Sunday, May 8, 2016

A garden update

Lately I have found that rather than play "catch up" I long to simply document the day to day.  I find myself feeling guilty that I haven't written up the last trip to Canada (almost 5 months ago now, yikes!)  or the most recent school holidays and then, because I don't actually feel like writing about either of those things, the blog just gets ignored.  I am wondering if, rather than feeling guilty about not documenting my life in calendar order, it might be a better idea to just write about whatever I feel motivated to.  That way I might actually end up writing something on the blog, something is surely better than nothing!

Inspiration today lies in documenting the continuing work on the garden at our "new" house.  When we purchased this property the garden was virtually a blank slate and even featured a travertine path that quite literally led to nowhere.  As Ross and I are both passionate gardeners the unloved state of the garden actually appealed to us!  We both saw it as a welcoming challenge and have really enjoyed working on the transformation of the garden.



One of the first things that we addressed in the garden was the problem of the foot path that led to nowhere.


It is the front path that leads directly out from our front door to the street, but it just ended at nothing at the start of the nature strip!  It drove me mad as the letter box was on the other side of the driveway at the corner boundary of the property and there was no front fence, hedge or anything else installed to define the perimeter of the property or to make sense of that bizarre front path.




We deliberated for some months about whether to plant a hedge as a front border, install a traditional wood picket fence or to do a sandstone and picket fence combination.  The sandstone combination won out in the end.  We both felt that the sandstone/picket fence had more of a beach house feel and would ultimately be the easiest to maintain.  Picket fences are hard work, they need regular painting and hedges need frequent trimming.



Ross installing the frame for the wood "pickets" before the sandstone cladding went on.



The pickets going on post-cladding. 



When we installed the stone fence we also relocated the letterbox and chose one that could be integrated into the fence itself.  As someone will invariably ask, the letterbox is the Mr Kelly Integrated Front Open Letterbox from Robert Plumb .  Please ignore the front of the house and the rest of the front garden, that is all still a work in progress!  

In the rear garden the most recent gardening work has focused on building a garden bed that runs almost the entire length of the back of the house and deck.





We have clad this garden bed in the same stone from Eco Outdoor that we used for the front fence.  We also intend to use this stone in the landscaping that is currently taking place around the pool and to clad an indoor/outdoor fireplace that we have on the back deck/living area. 





Ross put a lot of thought into the plants in this garden bed.  Amongst hardy and drought tolerant succulents we have planted lots of sanseveria,  cardboard palms. philodendrons and rhoeo. At either end of the planter box have we selected two mature plants, a multi-headed dragon tree at one end and a frangipani at the other.  We placed the dragon tree at the deck end of the planter box as it is quite a statement plant and will look amazing once established.






The frangipani came from our next door neighbours garden and already looks like it has been there for decades with a lovely aged patina to it's trunk.  The planting of this garden bed has completely transformed the back of the house and I am thrilled with how it has turned out.

Meanwhile, work continues elsewhere in the garden, the pool truly is a construction site at the moment and another stone garden bed is about to be constructed further along the deck.  I am looking forward to sharing these projects once complete also!






Thursday, April 7, 2016

Catching up - Bali


Last December, Ross and I popped over to Bali for a whirlwind few days.  Ross had a few days work in Denpasar so, thanks to my wonderful parents, I was able to accompany him on the trip.  As he was working I spent most of my days reading by the pool or wandering through the fabulous shops and gardens.   We also had some wonderful meals out with some of Ross' work colleagues.  Mostly expats that live in Jakarta and that are lucky enough and close enough to have holiday houses in Bali.  Their lifestyle sounded fabulous to me until I heard about the traffic issues in Jakarta.  One family we had dinner with had boys at the British School in Jakarta (where I went to Pre-school way back in the late 1970s!) and despite the fact that the school is only 8km from their house it takes them two hours on a school bus to get from A to B.   My 40 minute school trip (yes, some days it can even take longer, sob!) sounded not so bad after hearing their tales of traffic woe.





