My weekend, reading out loud.

Oh, how I love to relive my weekend on a Monday by typing it into my blog. I cherry-pick all the parts that sound most productive or creative, for my own pleasure. If my blog is of no interest to you, at least I can tell myself that I have a very nice life.

On Saturday afternoon I met Becky in the park and we read a book, taking turns to read out loud, for about 2 hours. I also crocheted. We read the first 4 chapters of The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. It's a YA book, so it moves quickly and is light and quirky. We are both pretty good readers. I would like to start a club for reading out loud, but only people who are good readers would be allowed to read. Anyone could come and listen.

 

On Sunday I watched Insiders and Inside Business. I avoid the news all week, and then watch some politely moderated civilised discussion. I find it very restful, like reading the newspaper. I did some oil painting (finished one and decided another one was a failure to throw out) and some cross stitch while listening to the Hard Magic audiobook. I walked to church.

It wasn't all perfect. I ate too much junkfood. It's been getting too bready and junky for a couple of weeks. My stomach doesn't like it. I am going repent and eat kinder to my body. Fruit and salad and vegetables.

Ow.

I've been sitting on a hot water bottle all day because I've got sciatica or some kind of pinched nerve slash cramp in my right leg. Ow.

A different sort of ow, Punch Brothers, my new obsession, were in Sydney 2 months ago. Which is worse than when I thought they'd probably never come to Australia. They did come and I hadn't heard of them then. Found out while watching this interview on radio national.

Banjo music.

I'm going to the Mumford and Sons concert this week. I think it'll be good, I think they'll be a tight band. M&S seem a lot like Coldplay to me, they both started out alternative and got mass appeal, they sing with a sort of raw throat, the lyrics are mostly ambiguous, occasionally epic, so you can both read your own meanings in AND feel like the singer is singing something important.

M&S has been a good way into the bluegrass side of folk. I've been enjoying other bands rather more. The Avett Brothers, Paul Kelly + Stormwater Boys, and Punch Brothers. There's a theme with the fraternal-sounding names in this genre. Currently, the latter group are top of my playlist. I like some of their songs because they they keep me guessing with chords and time sig. It's a sort of more intricate music than Mumford. They go in for long instrumentals, as well, so I find it nice for work music.



Did I embed a song? I'm so bad at it. Here is the link, if not. I wonder why all these young men spent their youth getting good at the mandolin and the banjo. They could have had no clue that it would get cool. I wonder what the instrument is that kids should be practising now, to reap the rewards of coolness in 15 years time? The flute? Brass band instruments? A synth?

Here's another Punch Bros one, because I think I've remembered how to do it.

Weekend in Maitland.

A friend of mine decided to take her friend up to the Hunter for a weekend, and offered me a lift to my parents, and in return I offered her accommodation at my parents, because actually there was nowhere else to stay that was affordable. Everybody won! I didn't partake of the driving to Pokolbin or the gardens, I just stayed at home and did Jillian and so on.  A little bit of cross stitch too. Now that I've finished my chest of drawers, the cross stitch is top of the list to finish this year. I just never do it. Speaking of the drawers, I've decided to probably use up the rest of my varnish on my bed frame. That's exciting.

We went to Morpeth on Sunday afternoon for the traditional macadamia petite cookie plus flavoured iced milk drink. And I bought some grown-up cordial, it is coconut and passionfruit flavoured. I'm excited to be drinking it this summer.

Holiday in Armidale.

I spent the long weekend at home. Hardly left the house. Had to seriously clean for inspection, and a the same time, varnish my chest of drawers. It was lovely to go away and know that I am returning to a tidy house. Anyway, it wasn't all work, Becky came over on Saturday for lunch and to do an op shop run with me, my flatmate and I had regular Criminal Minds breaks, and lunch at Coogee beach. And tidying is satisfying in the end. Painful and tedious, but cathartic.

I flew up to Armidale on Tuesday morning. Such a good way to go, flying, if you plan early and get cheap flights (under $60 each way). The drive is a killer, but flying takes less than 3 hours door to door, the flight itself only about one hour and includes a nice cup of tea and a cake, so you still have the whole rest of the day and plenty of energy to do stuff. The only annoying part is getting to Sydney airport. I got up pretty early and went by taxi with plenty of time to spare because I'm an anxious pre-traveller and would rather wait at the airport than fidget around the house. Flying home is easier because at the Armidale end you just drive up to the airport door and walk in and you need less buffer time.

