Wednesday, 20th July …..

Sadly, Madi will be going home today. She has been in Launceston for just a week but has school awaiting her back in Brisbane. It has been great having her and Jamie, particularly, has enjoyed the short time with her.

Nothing much else is happening for us. We’re still waiting for the replacement parts for the car and there’s still a bit to be done to the new pantry but, with a little bit of luck, it will all come together today. Jamie stayed here last night so I won’t let him go home until the pantry is done.

I’ve been musing on a report I heard on the radio the other day about an archaeological project to take DNA samples from Egyptian mummified ibises. Wow! It seems that mummification of animals was common in Ancient Egypt and around 10,000 ibises were mummified each year for thousands of years, so there are, literally, millions of mummified ibises available for the project, Wow, again!

The plan, of course, is to track the evolution of DNA over a 4000 year period. As a benchmark, the scientists will also take samples from a modern population of Sacred Ibises in Africa.

When I checked the internet for information about mummification practices in Egypt, it seems that almost any kind of animal could be mummified, from bulls to snakes. Cats were popular. Some of the mummifications were of pets but others were to do with religion. Offering a mummified ibis was something like lighting a candle in memory of a dead relative.

For a change of pace this week, I set aside my crime fiction for a history book about the causes of the First World War. The book is called Churchill, Hitler and “The Unnecessary War”. The author suggests that poor decision making in that pre-war period laid the groundwork for thirty years of unbelievable carnage (he says that WW2 is just a second phase of the one conflict). One of the interesting points raised is that Kaiser Wilhelm did everything he could to avoid war with Britain but Churchill was determined to have the conflict. The excuse of helping brave little Belgium was flimsy at best. And the Treaty of Versailles was a travesty; even at the time, sensible people saw the seeds of WW2.

The other fall-out of the decisions made at this time led directly to the demise of Britain as a world power. At the beginning of the 20th Century, Britain was the centre of the largest empire ever seen; by the end of WW2, it was a spent force.

US President Wilson’s dictum of self-determination, coined in the 1910s, has led to the fragmentation of European states and the setting up of tiny, unsustainable countries around the world. It continues today with the formation just this month of South Sudan. It seems that every minority now wants to be self-governing: the Basques, the Kurds, the Tamils, Western Australians all want to have their own separate countries. Where will it end?

It seems that my brain is starting to get its act together after 18 months of post-retirement stagnation and I’m craving intellectual stimulation. Maybe I should go back to Uni.

Sunday, 17th July …..

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.

Friday, 15th July …..

I know today is Friday because the little box where I keep my pills reminds me; the Thursday pills have gone so today must be Friday. The little box with seven compartments, helpfully marked with the initial letter of each day of the week, was invented for people like me who are never sure what day it is.

When you’re at work, when each day brings specific challenges, it’s not hard to keep track but, when you’re retired, and have stopped getting the daily paper, there’s a sameness about days and it’s hard to tell them apart (and does it really matter?)

All over Australia, seniors like me are taking out their pill-boxes this morning, noting what day it is and congratulating themselves on holding on for another day.

The pill box is not a bad system for identifying the days but it has a flaw: when it is full, I have to scratch my head to work out which compartment to open first. That’s when I turn to my iPhone which is very happy to tell me, on demand that today is Friday, 15th July.

We’re told that prisoners keep track of the passing of their sentence by scratching on the wall of their cell: six vertical scratches and a horizontal one to mark off each week. We seniors keep track of the weeks by taking out our daily pills until out little box is empty and that denotes a week has passed. And Marilyn and I disconsolately say to each other, ‘That’s another week gone. I can’t believe how quickly time is passing.’ And that’s one reason I get behind in posts to my blog. Time is passing so quickly, I can’t keep up.

Our grand-daughter, Madeleine is staying with us at the moment. She is based in Brisbane, of course, but has just come down to Tassie for a few days to enjoy the weather. This morning is well below zero and there’s a heavy frost. However, Madi won’t see it as, like all teenagers, she doesn’t get up until mid-morning, and the sun will have cleared everything by then.

We have a busy day ahead of us. I have to pick up the car which is being serviced and then collect a flat-pack pantry from Bunnings. Jamie and I will then have the challenge of putting it together. Still, after my recent success with the desk and filing cabinet, and a great little metal wardrobe unit, I am looking forward to showing off my skills once again.

Sunday, 3rd July …..

