The last weeks of June and first of July, life was pretty much on hold: what to put here, what to put there, what to buy or not to buy, what to cook - I needed Cassia here so I could get on with my life!
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| While I waited for Cassia I sat and looked at this! |
Well... I did manage to do some things ...
There were more second-hand stores that required my full concentration as I scrutinized the layers of "stuff"; potential bars stool, potential shelves for entry hall, potential dinosaur mirror for the hall...
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| Dinosaur mirror! what do you think Cassia! ... seriously! |
... potential chairs for the upstairs deck, potential this, potential that … exhausting … I need Cassia.
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| Next time I open an ONW I think we must have these! (walking sticks with a cup holder!!) |
My daily walk-through of the Salvation Army store was still coughing up the odd bargin, especially frames
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| Adorable photo - frame it!! |
- gotta get those free paintings framed, even if they are all flowers, (they will either fill or cover the 100 hooks that hang too high all through this place).
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| Free art - Frame it!! |
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| ...more adorable photos ... more (cheap) frames! |
Even a pair of shoes for $8.00!! Did I seriously think I could walk in them instead of my Tevas?!! Afraid you get what you pay for - they have no support. Still they are great for quick trips in the car and to give my lonely red Pikolinos a rest. Hurry up Cassia I need those brown Pikolinos!!
There was a smattering of culture when I joined Pat & Alicia at the Art Gallery of S.A. for lunch (lovely) as well as an exhibition of contemporary art by local artists (amazing) - I had even met one of the artists!
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| Culture - always includes a meal! (thanks for my red-bird Carol!) |
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| Pat & Alica - our friends from our previous life in Australia! (They have just returned to Adelaide from living in Chile.) |
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| ... and of course the gift shop (memories!!) with good old Folkmanis puppets. (Hard to get it out of your system I guess! |
There was lunch with my Mother's friends!! The senior's menu had meals for $9.95 that included an "all-you-can-eat salad bar & hot veggies (note: a combo meal @ Maccas (Australian for McDonald's) is $8.50!!). Unfortunately, for the regulars, there was a brand-new chef with a brand-new menu, and that brand-new menu didn't include any of their old favourites. The poor girl taking the orders ran out of words trying to explain that, no it's not on the menu - no you couldn't order that dish anymore - no there was nothing she could do! It was their favourite and they ordered it every time they came and now what were they to do!! Oh dear! Getting old isn't fun. Still I had a nice meal and a good chat with people I've known for a million years.
There were visitors to entertain at "my" house (thank goodness for that Nespresso machine!). There was babysitting at "my house" - the darling even asked to go to "seep" and slept for 1.5 hrs in a strange bedroom and he likes nanni's poster of Thomas and his friends (he doesn't know it's to help me remember their crazy names!) but mostly I was just waiting for Cassia.
She was two days in Toronto with Joseph - shopping (he spoiled her!), eating at LEE (urgh! jealous!) and helping him fill the extra suitcase with my list of "must haves". It was hot in T.O. and while it was good to see Joseph (who knows how long before we see him?) it mostly added an extra 48 hrs to the 36+hr flight for her. Australia is on the other side of the world!
And then finally it was Saturday and she was here! I had all day to prepare and yet somehow I managed to arrive at the airport after her!! Still, she was smiling and she looked adorable!
She almost disappeared under the luggage - but she had things for me; winter clothes, handbags (oops handbag - the other one couldn't fit in I guess) quilt covers, table cloths, Moosewood cookbook… and those brown Pikolinos!! Yippee!! Silly things I guess, but so good to have them… and so good to have Cassia here - sorry Pablo! sorry Annukka for taking her away - I'll look after her until you arrive Pablo (Jan 2014) - or more likely - she'll look after me until you arrive! Finally I have somebody to make me a cup of tea!
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| Red Pikolinos (almost worn out!! - Brown Pikolinos! |
Of course the day Cassia arrived is the day winter kicked in here… and of course she has been cold ever since. We've installed a heater in her room, in addition to the ducted heating in the house (but it comes from the ceiling -yuk!) so the house is bearable (for her - I'm dying!). Outside she's miserable, so we spend a day in town looking for the most perfect, warmest coat, in a town where a sweater is often enough to get you through winter!
But we find one - well we find the style!
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| Add caption |
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| The fur is what MAKES this coat ... warm! |
The size she needs is in a store on the other side of town! That only takes half a day!! - but now she is officially warm! We even tested out the coat; up in the hills (it's always colder up there) in the packing shed at Fiona & Graeme's apple orchard (it's always even colder in there!) and it passed the test!!
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| She's cold ... |
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| ... a few days later ... she's hot! |
Then today, just in the nick of time I remembered it is our 38th wedding anniversary! It's a bit tricky because he's over there, and when it's the 25th here it's only the 24th over "there" and I'm here, and when it IS the day over "there" it's the 26th here!! Too much math for me - so I went ahead and called it today because it IS over here … and I'm here!!
… and to delight my husband I decided to give him some of his "favourite" things as a gift; a brand new King Tut statue (this one is about 1/3 the size of our original!), and not one but two Caroma plastic stools.
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| Caroma plastic stools White one = $5, blue one = $10!! |
He hates those stools more than anything else in the whole world and he thought he had seen the last of them with ours in storage in Ottawa - ha! He just doesn't understand the bounty that is second-hand shopping!
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| New King Tut - 12" high |
King Tut - well Joseph and most of our friends dislike the ridiculously large, brightly-coloured statue that has looked out of place and dominated our tiny house in Ottawa for a few years. The crazy thing is, that in this house, you would hardly notice the big one - but the "new" one is less than 12" high!
38 years!! … it was a crazy day, July 25th. 1975,
… who would have thought we would be together and "… still crazy after all these years"!!
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