Back at one of the homes

I'm going to Canberra tomorrow.  First time in two years and I'm pretty excited about seeing lots of people.

Have realised that I've swapped a crappy lifestyle and great job with a great lifestyle and a crappy job.  Hmmm.  You can't have everything.

In the mean time, I dobbed the employer in for unsafe work places.  The place was inspected the other day.  They phoned me on Monday to let me know that they didn't want to be too picky as it might lead to the owner closing the place down.  Frankly, this wouldn't bother me, but there are about 10 other people working there that probably need the job, so I wont push it.

Will spend the weekend going to parties and drinkies with mates.  So looking forward to it.  There are loads of people I love and miss in Canberra.

Honey Eaters

My next door neighbour's front gutter seems to have a blocked down-pipe.  This probably doesn't sound particularly exciting, but it is.  It means that the gutter is always full of water and hence full of birds having baths.  Here's a New Holland Honey Eater fresh out of the bath.

I love watching them.  About six pm is the best time and now that we have daylight savings I get to see lots of activity.

The next shot does, in fact, show the bird in the bath but it's a bit of a blur.  I've included it as the backdrop is the view across the river, which is nice.

So it's nice seeing a bit of the wildlife having some fun.

In the interim I am still applying for jobs left right and centre.  One day I'll get a job with a better outlook.

I took the risk by leaping down here.  Now it's nearly two years since the move.  I'm happy with everything bar the job, so that sounds like a success to me.  The garden (one of the main reasons for coming here) is spectacularly gorgeous and I'm enjoying seeing birds sitting in bushes and trees I planted less than two years ago.  What a privilege.

Two things

My mate, Ampersand Duck, has a bit of a thing about typewriters.  So I thought I'd post this:

My brother gave me this years ago.  It's in its box and folds up all ready to carry around.  It's a beautiful piece of machinery.  I have no idea how old it is but it must be early twentieth century. 

In the mean time, I thought I'd treat myself and went to the garden place last weekend to get some veg for the season.  Someone there obviously had several trees/bushes which were producing gorgeous flowers.  They were selling bunches for $3 a pop. 

So I have fresh flowers in the house which is a bit unusual.  Fantastic to have a Waratah in the house.  And I'm very pleased that it matches the gorgeous quilt in the background made by my mother.

The table underneath belonged to my grandmother.  I didn't know her, but it's great to have a little bit of her life in mine.

Saving Daylight

It'a always a bit of a shift when daylight savings starts.  It 'gets late early' as my mother says.

Today I was invited to a mega veg cooking class and lunch.  The food was fantastic.  I was invited by one of the women from work.  It's strange, but I see three of the people from work outside of work, but getting them all together in one place would be pretty difficult.  They are very different people.

In the mean time, here's an embroidery I did years ago.  It's based on Elizabethan costume and a weird etching I done done.  It was a combination of computer stuff, etchings, printings and embroidery.

And for a bit of novelty, here are some gorgeous creatures I picked up in Wagga a couple of years ago.

They're lovely.  Made of plastic and wire.  I think they were made in Africa.  The images behind them are from me, and the thing in the frame is a beautiful silverpoint drawing Ruth Hingston http://www.craftact.org.au/portfolios/artist.php?id=285 . She does gorgeous stuff.

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.