spring 09
25.September.2009
I can’t believe it’s been almost a whole year since we’ve updated the website...
Well, to be honest, there hasn’t been much to write about as far as changes to the property. Most of the time has been our daily work lives and normal stuff. I guess the major change is that Graham returned to school full-time to get a Residential Building Designer Certification. He has done very well in the subject with his background in civil engineering, though it was still a challenge, with hours of new material to learn.
We did return to the USA and Canada for the month of June to visit family and friends, since we moved to Tasmania over 2 years ago! We first visited Graham’s son Luke in Pemberton, BC, just 30 minutes north of Whistler for a week. The weather was perfect and the scenery spectacular. We then made our way to California to visit my family and my Aunt Judith in Redwood Valley. It was a very relaxing time seeing my Aunt and my dog Mocha. Lucky we did, because on August 31, 2009, Mocha passed on after 16 years of a happy life. I will always be grateful that Judith was able to be his caretaker for the last 2 years.
Overall, the visit back to the States was a nice change. The one thing I did notice on my return to Australia, was that my American accent still stands out and vice-versa – I realised I was at ease in the US speaking in public, where most sound like me. (But that’s not a big deal!) We returned to the wettest winter Tasmania has had in about 100 years! And the rain kept coming. Our rainwater tanks were full and the dam behind the shed threatened to overflow every two weeks or so.
So, what’s next? We have solar panels for our lil home on order and will become grid-connected later this month or by October. We plan to extend the cottage internally by adding a bedroom in the workshop area. This plan is to increase our living space in the cottage as a ‘live/work area’, as Graham spends many late nights with AutoCAD, SketchUp, and design documents. Also, this will give us two rooms, and having guests sleep over in separate areas. We planted 14 fruit trees in the drain field. I plan to grow more veggies in the greenhouse and garden beds. Then summer, and hopefully some nice warms days in the deep green grass!
Well, to be honest, there hasn’t been much to write about as far as changes to the property. Most of the time has been our daily work lives and normal stuff. I guess the major change is that Graham returned to school full-time to get a Residential Building Designer Certification. He has done very well in the subject with his background in civil engineering, though it was still a challenge, with hours of new material to learn.
We did return to the USA and Canada for the month of June to visit family and friends, since we moved to Tasmania over 2 years ago! We first visited Graham’s son Luke in Pemberton, BC, just 30 minutes north of Whistler for a week. The weather was perfect and the scenery spectacular. We then made our way to California to visit my family and my Aunt Judith in Redwood Valley. It was a very relaxing time seeing my Aunt and my dog Mocha. Lucky we did, because on August 31, 2009, Mocha passed on after 16 years of a happy life. I will always be grateful that Judith was able to be his caretaker for the last 2 years.
Overall, the visit back to the States was a nice change. The one thing I did notice on my return to Australia, was that my American accent still stands out and vice-versa – I realised I was at ease in the US speaking in public, where most sound like me. (But that’s not a big deal!) We returned to the wettest winter Tasmania has had in about 100 years! And the rain kept coming. Our rainwater tanks were full and the dam behind the shed threatened to overflow every two weeks or so.
So, what’s next? We have solar panels for our lil home on order and will become grid-connected later this month or by October. We plan to extend the cottage internally by adding a bedroom in the workshop area. This plan is to increase our living space in the cottage as a ‘live/work area’, as Graham spends many late nights with AutoCAD, SketchUp, and design documents. Also, this will give us two rooms, and having guests sleep over in separate areas. We planted 14 fruit trees in the drain field. I plan to grow more veggies in the greenhouse and garden beds. Then summer, and hopefully some nice warms days in the deep green grass!