My niece Sarah and her fiance Gareth. got engaged yesterday.

I'm not sure how many years they have been together but it's been at least 10!

This is my great nephew Anthony - taken by his Grandad on Christmas day. I haven't seen him since he was about 8 weeks old!

I was hoping the paving would be finished yesterday. But the paver didn't show..... Anyway I went out and bought 2 BIG charcoal coloured pots to put out there anyway! They will be delivered when it is finshed!

The main part is paved, as you can see, and there will be a step up to a small triangular area.

There is room for a lovely big table and a BBQ someday!

So is this to be my Christmas present?????? FInally a completed shower!!!!!

Well the paving got a little further today. The fence post that was taken out by the truck delivering the sand was replaced, and the gutter cleaned! There was an absolute downpour last night and the garage got a bit flooded :-(

FINALLY! I have shower screens .. BUT I wont be able to use it until tomorrow, when the door goes on.

Had a bit of drama the other night when the screens were delivered. They hit my splashback with the side panel. Look a sliver off the panel, but that can't be seen, but left a small mark on the splashback. He took $200 off the cost. The boss guy was furious and wants some of that back. I told him we would discuss it once my splashback is fixed.

I have been having trouble getting into Blogger the last day or teo. Here are some images of the backyard. No update today as it was 35C. Hopefully it will be finished on Saturday........................

Still no shower screens - maybe they will be dropped off tonight and installed tomorrow. I am so over this........

Jasmine was funny yesterday afternoon. When the guys finished clearing the backyard - she came out and she literally jumped off the deck, and then just stood in the backyard surveying the scene as if to say "what The.." As you can see from the first photo, the backyard had been like a jungle for her.

She spied a mouse and stalked it and made a run for it, but it got under the fence. She was there for a while with the paws under the fence. Whether she had it by the tail or not I don't know. But she eventually gave up!

You can see the state of the paws an hour or so later!

My backyard was started yesterday! I am hoping it will be finished by Christmas! Tomorrow it gets sprayed for weeds, lime goes down to annoy the ants - (hopefully enough that they packup and move somewhere else!), and the crushed rock goes down too. Next week the paving will start. I am going to have a big garden bed around the fence and the rest paved.....

Have a look in the photo's at the trees (in the distance above the fence) the uncleared was taken in the morning and the cleared in the afternoon. You can see the difference in the smoke haze.

Doesn't this look sensational! I have had it in for a number of years now, and every year I just lightly pruned it, hoping it would trail down to the ground. But it didn't really trail any longer, just got fuller and fuller. This year it was starting to spread to the roof, so I thought enough is enough! Quite late in the season I pruned it right back to nothing. But as you can see that was probably the right thing to do! I'll do that from now on ;-)

The damn shower screens were supposed to go in today, but the supplier has mucked up my order and about half the deliveries made yesterday to my screenguy.. The screen guy was almost out of his mind when he rang me last night.He had a builder expecting to hand over a house in the next day or so, so that builder was pretty mad. I was the third person he called and I think the first two had given him a pretty hard time. I didn't see much point. He wasn't the one to have screwed up. I have to put another coating of antislip sealer on the shower floor which I will do today. When that dries,I am going to put some duct tape (very strong) where the holes for the screen hinges are to go, so water doesn't get in behind the glass. And just start using the damn thing. I have a ton of old towels I will use to catch the splashes! I JUST WANT TO USE MY SHOWER!!!!

Well the bathroom is a little closer. There have been a couple of hiccups with the installing of the fittings. Nothing that can't be overcome, but disappointing to say the least! Still it is starting to look good. I'm glad I got the plumber back BEFORE the screens arrived. So hopefully the problems will be resolved so that when the screens arrive I will be able to use it.