Sometimes you don’t know what you need until you see it.
I found a Country Road shirt in an op shop in Warrnambool last week. It is organic French linen in one of my favourite shades and I was very happy to pay the $15 asking price as it is in pristine condition.
Now, all I need is some spring-like weather to be able to wear it. That is not going to happen for at least a couple of months yet.
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.
In my last port I mentioned that we had visitors coming to stay. Our daughter and 2 granddaughters who live in Brisbane have been to visit for a week. They spent the first couple of nights in Melbourne where they went to see Beetlejuice and then took the train to Warrnambool where we met them and spent 3 days exploring the surrounding area, including the Great Ocean Road.
At the whale watching lookout at Logan’s Beach but no whales in sight.
Some stunning scenery along the Great Ocean Road.
Finally, we had 2 nights at home before a drive to Melbourne today to drop them at the airport for their return flight. I managed to take up 4 pairs of jeans for the girls as well as trim the younger one’s hair.
Yesterday we went to Bendigo where we went shopping for a 16th birthday gift for our younger granddaughter, had lunch at at Italian restaurant and then GMan, our daughter and I went to see the Frida Khalo exhibition at the Art Gallery. Although the granddaughters weren’t interested in seeing the exhibition we did manage a photo of them near the entrance. They had gelato and went to the gardens instead.
It has been a full and interesting week and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the family.
Back to reality tomorrow as I finish washing the extra bedlinen and rearranging the guest rooms. I am also hoping to do a bit more fence painting as the forecast is for fine weather and not too cold.
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.
In a post from last week I mentioned that I was searching for alternatives to the bed that we had in the spare room. You can read about it here.
I feel as though I have spent the past week buying and selling beds on Facebook Marketplace.
We thought we had found a suitable bed, however, it turned out to be too big for the room as it had quite chunky timber head and foot ends. I managed to sell the original bed quite quickly and thought I would need to make do with the one that was a bit of a squeeze as we have guests arriving on Sunday.
Luckily, I spotted the perfect bed not too far from home and we were able to collect it today.
The bed is assembled, remade and the room is back in order and I am really pleased with the outcome.
Now all I need to do is to sell the one which did not suit our space. It was definitely a ‘whoops’ moment but not the end of the world.
The universe, or at least Facebook Marketplace, delivered today. I had been looking for a small seat to go in our walk-in wardrobe. It would be a spot to sit to put on or take off shoes.
I found this one for $10 and only 15 minutes drive from home.
This is probably not essential during the summer months as I simply slip on a pair of sandals and go but it will be a game-changer during the cooler months when I seem to be forever putting on lace-up shoes or boots.
It was quite hilarious to discover that the family selling it actually had another which they used for exactly the same purpose. Great minds think alike!
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?
I seem to have linen in a couple of different locations and I recently decided that I needed to look closely at what I had, and more importantly, where it is stored. The towels and bed linen were mostly in the small linen cupboard in the hallway. I had some tablecloths and less used bed linen and blankets in the large drawers under the bed in the spare room. Tea towels, hand towels and some table mats are in a drawer in the pantry.
The catalyst for my decision to re-evaluate the linen storage was the fact that the spare bed had become a bit of a dumping-ground which included the clean linen needed to remake that bed.
So, the first job was to hang up the coats which were also on the bed and remake it ready for guests at the end of the month. That immediately made things look better.
The bed was one which we bought from the previous owners when we bought the house, however, I can honestly say that I hate it. I like the look of the bed but it is difficult to make as the mattress which is very heavy sits inside a timber recess. I usually end up with scraped knuckles by the time it is made. The built-in drawers in the base are a killer for my back as I can’t get my feet close enough. I am currently searching secondhand option for a suitable replacement.
Meanwhile, I removed everything that was in the drawers in preparation for not having that space in the future.
The revamped linen cupboard – towels, sheets and doona covers.
Some extra blankets in a vacuum bag in the wardrobe. The bags on the floor contain 2 airbeds – one is a single and the other a queen-size.
Finally, I have relocated all the linen relating to the kitchen and dining room to a drawer in the extended pantry. These include tea towels, handtowels, table mats, serviettes and tablecloths.
The rearrangement did not take me too long and hopefully it will continue to work well.
We were away from home for less than 23 hours on the weekend. Although we did have a specific purpose and destination it was almost as much about the journey.
When we go to Melbourne we drive or catch the train from Castlemaine depending on the reason and our destination. Catching the train means that we have to drive about 15km from home and leave the car in the station car park for the day. We have also arranged a lift from friends when our trip involved getting to the airport for overseas travel.
This time we made a conscious decision to make use of the very intermittent bus service from our small town to Castlemaine. We left home after lunch on Saturday and walked about 15 minutes to the bus stop.
After the short bus ride we arrived at Castlemaine Railway Station in plenty of time to connect with the next train to Melbourne.
The train terminates at Southern Cross Station.
Our next step was a short walk across the road to catch a tram. This is one of the older style trams. The ones that run the 96 route are the newer, double-length, flat floor models.
The No 96 tram passes Southern Cross Station on its route from St Kilda to East Brunswick. We were going to the terminus at East Brunswick. It was then a short 200m walk to our overnight accommodation at an Air BnB. The tram terminus was also directly outside the Lomond Hotel which was the reason for our adventure.
We went to the Lomond Hotel on Saturday evening for dinner and to see a band, ‘Streams of Whiskey’.
It was a fabulous evening and we definitely made correct decision to find accommodation nearby as the music began at 9pm and concluded about 11.30pm.
After a comfortable night at our accommodation we were off and ready to leave just before 9am and simply retraced our steps and public transport options before arriving home at midday on Sunday.
Back at Southern Cross and the train is ready to board.
The bus dropped us off around the corner from home.
I know public transport is not an option for everyone or for all situations but if you have the time and are prepared to do a bit of pre-planning it can work in many instances. Thanks to reduced regional fares/concession/weekend fares the total transport cost for our return adventure was $22.80. Moreover, we did not have to drive or find parking.
We are making progress on completing the lounge to the way we want it.
Some of you might remember this post from late February. Well there have been a few hiccups along the way but the window installation was finally completed today.
We will need to paint the frames both inside and outside and then I will see about choosing a blind. In the meantime, we will rehang the piece of fabric that has been covering the old window for the past couple of years. Bare glass is not a good idea at this time of the year.
The choice of louvres will be fully appreciated in the summer as they will provide good cross-ventilation.
Speaking of painting, we spent some time painting the pickets of our newish fence. It has been several months since it was installed but the weather has been either too hot or too cold and a few days ago we had rain to further delay us. Of course, we also seem to manage to be away or otherwise socially engaged. However, today was perfect. After a frosty start we were blessed with a glorious sunny day and no wind. Hopefully, there will be a few more days like today in the not too distant future to enable us to finish that project.
organised castle 