..ahhhhh...
It's WILD here...really...the sounds of the birds, frogs, crickets, wind in the trees....all so refreshing after the 'metropolis' of Suffolk Park...Curt trod on a snake the day we arrived...the snake kindly slithered away without biting!...and there was even howling on the night we moved in, the night of the full moon...sounded like human wolves...yes, really. And some strange two legged creature walking on the roof every night! Ahhhh...but we LOVE it here. We both feel like we're really home. Beyond the piles of crap made by humans...it's so beautiful everywhere you look, breath takingly so...sink, sink, sinking into the womb of mother nature. And so private. Curt's having a wonderful time wangling his willy in the breeze!
Curt's truly in his element! He happily fixed the water pump and the toilet yesterday...and started painting floors. Today we burn curtains, clean windows and paint more floors. Then we can unpack more boxes and move them into the studio...
Can feel this whipping into shape already!
FUN!

2007-06-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

Misty valley. We woke up to this on our first morning here....

2007-06-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

Before we had water and flushing loos...this is me coming back down from the "thunderbox" on the hillside the first morning. Can't wipe the smile off my face. This is all such an adventure! I feel like I've been plucked from the 'civilized' world and been plonked into primitive lands.

2007-06-04T14:28:00.001-07:00

Nev delivers water.

2007-06-04T14:08:00.000-07:00

The master bedroom without carpet. We've decided to paint the concrete floors for now and buy some nice scatter rugs. The upstairs guest bedroom reveals gorgeous wooden floors under that hideous carpet...bonus! Today I'm taking those curtains down and burning them!

2007-05-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

Curt's off to play golf with Mick from next door. It's great we're only moving a short distance away, he'll still be able to golf every now and then....

Two more sleeps till the move....we're getting really excited now!

2007-05-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

Some last minute mechanics to the car...and another chance for Curt to do what he does best!

2007-05-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

Curt bought a trailer! We'll need it for the 'farm'...which is what Curt's calling the new place. Ha! Talk about the most unlikely farmers! Although we are planning on building a permaculture garden and getting some chooks...

2007-05-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

awwww...cuddles!

2007-05-06T23:45:00.000-07:00

More kombis per square mile in this neck of the woods than WA, that's for sure. Here's one that sells coffee.

2007-05-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

mmmm...chai at the Byron Bay Markets!

2007-05-06T23:15:00.000-07:00

Yay! Thanks to Mum and Dad, I now have a lovely glass display cabinet which Curt assembled last week at the Bead Shop. I forgot to take a full length shot but here are some shots of the shelves to give you the idea...

2007-05-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

MY! What a handsome guy he is too at 41 eh! And here are a bunch of beach pics.

2007-05-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

HEEEEEYYYY THERE!

Since we ran out of room on our webpage we haven't been sharing many pics for the rellies recently and so we've decided to start a blog. I doubt we'll be religiously putting pics up every month on the dot. Those kinda self enforced rules tend to burn ya out somewhat, racing around taking pics cos the deadline is close. A blog is a much better way of sharing our lives, we can just add as 'life happens'.

Today is Curt's birthday! Happy birthday to yooooooooou darling! We cooked breaky on the barby!