the woodbury files: March hares, theres and other madness

the woodbury files: March hares, theres and other madness

http://www.englishplusaoraki.co.nz

http://www.southcanterburytours.co.nz

This is what happens when I try to add links ... oh well!

March hares, theres and other madness

March is here doing its wet, windy but often beautiful autumn thing. All well settled in, cats (now 4 of them, don't ask)in control of the place but not always of each other. Had wonderful garden harvest this year and freezer and pantry are groaning with stone fruit, soups, vegetables and other delights. The trick is to keep them for winter but temptation says open and use now!

Plenty of visitors coming and going, and lots of work and play keeping us happily occupied. Board and batten oil protection paint on house exterior still not done, but a regular monthly whinge to the builders should see us right some time this year ...

December already - and the cattle are lowing

Christmas is nearly upon us, and our seasonal reminder is right in front of us again as the cattle are back in the front paddock, just like last year. Hope the deer return as well, as they really made life interesting and Christmassy last year! The cats preen, wash and yawn within metres of the cattle, undisturbed, but the cattle are intensely curious about the cats and would clearly like more interaction ... Hhmmmm.

New potatoes nearly ready, lots of spring growth, and we're all ready for summer.

It's bonfire night but we're leaving the big bang theory to others

Finally, lovely spring weather ... fence is being taken out slowly so we can plant heaps of bulbs and other bits and pieces and meanwhile, the vegetable garden is prolific. Silverbeet and spinach anyone? Fortunately we like heaps of both. Still waiting for the protect oil to be applied to the exterior board and batten - maybe by Christmas - but we've learned to live with the somewhat motley appearance and when the house gets its final freshen up, no doubt it'll look really smart all over again.

South Canterbury Tours is up and ready to roll - find us on www.southcanterburytours.co.nz and see what's been keeping me so busy for the past 6 months or so. Will keep you posted ... seriously!

October 2009 - coming up to our first anniversary

Hard to believe we've been here for a whole year - Labour Weekend is the date and it's coming up fast. House is great to live, work and entertain in, and the garden/section is coming along nicely. Lawn could do with a tune-up as it veers between lushness (thanks to the grey water feeder system irrigating the section) and patchy dryness - a mix of weather and grass vagaries. But always looks good after it's been mown, so will get there in the end, no doubt.

Trees and vegetables are thriving, as are the sheep next door - the old ewe had her annual triplets bang on time last night, so we're continuing the delights of watching the new lambs stumble around next door as they find their feet, literally. The cats are stunned all over again at these new, mewling animals (a year ago, when they first encountered lambs, is a long time in cat memory so they are curious but cautious).

More next time as we will celebrate the moving in date with some sort of event - a party? BBQ? General noisy good time? A lot depends on the weather!

Trying to link - missing link in the chain, more like

http://www.englishplusaoraki.co.nz

Trying to customise my blog is a little tricky - hence two short posts. One day I'll figure out how to get a permanent link to the business!

Playing with technology

With any luck, from now on, you can click on the main picture to take you straight to the business website.

New business, new table, new Facebook friends

Late July and life is ticking over nicely. Keith's making great progress on our dining table, and I'm busy with ongoing research and marketing for my new home-based business. EnglishPlus Aoraki (that's me) went 'live' a week ago - ie the website is up and we're open for business. There's still plenty to do in getting the word out, and it would be very handy to have a couple of links to inbound tourist operators who could package me in a bigger NZ tour experience. Any ideas? Just spreading the word to absolutely any and every one you can think of is as good a way of getting known as any - every little helps. So it's onward and upward for us both.

And ... I'm on Facebook, as EnglishPlus Aoraki. The very best thing about this is being in regular touch with old mates, especially those in Australia.

Jane gets busy with her business plan, and Keith makes a table

This is the first update since January, and we've been working, socialising, building, growing things and making ourselves totally at home. Lots of guests and visitors, too, which is really lovely. The climate here is beautiful, especially after Christchurch winters - cold nights, clear days, hardly any wind, and a pleasure to wake up to. I've been concentrating - finally - on my home-based business idea (more on that later) and feel rather like the old story about the dog who continually chased cars ... what would he do if he actually caught one? And that's me and the business - what will I do if it actually succeeds?? Exhilarating, and the process at least is certainly absorbing.

Keith spends every spare minute out in his workshop and is currently making our long-awaited dining table, refectory style, out of local macrocarpa. Can't wait, it already looks lovely. Will get back to pictures and blog updates more regularly than the past few months, but this is it for now. PS board and batten paint/oil protection on exterior still not finished but won't be long now. We've grown accustomed to her face anyway.

