WORLDS GREATEST SHAVE WRAP UP!

Hi guys
i have been waiting for all our stuff to get sorted for the worlds greatest shave, but i can finally let you know that team MELONHEAD raised a whopping $28,967.45...a huge effort and a massive THANKYOU to all of you who donated to this amazingly worthy cause. We feel very humbled by your generousity and for us, it is such a positive way to keep eli's legacy alive. Thankyou.

luv
the simpsons
xox

Lots happening

hi everyone
sorry its taken a bit to get back to you all...like all of you, we have been really busy doin 'stuff!'...

we have been able to hook into the garden and finish another 'section'...and were pleased to plant it out. We bought a lovely bird bath and a little bird feeder (nuts and seeds ONLY!). We thought that any visitors to melon's cottage may like the experience!

We also bought all our plants for the final section which we have entitled 'the lil' daisy patch'...its going to be filled with paper daisies, sea-side daisies, little pink daisies and beautiful lillies (if we can get the temperamental buggers to grow!)...its actually really exciting and we are looking forward to having all the planting finished (although i seriously suspect that we will always be 'adding' to it as we see new and more beautiful plants coming.
It will be the place that we can sit and ponder life in all its glory...so we are looking forward to finishing that off...
We still have the paths to do (we had to strategically plan that one due to the rain!)...and we have the fence to have a crack at...hopefully a couple of things we can finish off over the next month or two. It will be lovely to open it up to you guys to have a peek at...it feels lovely to do...

We are also gearing up for the angel ball...please get your tickets ASAP! It should be a ripper night, and i know the band (Bin 44) have been practising new music especially for the night. So get your tickets from the bairnsdale RSL as soon as you can...and we hope to see you at the night..it should be a cracker! Thanks to all of the BLA who have organised stuff, raffles, decorations, and tucker...THANKYOU!!

anyways...i will hope to get some more piccies on the blog over the next couple of days of the garden to now...very exciting stuff!

Our thoughts also go out to all those who participated in anzac day commemorations across Australia. Petes cousin Chris is currently serving in Afghanastan and of course Eli was named after his great great grandfather "Eli" who fought on the western front. Our love and thoughts are with all past and present who have served their country.

Anyways...all the very best and no doubt we will see you all really soon.
love and best wishes
the simpsons
xox

Melon's garden

Hi everyone...

been a pretty busy week (although i had a bit of time off) which was really lovely because i was able to sew, met up with the BLA to do angel ball poster drop offs, and best of all, got stuck into 1 section of melon's garden.

I had a bit of a hard time because there was a fair bit of kikuyu and massive old 'lightwood' stump in one of the corners. So i basically shovelled the top soil off (to get rid of the runners)...and when it came time to planting, had to wrestle with heaps of roots from the tree...

but very very happily, i was able to finish off the first section (and then i had a big rest and covered some nice blisters!)...It felt bloody great to finish it, and we are just waiting now to place some pavers and wait for the plants to grow nice and big. In this section we figured a 'rockery' theme might be good, (although the rocks are still coming!)...so we focused on planting some kanga paws, a few correas, some pigface, a protea and some 'border plants'...i think it will look great when it grows...it does look a bit plain now, but bring on some rain!

the other thing we finished this morning is the 'centre'...we have put in a little border, and planted some hardy sea daisies which will hopefully grow soon too...smack in the middle is our 'melon'...we saw him about 2 months ago at a shop just up the road a bit...and knew that he belonged in the middle of the garden surrounded by little daisies...we are very proud to say that he is now in the garden (i know it seems a bit weird to put him there first, but we were keen to have him there to look at for inspiration (especially when the blisters started to hurt!) We are also going to put a little plaque on him (the one our friend leona wrote)...so thats down the track...

We have also been stoked with the support from the guys at the Gippsland Treated Pine centre in bairnsdale who have basically provided us with a recipe (complete with costs) to build a fence around the garden to 'enclose' it...thankyou for all your hard work and helping us come up with something that we know will help complete the garden...they absolutely ROCK!

anyways...small progress made again, and we will hopefully be able to add to the photos over the next couple of weeks.

hope you are all keeping well...

if you are interested in coming to the angel ball (2nd May)...please contact the Bairnsdale RSL for your tickets! SERIOUSLY CONSIDER coming...we have an amazing amount of prizes to raffle off...over $3500 worth!

love to you all
the simpsons
xox



Melon's angel...



Laying out the plants before the main event!



The finished product....NOICE!

Bringing melon's garden to 'life'

Hi everyone

well, we have been working steadily on melon's garden over the past couple of months and we are both really happy with how its coming together...these things are never 'quick' enough and we wish we could just click our fingers and have it done, but i must admit, we are enjoying watching it all come together.

