Author: aapalmers@icloud.com

Saturday 20th August
What a difference a day makes, the stormy rain clouds have completely disappeared leaving bright blue skies above. The humidity too has cleared away but I suspect it will return somewhat as the sun rises in the sky.

After a hurried breakfast we start to help Troy and Heather, who are up way before us to prepare for the party this afternoon. The lawns are still wet from rains last night, chairs, tables and canopy frames all dripping with moisture. The lawn is covered in small twigs from the wind gusts of last night but it only takes a few minutes to clear them.

As the sun slowly rises in the sky the air temperature increases and the welcome warmth starts to dry out the ground and we can reinstate the canopies and wipe down the tables and chairs.

We festoon the strings of lighting that cover the patio with coloured spherical paper lanterns. Eric, Troy’s, ever jovial neighbour arrives with more outdoor furniture and umbrellas then stays to help us put everything together. 

We place tiki lanterns around the garden while Heather and Amanda are busy preparing fruit kebabs and platters, arranging the sunroom as a drink and dessert station. That will include cupcakes and cheesecake. Homemade sangria, a cocktail of red wine, fruit and Troy’s secret ingredients fills one of the drink dispensers, the other is filled with American style lemonade.

Outside the coolers are filled with beer and plenty of water cooled by bags of ice to keep the heat from a thirsty crowd.

By midday the house and garden look in full party mode, Troy has ordered an inflatable water slide that is 25 metres long, 4 metres wide and 6 metres high. This arrives and is inflated along side the house, there will be a lot of children here from around four years up to teenagers around seventeen, he is hoping this will keep them all amused for the duration of the day.

The theme of the day is Hawaiian, most guests arrive dressed in theme, but Heather has a variety of leis for guests who didn’t. The first guests to arrive are Heathers family, as she said they would, some we had met previously and some we are meeting for the first time, Aunts and uncles, a grand aunt of 92 is the oldest guest, Heathers sister Cindy, husband Phil and two of the cutest little boys with up to the minute shaved hair styles that leave some of their blond hair long on the tops of their heads. Both have eye problems and wear heavy framed corrective glasses, with red Hawaiian shirts, they look like they are attending a Buddy Holly look alike competition. Then there is Stan and Bonnie, Heathers parents.

The caterers arrive, unload their truck and set up at the rear of the yard, two canopies cover tables that hold Bain Marie’s loaded with various mixed salads, baked beans, BBQ ribs, pulled pork, marinated chicken and pulled beef brisket. Cold salads, bread rolls and corn bread are also on the menu, this is a genuine American BBQ. Not one sausage, chop or shrimp are turned in the process, no burnt offerings here. All the food is pre cooked, the ribs apparently for eleven hours. The caterer an ex military buddy of Stan’s spends his time travelling the US attending BBQ competitions winning a good deal of them Stan advises, this means we are guaranteed a good feed.

Guests continue to arrive at a rapid rate, we decamp with a drink to wait for the many greetings to settle. The sangria is surprisingly good, not usually my cup of tea but Troy’s cocktail is a success judging by the rate in which the level of the red liquid in the drink dispenser goes downwards. 
We start to meet some of the guests as they filter through, first Troy’s boss, Fernando and his wife Gabby. They are very interesting people, Latin Americans from Guatemala, love to travel, food and wine, we have plenty to talk about. Food service is called before we know it, the food is really good as promised. Most of the children once seeing the giant waterslide strip off their outer layers and want to immediately start climbing into the slide. Up the ladder they go that leads to a covered platform above, then crawling along to descend at a rapid rate down the steep slippery slope on the other side that is fed by water from above. Screams of delight can be heard as they descend caroming into the slides wall at the base. Then repeating over and over, the waterslide is a great success.

We find a shady spot to enjoy our lunch and to talk to the many invited guests that introduce themselves to us. Americans are always interested in Australians, since there is a definite sense of cultural similarity and camaraderie between our two nations and we are so far away. 

We meet a few couples that have connections with Australia and two that have even visited Adelaide. We discover that two of Troy and Heathers friends like Australian rules football but it is not very readily available to view here.

The party is a great success all round, pleasant warm day, kids all having fun on the waterslide til way after dark, great food and lots of interesting and lovely people to engage with. A few small bats circle in the fading light as the night gradually draws in bringing out a few stars. The guests gradually dwindle to just a few hardy partygoers, and we talk until late into the night, before finally even they begin to fade and we can take to our beds.

Friday 18th August
Overnight overcast skies move back in with misty rain swirling around during the night. This is the last day for all the trades to complete their tasks and have the house back together again ready for the big party tomorrow. There is not a great deal we can achieve until the appliances, fixtures and fittings are reinstated. 

The first to arrive are plumbers to install the new vanity in the now freshly painted downstairs bathroom and replace the toilet bowl. Immediately there are problems, the tiler hasn’t made the opening big enough for the toilet outlet. There is some cursing but eventually they find the right tools to enlarge the hole in the porcelain tiles. More workers arrive to replace the tiles in the basement ceiling, only a few are water damaged as a result of the flood, but matching replacements couldn’t be found leaving no alternative but to replace them all. 

As the day wears on the weather improves and the ground dries up a little, we can put up tables and chairs outside, a neighbour has loaned Troy some outdoor furniture, they have canopies to erect over tables and chairs to shade the guests from the hot sun. We can start to prepare the backyard to some degree at least. Meanwhile once the bathroom is completed and in working order, the team move into the kitchen only to discover the tiler has tiled in some unexpected areas altering the cabinet levels, some more cursing and the cabinets are painstakingly adjusted to fit adding another delay. Once this is completed another team start to replace the appliances. The washing machine and dryer, the oven, then the dishwasher. All goes smoothly until the dishwasher, there is no intake for the water, once again the tiler has tiled over the hole that took the water hose from the basement to the dishwasher, this time the hole has to be re-drilled through the tiles from below. By now the time has ticked onto 6.00pm the two remaining tradesmen sweating profusely in the thick humidity are stuffed.

During all this Eric, Troy & Heathers neighbour from across the street runs over to warn of impending wind gusts of 40-60mph, we proceed to fold down umbrellas and lay over lightweight chairs, then comes the possible tornado warning. I look at the sky, a mixture of dark and light grey clouds are swirling above us. So close you can almost touch them, lightening crackles on the edges of our horizon seemingly moving from one edge to another. Meanwhile the clouds above us swirl even more, like the hand of some malevolent god above the clouds is stirring a cauldron. Then the rain and wind comes almost together, we hurriedly drop the canopies and remove their covers, topple and fold chairs and move pot plants out of the wind. In an hour the brief storm has passed, undoing most of the preparation work we did during the day. Once the kitchen and laundry is complete we can put those rooms back together, before Troy goes out to collect pizza for dinner. All the kids by this time are back home, a full house for dinner tonight.