It’s a quiet, wet day here in Dilston – a time for quiet reflection and catching up on some of the chores around the house. Marilyn has a folding clothes dryer in front of the heater covered with yesterday’s washing which is not quite dry. About 10 minutes ago, the thing collapsed in a heap – damp sheets and socks, and lots of white plastic rods. I’ve just managed to join all the bits together; it looks the same but I just hope it will hold together. I’ve suggested to Marilyn that she avoids putting heavy things on the extremities of the contraption as I suspect that’s what caused it to collapse.

I spent half an hour this morning downloading and sorting out a few more ebooks for my collection. When I bought the new reader in December, I decided to start a new collection. There were over 1000 books in the previous library but they were mostly text files or in the Microsoft LIT format. The Sony prefers the ePub format which is becoming the industry standard. It’s a big job to convert files so I thought I would start again. Nowadays each download includes a number of formats: ePub, pdf, mobi, txt, etc so I’ve got a backup if I have to choose another reader. At last count I had 607 books in my new library. It’s mad, I couldn’t hope to read all of those in my lifetime and I’m still downloading. In the first 3 days of July, I’ve already downloaded 19, including some authors I’ve never hear of: Dana Stabenow, for example, and Boris Starling. Who knows what they’ll be like if I ever get around to reading them.

One thing that struck me when I was thinking about the books I like is the number of series which are based around British policemen, and especially the number of Inspectors. There’s Inspector Frost, Rebus, Thorne, Lynley, Japp, Pascoe, Morse, Taggart, and Rutledge; not to mention Chief Inspectors Barnaby, Wexford and Dalziel. That’s just off the top of my head – the list goes on.

One book I have read recently which is not in that genre is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. This was recommended to me by friends Jim and Di and, even though the cover would normally have had me hurrying in another direction, I enjoyed it enormously. It’s written as a series of letters between the various characters and in that way reminded me of 84 Charing Cross Road which I read years ago and was later made into a film and a stage play. It’s an easy read with a soft-hearted finish and I recommend it. Apparently, the author sent the book off to the publisher and then was too ill to complete some major rewrites. She asked her niece, Annie Barrows, to become involved so she is named as co-writer.

Another author I'm really enjoying is Jo Nesbo who is Norwegian and is being called the next Stieg Larsson. I suppose that's inevitable but his books are really gritty with a flawed but likeable lead character with the wonderful name of Harry Hole. I've only read one so far but there's another 5 or 6 to go.

Marilyn has just started lunch so that’s a good excuse to leave this episode for now. Perhaps I’ll come back to it this afternoon.

And I did. Last night was the Changeover Dinner for the Deloraine Rotary Club. It was quite a big night held in a Reception Centre owned by a couple of our members. Pat is a teacher and Geoff a retired journalist and their home in Deloraine is run as a B&B. Attached to the house they have a very large room which can seat up to 100 for dinner. Unfortunately, the Council won’t give them a licence to serve alcohol, so it’s not used as often as it should be. We had a very good meal with a choice of 4 main courses and we brought our own wine. It wasn’t a late night and we were home and in bed by 11.30.

Friday, July 1st (Part 3) …..

No, your eyes do not deceive you; here is a third episode on the first day of the new financial year. Is it a New Year’s Resolution? Not likely!

We now have the house the way we want it: comfortable and with many of our ‘treasures’ around us. The kitchen is nicely designed and we have brought in a new fridge and microwave. There is a dishwasher but it isn’t working and we’re now considering whether we will bother getting it fixed. Marilyn has bought some new utensils and I have a new set of knives, so there’s a real feeling of a fresh beginning about the place. We are sorely in need of a pantry; there is a space for it but Graeme and Patsy didn’t bother going to that expense. However, this is on the top of our list.

The lounge room is the heart of the house. It’s a big room with plenty of space for our 3-piece suite and a nice oval dining table. I’ve set up my desk on one wall and there’s still room to spare. Marilyn decided that we needed a bit more desk space so we checked the Officeworks catalogue and bought a simple 1400mm desk with a filing cabinet pedestal underneath. Of course, it came in a flat pack with pages of instructions. I’ve made quite a few similar pieces of furniture in the past so this one wasn’t too daunting and looks quite professional. I can’t imagine how anyone can make a profit out of selling two pieces of furniture for $99, packed carefully with bags of screws, dowels, casters, etc and even a little bottle of wood glue, and then shipped from Malaysia. How much do they pay their workers?

