Yesterday and today - part 1!

Thursday 14th July

They started on the frame yesterday, and this morning I popped along to check out progress. We're so excited - this is probably not worth noting, as you can all guess that! Still, it's amazing to see the house take shape, and see how high it will be - we're in awe.

The beginning of framework, in the afternoon sun.

Frame and scaffolding going up

Is that a floor I almost see?! How many kilometres will we walk on these, I wonder?

Big. Hammers.

Special wood for the Japanese tatami room - will have to ask what it is.

If that was me standing there, it would be something like...hmmmm, which piece do you think goes first?

Benny!

Smart - jigsaw puzzle with clues.

All of the carpentry is done before it gets on site, then it just slots together.

The carpenters finish up for the day. At about 5pm the scaffolders were still there.

 Friday 15th July

 I stopped by this morning (with tea and snacks - it's hot today! REALLY hot!), and took these photos. The large beams are being put in, and they're very beautiful (the lounge room downstairs will have exposed beams, which I think will look lovely).

The scaffolding and frame this morning.

Weeeeeee!

Three J-tai (Japanese army) helicopters did a fly by in our honour.

Framage.

It's hot.

Konnichiwa!

Those holes are for big bolts.

This guy would make a great Australian council worker.

This guy is in charge of the big hammer.

Japanese workman shoes. Not a steel cap in sight.

This is how the big hammer is used - from the ground, hammering the wood into place, in unison the with other hammer from the top.

The crane driver has the best job.

The week of the fast and the furious!

How many posts in one week can you bear?! This afternoon, on my usual drive-by, we discovered all of the wood is being delivered for Friday - the big day. As it turns out, the frame doesn't go up over the week, it, along with the roof, goes up in one day! So, Friday will be a very big day. We've also invited loads of people up with their kids to take part in the "Mochi Maki" - how much fun can you have with a house frame?!

Wood for the house frame

Ben & Elvis - partners in crime

The looming, grey sky at the back

And beautiful blue skies at the front!

"The Spot" to date...

Upcoming ceremony, and the concrete booty is revealed!

Hello again everyone!

This Friday we will be having the mochi throwing ceremony. We're hoping that there will be lots of kids to scramble for coins and mochi! I'll take photos and post them for sure...

This week has been slow progress - visibly anyway. But, all of the old wood has come off the concrete foundations and it looks marvelous (for concrete...). They have added lots of bolts and have been laying drainage pipes this week (that's the guy in the first photo). Lord know we don't want to flood every rainy season.

Here are the latest pics for you. Until Friday!

Look at that! We have a front step!

Obligatory shot from 'the' spot for the week.

I love Ogiyama!

Kitchen/dining, or part thereof.

Concrete booties...

Over the last few days the house has been getting its concrete booties (or should we say concrete booty?!).

The pouring of the slab happened over 2 days - first the main slab went down, and then they used a massive crane with a funnel type of attachment to pour sections, which you can see in the photos are the bits of wood standing upright. I regret not getting some pics of the crane when I was up there yesterday, but instead we have some of Ariana's and my morning frolic on the slab.

Ariana lives just around the corner and has been mentor, adviser and general go-to person for all things housey while we've been looking, planning and now building. She is probably the only other person who finds it fun to spend hours going through wallpaper books with me, and for that she gets first drinky dibs at the inaugural Ogura Cocktail Hour in November. This is her practicing the sobriety test...

Looks like she failed : )

The concrete - with more concrete inside those upright wood bits!

Standing in our lounge room.

Working out what is what...or is that an exit strategy?

Picture of the week from 'the spot'!