Category Archives: retirement

Vertical Elements

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We have ongoing plans for the garden but the wheels turn fairly slowly here as everything carefully considered.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to reposition a couple of the small raised garden beds which we bought early last year. This is all part of the grand plan to have defined pathways and sections of the garden rather than a wide open space.

They now run north/south rather than east/west. You can see the old positions by the patches of dirt in the foreground of the photo.

I had also seen somewhere online that people had used reinforcing mesh to create an archway between 2 raised garden beds. So, yesterday we purchased one large piece of mesh from the hardware which was delivered in the afternoon and we set to work on our plan.

This is the second one we built and I am hoping to use it to grow climbing beans. There is a tomato in the bed on the left and spinach on the right-hand side.

The first one we did is a bit more difficult to see because of the background. It is high enough to allow clearance for the shed door (not regulation height) to open. I have planted a couple of cucumber seedlings close to the arch in the garden bed on the right. There are also capsicums in that bed. The box in the foreground is onions and the lettuce is thriving on the other side with coriander in pots nearby.

We also have cauliflower, strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb in other spots not shown in the photos.

It is great to have some permanent vertical structures in the garden which are both decorative and functional.

Countdown

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Almost 2 weeks since my last post. While I haven’t been writing there seems to have been plenty to keep me occupied. Sometimes it is difficult to get motivated to write as I am loathe to repeat myself and after 14.5 years of blogging it can begin to feel like more of the same. However, in a lot of respects our lives and routines are remarkably repetitive.

The spring weather is as unpredictable as ever with days that hint of the coming summer interspersed with others that feel like winter. Nevertheless, we are enjoying the spring flowers and fresh foliage growth. The fleeting nature of spring flowers makes them particularly special as we have a small window to enjoy them before they are gone for another year. The daffodils are finished but the wisteria are looking their best this week.

Like every year, 2025 seems to be gathering speed as we race towards the end of the year. We no longer have work Christmas parties, end-of-year school activities or even a huge focus on a family Christmas but the countdown to Christmas has crept up on me.

We had a short break last week and spent 3 nights at Walhalla, about 3 hours east of Melbourne. It is a historic gold-mining town which now has a permanent population of 20.

This is a view from our accommodation one evening.

It occurred to me today that it is 10 weeks until we fly to Europe for a trip which we hope may include a white Christmas.

Before that we have another 2 night short break here in Victoria as well as about 10 days in Queensland visiting family, a weekend of volunteering/attending the local Folk Festival and the usual round of events, meetings, visitors and so on.

I really do need to be organised to make sure everything goes smoothly.

How do you feel about the latter part of the year? Are you planning or already prepared for Christmas and the year’s end?

A Day Out – Part 1

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Today we ventured to Shepparton, a regional city which is a couple of hours drive north-east of where we live. The reason for our visit was twofold, seeing the Brett Whiteley exhibition at the Shepparton Art Museum and going to the SPC Factory Shop. For those who are not familiar with the acronym, it stands for Shepparton Preserving Company, an Australian food processing company based in Shepparton which is well-known for its various canned fruits and vegetables. I was hoping to stock up on canned tomatoes but more on that in my next post.

I did not think to take any photos of the very recent building which houses the Shepparton Art Museum. The current location opened to the public in November 2021. Here is a photo I found online.

The exhibition we visited was excellent but I chose to simply enjoy the works rather than trying to photograph them.

We then walked up to the rooftop terrace where we caught this view which is almost the reverse of the previous image.

On the way up the central staircase I spotted this artwork. It is actually a timber ladder suspended from the ceiling against a circular mirror which creates the illusion of the ladder extending infinitely upwards. Really intriguing………….

The design of the large glass windows frame the view to the lake and beyond.

The spectacular patterns on the bark of these eucalypts caught my eye from the outdoor area outside the museum cafe where we had a delicious lunch. The food was excellent and the majority of the menu was gluten free.

After we left Shepparton we took a short detour off the main road to see the historic Toolamba Bridge. The single lane, timber planked bridge which spans the Goulburn River was opened in 1900.