Yesterday, I brought all our collection of pottery up from the shed. Every piece has a story to tell and reminds us of a particular stage in our lives. There are pieces we brought from Chakola, and even a cheese dish made by Jim Dorrington many years ago. Jamie, at Chakola when he was young, made a cup with an over-size handle, which we keep on display. When we moved to Hobart, we met a potter called Helen Palmer who made us a dinner set, Unfortunately, most of it has been broken but there are still a few bits left, including a nice vase and a jug and sugar bowl. There are also some other nice functional pots bought during that period, including an ocarina shaped like an echidna.

In Townsville we bought a jug from a Dutch potter who was influenced by the Delft tradition so her jug has a blue glaze. There’s a spikey fish also from Townsville and several pieces by a potter called Len who worked at Paluma. He was a truck-driver who was introduced to pottery by his girl-friend and all his stuff was wood-fired. He visited the local farmers, offering to pull down their old fences if he could keep the wood, so he had a good supply of old, dry hardwood, excellent for firing.

From Townsville we moved to Mittagong and had access to the fabulous Sturt Gallery and among the pieces we bought there is a stunning rectangular bowl by Andy Barrett-Hegan. As well, we have a couple of sake jugs my father bought in Japan and a nice little Kaga vase from Kanazawa. Our friend, Kit, gave us a very interesting little pot made in Laguna, Philippines. These familiar things are a delight to have around.

It’s also a delight to have our favourite paintings on the walls. We bought some lithographs on a cruise once, very large and dramatic, and they look terrific in this house. A painting by Sue Wilmot who was my Art Teacher at Gib Gate hangs over our bed, and a print of Helen Wiltshire’s Çlowns and Clams’ in the kitchen reminds us of our time on the barrier reef. I have a poster of Streeton’s ‘From McMahon’s Point, fare one penny’ but we can’t find space for a couple of water colours by Edward Warner, who painted from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. Our friend Jim was given several paintings by his widow, and shared them among his friends. We were lucky enough to receive two.

We bought a new bed to furnish our bedroom and, with the wine tables we have had for years acting as bedside tables, it is very comfortable. Marilyn had a hall table for her bits and pieces but today we replaced it with a tea trolley made by an old friend, Bill Middleton, whom we used to visit at Waddamana. It’s a really good example of bush carpentry and we treasure it, even though it’s been re-glued a number of times.

There’s one other little room which Graeme and Patsy intended as a study but we have made it into a single-bed sleeping nook for the occasional visitor. All-in-all, the house meets our needs very well and we hope to have lots of dinner parties and other gatherings in years to come.

Friday, July 1st (part 2) …..

The ‘farm’ at Dilston will be our home for the foresee-able future. The house itself is tiny, an aluminium building which was fitted out inside to make a home for a young couple while they saved for their dream home. Unfortunately, they made it too comfortable and, without the urge to move on, they stayed in it for 9 years. It is a perfect home for us, having all the comfort we need without the demands of too much housework.

I’ll post some pictures of the outside this time and some photos of the interior in my next episode. I heard on the TV last night that people in Sydney and Melbourne are offering incentives to prospective home buyers: holidays, cars, etc. Graeme and Patsy left us a cat. This moggy entered their lives some time ago when it wandered on to the property looking for a hand-out. They’re kind people with two cats of their own, so offered it the post of Outside Cat with a regular bowl of Whiskas and a warm box to keep out the winter chills. They asked whether we would carry on the arrangement and the cat made it its business to endear herself to us, running to meet us when we visited and rubbing itself against our legs.

When we arrived to take possession of the house, the cat was waiting ready to establish some ground-rules. First, it has promoted itself to Indoor Cat, it wants milk added to its diet, and a bed in the laundry in all seasons of the year. It has demonstrated its knowledge of the existing cat door as it still wants access to the grounds when it feels the urge. It’s quite a noisy cat so Jamie has named it Chatter-box or CB for short. It’s clearly a man’s cat, as it’s all over Jamie and me but treats Marilyn as just the lady who puts down its dinner. In a previous existence, we believe it lived with a man. Marilyn has fantasised about an old bachelor whose cat was the focus of his loveless life, and when he was near to dying, he encouraged it to seek a new home where the people would pander to its demands. Sounds likely, doesn’t it?

