Family Time

The last week was very productive in that we visited the Petrie Pioneer Village and found a clay workshop with a number of kilns that run art classes for both sculpting and wheel. Never having had an art lesson in my life I thought it would be a good idea to enrol for the classes (both wheel and sculpting). I have had a little success with sculpting in the past but all too frequently the work has been ruined because I've had little idea on how to remove frames without destroying the work.

I once sculpted a bust of my Bonnie Ronnie but she asked me to make a change which resulted in the work cracking. I did take a couple of photos before committing the clay back to the pail though and if I can find them will add them to my Facebook page or the new web page which I am about to start. I am really looking forward to this new adventure in clay and learning the techniques that will help complete and preserve what is often day's of painstaking work.

I've registered the new domain and found a reasonable host but have absolutely no idea of what I want for the layout so I might just start with something pretty basic and just see where I go from there. I love doing stuff with little or no planning, I get this sense of freedom and excitement. Now that I have little input to business and my health is improving I am really starting to enjoy not living the work.... there is no hurry to do anything, no deadlines and certainly no scheduling time down to the second while trying to squeeze 48 hours into 24. Much more time for the most important activity of all.... Living life to the full! with the most important people in the world... Family and Friends! neither of which are renewable.

What a fantastic weekend we just had with all but one family member present (Cades). Candice was down in Brisbane for a new bookkeeping course which only finished yesterday so she spent Friday and Saturday night with us, Brett managed to swing some shifts and came down with Rosie (the pooch, she's a bitsa but a lovable pooch none the less) to spend Saturday night with us as well.

Candice had planned to take Ronnie and Nat to the movies on Saturday so Saturday morning I took my son Jay to the movie's, we haven't done that for 20 years and we will be doing it a lot more frequently now. We then sped home so that the ladies wouldn't be late for their afternoon matinee. The girls Hayley and Matilda were away spending time with Granddad (Natalie's father) while the boys Locky and Cammy stayed home to spend time with Poppy (yours truly). Ronnie wasn't sure that the movie choice would be her cup of tea so decided to stay with the men till shopping time....The ladies had a shopping expedition planned for the late afternoon and apparently that went well. I left a little early to ensure that we had supplies for a Sunday BBQ.

I should have had a look at the state of the BBQ which had not been used in over a year on Saturday... I wouldn't have needed to rush as much getting a filthy BBQ back into almost 'pristine'? condition.... Anyway we had a blast with everyone talking over each other while kids went ballistic. The only down side was that Nat had to take little Hayley with stomach cramps up to the hospital emergency before coming to the BBQ. It turns out that little Hayley has a rather nasty dose of gastric enteritis, which is doing the rounds.

I have just put my Bonnie Ronnie to bed with a dose of the same illness, and she hasn't even fully recovered from the bronchitis yet, poor bugger - she can't keep any food down and is freezing cold.

Don't often see kids climbing tree's - AWESOME!

 

I really love old cart's and equipment - don't be surprised to see this pic on my art page.

A shame - no Hot Rods on the day.

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Old Passion

The last few days have been fantastic, apart from the residual effects of this flu, bronchitis which neither Ronnie nor I have been able to shake. Candice, Brett and Caydence stayed overnight and we had the pleasure of Caydence's company for a day while the adults were in court once again (Custody battle for Caydence which we won't elaborate on). They have promised a social visit in a couple of weeks.

It was a mad scramble at the last minute to get a spare room and some bedding space for the little one sorted in our little house of abundant removal boxes but we did it, must say we work well as a team with plenty of leg pulling and light hearted banter when the pressure is on. It was wonderful to have the kid's over even if the circumstances weren't the best.

We had a wonderful day with Cades looking for doctors, parks and playgrounds. Played a lot of 'I spy' at the doctors which is not so easy in a rather sterile waiting room but made up for it at a couple of playgrounds which resulted in a pooped poppy and hungry child.... wish I could recharge my batteries by filling hollow legs with super food fuel. All too quickly the day was over, the kids returned a little dejected - 'no! the other party had a change of heart again and so rather than finalising, the battle is to begin afresh' was the news. There are no winners and the biggest loser is the child as long as the battle continues - but I'm pretty sure we have enough love to overcome any obstacle for we trust in Jesus and his grace.