And so the long hot summer wears on

Mid-January, or nearly, and it's been blisteringly hot. Wonderful weather for swimming and lazing about, but getting pretty dry in local gardens and farms. However, everything and everyone continues to thrive at The Old Forgery and in spite of the heat, we now have the beginnings of sleeper steps and general entrance area at the front door, and a beautiful brick herb garden outside the kitchen windows, thanks to Keith's diligence and know-how.

And while we're continuing to think and plan, and changing our minds every couple of days about what to put where, when and how, we're mostly taking a slowly slowly attitude to things and just enjoying the place, riding our bikes, ducking out for a swim now and then, and getting really grounded in our new life. It's been nearly three months since the big move, but our old Christchurch life seems far, far away, much further back than October. We're enjoying our new front paddock neighbours, too, as the pictures testify. Although we miss the December deer, these new beasts are quite curious about us, and the cats, and come for a look-see every evening, snacking on the boundary trees as they eye us up. Hope they stay around for a while.

PS: We're now eating our own courgettes, lettuces and herbs, with tomatoes coming along fast, and sometimes actually picking our own roses. Yay!

Happy New Year - it's 2009 at last!

So here we are, on Sunday January 4 of the new year, and it's almost a year since work started on The Old Forgery. (In fact, the builders started in the third week of January 2008.) The place suits our needs perfectly, the house only needs a few finishing touches to make it complete, and everything in the garden is growing like crazy. No official holiday for us, as we're happy pottering around here finishing things around house, garden, garage and workshop, and the weather is lovely. Whenever we feel like a break, we schmooze into Geraldine for a bit of a shop and a stroll, with lots of holiday-makers, I might add, or hive off to the river for a swim and a laze.

Christmas Day went with a swing, with 24 for lunch and afters, and the house coped well with those numbers - plenty of room, and a quiet village road for street cricket in the evening. New Year was also fun, with a barbeque and bubbles (and an endless parade of dogs) in the local domain, followed by a party just up the road. A beautiful evening, both weather- and people-wise.

And now ... here we are, really enjoying life and with lots on the go for 2009. Very best wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy year ahead.

Mid-December report, and all's very well indeed

As Christmas looms ever closer, we can report an emerald lawn, healthy vegetables and trees, a house that's all but perfect for our needs, and very happy cats (with twice their city appetites, but that's another story). The garden is taking shape so fast we can't keep up with it. Things grow very well, and amazingly quickly, which means we've had to mow the 'lawn' three times, and that's before it's been rolled. Predominant colour is a rich green, and everything we've planted - from tomato plants to big trees - is growing luxuriantly. Great climate down here.

Still a couple of minor things to finish re the house - lights, one interior wall of paint, the exterior board and batten oil protection paint (which may be a big job in the NY) and so on, but nothing we can't cope with. The Old Forgery is proving a lovely house to be and entertain in, so more than living up to our expectations as a great place to live, work and play in, and this part of the country is also proving to be perfect for us and the way we like to spend our days and evenings. Lots of happy guests recently, and very enjoyable times being had by all. Long may it last, and a Merry Christmas and excellent, happy and healthy New Year to all of you who read and enjoy this blog.

I plan to finish the blog in January, late, about the time I started it, so the big Year of the House will come to a natural conclusion in about six weeks' time. Keep an eye out for the last couple of postings, and please, email comments etc to this site so I know you're in the picture.

The Old Forgery turns green and shows its true colours

Friday November 28, a beautiful, warm, still spring day. We have a lush lawn (pictures a few days old) and healthy plants, thanks to relentless watering and good organic compost. Plus a lot of hard work from both Keith and me. Muscles ache every evening but we're both feeling fit and certainly not complaining as the garden and general section area take real shape and direction. Roses, hedges, a bunch of grasses, potted geraniums, and a healthy raised vegetable bed are the latest additions, each adding a shape, colour, definition to exits and entrances.

Cats excelling themselves in hunting and sleeping (the perfect cat CV) and as for us, heading into late spring, and what is likely to be a long hot summer, keeping up the greenery and shade is a must. Fortunately things are growing really well here, and next week, the lawn will be rolled, after which we'll be able to do the first mow. Terribly exciting, also because after that we can get going on trees, sleepers and general structural ideas for the front door area. But after being here a mere five weeks today, we aren't complaining about the rate of progress. Quite the opposite.