The house is in good shape, new tiles look great on the kitchen and laundry floor, fresh paintwork in those rooms and basement. New carpet throughout the basement, now looks great, the kids can once again enjoy the space and Justin at last has is bedroom back. Outside the sun has reappeared reflecting an eerie light somewhere from pink to orange across across the landscape, a full rainbow arches from north to south indicating that all is well with the world and a great day will be had tomorrow.

Thursday 17th August
Clear blue skies greet us this morning a gentle breeze blowing from the east cooling the air and dehumidifying it. The cicadas are in full swing, chirping away in a choral contest first in one part of the garden and then another. It’s going to be a warm day. 

Today carpenters and painters arrive early at the house to replace the water damaged skirting in the basement and paint the kitchen. Jay the tiler also arrives to complete the last of the tile grouting, only a small section not finished yesterday. We have decided to return to New Hope today, this time to explore more of this side of the river. 

I am downstairs having breakfast when Amanda brings me the sad news that her brother in law Dick as passed away early this morning. Dick was diagnosed with a brain tumour several months ago, after receiving emergency surgery, radiation and chemotherapy he has sadly succumbed to this terrible disease. Our day will be spent with heavy hearts as we grieve for the loss of Dick the family man who has spent so much of his retirement years caring for his mother Hazel (now passed) and his mother in law Shirley now 92 as well being a loving husband to Sue, Amanda’s sister and significantly influential father and grandfather figure to his family in North Vernon, Indiana and California.

After seeing Aubrey off to her best friends house where she is to spend the day swimming with her friends we drive through the green landscape dotted with corn fields to New Hope.

 Not a cloud in the sky but not quite as hot as yesterday we park the car and walk away from the hustle and bustle of tourist part of town in the opposite direction. The homes along the riverside are substantial some almost miniature castles complete with curved towers and faux turrets. 

We have learnt that the river floods regularly and did so again only recently leaving the town still in recovery mode. As a result reconstruction is going on up and down the river on both sides. We turn off the Main Street heading inland from the river towards a man made canal. First opened in 1832, the Delaware Canal still has most of its original locks, aqueducts, and overflows. Although the canal reached its peak shipping in 1855, after which coal transport down the river corridor was taken up increasingly by railroads, the canal stayed in operation until the Great Depression in the early 1930s and was longest-lived canal in the country. The canal stretches in total some 97 kilometres and was mainly used to transport coal from Pennsylvania coal mines to fuel the heavy industry of New Jersey. Incredibly the way they did this was to pull barges laden with 2 tonnes of coal along the canal by mule team. The mules would have their track alongside the canal, a feedbag on their muzzle, their driver walking alongside his team to keep them moving along at a slow but steady pace. People made their homes along the canal growing food that could be traded for coal along the way. We reach the canal and walk along what would have acted as the mules track all those years ago. As we walk along we can see the now tourist train and station that used to run along the canal eventually making it obsolete. Down on the canal the walking is easy, shady trees arch over us keeping the heat of the midday sun at bay. We walk for about two kilometres, admiring the view along the canal, a stretch of still water sometimes completely green with algae or duckweed. 

Private properties and gardens lining our path as we proceed passing under several bridges that take traffic down to the Main Street. At one point the canal is contained in a bridge itself as it crosses another canal or creek below us surrounded by private apartments. Eventually we reach the lock house and one of the locks now in disrepair, the door to the lock house is open and contains a small museum of artefacts, pictures and stories surrounding life around the canal at its peak, very interesting. We take a look at the lock itself imagining how it would have looked and operated in earlier times. 

We return to the street that runs through the centre of town, there are painted murals of life on the canal decorating building walls as we make our way down to street level. 

At this end of town sits some beautiful old stone buildings one the home of an ironmonger the oldest stone home in New Hope built in 1743. Another built by a third generation Quaker Benjamin Parry a mill owner that operated on the river, was built in 1787. 

We continue on looking for a restaurant for lunch today, one that we could see from the bridge as we crossed back to the Pennsylvania side yesterday, we could see a colourful row if umbrellas on a deck overlooking the river. We find place soon enough, the sign “The Landing River Terrace and Bar” directs us down a garden path, passed a bright red building with cream shutters to a little house where we are again directed around the house to a gate that opens up to a wide river and bridge vista. We are shown to our table by a shaven head young lady in a short flouncy skirt, the table is situated on the rail edge of the deck, amongst others full of diners, looking as if a reserved sign for us should be on it. Colourful umbrellas provide shade from the hot sun, the breeze off the river makes the air temperature pleasantly cooling. Lunch is a simple toasted sandwich of ham & brie with a loganberry sauce, again a melt with sweet potato fries, interestingly served with maple syrup as a dipping sauce. Ice tea and American lemonade (made from real lemons and devoid of carbonation) are our drinks of choice this lunch time.

Having stoked the fires for another few hours of energy we take our leave of the river view and “The Landing” to pick up the Mini from the carpark and head for home. Amanda has a hair appointment this afternoon and so this is our next destination. After dropping her off I drive back to Troy & Heathers where the trades are continuing with their schedule of repairs. Both Troy and Heather are chaffing at the bit to move onto putting the house back together in preparation for Saturday’s luau, the work though is proceeding at a snails pace and is causing frustration to set in. I suggest to Amanda by text that we could have a date night in Newtown, at a popular Italian restaurant we usually visit while here, Florentino’s. Troy makes us a booking and Heather drives me to my date, making us feel like a couple of teenagers out on the town. Amanda’s hair appointment has gone overtime and so she meets us at the restaurant, will I even recognise her? I ask myself. Of course I do, she us sitting patiently on a bench outside the restaurant, her hairdresser having driven her there a few minutes earlier, how is that for service! We do have a great meal together, forgetting that unusually they don’t have a wine cellar and are BYO only, we have to slip away to the local bottle shop first to by a coldie, and return paper bag in hand for our meal. 

