It&#39;ll be alright on the night.

I just don’t know how to tell you how fantastic I’m feeling today. But before I go into that, my lovely husband is insisting I blog about my recent tantrum. It’s kind of a confession.

Last week I blogged about being desensitized to all the bugs and animals that share this plot of land with us. I really made it sound like I was doing ok. Sadly, I was writing that post just before my hangover kicked in. About an hour later, the nausea and headache started to mount while we were out on the farm building. Things weren’t going well, every time I started a job something happened to stop me. Ian tried to get me to finish painting the entrance and put me on a scaffold tower to do it. Fear and alcohol excess reduced me to a quivering, sweating wreck clinging to the top of the scaffold as if I’d been tasked with crossing Niagara Falls on a wire. Pathetic! I was walking back up the drive to confess my failings to Ian when I stood on a snake. In its bid to escape it slithered over my foot. I had flip flops on. We had physical, skin to skin contact. That was it, the straw that broke the donkeys back. I burst into tears and stormed off to the house and went to bed. I barricaded the door to stop anyone coming in, but actually no one even noticed I was missing which made things worse. So there I stayed for 3 hours, first sulking and then sleeping it off. I sincerely hope this was a hangover induced episode and not the first cracks beginning to show. Anyway, the entrance is finished now and looks pretty good.

It’s Monday morning as I write this post and Saturday was the big Housewarming party. Ian took the week off work to finish jobs and prepare for the party. But this is Ian so nothing is ever simple. As well as finishing jobs, he decided to knock down the old but perfectly sufficient extension on the barn…on Thursday!!! I nearly lost my mind and had to engage in some high drama protests of “don’t you know there are 100 people coming here in 2 days”, complete with over exaggerated hand gestures, foot stomping, eye rolling and hands on hips stance. But amazingly he not only knocked it down but rebuilt another one. I’m used to his skills as a carpenter and his ability to work at lightning speed, but even I was impressed with what he achieved. Obviously not so impressed that I’m motivated to apologise for my eye rolling and other condescending behaviours.

Friday came and we shopped and worked until late, finally falling asleep about midnight. I dreamt that someone had cancelled the party while we were sleeping and at 4am sat up in bed and shouted “Ian, get the band to come back”. That was enough to wake us up completely and so we set to work again. Good job we did because we only just got things ready on time. Needless to say, things go wrong when you’re under pressure, not least the compost heap spontaneously combusting about an hour before the party. I can now add ‘firefighting skills’ to my résumé.

Guests started to arrive at 4pm. I was so happy with how the place looked; the hard work had really paid off. Not only that, but the food looked awesome. My friends Jenessa and Kirstin had supported me by bringing platters, salads and homemade marshmallows and our neighbours, Glorious Organics, had provided a wonderful salad with edible flowers. Ian had doubled the size of our Texas BBQ which created quite the impression. But most the most exciting thing was the live band setting up in the barn!

Glorious Organics Celebration Salad

The atmosphere was that of an English village fete. The band was amazing. They are local guys called The NewAtlas. I’d left the set list up to them and they managed to please everyone here. Check them out if you get the chance. They are playing the local circuit and have a gig coming up in Vancouver soon as well as an album in the works.

The New Atlas

Later on as night approached we lit the place up. We’d put fairy lights up and made lanterns from Mason jars. My friend Monique had supplied tea lights from Party Lite and so to add to the effect, we had wonderful scents coming from the candles. It truly felt magical. And of course people naturally gravitated towards the Tiki hut and sat around the fire pit. The Tiki hut was an absolute hit and worked superbly. The smoke went out through the octagonal chimney that Ian built and the warmth of the fire was kept in. Just take a moment to imagine it….it’s dark, we’re sitting around a fire, there’s candles twinkling in the trees and white fairy lights overhead and creamy marshmallows being passed around. The music was playing, the drink was flowing and ‘Sweet Caroline’ was being massacred thanks to an impromptu sing along. Neil Diamond may have been mortified if he’d been there, but I was as happy as I’ve ever been.

Plans are in progress for a music festival next summer!

Cast aside all your preconceptions of homesteaders and farming ye who enter here. This is what country living is about.