Category Archives: ponderings

a day in the life

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Today is Romeo’s birthday.

I’m a bad mother.

If his brother Merlin’s owner hadn’t mentioned it to me, I would have missed it.

Again.

Yesterday I groomed the kids, the poodles anyway. Barney always manages to find ‘important work’ to do on the other side of the property when its time for a clip, bath and blowdry.

Wayne’s not impressed cause this time I left some slight bell bottom bracelets on their legs. I like them like that even if it is higher maintenance than clipping them off all over. But tomorrow the kids are having a visitor. A lady who wants to buy a standard poodle.

I’m like an ambassador for standard poodles in Tasmania. When someone is considering a standard poodle I invite them round to meet my two. If they can survive that, then they know a standard is for them. If they run screaming, well… they might consider a goldfish instead.

Things have been busy around here lately. On the positive side I’ve been on a roll regarding my art lately. Firstly I got a 2nd at the DVRA Art Competition. Then I got 1st Prize at the Salvaged Art Competition, and the project I worked on with some guys at work won 1st Prize in the amateur category. Plus I sold the painting of the quoll from the DVRA comp. I now have either half the price of a trip to Greece, most of the price of a new laptop, or a start towards a new bathroom or kitchen….

Other positives are: The lawn has been mowed. Some plants have been found amongst the weeds. The rain tanks are full. I caught up with the dish washing and the laundry.

On the negative side the dishes keep piling up, another load of washing appeared when I wasn’t looking, the rain tanks are overflowing, I can actually hear the grass growing thanks to the rain we’ve had, I’m sure there is less lawn and more weeds than ever this year, and I was unable to locate some of the plants I put in last year, even once I’d cleared up the weeds around the place they were last spotted.

On Sunday I finally started a project I had planned to do last summer. I hate having birds nest in our roof but I hate the thought of baby birds in nests dying of starvation cause I locked out their parents. So the idea was to put bird wire around the eaves at the end of summer, once the nests were empty.

Of course the end of summer snuck up on me quite suddenly with rain and wind and I put off the wire thing till the weather was better.

Then, this year, spring snuck up on me and suddenly there were birds building nests in the roof again.

Time to try out that new air stapler Wayne got me a few months ago. I already had some bird wire (only 10 metres of it, but that was a blessing in disguise), I had staples, I had the air stapler… I had a friend to help. I had ladders. I was set.

We managed to do the short side of the house plus a bit around the corner. My friend cut the wire, then held it up for me on her ladder. I balanced precariously on my ladder, wielding the staple gun and missing two out of every three shots.

Serioulsy, those staples are SO narrow.

By the time we’d put up 10 metres we were done.

…I mean, we were done. The job wasn’t. I had to get up on the ladder again on Monday and cut and staple bits where the vertical boards on the house left gaps. I had to add a bit of extra wire where I’d totally missed a gap, allowing our feathered friends to still get in an out and continue construction of their mansions in our roof. I also hung up some old cds on string from the wire to further discourage building without permits.

The cds looks kinda ‘redneck’ but I prefer to think of them as a cheap, practical and environmentally friendly way of discouraging birds from squatting in our roof. The downside is they make a lot of noise thumping on the house in the wind. I’ll get used to it. Better than finding our insulation in the driveway, pulled out by birds extending to put in a pool room.

The birds aren’t the only things I’ve evicted this week. Remember Ponsonby, the black possum who moved into the casita? I did love seeing his little pink nose and his tail hanging down as he watched me do stuff in there.

What I didn’t enjoy was the full scale destruction the dogs caused trying to get him. Or the possum poop. Everywhere.

So, we bought a possum trap and trapped him. Then we released him in the bush.

Actually, Wayne released him in the bush.

First he gave me this long lecture about how FAR away I had to release him cause possums come back. Kind of like ‘homing possums’. I was going to take him up the hills opposite our place. About 10-15 klms away.

But Wayne decided he’d do it. And he just drove up our road for about 3 klms and let him go.

If Ponsonby comes back I’ll find it incredibly hard to not do the smugly superior thing…  

I told you so!

Man the weather’s been wierd lately. Strong winds. And rain. Lots of rain. I was woken up last night by rain pelting down and thunder so long and loud the house shook!

