The Baynhams

I am now in my second term of Guitar making. I payed out another lump sum for my next ten weeks tonight - Ouch! At first Strato thought it might take about 30 weeks to complete the guitar but we are flying along and may finish after just 20. We are already planning the celebration party for Mid October which should get a bit of press attention as the course is really quite an unusual one.

In the last couple of weeks I have worked on the head of the guitar. I saw a guitar in a shop and I really wanted to copy the head design. When I didn't think I could do it I changed my mind to a more traditional shape and started carving it only to really dislike it.

The next week I asked Strato was there any way of rescuing the wood so that I could go back to my original choice. We were able to find a way of working the wood so that I will be able to have the head I originally wanted.

Last week I stuck the Tasmanian Blackwood Rosette into the recess I had chiseled out for it and clamped it for the week. This week I started to plane over the raised Blackwood circle to bring it down to the same level as the soundboard. It looks really well.

I have joined the two sides of my Guitar with a block at the base join. It has dried and is out of the clamps and looks great. I think I will be able to attach the sides and neck next week. It really is starting to take shape.

This week I was planning the inside braces for the soundboard of the guitar. They give it strength and stop it from caving in with the pressure of the strings running across it. Each guitar has a different brace design which takes into consideration the shape and final sound of the finished guitar. It involves using set squares and protractors and feels like I am back in maths class at school. Three different attempts to measure angles and draw them onto the inside of the sound board and Strato still wasn't 100% happy so I will wait until next week before carving the individual brace pieces. Better to get the plan right before I go to too much trouble carving the wrong sized braces.

As my wise Dad always says.. "measure twice, cut once"

0 comments - click here to leave your comment  

We have been in the house 3 months now and are making our way room to room doing whatever improvements we can do within each month's paycheck.

Our office space is transformed and it is a great feeling to have all the box files and folders behind closed doors.


Another bonus was being able to finally unpack boxes and boxes of our good things from the UK. All of our wedding presents made it over in one piece despite being transferred between four houses since September 2005.

To celebrate we used our finest Waterford Crystal wine goblets to toast each other with the only bottle of red wine in the house.


I think there is a saying about Waterford Crystal "A good wine deserves a Waterford glass and a bad wine needs it". Well our cheap bottle of wine went down very easily and tasted great!

2 comments - click here to leave your comment  

It's NOT fair...

I did not travel half way around the world for this...

I thought we had left behind the cold and miserable UK winters. I don't expect perfect blue skies every day. It's actually quite nice to still have seasons (gives a valid excuse to shop for clothes twice a year!)

BUT ICE.... NO, NO, NO!

I did not plan on waking up to a car with a frozen windscreen here in Australia.

Sunday morning, trying to do the right thing, bringing the kids off to 8am Mass and as I sit into the car I realise that I cant see a thing through the windscreen. It's the same as many a UK winter morning. Back out of the car, run back up to the front door, mad rummage through the hand bag for the keys, kettle of water, back to the car, pouring water all over the windows while trying not to soak my feet, back up to the house to throw the kettle in the front door, and finally, back in the car and late driving away down the road.

I'm not happy. There must be some small print in the visa application about this....

Someone get me John Howard on the phone....

2 comments - click here to leave your comment  

We had a lovely visit from Cian this morning (Along with Joe and Rhonda of course!) He has started crawling and grabs everything within reach. To show off his new skills Joe put his mobile phone down on the floor near Cian to encourage him to crawl to it.

With the girls egging him on he crawled at lightning speed, grabbed the mobile and lay there pressing the buttons.


The girls thought he was hilarious.

I think he is getting more and more like his Dad. Press the button first. Ask what it does later!

0 comments - click here to leave your comment  

My parents bought a trampoline for the kids when we moved into the new house. It was supposed to keep the kids out of doors and amused while we got on with the many D.I.Y. jobs that the move would bring. I think Mr B missed the point. I was busy inside with the screwdriver and spirit level when I heard shrieks of excitement from the garden...


I'm sure Mum and Dad will be glad to see it is keeping ALL the kids amused!

0 comments - click here to leave your comment  

Another Saturday morning and no rest for the wicked.

7am and we woke to the sound of the cement mixer starting up in the back garden. Paul and Mitch were getting stuck into another days hard graft.

For the last few weekends they have had a third guy with them to help lug around the big sandstone blocks, mix cement and be general dogsbody. Well today it was different. They had a new apprentice on the job. He was a bit of alright.

I spent a pleasant day pottering around the house having sneaky peaks through the windows and going out regularly to offer cups of tea and coffee.

It is a real shame that this will be the last weekend the guys will be here flexing their muscles. I'll miss the eye candy ......especially the new guy. I might have to think up some more landscaping jobs to keep him coming back.

0 comments - click here to leave your comment  

At last!

3 months after getting the keys to our new house we finally have a driveway!

Gareth was fascinated by the big concrete truck reversing up from the road. He found a great spot on the chest freezer in the garage where he could sit and keep an eye on the men as they worked.

We have to wait one week for it to harden enough for the car to be able to drive up it. I can't wait for the luxury of being able to park close to the front door.




