Something Old and Something New

I figured that I haven't been too good with keeping our blog updated so I decided to post some more pics. I felt a burning desire to publish the first three photo's. These are the flowers I got for our 5th wedding anniversary. PURPLE TULIPS!!! PURPLE TULIPS!! PURPLE TULIPS!! One more time...PURPLE TULIPS!!!

*sigh. They are (were) so gorgeous.



The next bunch of photo's we're taken on the promenade on the Main TT Race day. It was something to experience. The guys in the brown army jackets call themselves the Purple Helmets and all the stunts they do are performed at whopping 130 miles/hour. Really!! Seriously!!! (you'll need to click on the photies to get them a bit bigger.....)

This is Bake Bean Man....Say No More!

This chap was more upside down than anything else...

Ah, and Mr Piano Man...I'm glad for him it was a glorious day and we had awesome weather.

Left to Right: Chris in the yellow shirt and jacket, Hanro in the green shirt and Kurtis in the grey shirt. Behind Kurt in the red shirt is Karina and next to her is Kelly. The only one not South African is Kelly.

Karina with a bike she adored.

Kurt got hold of the camera and got a bit of a blurry photo of me.....nevertheless I was giggling again!

Promenade from far....

Promenade from a little closer....

I realize I'm going a bit back in time, but I decided to post some pics on the latest changes we made to the house. It's going terribly slow, considering we haven't touched the garden and it's probably going to cost a small fortune too.

We've been working on the few things we can change, so have a look if you'd like.

Our bedroom with blackout blinds. We added dress curtains today, so I'll publish those pics in the next few days.

Study with the vertical blinds...

Lounge bay-window with vertical blinds....

Slider in lounge with vertical blinds again...See the garden looks like a jungle.

Windows in lounge with roller blinds. The only reason why we had to go for roller blinds attached to the windows themselves was because all the windows in this house opens to the inside. Clever for on a miserable day when you need to was windows but don't want to go outside. But a nightmare if you need to buy blinds and curtains.

Bored?....NEVER!

The past three weeks marked the celebration of the centenary year for the well-known TT races. This tiny island was all hustle and bustle with absolutely loads to do. Considering we didn't do much, I still have over 500 photo's to show for it. That is excluding tonight when we're off to the promenade to see the laser shows etc. Those pics I will post at a later stage.

On Tuesday night we sailed around Douglas Harbor with the beautiful Tall Ships. It was a magnificent evening which was highlighted by the awesome Red Arrows (Probably because I got such lovely photo's. Especially when you watch it on a 21" monitor.) See for yourself..

This is the Artemis. There were two ships that sailed for 4 days around the harbor.

Artemis again....

The houses in the back is part of Onchan, where we stay.

This is the Atlantis we sailed on.

Red Arrows, up close and personal.





Mr. Kurt playing Tarzan. Wouldn't expect anything less of my dear hubby.

Me..having a good giggle!

Just some shots I managed to take today. I LOVE Image-Stabilizer Lenses.





Blow-up doll tied to the back of a bike...Quite a few of those around.

They say there are safety in numbers. In most parts of the world it means that people should stick together and never walk alone. I'm not entirely sure if that is applicable to the Island. I was on my way to take a pic of the blow-up doll and came across so many bikes with helmets and bags on it while the owner is having a pint or two a 100 meters away. Yeah, right....safety in numbers....

Well I'm off to take some more pics. I'm really looking for those weird and wonderful people that don't care what the world thinks and do what they like. They make SUCH good entertainment.

And it Rained!

As you know from my previous post, our furniture arrived TODAY!. The iorny is that we've had the most gorgeous weather on the Island for the last 4 weeks. So of all days, we were blessed with a day of continious rain! Just like when we left. RAIN!

But that didn't stop up. We moved in, but not unpacked YET! We're getting there and the house should be liveable in the next few days. I worked for 12 hours non-stop today, so I'm exhausted.

So? What did you do today?

See all the RAIN??

Kitchen with our African Ladies Paintings....I think they go nicely!

