Middle Income, Middle Aged, Middle Earth

 The Homestead

The ceiling above my head was painted by Hemi, Jude and Ben. Paul sacrificed his own lungs as he used heat and a chisel to scrape tar from the wood floor in the dining space while an argument raged about whether the planks were Tawa, Matai or a mixture of both. Carl bashed out the wall, ripped out the concrete hearth and put in new drywall for Hans to plaster. Gordon made sure the roof wasn't going to collapse during the operation. Martin showed up early to tear out carpet and staples and Ariadne wasn't far behind. Bridget ripped the wall paper in the kitchen. Bill and Steve painted the ceilings in the other half of the place. There were two Johns one who sanded and polished the floor, the other who lent us his sander so we could sand everything else. Jodi welcomed us with brownies.  Esmee took care of the kids and made lasagna. Jeff took care of the kids and the moving lorry, which really belonged to Stacey's church. Angus sawed out the kitchen cupboard to make room for a rubbish bin and patched our walls. Mary and Wendy unpacked everything and Jacob helped them to assemble the beds. Helen washed the windows! I haven't mentioned all the people or all the things that have been done but you get the idea.

We own land. A piece of paper says that this 1000 square metres and our names are linked.  We are excited for that link to last a while and hope that off the paper record other names feel invested in this place as well. They already have. We don't know how long, but we are "stuck in" as they say here.

We bought a property that promises to be quite a project. Its original owner put steel I beams under the floor, poured an ocean of concrete out back and built a huge workshop in his garage. Porirua used to have its own wallpaper factory and its castoffs are layered deep on the walls. Kiwi insulation. The place is solid, but both retro and tattered. Fixing it up will take up time and money over the next while but what we've done so far has had a great impact. Its a learning curve, and cause for a constant risk reward analysis. For the kids however its a giant playground and a place to discover and reshape at the same time.

From a big picture perspective it is an immense decision we've made by committing to staying longer in a place so far from our families, friends and familiarity. In the day to day though, things are making sense. We've invested in a place that intrigues and challenges us and in people that welcome our presence. Its constantly amazing to examine the social fabric of this land, and of our neighbourhood and to test its threads.

Here are a few images of what has been going on with us.

 Living room, while the walls were being ripped out and insulated.

Kitchen

  

Kitchen cabinet, we ended up painting over the 6+ previous paint layers!

5 solid days scraping tar, my lungs will never be the same.

 Ripping off the painting tape:

Living room. inhabitable.

Kitchen/dining

Lots of grass in the backyard for exercising with our antique mowers.