Kangaroos, emus, and cute little baby pigs

Easter.  

Chocolate. Waffles with blueberries, icecream and maple syrup.













Sculpture in the water and on the hills.

Kangaroos, emus, and cute little baby pigs.

Markets, hippies, music, sunshine.  Laughing, looking, forgetting to sleep. Ridiculously early mornings and late nights.

Scavenging, swapping, finding, planning. 

Maps, suitcases, thermal underwear. 

And a whole 'nother day to go.

after the before

Befores and afters, this week.

I could show you the befores and afters of my hands, but you probably don't want to see happy snaps of broken fingernails, blisters, and other wounds.  Ouch.

I've also been working on some new fish, I have 3 commissions to complete before I depart on my Big Adventure.  More of that next week.













Before:

I got this stool a while ago, I like these wind up stools, and this one has a wooden mechanism.  The seat was, as we say, gestumphened - an ex-seat - but I found a handmade lazy susan at a garage sale to replace it. It had been very thoroughly and meticulously made by an older gentleman, which means that demolition took a long time and caused most of the aforementioned injuries.  It took a chisel, some bandaids and a lot of patience, but I'm happy with the result.

After:



(As an unrelated aside, the repurposed dishwasher drawer makes the best underbed storage.)



I've been thinking about garden art for a while now, I've been gathering the bits and struck out this weekend to make some prototypes.  


On the recurrent Alice theme, I like the old enamel teapot.  It's quite small, but I like the colour.  I'm working on some teacups to go with it.

And on the more ethereal front, I like these glass ones, they are upcycled light shades and the light makes them almost glow.

the enigma of the residual smile

A grey and misty week, with occasional downpours, interspersed with rare but welcome rays of cheering sunshine and a residual enigmatic smile. 

I have a Big Trip coming up soon, and in a wardrobe containing such a lot of black clothes, it's sometimes hard to find particular items.  Especially in a dark room. (This has been on ongoing issue when getting ready for work.) I've set aside a small mountain of items which I'll (unbelievably) cull down to 2 pairs of jeans, one pair of black pants - plenty to choose from - some (not black)layering tops, a jumper, and a jacket. Plain black skirt optional.

On the upside, I've done all the stain removal, and mending, on a bunch of stuff I won't take. 

I dug the suitcase out, causing the dog to go into anxiety meltdown.  He clings to me now like a - well, a furry anxious clingy thing. It's going to be a long few weeks, passed in a cloud of dog fur with occasional whimpering (probably from me.)

I'm also wondering whether I should keep, or sell, my Union Jack Doc Martens.  My mother was fond of the phrase 'mutton dressed as lamb', and one reaches an age where one scans the crowd for an accusatory 'baa'.  On the other hand, I have always wanted to grow old quite disgracefully. Being the old girl in the rocking chair, tripping up the nursing staff with a daintily extended Doc certainly has appeal.


That enigmatic smile just hangs in there.

Inglourious tipshop trawlers, unite!

The election came. The election went.  The sun still shone - well, OK, it rained, but it was the first rain for ages and most enjoyable.  But the world continued to turn.

As previously reported, the domestic archaeological recovery team went on a road trip, like Thelma and Louise, without the headscarves and the convertible, but with a 4 wheel drive and a trailer.  No sign of Brad Pitt, except in a viewing of Inglourious Basterds on Sunday night.We found a new tipshop (new for us - it's been there a while).  We found the Armadale Tipshop. It was so good, we went twice, and took friends.

The City of Armadale shows a real commitment to recycling, with the full range of items for sale, from building materials to homewares to furniture to electricals to clothing. It's well set out, the prices are very reasonable, the staff are helpful and friendly. There seems to be a common link in good tipshops - the staff are committed to what they do and the managing council is prepared to provide some proper resourcing.

We found some very cool things - including an old metal milk crate, and yes, another suitcase.  We didn't see a snake.














It was a very professional operation and a new must-see destination for tipshop trawlers. They're open Thursday 10 -2, Friday and Saturday 8.30 - 4.30 and Sundays 8.30-4.

City of Armadale - a sign or two from the highway would be really helpful. 

We called in at Kojonup in the hopes of catching the opshop open but, as has been the case every time for the past 24 years for me, it was closed.   One day, I'll get there. Tragic as I am, we took photos through the windows.


They don't have a tipshop.

We revisited the Mindarie tip (as reviewed here)again.  This time (a weekend) there was less to choose from, probably because of the larger numbers of shoppers. I got a bag of books for a good price, but didn't really see much else I just had to have.

The Balcatta tipshop ( also reviewed here) was, as always, a happy afternoon's trawling.  Having learned to sneak straight into the carpark, it was quicker to get to the good stuff.  An excellent selection of everything from the rusty to the ridiculous.  The staff were a little more - ahem - laid back that at the previous two establishments but the through traffic was positively hectic.  It took ages to find someone to pay or answer questions, which was a bit disappointing, but then there was heaps of stuff coming in all the time too.  The prices were considerably higher than last time but then it seems that the pricing policy is dependant upon the individual on the day. It remains less organised but way more fun and is still highly recommended.

We haven't unloaded the trailer yet, so there will be more pics next week.

We also found 2 good salvage yards, a pile of timber and firewood, and collected some other interesting bits and pieces.

normal transmission will be resumed....

Been a bit busy. Being forced to watch people blatantly discriminated against, harassed and bullied really disturbs my ability to be amusing. Apparently, ethics are optional.  Who knew? Vale the world where honesty, fairness and loyalty used to exist.  I miss it.

So here are some pretty pictures of the road from Perth to Albany in Western Australia, last weekend. it's the end of Perth's official hottest summer, ever. Things are pretty dry.

The next installment will contain happy news of a newly discovered and highly recommended Perth tipshop, new salvage yards, and thrifted and found fabulous things.  I promise.

This guy gets extra points for ingenuity....well done that man!