We made one more stop on our way home. These photos show some silo art at Colbinabbin. The series was too big to fit into a single photo so the 3 photos show the sequence. The idea of painting a silo began in 2015 in Western Australia and has expanded since then to encompass silos, tanks and water towers in dozens of rural towns across the country. The themes are many and varied but always have a strong local influence. The resultant Art Trails have reinvigorated many of the rural communities.

Next time I will share the details of our shopping exploits from today.

This and That

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While it is only the beginning of the second week of August there is a definite hint of spring in the air. At least the bitter chill has gone, at least for the moment. Today was a glorious sunny day.

The daffodils are almost ready to burst forth.

GMan picked all of the remaining lemons from the tree. It is only quite a small tree and one of the branches that was laden with fruit really needed to be pruned.

I have juiced about half of these and will do the rest tomorrow.

One thing led to another and I sorted out the freezers which were a bit of a shambles and I was not 100% certain of what was in there. I found a single serve of soup and a zucchini quiche which GMan and I had for our lunches. I also pulled out a bag of whole ripe tomatoes from last summer. I will thaw and chop them to use in cooking.

A jar of prepared chickpeas was thawed out for a vegetable curry for dinner – it is chickpea, pumpkin and eggplant.

We also made the most of the better weather to do a bit more fence painting. I think it is going to be our version of the Sydney Harbour Bridge!

It is still cold at night so firewood is a must.

Birthday Outing

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Today is GMan’s birthday and coincidentally we arranged to go to Melbourne with the express purpose of going to the exhibition of French Impressionism at the National Gallery of Victoria. It includes over 100 artworks drawn from the extensive collection at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

However, the first thing that caught our attention was before we even entered the gallery. The bare plane trees on the footpath outside the gallery were adorned with a series of threads of paper cranes as today is the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. This modest yet powerful memorial was appreciated by many people passing by.

The exhibition is very popular so there were lots of people around but still enough space to view all of the paintings as well as the detailed information adjacent to each.

Here are a few photographs of some that particularly caught my eye.

Entrance to the village of Osny by Paul Gaugin.

Two peasant women in a meadow by Camille Pissarro.

There were 19 Monet works in the exhibition. Some were quite familiar subjects such as waterlilies, the Japanese bridge in the garden at Giverny and haystacks but here are a couple of less well-known pieces.

Road at La Cavée, Pourville

Boulevard Saint Denis Argenteuil in winter

Finally, a view from inside the foyer of the gallery.

After the gallery adventure we headed back the Elio’s Place, a small European bistro in Flinders Lane for a birthday lunch. Then it was a couple of errands before catching the train home. It was a full and fun day out.

Ticket to Ride

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Do you remember when there was no online booking of travel or swiping of cards or devices to pay for tickets on the go?

Well, this is a bit of a blast from the past. Our paper tickets for a return trip to Adelaide.

We are off to Adelaide at the end of the month for a few days and although it is simple enough to drive from here to Adelaide in one day we have decided to take a slightly more circuitous route and turn the journey into a bit of an adventure.

The first leg is to catch the train from Castlemaine to Swan Hill. We will arrive around lunchtime so are staying in a cabin at the caravan park which is conveniently located between the railway station and the river. We will have time to have a look around the town and enjoy the river scenery.

The next day we catch a coach to Adelaide and will arrive by 6pm. Our accommodation is conveniently located in the city centre and only a few blocks from the coach terminal.

Our return journey will be the same in reverse.

It will be something a bit different.

Some Special Sewing

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I have put my head down and done some concentrated sewing over the past couple of days. It is a birthday gift for our elder granddaughter.

The result is that I have now completed 21 patchwork blocks which is half of the total needed for a QS quilt.

I wrote a post in February which you can read here in which I mentioned that I had done the first block.

Here are the other 21 blocks ready to start sewing.

The disappearing 9 patch is essentially a 2-step process. The first is to sew the 9 pieces together and you can see some of them here at that stage.

After that, each block is cut into 4 pieces and rearranged before restitching. This gives the overall random finished pattern.

I hope to have the patchwork completed in the next week or so but it is somewhat dependant on other activities.