My meal’s main course is Blue Marlin, served with delicious porcini mushroom potato mash tasting better than its pale brown colour would suggest. Plus a sweet vegetable ratatouille. Amanda decided on the spinach ravioli, she loves pasta dishes and partakes whenever she can. We did share a blueberry, pear and arugula salad with goats cheese to start off with as well. Florentino’s have some great desserts that the waitress brings out on a tray to tempt us with but we have Zebra Striped Whale in mind for dessert. The Zebra Striped Whale ice creamery is just a few doors down the street a perfect dessert for the ice cream lovers that we are. The night is warm, perfect for ice cream as we sit and call Heather to pick us up, jokingly calling her Moms Taxi. Heather is soon with us, glad of the break from the disrupted house, she whisks us home and we are soon in our beds for another night of battery recharge to ready us for a big day ahead tomorrow. 

Wednesday 16th August
The thick band of cloud that brought misty rain has passed overnight leaving a patchy blue sky and fluffy white clouds, you can feel the heat of the sun sucking out the moisture from the wet earth into the atmosphere.

Troy and Heather have left us the Mini Cooper today, so that we can run some errands and take a trip into New Hope about 35 minutes away.

Jay the tiler is the only tradesman on sight today, laying the last of the tiles and starting the grouting. The kitchen and laundry (a homes most used rooms) still no go zones for the day. The children are all up early, showered, breakfasted in the makeshift kitchen, with toaster on a chair and coffee pot on the wine fridge, paper plates and plastic cutlery. Then departed for their prearranged summer activities by the time we are up, definitely a morning rush hour in this house. Calsita and Justin both band members are all consumed with this activity, by day they rehearse by night they do rounds of the seemingly endless summer party’s put on by parents of the band member who have the facilities to cater for sometimes up to forty teenagers, brave souls indeed!
The heat has built up to the low 30’s by the time we take off for New Hope, I swing back into my left hand drive mode and Amanda navigates with the aid of her phones GPS. The Mini is a zippy little car, really not so small, spacious interior, bristling with tech. Personal settings for each driver like colour of interior lighting, music preferences, seat settings etc. I bypass them and we are on our way, through lush agricultural land, large almost manorial estates to New Hope. No freeways here just a pleasant country drive to this river town that sits on the Delaware. Once there we find a park and decide first to walk across the bridge that separates New Hope from its neighbouring state New Jersey. The rivers here are large and wide, I have seen a few now, these rivers fed from high mountain ranges also fed Americas growth and prosperity in earlier times. Halfway across the bridge we cross the border, a painted sign across the walkway tells us we are crossing from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. 

The town on the New Jersey side is Lambertville, rows of historic buildings dating back to the 1800’s are today filled with antique shops, cafes and restaurants. The first antique shop we enter is the People’s Store, three floors of the most amazing antiques and collectibles of all types. 

We rummage around looking for lighting and do find some interesting items but decide they are not quite right. We are also looking to add to Kylie’s Federation Moonglow tableware collection but none is evident here today. Moving on we browse through a few more shops, all large, all with a basement and second floor as well as the ground floor loaded with antiques, some more upmarket than others. In one store we spot an elaborately carved wood buffet dating back to the 1600’s for US$24,000.00 Ouch! Apparently this area is regularly featured on the American version of Antiques Roadshow and one of the presenters actually lives here. Moving on we find ourselves outside a smaller, but still three story Antique Shop this one in a small stone building, we see a mass of hanging light features dangling from the ceiling. The store is jam packed to the rafters with small furniture and brick a brac, lighting hangs from the rafters covering every space. We spot a beautiful hand made copper lantern that is perfect for our front porch pendant. The store keeper is helpful and directs us to a nearby pack and ship store, we visit the store after lunch but the shipping charges are astronomical, at least we have design concept direction to pursue.

We stroll back across the bridge again stopping to take a photo of the border line. We look over the bridge railing at the river below and spot a dozen or more turtles swimming for the island bank formed by the bridge support below, some turtles having made landfall are sunning themselves on the concrete beach. 

Once back on the Pennsylvania side we walk the street looking for a lunch spot overlooking the river and find one in Martine’s. The place is rustic, but has a deck overlooking the river back to New Jersey, perfect, we are shown to an umbrella shaded table for two on the edge of the deck, a gentle breeze blowing up from the river beneath us. We share a toasted sandwich of melted yellow cheese, layers of turkey, sliced apple and cranberry sauce. Just as well we have walked all morning. I ask if they serve cappuccino style coffee, the waitress reply’s if the machine works, I should have said don’t worry about it, what was served was a hot but milky weak coffee in an Irish whiskey glass with a micro thin layer of froth that dissipated within seconds.

Still the view is spectacular, the cumulus clouds in the sky the painted green iron bridge and their reflection makes a shimmering image on the water.

Lunch over we investigate the aforementioned shipping company, Australia might as well be in another planet though, then head back to the parking lot and home. When we arrive Jay the tiler is diligently finishing off the grouting, he has completed most of the floor leaving only a very small section to complete tomorrow. The kids will be happy. 

Calista and Justin arrive home from today’s engagements then Troy, Heather and Aubrey. They are all going out again tonight to end of summer party’s or to be with friends leaving the adults alone to fend for themselves. Troy wants to take us to a new place tonight “Almshouse” but it is packed when we arrive and there is a good fifty minute wait, this on a Wednesday night. There are no shortages of eating places here in Newtown and surrounds so we move on calling ahead to La Stalla, an Italian restaurant that again is very popular, but we manage to secure a garden table outside, on an evening like this is perfect.

La Stalla is an authentic style Italian restaurant in a building with a rustic feel, the waiters even speak with Italian accents. We have to wait for a short while for our table to be reset, in the meantime we sit at the bar, order a beer and watch the bartender flip bottles and shake cocktail mixers, skilfully and busily making cocktails for a group of men at the bar next to us. The New York Mets are playing baseball on the TV above the bar, the young strikers action being compared with his own younger self in replay from archival footage from when he played in a junior league, probably not many seasons ago.

We are soon called to our table, the night has cooled, the day was a hot one, the time as ticked on to 8.00pm suddenly I am hungry. The dishes on offer are a variety of pasta dishes with authentic looking names, anti pasta, suppa, chicken, fish and shellfish as well as meat dishes, Amanda and I again in cinq order the waiters special a veal chop prepared medium rare with a fig and feta topping on a bed of potato matchsticks, onion and tomato. We are not disappointed, a large dish that we both couldn’t finish but delicious. Troy has a chicken parma, an Italian schnitzel, while Heather has penne in a vodka sauce, sounds more Russian than Italian. Once again another day draws to a close. Tomorrow the house will be full of trades people putting in every effort to complete the forced remodel before Troys Friday deadline.

