How to repair a market umbrella, and other useful information

Preparations for the girlbaby's 18th birthday proceed apace, and her list of requirements for the celebratory festival is getting longer... so far I've managed to find, amongst other things,  4 dining chairs (interior), 5 easy chairs (exterior), 2 sunlounges, 2 sunlounge cushion sets, (matching) chair pads for the outside chairs, a table, and 2 umbrellas, including one huuuge mint condition white canvas market umbrella, in full working order.

And some of this was done in the rain.

I also learned, incidentally, how to fix the problems causing most market umbrellas to be discarded.  If you take something to bits and see how it works, often the problem can be fixed with only minor attention.  In the case of umbrella #1, a 20cm piece of common or garden fencing wire.  This approach is not to be recommended with electrical goods.

The suitcase supply is still growing, my friend Obie takes a dark view of these things, and is watching like a hawk in case I disappear on holidays without him. I think the count for this year is 5 so far - or is it 6?  I'm particularly keen on the nice one with the initials, and the fabulous stickers for the airlines and shipping companies and destinations.

Found inside that one was what is known colloquially I believe as a 'ging' - imported from the UK, according to the label.  There was also an old cap gun which I rather like. 

I found some West German pottery, apparently in demand - who knew that the common description for the glaze is 'fat lava'? Apparently a mistranslation of the German 'thick glaze'.  ( Now you do.)  I have  2 large serving platters, one white, one clear glass, with a fine scene etched into the bottom of the glass, and  2 oversized glass brandy balloon candle holder thingys.  And continuing the kitchen theme, 2 Le Creuset French enamelled iron casseroles, large and medium. Yep, the gen-u-wine articles.

If this keeps going I'll end up cooking, which only leads to cleaning and thus is to be avoided.

Don't even ask about the virtually brand new lawnmower - we know what that leads to.

Quite a lot of the photos will count as the 'befores' in the before and after shots to come - if I ever get a minute to actually get some things done. 

This quilt rack was in pieces - do people not know about good glue?

I'm thinking of erecting the fabulous Black Wolf tent, found yesterday, to house the other projects while I get things sorted and put up the brilliant indoor/outdoor rollup sunshade on the back veranda.

Or maybe I'll just sleep in the tent - less housework...It would be like a holiday, without the suitcases.

Dear Lucy,

I know you're just a little dog but it's an old and hackneyed device to address a letter to someone when you aren't feeling very creative. I've had a big day and I'm pooped.

It's Mothers' Day and all is quiet.  Been a big two weeks and the pace doesn't seem to be slowing at all.  Only 12 working days to holidays, that's got to be a good thing.  Today was really nice and sunny, right up till it wasn't.  Then it was lightningy and thundery and haily, but by then the washing was dry so it was all good.

The white stuff on the grass is called hail.

There was reduced opshopping this week, but I managed to turn up a few bargains, including a new dress, some nice warm jumpers, and a very nice winter tee.  Did I mention the Spencer and Rutherford handbag?  How remiss of me.

 

It was a pretty uninspiring list of garage sales this week, possibly due to coinciding with Mothers' Day.  I did pick up a dear old silver teapot, a kero pump, and an old rolling pin.  I have cunning plans for all.  There was also a shop mannequin for just $5, and I just can't leave them behind. And one of those shelfy things you put across the bath, which fitted my bath perfectly.  I hope my use of technical terms isn't too off-putting for you.

I've been keen to get the sewing machine out - winter = sewing and knitting = love. (I read that in a magazine so it must be true.) I had to wait till I'd done with the jewellery and fishes and the girls for the market, but the machine is out and operational.  I have a pile (literally) of mending, alterations, and new projects to work through.

I don't as a general rule  read junk mail but a coupon on the Spotlight catalogue caught my eye.  It offered $40 off if you spend $100, and on the next page, 1000 threadcount sheets for $80. (They SAY $79.99 but we all know it's $80.)  Long story short, they had the sheets but none of the other fabric I wanted, but I did find some union jack panels which have made some amusing cushions.  And I got everything for $61, which is cheering.  We had a great fabric shop in town before Spotlight loomed over the horizon.  Now, we have seconds, faulty and end of run summer fabric when I'm shopping for winter.  

Hopefully the handmade revival will see a resurgence in the sale of good fabric, because its one of those things you really need to see and touch before you buy.

 I've taken a heap of pics of my jewellery and drawings, but at the moment this is loading photos at the speed of the common or garden snail dragging a pebble in long wet grass, so I'll put those up during the week.

So Lucy, it's probably your bedtime, and by next week I'll be ready to write something original and creative. You, of course, will still be a cute but small dog.

ooh, I do love a good rummage

First of all, Spring here is pretty amazing.  This is a view of Emu Point from Bayonet Head and it's all pretty spectacular.

As you may be aware, we are in the middle of my favourite time of year, when the girls go a-gathering.  And so we have.  Worryingly, the sheer amount of junk which people are putting out appears to have decreased.  It's either that people have stopped consuming and tossing out, reducing waste and living a more green lifestyle, or (much more likely) that the notices about the collection are confusing and the collection's too early in the year and at the wrong time.

 

There have been the usual furphies doing the rounds about who the junk actually belongs to, when it's discarded by the former owner and placed on public property - ie, the verge - for collection.  I would have said that the more critical question is what the contractor does with what's collected.  In the past, separate trucks went around, one for the reusable recyclable stuff, and one for the unsalvageable.  Nowadays, sadly, it all seems to go into a crusher-type garbage truck and straight to landfill.  Do not pass the tip shop, do not reduce waste. 

  

Anyone picking up stuff and giving it another go around is doing their bit for the community by reducing landfill.  There.  I feel much better.

With my usual collection compatriots enjoying the European Autumn, I started slowly and small this year with my neighbour, but a friend with a 4WD and I spent a happy 6 hours today combing the allotted areas in a grid pattern.  Obsessive?  Perhaps, but the haul was impressive.

I've been able to replace my wheelbarrow (from a couple of years ago, sadly no longer able to carry things) with a more sturdy model.  My baby will be going to live on a farm (literally) and be planted out with flowers.  2 wooden sunloungers, one for me, one for aforesaid neighbour. Oh, the suitcases.  I'm liking the 50's/60's streamlined models this year, very groovy.   I got some rusty containers for my tomatoes and some gloriously rusty but robust garden edging.  A meatsafe ( including the hooks still inside), with a very original hinge replacement.   You may be sensing that I like rusty rustic stuff.

 

 Wonderful picture frames, some old, some not.  A horseshoe.  A dome tent.  An old cutlery box.  A kerosene lamp base.  Wooden frames for a project which is beginning to take form somewhere in the back of my mind.

The sheer serendipity of it is stupendous.  Roll on next week!