I will glad to stop being the neighbours source of amusement as I scrabble up and down the steep grass bank to the kerb laden down with grocery bags!

Although looking at the steep angle of it I may carry on entertaining them with my attempts to master reversing up it!

0 comments - click here to leave your comment  

We went to our local library today to a free Aboriginal storytime and dance celebration. It is Naidoc week which is a week of celebrating all things indiginous for the Aboriginal people.

As part of their celebrations they try to share their culture with local people. Today was a colourful mix of stories, dancing and songs that had the kids joining in with gusto.

Actually I lie. Sian joined in with gusto and Rhiannon and Gareth fought for space on my knee!

It was still a good way to spend a morning and leave Byron to work in peace and quiet.

0 comments - click here to leave your comment  

Rhiannons friend Natalie had a sleepover at our house last night.

They had a great laugh dressing up and playing together for the afternoon. I tried to calm them down before bedtime with a hot chocolate but didn't realise that the marshmallows would give them a sugar-rush!

They were bundled off to bed denying all feelings of being tired and spent the next while giggling and reading books by torchlight.

I think it will be an early bedtime tonight!

0 comments - click here to leave your comment  

At last!

At long, long last!

Carrie's Thesis is no longer a "work-in-progress" but a finished, checked, approved and leather bound entity that will sit with great pride on the Sheeran bookshelf for years to come.

I'm not sure exactly how long the road to todays happy news has taken, but Carrie once told Sian that she started studying rocks and climate change when Sian was born. Do the maths on that one!

I don't expect to have the faintest idea what Late Quaternary Environmental Change is all about but I'm sure that Carrie and her brain cells will do some good for the future of the human race!

Go Girl !!!!

1 comments - click here to leave your comment  

0 comments - click here to leave your comment  

Friday it was the driveway and this weekend saw the arrival of Paul and crew to carry on building our retaining walls. They worked from 7am til 3pm each day and did a fantastic job building more sandstone walls around what will be our patio area. How they managed to make odd misshapen chunks of sandstone into a long flat wall that you could lay a spirit level on, I don't know! Just one more weekend of work and they will be done and they will move on to the next job, laying patio stones. It is so good watching the garden transform from a mud-swamp into an area that will be an extension of our indoor living area. Roll on summer!

1 comments - click here to leave your comment  

At last, the rain has eased off, the concreter has caught up on his outstanding jobs and we are top of his list!

For the last couple of days we have watched men excavate and hammer stakes and wooden edging around the area to be filled with concrete. The kids have watched from the safety of inside. Today the big "Cemix Ementer" (according to Gar!) arrived and we watched with great excitement as our paths and driveway began to take shape!

0 comments - click here to leave your comment  

We went to the Newcastle Botanical Gardens today for their annual children's day.

It was great fun with lots of stalls promoting conservation and re-cycling. The kids paid a small entry fee and then were able to wander around doing lots of free activities.

They made new paper from old sheets of computer print outs.

The sheets of dry paper resembled the lint from the tumble dryer filter but the kids were happy!




Homemade cards from pressed autumn leaves.

Craft figures from playdough and nuts, seeds, leaves and bark.




They also got a chance to plant cuttings of native plants.





I've no idea what a "Woolly bush" will grow up into but I am sure we will find a spot for it in our new garden!

We have three Grass Heads on our kitchen windowsill that will sprout hair over the next 10 days. They look hideous. Not dissimilar to brains floating in jars of formaldehyde! Pictures will follow...











All in all a great day and out of the house which has to be a bonus with Byron working from home!

0 comments - click here to leave your comment  

It will be World Youth day in Sydney this time next year.

In 1984 a cross was given to Catholic youth by Pope John Paul II. It is being passed from youth group to youth group, parish to parish all the way around Australia over the coming months until it finally reaches Sydney. It will arrive on a Coastguard boat on the 23rd of July in Spears Point near where we live. The kids will have a day off school to join in the day of celebrations. There will be Aboriginal dancing and music to acknowledge Australia's heritage as well as Irish music because the Irish were among the first to send priests to the area. All the children will be given a prayer bracelet to keep as a reminder of the day. 1000 kids are expected and volunteers were needed to make some.

I volunteered to make 100 thinking that they were small and easy. They ended up being really hard work. The pile of 5500 wooden beads was bigger than I had anticipated! I thought each bracelet would be a 5 min job but it took more like 15 mins each. 100 bracelets x 15 mins each = 4 bracelets an hour... Do the maths on that one! 20 bracelets into the job and I was having second thoughts. Luckily a group of friends decided to chip in and help. One clever idea was to put all the beads and elastic for one bracelet in a small plastic bag then hand them out as a "Free Craft Activity" Clever idea, but I wasn't sure I would get away with that one! One chilly day in the park, kids cycling around, hot coffees from the thermos and 6 extra pairs of hands and all the bracelets got made. Thank you so much Claire, Maree, Wynona, Peter, Dave and Steve! I don't think you knew what you were letting yourselves in for!

0 comments - click here to leave your comment