Tobruk, taxidermy, and trainers

A sunny few days - warm to the point of bored with it now. Never mind, I'm sure it is just a small hiccup and it will rain again soon, so best to enjoy it while it lasts. I took advantage of the day to bath the dog - he was unamused and remains somewhat sniffy about the whole business.

I spent some time yesterday looking through a pile of Pix magazines from 1941 - 43. I've been meaning to do it for ages and a chance conversation with someone who is looking for items on Tobruk, combined with the need to sit in the cool on the front verandah, proved fruitful.

I decided to scan a few bits which I think I might find a use for in particular, some great images, interesting articles, and some lovely ads. I shall devote some more attention to them soon. I have included a few favourite bits here.

The spin on the war articles, the fashion items, the stories of Hollywood glamour, all made riveting reading.

We went out saling (garage saling, that is) today, although we usually have a rest day on Sunday. This is, of course, because we have usually spent the cash allocation on Saturday. We ended up at a deceased estate sale, slightly out of town, full of rusty bits. I do love a good shed sale.



I felt a bit sorry for the kids hopping out of the car to go in to look for toys.

Although I gathered a number of interesting things, including a (coffee) tin of brass sprinklers - to become the bases of small sculptures - some unidentified bits the best of all was scrap from the big bins marked 'free'. I did point out that all the copper pipe in the free bins could be used by the lady for conversion to cash - they are worth a bit. She dragged them back into the shed, for the benefit of the nice lady selling the stuff.

From the content of the sale, the owner of the shed had been a horse trainer, possibly a farrier. There were lots of things to do with horses hooves, as well as tack. It's so sad to see that sort of equipment, and the skills, dispersing. I know there are still farriers about and that their skills are highly prized, but those skills of working with your hands are so important.

I can see why the handmade movement is growing around the world.

Not sunny here

The weekend has drizzled into greyness, luckily the rain thinned out the crowds on Saturday's treasure trail. We took an apprentice with us, it's always good to see a new convert.

This is really just an update on the weekend's acquisitions - although there was some treasure left behind - some fantastic chairs, an ornate wooden inlay box, for example - but sometimes you just have to prioritise space and money. There are only so many chairs you can sit on and I am deficient in the shed area.

This won my heart when I opened it - so cute!! Like I really neeed another suitcase. The inside is fantastic, maybe a little tidying on the outside.

Another hatbox - note to self - probably enough suitcases, hatcases, collar boxes and trunks now.

Seriously.

Someone had decided to cover it (quite well) but had missed the important step of not closing it till AFTER the glue dried. Time, patience and a chisel will generally open most things. Eventually.

There were also quite a lot of nice picture frames, another interesting jigsaw puzzle, and this:
Strangely compelling.

I AM vintage mid-century modern!

As those treasures from the 1950's and 60's become so, so desirable, I must point out that I am myself of that era and hence 'mid-century modern'. I kinda like it.
I have been experimenting with collage, mixed media fish - just for a change.

I was reasonably happy with this as a first attempt, although the work is too big to scan and therefore photographed a bit unevenly.

I have finished and framed some more ink on shipping charts fish, which will probably debut soon.

I'm also working on some jewellery and other frippery, as well as a special project for a friend's wedding.
I'm also contemplating t-shirts - I have to do some investigating first - and probably also some serious saving!

I have been reading widely and well - OK, widely. I discovered John D MacDonald via a reference in someone else's biography. He was one of the best of the 60's crime/thriller authors. His protagonist, Travis McGee is Jack Reacher without the overdeveloped ordinance, with a smattering of Robicheaux. Because they are not all currently in print, I have spent some time scouring all possible sources.

I finally found 10 novels for $20 including post on Ebay, and am awaiting the thunk of delivery on the front verandah. While I read those I will be searching for the remainder of the series. He was certainly ahead of his time.

Also in the pile, The Gorton Experiment (The fall of John Grey Gorton) by Alan Reid; The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton, by Kathryn Hughes; and today's find, Boy with a Camera, the Story of Jacques-Henri Lartigue by John Cech.

The slightly chilly dampness which has been falling from the sky - for those in Perth, we call it 'rain' - has been refreshing and leaving lovely droplets on the biiig spider web on the clothesline. The spider himself must be very patient, as the odd easterly breeze sometimes wrecks the web and he (she?) has to start again.

Meanwhile, some of the moths and other insects are making away while the sun doesn't shine.

These gorgeous pillowslips are a present from a friend with an eye for the absolutely adorable. They are from Remedy in Fremantle and I carefully kept the detail of the maker, which I will post as soon as I remember where I carefully put it.