The first few days we stayed at the W in Seminyak.  It was gorgeous and as we had a villa with a private pool, extremely relaxing.  I floated about the pool amongst frangipani flowers, read lots of books and caught up on sleep.  It was heavenly.


I did manage to leave the hotel every now and then.  Coffee at the The Corner House in Seminyak became an essential part of each day quickly.  Easily the best coffee we found in Bali and the most charming little cafe to sit in and enjoy said coffee.  It is well worth a visit if you are in Seminyak.  Even the Bathroom is gorgeous!










Homewares shopping isn't too bad either!  This is Kim Soo near the Petitenget Temple.  Lots of gorgeous things to be found inside!


After 4 nights at the W, we moved to the incredible Ayana, famous for the adults only pool and the Rock Bar.  Both well worth a visit and I actually thought that this hotel would be fun to stay at with the kids.  There were multiple pools and the gardens were a delight to wander and explore. The staff bent over backwards to ensure we enjoyed our holiday experience as well.  






The kids pool was being renovated whilst we were staying there so this is unfortunately the best photo I was able to take of it, but seriously how much fun does that look?!  When I showed the boys they insisted that we take them next trip!  



This is the divine adults only pool.  Truly spectacular!







Whilst we were at the Ayana we celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary.   11 years, sigh.  I feel so lucky and so blessed. 


So that takes us up to mid-December.  I'll try and add Christmas and our annual trip to Whistler before the year is half over!

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Double digits


The Captain has recently celebrated his 10th birthday.  It seems but moments ago that the Doctor at Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok, a gentlemanly old Sikh, nodded kindly at me over his desk and said yes, Madam, there really is a baby in there, as he read my blood test results to me.  I must have looked quite disbelieving!





To celebrate reaching double digits, the Captain chose to have a sailing party.  Luckily, Balmoral Sailing Club have a fabulous kids program that includes holiday camps (the best!) and Birthday Parties.  

The party celebrations began with a Hobie Cat race.  As the Captain sails on an Optimist in his Development Squad, he loves any opportunity to jump into different sailing craft and Hobie Cat's are one of his favourites.  They can pick up a bit of speed which appeals to little boys of course! The boys were split up into two teams and off they went.   







They had the time of their lives out on the harbour for an hour or so, meanwhile we sat back on the beach and enjoyed the wonder of hosting a party for a dozen 10 year old boys.  It was so peaceful watching the two rainbow coloured sails darting about on Middle Harbour!  



Eventually, the boys did reappear though and both teams of course insisted that they had won the race.  Before they could actually establish who truly had won, the instructors managed to distract
 them all with a stand up paddle board lesson.  Nick loved this so much that a paddle board has been added onto the Christmas list this year!  




The final activity was some crazy made up game that the instructors from the yacht club came up with.  I never actually quite got the gist of it, but it involved lots of running, crawling and hiding in a maze of paddle boards propped up in the sand.  The boys LOVED this.  Lots of stealth type stomach crawling and deviant dashing between the paddle boards, the boys were in their element.  




We ended the party with fish and chips and chocolate cake.



So my darling boy at 10 years old you are: feisty, determined and dare I say, a little bit witty.  Your determination never fails to astonish me.  You are an incredible athlete and excel at cross country, athletics, sailing and skiing.  You also love cricket and soccer. 

Up until last week you wanted to be an architect.  This all changed though after Grandma and Grandpa took you for your first proper experience in a flight simulator and as a consequence you have switched career paths to aviation.   Your favourite TV show though is still Grand Designs (UK of course), closely followed by Top Gear (UK of course).  

Your favourite books are the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz and The Henderson Boys series by Robert Murchamore.  As a result, you have also dabbled in espionage as a career choice and did request that we send you to Eton as you considered that a pre-requisite!

Your favourite colour is still red.  Your favourite food is pizza.  You are pestering us for a dog.  You play the classical guitar and sing in the school choir.  Your favourite subjects at school are art, drama and sport. You have a lovely group of friends at school.

You are a skilled negotiator and are willing to debate anything and everything.  This skill of yours is simultaneously infuriating and impressive.  I, for one, look forward to seeing where this takes you in life.  Happy Birthday Captain.  


LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...