Independence Day – A Reflection

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I know that I am a couple of days late for American Independence Day which is celebrated on 4th July. 6 years ago I had my own version of Independence Day as 4th July 2019 marked my last working day in the office. Interestingly enough, it took me another 3 weeks before I was sufficiently organised to even write a blog post which combines a measure of relief and optimism. You can read it here.

A themed dinner with work colleagues.

Well, here I am 6 years later and still writing this blog – I have actually been writing it since March 2011. Life has had some ups and downs, some expected and others totally unforeseen. We managed a mere 6 months of retirement before our collective worlds were turned upside down with the arrival of Covid-19 in early 2020.

There was plenty of time for gardening.

There have been family events – milestone birthdays and weddings as well as several funerals. The death of my mother in early 2021 left an enormous void in my life and that of many others.

Farewell, Mum.

While Covid-19 did put a dent in our overseas travel plans for a few years we made up for that with road trips within Queensland and interstate once the tightest restrictions had eased. The addition of a new puppy in 2020 gave us plenty of distraction, too. We resumed travelling abroad in 2024 and have plenty of plans for later this year and beyond.

The household seems to revolve around Islay.

Our biggest post-retirement change was a move from Queensland to regional Victoria. Although we bought a home that was only a couple of years old there continue to be some modifications needed to make it completely to our liking.

We have settled into life in our small country town and life hums along in a regular rhythm of activities at home, volunteering, cultural events, visits from family and friends as well as travel near and far.

Enjoying a local Writers’ Festival.

Did I really know what to expect from retirement? Not really, but it is simply a matter of finding your own pace and space.

Conception to Completion

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We have guests coming to stay next week and as well as the dedicated guest room I needed to set up another bed. There is a fold-out sofa bed in the third bedroom so I have unfolded it and made it up in readiness.

After I had done the bed it occurred to me that there was no side table in that room. After a bit of thought I decided that I could create one fairly easily with things we have one hand.

First……….a spare plastic crate from the shed. No modification needed apart from turning it upside down.

The next step was to add a solid top. GMan found a piece of melamine that was leftover from the pantry renovation and cut it to size. It is heavy enough to stay in place without any additional fixing.

The next step was to find some suitable fabric in my stash to make a cover. I found a large piece of embroidered heavy satin which was originally one side of a thrifted doona cover and made a fitted cover.

The fitted cover in place.

The new side table in position and the room is ready for the guests.

The entire project took less than 2 hours to complete from the moment I first thought of the idea.

Art For Art’s Sake

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Decluttering and minimalism are all about eschewing ‘stuff’ and some people seem to think that life is bland and missing something without possessions.

Now, I am not suggesting for one moment that I do not have stuff or that I am even a minimalist although I certainly do have less possessions than many people.

Experiences are valuable and mean much more to me than a house filled with possessions. Travel is always high on my list of experiences. Sometimes we travel specifically for art experiences and at other times we find cultural experiences along the way.

Just 12 months ago we went to Hobart for the express purpose of going to an exhibition titled ‘Lands of Light’ by Lloyd Rees at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

We discovered a very different but equally interesting exhibition in the adjacent gallery.

The next few months are filled with various artistic and cultural events. Some are very local, such as the Maldon Portrait Prize which celebrates local artists. We plan to view the entries at a local gallery sometime in the next week. Other planned trips include Bendigo to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition and well as going to the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne to see ‘French Impressionism’ from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. We are also going further afield over the next couple of months to Gippsland Art Gallery in Sale to see ‘Turner and Australia’ which explores the influence of JMW Turner on the Australian art scene and the Art Gallery of South Australia for an exhibition titled, ‘Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890 – 1940’.

Of course, art encompasses some many other mediums and we have tickets to several performances over the next few months beginning with our younger daughter’s dance concert tomorrow afternoon. Two live theatre productions round out our adventures for July. Live theatre is one of my great loves and I am looking forward to seeing Justine Clarke in a one-woman play, ‘Julia’ about Julia Gillard, Australia’s first (and so far, only female Prime Minister). The other is called Mother Play which premiered on Broadway in 2024. This version stars on of my favourite Australian actresses, Sigrid Thornton.

The opportunity to experience such diverse cultural experiences is worth more to me than a cupboard full of things.

What about you?