the wailing wall

Let's just say the Donkey Grey was neither donkey nor grey. It's more the colour of Plaster of Paris and in reality nowhere near the colour of the upstairs render. Hmmmm. The walls out the back also catch the light in strange ways and no colour I have tried out there looks quite right, so there was a bit of a temper tantrum yesterday and plans to have the paint re-tinted but this morning I got up, looked at the colour and thought 'oh well'. It's not right but then it isn't wrong either. Cover it in a bit of Boston Ivy and Jasminum Azoricum and I'll never notice.

It's been blisteringly hot today and I've been laid low with a bung hip, so I'm feeling a bit shattered today. That will teach me to do too much in the Xmas lull. The hip has decided to play up due to a bit too much spinning and there I was feeling good that I was getting a yarn stockpile started. Oh well.

So tonight I am lying very low, keeping cool and quiet. I can sort of see the fireworks and their reflections in the glass of the city from my front window upstairs so that is where I think I'll stay. I'm half way through making some Marscapone Ice Cream (chilling sugar syrup in the freezer at the moment) and I have some berries to nibble so I'm set. I always find NYE a bit stressful so a bit of quiet reflection, a bit of looking forward and perhaps reading this by the School of Life is in order I think. 

And I have a date with Shaun Micallef, as he celebrates the New Year in his own surrealist way, and a bit of texting. 

How boring am I??

Bring on the thunderstorms and rain I say. The old year needs to be washed away.

Happy New Year to all you out there! 

I hope you have a lovely evening, celebrated however you like and hope 2010 brings good and happy things for all! 

pen and jethro 

xxxxxxxxx

swatch it

The laundry door is now working once again.

The sink tap has stopped dripping (for now).

The kitchen benches have been made ready for a coat of oil.

And a colour has been chosen for the 'backyard' walls. Although I may change my mind of course because I haven't really chosen, just kind of made a stab at it. I really want Indian pink, the pink you see oxidised on the walls in Delhi and Jaipur but the swatches never look right and with the narrowness of the 'backyard' a long pink passage may not be the way to go.....

So 'Donkey Grey' it is. 

It's the same shade as the rendering on the walls if you hang out the upstairs window and it looks great with the old bricks. Then I need to work out a way to do the splash back in the kitchen and the decking that will even up the concrete in the outside area. All the jobs that I planned to do a year ago.

Sometimes I wonder if being handy is all too hard, I've decided it's a sure way to stay single.... I know a lot of women who like to appear helpless to make the men in their lives feel wanted! Every boyfriend in my past life would squirm when they saw me come out with the tool kit, their hands would twitch, their jaws clench and they would come close to exploding to see me more than capable of finishing a job- often better than they could do! Really being handy-capable is simply solving a problem and getting it done and I would much rather that than sitting around helpless. 

Every girl should have a toolkit. There's a motto for 2010!

crusty

I certainly feel a little crusty- definitely not of the unwashed variety- just a bit crunchy on the outside and a bit fluffy on the inside. It's just the time of the year. I'm quite relaxed and enjoying the peace and long stretches of nothing-to-do-days. I haven't really talked to anyone and I'm enjoying that too.

I ventured out late this afternoon to go and pick up stuff from Bunnings to fix the laundry door and a run to the supermarket for butter to go with the bread (see above picture). I think that's me done for the day.

horizon line

Actually more just 'horizontal'.

Lots of sleeping, reading and maybe a chore a day.

And lots of quiet (except for the Gertrude Street Irregulars having a fight out the front).

Yesterday's chore was a bit of vacuuming, today's was a spot of washing and a bit of bread making (ok that's two but one was edible so it doesn't count).

I think Jethro is enjoying having me around. He's taken to stealing cherries, by the stalk same as the beans, cucumber and chilli, and yesterday he had a case of Boxing Day Madness which involved tearing around the house like a mad thing and jumping on me. 

All in all a lovely way to while away a couple of days.

holiday wishes

We here at the Cottage would like to wish everyone all the best for the holiday season.

Take care, drive safely, avoid the off prawn and we hope you have a lovely day tomorrow.

The shop will be open again on the 2nd of January.

rain on hot concrete and mangos

They were the smells of the morning.

As tradition dictates I went off to the Vic Market for the Xmas Eve shop. I get up really early and never really buy anything that would make a complete meal. Except for the cherries- they are a meal in themselves. Huge, almost black, meaty cherries. It's the summer fruits that make a southern hemisphere Xmas. There were boxes and boxes of Bowen mangos and trays of (sadly unripe) peaches. And berries. And the heat and the orchardy smells were intoxicating. I could barely speak and I wandered in a humid haze.

Now I'm home with the paper and a cuppa and I get to sit up in bed for an hour or so before I open up the shop for the day. 

10am until 5pm (or so) today if you are in the 'hood.

a total prat (fall)

I finished the last bit of studio work early this afternoon, turned the fridge off to de-frost, chucked the milk out, forgot to wash the mugs and came home/shop. I still have bits and pieces to finish but we are pretty much down to the wire now, the last two days before Xmas.

Cleaning up and a bit of baking are now on the agenda around the house, and working in the shop.

Tonight was garbage eve and I managed to stand on a piece of wood with inch long staples sticking out of it, straight into the ball of my big toe. The same big toe that got wrenched yesterday when I slipped on a wet patch at the Fitzroy Coles supermarket. Slipping and sliding across the floor I managed to twist my left ankle, strain my toe, send the basket of lightbulbs I was carrying flying and knock down a biscuit display trying to grab something to stay upright. Quite funny in hindsight. Actually quite funny at the time. 

I'm not sure that I am a total klutz but I seem to prat fall on a regular basis! And when I do it I tend to do it extremely well as evidenced by my list of broken bones! Of course it's often from being over tired, preoccupied, stressed. So I am looking forward to a week of rest, reading and afternoon naps. Bliss.