Made another shirt

 There's not much painting or anything interesting going on at the moment in Canberra - although I did go to Urban Sketchers yesterday, I'll have to take a photo of what I did - so the sole light of creativity is shining at the coast, where I made another cotton top. Nothing very exciting, and I've made the pattern before, but I thought it was pretty.

This is the outfit for someone about to go and spend two thousand dollars at Bunnings on a kitchen bench type thing. That we have to put together ourselves. I nearly cried at the moving guy when we realised that the quote was for us packing most of our stuff into boxes and that if we wanted them to pack it would cost double. I HATE packing but also LOVE money. It's a conundrum.

The cutest thing about this shirt is that I had some fabric left over so made a pair of matching shorts. I could wear them together, but I will not. It would look silly, but inside my soul I like the idea of rampaging around town in a cotton checkered set. 

Number two has gone back to Melbourne so a fleeting but very welcome visit .. including the new house finally! I don't know if it made a positive impression but that's where all their stuff is going so I'm sure we'll get a visit or two...

Took a break from all the house things

I went down the beach for a couple of days - so sick of everything to do with house stuff! So me and the cat headed off ... Saturday was an absolutely beautiful summer's day.

Then it took a slightly autumnal turn.

I did some sewing, went for swims and walks, ignored the cat mostly. Sometimes she found me.

We have number two staying for a few days, which is delightful! This was on the back of a weekend trip up to Sydney for Mardi Gras - the minibus made a drop off on the way back to Melbourne so happiness all round. The weekend sounded like an exhausting amount of fun ....

Made a shirt

I finally wore the shirt I made last time I was at the beach - nothing terribly exciting but should come in useful. The fabric is a fairly heavy viscose twill, so I originally thought it would be too dense for a shirt, but it has a lovely soft drape ... and there wasn't enough for a dress so shirt it was! A nice oversize shirt that's easy to wear with anything.

I didn't wear it anywhere exciting, just to the shops. Which is the most exciting place I go these days, except for my farewell drinks on Thursday, which was a lovely catch up with my colleagues. It has been such a nice group - we used to have regular drinks around covid time (whenever it was possible) because so many of us were working from home but it's faded off a bit since. 

Another shirt shot. It's been super hot here the last few days - more typical February weather than what we've been having. I've been doing some early morning nostalgia walks around the trails by my house - reminds me of lock down because these are the walks I used to do then. A two hour walk without a mask even though we were only supposed to exercise for an hour at a time with a mask ... how naughty and rebellious of me. I figured that the three people on average I saw on those walks who I avoided by at least ten metres did not pose a substantial risk to my health (or me to theirs).

Good cupboards, shit cupboards

Yesterday we horrified the cupboard guy - who has spent two weeks building the most beautiful built-in, solid-as-a-rock, painted and corniced and varnished cupboards you've ever seen - by building an entire wall of IKEA cupboards in the hallway/linkway. They are very awful, but we don't know what we're going to do with that space yet - there might be some knocking down of walls in the future - so cheap it is. 

The cupboards will be useful, although definitely not straight, despite our best efforts. That set up there took us ALL DAY from 8.30 to 5.30, which is more sustained effort than I've shown for anything in a while. We had to be out there first thing for the screen door guy and the mattress delivery guy (cupboard guy has a key) so we decided just to churn out the cupboards as well. 

This is what my rural idyll looks like at the moment. Absolute freaking chaos but I'm trying not to let me get me down. It will go, and then we can give it all a decent clean and put some curtains up. 

Cupboard guy has a very adorable old dog who supervises everyone quite closely. If asked, would I allow random dogs on my new expensive carpet? I would not, but given the state of the world, it is probably a good time to not sweat any of the small stuff. And this dog liked to come and give little nose rubs if she thought you were doing a good job, which was needed yesterday as we wrestled chipboard pieces together.

I did manage to connect the internet with hardly any fuss which is a major win. And the new screen doors look amazing -  will keep out bugs and snakes, which the old ones would not - so that's good. We got the indestructible security mesh but not for burglars - for the kookaburra who absolutely destroyed the old screens. Ripped the mesh out of the frame, twice.

On we go

 As expected, the house didn't sell at auction - although we did get to meet some of the neighbours we didn't know, house auctions are apparently a community event - so we've just whacked a price on it and put it on the market ... which is perhaps what we should have done at the beginning but it's so hard to know. And it probably doesn't make that much difference. This means more open homes, which is a pain, but our house has never been so clean and organised, so that's nice.

I am taking my walks around the lake as a 'farewell to Canberra' nostalgia event. It is a lovely walk, and the weather's been sunny but not crazy hot. 

Today we went out to the new house to pick up the trailer (remembering where the trailer is is an unexpectedly large part of retirement) and admire the new carpet that I hadn't seen yet. It is lovely! Not too dark and looks nice with the blue. We splurged on a very thick and bouncy NZ wool carpet that feels sooooo pleasant underfoot. Given the dodgy floors we thought a good carpet could hide a multitude of sins and so far so good. 

