Warm reception

We have internet access out at the carvan - the mobile dongle thing works.  Woot!

We've spent our first night at the van and I've spent the whole morning writing lists of things we need to do and equipment we need to have.

Most of the equipment etc. we can bring from home.  Some of the things we need to do will take more time and more resources.  If anyone has a good double mattress they don't need, for example, do get in touch.

As usual, we are re-using as much as possible (see previous post on pavers).  No photos today, but I'll be documenting our progress.  Stay tuned.

Hang 'em high

Sometime in the late 1980s I started padding coathangers.  Not the nylon lace knitted covers so beloved of my grandmother, but an improvisation on what was to hand.

I needed a wider hanger as my clothes were wider than most.  I needed a way to avoid the horrid "angel wing" effect of coathangers on clothes, I wanted delicate fabrics to maintain their shape and I needed to be able to do it for nothing or next to nothing.

So not much has changed, really.

I came up with a way of using materials readily available - wire coathangers available for free from clothes shops and the shoulder pads that were on the wane fashion-wise and available cheaply (or occasionally free) from op-shops.

The best shoulder pads to use are the fat, shoulder-shaped raglan pads.  If there is velcro attached, so much the better for gripability.

A pad is folded over the end of the wire coathanger and whip stitched into placed.  For extra width allow the padding to extend the hanger 1/4 to 1/3 the length of the pad. 

 To help the pad stay in place, stitch through the pad around the metal end.

On these hangers, I can hang wet shirts in woven or jersey fabrics to dry in small spaces and after ironing, rehang them to preserve the shape - no "angel wings" on my tops.

This week, I found a bag of raglan shoulder pads rescued from an op-shop. I whipped up six padded hangers using the last of the shoulder pad stash.

Timing

Just as well I started seven things on Monday or we'd have had to count these.

Something like 500-600 pavers we bought and moved in a storm on Saturday and in warm weather on Sunday.

Did I tell you we bought a caravan?  No?  Well, we bought a secondhand van in June.  It's on site outside town on a bush block.  We want to pave around the van to make a kind of patio and as the budget is non-existent, we're picking up second-hand materials when and where we can.

The two trailer loads on the weekend, and a load a few weeks back, came from Tiny's Green Shed at the Mugga Lane Tip.  We love Tiny's.  It's a second-hand shopper's delight.

A casualty of the second load, though, was a tyre on the trailer.  Once we'd unloaded, TOF unbolted the wheel and we left the trailer with the van.

We have a summer of paving to look forward to.

De ja vu

The clutter has been creeping back in. OK, it's been arriving by the gleeful armload up the front stairs and I'm not all that sorry.

Earthchick (blog now non-existent) started the Seven Things Project in July 2006. Her goal was to try and live more simply - to have less and more importantly to want less; to rid herself of the clutter that overwhelms and paralyses.  Her method was to rid her life of seven things each week. 

I'm not paralysed yet, but getting a little overwhelmed so the de-clutter bug has re-introduced into my system.  Also, I have clean out under Mum's house.  We never got around to it after Dad died, but this summer is the go. 

So we're seven-thinging again at Taph Towers. TOF will keep me honest - I'm not allowed to hide anything at his place or in our caravan. Of course, that means anything I cull in those places counts to the total, so it's all good. :)

For the uninitiated, I did two Seven Things Challenges in 2007. 6 weeks in Winter 2007, then 78 weeks from 1 Sept 2007-Feb 2009.  5,126 items (nett) left the house in those two challenges.

As before items will be thoughtfully dealt with. Just throwing stuff out isn't part of the deal. Mindful consumption and thoughtful disposal are tenets of this particular faith.

I will report each Monday in three categories :"In", "Out" and"Shake-it-All-About". The aim is that "Out" minus "In" will be greater than or equal to 7.  I'll keep it up through Summer and see how we go from there. 

In
The stuff I bring in to our homes. This includes:

• stash items of ANY kind
• other forms of entertainment such as books, magazines, cds etc.
• items received by subscription, for example, magazines
• clothes and accessories
• homewares
• gifts received

Exempt are consumables such as food and other groceries and items borrowed from the library (but not items borrowed from the library and copied for keeping because that is (a) illegal and (b) not in the spirit of the challenge).

Out
Items deliberately weeded from the houses. Consumables do not count. Completely worn out and non-fixable/transformable clothing, household items etc do.  I will try and repurpose before I give it away, but in the main, if it's clothing that is still wearable, just too big/small etc, I'll give it to the women's refuge or op-shop rather than cut it up.

Shake-it-All-About

This category is about transformation. After the first challenge I realised it is important to acknowledge the creative transformation of items already in the home. It might be as simple as the use of stash buttons on an old blouse to revamp it instead of buying a new blouse or other transformation of clothes. It might be the creation of something new for ourselves or others from stash. I have much sewing to do just now, mending and curtain making being the most pressing.  Some items from this category will become "outs" which is perfectly fine.  Maybe I'll include a "use it up" section to account for stash.  Dunno, I'll think about it.

