Where do I begin....? It's been so long since I last blogged and there is so much that has happenend (and not happened). Just to get everyone in the picture (for those who don't see me often) we now have 3 dimensions! We have a frame made of lovely cypress posts and oregon beams and part of a roof. I never thought it would be so lovely to look at in the flesh. The sketches of the house design we're using and the photos I've seen on the Post & Beam website don't do it justice. You get a real sense of the space now - including the cathedral ceilings and the light streaming in the top row of windows.

The builders were half-way through the roof construction when the deluge began again...! We had some vapour sheeting covering it which turned out to be permeable (isn't it supposed to be) - so the rain got through. It actually buckled the slatted pine ceiling underneath and a month and a few sunny days later the builders are back and attempting to nail the slats straight again. The ceiling did actually re-straighten slightly in the drying out process.

Before the rain came - we've been checking the forecast daily - we asked the builder if the roof would be OK with the sheeting and they assured us it would. You would think the builders would've known that the sheeting wasn't waterproof - well they didn't. And the instructions they're following from the house design company weren't specific enough - we've checked. All of which means we've been hiring tarps to the tune of $200 a day until we came to our senses and bought our own.

P was looking around the site yesterday and yelled out 'Hey there are animal tracks - look over here!' He asked me to identify them so I duly took a look and saw some finely formed three-prong chicken prints in the mud near the front door. Apparently our two-legged fowl friends have been wandering further afield lately in search of tasty morsels in the upturned earth around the slab.

We celebrated P's 4oth birthday in April with family at the same time as our nephew William who was turning 3. True to family tradition we made a train cake made from chocolate swiss rolls - pictured here. I remember Dad making these for us when we were little - and I think he enjoyed it just as much as we did! In fact I called him before making this one for some expert tips... Just so he didn't feel upstaged we made sure P had an extended birthday with friends on a long weekend near Jervis Bay along with a mob of kangaroos and a pod of dolphins offshore.

Today after work I'm heading off to a local newsagent to collect a pile of last year's newspapers. No, I'm not trying to catch up with the news - I prefer to get mine online these days. Actually once I get the papers home I'm going to soak them and then wheelbarrow them down to our 'sunken garden' to lay as a mulch and weed barrier before we spread the gravel around. I've got some ideas for planting this part of the garden, but most of it will have to wait until the council inspector has been and gone. The official use for this sunken garden is a storm water retention pit, complete with drainage and pipes laid in. I, however, have other ideas for it. It has a low wall around it which would work really well as seating for a small garden party (in good weather - so it's dry). I can imagine a nice curvy arabesque deck (we have a pile of offcuts etc that would be useful for this purpose) reaching out from two sides to meet at a small garden island in the middle of the space. This could be more seating or a table for refreshments... Here is a sketch I've done with my ideas. I have my eye on a soft stone sculpture workshop in the area where I could learn to create my 'two hands' sculpture for the centrepiece and possible water feature.

On Saturday we celebrated our Playgroup's 3rd birthdays out in Mangrove Mountain. It was a lovely day and the kids had a great time running around, rampaging through the jumping castle and generally stuffing their faces. I made some animal cupcakes with cat, duck and monkey faces which went in a flash. Forgot to take a photo of them before they were all scoffed - sorry. But here is an image of the martha stewart website cupcake competition entry that inspired them...