Our creek is flowing like Niagara Falls again, and the paddocks have more than one river running through them. Poor Wayne was out there this afternoon with his bucket and spade trying to direct the flow.

Even the ducks are looking water-logged.

z

i can still do the splits!

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But not in any way that I’d like to repeat any time soon.
I came home from work yesterday and went about doing all those millions of little things you have to do when you live in the country and come home late. In the dark. And cold.
I brought in firewood. I lit the fire. I put on some washing. I groomed a dog.* I fed horses. I fed dogs. I put on some drying. I washed dishes. I folded towels drying in front of the fire and went to put them away.
I took one step into the bathroom with an armload of towels and went WHOOOAAAAAEEEEE!!!!!  SPLAT!
One leg out front, one out back, towels all over the place.
Wayne came running “What happened? Are you alright?…. Where are you?”
Down here. Wedged between the shower and the vanity. I couldn’t get up cause I couldn’t bring my legs together (not a problem I normally have). Wayne tried to help. By then the hysterical laughter didn’t help. He had to drag me out backwards on my butt before I could gather myself together sufficiently to get up.
How embarrassing.
I have bruises in places that never normally meet the hard ground.
Turns out I hadn’t turned off the HOT water tap properly in the morning and it dripped all day, flooding the bathroom floor. 
Good one Zef.
Eh. We need a new bathroom anyway. What kind of bathroom is it when you fall and get wedged between the shower and the vanity and there’s not enough room to get up?
Note to self: add ‘new bathroom’ to the To Do list.
You know, there really is no rest for the wicked… I must have been very naughty in a previous life. Really. I mean it just never ends. And I don’t even have children. Imagine if I did! Mom always warned me that one day I’d have children who’d give me as much trouble as I gave her. The Mother’s Curse. 
Well. I showed her. I didn’t have kids.
But maybe it still got me anyway, cause I sure as hell don’t have one of those easy, selfish, relaxed lives people with kids envy their childless friends for.
Today I thought I had it easy. No grooming appointments and I got home earlier than usual. It was actually light when I got home. So I fed the chickens and collected the eggs (why do we keep chickens… with feed it works out to about $5 an egg right now), pooperscooped the yard (it was time, having stepped in poop this morning), fed the horses, repotted some plants and put them on the porch cause the frost was killing them (to think I picked frost tolerant plants), fed the dogs, lit the fire, brought in more firewood. 
About 1.5 hours later I was able to sit down.
Ah. This is the life.
Surely he’ll drop something soon. He always does…
*Grooming appointments. I’m leaving on Sunday. For six weeks. About two months ago I sent out a newsletter to my customers letting them know I’d be away for six weeks and that they should book in early to get their dog groomed before I go. I’ve been flat out. Which is a good thing, I might add. Regulars as well as new customers. And in winter too when a lot of people tend to let the dog’s hair get long. 
But I’m tired. And I still have so much organising to do before I go. I need a rest. I promised myself I will NOT take any appointments for Saturday. Or Sunday. I won’t. I absolutely will not! Cause you know me… I just can’t say no! 
Besides, I have my own dogs to do on Saturday. I want to leave behind a clean house and clean dogs.
And try not to stress about what I’ll come home to…
z

