My Darling Dad Continues to Give

All my life my dad has given me significant 'things', things which have shaped my life. From a typewriter when I was a budding author at 11, to my first camera, digital clock radio, my first car,  an answering machine, a prototype word processor when they were not much more than glorified electric typewriters, my first digital camera, kindle and all sorts of upgrades to my computers as technology advanced. Of course the most significant thing financially was the deposit for my first real estate purchase in Sydney all those years ago. 

He didn't spoil me though. Alright, maybe he did, but I was always grateful and aware of his generosity. I took nothing for granted. The flat we bought in Sydney benefited us both. He maintained an interest which multiplied many times over in the short time before we sold it.  Many years later we did a similar thing in the UK with similarly pleasing results.

When my life crashed down a marital roller coaster in 2014/15 Dad was there to catch me again. We bought a house together again, this one suitable for regular parental visits from overseas. Sadly, there were only two visits before Mum's Alzheimers had progressed to a stage which meant that she couldn't travel.

But I digress. 

When we bought the house in 2015/6, the building inspection report man had a lot to say. The house was pretty 'run down' in terms of maintenance, but I was pushed for time. My marital home was already sold, I had parents and a child to consider and we just needed somewhere to live. 

I loved the house. I loved the split level, the cathedral ceilings, the western red cedar paneling, the mid-century modern features so reminiscent of my childhood and the location close to shops but down a bosky hill which made it feel as if we were in the country.

We moved in during the summer of 2016, hot and dry. A few months later we experienced the first rain and suddenly I had twelve bowls out catching drips in the dining room. I consulted a roofing man. His verdict? "You need a new roof".  There was no way at that point in time that I could even CONSIDER a new roof. Patching began.

Over the next eight years no less than 4 roof repairers told me the same thing. Unfortunately, I still did not  have the wherewithal to undertake such a mammoth effort. With enormous debts of gratitude to the Bank Of Georgia (see my previous post) I was able to keep it patched but the night I woke up with water dripping on my head marked a turning point.

So the devastating loss of my dad opened up a few doors.

I got my roof replaced :-D 

This was step one. 

Since that post I have also had my fence replaced!

 

 

A quick reminder....

 

 And then we moved on to the windows.

 The original windows were  trashed when I moved in. There was rot in the corner of all the timber frames, so significant that geckos could get in! Here is a sample....

 In addition, the windows were designed with the opening section near the floor. Useless when hot air rises!!

So I got new windows <3 I Love them so much. AND they're double glazed!!!

 So the next step was window coverings....

It was not easy. The configuration of the walls and previous window openings meant I couldn't get the curtains I wanted so I went for blinds...and since I was restricted to blinds I thought I might as well get the luxury of MOTORISED!!!!!

Meanwhile back in November, when I had flu, I had dropped glass onto my bathroom floor. Of course it smashed on the tiles but, the devastating extra consequence was that the tiles also broke!! 

 It was such a tiny break but it was visible and annoying so I called the insurance people. Yes, they said, you need a new bathroom.

???????????

Apparently, if you lift floor tiles in a bathroom you damage the waterproof membrane so the entire thing had to be ripped out and re-waterproofed and re-tiled!!! It seemed a good deal. I dutifully picked my tiles, as close to the originals as possible. and prepared to be without an ensuite for a few weeks. 

Work started a few days after my return from Christmas in the UK.  I was back at work already and the weather was fierce. The skip had arrived, a number of preliminary things had taken place and we were preparing for the big 'rip out'. I lay in bed, on top of my covers (it was hot) checking my phone at 6.30am, before getting up for work, when a strange noise outside caught my attention. A few beeping noises. Sounded like a reversing truck. Hard rubbish removal maybe? Unperturbed I went back to checking my phone. Some 5 minutes later a man, large as life, walked into my bedroom! 

May I help you? was all I could manage! 

The poor fellow was SO embarrassed. He had decided to start early to beat the heat and had asked the office whether the property would be vacant. They had (erroneously) said yes. I said ' maybe at 7:30 I'd be on my way to work...but not at 6:30!!!!! hahahahah

I laughed and laughed. I'm not sure he was as comfortable about it.

At the end of that day the bad news was delivered. The original bathroom had been installed incorrectly and instead of rendered walls I had gyprock glued to brick. It all had to come out. THEN they had to apply to the insurance company for permission to re-render the walls. Three weeks later work started again. There were many knock on effects from the rendering: sink in wrong position, needed moving, mirror now in wrong position, needed resizing.....