Nothing very much has been done to the 2 acres. We certainly have the task ahead of us in levelling and tidying up the area around the house and keeping the tussocks and button grass under control in the rest of the space. There are some areas among the trees which are crying out for development. Jamie talks about a fire pit, for late night sing-songs but I think it will be enough to provide some places where I can drag a soft chair and sit in the shade to read.

We’re in the process of putting up a shed at the moment. What a rigmarole: choose the shed, get a quote for the concrete slab – easy enough so far. But then, the council gets in on the act: apply for a Building Permit, with plans of the shed (it’s just a rectangle, for goodness sake!), make sure it’s not too close to a boundary else we’ll need a Planning Permit as well, make sure we have a plan to deal with storm water (it’s just a little shed and, if it weren’t there, the rainwater would look after itself), pay the required fee, and wait for several weeks until someone glances at the application and gives it a rubber stamp.

Jamie has also seen a mini-cedar cabin in a Bunnings catalogue but the process of getting approval for that might be beyond us.

Friday, July 1st …..

I had an email from Dianne this morning reminding me that I’ve been a bit slack and haven’t posted anything since June 14th! Shock, horror! Is my life so dull that I have nothing to say, or is it so private, I can’t share it with anyone? Or I am just a bit slack? Perhaps Dianne is right.

Let’s go back to Rafferty’s for a moment just to report on our last night there. We had decided we wanted to try the Catho Pub in the small town of Catherine Hill Bay. It’s a mining town with tiny wooden houses, close to the sea. The day we drove around to have a look, the houses were covered with banners: “Save our Town’, ‘No Development in Catho’, ‘Leave Us in Peace’, etc. However, the barmaid at the pub told us it was all too late, the development of several townhouses had been passed and building would start soon.

The pub itself is just a one-storey affair, with a verandah at the front and a feeling of lazy neglect in the way it is run. Nothing was tidy, the fittings were shabby and there were beer kegs, boxes of wine and general junk everywhere. We wandered through to the bistro, looking lost until the barmaid appeared and took our order. She explained that it wasn’t her job but the girl; who was supposed to do it was nowhere to be seen. It was a leap of faith in a way because we saw nothing to suggest we might get a reasonable meal. ‘Where should we sit?’ we asked. Ánywhere you like,’ she said. ‘We had a big night last night, with the State of Origin,’ she said, ánd we’re still a bit disorganised.

Too true! The only upright table seemed to be in the bar and was still covered with last night’s spills and empty chip packets. Marilyn found a Spray ‘n’ Wipe on the bar and cleaned it up and we took a seat in anticipation of what we might receive. The two or three other patrons in the bar seemed bemused by the appearance of us city-slickers and wandered off to leave us in peace.

The meals were extraordinary. Jenny and I had lamb shanks: 2 each with mounds of garlic mash and veges, and Marilyn and Sandy had Flathead fillets and chips. I think they had in mind coal miners after a hard shift when they worked out the portions; certainly our plates were groaning with what they served. And it tasted great! So, full marks to the Catho Pub. Ignore the first impressions, enjoy the unusual ambience and have a great feed.

The next day we drove to Wollongong for a couple of nights before heading for Melbourne and the Tasmanian ferry. We arranged to meet friends, Mary and David, in Bungendore where they have just renovated a cottage and shed. Bungendore is a lovely town and the home of the Wood Works Gallery. David McLaren, Director of the Gallery, came to the Craft Fair in 2008 as a judge and I was looking forward to seeing him again. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there on the day we visited but we certainly enjoyed seeing the gallery and having lunch in their café. Being close to Canberra and being a weekend, it was very busy. David and Mary were well, and their renovations were great so it was a good visit.

On to Gundagai for an overnight stop and to Melbourne the following day. We arrived there early enough to take the tram into town to check out the sales. We’ve checked out the sales in six cities now and still find things to buy. This time, we found Cuisinart Coffee Machines in David Jones for $30. Can’t resist, buy two!

The weather forecast had gale force winds over Bass Strait so all the talk on the boat was that we would have a bumpy night. Not so, and we slept like babies before being woken at an ungodly hour so we could get off the boat not long after 6.30am. Breakfast at Etc café at Elizabeth Town and into Deloraine to collect what we could from the shed before the rain came, and then off to Dilston to our new home. It’s still pretty empty but over the next few days I’ll bring up what we need to make the place homely.