Tuesday 15th August
Overcast skies move in overnight bringing with them rain, a misty drizzle that looks set to stay for the day. The humidity must be around 100%. The temperature forecast around 32c

We had planned to drive to New Hope today but we will give that a miss and stay at home to watch over the house and the trades that are here. 

The tiler will start to lay tiles in earnest today and the new carpet will be laid in the basement. As we draw closer to the day of the wedding luau it’s going to be critical that the jobs are completed so that the finishing touches can be applied before we put the house back together, it’s going to be very tight. The kitchen and laundry are now off limits making the sun room (now our temporary kitchen) isolated and only available from outside. 

The carpet layers arrive first to remove the flood damaged carpet and underlay they sweat buckets in the basements closed environment. Thankfully the basement is a walk in one so that are able to leave the door open to remove the old and bring in the new. The tiler is next, Jay likes to talk about Australia, he is ready to quit the US and is interested in what we think his prospects would be. He is a builder, carpenter, tiler, he would easily gain work in Australia. His job today is a fiddly one, the spaces are small but there are lots of cuts to make around pipe work and door trims etc. in the meantime we spend our day, Amanda reading and me writing, as well as dealing with T-Mobile, they are as bad as Telstra, maybe even worse. I have a simple question, I don’t want ring them, call centres can’t understand my Aussie accent in Australia, what’s going to happen if the agent on the phone is expecting a US voice. I decide to do a voice chat, you can ask a simple question and hopefully receive a quick answer in reply. We know that we can use our US SIM cards overseas but we may need to register a social security number which of course we don’t have, we could use Troy’s but if they do a check that isn’t going match our phone account details. My question is “I am travelling to Europe going through several countries then on to Singapore before returning home can I use my US phone account” careful of course not to say where home is. The answer is simple yes or no, but they can’t check my plan from my phone number, weird. They transfer me to a person who can help, I’ve used chat lines a few times it cuts through the accents and phone line faults but to be put on hold is a new experience. Every two minutes I am advised of a new wait time, I watch it go down from 17 seconds to 0 seconds then up to 9 seconds then down again, and up again for 30 minutes I patiently wait. Melanie by first contact Has dumped me “Sorry we can’t assist you at this time please call back” My ears start to emit steam, my blood boiling I hit the chat button again. This time I am greeted by Lacey “How can I help you today” I type my frustration at being dumped ” Can you help me”, I ask. Yes is the response tell me what plan you are on, you would think that they would have this information right! I have no idea so ask her to wait a few moments while I log into my account to find the details. By the time I have the details Lacey too, has dumped me, twice in one day it’s too much. Now barely containing my anger I stab at the chat button again, this time Jairo responds with the standard “How can I help you today” I respond asking this person to look at my previous chats and come back to me, he does so with apologies and confirms my original question, I tell him our plan details, the answer is yes we can. Overly suspicious of the simple answer I confirm with him again and again he responds just turn on roaming and your good to go in all of those countries you visit. Too easy has to be a catch somewhere, problem is we are not going to find out until we use the number in Europe. Stay posted.

An hour or so has gone by at this time, the carpet layers covered in sweat climb out of their subterranean workplace to announce the job is done, come see! And so it is, newly laid carpet from wall to wall looks great. The tiler continues on until later completing most of the kitchen, bar a small space where the fridge is, that he will lay tomorrow. All looks good, on track, but still plenty to do.

Troy is bringing home Korean takeaway should be interesting a new experience for us. Everyone once again gathers in the sunroom for our take out meal, we have scrounged up paper plates and plastic cutlery only the wine glasses are real. As the night draws to a close the misty rain is still falling the temperature dropping to around 23c. The forecast tomorrow is for sunny weather but the humidity will still be heavy and high.

Sunday 13th August
The skies clear once again leaving blue skies and scudding white clouds. A day of catching up on domestics, running errands, the kids coming and going. Abbey and Cadence are still away and will be back tomorrow evening for Troy’s birthday dinner. It will be the last day to catch up with laundry before the tiler arrives tomorrow to begin the probably three day process of laying the tiles in the laundry, downstairs bathroom and kitchen. The floors now stripped to their substrate are riddled with protruding nail heads and splintery wood, a shoes on only zone. Amanda and Heather go shopping to Michaels a craft store to buy yarn, Amanda is going to teach the girls how to crochet as they have all shown an interest. Meanwhile Troy and I re-string his party lights that are hanging too low now, since he renovated the patio prior to our arrival. Then off to Home Depot for some sand, so that Troy can revisit an area of the patio brickwork that has dropped a little. On our return Calista is receiving a crochet lesson from Grandma Amanda. A vanity needs to be purchased for the downstairs bathroom so its off to Lowe’s to pick out one. We think Bunnings at home is big, but Lowe’s is ginormous, here they sell not only hardware but large electrical appliances as well, washing machines dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers, ovens as well as complete kitchens in kit form. We look at the huge lighting and fan section for more ideas while Troy and Heather organise their vanity.

At the end of the day Heather is out rounding up the kids from their various pursuits while meanwhile Troy has spare ribs slowly roasting on the grill. We make a salad, sit back with a glass of wine and await her return. As usual in this household the day is a busy one, quite dizzying if you stop to think about. Heather calls in as she makes her way home, Aubrey is upset, didn’t want to leave the pool party at her Dad’s, Justin has eaten too much at his grand moms and his feeling sick, her worst fear is that he will puke in the new Mini Cooper. Finally she arrives home with no mishaps, Calista greets her with a glass of her favourite wine. The ribs now cooked to perfection are served with the salad and more wine. After dinner we sit outside for awhile as the sun goes down and nightfalls, relentlessly the lights of air traffic leaving Philadelphia airport travel north across our airspace delivering their payloads of passengers into darkness, the end of another day.
Monday 14th August
Troy’s birthday today, another anniversary to celebrate while we are here. The weather has continued to be clear and warm, I have, I think, set a new record for consecutive days in shorts and thongs (flip flops).