So check back next Monday for an update.

Squee

Got my invitation to the Craft ACT Christmas event. 

Went squee to see Olivia's baubles featured on the invitations.

Double squee then, that they are on the website, too.

Truly local yarn soon

Lifted from the latest Poacher's Way newsletter, Spring 2010.

Eco sustainable wool mill on horizon for Bowning - Crisp Galleries

These are exciting times for the Crisp family, with the recent announcement that their historic ‘Gwandoban’ shearing shed (circa 1856 and moved from Harden to Binalong in 1914, then to Bowning eight years ago) will be rebuilt to house the new Yass Valley Woollen Mill, in conjunction with the Armour family, of Bookham.

With a majority of Australia’s woollen mills closed, and China now processing 82% of the world’s wool production, the Yass Valley Woollen Mill is set to become Australia’s premier processor of superfine wool.

The ‘mission’ of The Yass Valley Woollen Mill is to produce an Australian grown and made, eco sustainable yarn and fabric that can be totally transparent along the supply chain.

Between them, the Crisps and the Armours have a vision to create not only a productive and sustainable mill but also a valuable tourist and educational facility. The ‘great hall’ which runs the length of the 50m building will be transformed into a viewing room, with retail space selling products created with Yass Valley yarn.

The Yass Valley Woollen Mill is a serious commitment to the wool industry to ensure its sustainability into the future.

CAN'T WAIT! - Read the full press release on the Crisp Galleries website.

More Improvisations

Now THAT'S a campervan!

Snogging

Reflections in water (and pelicans)

Byways

TOF has a philosophy - when faced with a choice, always take the one you haven't experienced before.

So we did.

Taking Seale Road from Kempsey to Gladstone we pass from tall timber to low swamp country then through lush dairy farms beside the river.

In the tall timber country, the buzz of trail bikes.

In the low area we travel on a dirt road with expanses of wetland on either side.  Black swans and their cygnets keep an eye out for the hawks that were circling on either side of the road and the herons stalk in the shallows and reeds higher than the car provide shade. 

Magic.

Pelicans

Pelican spots fisherman

Pelican circles float

Pelican brings mates for participation in fish-gutting ceremony.

Pelicans always win in the end.

Kiss of Death

Book him, Dano

Some of my friends adore travel writing - they read it, they write it, they live it.  Me, not so much. I just don't enjoy a lot of the genre and I've decided its because, being mostly autobiographical, I don't think I'd enjoy spending time with the authors in real life either
Bill Bryson is snarky, Peter Moore is foolhardy and boorish, but David Dale: him I like.

Dale's The Obsessive Traveller : Or why I don't steal towels from great hotels anymore came with me to Europe in 1992.

This week I've read his 1996 publication,  A Traveller's Alphabet of Essential Places : A book about ideas and where they started. It does what is says on the box - the reader travels to 26 places on the globe that gave rise to some of the most crucial ideas (or things) in history.

Not everything is earth shattering, but David is an intelligent and humourous guide to the places and the history of ideas spawned there.

How much did I enjoy it?   I had to read bits (lots of bits) out to TOF.  Wanting to share it is always the sign of something good.

Reasons to be Cheerful - Great Drying Days

There isn't much that can beat piles of fresh fluffy towels and crisp cotton sheets warm from the sun.

Drying days with the sun shining and a good breeze should be celebrated!

Reasons to be Cheerful - Serendipity

One of the major appeals of second-hand shopping is its serendipitous nature.

Yesterday we found this.  Too, too apt to stay in Macksville. :)

Reasons to be Cheerful - Avocadoes

Spread on wholegrain toast with a cracking of black pepper at breakfast (or lunch), avocadoes are lush and decadent with a banana-like mouth feel and just a hint of bitterness.  Obviously ovoid and pale-green are enough to make me very happy right now.

The local avocadoes are plentiful and cheap where we are right now.  We're making the most of them.

Reasons to be Cheerful - Customer Service

Clever baristas who assist the serving staff and put a smile on my face at the same time.

Reasons to be Cheerful - Improvisation

It will be no surprise that improvisation makes my heart glad.

A recent client graciously, if a little bemusedly, allowed me to photograph his improvisation.

Take one metal coat hanger, one crepe bandage and some origami skills and hey-presto, a custom-made iPad stand.
 

 

Reasons to be cheerful - eggs

Driving up to the farmhouse on a late winter's afternoon, the cows were plodding back to the paddock after milking and the dogs, after initial alerting barks, boisterously friendly and cuddly.

The chooks were glossily pecking around the yard, so many colours and types.  I shouldn't be surprised, then, that the eggs were charming, too.

Palest brown shells and palest green shells. Like sugared almonds in a box. Delicious poached on toast, too.

Totally compatible

Can so too drink a bottle of red wine* and knit a tension square in garter stitch while holding simultaneous conversations with two people by text message and two other people on Face Book chat.

*Woorawa, Barrel Select Old Vine Shiraz, 2003 - very nice indeed.