Firstly, sorry about the flash reflection in the window. I was tired and not in the mood to try and work out how to change it. While I was busy unpacking the boxes in the kitchen, I really started to doubt that we'll fit everything into this house. I even phoned Kurt to ask him if he is sure this house is bigger than our previous one. We're still unsure about that, but we have no doubt that we don't have enough cupboard space. The thing is, a house needs cupboards!!!!!!!

The painting was given to Kurt by a Friend of his: Terry! He is absolutely fantastic and wonderful when it comes to art and anything to do with colour! You can't miss this painting when you walk into the house!

Lounge from a different view!

Our Furniture Arrives TODAY!

Here are the pics of our house, before and after painting and new carpets!

This is the kitchen before I took down the blinds and painted it a cream colour. Light yellow (before) as a wall colour that doesn't seem to go well in this kitchen. The light in the kitchen is not good enough for it.

The cream tones it down nicely, while lightening up the room. The blinds also prevented a lot of nice light coming in. Note that both pics were taken on days when it was very misty. See the difference.

This the main bedroom before we changed the wall colour and the carpets. The doors still need to be painted.

This is the bedroom after we replaced the carpets and repainted. Whoa, what a difference

Main bathroom before. The white was pretty but it was too bright. The sun gets very bright here.

This photo didn't come out very well. It doesn't do justice to the bathroom. But I simply HAD to paint something blue.

This is the study before we painted and replaced the carpets. And NO, I didn't make a mistake when I uploaded the pics. This IS the right room. Look at the light fitting. It's the only room in the house with that light fitting.

Aaahhh...SO MUCH BETTER!!!!!

Lounge Before: I'm not fond of yellow in a house. It's a colour that only nature can use and make look good.

Lounge After: This is sooo good. Will look so nice with our chucnky wooden furniture.

Stairs: Sorry, but blue doesn't work for carpets....bathrooms? YES, but NOT for carpets.

See! It look soooooo much better!!!!

Well, I'm off. My furniture is arriving today!!!! WOHOO! I'm can't wait, or sit still! I hope your day is as exciting as ours!

Watch this Space

OK, I'm starting to feel like my old self again. The carpets went in today, AND it's looking gooooood! I finished painting the lounge, study and main bedroom. That leaves me with the kitchen and the en-suite bathroom. The other THREE rooms and TWO bathrooms will have to wait. Typical South African...we need space and I've got too much of it. There is no such thing as hired help...too expensive and I'm far too fussy (perfectionist is right word.)

Another reason for my overjoy and excitement is because our furniture is arriving on Monday, after it cleared customs. The biggy with customs was that we have a lot (and I mean a lot) of chunky wooden furniture. What was worrying is that some pieces had woodborer damage from before it was turned into furniture. We had it fumigated, just in case, but it cleared and it's on the Island as I'm writing this.

I've been meaning to post pics for so long, and I've left the camera in the car.....but here are a few that is on the laptop. Will chat soon (hopefully, seeing as cardboard city is arriving soon).

Me painting. This has all changed. We pulled the carpets and put a more neutral colour, earthy colour in. The wall colour has changed to Dulux - Natural Hessian, and we're putting vertical and roller blinds in. Hence all the curtain rails have also been removed.

A waterfall on the one of the walks we've done on the Island. This place is truly God's Land.

One of the pretty seagulls that is our equivalent of South African doves.

Now, if you will excuse me, my PJ's and Winnie-the-Pooh are waiting.

We're Here

We've finally made it to the island, with plenty stories to tell and very little time. It's easy to believe that there is not much to do on an island but our work has only started. Kurt is slowly getting into his new job, while I’m playing painter and decorator. This is taking forever as I’m doing 90% of the work and have unfortunately only two hands.

We weren’t going to paint the house on the inside and would’ve only replaced the carpets, but on further inspection we decided it’s better to repaint and fix a couple of things (ok, quite a few things.) So, as soon as I have a few minutes to spare and have some energy left, I will give more of an update on what’s happening over here and how the house is coming along.

Cheers!