nostalgia

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Showing my age here, but I suddenly had a yearning to hear some very old songs tonight…
I started with some movie themes… 
The theme from Exodus. I saw that movie when I was just a kid and that music stuck with me… 
The theme from Love Story. Ditto. Nadia’s theme… kind of ruined forever by being the theme for The Young and the Restless… 😦
Jim Croce’s Time in a Bottle. I have no idea what movie I heard that song in, but its such a beautiful love song…
http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/dO1rMeYnOmM&source=uds
Ok. Being me, I googled it. A TV movie from the seventies called She Lives! I don’t even remember the movie, I just remember the song… and that feeling of intense love. You know, being a teenager and believing in the kind of love Romeo and Juliet had.
Now there’s a movie theme which gives me goosebumps – A Time For Us, What is a Youth. And what a beautiful movie… the Franco Zeffirelli movie, not the later ones. That movie is a classic, with Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting. There was no way to improve on that!
When I was a “tween” I made a friend who lived across the street, she was older and had a lot of grown up music (ie more grown up than The Osmonds and The Partridge Family). I’d borrow LPs from her. Her records and parties where they used to play the cool ‘rock’ stuff was where my musical education started.
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Doors, Led Zeppellin, Deep Purple…
…Bread. Now there’s a band with lovely love songs… If, Make it with you, Everything I own… 
Ahh… Memories… 
Nazareth, Love Hurts…
Dancing close with a boy, in the semi darkness in someone’s living room. Swaying to the rhythm, feeling the music in every heartbeat, the yearning, the certainty that only you and Juliet knew about true love. And the feeling that what you were doing was going to get you grounded.
Santana’s Europa…talk about hot slow dancing!
Holding hands. The first kiss…
So here I sit, doing computer stuff and taking a trip down memory lane. 
Since I’ve already given away too much about my age, I guess I can confess to the world at large that I had the biggest crush on Donny Osmond. 
And David Cassidy.
Come on! This guy was gorgeous! (I think I may still have a crush on him…)
Be still my beating heart!
Is there anything as precious as the innocence of youth? I’d play my Osmonds or Partridge Family albums and dream of kissing the boy on the cover…
Yeah. 
Pathetic.
And then, as I was looking for photos of my old heart-throbs I noticed something very disturbing…
Doesn’t this photo of Donny Osmond remind you of someone?
 YEP! I’m not the only one to notice it!
I’m feeling a little sick now.
I have to go…
z

avoiding housework

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What can I say?
I’ve had 6 days off work and I’ve successfully resisted the urge to do housework every single day!
I’m so proud of myself.
hmph.
The house is a mess. Not helped by the smoked oyster bath Wayne just gave the hallway when he tripped over Barney while carrying a snack to the living room.
So, what have I been doing you ask?
Well, I’ve been busy. Doing STUFF.
I did some washing. AND brought it in. Mom would be so proud…*
Sorted out things that needed sorting before my trip to Greece. Writing lists of things I need to organise before I go and then trying to organise them. Making piles of clothes to take or not take with me on the trip. Reading Game of Thrones book 3 part 2. 
(Addictive… Did I mention I got a Kindle for the trip? Love it!)
Caring for the poodles who both decided to get some kind of pyoderma at the same time, necessitating trips to the vet and multiple pills, washing poodle areas with Malaseb and other indignities.
Had to take the new car in for a small fix to the seatlbelts (under warranty).
Had to take myself into the doctor for “women’s complaints”…
I always wondered about that expression… does complaining about men qualify?
One thing I haven’t done (well, besides housework), is ride Cas. So much for my new horse!
Tomorrow all three horses get their hooves trimmed and Wayne has promised me that if he finishes his chores we’ll go riding on the weekend. 
I’m not holding my breath. I’ve seen his list of chores. And I did not add a single item to it!
I won’t ride alone. 
Ok, I would ride alone but I can’t saddle her alone. I’m just not strong enough to do up a girth. With my dodgey right arm/wrist there’s no way I can tighten up a girth enough so that when I put one foot in the stirrup the saddle stays put. If I tried it the saddle would slip right under her very round belly and deposit me on the ground. 
I know a lot of people who’d pay to see that… and come to think of it, I could use the money. I have an overseas trip coming up you know!
 z
* That’s an ‘in joke’ which my followers from the early days will recognise as relating to a story from my last trip to Greece. Which brings up another point… what will happen to the blog while I’m overseas? 

Well… I’ll continue posting, but the posts will probably be a lot more about the trip, my experiences, family and other funny stories than about all the wierd and wonderful things I do and make.  I plan to include a whole lot more photos that relate to what the blog has evolved into: thrifting, rustic stuff, rust, old stuff, handmade stuff, etc. However I’ll also include a ton of photos of blue sparkly waters, sandy beaches and things to make you all sick with envy.

You’re welcome.

a post about nothing

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This is a post about nothing much. Things have been going on as normal around here: busy and busier.

We get up at the crack of dawn every day (actually we get up before dawn these days as winter creeps in) and get home as the sun goes down most nights.

