I made a big life choice. I decided not to apply for a job with more managering and more money, and to aim to devote any spare time and energy I had to oil painting. I spent some money updating my paint and brushes. This little bookshop is called Macdonalds, it's in Maitland mall, run by the same little old man forever, and it's where we bought my first art supplies many decades ago. So back I went one Saturday to buy new brushes and a big tube of white oil paint.
It was the day the Olive Tree markets were at Maitland art gallery. So I had a look in the art gallery, which had an exhibit of Maitland embroiderers guild. And then I looked at the markets and splurged a lot of money on this merino scarf, dyed with leaves, by a nice lady in Nelson Bay. It hasn't been scarf weather yet. I met some Doust women from church and had lunch with them.
Then I went home and started being ARTY. I drew this sea holly flower.
And then I painted. I got a basic impression done in about 2 hours. It was slow and frankly tedious. There are a few good spots in the painting, that look alive, but mostly it still looks flat. So I guess it needs a lot more time fiddling around. Painting is not as easy as it looks. Then I realised I have no turps to wash my brushes.
Never got back into the painting for the rest of the month. The next weekend was the Tocal Field Days. The DPI tent was a huge success this year for drawing people in, lots of kids dug around for veggies and planted beans and took them home. There was also a good bee display in our bookshop. An observation hive with a queen in it and everything. It was very tiring, about 22000 people came to the event over 3 days and 600 beans were planted and I guess a thousand or more kids messed around in the digging garden. My back was very sore.
My back has been sore mostly in the mornings for a few years. Since I moved into this house. I don't know why. I tried replacing a matress since it was a morning thing. That didn't help. So I'm finally seeing a physio. I saw one bloke twice then he left, so now I'm seeing a different woman. Her theory is my core is lazy and my back is working too hard. So I need to strengthen everything and try and use my core more. I'm surprised if my core is weak because I do so much ab stuff with Jillian, but they say you can have a 6pack and a weak core. Time will tell if exercises and stretches and things will help.
Drama in the garden. one of my irises started turning to mush! I researched. It was rotting! A bacterial rot. Irises need no mulch around them and pretty dry soil, and it's been rainy. So I followed advice from the internet. Dug it up, cut off all the rotting bits, was able to save a section, washed it well, trimmed the leaves, and left it on the dining table in the sun for a week to really dry out. Then I planted it in a new bit of garden. A week or two later, a 2nd iris had the same problem! Both are doing OK now. I think they have been saved.
Have been talking to many people (mainly Elsie and JK) about food prep. I don't know when or why I started prepping on Sunday, but it's a way of life now. On Sunday morning I decide what to eat, write a shopping list, shop, and then I make my work lunches (a big salad I divide up for each day) and dinners (eg a batch of soup or a roast or a slow cooker thing). Then the rest of the week it's just grab and go, with nothing to do but microwave! I rarely waste food because I buy specifically what I need for the week and cook it straight away. A lot of single people do this actually. I bought the above pile of Pyrex on sale for my lunches so that they make a nice neat stack in the fridge, because all the different sized containers I was using was not space efficient.
Taking a moment here to pay tribute to this pair of jeans.
I bought them when I lived in Kingsford. Back when you bought bootleg jeans. So many memories. I was anti skinny leg jeans when they came along, but the ankle of my bootleg got caught in my scooter wheel in centennial park one day, I fell off and ripped the knee and skinned my hand. So they have a patched knee, but also I caved in to skinny legs and sewed the legs in to remove the dangerous flares.
They are now my Old Jeans (I also have New Jeans which are only 3 years old) and have sadly just crossed over from perfectly worn in to worn out. I haven't yet thrown them in the bin, but I have decided not to wash them again.
A book I ordered during my flower farming obsession arrived!
It is beautiful. It has really useful information about growing different flowers and even keeping them in vases. For example, how to get long stems on sweet peas. And how to make poppies last in vases.
