Marilyn and I have the house to ourselves this weekend and we’re planning to do almost nothing. Madeleine has been with us since Tuesday, staying in our little spare bedroom, and Jamie has been sleeping in the caravan. It’s been great, of course, having them with us but it’s also nice to have our space back.
Yesterday, I picked up the flat-pack pantry from Bunnings and, with the help of a handyman friend, the carcase is complete and I just have to attach the end panel and the two doors. I’m very impressed with flat-packs as they take the worry out of building and even dummies like me can end up with a good result.
Les, the handyman, had called in to have a look at some jobs we have listed for him to do: painting, putting a balustrade on the front verandah, and so on. He used to do a lot of work for us at Giant Steps and, although he lives in Deloraine, he’s happy to take on interesting jobs, especially if they are inside and keep him out of the winter chills.
This pantry is enormous. It’s 900mm wide and 2200mm high, standing on six adjustable legs. It also weighs a tonne. The instructions stated that it would take two of us to stand it on its end, and that was exactly right. However, now it is in place, and screwed securely to the wall, we won’t have to lift it again.
Marilyn took Madi shopping on Friday while I collected my car from service. It needed new bushes in the front end and that’s a reasonably big job so I had to leave it overnight. When I got back to the garage, they had noticed the steering wheel was a quarter-turn out of alignment. This is not good! The mechanics went over every stage of the process and finally agreed that the new steering assembly was faulty. So, a new one has been ordered and the car will have to go back on Tuesday or Wednesday for the job to be done again. I’ve got the car back in the meantime but it’s not driving well.
Back to the shopping. Marilyn said that it was a very enjoyable experience. Shopping trips in the past have not always been a pleasure as Madi has opinions and doesn’t like to be told what to do. On this trip to visit us, she has been a delight. She’s supposed to fly home today or tomorrow but she has met a couple of friends she made on a previous time here and wants to catch up with them. I think she’s realising that Tassie may not be an altogether dreadful place to live.
I had three trips to Deloraine last week, for one reason or another. The organisation of the Craft Fair is heating up and this year’s Director has asked me to take on a few specific jobs. I’m happy to do these but have suggested he might repay the favour next year when I take over. This year’s exhibition is to be Fine Furniture and I have the job of liaising with the curator. I’m also involved with a quilt competition and the subsequent display, and helping to arrange the visit of a noted French artist who has offered to run some master-classes (for want of a better term). Marilyn and I were right in having a break from travel because the Craft Fair becomes all-consuming.
We have no plans for this coming week but no doubt it will turn out to be as busy as ever. We’re hoping our shed will be built soon so we can start buying the tools we need to get this block in order. We have a gardener coming in at the end of the week to start tidying up some of the grass out the front, but we can’t afford to be forever paying someone else to do what we can do ourselves, if we had the right tools. And we can’t get the right tools until we have a decent shed to put them in.
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