My office still looks like a team of burglars went through it. Even the dogs avoid it these days, no room for them to lie at my feet any more.

I do plan to tidy it up. I do. I have big plans for it. Once I list a million things I need to get rid of on ebay.

As part of the tidy up and organise project I got rid of an ugly set of plastic drawers I had and bought this groovy little cabinet from Shiploads (a cheap and cheaper store). Its only chipboard but its so darn cute. I can forgive it being a fake. I made little labels for the drawers and sorted things into them, like ‘pens’ and ‘more pens’ etc. I love my little cabinet.

Now to bring it out of hiding by actually getting rid of a ton of crap from in front of it.

We do have some huge news actually. I went shopping today. (Nothing new there) Only this time I bought a car.

Ok. I didn’t just go out and buy a car. Its something we’d planned to do over a year ago. The plan was: when I sell my house we’ll buy a new car. Of course, who can afford a new car? We sure can’t. At least not the kind we wanted. A dual cab ute (truck to my american friends), preferably with a canopy, diesel, 4×4, powerful enough to tow a horse float and carry wood from up the hill on our property.

I always do my research. We found that the Mazda and the Ford Ranger kept coming out at the top of the comparisons, too close to pick a winner between them.

I don’t know what the price of a new Mazda ute is, but the Ranger was somewhere in the vicinity of $45,000-$poop-your-pants range.

So we decided to do what any sensible person would do if they have a healthy respect for their hard earned money… we decided to buy 2nd hand. Something newer than my car and with considerably less klms (wouldn’t take much. I think my poor old car went around the world a couple of times according to the odometer reading).

We looked around. We compared what kind of prices we’d be looking at. We looked online. We looked locally.

Then on Thursday we went to a dealership in town which had 3 cars in the lot which fit our requirements. Two Mazda’s and one Ranger. We test drove them all. We took one home one night, one home the next night.

Freaked the dogs out no end, coming home in a different car every night.

We talked about it. We talked about it more. We weighed up klms vs year of manufacture. We compared the minute differences. We compared the added extras or lack of. We discussed practicality and our needs. We looked online some more.

Then we decided that everything aside, we could NOT live with a brown car. That narrowed it down to two, one Mazda and the Ranger. Same engine, different cars.

This morning we were no closer on making a decision than we had been on Thursday evening.

Basically the Ranger was cuter, sexier. I love the look of the Ranger. Its ME. Its a newer model but it has a lot more klms on it. And the seats are lushious. Its more expensive by a couple of thousand and it doesn’t have a canopy or a cover on the back, both would mean spending more money as we need at least a cover – we carry stuff in the back all the time. Moisture sensitive stuff like horse feed.

The Mazda is not so cute. Its the difference of a ute that looks like a ‘ute’ and one that looks like a truck. I’m all for the truck look. I like chunky. Big. High. Tough.

Nice.

But the Mazda had a canopy. It was cheaper. Older in years but less in klms. It has spotlights that can blind oncoming cars 5 towns away. Exactly what you need when to spot wildlife when driving at night. Its a smoother ride, quieter inside…

This morning I left home with Wayne’s blessing to pick the one I wanted. Either one would suit us. He’d be happy with either.

I had no idea when I got to the dealership. They offered me tea with ‘say yes’ juice in it they said. I was planning to say yes anyway, but not sure on which.

In the end practicality won over my heart. I love the Ranger, but the Mazda is what we need. I called Wayne and he was surprised. hehehe. I can still surprise him. 🙂

So, next week we do the paperwork and get a new/old car. Maybe not the sexy one I hoped for, but one which will suit our needs better right off the bat.

Gotta share this as I still laugh when I think about it. Both Wayne and I are clowns which may be why we get along so well. Well, most the of the time…

Anyway, whenever I answer any questions of the “I need to ask you some questions before we can sign you up to a 224 month contract on a new phone” or “I just need you to answer these questions before you apply for this job” type, I channel the Blues Brothers:

“Do you have any convictions?”

“Convictions? ………..ummmm………….. No.”

Wayne did way better than that.

When asked if he had any photo ID on him he asked, “Will the Wanted poster at the Post Office do?”

