27.11.08
'leccy
you use them how many times per day?
when you go somewhere new you can't find them.
maybe, you can't trust them.
'tis plugs i'm talking about. switches. electricity, man.
walking through the rara republic's new headquarters is like taking a walk through the museum of electrical connections. every era is represented. every style. it is possible to see representatives from almost one of each on the same wall!
none of them aligned.
very few of them straight.
this business of renovating is kinda hard work. we get up in the morning, eat, dress, pack the car for the day like we're packing for a week, for a year. we traverse the city. we renovate. we come home again in time for tea, tired and dusty.
i've sanded me a new set of fingerprints. i'm working up a new set of muscles. we're all learning to swear like builders & have developed the knack of wearing our trousers too low.
we've knocked out walls, hauled up carpets, ripped down ceilings, sanded, stripped, drunk coffee and swore. we're trying to do this all as carefully as possible as we're planning on re-using as much of the timber as possible- the timber, beautiful heart rimu, is no longer logged & so is as precious as the real thing in the bush..... we've saved the bath (you never know, when we're finished we might be able to make a midnight outdoor bath bonanza) we've saved the laundry tub (plans of a darkroom in the garage) we even found some old cinema seats the other day that, when we've finished renovating, we can restore and put in the hall way....
i've planted about 6 tomatoes and enough salady items to keep our folates going for the summer.
and also, most importantly, we planted our first tree.
an olive.
peace
xxxx
b
10.11.08
welcome to the rara republic
touch down!!
the rara republic has landed.
we're about 8 minutes walk (at a slowish pace) to the beach, four minutes walk to the reserve: acres and acres of pine forest, an estuary, cycle paths that go for almost 20km... we've got a little patch of land that from this moment forward will not see one drop of chemical, where the plants and animals and people will coexist in harmony. and if you like 80s carpet, we have a charming little bungalow to boot!!
so, forgive me, if you think i've been slack in writing it might just be that it's about to get a little slacker as we take up the new hobby of converting former nomads into home owners, as we make this little house our home. we have grand plans for knocking out walls and opening up spaces to let in light and the garden.
of course, you're welcome!!!
xxx
b
6.11.08
a day in history
our little man is growing up.
two teeth (and a bump).
three legged crawling & personal impersonations of spiders.
and moving out of the hammock.....
oh we've loved that hammock, the cosy bouncing bed that c has used since he was brand new, bringing about sound deep sleep, snuggled up, cacooned like he was still in the womb. and as we've watched him grow we've wondered just how long he'll be able to continue using it as his head and feet seem to be rapidly approaching either end.
the question was answered in the middle of the night.
after a week and a bit of 'sleeping through' we really thought we'd cracked it: that we were back on the path towards normaldom, towards wholenightsleep, towards bag-less eyes and super happy mama and papa. but no. the bump (tooth in transit) has made life a little difficult for c (we guess) and so he decided sleeping through was over rated when you can have a wee cry in the middle of the night and then get a big cuddle from mama and papa....
but the other night something happened.
he wriggled and jiggled and grizzled and then: sat upright in his hammock.
i woke up to the silhouette of an upright calix. i was out of bed before you could say: what the fork... because the hammock isn't designed for upright babies, the balance goes all skewiff and therefore the likelihood of him launching himself elsewhere is quite high.
and so, in the middle of the night the hammock was evacuated. the next morning the hammock was washed and packed, back into it's little box, ready for it's next bundle. and c is now sleeping in a borrowed cot.
it's so huge. he wriggles and ends up in a corner- i guess used to the confined space, the overnight 'cuddles' of a hammock wall.... with the high sides he looks a little like he's just been handed some sort of sentence for learning to sit upright.
we've been toying with the idea of making him a little futon, but seeing how much he wriggles and escapes the blanket we just know the poor wee sausage will spend his night on the floor... so we've got a cot.
but, to make sure he still gets his overnight loves he sleeps with two companions: dandy-lion and dodo, 2 gentlemanly lions , one each from his french nannie (dodo) and his kiwi granny (dandy-lion), who give him each a kiss on either cheek on behalf of nannie and granny and stay tucked up under either arm.
aiie, the times they are a changing....
two teeth (and a bump).
three legged crawling & personal impersonations of spiders.
and moving out of the hammock.....
oh we've loved that hammock, the cosy bouncing bed that c has used since he was brand new, bringing about sound deep sleep, snuggled up, cacooned like he was still in the womb. and as we've watched him grow we've wondered just how long he'll be able to continue using it as his head and feet seem to be rapidly approaching either end.
the question was answered in the middle of the night.
after a week and a bit of 'sleeping through' we really thought we'd cracked it: that we were back on the path towards normaldom, towards wholenightsleep, towards bag-less eyes and super happy mama and papa. but no. the bump (tooth in transit) has made life a little difficult for c (we guess) and so he decided sleeping through was over rated when you can have a wee cry in the middle of the night and then get a big cuddle from mama and papa....
but the other night something happened.
he wriggled and jiggled and grizzled and then: sat upright in his hammock.
i woke up to the silhouette of an upright calix. i was out of bed before you could say: what the fork... because the hammock isn't designed for upright babies, the balance goes all skewiff and therefore the likelihood of him launching himself elsewhere is quite high.
and so, in the middle of the night the hammock was evacuated. the next morning the hammock was washed and packed, back into it's little box, ready for it's next bundle. and c is now sleeping in a borrowed cot.
it's so huge. he wriggles and ends up in a corner- i guess used to the confined space, the overnight 'cuddles' of a hammock wall.... with the high sides he looks a little like he's just been handed some sort of sentence for learning to sit upright.
we've been toying with the idea of making him a little futon, but seeing how much he wriggles and escapes the blanket we just know the poor wee sausage will spend his night on the floor... so we've got a cot.
but, to make sure he still gets his overnight loves he sleeps with two companions: dandy-lion and dodo, 2 gentlemanly lions , one each from his french nannie (dodo) and his kiwi granny (dandy-lion), who give him each a kiss on either cheek on behalf of nannie and granny and stay tucked up under either arm.
aiie, the times they are a changing....
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