It's all over...
a whole month with some awesome Aussie girls...
I'll miss them a lot as I really enjoy high energy people and Zoe was a machine!
Kait was so much like my daughter Louise that I did double takes at times.
She used the same expressions about things, reacted exactly the same to certain situations that I'm sure the Universe sent Louise to me via Kait...who is a blonde like my daughter and the same olive skin.
Well, they are now in Split probably...
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| Made a black forest choc cake for the farewell evening on Monday night for the girls...Have never used spray cream before, so it turned out a bit messy. |
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| Finishing touches to # 3 stool... |
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| Finally cleared the blocked fuel line and got the mower going again...This is only 8 days growth! |
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| We have to push the mower with the front of it up in order to cut the tops off first as it is so long. |
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| Sort of longish... |
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| Taking turns at mowing... |
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| Green legs and grassy knees! |
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| Must buy some cake tins as I only have an oblong casserole dish at the moment! |
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| Really scared to open the cellar door... |
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| A bit of rubbish that fell thru the cracks, but the bottom looks great...I thought it would be full of water! |
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| All good down here... |
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| It's a bit dusty as we had just swept the upstairs room out. |
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| Kait going up...that was enough for her! |
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| Purfeccc down here... a nice 12C all year... |
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| A couple of nice arches here too... |
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| OK...now to clean up the workshop area of the past 3 months! |
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| All done for now...Getting ready for the party tonight, Monday. |
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| Waiting for the final cut to level up the stools...They will be different heights due to being recycled old droms from around the paddocks... |
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| The forks look great now... |
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| No one should forget which fork is theirs now... |
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| Unfortunately we had to put all the spare stuff back into the end room...Zoltan is working away a lot at the moment...The ceiling gets done next in here and renewed... |
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| The girls think this front room is a lovely big bedroom... |
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| Not quite sure yet about keeping either layout. Will sort it out after the girls leave on Wednesday... |
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| In the meantime, this is my temporary room... |
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| A farewell drink with UK/Turkey friends |
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| ...then they're heading off... |
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| A nice hot day to move on, but hopefully, the train will be cooler... |
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| To Budapest for the night, Wednesday, then to Split tomorrow... |
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| Going, Going... |
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| ...and in a puff of exhaust fumes...they're gone! |
I'm missing the Aussie girls already, but am enjoying the breather before the next 2 big adventures...up to Hamburg to see Love Never Dies, the Phantom sequel and from there to OZ!
Also with the girls being here and chattering about where they are off to next, then next, then after that and so on...I have been reminded, in a very timely way too, about the reason I ORIGINALLY came here...that was to have a base here to travel easily from to see and do all the things on my bucket list.
The Lodge was an addition of another bucket list item I'd had since my teens and I became consumed with glee about setting it up...while pushing my big love of travel to the back burner...
So, after 4 weeks of constant thought about the whole situation here which I'm enjoying immensely, by the way, I'm just adjusting the timeline somewhat and the order of how I do the actual renos.
The trouble with me is that I love everything I do...and if I don't, I quickly change it to something I do profoundly enjoy!...I'm a boots and all person...Like moving hook, line and sinker overseas to a foreign country to dig in the dirt, get back to basics and travel...oops, left that one out over the past 6 months.
Schengen was great in a way, as it forced me to keep exploring new places and while a nuisance at times, as far as the renos here went, it was awesome for me.
I have an addictive personality trait, which I recognise. I become easily addicted to everything I take on...be it travel, working, building, or whatever. Therefore the "3 month Schengen visa move on thing" suited me very well.
So, now my Aussie girl motivators have moved on, it's time I revamped my goals.
The staying visa with a one year renewal process is awesome after 5 years of continuous travel all over the place, Asia, USA, UK, back and forth to OZ and back and forth in wonderful Europe.
I realised last night I can now set a new travel schedule AND still renovate the place here AND still do the Lodge...instead of only going full out on ALL the renos all at the one time! (that addictive thing at work here)
Dohhh, how did I miss that one?
I know I mentioned it before, but it didn't feel like the right time to implement it all due to the rather tight schedule I'd set myself. Now with the terrible things happening all over the place, I'm figuring I'd better get a wriggle on and go see the things I want before it's too dangerous and unwise to do so anymore...and adjust a few things.
Big decision to make.due to confusing ideals
This has not been easy, but I know God is not a God of confusion, so once the girls left, I did nothing for the past 2 days, but wander around in here and outside, thinking and mussing over things.
I finally made a decision late last night and all tension melted, slept on it and was full of energy again this morning.
It is the correct one for me right now and I'm very happy about it.
It's not changing the overall plan, just reorganising how I do the interim renos work...which I'm wondering why I didn't do this from the start! But, it wasn't meant to be that way, so it's perfect as it is...all good things and in perfect timing.
Will share the adjustments next blog with heaps of lovely produce pics from here too.
Cheers and love to all,
M
xxxx