View of Goulburn park from the soldiers club in Goulburn. Last Saturday Julia and I drove there and back (8 hours total) for lunch with family for Grandfather's Birthday. He is 94?
This is the Air BNB mum booked for her self and some of her family. Wow.
At the other end of the spectrum, this is a native bee house I'm building. It is to be filled with bedrooms made of sticks with holes in them.
This is my first poppy bloom opening! It was unfortunately lying down. I chatted to the milkshake lady at the blood bank and she said when she was a girl there were so many flowers. Cessnock hospital had huge flower beds of poppies. People don't grow flowers any more. People plant low maintenance shrubs and ground covers. It's a lost joy, flowers for picking. But I think there is a resurgence in flowers, led by florists and instagram and weddings. Flower crowns and so on.
And here is my 25th donation. It was a success! I'm a bit hit and miss with blood donations. Sometimes iron is too low, or flow is too weak or a vein leaks. Every second time is a fail. But this one counted, which is good because there is short supply at the moment. Also my iron was 131, back up there!
I've switched my lunchtime walk route from the shady dairy way to the sunny homestead way for winter. In the middle of this horizon is the barracks near the homestead, which is 4 little 1br units, convict built.
Update on the lemon in the pot. I trimmed its two crooked branches off when I bought it, and a month or so later there are a total of 5 baby sprouts! PHEW. I think it is on its way to being an attractive bushy standard lemon tree. Sacrificing those branches will be worth it.
I should say, I signed up for a free month of Tiffxo, online Taekwondo fitness program. The first week I cooked the recipes and everything, but it was too hard. I went back to my normal meal prepping which is basically as healthy - although there was some good ways of increasing fruit and veg. So I now add pear to my porridge. Breakfast is healthier. As for the workouts, they are really good. I learnt some fresh things. I will save quite a few workouts and mix them in with Jillian going forward. I didn't like exercising every day, it really cut out time for other things. Every second day works better for me. But they aren't long workouts. After about 10 days of feeling tired, I enjoyed them. So if you want to commit to getting fitter, stronger, and healthier, I recommend it.
The other time commitment for the month was being in the band for our Women of Truth conference. That bore fruit yesterday at the conference.
Friday night before the day.
Buying my korg was a good choice.
JK gave a really good testimony.
Heather and her housemate visited this weekend, just to do fun things in Maitland. We had dinner at the George tavern last night, shared chicken wings and pizza, and then tea and cake back at my place. I bought some raffle tickets for a meat tray but didn't win.
Only other news I can think of is the kettle died. It was leaking I think, and while it still worked it shorted the power a few times. That was inconvenient. It is one of the many appliances I have second hand from people who have died. I thought long and hard about what to replace it with. A thing of beauty? Or a functional water boiler? In the end I spent $50 on a cute red metal one. Not a plastic one, it looks nice, but it's not fancy, and believe me there are some expensive kettles. I've been thinking about money: being frugal, being middle class, talking about money, not talking about money, the pull of comfort.
I think I'm going to buy a kayak. I've thought about it for a while. I've got a friend at work who also wants to kayak on the river with me, we will both get one. There are good sales at the moment. I will also need to get roof racks, which I'm less keen on. I'm a bit hesitant about leaping into a new thing, spending money and then storing a big thing. My plan is, kayak 10 times (hopefully this year) and then the Cost Per Wear on the kayak will be $35 or so. I will try and give it a red hot go for 2 years. And then, if I turn out to not use it, I'll sell it. If I make a couple of hundred back on it 2nd hand, should be a reasonably cheap experiment.
I kayaked a couple of years ago when I stayed with my bushwalking friends at Kangaroo Valley. I thought it was a nice change from bush walking, it felt like really good upper body exercise, and now I live near a river it seems worth making a go of it if I can. Scary though, leaping into a new sport.
Loving the Down Dog app. It's made me enjoy stretching. And you get so much benefit from only 10 minutes a day.
