A SMALL VENT

Here are some experiments following my inspiration from the remarkable colours and geological features seen in Broome. These prove to me and the world that I have not just been sitting on my bum this last week and a bit. In between my usual babysitting commitments and dabbling in the garden, I have been doing some stuff!
And, of course, our winter in Perth seems to be officially all but over. It is supposed to rain today, but the past week has been gloriously spring-like. Lovely temps in the low twenties and
everything bursted into full bloom already. It has been so ideal for gardening that I just had to get out and remove the 20 bazillion weeds that sprouted whilst I was away and it had poured. (Hah! Good timing, what?) I also lumped over 2 tonnes of black mulch over the garden beds which just about killed me, but looks fabulous and will really help if we end up getting not so much more rain. (Meteorologists are so excited that the dams are at 35% capacity for the first time in yonks and yonks, but looks a bit like follow up is going to die in the arse.)
Now, be prepared for a scorching blast at communications companies! A few months ago I changed my ISP - a general hoo hah in itself - and, as directed by the new people, filled in and sent back a form to have the monthly bill for my broadband direct debited from my bank account. Fine. Next thing, I get back from Broome to discover ALL the mail from that week stuffed into my letterbox and completely soggy despite the fact that my youngest daughter was staying at my house, supposedly to collect the mail each day. But that's another story in itself about her irresponsibility etc. Amongst the wet mail was a nasty letter from said ISP to say they had not received money to pay account and unless they did within seven days, service would be disconnected. Needless to say, that seven days had passed by the time I got the letter in my hands and I had no phone and no internet. The letter went on to note that if I had any questions, I could call a number - BUT FROM A LANDLINE!!!! or I could contact them through their website. HOW????????????????? So. that day (a Friday) I was busy doing 59 loads of washing that had to get draped all over the house because it was still raining, re-stocking my pantry and fridge that had been completely emptied by said daughter and changing my bedlinen after removing all the WET towels off it (every single towel in my house was draped somewhere around the place in some kind of damp state) - all of which led me to a strong suspicion that this young lady had not been here on her own!! (Hence the urgent need for fresh bedlinen) On weekend, no phone, no internet and no way to contact company who keep 9-5 hours weekdays only. On the Monday, I had to drive to my daughter's house (the eldest, married one) and sit on her phone in a queue for 45 minutes until I got some person who really copped it from me, as in "I have done all the right things, blah blah, what the hell....?" She calmly stated that everything was now sorted - the direct debit had been processed and I should go home, turn everything off for 10 minutes, turn back on and everything would work. Which it did. For four days. The next Friday, I try to ring someone - no phone. Try turning on computer and accessing internet - no go. Furious, I go next door and sit on neighbour's phone for 30 minutes in queue and finally have to give up as she had to go out. So this process of using other people's phones and sitting in queues for periods up to an hour at a time continued all week long. Finally, yesterday (Monday) I decided I was just going to wait on my daughter's phone (all day if necessary) until I got hold of a human being. Being cheerfully informed at constant intervals that they were experiencing high volumes of calls and if my call was non-urgent, perhaps I could call back later or maybe try contacting them via their website, was more than merely annoying. Hence after close to an hour when I finally got hold of some poor soul - did he cop it!!The worst part of the whole thing was that he tried to lie to me about the reason for being disconnected. He said it was for non-payment of my account. I explained that was just so much bullshit because of my previous contact with the company. Then he tried to tell me it was probably the fault of the bank. I told him that I very much doubted that, as we were talking about the biggest bank in Australia and I have never had a problem with other direct debit arrangements through them before. He got quite snarky with me when I told him to inform the accounts people that they better not have the audacity to charge me for the week and a bit they had cut me off. "Why is that, madam?" he asked. Because, you moron, none of this is my fault and you did not even have the courtesy of telling me before cutting me off the second time. He insisted it must be a bank problem. I think steam was emanating from my brain by then, but of course, I just wanted my phone and my world back again, so I told him I would be writing to the company about the atrocious customer service, etc, etc. and hung up. At least I have my lifeline reconnected, I suppose and realistically, I guess they probably will charge me and I will get furious and that will take another year off my life expectancy. This might sound melodramatic, but I said to my daughter "Sometimes, I just feel drained by the fact that every single aspect of my life seems like a huge struggle. Why does it have to be that way?" Let's hope there's a payoff somewhere in the future.