Troy has left for work and the kids have scattered to their individual pursuits, Justin and Calista band practice, Aubrey her craft camp. The tiler is the loan tradesman here today, a little late on arrival and a little unprepared. His company have not given him any information on his job and have not cleared his work space so that he can just apply his craft with out a great deal of preparation. He certainly has a WTF look on his face but is very polite chatting awhile about his desire to buy a one way ticket to Australia, once he knows that’s where we are from. We are definitely picking up a vibe on this trip, several Americans have expressed their dissatisfaction with American life at the moment, they see Australia as maybe still a land of hope and glory, probably more on the hope side. This is the first time in all our years travelling here that this sentiment has come through, times they are a changing. 

After much consideration and discussion between Heather and Jay the tiler about how to progress, and the fine details of the required finish to the many door thresholds, we take our leave. Heather is driving us to a Princeton mall close to Troys office, where we can take a look at some lighting offed by “Pottery Barn” an American chain of home decor and homeware accessories. From there we will rendezvous at Troy’s office, where we will meet his boss and take a look at his workplace before going to lunch at Bahama Breeze a Caribbean influenced eating place.

Pottery Barn has an Australian website and delivers in Australia, this is good because Americans don’t like shipping overseas, they will ship to you or your freight forwarder but don’t want to handle the shipping themselves. A missed opportunity me thinks as there seem to be many foreign visitors around who like us don’t see the range of products at home as there are here. Anyway it’s a journey of discovery and we are able to make some clear decisions about at least one purchase for the new house in Aus.

We move on for our lunch with Troy, his office is just a few minutes away by car. His employer Solvay has their corporate headquarters here in Princeton, set in a business park with other corporate offices that surround a large treed and lawned park like space with a gazebo, benches and walking paths. The building reflects a quiet studiousness that befits a business with scientific origins. Troy’s office is on the third floor, we are signed in and take the elevator with him for the guided tour. Alighting from the elevator on one of the foyer walls is a huge black and white photo of the attendees of a Solvay foundation physics conference in 1911, most interestingly, in the picture is a young physicist named Albert Einstein. Solvay a Belgium based company was original formed in 1861 by Ernest Solvay the discoverer of a profitable way to produce soda ash. 

Troy shows us his office, “paperless” and extremely tidy, unlike his bedroom as a boy, also unlike his bedroom he can write on the walls in this space, one wall is painted white with a coating that allows it to be used as a whiteboard, very innovative. Family pictures sit behind his desk, including newly framed ones of his and Heathers wedding only weeks ago. 

Finally before heading off to lunch we meet Troy’s boss, Fernando Lopez, a Guatemalan that joined the company only two years ago. It appears Fernando is looking forward to Troy and Heathers luau on this coming Saturday, purely it seems with the intent of drinking lots of tequila. Lunch is back at the mall we visited earlier, Bahama Breeze is a colourful eating place decorated in a Caribbean style. There are plenty of cocktails on offer but we stay away from anything alcoholic to stick with iced tea and lemonade (American style). The food on offer is extensive and not necessarily Caribbean, each item has its calorie count next to it so you can manage your intake if you so desire. Troy goes for a seafood paella that is enormous, Amanda a chicken Cobb salad also large enough to feed a small army. Heather the two fish tacos (a very popular dish here offered by most restaurants we encounter) served with yellow rice and black beans. While I choose sesame encrusted Ahi tuna, seared only, to perfection and served with a salad.
After a pleasant lunch Troy is off back to work, hoping for an early escape this evening for his birthday dinner at Isaac Newtons pub. Heather, Amanda & I though continue browsing the shops at this mall before driving to another nearby mall that has a Macy’s department store. A little more shopping at Macy’s and it’s time to pickup Aubrey from her craft camp before heading home. 
The sky has clouded over ribbons of pink reflected light intertwine with grey along the line of the horizon as the sky begins to darken.
Tonight all the family are together again, Abbey & Cadence return from their mothers, Justin and Calista return from their camp. Heathers father is joining us for dinner and so he arrives and we all head off in convoy to our table of ten at Isaac Newtons. Isaacs is a kid and adult favourite, catering for all ages, everyone is well fed but has left room for ice cream at everyone’s favourite ice cream parlour the Zebra Stripped Whale. Stan takes his leave with Calista and Justin who have a band party to go to and the rest of us walk to the The Zebra Stripped Whale in Newtown’s Main Street. Through a back alley that opens up into State street we walk and once there we enter and line up to order our favourites, for me it’s cappuccino crunch, delivering a rich coffee flavour with crunchy pieces of dark chocolate coated toffee, in a single sugar cone, delicious! Amanda as usual sticks with her favourite rich dark chocolate. The kids more adventurous conjure up all sorts concoctions of flavours and toppings. Out in the warm night air, you have to lick faster as the ice cream melts rapidly. We walk back to the cars and make our way home where Troy is presented with birthday presents from the children. A happy end to Troy’s day, great to see he has made it to 46 intact and with a loving family around him. Another late night and we head to bed. Tomorrow will be chaotic, with two trades in residence the tiler and carpet layers, fun times!

Saturday 12th August
Heavy cloud this morning with some rain overnight, it has cleared up enough for us to continue with our plans today to visit with Troy and Heather “Grounds for Sculpture”. In 1984, J. Seward Johnson, sculptor and philanthropist, famous for his larger than life sized sculpture of a sailor and nurse kissing at the close of World War Two. Known as the “Embracing Peace” monument, today it is situated on San Diego Harbours shores. Seward Johnson envisioned a public sculpture garden and art museum in Hamilton, New Jersey. His desire was to make contemporary sculpture accessible to people from all walks of life so that they could become comfortable with that form of art.

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Construction on the sculpture park began in 1989 on the site of the former New Jersey State Fairgrounds; Grounds For Sculpture opened to the general public in 1992. The park is now exhibiting over 270 works, including sculptures by many renowned artists. The park covering 42 acres is a not for profit venture originally funded from government tax free bonds and is now supported by art patrons, visitors and private donations to maintain the beautifully manicured gardens and sculptures.
The morning is still muggy, when we leave, but the overcast cloud cover is high confirming the low chance of rain forecast for today. The journey takes us across the Delaware river and into New Jersey through Trenton a once busy industrial centre, now decimated by unemployment and social issues. It has a largely African American and Puerto Rican population with some Italian, Irish and Polish as well as other minorities. We reach nearby Hamilton and our destination in about 35minutes. Heather knows the area well having grownup nearby, she is still amazed that such a cultured venue was so close and she never new it.