I started putting together a facebook page - I figured that I could share my 'New Beginning' from the start and promote myself cause I am going to have to make a living from my Art somehow. I am definitely not looking at this as a commercial venture and whilst we don't need much we do need to eat and we will also need supplies. I may look at web design as a commercial venture, that way I'll not be moving too far from my passion(s).

I started looking around for some art supplies, bearing in mind that I have a very broad passion and love most forms of artistic expression having tried/been a wood-carver, sculptor, potter, painter, drafter, tattooist, cinematographer, photographer, glass-etcher and furniture designer amongst other things. Our area is quite large and there are quite a few craft shops but they are better suited to Ronnie's scrapbooking and needlepoint which would have put my Mom in her element (although I'm pretty sure that she is in her element with Jesus).

Anyway I found a little art supply store that will meet some of my needs quite nicely and so started with an easel, sketch pads, pencils, a few brushes and some paint. One thing that I've wanted to try for some time now is a bit of inlay work and I have a bit of an idea.... I still have a couple of pencil sketches from the seventies that have survived thanks to Bonnie Ronnie.... the idea is getting stronger. We have a couple of lovely coffee/side tables that need protecting so I might make some covers....  enough said. I'll begin work on this today and show the result, if it's good.

In the meantime I better get back to sorting out our living space, shed and garage.

New Beginning's

Our lives have been turned upside down and inside out for quite a while now but over the last few weeks it has been especially trying.

Ronnie and I contracted a rather viscous dose of this new flu virus (this particular strain causes bronchitis, diarrhoea and vomiting in addition to the normal symptoms) three weeks ago just as we were finalising the sale of our house and organising our relocation to Brisbane. My Bonnie Ronnie is really struggling to get over this illness and her chest still sounds pretty bad, worse than mine in fact.

We have had numerous, tremendous offers of help with our move but have had to actively discourage people and turn down their kind offers as we could not possibly subject anyone to this virus let alone our most helpful friends and family. I must say that Les and Cathy (senior relatives) would have none of our protests and helped us unpack once the move had been made and provided us with a most welcome home cooked meal (a nice break from our diet of fast food during this difficult time.) The assistance is greatly appreciated although we are more than a little concerned for their well being.

The sale of the house was not straight forward as our Mortgagee gave everyone the run around with a rude and obnoxious attitude the whole time. As usual I opened my big mouth and voiced my dissatisfaction which .... surprise, surprise... altered their ability to settle on the planned and agreed date. This in turn meant that we missed a payment date, incurred a penalty, late fees and additional interest - the net result, the sale price was not sufficient to even cover settlement costs. So not only did we lose a significant sum including 6 years of equity but had to pay extra for the privilege. Mind you, .....on the up side, we are rid of the Mortgagee from hell! at last!

Where to from here? That my friends is a good question.... I have no idea! I do know what I would like to do... when I was young and thought the world was my oyster, I used to draw ( free hand and drafting) and paint and experiment with photography and wanted more than anything to design and make Jewellery but life took one of those left turns, a war got into the mix and before I knew which end was up I had responsibilities, a family, little people who relied on me to keep both feet firmly planted on the ground and provide for them the best way possible - I took that responsibility very seriously and put my desires on the back burner, head down, bum up - nose to the grindstone. Then one day fairly recently (almost 3 years ago) I was listening to a surgeon telling me that I had a 2% chance of surviving beyond 30 minutes. 

This type of reality check has a way of causing one to stop and take a look around - my little one's have little ones of their own, while Bonnie Ronnie has two families that would love to care for her... I looked in my bucket, it was EMPTY! "Bugger all to kick there!" I thought. I prayed for an extension of time to make my bucket worth kicking, if it suited GOD's will. I have now been on the adventure of a lifetime ever since and even better, my Bonnie Ronnie is with me all the way.... albeit with some reservations from time to time:)

We are in our new rented house in Kallangur, within 15 minutes drive of grand-kids, cousins, aunts and uncles and some dear old friends from the old neighbourhood (Petrie of 20 years ago). A new start, a new adventure.... the unknown! Rather exciting especially since we know that it is going to be just as turbulent as was our new start in Australia 30 years ago, when stamina and determination were the order of the day, ... hehe.. this time wisdom and experience are the order of the day.

Our future is in GOD's hands for he has an AWESOME plan for us, of that I am certain, so charge your glass (champers, wine or even chocolate port) and toast with us to New Beginning's!