Cupboard guy still hasn't quite finished but we were able to put a few bits of furniture in the right rooms and it's made a big difference (psychologically if not physically) and feels a bit less chaotic. My husband vacuumed too - to get rid of the new carpet fluff and assorted mess - and that made it much better. We'll have to do a proper clean before we move in but it feels more under control now. On we go!

Week One

I'm typing this into my new laptop that I had to go and buy - as well as a new iPad - to replace the tech that my work took off me! I'm quite enjoying only having one phone but doing all the set-up work yourself is a lot of faffing about ... although our IT support at work was legendarily hopeless, so I have to remember all the eye-rolling I used to do about them and be happy I get to set things up the way I want for once. I got a gaming laptop because I wanted a proper graphics card (that's pretty much the only difference) - it's fine but I didn't realise it has a multicolour light-up keyboard that changes colour all the time! I'm sure I can turn it off somehow ... it's really not my vibe. 

I went in today for my farewell morning tea and lunch -  last week was too busy so we put it all off until this week. It was lovely, but feels like I've been gone for a lot longer than six days :) I heard all the goss and of course I'm still interested in everything, so it was nice to catch up. Such a lovely bunch of people I worked with, I am missing the chatting about gardening and baking already. Speaking of baking, a co-worker made a cake of me painting in retirement! Isn't it amazing? She thought I need stars on my pants, and I could not agree more.

Other than that it's been a lot of life admin this week - and admiring the flowers my husband gave me for retirement / valentine's day. Setting up the tech, putting the internet on at the new house, another trip out to fill more holes in the floor. Which was worth it because the carpet went in on Wednesday and they had no trouble - I haven't seen it yet (my husband went out for that one) so next trip. Cupboard guy didn't finish before the carpet which is a bit of a pain but he's promised to be careful with the painting and cornicing! Once he's done we will go out and do some serious cleaning - everything is filthy - then it's just external doors and we can finally move in.  And build the IKEA cupboards in the hallway; there's a bit we're not sure what we're going to do with yet so we're going the cheap option for storage until we figure it out. Yes, they will still be there in fifteen years when we move out, you heard it here first. So we also spent four hours in IKEA on Monday.

We've had a couple more open homes, including on Wednesday, to which one person came. The auction is on Saturday but we're not optimistic, after the initial flurry there hasn't been much serious interest. So we're thinking about our Plan B (and C and D). Luckily we don't have to sell in a hurry so we'll probably just wait for someone who wants to buy it! Highly sophisticated plan, as you can tell. We are both a bit discombobulated with the uncertainty and with everything that's going on ... but we knew this would be the shit stage, and it is... but the cat is super happy with us home, and especially when I have a little lie down after lunch. 

Retired!!!

Can you believe it, yesterday was my last day at work after nearly thirty years in the public service (or adjacent). I had a lovely week - busy, because parliament was sitting - but I made to sure to enjoy my last shifts, and my last meetings, and everyone wished me well and made a point of saying hello as I wandered about (getting my exit form signed off!) and it was generally a very nice vibe. I am so lucky to be able to leave on a relative high - without being sick of my job or hating it or being too old or unwell to continue - it is a rare privilege. Definitely bittersweet.

I wrote my retirement into some meeting papers and one parliamentary speech to make sure I got acknowledged (yes, I know, but if you want something done do it yourself) - and the member in question went beyond the bland sentence I'd written for some more heartfelt thanks, which was lovely and will now live in Hansard forever :) My other committee gave me a present (silk scarf, indigenous print, very pretty) and we had a cheesey photo in front of the flags.

My job is often on camera, which is normally not good, but it means there is a visual record of some of the past years! For your last shift they send in the official photographer with the telephoto lens ... the prime minister was giving a speech at the time so I did not realise it was me being snapped - and would also explain the smiling. We usually do the poker face but if the PM cracks a dad joke you're allowed to smile (photo credit Auspic, thank you for getting ALL my chins).

I also often pop up on the background of the news, which is a bit disconcerting.

Most famously, when one of the opposition front benchers dressed up as Tina Turner. I am very proud of my poker face in this shot because I was internally giving Much Sideye.

So there you have it, on to the new adventure!!!!! It feels so strange to be done with this stage of life but I am ready for the next one.

More house things

We had another open home on the weekend - not as many people showed up, which you'd expect, but it is a bit worrying. Hopefully someone will buy it ... we took the cat up to the lookout at the top of the arboretum this time. I don't think she appreciated it. Pam, I cannot imagine showing your own house! Or, even worse, being shown around a house by the person who lived there. Awkward! how do you peer into all the cupboards? I don't think I could contain my comments (in either role).

On Sunday we went out to the new house - I hadn't seen the finished paint job so that was very exciting. The dark blue in the hallway was a bit of a departure but I love how it turned out. I had originally thought a gold or mustard (because that is the colour I always want to paint everything) and I still think that would have been good, but the blue picks up on the blue tones in the stained glass above the end door. And it's nice and dramatic! There's light coming from all four directions, and as it moves about it changes tone, which is exactly what I wanted.