I’ll leave you with some gorgeous antique poodle photos I found.

z

signs of life at long last

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Yes, I know you’ve been worrying about me.
Where am I? What am I doing? Am I alive but lying in a ditch somewhere?
Well. I’m right here. Doing my Superwoman immitations again. 
I’ve been trying, unsuccessfuly I might add, to stretch every one of my hours into three. 
The theory is that if I could stretch one hour into three I’d be able to get three hours worth of work done, then I could snap the elastic back and still have 2 hours up my sleeve to use later.
Its not working well for me at all.
I keep telling myself that I need to be more organised. And I try. I do try. But in the end my mind still feels like this …
There is always so much to do, so much to remember, so much to organise.
Firstly some news: the sale of my house in Fentonbury has finally gone through. What a huge relief:  a few less bills to pay, less commitments on my time in terms of maintenance, less stress over good-for-nothing tenants.
This is thrilling news for me as I’ve been wanting to go back to Greece to visit family, mainly my mom. I’ve booked my ticket and I’m on my way in TWO months! (happy dance)
The other news is that I’m currently working 5 days a week instead of 4 for a ‘short time’. The word ‘short’ has yet to be defined.
That means that I’m now working 6 days a week as I also groom dogs on my days off, thus my weekend has dwindled to two days with chunks taken out of them for grooming.
I feel a bit like this…
But I’m valiantly trying to get it all done.
The sale of the house meant having to chase up paperwork in time for settlement to go ahead at the scheduled time. It meant cancelling home insurance for Fentonbury and notifying others that I no longer live there, don’t send my mail there (after 3 years some people still haven’t got the message).
Next I’ve got my trip to plan, my ticket is booked but I still have to read through websites and get travel insurance. Not to mention SHOP.  
Naturally.
Then I went and did something really stupid. I mean I know better. I do. Yet, cause a friend recommended a site, I went and gave them my credit card details. Then I cancelled my card. That means more notifying people and changing my automatic bill payments.
I got a quote to have someone else finish the house painting for me but we just can’t afford it. The house painting is not as urgent as, say, the drainage issue on your driveway which channels water under the house and into the casita. So it looks like I still have house painting to do during my ample free time.
Some things had to give. I had planned to have another stall at the next Shabby Market but I just had to pull out. Sorry ladies. I feel bad, but there is only so many hours in a day and I haven’t yet figured out how to stretch them.
Its getting cold, wet and miserable here lately. It doesn’t take long for the weather to go from hot and sunny to miserable, does it? A couple of weeks between summer and winter is all we got. I get home these days and all I want to do is crash out under in front of the fire.

But there are chores to do. No rest for the wicked.  I’m so tired by the end of the day its all I can do to watch TV from under a pile of throws, with a poodle pulled up on either side of me.

In fact that’s how I’d like to spend my weekends. Warm fluffy socks, TV or a book and a nice fire. And coffee in bed.

But I have 6 weeks in Greece coming up! I think I can cope till then. Then I’ll have 6 weeks of lying around on the beach. I shouldn’t complain.. 
z