The Tao of Stuff

This week, I have been immersed in the Millenium Trilogy - and adjusting to books where the characters sound like IKEA designers, and the location names remind me of IKEA products. I was stunned and slightly disturbed to find that in The Girl Who Played With Fire - book 2 - when Salander went to IKEA and furnished and fitted out her apartment, I knew most of the items by name. Yikes. IKEA is, of course, one of my favourite places, next to, on the pedestal, DJ's and Myer ( my spiritual home).

Yes, it's true. I am shallow. But I understand retailing as a philosophy, a concept, a calling. I understand, on a molecular level, shopping. Acquisition. Browsing. On all levels, not only the high end, but also the other end - garage saling, second hand, vintage, op shops. Ebay. Amazon. I understand it. I get it. I understand markup and profit margins and merchandising and below the line costs.

It makes me sad when op shops try to be upmarket retail ( yes, Red Cross, I mean you). Seriously, if I want to buy tacky imported and tasteless trash, there are places where it is better done and cheaper. And don't even get me started on bad, loud country and western music being played in the background. There is a wealth of information available on selling, and none of it contains the suggestion that listening to dysfunctional dirges of suicidal urges, broken relationships and misery adds anything to the shopping experience (other than the minuscule amount of calories lost in fleeing the shop.) Mary Portas, where are you when we need you?

Stuff, however accumulated, can be important. It can define a space, make a house NOT a display home but a real home. Somewhere real, that people can live and enjoy. It can come and go, have a defined use, or simply make you smile when you look at it. Maybe it reminds you of something warm or nice, or someone special.

It's not about the most fashionable or the most minimal, antique or expensive. It's about being comfortable and making a home to live in. It's certainly not about cleaning or worrying that someone might not think that you have.

There is a great big secret that no-one ever talks about. It's that the business of living makes a mess. A lot of the time, real people don't live in an immaculate, shiny clockwork house.


Relax, enjoy yourself. Enjoy your creation - your home.

The rules of haircare are simple and finite

Another week, another little gallery.

A damp and coolish week, the lawn has grown about 2 inches and everything smells quite clean and fresh. Ah, February in Albany, Western Australia.

I spent some of the time reading Augusten Burroughs' Running with Scissors. I have had it in the 'to read' pile for ages, but distracted by Sookie Stackhouse- yes, I admit it, I love them -I hadn't quite gotten around to it.

I was doing some housework on the weekend - even I was surprised- and decided that the piles of books growing on the floor again needed to be dealt with. Rearranging my books is one of my favourite things and I rediscovered several I had forgotten about.

One of the passages which will stay with me has to be
"We were young. We were bored. And the old electroshock therapy machine was just under the stairs in a box next to the Hoover."

Burroughs' description of his life as a child and adolescent is dark, witty and insightful - and strangely familiar in its frenetic and often bizarre descriptions of dysfunctionality. A cracking good read, AND I feel better about my own parenting skills.

How many shopping days to Xmas?

February. So soon.

The reviews for January are in. Pretty good, all things considered. Number of cyclones in Albany - 0. Sunny days - check. Some refreshing rain - check. Holidays - love 'em. Public holidays - need more of them! The start of the working year - overrated as a concept. The people who say they would keep working if they won Lotto? Shouldn't be allowed to buy a ticket. They are getting in my way.

The big questions of the month - Why can't we have a long weekend for Australia Day? And when did Australia Day become the national drinking holiday? St Patrick's Day, now that's a drinking holiday. The Australia Day long weekend used to be the last family long weekend of the Summer - last chance to get to the beach, before school starts. From there to newspapers full of full page ads for booze - yep, that's a step forward in nation-building.

This was the week when the cyclone didn't here but did over there. I got the distinct impression that the commercial media were actually disappointed that it went as well as it did - not quite enough mayhem, all too well organised, no-one to point a finger at. My boycott of the commercial media rolls on - thank you, thank you ABC and SBS. The disappearance of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert is, however, deeply troubling. I miss you, boys.


The op-shop and general scavenging scene has been a bit average so far this year, but things seem to be on the up and up.

Friday, a good haul including a small Gocco printer - a type of screen printer, very hard to come by indeed, quite expensive and hard to get. This one virtually brand spanking new - OK, so some of the instructions are in Japanese, but I am fairly sure the internet will provide the equivalent of Gocco 1.1. A globe of the world, an interesting book on using markers in art, a haul of Raymond E Feist books for the son and heir. Half a bootload, a yummy lunch. A good end to a tiring week.

Saturday, hardly any garage sales, but what there were, were choice. I was sad to leave the slabs of 1930's jarrah, but seriously, even I couldn't manage them. There were a few other classics though-I am formulating a cunning plan.

Some more fish....for no particular reason

Continuing the fishy theme - some new additions, which have been mounted and framed.