Lawns, garden on the go, and happy cats

Today is Thursday, November 20, and everything is lovely in the garden. Well, it will be. We have a thin sheen of green where the lawn was sown, in what seems like record time. Daily waterings and helpful growing weather have helped the seed to strike, so we should be able to get it rolled and ready for Christmas. Thanks to the underground irrigation with the Biolytix septic tank system, there's a crop circles effect in the tender greensward - no doubt that'll disappear as the lawn gets established and a more completely natural appearance takes over.

We've also been busy planting hedges, magnolia trees and the odd other shrub and bush as we get more confident with how the section looks, and how we use it. So far, very happy with what we've achieved, and I certainly had no idea how much fun getting a garden sorted, from scratch, actually is. Not having been a mad gardener, I'm delighted with how much fun it is, and although it's certainly hard physical work, it's also very rewarding and enjoyable. Another unexpected bonus in the great Woodbury move.

The cats are in seventh heaven - have all taken to country life and the boys are out roaming far and wide on a daily basis. Blossom prefers to follow the sun around the upstairs rooms, but most importantly for us, they are all, obviously, extremely happy animals. Spike has so far been chased back home (ie out of other people's properties) by tiny dogs, big cats, deer, and the odd sheep (who only wants a playmate, I'm quite sure). He's also taken to hunting for skinks, the tiny lizards that live in the long grassy verges, and bringing them into the house for approval.

The fire works a treat. We've had a couple of pretty cool nights, so in goes a bit of wood and we light up the Lady Kitchener for a long, slow burn. Also tops up the hot water, thanks to the wetback, so we still haven't had to turn the power on to the hot water cylinder.

Finishing touches only as far as the house itself goes: paint touchups, lights, electronic data and other bits and pieces for the electrician, and the layer of bluestone on the front porch. So far, so very good - and best of all, we really are enjoying living here. It's a great life.

And now for something completely different - landscaping

We've been here for about two-and-a-half weeks (today is Tuesday 11 November) and things have been moving fast. Carpets are down, fireplace is going in today, and pictures are propped against walls ready for hanging day. But also, and amazingly rapidly, the section has been levelled, cleared, topsoiled and readied for lawn planting. Between them, two hard-working men have given us a driveway and sown a lawn, in just two days. Fantastic. I just love watching men at work - one of my favourite past-times.

Living here is even better than we'd dared hope, which is saying something. The days are just packed, and even though there are still a couple of tiny teething problems (a loo that over-runs, no matter what anyone does, and a leaking seal on the water tank, being replaced today) the house functions very well. Keith has been alternating happily between office/head work, and physical exertion, carting rocks, chopping wood, continuing work on the garage, putting up a real clothesline, and so on. I've been running thither and yon, helping, hindering, overseeing, feeding, washing, providing smoko and generally trying not to get in the way ... too much. But so much to decide! We're both fitter than before, not least because of all the running up and down the stairs we do - haven't lived in a house with stairs for a very long time.

The cats came home four days ago and have settled in beautifully. Blossom all but wept when she recognised me and has stayed close and purring ever since. George instantly flounced and rolled around house and section, and goes off exploring the entire neighbourhood, returning when he's had enough, through the deer paddock. Spike is now being just as brave, doing lots of local noseying around but definitely not sure about the sheep ... lots of checking them out from odd angles around the house. It's a joy to have them again and they help make the house a home.

We'll still have tradesmen around for a week or two as finishing touches get seen to - final paving and sealing of bluestone, bathroom fixtures to be finalised, electricians to do end jobs, all joinery to be checked and adjusted, and so on. But all good, and cannot believe how much has been done in such a seemingly short time. Roll on Christmas.

We're in! We finally made it, Labour Weekend 2008

We did it - we're living in our new house, and loving it! On Friday October 24, we finally, actually, left Christchurch for good and moved lock, stock and barrel into 589 Woodbury Road. Having brought the cats down to the local cattery on the previous Wednesday, we returned to Christchurch for the final push. House was full of packing crates and cartons, chaos everywhere, but between us and the movers, we got the house cleared and the show on the road by lunchtime on Friday. Left the cleaners doing the final once-over, then simply drove away, and by that time, neither of us had a problem saying goodbye to Trafalgar Street. We were ready.

Again, beautiful weather helped the process, and as the long day wore on, and we all congregated at various times in Woodbury, we reversed the process and dumped all our worldlies in the Woodbury house. No flooring down (apart from bathrooms), but all appliances in place, plenty of hot water, and enough room to swing all 3 cats, if only we could have them here now. Slept at Beauly that night (total exhaustion doesn't cover it, we'd been running on adrenalin and euphoria), but the next day, made a solid start in unpacking what we could and have been installed ever since. Kind of camping, but bed, showers and functioning kitchen helped.