why I wasn’t around

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Yes. Its been a long time since I posted.
I have very good excuses:
I ran outta gas.
I had a flat tire.
I didn’t have enough money for cab fare.
My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners.
An old friend came in from outta town.
Someone stole my car.
There was an earthquake,
… a terrible flood,
…locust’s.
It wasn’t my fault!!
Ok. So you’re not falling for that.
Fine.
Actually I was out of town for a while. Then I was lazy. And busy. Having a life. You know how it is.
I went to Sydney over the Easter long weekend to attend the Poodle National and help my good friends Iris with their poodles.
Yes. Two Irises. And 5 poodles between them.
Iris No. 1 is a toy poodle breeder, the breeder of my beloved Billybear. Iris No. 2 is a standard poodle breeder. I did up her beautiful black Tango for the show on Saturday and ended up handling her in the ring. (Tango that is. Not Iris.)
That’s something I wasn’t expecting. I mean, I was flattered that Iris asked, I’m not fit and certainly don’t consider myself a good handler, but on the plus side I am younger than she is… Anyway, Tango went well for me and got 3rd in a large class which was pretty good.
The rest of my time up there I groomed toy poodles before, during and after the show. I was exhausted when I returned!
On the Sunday I did up 4 toy poodles which Iris handled to win two 2nd places and one 3rd place. 
To non-showing people that might not sound like much, but trust me, to place at a National is a big deal. Its a huge speciality show and people with poodles come from all over Australia. Most classes are much larger than you get at any local shows.
To be honest, I’m really proud (and flattered) that people admire the way I present poodles and want me to groom for them… so allow me to brag:
Meet the toys I helped with:
I don’t have a photo of Tango unfortunately. I didn’t have my camera with me. Hopefully I’ll get one soon. And maybe one day I’ll brag about some other poodles I’ve presented for shows…
When I got back I just needed to rest, but you know there’s no rest for the wicked. I had dogs to groom here too. That’s the problem when you’re trying to build up a business of your own. You can’t afford to say no and put people off.
I also re-designed Iris’ website. Have a look: Toniri Toy Poodles
Doing websites takes HOURS. I’m not sure I enjoy doing them any more…
I’ve basically done nothing but run on the hamster wheel since I got back from Sydney. I have so many projects that are unfinished or unstarted its not funny.
Its sickening really.
One project I started while at the National was a necklace I’m making out of felted poodle hair. Stay tuned when I figure out how I want that to go together… and when I find a needle to thread the felt balls with.
Another project is a light shade for the wardrobe room I started a couple of weeks ago. I found something I think will work and while trying to clean it up yesterday I cut my finger and remembered we don’t have any band aids.
Then we’ve had a fire nearby. This is the hill opposite us on Sunday.
Lucky for us this fire happened now, when its not so hot, after we’d had some rain, and on a day with no wind whatsoever. If this had started during one of our horrible heat waves with the roaring winds we’d have had to make a quick decision.
I guess I better go figure out what project I should work on today. This will be my last Monday off for at least 4 weeks as they’ve asked me to work 5 days a week for a while to help out. NOT looking forward to that.
Between grooming dogs and the zillion projects I have in my shed, house and head there’s not much room to move!
z

swimming without wetsuits

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Its not a greek island, but it sure is beautiful, huh?
This is the beach at Opossum Bay, down south of Hobart. We went to visit our friends down there yesterday and, naturally, it was a cool, windy, cloudy and otherwise “not swimming” type of day.
But we swam anyway. I mean, we were there! And lately I’ve been dreaming of Greece. A lot. In fact, some of my dreams are more like nightmares.
In the nightmares I’m on Paros and the weather is cold or rough or I’m too busy and I never get to the beach. Its like “wont swim today, maybe tomorrow”… I wake up so depressed. I was on Paros and I didn’t get in the water.
Now, I guess you have to know me to know how that would be a nightmare. I live in the water in summer when I’m in Greece. Maybe I’m part fish. My idea of the perfect greek holiday is to wake up early, get to beach by 10am or earlier, while its still fresh and cool out, grab myself an umbrella and lounge chair (you hire those by the day) and stay there all day.
I order coffee from the nearest bar, buy water as needed, eat fruit I bring with me if I’m hungry and spend the entire day reading and swimming, drying off and getting wet again. In the shade of the umbrella. I still turn as brown as a berry, but except for time spent in the water I never really sunbathe.
Its amazing that I chose to live inland, in the country really, considering how much I love the water. The best explanation I can think of is that Greece has always been the sea for me where Australia has always been country. I love the Australian countryside more than I love its beaches. They’re rough, huge waves which terrify me and, lets not forget… sharks!
Plus Tasmanian waters are legendary for being cold. We could see the icebergs from the beach. Ha. 
So when we went to Anna’s beach (not Opossum Bay beach but another one nearby) and the water was calm with gentle lapping waves and I could see the sand and shells in the sand in the water, it was the closest I’ve come in a long time to the beaches of Greece. I can imagine on a sunny hot day it would be heaven.
I even started to think about selling up and buying a place down there. Imagine living close enough to the beach to walk the dogs down there every day like Anna does, and swim as often as you like. Imagine being able to submerse yourself in cold water to cool your blood down on hot days!
Wayne and I both braved the water without wetsuits and, actually, after the initial shock to the system it was fine. Beautiful in fact. Have I mentioned how much I love being in the sea?
They’re predicting 35 degrees C tomorrow. 
I’m thinking of going to visit Anna again.
Better go wash out the bathing suits and dry them so I can take them to work tomorrow!
z
PS I also did some shopping while down there. More on that later!