I'M BA_A_ACK AND INSPIRED

I returned from Paradise on the weekend. What an amazing place Broome is! I am so inspired by everything I saw and did there that I can hardly wait to get organised and start creating.

Where do I start? The brilliant saturation of pure colour in the northern region of this vast state is breathtaking. When you see the photos it's hard to believe they have not been manipulated - but that is the true colour you are seeing. Flying up the coast it is astounding to see thousands and thousands of Kilometers of vast white beaches with not a living soul around - with the rich redness of the iron laden dirt kissing the beachfronts that extends so far. I couldn't help but be staggered by the geology and the fact that there is so much potential wealth in that soil that you could never imagine it all being tapped. And all those thousands of islands off the coast like little gems in the aqua and turquoise ocean. How many wealthy millionaires would give their eyeteeth to own just one of them? It's all protected of course and I guess we must be grateful about that, but I would love to be down there exploring the magic of it all. There are dinosaur footprints that you can go see in Broome as well as fossils of so many types, so just imagine what is down that vast coastline that no one knows about. I think I remember from school days that Australia is the oldest continent and looking at that part of the country, it is so believable.

As for Broome itself, laid back to the extreme. People just shamble through the town (we call it Broome time) in the glorious sunshine - perfect summer weather at this time of year - low to mid 30s during the day and quite cool at night. Everywhere you look there are magnificent old native boab trees, relics and memorials from Broome's early days as a pearling harbour using first Aboriginal and then Japanese labour. There are also awful reminders of the fact that Broome was bombed by the Japanese during WW2 (that I had forgotten about). Mango and coconut trees abound throughout the town, maginificent beachside resorts butt up to the coastline and there are some astonishingly opulent homes being built. Everywhere businesses are desperate for workers as a lot of people have moved inland towards Newman with the huge resources boom the State is experiencing. There are a lot of casual backpackers working in the restaurants and shops. There are lots and lots of shops selling pearl jewelry and mother of pearl items. Some of it is a bit ho-hum, some horrendously expensive and some is just stunning. I came back with quite a few items myself and a couple of gifts for my girls. I wish I could describe so much more for you, but if you ever geta chance you must go there. Avoid the "wet" (November to March) as apparently it is revolting weather and people have been known to kill themselves at that time due to the oppressive humidity, constant rain and heat. Here's a taste of my inspiration.

FEELS LIKE SPRING AT LAST!

Today is such a gorgeously warm sunny day in Perth. You can feel Spring is je-e-e-e-est around the corner - but!! tomorrow it is going to pelt down with rain again - apparently. I don't care because I am off to sunny Broome tomorrow - YAY!!!!!! My first real holiday since Jesus was baptised. So, although this post is just boring text, next one should have loads of inspirational pics. Also, have only done boring stuff today, like cleaning, packing, shopping, internet snooping as I cannot sit bottom to chair for too long with excitement. Yay! Summer for me tomorrow and by the time I get back - well you might as well say winter here will be fading fast.

LITTLE THINGS.....

These are a couple of examples of the felt book I made for the boys of "Our Family". No one is allowed to complain about how they have been depicted. As you can tell, my fabric
portraits are very realistic!
And here's what happened when I let little Kieran feed himself some Petit
Miam. What cannot be seen is the highchair tray and my floor also generously coated in strawberry goo.

LOOK AT MY WORK!