And now, it's Thursday and we've been living here properly since Saturday. In that time the place has been crawling with builders, plumbers, electricians, tilers, and, occasionally, carpet layers, as everyone gets involved to get this place signed, sealed and delivered. All that's really left is the floor coverings (tomorrow, and again next week), and some plumbing bits and pieces. Living in plaster and concrete dust is a bit messy (I don't know why I cleaned the rugs or sofas - pointless) but that will soon be sorted.

The really good news is that the place is brilliant - we absolutely adore it and spend hours just looking out the kitchen windows at the 2 new sets of lamb triplets grazing next door, and the running of the young deer in the paddock in front of us. Views to die for. And we have a temporary office set-up, so lucky Keith has been able to do some serious work since Tuesday. A few technical hitches to begin with, and data outlets to double-check, but minor teething problems and now very much OK.

As are we - everything is lovely in the garden, or at least, it will be once we get hold of someone to clear, scrape, level and dump heaps of topsoil in the paddock we will one day call a lawn. And next week, I can get my cats back and then the house really will be a home.

October and the joinery begin together

And so it's October, finally - and as September ticked over into the new month, the kitchen started to actually look like a kitchen as the joiners and builders began the big installation. It's been all go in Woodbury for the past few weeks - Keith's been busy with the garage/workshop and has made amazing progress, with the help of wonderful neighbour Paul. The kitchen is underway, the kitchen appliances have been trucked out of Christchurch (after nearly 2 years in a warehouse), we've finalised the flooring and have made tentative bookings for getting laid. Sorry about that. Getting it laid.

And tomorrow, the 4th, is auction day for selling our Christchurch house. In spite of the dreadful property market, and worrying international financial situation, we're optimistic about a respectable sale and will be able to confirm all sorts of tentative arrangements and booking next week, once we have a settlement date. Exciting - every day brings new decisions, new information and an amendment to plan x, y and z.

The cats have been to the vet for their shots, so they're ready for a week in the country cattery; the movers have quoted and been accepted; and I've realised we don't have any spare bedroom furniture, apart from a bed. I'm planning to poke around the sales and the second-hand shops for the odd bargain, but don't hold your breath - there's a front garden to plant first.

A man and his handiwork are never parted

Keith is one tired but happy chappy - his week in Woodbury building the garage/workshop has been enormously successful and the result is quite lovely. Helped by a couple of local builders, Keith has managed to get the big stuff done and can now complete the interiors in relative comfort. Apart from a couple of minor compliance things. the building inspector gave it a pre-wrap pass mark and so next step is to nail up the plywood cladding. This now means we can store stuff for the house under cover, and start moving the contents from his current workshop down in manageable stages. The building looks sweet (not a guy word, I admit) beside the big house, and in the big picture, you can see how they complement each other. He returned home early on Thursday evening, very tired but in excellent spirits - he couldn't lift his arms above his shoulders and still can't close his right hand properly (a couple of days of the hammer and staple gun) - and has also lost 5kg! He looks, however, in fine form and can't wait for the next visit. Neither can I.

A place for the cars, and a real blokes' shed

Today is the first of September, so it's officially spring, and there's plenty of action in Woodbury. We now have an established tree, a Himalayan chestnut, sitting happily in the nor/west corner of the section, thanks to Belinda, who decided we needed an established tree to give us shade and shelter in the summer months. Something to mow around, and a place to have lunch outdoors, were her words. We're very grateful and the tree looks as if it's always been there.

Also, Keith has made an excellent start on building the garage/workshop. With the help of a couple of local builder mates, he's well underway with the basic construction and has been much helped by the beautiful spring weather. Muddy gateway notwithstanding, the weather has been mild and kind and progress is excitingly fast. He wanted to get his hands dirty by doing something practical and grounding, and has managed this in spades by also leaving traces of blood on various bits of timber, shirt fronts, hats and passing dogs and children. So a success all round.

Upstairs, the rooms are painted (stunning, couldn't be happier) and doors throughout the house are also painted, a terrific shade best described as a muddy green - it's strong and very attractive. We also have a front door now, but no handle or key yet, so we're all still traipsing in through the back door.

This week should see the garage-workshop up if not quite running, and we're also expecting kitchen and bathroom joinery to start arriving for installation. Watch this space.