« August 2006 | Main | October 2006 »
September 25, 2006
Cup runneth over and spills on the carpet and floods the kitchen
Was hovering around the-house-thats-almost-ours like some sort of weatherboard-vulture over the weekend, pestering the almost-past-owners with daft questions and comments. I mentioned my plan to plant an olive tree whereupon one of them looked at me oddly and said "But there's ten out the back." Ten olive trees! In OUR backyard! Not to mention the apple, quince, lemon and mulberry trees. Did I mention the mulberry tree? Should I mention it again? Muuuuulberry tree.
I assumed I'd passed out, gone to heaven and imagined it all but Ron assures me he heard it too, (although with considerably less excitement as somehow I ended up married to a non-fruit-eater ....)and yes, apparently, it's all REAL!
One and a half hours to settlement.
Posted by Faith at 05:06 AM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2006
Can't wait
This morning I went to do the final inspection on our house before settlement on Monday. Unfortunately the owners were still in the process of moving out so the place was pretty much still in a mess. Fortunately it gave me the chance to meet the owners who turned out to be very nice indeed.
The good news is; the very attractive wardrobes in the master bedroom are staying. (I was sure they were going) Whats more they were designed by one of the women currently living there and built by one of her students. I now have both of their phone numbers stashed away for any future furniture-designing-and-building assignments.
They had also had plans done at one stage for a renovation at the back of the house similar to what we plan to be doing one day so are going to hunt out the drawings and pass them on to us. Now thats a bonus! It became apparent we have similar tastes in some ways, (I think the bathroom, which they designed themselves, sealed it) and they are going to pass on to us their extensive list of designers, architects and builders of a slightly-funkier-persuasion.
I eventually left them to finish their packing but we will probably see at least one of them again on Sunday when we go for a last check of the house (hopefully empty) and maybe both of them in the future when they have promised to drop around for a drink.
As for the rest, the spring weather has sent the garden into a growing frenzy and it is looking fabulous! The front of the house, very visible before with no leaves on the trees is now almost hidden behind all the new leaves and branches. This will be great in the summer as it is facing west and all those trees will help keep the bedrooms cool.
In the backyard there is one tree in particular which, now that it has leaves, is looking even more perfect than we imagined as the spot to put a bench to sit on. It has a very wide, low canopy, creating another cool little spot for sitting. Sigh....three whole days to wait.....
Posted by Faith at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2006
Property
We have signed a bundle of contracts soooooo thick I thought we'd never be finished. All those signatures were witnessed by more independent witnesses than you could imagine. Telephone calls, emails, faxes and documents have been whizzing between credit unions, banks, conveyancors, solicitors, settlment facilitators, ourselves and the vendor.
Tomorrow apparently our bank accounts will be emptied as enormous sums of money are poured into especially set up trust accounts. The credit union will also be making over their contribution which I have to admit is significantly bigger than ours. Friday morning I get to do a final inspection of the house which is now vacant. If everything is as I expect it to be, (quite frankly I'm so keen to move I'll be satisfied with a roof and four walls, I'm not going to quibble over details) then at 2.30pm on Monday the I's will be dotted, the T's will be crossed by crack-teams-of-solictors, money will be shuffled from one trust account to the other and we will then get a telephone call advising us that we can now go and pick up the key.
The countdown begins.
Posted by Faith at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2006
Let them eat cake
Its been cake-city around here lately. I may have mentioned this scary-fact before but there are 4 virgos in this house. That means 4 birthdays in the last 19 days.
We're just lurching from one cake to another at the moment. We started out with a simple double-choloate-mud cake, closely followed by a triple before resorting for our health's sake to an absolutely delicious orange-and-almond-meel cake from our local organic food store. The grand finale was off course Grandma's green-eyed-monster below. In between a spurious poppy-seed number snuck in because someone felt we JUST weren't eating enough cake!
Posted by Faith at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2006
3
New bike, mouth full of birthday cake....... what more could a 3 year old want? Except maybe........ a big green bear?
Posted by Faith at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2006
never too much bling
Go here for your own bling.
Posted by Faith at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)
September 14, 2006
Brunswick
I've had quite a few emails from people asking where Brunswick is; is it near Melbourne, Sydney, Perth? So for those of you from the Northern Hemisphere here is a Brunswick Primer.
Brunswick is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, about 5kms from the city centre. In style you need to think of De Pijp-with-backyards. And a lot warmer. Traditionally it has been a suburb popular with migrants, first Greek and Italian in the 50's and 60's, Turkish and Lebanese in the 70's and 80's. It is now also popular with students, alternative types of various denominations and more recently inner-city-wanker-types. This last one is probably where we fit in. This means that at least at the moment it has a nice mix of inhabitants, like de Pijp.