The surrounding businesses all reflect an industrial nature but as we turn into the approach to the grounds the greenery intensifies, up ahead we can see a group of people waving and holding banners of welcome to the park. As we grow closer we realise that they aren’t actually moving and that they are indeed life size sculptures of everyday human beings acting out a warm welcome.
We find a park and enter the museum through the main doors, there are a few exhibits inside but much more outside. Inside there is historical information about Seward Johnson and his wife Joyce Horton a novelist. Also a life size sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in that famous pose where her dress is blown upwards while she stands over a subway ventilation grate. Also a jazz band scene where the musicians are in full swing in a nightclub, visitors can interact with the figures, seating at the piano or just sitting at one of the tables. The most striking piece though is a life size diorama in a silvery grey, that depicts a man seating on a bench in New York City, surrounded by thousands of ashen fallen papers that had just settled after the twin towers had exploded from the impact of the terrorist attack on September 11th 2001. His briefcase open, the papers appear to be emanating from the case, every detail in the scene is made to appear as if covered by a silvery grey dust.

Venturing outside the journey of imagination begins, with a live peacock strutting around a group of granite blocks formed in a circle with large timber planks resting on more smaller granite blocks that act as benches. This overlooked by a huge reclining nude woman on a chaise lounge with a black cat, back arched in a classic cat stretch.

 Then an enormous, one has to say phallic, four sided column stretches into the sky, bronze figures of knights from a fantasy world adorn each side of the column, the crowning top of which is the helmeted four sided head of King Lear.

 From here pathways lead out in every direction, each one to a new sculpture, hidden from view until you happen upon its space, some of enormous proportions, some small. The gardens create rooms in which the sculptures are encapsulated, you move from room to room via new pathways with a new surprise awaiting around every corner. As we round a curved path a man made Lake filled with sacred lotus stretches ahead of us, a mythical lake creature’s head poking above the sea of vivid green lotus leaves, pink tipped white flowers, buds and green seed pods.

 Nearby set in green lawns, humanoid shapes of stacked metal stand or sit on rocks, inviting you to have your picture taken with them. Next a huge polished laminated timber ovoid shape sits upon a polished stainless steel base, looking like a futuristic space ship, in fact named Spatz spaceship. 

Down another pathway a twisted stainless steel archway, named Sagg Portal with a seemingly knotted top invites you through to another unseen surprise. 

Then a stand of bamboo beckons you inside to a dark clearing within, where a multi coloured diorama, again of a reclining nude, sits among a garden of Eden scene with lions poking their heads through the multicoloured flora. 

Exiting along another path a young Asian lady sits feet up on a garden bench reading a book, her flip flops on the ground below her. 

Around another corner a geometric tripodal stainless steel sculpture sits in a reflective pond looking again like a spacecraft that might take off at any moment. 

Figures embrace in a quiet space, a Victorian couple sit talking overlooking a huge lake that connects to the Delaware river, while a painter paints the scene from above. 

A couple of more modern figures at the lakes shore, the woman holding binoculars to her eyes while the male points across the lake at something he has spotted. 

A group of Victorian Spanish looking ladies cavort in another clearing within a thicket of trees of which the bark itself has sculptural elements. 

We take a path winding round the lake, here there are table settings overlooking the water, we come across a lagoon with a moored boat and figures on the shore and in the water. 

Then from there inward from the lake I emerge from one pathway to stumble on an unexpected scene, a naked woman is sitting on a rug in a clearing with a male sitting opposite, the woman is looking at me, embarrassed I turn away for a split second thinking I have stumbled on a private moment, before turning back around as my mind catches up with my eyes and the figures become the motionless 3D painting that they represent. 

Further around the lake the famous Renoir painting “Luncheon of the Boating Party” is faithfully recreated in amazing 3D, you can immerse yourself literally into the painting, moving about the characters at will. We have wandered around this incredible place for several hours, now taking in the art and the wonderful park/garden setting, time for lunch is growing near.

Lunch is at Rats restaurant named after “Ratty” of the children’s novel Wind in the Willows fame, we locate the direction that we need to go in and make our way towards the venue. As we approach there are more boating scenes and then the vista that opens up to us is breathtaking, a small waterfall shores up a lake that is filled with peach coloured water lilies, the water cascading down from the lake under our feet to the larger lake below. A giant sculpture of a woman’s head in silver sits in the water, mist generated from the base of the head drifts across the lake and water lilies, giant Koi fish frolic in the waters. Overlooking the lake is the restaurant, a pink sandstone rendered building with gable roofs and pergolas covering the patio as well as marquee’s under which elegant tables are set for lunch. The area is a reproduction of the painter Monet’s garden and as we move around the lake an upward arching green bridge crosses the lake reflecting a rippled image on the almost still waters. Tall bushes with sprays of tiny pinkish flowers frame the bridge that has a backdrop of greenery from the trees on the far bank, stunningly beautiful!

Once at the restaurant we are shown to our table, front row to the stunning view across the lily layered water to the bridge. Only the giant colourful Koi disturb the still waters with their tails as we sit and gaze at a view that is hard to take your eyes off of. 

Lunch at Rats consists of a seafood salad for me and a hamburger for her, fairly regular menu fare here in the US. Nicely presented and cooked, Amanda’s served with a food item that has become a favourite since arriving in the US from Hawaii to San Diego and now New Jersey, smoked applewood bacon. Usually seen at breakfast but now with her lunch, I commandeer a piece for research purposes just to see if it is the same as the breakfast version, it is.

Just behind where Heather is sitting a little boy stands motionless watering a pot plant, he keeps catching my eye, so real, disconcerting.

While we eat a wedding party are having photos taken on Monet’s bridge, a small platoon of photographers are capturing every angle. The bride certainly looks fabulous perched on the bridge like a princess awaiting her prince.

After lunch we we wander back out into the park leaving this unforgettable space to view a few more exhibits, there are just too many to list here, some playful, some intimate, some serious and deep but all beautifully presented, then reluctantly it’s time to head home. 

Once at home we skip dinner and settle in with a glass of wine to watch the weekends football game between Adelaide and Essendon, the result a win for the Crows, although Essendon played well they were no match for an Adelaide team in form and playing their best aggressive football style.

Weary after a great day we make for our beds and a new day tomorrow.

Friday 11th August 
Something to like about the weather here at this time of the year, it’s damn consistent. At home it rains, it shines, it blows, it howls, it scorches sometimes all in one day, but not here, warm it is and warm its going to stay. Until that lazy change makes its way from west to east at a leisurely pace giving you plenty of warning, if you are unprepared then so be it, you knew it was coming. 

And so this morning is a continuation of yesterday, warm but not hot, thin Cirrus clouds drift high above on their journey eastwards.

