My Happy Place

Point Lonsdale Back Beach this morning

- Photograph by the very talented Nikole Ramsay

My Project

Surfer Boy and I are extremely lucky because both sets of our parents have holiday homes in the same coastal town.  Not only do we get to spend our winter weekends there whenever we like but my parents vacate the house for the entire month of January so that we can re-locate there for the summer holidays.

The only fly in the ointment is the lack of space for the whole family to be there together.  It was perfect when we were growing up but now that my brother and I have families we tend to use the house separately which is a shame.  Every summer we throw around ideas - if we pull out a wall here/ add a room there/ etc but this summer I have had an epiphany!!

If you regularly read this blog you will know that I have a hankering for a caravan and have even been scouring eBay on the sly for my dream van.  We have nowhere at home to put it but I suddenly realised I can kill to birds with one stone and get on for the beach house!  Woo Hooo!  A perfect excuse for my dream project and solves some space issues into the bargain.  Win Win.

The next task is convincing my parents that it is a good idea because it is, after all, their house.  The ace up my sleeve is that it won't cost them anything so with a bit of luck they will be happy to let me annex a couple of metres of yard.
I'm posting these pics here so my Dad can get an idea of what I would like to do.  As the interior of the house is red I have thrown in some red vans to really sweeten the deal.... is it working Dad???

My lovely friend Kris gave me this book for Christmas which has now become my bible and the lynch pin for my caravan campaign. 

Wish me luck.

You Couldn't pay me enough to play tennis in this weather!

Jeez it's hot!!
43 degrees or 109.4 for those of you working in farenheit.

Same again for tomorrow with the next few days almost as bad.

Now I love a hot night more than most but it's nearly 10.00 pm and it's 32.7 dgrees (90.86). That's even wearing me a bit thin.

Yesterday was just as bad but it doesn't seem so hard when you're doing this ....

or hanging out here ...

What on earth possessed me to leave a summer paradise for stinking hot Melbourne?

Maybe the fact that Moondoggie started kinder today!

Bugger education!

Flashback Friday 1982

This is a bit of a cheats Flashback Friday as this is of my beautiful husband (on the right), not me. Most photos of me pre '85 are still in Mum and Dad's albums and as they are away I can't get my hands on them.

I LOVE this photo.

This is how I remember James, a salt encrusted surfie dude with a shock of blonde fringe. James was in my brothers group of friends down at Point Lonsdale where we spent our holidays. To me, three years older, they skirted around the periphery of those lazy summer days. I was always aware of James - as you may know I have a thing for slim pretty boys! - but it wasn't until I spotted him again in his 20's that my radar went off.

I particularly love the fact that compared to his mate Bolly, he was so slight, the board is hardly upright! Bolly is also a part of my childhood as our parents are good friends, his brother was one of my first buddies and their house was just up the hill. The asbestos shed in the background, the old mals, the dunes, the tan, they all evoke such strong feelings in me. This is Australia in summer as I knew it.

And this what Bolly's brother Steve and I were probably doing on that day!

(I'm on the right in the navy bikini with matching hair ribbon no less!!)