The good life

Ahhh ... what could be better? We're back in Port Fairy, relaxing on the couch, baby fed and sleepy, dogs snoozing, fire crackling, the sound of surf breaking on the beach ...

... a fine little roadtrip and holiday.

(I like the way Bracken looks as though he's wearing a hat of fire in this pic!)

Neat as a pin

Hooray! Two wonderful blokes took it upon themselves to blitz through some more painting at our holiday house this weekend. Having driven a packed one-tonne van for over 4 hours after work on Friday evening, they set to work in the living room. They only had one-and-a-half days in which to prep and complete the work, but I think it's come up a treat! I just knew it would look so much better once the greasy-looking, glum, oil-based paint was gone - it suits my simpler, pared-down aesthetic now and I'm sure it will be a lovely space in which to relax ...

Thank you G & J!

This is the pic I took when we first went to look at the house. Note the dull, ugly walls and ceiling, clunky pelmet with synthetic lace curtains, not to mention the cluttered knick-knacks ...

 Yellowed wainscotting, damage to the fire surround ...

There seems to have been a sliding door here in a past life ...

.... now it's starting to look more fresh and snug. I'd like to put a couple of simple things on the mantlepiece and a few coloured prints on the walls, re-cover the armchairs etc., but that can all wait for a while ...

Bit by bit, room by room, we're getting there. This little house will be lovely when it's done.

Worm me up, baby!

Hmm, it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted ...

I've been quite tired lately but we enjoyed a few days down at Port Fairy last week - it was hot and sunny and really lovely spending time in the sleepy village atmosphere and playing with the dogs at the beach. I realised that despite the region having a higher rainfall record than Melbourne, the garden there gets very hot and dry in summer so I've been re-thinking my plans.... Still loving the idea of an informal, insect-attracting perennial garden though, particularly in the naturalistic style and with beautiful ornamental grasses featured.

Just as a record for myself, I took some photos of the 'blank slate' front garden in November. It looks rather glum at the moment but I hope we'll be enjoying a very different space in a year's time.

(We're planning to paint the house and replace the 1970s fence; the verandah has recently been re-stumped and re-decked; and that ugly ramp and handrail have gone, as has the giant Strelitzia - the 'Bird of Paradise' plant. I also need to remove the Brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet) and the Oleander 'cause they're rather poisonous, but I'm planning to plant some trees, most likely a flowering crabapple and a magnolia...)

The back garden is bigger, pretty much just a large expanse of lawn and two apple trees. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into them when the weather is milder and I'm more mobile ... that little place is more than ready for a facelift!

A fast track, high stakes, 49 starters in 7 heats ...

.. and victory for Pepperoni!

It was the Port Fairy Dachshund Dash!

We formed the cheer squad for Pepper, Wilbur and Ted, although there were so many adorable little dachsies it was impossible to pick a favourite.

Wilbur was too scared to race so he watched his sister win from the safety of Petra's shoulder-bag. After the race he crashed as though he had run the hard yards!

So many silly sausages!

Solitude

I've been hibernating by myself for the past week and it's been a time of quiet contemplation. It's a real change for me: I'm usually very talkative and I surround myself with people and bustle ... but down here I've only had the company of my dogs and the birds in the trees and on the beaches nearby. The house is quiet, with no TV or radio, just me.
Life has shifted down a gear or two.

A bird in the hand

Yesterday on the beach I found a little injured penguin. I called him Fonzie because he looked like a cool guy in a little leather jacket and white t-shirt, and I took him to a wildlife rescue place in the next town - hope he recovers! He had beautiful petrol-blue feathers on his sides which inspired me to think about dark and glamorous colours in fabrics and interior design ...
(odd, perhaps, but that's how my brain ticks!).

Unfortunately this is the only picture I managed to take as I had my hands full and was hurrying back home with the dogs before it got dark.

This afternoon I took some photos with my phone, and although I wasn't really able to see the screen display in the low afternoon sun at the time, I'm glad they caught the light on this beautiful first day of winter.

Bracken seems to be growing some Victorian-style sideburns at the moment .... very Chap!

❆ winter blues already? ❆

It's the first day of winter today and I'm nestled in our little cottage in Port Fairy, where the weather is beautifully clear and sunny but I have to stay inside and do lots of work. Walks on the beach with the dogs later should help me get some fresh air ....

I'm really missing my dad. I know he would have loved staying down here - he would have had a little boat out on the river in no time, and I'm sure he'd have worked enthusiastically with G, fixing up the house, building boats in our back yard and puttering about in the bay. Even though he lived on a tropical island with a picture-perfect lagoon virtually on his doorstep, he just loved meeting new people, working with timber and boating in all sorts of climates, and this would have been a great little getaway for him.

Whenever I walk across the little old wooden bridge that spans the river and looks over the port, I can't help wishing my dad could share some time in this pretty little village with me.

I love this place but these thoughts are bittersweet.


(Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5)

Blog catchup #3 - Port Fairy transformations

.... in the midst of all our other renovations, G spent a week in Port Fairy and made a start on fixing up our little ugly duckling house there. I caught the train down after work on Friday last week - it was lovely to see G and the dogs again and spend some time getting to know our new cottage.

There are lots of crisp, juicy apples on the ground in the garden, upon which Gus feasted non-stop (I'm not sure that it's good for dogs to eat so many apples, but he just seemed obsessed with them). Each evening we walked across the bridge that spans the little river near the port and let the dogs go totally loopy at the beach. It's a really relaxing place.

We managed to finish painting one room (thanks to G's expert plastering and preparation work). The new paint finish, light shades, wafty sheer curtains and thrifted furniture have transformed a once-glum room into a sunny, peaceful retreat. Nice!

Real estate agent's photo, taken before we bought the house.

 Before: greasy-looking olivey-mustard walls and dark ceiling, too much

furniture and horrible synthetic lace curtains

After: a lighter, softer, less-cluttered style

 little Bracken

 Gus the wise (?!)

 

... again, I didn't have a camera unfortunately (just my phone), so I was unable to capture the light and bright feeling of this room properly. You can see that I did snap our canine helpers though. They pushed in and wanted to take all the attention after waiting patiently in the hallway forever.

We're heading back next weekend; while I gallivant around Warrnambool on a field trip with my post-grad students G plans to make a start on the living room. Now that room needs quite a bit of work, but we'll make it look pretty in the end!

(before we bought it)

* While I wouldn't usually choose a bedframe like the one shown above, we bought the queen-size bed, complete with mattress (in good condition) for only $50!