I may've been a little hasty.

In a small village in Guatemala, weeping mourners around an open coffin comfort one another in shared grief.  So immersed, are the bereaved, in the intensity of their feeling that they don't notice the deceased sit up and ask what's going on.

That is exactly, PRECISELY, what's happened here, at the House at Porter Street.  Except we're in the kitchen and the coffin is a Tupperware bowl.


You see, Biggest Fish LIVES.  


I THOUGHT he'd left.  He was undeniably still and lifeless, sideways on the bottom of the bowl with body and eyes and mouth covered in white stringy stuff like cobwebs.  It was all over, red rover.  


Of course burial couldn't proceed until Milo came home from kindergarten, so I put the death chamber atop the bookcase (so Poppy and Bongo wouldn't eat the corpse while I was out of the house) and went to pick him up.


Life and death discussions on the way home over a soothing Chup-a-chup and we were ready to start digging.


But then HUH?  Was that his fin moving, or just the water?  Followed swiftly by a cavalcade of exclamations because undeniably Biggest Fish was drawing breath.


It's now four days later.  Biggest Fish has shed all the cobwebs and seems to've expelled a whole lot of undigested food.  His eyes are clear and he's sitting on the bottom of the bowl.


Impossible not to wonder what's going to happen with him now...

In memory of Biggest Fish #2

In Memory

of

Biggest Fish #2

Beloved companion of Mister X.

Cherished goldfish of Milo.

BF2 came to us to fill a void.

His passing today creates another.

BF2, already you are missed.

RIP

Before and After: Mum's Pine Box

Mum has defeated the seemingly unconquerable obstacle of this wretched cold and has applied the finishing touches to her pine box.   

Hurrah.

Well, pictures aren't up yet, but everything else is in place.  So prepare yourself to witness an extreme makeover of epic proportions.  

To refresh your memory - BEFORE.

So what you're seeing is a whole lot of vertical blinds covering oddly angular windows, and enough pine cladding to rival a Swedish sauna showroom.  There's also an enormous drop-down drafting table attached to the wall on the left side.

What you're not seeing, and what I don't seem to've documented, is the pine ceiling and the 1980s vanity unit right next to where I'm standing.

And now, drumroll...

The plantation shutters cost an absolute fortune

but without them the room wasn't habitable,

so they were definitely worth it.  

The paint job through the lower half of the room remains
somewhat dubious not to mention they should've been covered
in semi-gloss, not low-sheen wall paint.  But the effect is what
we were after, even if the finish isn't what a sane person
would pay for.

The tall cabinet occupies the space 

previously inhabited by the vanity unit.  

I love this room.  The potential was always there for it to be interesting and stunning, and now it's been realised.  

Mum's made it into her bedroom, although with all the light it gets (having big windows facing north and east, and a small window facing west) it could've also been a lovely dayroom.  

Yes, very happy with the outcome here, overall...

Pass the kleenex.

The House at Porter Street has been battling an outbreak of pestilence frivolously dubbed "The Common Cold".


It started, as all these things do, with Milo who brought it home with him from kinder.  Then it moved to me and has now invaded Mum.  Papou thinks he's avoided it by having two naps yesterday, but I'm not confident.


All this coughing, sneezing, wheezing and grumpiness has put a halt to advances in the progress of our home-making efforts which is particularly frustrating given our proximity to completion.


Hopefully we will all improve with the aid of these beauties.  

Grown in our garden they are perfectly formed and thanks to this cold I can't taste anything, so their reputed sourness has passed me by...

Coveting #3: Montecito CA

I've spent a few minutes this morning with Beverly Hills Realtors to the Stars, The Westside Agency.  Amongst their listings I found a most spectacular 5 bed / 5.5 bathroom house.  It's a modernist masterpiece. It is "impressive beyond words".  


[All pictures are from the property's online listing]

It's set amongst 3.5 acres of rolling lawns and treed outcrops, so you can shelve any concerns about the full glass wall between bathroom and great outdoors.  And the 32 car garage / art gallery would surely be able to accommodate an inflatable mattress if guests were staying over.


In May 2010, this property was listed at US$30 million.  Today, it's on the market for US$19,990,000.


Whichever way you look at it, it's gorgeous.

PS  I would be prepared to veer from my strict policy of exclusive VW car ownership, for the 1950s gullwing Merc.