Monte and I got married ten years ago!

Our wedding day: Feb 6 1999

Monte’s father wrote a beautiful poem for us, which left us both speechless!

The Foundation – by Gordon Goulding

The foundation is laid!
Ten years of loving care
Locked into place with steel
Meshed with memories and ties
Of firm and inextinguishable dreams
The future gleams like diamonds
Surrounded with burnished gold
Your home will nurture hearts
Bonds will grow into the earth
Vines will cover the surrounds
Gardens will bloom and bear fruit
Hallelujah!

The foundation is laid!

Written the day after our concrete was poured

[Thank you Gordon, for such a beautiful poem!]

It was 1999. I remember that we got married in the middle of a heatwave, except our wedding day was a balmy 26 degrees. It was a blustery day; the sun came and went, and then came and stayed after the wedding ceremony. Guests still mention our wedding as being one of those ‘perfect,’ ‘fairytale’ weddings. It was the last year of the 90s – the year the Euro was introduced. The year of the Y2K hype. It was a time when you could buy your first home for under $100k. It was a time when digital cameras were far from the norm. It was before every bride went strapless. We were too young to know that when guests tingled their spoons on their glasses meant that we had to kiss – it didn’t matter – we were kissing and laughing all day! We were so happy and in love. In fact, we still are! In fact, I would have to say that life and love is richer and deeper than it has ever been (awwww).

Our tenth wedding anniversary: Feb 6 2009

We celebrated our special day in a special way. We had a champagne breakfast with croissants and hot cross buns for the kids. Monte gave me a piece of jewelry, and one of the highlights from our special day was Georgia presenting me with a beautiful beaded necklace, saying, “It’s not finished but I made it for you.” This brought a tear to my eye! It seemed right to include our children in our weekend away – they are the greatest part of our marriage and our most important achievement!

Me, Monte and Georgia

Matthew and Georgia eat breakfast at the macracarpa kitchen bench

We stayed in the Peppermint Ridge Retreat at Woodbridge. Monte chose this place because it is strawbale. We got many ideas for our new home whilst staying there (between sipping champagne and eating olives!). You can see where we stayed: http://www.peppermintridge.com.au

One thing we liked about the retreat was the macracarpa slabs that feature throughout. We had some macracarpa trees pulled out in July last year, and the pile has been sitting by our driveway ever since. It was not until a few months after having the trees removed that we learned that it is a lovely timber. We’ve since had the millable timber put aside to include in our dwelling, predominantly for window sills, bathroom vanities and the kitchen bench. One of my favourite features of the retreat was the window sill in the bathroom (below). I love the depth of the window.

Below: closeup of the macracarpa used for the dining table

Another feature that we’ll possibly borrow from the retreat was the pottered bathroom sink, which was made by a local potter. Although I do not usually like the raised bathroom basin, I did like the basin in the retreat; it sits on a wooden bench/vanity and is a great feature because it’s so unique.

Our fireplace will probably be a stove and behind it will be a brick or stone wall. We liked the fireplace at the retreat because it had a stone wall behind it. This traps heat, so is wonderfully warm. The fireplace was raised on a stone platform. We liked that idea and we’re thinking about how we can incorporate that into our design as well.

So here we are, now in the second decade of our marriage. We’ve made and are making many plans for the future, the biggest being our family and our new home. So much thought and energy and labour is going into building our dream; we find that the dream keeps being built as well! I am working on getting plants ready for our new garden and I confess to actually buying geraniums today! It was (a small amount) of money to pay for some plants that will go on to be mother plants of many other brightly coloured specimens. My herbs are growing beautifully – it is a wonderful thing to be able to walk out the door to a fragrant garden, and then use that fragrance and flavour in cooking!

Parts of our design keep changing, such as the windows and doors. We’ve decided to change the south pergola to a veranda and we are thinking about the placement of our fireplace. With the horrifying, gut-wrenching tragedy of bushfire so present in everybody’s mind, we are also discussing our own bushfire management strategy as well as the plants and other things we can do to help to protect our home. Already there are several things in our design, but we are discussing sprinklers on our roof; pathways and paving around the home and the cladding of our water tanks, which will also be over-planted, given that plastic tanks apparently melt in fires.

Our prayers go out to the many people affected by the devastation of the bushfires.