Gotta love spring

Life continues to surprise me.  I had no idea that high blood pressure made you feel like not doing anything.  I just thought I was a slack bastard. 

Anyway, these days I have loads more energy.  I've decided to make Fridays my giving back day.  I'm volunteering with a local arts organisation and really enjoying it.  Thought I'd make the next step and become a blood donor.  Ah well, it appears that my various health 'issues' need to be sorted out and approved before I give blood.    It's still possible, but I need to get the doctors approval before I do so.

In the mean time, the garden is f*n wonderful.  Mowed the lawn this afternoon and the place looks like a park.  One of the lovely things about gardening here is that we have bumblebees.  I'd never seen them before I moved here.  They are are pretty impressive.  Here's one fertilising my broad beans (which are just setting pods, whoopee).

Sorry about the quality of the photo, but it was moving too fast.

Spring is utterly sprung

I used to think that spring was a bit too garish and overblown.  That came from living in Canberra where a lot of the year is brown.  Spring was just too much of a contrast.  Now I'm in Tas and there's lots of green around all the time, I'm really enjoying spring as it means blossoms and blossoms and blossoms and life.

Here's a little shot out of the lounge room window:

Don't look too closely as there are many cobwebs and weeds in the view.  Mind you, one of the things that sold me on this house is that window.  I love it.  And I can see most of Mount Roland out of it sometimes.  If only the house across the road wasn't there, I'd have a fantastic view.... 

I'm pretty lucky.  I can see the ocean from the kitchen window and can see the Spirit of Tasmania as she arrives and leaves.  There's something incredibly calming about that.

Best thing today is that I have my sewing machine back ($400 later!).  This means I can get going on the machine embroidery again.  I'm itching to get back to it.  I love doing work about windows and what can be seen in and out of them.  The above might be an inspiration.  In the interim,  here's an old one:

My new work arrangement of only doing four days a week is working out fabulously (although financially it's a bit of a disaster).  I have so much more energy.  Today I got heaps of stuff done and also volunteered for work with Tasmanian Regional Arts.  It's about time I made some connections.

Speaking of connections, last weekend I went out.  This is unusual for me as I can be a bit of a hermit. I was sitting in a pub waiting for people to arrive and feeling a bit strange sitting on my own, so I crashed a table.  It was fantastic.  Met a bunch of really interesting people - all Kiwis choosing to live in NW Tas.  I love that people from all over the world end up living on this little island and can understand why they choose to do so.

Murphy's Law

Had a fun day on Monday.  Went out to the back step to sit in the sun while I had my morning coffee only to discover a bit of a plumbing problem.  Seriously backed up sewerage.  So, I called work and said I wouldn't be in and waited for the plumbers to arrive.  They turned up and needed access to the back yard for their vehicle, so I moved my car into the street.  All good.  Half an hour later the drain was functioning again.  I decided to leave the car where it was as this is a pretty safe neighbourhood.

Later in the day after dark,  I was sitting in the studio and fartling around with the computer, as one does.  There was a knock at the door so I answered.  It was the neighbour from across the road.  Always good to see her.  Anyway, she told me that she had just backed into my car.  Oops.

We both went out to have a look at the car.  Couldn't see much damage but it was dark by this time, so I decided to go and get a bit more light to check out the damage.  Trotted off to the front door only to find the bloody thing was locked.  Oh bugger. 

Fortunately, my bedroom window was open so we broke in.  I had to get a leg up, which reminds me of how unfit I am and also of how insecure my house is.  Ah well.

On another topic, today I organised with the company owner to only work four days a week.  Will use my Fridays to do arty and hopefully dosh producing stuff.  It was driving me nuts to sit around for  eight and a half hours a day doing nothing.  This is better for the boss, but will be a struggle financially for me.  With a bit of luck, I'll find something else soon.

So today I'm fiddling in the garden sorting out the veg patch.  It is a fabulously beautiful spring day, so am enjoying it all.  Strange how it feels incredibly invigorating to not be at work on a week day.

Also dropped past the place where I narrowly missed out on my dream job.  It appears that the person they chose isn't quite working out.  Hmmmm.  Fingers crossed she'll move on and they'll call me.

In the mean time, the cats are keeping me amused.  And here they are:

 

I seriously want to come back as one of my own cats.  Golly I'm a good cat parent.

Wodehouse

So, finally, today I got around to downloading some ebooks.

I've been meaning to read a bit of PG Wodehouse.  Have been told it's amusing and have seen one or two of the Fry and Laurie dramatisations, which were amusing.

So while I'm at work, with bugger all to do, I thought I'd at least find something occupying to do - rather than play solitaire for eight hours straight.

Must say that I enjoyed the experience.  The stuff I downloaded was free and legal (apparently).  And I got a few out loud laughs at the situations described.  LOL?

Day by day

Here's a little shot out of the lounge room window

 

Not sure what type of bird it is, but there are a few of them around.  Might be a Silvereye.  

My neighbour's house is a little downhill from me so I get to see their gutter.  Fortunately for me, their gutters are ferked, which means water collects.  The birds love it, so I get to see them all having a bath.  There are New Holland Honey Eaters, Blackbirds and other mysteries.  Love it.

Still sitting on my bum doing much of nothing at all at work.  Last week I even asked the boss to sack me.  No response.  So today I'm applying for a job as a 'Funeral Arranger'.  Suppose that used to be known as a funeral director.  I think I could cope.  I found a friend dead once.  Not a pleasant experience, but I think it gives me an idea of what it's like to live with death.  I reckon I could do a good job at this...

Playing

I'm playing with bits and pieces. Here's a print I did years ago.

It features an embroidery hoop. Not sure what to do with it.  Will work on it.....  Might be fun to embellish...

Home again jigadijig

Went to Darwin last week for my father's 80th birthday.  Stayed with the parents in their new retirement village type home.  It's a nice place, but it's in Darwin.  The neighbours are about a metre away and everyone keeps their windows open.  Not that I have anything to hide, but I don't want to share THAT much.

On Sunday I went for a walk on Casuarina Beach, which was lovely.  Saw this while I was there:

It's the replica of the Endeavour.  Just a bit funny to see it off the coast in a place I always think of as quite behind in time.

Also while at the beach I saw people flying kites, fishing and tandem parachuting.  Not bad for a one hour visit.

The best thing about the beach was that I noticed the tide coming in.  I decided to sit on a rock and wait til the water got to my ankles.  This took about 3 minutes, so I changed my deadline.  Stayed there til it got to my knees.  The water was blood temperature and absolutely clear.  Golly I enjoyed it.