chipped paint, old motorcycles and good coffee

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There’s nothing better than a good coffee.
And there’s nothing better than a good coffee in a great environment.
I lived in Melbourne for about 20 years and Melbourne’s full of cafes with atmosphere. If I was to be honest, one of the things I miss most about living in Melbourne would be the cafes… breakfast at a retro cafe on Brunswick Street, or a lazy brunch at a cafe on Sydney Road a short walk from my flat, catching up with friends after work or after a long roller blade in a cool cafe in St Kilda…
There are a few nice cafes here in New Norflolk and around Hobart, but its always great to discover another.
A few weeks ago a new place opened near work. Its called Moto Vecchia and I thought it was going to be a motorcycle shop. 
I was half right.
Its a cafe in a big cement-floored room filled with old furniture that wouldn’t be out of place at my grandmother’s house, and old motorcycles which could have come from my grandfather’s shed.
Natalina, the owner and chef, told me it was a tribute to her family and told me a bit about her grandparents who came to Australia as a young couple many years ago. It struck a cord with me, I remember the stories my parents would tell of their early days here. 
I also knew exactly how it felt to be the ‘wog’ kid in school, having a lunchbox full of home made bread, cheese, fresh tomato and boiled eggs for lunch while the aussie kids ate vegemite sandwiches. 
I still remember how embarrassed I’d be when mom would pull out her checkered tea towels and spread out our lunch in public: small fried meatballs, boiled eggs, olives, chopped up tomatoes and cheese, rolled vine leaves. All I wanted was to go buy a pie from the shop like everyone else. I didn’t want to be stared at, I wanted to fit in.
Nowadays I’d kill for one of mom’s lunches.
How the world has changed.
Anyway, if you’re ever in Rosny, drop in and check it out. Its worth it.
This old motorbike is from the 1920s, sorry about the blurry photo.
This tiny children’s bike hangs on a wall.
Its normal to have a motorbike next to your lounge suite.
z

no rest for the wicked

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I was so looking forward to a couple of days at home, back to normal, no more guests, just me, Wayne, the dogs and the endless chores.
He’s back, so tonight I only have to do half the chores. Phew. Soon I’ll get up off my butt and go feed the dogs, go down to feed and rug Ben, then return to let Wally out of the corral where he eats his dinner.
I thought I had a couple of days of catching up ahead of me. Time to clean the house (again). Do some washing (again). Attempt to organise the office (again). Finish the painting of the two dogs (finally). And start a new crafting project or three.
For my sanity – you know. Me without some crafting project in my hands is a recipe for disaster. Bad things happen when I get crafting/decorating/DIY withdrawals.
I have some yarn lined up to attempt fork pom pom flowers as inspired by Ecclectically Vintage…
I mean, how cute are they?
I want to tidy my pantry using the 99.99% method of recycling and upcycling and doing it the ‘el cheapo’ way… using jars, plastic containers and cardboard boxes and lots and lots of labels.
But no.
I’ll be going training tomorrow.
sigh.
At least its a fun day of Safety Circle (are YOU inside the circle of safety? Hell no. I use chairs to reach high places and paint the house balanced on the top rung of a ladder…) and Sign Language. Both great topics.
I don’t mind training when its something interesting… I get to spend time with people I actually like, cause really, I like almost everyone I work with… and even the ones I might not want to invite over for dinner, I like enough to spend a day with.
Meanwhile, I found a great blog while following links today.
Mandi. I love her! She’s me in a parallel universe, with kids and a much better sense of humour.
Or maybe she’s who I wanted to be.
Minus the kids.
Or maybe we were twins, separated at birth and born years and a continent or two apart.
Who knows.
All I know is she’s my hero! I do believe her blog will help me sort out my own life in some strange way.
z