The previous photo was taken on the 30th of January. They finally signed off on my bathroom in April, but it is done.

 

Meanwhile.... I had organised for my hideous walk in wardrobe space to be reconfigured.

Here's before...

 I get a bit tingly when I look at the refurb. I LOOOOOVE it.

 Oh my G...everything is behind doors!!!!!

 Oh my WORD how good is this??????

 Even with things in it!!!! love love love

So the last thing to happen in this part of the house is the flooring. Decisions have been made this weekend so fingers crossed there will soon be a finished product to reveal.

 

The biggest heartache is that I can't show it to my Dad. 

 

 

 

 

Grief: Part 1

'Where do they go?'

As I watched the Temple Grandin movie recently, her heart rending question as she watched people and animals die,  triggered the grief in my heart. "Where did he go? He was just there and now he's gone! Where did he go?"

One never knows when its going to jump up and bite you. Grief.

This year has seen the loss of:

My darling Dad 

The dear, dear mother of Kindergarten Friend, my youngest sister's Godmother.

And my Bestie's beautiful mother (seen here with my own darling Mum).

Each one of them has taken a piece of me with them, wherever they have gone.

I'm not going to start with Dad. That is so huge I would never get to the other two extraordinary women who touched and moulded my life. I want to give respect to them and the manner of their passing; both tortured and peaceful. This in itself requires reflection. 

So. I bring them to you now in their prime, but let me also bring you context.

In 1965 we moved into our family home. It was the first house my parents had owned and was to be our home for the following 16 years. We arrived in this house as a family of four but added my youngest sister 5 years later. See that annex to the left? We built that. In this house we met two of the most important families in our lives. 

Further down the street (they were No 8 , we were No 11) was a family with a girl of a similar age to me. I have no recollection of our first meeting, although she claims to, for me she has just 'always been there'. She had a very different life to me. She was an only child and her parents were quite different to mine. Ok, VERY different to mine. 

Her dad was a practical man; tall, handsome, confident, at some point in my early life...a pilot!!! He built things. He fixed cars! With a country upbringing he understood animals, in a pragmatic way that at times shocked me. Cats were a case in point. Although he loved them, he knew when there were too many and when they had to go. One afternoon there were 20 kittens in the backyard. The next day there was one mother cat. The Bestie's dad taught me that there were different ways to think about things, animals being a case in point. I didn't always agree but I began to understand that my perception was not the only one. (Interestingly his daughter is now a member of the Zoo board, active in the conservation of animals).

 

He was a gentleman in the old style, somewhat out of step with the swinging sixties when our families met. He insisted on opening car doors for us, going so far as to berate us if we didn't stay in the car waiting for him to do so! He saw himself as Lord of his Manor and protector of his women folk. It was a 1940s romantic hero role which left the Bestie and I killing ourselves laughing as we reached our Women's Lib inspired teens. On reflection, we should probably have valued his attitude more and looked for blokes who were at least a little like him!

The Bestie's mother was an exotic creature who completely fascinated me. She came from a family 'with money' (her sister drove an E-Type Jag!) and knew all about the 'finer things' in life. Unlike my mother in so many ways, she wore makeup. One day she let me watch her 'put on her face'. I remember that to this day and every morning as I go to work I 'put on my face' as she did, a mask for the person I must be there.  She defied fashion trends and wore what suited her. Unlike my own mother, when everyone else wore mini skirts she sensibly assessed her own best assets and took to kaftans. Through my Bestie she introduced me to musicals: 'Gypsy', 'The Pyjama Game', 'Camelot','Man of La Mancha'; we would sit for hours playing them over and over, and she would share her reflections on them: the drama, the love stories and the ultimately wonderful happy endings. She was a hopeless romantic and her husband was the love of her life. 

These two wonderful people supported My Bestie and I throughout the numerous and tempestuous ups and downs of life. They were our greatest cheer squad, our soft landing pad when we messed up and always a source of vibrant, challenging conversation and great humour.