We spent the time cementing over the cracks and gaps in the floor tiles to make them a bit more even. The cupboard guy suggested cornice cement which was very easy to apply and is apparently nice and flexible and stronger than plaster or spakfilla. It will all have carpet over it so we're not too bothered but this should make for a better finish ... who would know. We got a sense of achievement.

The cupboard guy is building cupboards into the void between the kitchen and the bedrooms that we didn't know about ... when they dropped the bedroom wing in (old schoolhouse from a neighbouring small town) they left about a metre wide gap and closed it in. We didn't realise until the carpet guy was measuring up and the hallway didn't match the bedrooms. 

There was a HEAP of builder's rubbish (and general rubbish) in there, but cupboard guy has cleaned it out and put some more concrete down around the footings which were looking a bit trashed. So that's good. He also got a good look into the roof (very solid, they did a nice job adding it on apparently) and the sub-floor for the older part, which is apparently resting on boulders and bricks. Very normal for a mid-Victorian house and it's been standing this long so we're not too bothered. 

And it means our new cupboards don't extend so far into the room, so that's good. But he had to completely re-frame them so it will be wildly expensive but honestly? what isn't wildly expensive at this stage. We are spending money like you would not believe. On a more cheerful note, these completely neglected roses by the front door are stunningly lovely.

Advanced brainless painting

This is really about what you do when you can't do anything complex. I have just been putting colours on the page.

I quite like them, they look like fuzzy blankets.

It is not at all difficult to do. So I did a number. 

I think they are pretty. Some colours work better than others.

The main problem is waiting for them to dry - they have between 8 and 12 layers.

Decorative pillows

The open home went fine according to the real estate agent - he sent through a long list of all the comments people had made and what they thought the house was worth ... which is very depressing. I know intellectually that I myself have walked through dozens (probably hundreds) of houses, given a wild guess as to its value and explained to the agent why I wasn't buying it - but reading page after page of 'dated bedrooms ' 'too many stairs' 'bathroom needs work' is quite disheartening. But the agent isn't bothered so we're trying not to be.

I have watched far too many house selling shows on television so had a stress frenzy of decorative pillows. My brain knows nobody buys a house because of a pillowcase but the rest of me went to town. I even ironed some of them.

We did take the cat for a little drive and sat in a park with an ice-cream (us, not her). She was not at all impressed but as a general rule she likes being with us, so we poked our face in her carry case and said hello every once in a while and she was fine.

Yes, cockies are cockatoos and they can be incredibly noisy! We will find out soon enough. Otherwise, Parliament is back this week so it has been very busy ... I'm trying to enjoy everything before retirement but it is hard to focus. 

Brainless painting

I have not been challenging myself on the art front for a couple of months now ... it's just been splashing a bit of paint on as a distraction at the end of the day. Which is absolutely fine. It usually ends up as flowers.

Lots of flowers.

Although one set of large blobby birds.

And some chickens.

Then back to flowers.

And that was January

Where did the last ten days go? I am still only working two days a week, so it wasn't that ... we have done all the final scrubbing of the house before the photographer came and we've had one showing already. First open home tomorrow which means taking the cat out for a drive for half an hour. I'm sure she'll LOVE that. There is a for sale sign on the pavement and a listing on the websites so I guess we're in for it now! Scary.

I took a small beach break in the middle of it - we had some very hot days and some time apart was probably good for ongoing marital harmony. I had a lovely time with many swims and some sewing and not thinking about anything to do with moving house. But on the way down I dropped in at the Braidwood house to see the painting progress, which is amazing. It makes such a difference. 

My husband had been spraying the blackberries, which are dying but way too slowly for his liking. That is not his spraying outfit, he had a shower to rinse off the poison. Although we went out for lunch and the cafe owner saw the t-shirt and told us about the time Sam Neill came in for a meal! A big name for a small town. Apparently he was very nice.

The painter is from another little town about two hours drive away so he has set his caravan up and is staying there for the duration (going home on the weekends). It means he can set his own schedule and it's quite nice having someone there while we're not. He reckons he's woken at 5 am every morning by the cockies so we'll see how that goes when we move in...

Sketchbook tour

I bought an expensive (for me) Baohong cotton sketchbook somewhere and it's been sitting on the shelf waiting for an important occasion or for my skills to improve. Which isn't going to happen, so I used it the way the people on Youtube say you're meant to use sketchbooks - to test ideas, develop a theme, practice things and generally just chill. It was great to do and it's all in one spot now so I can flick back through it. The pages are about A5 size so not huge, but enough to do some mucking about. I started with an internet reference photo and did various ideas of leaves.

Played about with white pen on watercolour background for a while (there are half a dozen variants not shown! It was all a bit the same).

Moved on to marigolds, or possibly flowers that look like marigolds. And from there to flowers generally for a bit.

Foray into fruits and vegetables was next.

Many pages were really just mark-making. 

I bought some new Kuretake Gansai Tambe graphite colours in Melbourne so played with them for a bit.

And finished with a fiesta of watercolour washes - creepy trees, looming mist and ghostly figures. With varying degrees of success.