I dropped blogging. Life got messy. It does that. This is my catch up.
We moved from mums at Mckellar out to Carwoola in the first week of December, just after Rachaels 8th birthday. Hugh and I were crazy and managed to unpack the essential things (beds, kitchen) and then over 2 weeks everything else - enough to get rid of one of the shipping containers. We have kept the other one for our garage stuff, bikes, and boxes that are seasonal (winter things) or Hugh’s treasure trove of magazines, computer bits, cables etc. It was an exhausting process, but wonderful to be reunited with our household goods. After a few months living at mums I was stoked to have all my kitchen gadgets back again - yes I still love my food processor!
We jokingly told people we had become worshippers at the Temple of Bunnings (Hardware shop) because in the first month we were here it felt like we were buying things from them every day. This trickled down to just the weekends and now finally we think all the hooks, shelves etc are complete.
Not long after getting here Hugh managed to make a pilgrimage to Ikea in Sydney and came back with a hat rack and 3 very large shelving units. It all just fit into the ute - clever flatpacking yurgens. Building these units fitted in between Christmas and New Years. Our Holiday was very much spent at home unpacking/building/reorganising.
Hugh also constructed the most amazing cat run outside for Duck and Drake. He was assisted in this process by Roger (visiting from the UK). It must have been the season for OS visitors as Jock (Dave Girvan) managed to arrive a few days later.
One of our first lots of visitors was the Struik family, they arrived to find that the BBQ needed constructing before we could all have dinner. It has been noted that visiting at the moment comes with the risk of being utilised to help with whatever project is being undertaken.
Most of the infrastructure is done now! Sigh. But it never really ends. The building is yet to have its final inspection (sometime in the next few weeks we think). The final invoice from the builder looms - he and his family have been away for the summer - they had a ski holiday booked between Whistler/Europe/Japan. Say no more!
It has taken me a while to actually feel like I belong here. There was so much happening with selling the house, packing, cleaning it up, moving things to store out here, getting essentials to mums, finishing the school term for RKB, unpacking. My head was spinning most nights with the volume of tasks and changes. Redirections, disconnections, connections, chasing unfinished tasks all took so much time. I am a creature of routine and I work best in organised and structured places. Its been hard, because for me to relax Ive had to cope with the chaos and uncertainty.
Life is becoming more settled now. I have a 6 month contract at the Ngunnawal Centre, continuing the ITAS role I did last year so I know how my working week should look. Its back to two part time jobs as Im still coordinating the Spiritual Meeting Place, so that covers a big chunk of my day time.
Rach starts school at Radford tomorrow, so we can set her activities into routine as well. This term she is not doing swimming and pottery after school. Instead it’s extra things at school- drama, piano and choir and she has added 2 hours of circus on fridays after falling in love with it at a 2 week summer program.
We have timed our daily commute and can tell you that it only takes us 14 minutes to get to the runway at the Canberra airport. To get to uni/school is another 15-20 minutes depending on the time of day and traffic. In the mornings we listen to the ABC news and “AM” so I feel much more up to date on current affairs. Afternoons are talk time, reviewing the day. On the rare times I don’t have her in the car I have been letting loose on old music on my ipod at dangerous volumes.
The quick list of great things about living at Carwoola in the last few weeks.
- That we as a family have a home, and we all helped to get here.
- Stunning stars at night.
- Sounds of the bush (reminds me of camping when I was a child).
- Early morning walks in the clean air, watching local birds and wildlife.
- Time with our friends here - people visiting relax more than in town for some reason.
- Playing in the mud while clearing out the drains and culverts of the driveway.
- Hanging out in the hammock with Rachael and Hugh
- Realising this is just the beginning of what we can do with the land
Stay tuned or vist me on my latest addiction - facebook (mainly for scrabble).