So anyway, my friend collected me on Tuesday morning from the airport, shortly after she herself arrived on the first flight. We did a 5 km bush walk, some grocery shopping, a bit of tidying up, cooked a roast chicken...

We did jillian in the morning most days. One afternoon we did a two hour drive up to Bellingen to go to cafés and look at hippies, one of whom was walking a goat, another a ferret. I resisted buying cool dresses, due to my clothes shopping ban. But I did find, upstairs in the main emporium, a load of old handles.

And I wanted some. And happy days, I needed some! Because I finished revarnishing my chest of drawers. It's such a joy to buy something you need, and its not just from bunnings, it's unique and its from a place you went on holidays. Usefulness and memories. And also, a fun way to get a job done. And this is a lovely cafe in an antique/op shop.

That white shirt I'm wearing came to an end. It wore right out and I stuck my thumb through the back of it when I wore it to fly home. Goodbye, old friend. May you enjoy your new life as cleaning rags.

When we drove back to Armidale in the evening, the sunset was strangely pink and very pretty.

What else... It was just so relaxing. The weather was warm, we had a few jams in the school music rooms, we shared music likes, we went to several cafés like the goldfish bowl (where the hipsters live), the art gallery (NERAM) and its café, did some loads of washing at a friends house because the washing machine had disappeared, bought a new washing machine, went to a tea shop and I spent $20 on tea but it is so delicious, a peppermint herbal blend called Clarity, and a green tea chai. We had a game of chess in one cafe, and a bit of a drawing lesson in another cafe. We had pie dinner at the pub one night. We went to the folk museum. I broke my no clothes shopping rule in salvos and sprang $3 on a brownish wool jumper I didn't need but couldn't leave behind. I did some crochet outside on a picnic rug some afternoons while j did some filing and stuff. I read 2 hunger games books. We watched Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. I introduced J to the televisual delight that is Snog Marry Avoid.

One of our walks. Armidale area has lots of gorges. They look very interesting as you fly over as well.

Chess at the NERAM cafe.

The fold museum had some interesting things. Moustache cups:

Lace making display:

A restored bicycle which was a special "coronation" bike. Stylish.

J is a good person to holiday with because we are well matched in interests and energy levels. And a place like Armidale, although it has no big attractions like a beach, is so far away from Sydney that you leave normal life behind, and it is slow paced and easy to get around, and pretty, and has bushwalks and cafés and op shops to poke around. I did not want to leave.

Flying home I had a window seat, and the view of NSW was lovely. Bush fires, the sea and the lakes all down the coast, and as you come in to Sydney the small planes fly low over the city so you can literally see cars and people, it's a true bird's eye view.

FINISH! of the tallboy makeover project.

So this was the start of the project, back in June, when I was discontented with my yellowing old pine chest of drawers and thought it would be an easy and cheap thing to do to just sand and revarnish it.

It took a couple of weekends to sand it, using a borrowed power sander, and eventually I just focused on the drawers, which are the front, and left the sides and top a bit tinted still. I didn't sand the handles because I would just buy new ones and paint them to match.

I did the varnishing on the long weekend, and it was pretty easy compared to sanding. 3 coats over 3 days. A shower curtain on the lounge room floor (conveniently we needed to replace it that weekend) solved my problem of where to do it.

Cost of the project at this point, approx $75. The varnish was $55, plus the brush and the sandpaper. I have at least a 3rd of a tin of varnish left over so I am wondering about going over some other furniture with it, but I'm not sure yet. I need a rest.

This is the layering of the coats. It's hard to get the colour true with my camera but you get the idea.

And then, the amazing and fun part. While on holidays I found a shop in Bellingen selling loads of second hand knobs. They were so pretty, and since I was planning on replacing the drawer handles anyway, I bought up 10 blue knobs. $45 for 10 handles, taking cost of project to about $120. I just love it when I buy something unique, which I also need, and which will remind me of good times and nice places.

How amazing does it look!

The finished thing!

I am extremely proud of myself. Especially proud that I finished it, even if it took four months.