See what I made today??/ No mean feat, putting those wretched Ikea thingies together, as everyone knows. So I feel justifiably proud of my effort. I am also working on a little cloth book of family faces that I will have pics for shortly. This is all for my gorgeous little grandson, Kieran who turns 1 tomorrow (where the hell did THAT year go?). I minded him and his bro on Friday (yesterday) as mummy had to work, mainly to pay for all the medication needed for poor sick little bubbie. Kieran has bronchial pneumonia, two ear infections and asthma. Luckily, as is the way with tiny ones, just spoke to Nat and he is back to his happy little self today, although still coughing badly. And, joy of joys, I get to have them overnight tonight because mummy and daddy are going out and it is wa-a-a-a-a-ay too cold to take sick bubbies in and out in this weather. I know, I sound pathetic, but it is honestly the highlight of my life to get to spend so much time with these little boys - I actually consider it a privelege to babysit them. I love my littlies to bits and pieces.

This will show you how much enjoyment Kieran gives me.

ALIVE AND WELL.......ALIVE!!

Hello poor little abandoned blog. I am truly alive and I think of you often. Having just woken up at 3:30a.m., I decided to grab the bull by the horns and stop watching Fabulous Abs and just get down and boogey on this thing. Sometimes, with a block, you just have to "have at it" and do something to get out of the endless nothingness.

Small explanations for lengthy absence is required:

1.) Wedding of Nat and Dan in late April. Such a glorious and wonderful day in the vineyards. Everyone looked beautiful, especially my gorgeous girl and those two little babies in their Mafioso tuxedos were just cuteness on sticks.

2.) Rapidly followed by the 2 week honeymoon, during which poor old Dan came down with pneumonia. Looking after those wee treasures left zero time for the frazzled grandmother to create or to blog or even to spit.

3.) So, of course the frazzled grandmother's resistance to germs dropped and I came down with a ghastly flu - you know the full blown version with the aches and pains, sweats and chills, vomitting, coughing, blah blah. For several weeks, I could barely lift my head off the pillow.

4.) Endless battling with my ex's superannuation firm culminating a three year paper warfare escalation to the point of my own (almost) capitulation in sheer exhaustion. Thank God I did not and put in the final push as I finally got the half I was rightfully due. I have been busy clearing lots of debt and doing necessary things, like replacing my dying car and booking a holiday to Broome (my first holiday in more than 5 years, closer to 10).

5.) Just to put the icing on the cake, two more flu episodes - the last of which I am still coughing and sweating with. God, I hate winter.

Also, I have to admit, I am a Leo, ruled by the Sun and tend to suffer terribly in the short Perth winter weeks - pathetic as that may be. I really don't understand it - I love rain and that's what it does here in winter, it rains and rains and it's not really terribly cold. You cannot go outside in the middle of winter at 4:00a.m. for a smoke with just your jamies and slippers on, can you? It may be that I am a sufferer of SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) which would not be surprising since I have been on anti-depressants for longer than I care to remember and if I should miss a morning dose, wonder why I feel like fainting by lunchtime and howling my eyes out over some stupid documentary about the baby dinosaurs being eaten by their parents.

Well, I feel I have broken the long evil dark spell (maybe). Inspired by the archangel Arlee, I am determined to write something daily if at all possible (maybe). No, I must be firm and positive, I can do this. After all, how inspiring to have blogged for 4 years! Happiest blogaversary to you, happiest blogaversary to you, happy blogaversary dear Arlee, happy blogaversary to you.

Have I achieved anything? Well, yes - I have been sidetracked in the dressmaking arena for quite a while, making several little numbers for myself and a couple of things for the grandsons. I ventured into a small frenzy of getting myself organized better and designed and made some magazine holder thingies. I was a tad cross with myself when I found they were a bit too tall to fit into any but my lowest shelf and also that Ikea has perfectly formed and sized cheap little card numbers that I could have simply covered and saved myself some angst into the bargain. Nonetheless, it were some'at, weren't it? Here are the magnum opi:

(A wonderful way to use up scraps and oddments of UFOs).

HAUT COUTURE

Here tis! The finished dress. It blew around a bit in the fan whilst I was photographing it, but it is lovely and fits me beautifully. I am inspired to go on with another idea I had for a LBD, as I have never owned one and feel I might have reached the age where I should own one.
I am also hard at work on this month's TIF challenge that I must do, because I am worried that April, being the big wedding month, might see me having to miss the challenge.