A couple of you have wanted to see some pics... so here they are! You will have to trace back to jan/feb i think to see alot of the before and after shots, but i think you will get the picture!

Pete is still working feverishly on putting the borders in for the pathways out the front and back, and once thats done we can get the crushed concrete in to fill in the gaps. Im heading to melb in about a weeks time, and will try and pick up some flowers so we can start planting...i think we will be aiming for the 17/18 if we can get all the plants organised in time.

there are only a few pics, but they are nice enough...its just a pleasure to have melon with us while we do this. The little front garden was always going to be eli's...we made a decision when he was first born to set that aside for him and we were waiting till he was old enough to help us choose some plants and plant them together. So i guess this one is kinda special, and while i just need to add a paper daisy, i think he will be happy with how it turned out. We are hoping to get some little solar lights to put through it over the next week.

We know that its hard because many of you cant visit eli and put trinkets on a 'grave'...we are hoping that melon's garden out the back will allow you to put trinkets 'somewhere' and be with him, like you would at a cemetery. So when we have finished, we would love for you to come and just sit and remember...thats what its all about...somewhere you can sit and ponder.

anyways...on on with the piccies

luv and hugs
the simpsons
xox





The 'new' garden out the front...full of kanga paws, a grevillia (thanks uncle phil) and a correa (thanks bella) among others..


Melon's garden


And again!


From humble beginnings...


getting there slowly...


A hive of activity...and where the 'back garden' is currently at...almost finished the borders, and then for the fun to begin! Paths and Planting YAY


The 'cottage' side of the driveway. We took out the little 'creek' we had made...and we are stoked with the look. It has opened the area right up and will allow easy access!


The side of the house (other side of the driveway...) we planted our hop bushes, viola and kangaroo apples...just need some rain to help them grow!


My hair is very slowly growing back...not too many greys as yet!

No FUN RUN FOR US :-(

hi everyone
I would LOVE to say we all had a wonderful day at the fun run and ran our little hearts out, but unfortunately there was an administration 'glitch' 2 days before the event, so we were bundled out. But, in saying that, pete and i did our own little 'fun run' at bacchus marsh on the morning, so that was a nice compromise (and we didnt have to battle 30,000 people!!!), just one of petes old school teachers and a couple of people walking their dogs! It was nice, we were together and we used it as a reflection on our life when eli was here with us.

I cant believe nearly 5 months has passed since Eli left us. Sometimes, we just wish the world would stop, but we know it cant and we can either chose to move with it, or take the back seat and let eli's death consume us. We feel we are moving forward most times and have LOTS to celebrate. There are still days when we both feel terrible but i guess as long as we let people know we are having a bad day, thats ok.
Not for either of us to hide and 'fib' about it...

my candle is still very much front and centre at work and at home. Its funny, sometimes it can remain unlit for a week or two, but then we feel the urge to do it everyday. I guess we just roll with how we feel and do whatever blows our hair back.

Now that the fun run is over for this year (and we congratulate ALL the runners and walkers who participated - great work!) the next 'thing' is the ANGEL BALL!!! its a wonderful event that we are doing to raise money for ANGEL FLIGHT. We loved angel flight as they allowed us to travel back and forth to melbourne in ONE DAY - actually about 8-9 hours! It made a tremendous difference to our lives with such a small baby, and we were not on the road every week to melbourne for eli's appointments. It made a huge difference to Pete as well, because he always had to go to work on the Tuesday after a monday appointment...and was heaps fresher. Although we only had 6 flights or so with angel flight, those guys were absolutely fantastic. And i know that had eli made it through, we would have continued to use the service where we could to make life easier post transplant. A wonderful service which brings much happiness to regional communities.

So: the details of the angel ball are:

What: Angel Ball - proudly supporting ANGEL FLIGHT

Where: BAIRNSDALE RSL - PRINCES HIGHWAY

When: 2nd May 2009 (kick off at 8pm, finishes up around 12am)

Why: To raise $ for Angel Flight


Other stuff

Tickets can ONLY be bought from the Bairnsdale RSL and are on sale NOW. Tickets cost $15.00 per person, and tables of 10 are the go.

Prizes for 'best angel wings' and a couple of ripper door prizes.

Raffles will be run throughout the evening so bring lots of coins! Over $2,000 in raffle prizes!!! (Thanks to the awesome local businesses in bairnsdale)

There will be a presentation by Tom Courtney (our first angel flight pilot!) and the evening will be hosted by Duncan Malcolm!

entertainment will be provided by Bin 44 and 'impact'...two local bands who are GROUSE and have donated their time to help us raise some $$

So put on your best angel wings and come and have a dance!

anyways...best 'fly'
the simpsons
xox