Brunswick is fairly new to Ron too so I'm thinking we might need to hire the film Death in Brunswick to give him a taste of what it used to be like. I can remember when this film came out and how it nailed the character of the place so well!
A Melbourne gangster recently fled the country leaving several properties and much family in Brunswick. It is with some nervouseness that we have discovered that our neighbours share the same unusual surname. Life in Brunswick is already looking exciting.
Other more benign features of the area are the proximity to Merri Creek, the bicycle paths and CERES, a community environment center including a children's farm. And, of course, Sydney Rd and the Brunswick Music Festival.
So, no, it's NOT near Sydney or Perth.
Posted by Faith at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2006
Mysterious ways
Creche places in Brunswick are, like everywhere in inner-city Melbourne, like the proverbial hen's teeth. After contacting everything in the area, both private and community, it looked like the only possibility was to start with two days in one of the private centres and hope that we would be able to get another couple of days sometime in the future. With oma and opa coming from the Netherlands for the summer this didn't seem too bad an option and I figured we'd muddle through in the meantime with Grandma's help and the ocassional babysitter.
Thursday last week I went to visit the creche which seemed lovely in every way. Privately owned for 18 years by the same people, a small room of ten toddlers who would then all go up into three-year-old kindergarten together, a lovely couple of girls as his carers and a nice mixed bunch of kilds. There was just one thing nagging at me afterwards and it took a while for me to put my finger on exactly what it was but finally it dawned on me. Weren't the kids a bit too quite for toddlers?
Compared to the exhuberance I see in Jacob, the other kids and his carers where he is now, everyone seemed a little subdued. Not at all unhappy mind you, but definetly on the quiet side. Jacob likes to fit in and I think it would be a bit of a shame if after six months he'd become a quieter child. Sure, there are times I'd give my eye-teeth for a quieter child; hurrying through Coles with a toddler launching himself on passing strangers screaming "Komm naar beneden een vechten met mij!" (Thank God its in Dutch!)is one of them, but the spontanous enthusiasm that Jacob and his carers have now for everything is so much a part of who he is I'd hate to see it diminished. I'm still not sure what it was, maybe with the owner, manager and senior kindergarten teacher being older Greek-australians there is more emphasis on keeping the children orderly than in a centre managed by younger people. There was certainly nothing wrong with their care, but I couldn't see it being the best fit for Jacob.
In desperation I went to visit one of the community places on Friday which had only the one day available per week. As soon as I walked in I felt Jacob would be at home here; in terms of style of care, it seemed to sit precisely in between his old place in Amsterdam and the place he is is now, both of which we think have been brilliant. It would be worth the trouble of muddling through with just the one day (and maybe having to do much of my work at night) just to have our foot-in-the-door at such a nice place. Miracles happen, as while I was there they got the news that another child would be giving up Fridays and we would be able to have that as well. Two days! Even more amazing before I left another child's parents had been in too say that they were moving in a couple of months, thus freeing up some more days, which maybe, after consulting the internal waiting list, we might be able to have one of.
I feel like I've won the lottery! We not only have a nice place for Jacob close to home but have broken into the Holy Grail of childcare in Australia: .....community care!
Posted by Faith at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2006
Raging against the ghost in the machine
There are lots of far more interesting things I COULD be blogging about, and God knows, I've probably only got 15 seconds online to write all this down, but I just wanted to say that if anyone out there is contemplating getting Optus Broad-(hahahahaha)-band then don't be suprised if as you reach for the telephone to make that call I suddenly appear and launch myself across the room self-sacrificingly hurling myself in slow-motion between you and the phone with one of those echo-enhanced "Noooooooooooooo!"s that you hear in the movies.
God knows there were entire days in the Netherlands where KPN and their damned Hoofdorp server-park held the country to ransom with no internet access nationwide at all, and from what I've heard, you might be hard-pressed in Australia to find anyone more reliable than Optus, BUT for what its worth I just want it on record that I have now been using Optus Cable Broadband for 8 months and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone this side of the industrial revolution.
And DON't get me started on what they call broadband in this country........... There are underground eastern european poet societies powered by paper clips with faster internet access than us.
Phew! Now I can stop pedalling and go and pump some water outback from the well.