We lost HH, the Bestie's dad in 2017. It had been a slow and steady decline into COPD brought on by the glamorous. manly smoking of cigarettes, so admired in the 40s and 50s. He quit on his 50th birthday but the damage had been done.  It was hard to watch this larger than life character shrink before our eyes. His latter days defined the character and values he had lived. It became obvious later that he had been covering for the Bestie's Mum's dementia for some time. As always, it had fallen to him to protect and care for his loved one, a duty he did not shirk despite his failing health. So concerned was he for his 'Little Fluff' that as he collapsed and lay helpless in the bathroom, he called through to her that he was 'alright' and that he'd be 'coming out soon'. It breaks my heart to think of it.

We had the Bestie's Mum for another 7 years and at times we wondered why.  Her dementia progressed rapidly and as she moved from Retirement Village to Nursing Home, everything about her that was 'her', leaked away. She lost her interest in arts and crafts, which were so much a part of our lives with her growing up. She couldn't concentrate on movies or music and eventually her physical health deteriorated in a savage and painful way that left us praying for her release. But through all that she maintained her unfailing good manners (staff always commented about how grateful she was and how polite) and her delight in the two of us. "You girls are so beautiful", she would say,'you make me feel alive."

 I was privileged to sit with her through her last week, singing to her, talking to her and attempting to find Bible passages that didn't involve Hell, damnation and any reference to smiting. On the day before she died, the Bestie, myself and The Diva sat around her bed, unresponsive as she was,  telling stories, sharing memories, singing, laughing and sighing in equal measure. We kissed her goodbye and said we'd be back tomorrow but she'd had the best day, so she left in the early hours of the following morning.

And with her went a huge part of my life and who I am.

 

Everything Old is New Again

 Well that's a bit of a misnomer of a title. I'm not bringing anything back, in fact, it's all going OUT!! It has been 10 years of recovering from the end of my marriage and moving in somewhat straitened circumstances to this quirky place I call home. I have made do with second hand things and old faithfuls but, courtesy of my darling Mum and Dad and the sale of their house, I feel the time has come. As a result I have been able to...

1) Have my roof replaced. No more drips on my head in the middle of the night!! No more floods in the kitchen or multiple bowls in the dining room!

 Here's the old roof. (ignore the weeds...that's a holiday job!)

Here's the state of the tiles....

They started last week...

 

And got this far before the weekend. As you can see, I'm having tiles replaced by Colourbond steel/aluminium roofing.

So, THAT's happening. 

2) Meanwhile the BA and I went sofa hunting. This is my current lounge. The suite is over 20 years old and in this slightly dark room somewhat dominates. It is also getting difficult for some of my older friends to get in and out of being as it is rather like a bouncy castle.

This is my choice for replacement. It will arrive sometime after Christmas (ohboy ohboy)

 

 

And yes! It has recliners!!!!

However, in the process of looking, the BA and I discovered the delights of the Zero Gravity recliner!

This was so sensational that I decided to get one for my studio!

 Studio currently. This is where I do all my creative stuff. I've recently got rid of the ugly second hand coffee table so I can do some aerobics in front of the telly, and the new recliner sofa will be green <3

3) Fence replacement starts soon I hope. It currently looks like this....

The collapse of the jasmine was the final straw :-D

 4) Window replacements will take place in November.

Current disgraceful state....
 

So that's about it I think.... stand by for updates as they occur! 

For My Next Trick...It's The School Musical

Once every two years, the secondary musical overtakes our lives. In the past I've been heavily involved in costumes, but as our Home Ec teacher has now found her feet in this area, I've moved on to sets and props.

This year's offering was 'Singing In The Rain'.

I was delighted to hear that the backdrops were all going to be projections which came 'with' the licence, but I still needed to source all the onstage furniture and props. Initially I was encouraged by the fact that one of our lovely amateur musical societies had done the show a couple of years ago so I thought I could get everything I need from them. It wasn't to be. They had dismantled most of the props and sets but were able to offer me a replica '20s movie camera, a sound desk and a 20's microphone.

I got to work creating some of the items on the extensive 'props' list.

First up was 1920s style press cameras.

I started with cardboard boxes and Pringles containers!

The producers desk also required 'Awards'. I checked on faux Oscar statues online but they were all about 20cm tall which would NOT do...so I found some 'craft shapes' for $1.00 a pop, chopped a few up and mounted the @ symbol (for Academy award...obviously!), sprayed them gold and voila! Cheap trophies.

The cameras were progressing.

Next up, we needed a bush for the film crew to hide a microphone in.

'Talk into the bush Lena!"