Once again the trades arrive to continue with their task, the kitchen and laundry now complete no go zones. The basement also affected is now having the final coats of paint applied before the new carpet can be laid and Justin can again move back into his room. Heather is taking the day off today, Troy only working this morning, we will take the kids to lunch at Isaac Newton’s bar and restaurant. In the meantime all we can do is relax outside in the warm air under the Pin Oak. It is Amanda’s 67th birthday today and so a special day for her. We all gather for lunch and make our way to Isaac Newtons pub, strange name for a pub, apparently the famous English mathematician that came upon his theory of gravitation after an apple hit him on the head spent a god deal of time in pubs. A little known fact is that Isaac in his later years was a warden of the English royal mint, during a time when old coins where brought in and new coins issued. As result it was estimated that 20 percent of the coins brought in where counterfeit, this of course was against the law, punishable by hanging. Isaac disguised himself, touring the pubs of London to uncover evidence of counterfeiting and so help bring the criminals to justice.

We enter the pub from the carpark at the rear the atmosphere is dark and obviously pub like but opens into some light filled eating areas, we are shown upstairs to a large eating space after Troy tries for an outside table, but apparently only tables of five or less outside, and we are seven. The food is understandably pub food, designed to go with the many beers that they have on tap. The crew order up, Fish Taco’s, Korean Taco’s (this one amusing, a cross between Korean and Mexican?), Korean Burghers, meat loaf and for Amanda and I a Yuppie turkey sandwich, consisting of toasted wheat bread, Turkey slices, Brie and apple wedges, to share. Every day a new experience be it culture or food here on the east coast of the USA.

Well fed we return home, Heathers parents are at the house when we arrive Stan shifting the rest of the mulch he didn’t move the previous day and Bonnie waiting for us to arrive home. We sit and chat with Bonnie for awhile in the warm sunshine. While Stan works away outside and the tradies continue inside ripping up the layers of kitchen flooring. Time comes for Stan to load the Kubota to take it home, but there is a problem, a large split in the rear tyre has materialised, making it impossible to drive the machine onto the trailer. Stan pumps up the rear tyre with a compressor and hastily drives it up the ramp and onto the flat bed before the tyre is again flat and sits lopsided on the trailers bed for the ride home. 

This little bit of excitement over, Justin leaves with his grandparents to spend the weekend with them on their farm property about 45 minutes away in the New Jersey countryside. As does Aubrey who is off to spend the weekend with her father and has hitched a ride with the grandparents as well. That leaves Calista who is off to spend some time with her girlfriends. They all say their goodbyes and I take some birthday pictures of them with Amanda before they leave.

This leaves the adults free to have a relaxing afternoon in New Hope and then dinner at Marsha Brown’s a creole influenced restaurant in a converted church situated in New Hope’s main street. New Hope is a quant tourist town on the border of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the border being the Delaware river. At one time York Road travelled through the town then known as Coryell’s Ferry and was the halfway mark between Philadelphia and New York. In 1790 though several mills in the area where destroyed by fire, the newly constructed replacement mills where seen as a new hope for the town, and so the town was renamed “New Hope”. Now the street is filled with arts, craft and antique shops as well as bars and restaurants, in a way similar to our own Hahndorf at home.

We take an uber cab to New Hope, spend a little time in the shops before settling at a bar for some pre dinner cocktails. The sky is threatening, the cloud cover has thickened during the day, the now grey skies threatening to open up, fortunately the rain stays in the sky allowing us to enjoy our drinks before our dinner reservation next door at Marsha Browns. After ordering our cocktails we seat ourselves around a large outdoor low concrete table with a fire pit of volcanic rock as it’s centre piece, an indication of the potential cool autumn nights to come. 

The time arrives for our dinner reservation, just a short walk next door from the bar we are sitting at.

On arrival we are shown to our table up stairs on the churches second floor, as I mentioned the restaurant building is a converted church but apart from the obvious high pitched ceilings and the rows of large windows that run along either side length of the open space that would have been the nave, there is not a real church atmosphere. The stain glass windows are magnificent but not at all religious in nature. A huge mural, depicting two lions being speared by Saracens dominates a wall that would have originally held an alter below. A small painted angel with a fire helmet on, sits above a fire extinguisher but I don’t spot any other episcopal adornments. 

From the moment we arrive Amanda is greeted with happy birthday wishes from all of the staff we encounter, the word has spread. A stiff maitre de appears an takes a group picture then hurries away to print it off for us. Dan our humorous waiter, advises specials and that he is happy to eat any leftovers, as one of ten children he was used to eating the scraps. After lunch today we are not feeling overly hungry, a light appetiser of a beet salad looks good, sliced beets on a bed of spinach in a light balsamic dressing. Amanda and I share this, then each if us follow up with the French Quarter surf and turf that consists of crawfish risotto, crab cakes, BBQ shrimp and two small eye filets of beef (Tournedos). There are some new untried flavours here particularly in the risotto and crab cakes that make this an interesting and delightful meal. I pair the meal with a glass of Napa Valley Merlot and Amanda sticks with a Chardonnay also from the Napa.

I finish with a creme brûlée that is not one of the best I have had, the caramelised topping is soft and the filling stodgy but only the texture is affected not the taste. Heather has the same and agrees. Amanda has a slice of birthday cake with ice cream delivered to her, on the house a nice touch. The maitre de arrives with a printed copy of the picture hof the four of us he took earlier again gratis, great service.

After dinner we Uber cab back to Holland and our beds, the rain has stayed away but the humidity is building with a definite chance of rain tomorrow.

Wednesday 9th August
Not a cloud in the sky this morning just pure blue, a summers breeze has blown away the humidity leaving us feeling blessed to be alive and in the northern hemisphere. The tradesmen have descended on the peaceful tranquility of this little patch of earth to continue their reconstruction work in Troy & Heathers house. Mainly patching and painting so far but at some point the kitchen and laundry will be out of bounds, probably for more than a few days as the old floors are peeled off in layers one by one revealing the homes history like an archeological dig. Then they will lay a new substrate and finish with shiny new porcelain tiles, all in time for the post wedding luau party on the 19th of the month. We camp out on the patio under a pin oak tree that stretches above us giving glorious shade until at least 4.00pm in the afternoon. We have yet to see a squirrel, usually they are many scurrying about, doing what squirrels do, gathering nuts and storing them for winter one presumes. Currently they must be content in their homes, feet up chewing on an acorn, watching the world go buy below them. While we, feet up relax in the warm air eyes glued to our devices. The teenagers Justin and Calista come and go during the day, Calista in particular enjoying the last of her summer holidays with friends from her band group. At one point she introduces us to two boys, Ben her current boy friend and Greg the designated driver. At just nearly sixteen, Calista is a popular outgoing girl and growing up fast, it’s all very cute and reminds one of their own teenage years. The day slips buy, the tradesmen coming and going, the kids coming and going, eventually the tradesmen pack their tools and depart for another day, the parents out working return to a dinner of fish tacos that we have partially prepared only awaiting the grill master Troy to cook the fish.

