A nocturnal visitor

I woke at 5am this morning to R shaking me and saying... "I think there is a possum on top of the printer," ha ha I thought, he must be dreaming,  He wasn't.  There it was, a little ring tail possum perched on top of a stack of paperwork sitting on the printer.  The first thing I thought of was this book:

A popular bedtime read chez Pirate, about a possum that gets into the house and wreaks havoc in every room. AAARRGH!  What is it with the wildlife around these here parts, stuff like this never happened when we lived in the Eastern Suburbs!  Anyway, as these thoughts were racing through my head, amazing really considering the time of day and that I had just woken up!  Mind you I did have the  presence of mind to reach over and grab the camera!  The possum observing our discussing it sensed that it was time to make a jump for it and yep, made a flying leap into the space in the bed recently vacated by Ross.  I screamed. The possum wisely jumped back off the bed, dived under the bed, emerged on the other side and then clambered up the wall to a hole in the ceiling (grrr renovation) and back into the roof.  Now to get it safely back out of the roof before all the holes are sealed.

Street Shopping

Behold the latest street shopping finds:

And... yes!  That is a Le Creuset pan.  Seriously, who chucks out a Le Creuset pan?  Both in the same pile along with a whole bunch of vintage tools.  Luke, one of the apprentices working on our renovation, as soon as I mentioned that there were tools in the same pile jumped into his ute and drove around the block to claim all the tools!

The fry pan has a new home in our kitchen.  I will have to show you a photo post-reno as that is currently a construction site.

The little guy's new toy box. 

I love council clean up!!!

The renovation so far.....

For Betty in Brisbane (R's old flatmate who is a lovely friend) and Grandma and Grandpa in Morocco (having a glamorous holiday exploring places like YSL's holiday house) and for all the other people who keep harassing me/us for photos of the reno.... this is where we are at people:

The front of the house, photo taken standing on the driveway.  New roof (Colourbond windspray) and new front deck.  Loving Ross' decision to do double deck posts, so pleased with how they turned out!

Panelling under the new front deck.  Also thrilled with Ross' insisting that we do exposed eaves here.  I was initially a bit reluctant as all I could think about was the spiders that would be nesting around them, but I am so glad he won this one as they look fantastic.  Warning to all spiders: those eaves are going to be brushed regularly with lemon oil.  Move on hairy legs!

Standing on new front deck looking towards the driveway.  As you can see one of the apprentices has been "helping."  Mum and Dad, note the new retaining wall.  The Czech guy, who brought his Mum along to supervise and yell at him (in Czech) did a brilliant job.  It matches the rest of the retaining walls perfectly and you would never know the wall was moved to accommodate the extension! 

Front of house.  Front door will be in the centre little nook, set back a bit.

Inside the new front bedroom, we are putting vertical VJ walling in all the bedrooms, above the fireplace and also the laundry.  I really wanted to do it in the bathrooms as well but Ross the spoilsport was worried about waterproofing. It looks similar to groove and tongue for anyone unfamiliar with VJ.

Looking down the drive into the new "garage/playroom." 

The first half of this room will be garage storage for bikes, skis, surfboards, scooters etc etc The back half will be a playroom/spare room.

Looking up to the new extension from the garden.  Ash (one of the builders, as in a real one, not a pint sized wannabe one) is standing at the new playroom doors.  The next door/window to the right is the new laundry.

Looking up at the new back deck and bifolds into living room.

The back half of the house, the current living/dining/kitchen which is inside the frame in the above picture is getting pulled off next week to be re-built! Aaaaagh!  Further renovation updates to follow soon.

A fabulous discovery on the Northern Beaches!

 One of my most beloved cafes, The Boat House at Palm Beach, which I adore because of it's fabulous garden/beach setting:

and the scattered lobster pots:

Hmm, lobster pots, I definitely  have a thing about them!   As a littly we often holidayed with my cousins at our grandparents house, south of Bateman's Bay at Circuit Beach.  One of our many school holiday traditions was to jump into bed with Gran in the mornings.  Grandad would then serve us all (6 of us!) breakfast in bed.  In summer it was always buttery vegemite toast fingers and freshly squeezed orange juice. In winter, porridge with brown sugar and cream. As we ate breakfast and fought, sort of good naturedly  about whose feet were coldest and who was taking up too much room, we would all simultaneously be keeping a weather eye out on the little beach and rocky inlet that was literally at the bottom of their garden for the lobster pot man. He would row out to the pots in a little white wooden boat that we could spot from the bedroom window and it was always a great thrill if you were the one to sight him first. This early obsession with lobster pots has had some impact on me I think! 

Back to The Boat House though:

Fresh produce and flowers are for sale and the way it is all arranged is stunning!

But!!!!  Even better is The Boat Houses' new sibling Armchair Collective, a very short drive from Pirate HQ.   It is in Mona Vale just by the SLSC for anyone interested in popping in (worth it):

Same styling and fresh produce:

Inside there is so much more though:

Am trying to convince husband that we need this lamp (on my side of the bed of course):

Because of this chap that hangs out on the deck at Depot:

A claw foot has been on my wish list forever (still haven't got my way on that one) so I spent ages admiring this one and it's tree of birds (hoping to make evil husband feel guilty):

Anyway, the coffee is excellent and we have now eaten there a few times, everything has been delicious except the burger, husband is a burger connoisseur and he only gave it a 5/10.  He is very burger fussy though so it was probably delicious as well.

As for the renovation.  This is what our house looks like:

And, we are living in it.  Naturally, my dirt monkeys are adoring it, me though.... well, it is time consuming and overwhelming and the reason why I haven't been in here much or had time to catch up with all of you properly.  I don't want to jinx anything by typing into words here so will just say...  hopefully I will have more time to catch up with everyone soon!!! x