Hmmm. Artificial bushes were expensive so....I bought a lot of random greenery, some pool noodles, recycled an old plastic pot from my garden and.....

 

Hmmmmmm too thin. Back to ebay for more greenery!

Much better!!

Meanwhile, more cameras.

We also had to source furniture, a large imposing desk for the Producer and a sofa for the infamous 'Good Morning' song. My dear Partner In Crime from Kidzone at church spent a long morning with me, collecting items I had sourced off Marketplace. Two more things ticked off for the princely sun of $90. Win.

 

 

Back at the ranch, I needed a megaphone. I guess I could have asked around but I found this at the cheap shop. 

 

It was a 'hanging' pot of the sort you use on a vertical garden. A pair of pliers and a tin snip and I was on my way. Add some cardboard and black spray paint...voila!

What next? Ah. The dummy. Essential for the 'Make 'Em Laugh' number...here was the source material.

OK. That can't be too hard surely? More pool noodles and a bag of stuffing and......

She's still sitting outside our offices at school, now dressed in a spangly vest and tap shoes!

Meanwhile, I'd contacted the other amateur company who'd assured me they could lend me things, to discover they'd lent the 1920s movie camera to another company!! This is what they'd let go...

Two weeks out and I now had to create this! Of course I was on the phone straight away to Kidzone Partner in Crime who is also a VERY fine carpenter. 'Can you build me something like this tripod?'  I asked, sending him the following source material....

The following morning I received this reply....

"Will this do?"

GASP!!!!! It was perfect! I threw together some cake tins, a cardboard
box, more Pringles containers and a few other oddments to create this....

 

 It was okay.

NEEEEXXXXXTTTTT

Oh yes. The cake!

So in the story, Cathy jumps out of a cake so that Don Lockwood can make fun of her for being so high and mighty about becoming a serious actress. She gets angry and throws a piece of cake at him, which ends up in Lena's face...and so the plot develops.

Me: Are you sure we need a 'cake she can pop out of'? Couldn't we just reuse the normal sized cake from   Freaky Friday?

Director: No she REALLY needs to jump out of it

Me; But there's no room backstage for a full sized cake she can jump out of...

Director: Pleeeeeease.

Thus began the week long attempt to create a cake...

I started with hula hoops and foam, the idea being that she could come on inside the cake and drop it to 'appear' out of the cake. 

Things got very rushed and I ended up hand sewing the fabric over the top to create 'icing'.

This was a laborious task indeed and I only managed to get one photo...of a crew member inside the cake...photographed from the back. Oh well.

It needed another hula hoop at the bottom and some more lining but it was only on stage for less than 30 secs and I'd run out of time. It did the job.

Later, back at school I was describing to my class of Year 8s how difficult it had been making the cake. I explained how I had to cut the hula hoops and rejoin them at different lengths and then hand sew the fabric over the hoops.

"But why didn't you sew the fabric flat and then thread it on to the hoops?  You'd already cut them!" said Mr 13 and a half, chronic work avoider and  thorn in my side.

                 **************crickets ***********crickets **************crickets

Blinking kid will be an engineer. I'm sure of it!

And so we hit the stage. The show was a great success with audiences adoring the slapstick humour and beautiful costumes designed (and pretty much single handedly sewn) by our Home Ec teacher.

 

Here you can see one of the chairs (used in 'Moses Supposes') which the students spun, flipped twirled and stood upon. I had found them on the school building site where the builders were using them for their tea break! They were kind enough to loan them to us. Also seen here is the exceptional ladder, handmade for the purpose by our Design Tech teacher. It was wooden, to suit the period, and light enough to lift easily, but strong enough for students to climb and dance on.

This one is just to show you some of the costumes. Most of these were op shop purchases with braid etc added. She really is a genius!

Here's the classic cake moment. You can see my prop cake slices to the left and the flying shaving foam to the right! The small triangle at Lena's hem is the slice of cake which held the foam.

Here's the dummy and the ladder in action.

The imposing Producer's desk with awards...although I wish I'd included a writing stand or lamp. Mind you...the young man would probably have trodden on them.

 

And here's the whole staff crew. Spot the only backstage member not wearing black trousers!!! #eyeroll.

And so another musical is laid to rest. What next for this intrepid band of creatives? Well it's back to the chalk board and proper teaching. And for me...onwards to another onstage role in 'Footloose'. It's small but includes roller skates. What could possibly go wrong?