Religious kitsch

I have a confession to make. I have a thing for religious iconography. No let me be honest. For religious kitsch. Life size statues, little statues, paint by number Jesuses, crucifixes and rosary beads, old religious books particularly ones preaching the evils of alcohol and cautionary tales of children straying from the path. I'm sure it has something to do with my Catholic upbringing. Remember the scene in the Blues Brothers with The Penguin at the top of the stairs? Yep. Just like that. I'm an atheist these days but I still have a thing for the trappings of my youth.

Love the good guide dog tale in this book. John lost his sight in a chemistry lab accident.The bad photos below are of parts of my 1916 Hibernian Society marching sash. Love the metal work, the embroidery, the history. Lesson learnt though is never let a blind husband handle the framing. This is what he chose. Needs something lighter and a bit brighter. Perhaps a perspex box. This one looks like one of those smelly footboot sports memorabilia frames ;) I have a lot more bits and pieces around the house but these will give you an idea of my collection.

Me at 13.30 on 18.11.12

I had to take some new head shots for a magazine article. I hate having my photo taken. Thank goodness my husband is blind and can't take them for me. He would run in terror as I swore and cursed and bitched about how I hate having my photo taken. I hate taking photos of myself but the difference is that I can't run in terror as I swear and curse and bitch about how I hate having my photo taken. So here are two photos. Me at 13.30 on Sunday 18.11.12. After dozens and dozens of shots. Must put my lipstick on straight next time .... *%#*##! :)

Thrifting

First up I have a disclaimer. These pics are from a couple of weekends ago. I just haven't had the time to get them up. I find myself drawn to a more limited colour palette lately. Or maybe that is all I'm finding in the thrift stores and secondhand shops in Ioswich. My friends laugh that I have a thing for brown. Whenever they are out hunting with me they will hold up the ugliest piece they can find and yell "It's brown. You want it?" I'm also collecting old books for my living room shelves. To read too. Love an old book and I'm so sad when I see someone throwing them out. Favourites? Love the stoneware salt jar. I use it in the kitchen for utensils but it may end up a paintbrush pot. The banker's receipt book is useless but soooo beautiful. Pounds, shillings and pence.

New old books. A complete set of Dickens as well as Victor Hugo and Dumar. 1936. The blue set is a self education series from the '20s. Love my cinnabar vase from Kim. And look there's the owl she sent me too. The multi-sided die is from an old children's game. The West German is one of my favourites. No thrifting find that one. Bought it in an antique centre. My murano millefiore vases were a secondhand shop find though. They are huge and gorgeous.

Turkish coffee anyone? Complete with ashtray :) I'm going to use the cups and tray as part of my holidays table settings. Kelvin found me the old rusty pot stand. Love it but have to keep him from painting it with Killrust. He wanted to clean it up for me. The stool is actually an old kitchen chair with the back cut off.

Of course I didn't need another retro dinner set but I picked this one up for $6. 6 dinner plates and 4 side plates - Japanese. Next time I play fairy opshop mother to Anita or Carmel this might have to be part of the loot. Finally a timber slab. It used to have ugly wobbly legs but I wanted it as a serving board so off they came. I'll have to strip off the awful orange varnish before I use it though. That's it for that weekend ;) I have picked up more since. I know. I know. I'm addicted!

Indian printing blocks

Part of me is tempted to stamp up some fabric with my printing blocks but I love the old paint colour that's on them already. I think I'll just leave them sitting on my table for a little while longer.

Rain and new growth and weeding

We have been slowly working on our garden since we moved in. At first it was dry and barren except for a few palms and some straggly mock orange trees. Many years of drought and an owner who didn't care had taken its toll. Old trees had been cut down and weeds were everywhere. With no money for new plants we worked with cuttings and pot plants we had. We watered and watered and then the floods came. The garden burst into life with all the rain. Things took off and we bought a few trees to plant.

Then the dry came again with almost no rain through the winter and spring. A few weekends ago we started to tidy up again. Weeding and transplanting, new soil delivery and a new concrete slab behind the house so we could move our big garden shed and rainwater tank away out of sight. The spot where the shed had sat for two years has been planted out as a vege garden. Can't wait to harvest the first crops. Oh I had forgotten. Our first crop was a handful of white mulberries from the tree we planted last summer. Sweet but too few. Next year :)

P.S. I have been playing with PicMonkey. I'll stop using banners and collages soon. Promise. See I've stopped already. Do you like my herb planter? It's an old Queensland Fish Board zinc trough. There's the old garden shed sitting behind the house. We included a small clothes line between the two. I need to grow a vine on the shed to hide it some more. Maybe a jasmine or a trumpet vine. Maybe a passionfruit. Yum. Those strappy leaf plants (god I can't remember the name ... must be getting old) were grown from one small divided plant and the macaranga tree is only a year old. Love rain forest trees. So fast growing.