Posted by Faith at 02:39 AM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2006
Deliveries
With only two weeks to go until we move it was time to commit to the hard yakka and do some serious shopping. An exhausting weekend ensued and we are now the proud owners of;
-one 2.5 seater sofa and chaise
-one children's bed with trundle bed and two matresses
-one chest of drawers and side table (for Jacob)
-one refrigerator
-one LCD TV and set top box
-one washing machine
-one vacumn cleaner
That covers the basics, and we already have everything else we absolutely HAVE to have in the short term; kitchen utensils, crockery, cutlery, stereo, manchester, bed for us, and 35 boxes full of books, etc. Everything is being delivered the day we move in so it's going to be a non-stop procession of trucks in our cul-de-sac. I only hope settlement isn't delayed at all........might end up with a bit of a traffic jam!
Posted by Faith at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2006
41
My 40th birthday was spent sitting on a terrace in Turkey overlooking the Aegean with a view of the sun setting behind Rhodes.
You can't see Rhodes from here so for my 41st birthday we went to Bunnings instead. Might as well get used to it; full of the fresh-flush-of home-ownership as we are we will probably be spending quite a bit of time there in the near future!
Posted by Faith at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)
September 08, 2006
Celluloid
After rather a dull time film wise we have finally managed to make it to the cinema on a couple of ocassions recently. We did make it to the opening night of MIFF and were graced with 2:37. Not a film I would have chosen to see if they'd publicised it beforehand. As it was the opening night film was kept a big-fat-secret. I'm quite glad; the film is, as expected, harrowing and not exactly fun. Which is why I would have avoided seeing it. As it was I survived the experience AND saw a remarkably good film into the bargain. Can't complain about that. I'd recomend it but make sure you're feeling sturdy!
Our second ocasion was a trip to the local cinema to see Jindabyne. I love Raymond Carver's writing and have always remembered this particular short story so was curious to see what they'd made of it. I particularly enjoyed the very fine sense of balance employed throughout the film.
I used to see at least one film a week, now it looks as though even with the three I've seen this year I will break some sort of record for the past few years!
Posted by Faith at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)
September 07, 2006
Blue Chooks
Last night while day-dreaming (?) about our soon-to-be back yard I had a vision. A quick call today to the local city council confirmed that "Yes, you are allowed to keep chooks", up to seven in fact. Personally, I think three or four will suffice for us.
Discussions with Jacob ensued and I asked his advice on what colour the chooks should be.........white, black, brown? Blue! Blue? ...........OK.
While scouring the internet for blue chooks I have come across some other useful bits of information. How to build a chook shed should come in handy. And if you're not sure whether you're ready for the commitment to chooks then you can even Try-before-you-buy by renting some first! I'm already there....I've even worked out the optimum position for the chook run so that all that fertiliser can end up on the vegie garden.
I also found How to Kill a Chook but after seeing my grandfather do this at regular intervals when I was a child I think we'll still be heading to the butcher when we actually want to eat one. I do like their advice though;
Be kind and gentle, these are its last moments on earth, and you will be eating them soon enough. I usually talk to the chook on the way from house to chopping block, expressing compassion and trust.
This is one of the things I like about Melbourne. Living practically in the middle of the city AND keeping chooks.
Posted by Faith at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)
September 03, 2006
Weekend
Friday night we celebrated Ronnie's birthday at Attica in Ripponlea. Lekker! Besides delicious food we also really enjoyed the wine list. And close enough to stroll home afterwards on one of our first balmy spring evenings!
The rest of the weekend is a bit of a blur. I spent two days in a Photoshop intensive which was fabulous. Learnt just enough new things to pull it all together and finally be able to do everything I want without the preliminary-four-hours-stuffing-around.
Jacob went to visit Aunty Alix where papier mache and painting were the order of the day as bears were launched into existence and Papa spent Sunday lurking on Sydney Rd Brunswick, exploring our soon-to-be-neighbourhood and bringing home such goodies as fennel flavoured pretzels! Nog meer lekkers!
Posted by Faith at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)
September 01, 2006
A wondrous thing
Today being the 1st of September it is the first day of spring. Yippee! I think spring has always been my favourite time of year and spring in Melbourne is especially wonderful. It's always so noticeable!
The 1st of September has added significance these days as it is also Ronnie's birthday. Happy-Birthday-cake (as Jacob calls it) was served for breakfast much to his delight. Jacob gave Papa an Australian Rules football so that they can practice together, from me he received Lost for Words. I can remember many of the expressions in this book still being used by older people when I was a kid. My favourite at the moment is "Now she was an education". Speaks volumes!
Posted by Faith at 03:24 AM | Comments (0)