You know it's really been raining when ducks take refuge on next door's roof.

So much sunshine, so little weekend.  Quite a few things to show you this week.

You know it's been raining when the ducks take refuge on next door's roof.

 

I weeded garden bed #1 today, in preparation for planting.  I've hired a new lawn mower man, who managed to cut the lawns and trim the edges without making a huge mess or doing my head in. He seemed to grasp that the lawns are to be cut once a month and not whenever he's short of cash - the reason for the demise of the previous arrangement.  So far, so good. (Relative) garden normality has resumed.

Various outgoings this week: one of my fave fish drawings went to live in Tasmania, in an unexpected but pleasant symmetry.  Handed on some clothing to a friend for use or re-purpose, depending on her mood.  A glimpse of the spare bed, with less spare clothing storage.

I made some Mad Men-type necklaces - really a quick re-purpose of some vintage finds into a more wearable length.  I also found some finished pieces which I'd forgotten I had, while sorting out the 'in progress' drawer. I found a positive pile of sterling silver jewellery this week.  Some of it will no doubt surface later on this page.

I found, repaired and repainted a bookcase to match one I had - thus reducing the tottering tower of acquisitions. It wasn't a big job but not bad for 50 cents.

Before...

Sometimes I find something that just wins my heart, and this week it was a dear little hand carved rustic boat, and an old sieve, which I found in the rubbish pile outside a house where there was a garage sale.  One man's sieve is another woman's hanging shadow box.      I. Love. This.

There were a few other must-haves which arrived this week:  glass squirrel bowl, anyone? 

The room divider will be a work in progress, I suspect.  The girl child has already remarked that she would like it in white in her room.  It needs some TLC on the improvised hinges but otherwise is in good condition, if a little over-varnished. It goes to that vintage 60's/70's decorating theme.

 

But stop, what are these interesting round ceramic plates marked "Edison", I hear you ask?  I'm glad you noticed them.  They were the tops to Edison battery jars, and will make nice trivets.  There was also another old wooden crate, to go towards a larger crate construction in the planning and development stage.

I found a tin of wooden puzzle pieces, destined for re-purposing for jewellery and other things, and a friend who collects kitschy religious pics will just love this one in 3D.

Don't forget Father's Day is fast approaching and you can find my original art for sale here.

the early verge gets the worm

The annual socialist redistribution of shite, better known as the verge collection of hard rubbish,  starts in about a week, but the first piles are slowly starting to appear.  We spotted the first one yesterday and gathered a solid vintage crate and some parts of a dismembered lawn mower.  In answer to the unasked question, I don't know yet.

We thought we should make a preliminary reccy today, but the sun and lack of wind obviously had people doing other things than cleaning up their sheds.  As long as we were out that way we checked out the fishing at the King River bridge.    This chap was fishing for Mulloway.  Bream  was being caught on the other side of the road.

In preparation for both the distraction of the forthcoming verge collection and the Xmas Summer Street market - held in November - I've been making jewellery and framing drawings and generally ignoring the housework.  I did get time to plant some english spinach, and basil and have been generally getting organised for the warmer weather.

The weather obviously affected the garage sales, as the only things of interest I picked up were a 1920's PG Wodehouse book in MINT condition for $1 (yippee, I love Wodehouse) and a very sad little table for free.  The St Vincent de Paul depot sale - usually a mecca for treasure was sadly and unusually bereft and I only grabbed a couple of paperbacks. Likewise, the Opshops weren't ringing any special bells on Friday.  The table is sturdy underneath and the top will be easily replaced from stock on hand.

The lawnmower man is missing in action, I was worried I had somehow offended him but I note that his other customers in the street are also going with the kikuyu jungle look (rain and warmer weather = knee deep grass) so I'm guessing holiday. I hope he gets back while the dog can still navigate without a map.

Here are some sort of moody shots of some of the pieces I made this week. There were a lot more than this but loading photos is so slow tonight, I'll save them for a time when things are moving more quickly.