We spend the evening reviewing Troy and Heathers wedding photos from family and guests plus some of the professional shots that have come through so far, as week as the many more pics of guests and events that they personally captured from their time in Hawaii.
Thursday 10th August
Carbon copy of yesterday today the clear blue skies and warm air of yesterday keeping on today, helping our endless summer of 2017 continue to be a reality.

The work crew once again arrive and set to sanding walls and painting the basement. Our breakfast is interrupted when they advise us they would like to start the demolition of the kitchen floor today. Unprepared for this we finish our repast and hop to moving as much out of the kitchen as we can. Aubrey the youngest of the five children is at home today, she just wants to stay home and sleep in, I don’t blame her, from early school days, then Hawaii, where their days lasted from dawn to dusk and beyond and now early mornings at summer camp her face says it all give me a break! Amanda brings her breakfast of waffles and syrup in bed since the kitchen will soon shut down. We are unaware that Justin too is home sleeping peacefully in the bowels of the house somewhere, instead of his usual early departure to band camp. Calista it seems with her relentless energy is the only one up and out determined to make the most of her free summer days. Once done we can move outside and enjoy another day under the Pin Oak. We have decided to just chill out and relax for a few days putting our feet up and pursuing our individual hobbies, Amanda continues to read, up to seven novels so far this trip, she is loving the time to relax, that never seems to quite happen at home. I put together a slideshow of our Hawaiian experiences to show Troy and Heather that includes a number of wedding photos that I took on the day and Amanda captured at the meet and greet. The day wears on, the tranquility only disturbed by occasional loud burst of cicadas synchronised choral song. A flash of red appears in the sea of green as a Cardinal alights on a nearby branch while high in the sky hawks circle looking earthwards for a tasty meal of field mouse. Of course it is growing season here, the inevitable hum of a lawn mower somewhere becoming more prevalent as the sun starts to descend. Heathers parents pay us a visit, Stan and Bonnie drop in to, ostensibly pickup their small Kubota earth mover. One of Stan’s “Toys” Heather quips, fitted with a small front end loader and a rear end hydraulic digger it’s a perfect tool for the small land owner and has recently come in handy for Troy to distribute mulch around their newly refreshed garden beds. Stan, the more than willing operator loads excess mulch into his truck for their home that is currently on the market. Bonnie chats with us as Stan is working diligently to complete the task and return home by nightfall. The loam by the time it is loaded takes up too much space on the truck and the Kubota stays where it is to be put to work again another day. 

A quick and easy pizza take out dinner for the adults and the only child left in the house tonight Aubrey. Justin and Calista are at the movies where films of marching band performance for a competition are being shown, a subject they both have a great deal of interest in.

After dinner we take our drinks outside, daylight remains until late, but as dusk falls the undersides of the wispy clouds above turn pink, deer graze in the backyard and fireflies start to blink on and off as they fly nearby. 

The lights strung with Edison globes above the patio from the house to the nearby trees come on automatically at a preset time giving light from their glowing filaments to the fading daylight. As darkness descends we return inside to watch the slideshow I prepared earlier, Heather has a late pickup from the movies around 11.00pm. But for us another day comes to an end and we slip upstairs to our bed.

Tuesday 8th August
The grey skies haven’t dissipated overnight, but their precipitation has stopped leaving moisture laden air. The air temperature is still warm enough to dress in my usual t shirt and shorts again. The house empties out quickly in the morning Calista and Justin going off to band practice and Aubrey to a craft class. It’s their summer holidays, and it seems they have a myriad of activities they can choose to pursue during the break, each gravitating to their favourites. Heather is off to her duties as an administrative nurse in a small Jewish community care facility that specialises in hospice services. Troy has elected to work from home today, allowing him some time to spend with us on our first day here. We will mainly be settling in and catching up on domestics, a trip to the local shopping centre only a few minutes away should provide all the essentials we need plus the ingredients for tonight’s BBQ/grill dinner. As the day wears on the sun starts to poke through, the clouds clearing little patches of blue, a sign that the rain bearing system above is moving on and out into the Atlantic Ocean. Workmen arrive at the house to continue on with the repairs needed after Troy and Heather’s mishap with a hose under a vanity sink in the laundry burst that has left them with a substantial amount of water damage. Still they plan to have the work completed before their Hawaiian post wedding party at the house on the 19th August. Troy and Heathers house is set in a quiet middle class suburb that probably dates back to the 70’s. Typically the houses are two story, of weatherboard construction and in various light colour shades with brick feature chimneys that reach into the sky above. Roofs are pitched and tiled with asphalt shingles to shed snow in winter and keep the rain out at other times. Troy and Heather’s home is individualised by stone pillars that frame a bay window, the entrance and the double garage. Burgundy coloured front door and window shutters complete the facade. For now American and Australian flags fly at the entrance a welcoming nod to our presence. Theirs and surrounding gardens are open, with very little fencing unless an owner has a dog, this allows green lawns to stretch from one property to another in an endless corridor of verdant grass. Large deciduous trees and pines like spruce and fir dominate, giving the whole area a park like feel. Adding to this deer regularly wander through in groups stopping to graze as if they have not a care in the world. Troy has recently upgraded their back patio area giving them a little more level space, where now their coffee table sits with its volcanic rock gas fired centre piece surrounded by alternating turquoise and red cape cod garden chairs. Shaded by large pin oak that will make it the perfect relaxing spot on a summers day. 

A neighbours sparkling blue pool sits only metres away surrounded by a see through pool safety fence, patiently waiting for the clouds to clear and the sounds of laughter to return to its waters. As the afternoon closes the houses weary inhabitants return home after a long day at their individual pursuits. Troy and Heather gather us all together for that BBQ/grill dinner of chicken, sausages, hamburgers and salad and for the adults that end of day glass of wine.