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.