California Girl in Oz

Here's the latest kniting effort. It's actually all sewn together now, but sadly it's a bit small. I'm going to try to block it with steam to make it a little larger...it's my first time knitting with cotton, using Rowan Cotton Glace. Pretty color, though, don't you think? And it's not a Partridge in a Pear Tree, but how about this cheeky visitor to the apple tree outside our bedroom window a couple of days ago? In the few minutes I watched him, he devoured about 15 little apples! There are flocks of these sulphur-crested cockatoos that swoop into the trees in the yard here...very beautiful, raucous birds that can inflict a LOT of damage! It's New Year's Eve in Exeter, and we'll probably do our usual: in bed by 9:30PM after a glass of champagne! I tellya, we're real ragers around here! Hope you all have a safe and sane New Year's Eve. Here's wishing you all the best of all good things for 2008.

The builders wound up their 2007 activities around midday on Friday, and have departed till 7 January. Thought you might enjoy seeing where things are at this point. Here's the new "kitchen" in the garage. Pretty neat to have all this available out there...makes washing up after the cats much easier. I can also wash and dry their bedding easily, and it never hurts to have an extra fridge for wine, beer and soft drinks out there. This is the other side of that wall, with the new outdoor fireplace. The renderer has started with the chimney, and it's looking good. I think we'll use this area a lot, don't you? And here's our bathroom, just off our bedroom, with our closet on the left. The brickwork here will also be covered with sheetrock and painted...no brick will be visible anywhere. This is the view from our bedroom. The wall on the right will move to the right about one metre, and the opening shown will be much larger. There will be a large set of Fren

Woo-hoo! They've started demolishing the inside of our house, and here you see me (left), with my darling in-laws, surveying the damage. Feels SO good to have this kind of progress, especially given the terrible weather challenges of the past few weeks. DH looks like a happy camper, don't you think? Patch is inspecting a big pile of windows and enjoying the lovely sunshine this morning...yesterday was glorious, too! Now, this afternoon, it's beginning to cloud over again, and we are expecting MORE rain this week. I tell ya, we should be building an ark, not a house! Can you believe this incredible pile of lumber that's come out of the house? Patch and the others find this all very interesting...especially on Saturday, when there aren't workmen around to make noise! As you can see, the connection between the house and the new garage is still a bit tricky! We're thinking of auditioning for the high wire act next time the circus comes to town... Do you

Friday was moving day, and over the weekend we got settled in at our neighbors' house. The cats moved into their new digs on Saturday: What you see above is the two outdoor screened-in rooms, with the two inside rooms just behind. The cats are allowed to roam around freely outside this complex during the day, and then they get locked inside each night. Here's what the inside of one of the indoor rooms looks like. We'll be adding more places for them to "roost" up high on some shelves, I think, but this works for now. You can see Cassie lounging in the camp chair. Since not everyone gets along with everyone else, the division allows for the two more agressive males to inhabit one half of the complex, while the other five more mellow types live in the other half. And both rooms have this view from the windows and from the outside screened-in area: Meanwhile, at the house, here's what's happening to the kitchen: After a few hours of messy work, the s