In the new house

and meeting the wildlife.
I arrived up here a week ago with my sweet kitty and we camped in the house until all the stuff arrived the day before yesterday- still madly unpacking stuff but I finally got my pc out to get connected again.
Took it quietly for the week to get the kitty used to the idea she was now permanently an indoor kitty. And the reason is the pic
A Boyd's Forest Dragon in my garden- territorial lizard so he lives here!!
I have seen a wallaby in the driveway, a white tailed rat, lots of different birds and heard the bandicoots scratching around at night so the wildlife is definitely out there LOL

Jazzy talks again

Well things are strange here at the moment, the place is full of boxes and they are up to something but I am making sure they cant run away without me by staying close.
The never ending party has continued a little so I have had lots of visitors over the past couple of weeks and lots of nice boys to quote on the removal job.
Mummy has been doing some work but has not had time to photograph anything seeing she is stealing time at night when she should be packing boxes but she has been taking some photo's for inspiration.
And on Saturday it was SO cold I spent the entire day in front of the fire like any sensible person not like THEM who went out for dinner in the wind and rain those silly smooth skins!! Although Mum did spend an hour grooming me in front of the fire- I think she just wanted to hog the firebox and prevent this fluffy pussy from getting all the heat.
Despite the fact I grow a great winter coat I HATE the cold!!
OH well off to supervise the packing- gotta make sure Mum packs my things properly!!!

Of monster parties and new toys

BIG couple of weeks folks- after the sale etc we decided to hold The Last Blast. A two day party -yeah yeah I know that is something you do in your teens and at the latest in your twenties. It was fun if exhausting and those that turned up had a great time. Cooked up a big batch of my special Moroccan Goat dish, a fine veg tagine was M.O.T.H.'s contribution which was served with cous cous, pilaf, salad, bread and dips etc. Seemed to go down well and pretty much the same again the next day. As usual I made a tonne of food but not out of control too much in the way of leftovers as there has been in the past.
Saturday night was deviates night and there was a stray body for the night and the last guests got kicked out at around 2am. Then we had a visitor to collect a vehicle left behind- and we were up for it again because most of my family turned up on Sunday along with those friends with young kids. Several surprises too.
My auntie was in raptures over my haloumi and sweet potato salad which is rather yum I must admit myself especially with nice sprinkle of good balsamic vinegar.
One thing about my clan when they gather they never come empty handed. Humming bird cakes. Sponges with passionfruit icing added to that some friends who turned up with pavlova and the most glorious cannoli and profiteroles. Yes they are dessert specialists- I rarely make desserts because I like them WAY too much.
Some wicked souls made it to both days- although they were somewhat more subdued on Sunday
Collapsed in front of the idiot box on Sunday night with the kitchen an ABSOLUTE disaster area (for the very first time ever since a certain builder built me my beautiful kitchen)and had some leftovers for dinner - well picked rather than ate LOL.
Monday was clean up - it wasnt too bad I had done the garbage disposal etc the night before- and then my sister in law and her husband turned up to stay for an indeterminate time (more on that shortly) And in between that my new toy turned up.
I bought myself a laptop finally- M.O.T.H. reckons i picked it because I could get a nice colour- well it was a small consideration but not the major. Bluetooth, wireless, etc so I can work anywhere in the house.

And I booked my flight with Miss Jazzy to Queensland- weird to be booking one way. She and I are going up earlier than the furniture so I can get some painting done and our tenants had to move suddenly due to a family emergency. I will be camping with my kitty in our treehouse- I have to put together a survival kit to take with me-
Towel
utensil and soemthing to cook with etc to survive
will be interesting I am sure
catch ya

Some work

Of a kind- at last!
Strange few days but some drawing out of an idea has begun- just waiting on the silk fibres I have ordered so I can start playing with it more tangibly.
Had this idea for another mask- I like masks a lot for a number of reasons. The metaphor of a mask is an interesting one - the one we hide behind? Or perhaps simply a layer of persona- albeit a persona we might not acknowledge in our public lives.

For some reason while thinking about masks and forests and the like this image came out of my pencil- a spirit of the forest perhaps? Who knows but I am sort of looking to expand that idea a little with silk paper leaves and a mask..... wonder what will happen?
Here goes nothing

SOLD!

We sold our house yesterday and got more than we had dared hope after the way the market had softened in the past two months.
This past week has been an exercise in not going crazy- we-ell any crazier than I am already!! lol If I hadnt added that M.O.T.H would have :-)
We decided during the week not to be greedy- and the good karma seems to have paid off. Our home has been bought by a couple with two young daughters so it will be a family home again- a tad bittersweet in some ways but we are really pleased about that because the street is turning back into one of young families. When we arrived here it was one of older people many of whom have moved on in one way or the other. We will miss our neighbours a great deal to be completely honest but it was time for us to move on or we would have never done it.
Our Real Estate lady was brilliant- none of the smarm of the blokes I have come across and her honesty was refreshing to say the least. She admitted to me afterwards that like me she thought it was not going to sell because bidding was so slow initially. I left the room I was in to listen to the auction because it was killing me and I had only gone a few feet and the price had risen by 50,000 dollars!! It rocketed off yippee.
So tropics here I come and now after the end of this week when the buyers have had their second inspection I can FINALLY get down to some work for me- Yipppeee ki yay LOL

The countdown

in three hours and seven days we will know for certain if we have sold the house.
Since we had the first open for inspection there have been about 40 people at each opening on average which is very interesting and we have received a credible offer on the house. The opinion however is that we can get more at the auction.
Not that I am looking forward to that process at all- rather nerve shredding to say the least.
We have had a fortnight of non work on the place- even to the extent of not cooking during the weekends because it might mess up the kitchen LOL and the rest of the time I have been catching up on much needed sleep.
I am hoping this week to start some work for myself as such even though the majority of my art supplies are locked in a girlfriends garage as part of the decluttering process- we are living in a display home and I have re read all of the books we kept in the shelves as part of the display process so I am rapidly getting bored as there is little else I can do to amuse myself without making a mess.
I am going to spend this week making pages for a book that I am going to ask attendees of a party to put their contact details on and decorate -or not- to their desire and bind them all with chicago screws in a cover I am planning at the moment- that I can manage without too much mess and being able to pack things away if needed if someone wants an inspection during the week.

But just trying to stay calm is not easy but the pics are the results of the work I have done over the past 5 months or so -oops 'we' LOL M.O.T.H objects!!

Time to stand up

and be counted

As much as I would love to visit China because of its cultural heritage I cannot bring myself to do it and certainly not during the best bit of propaganda they have ever had handed to them the Olympic Games.
Anyone notice a sense of irony here considering what went on in 1980?

the sign is up and the countdown begins in earnest

ooh my sesquiecentennial post

Stranger than fiction.

Weird day today, spent the day cleaning up my study and building a new flatpack computer workstation desk instead of my beautiful old blackwood dining table which I have been using as a desk.(Unfortunately the table made the room look tiny so a desk was the compromise to give it space and to continue to operate in some sort of normality.
Anyway I digress, I heard a tale of twisted behaviour today that made me laugh in the end but the drama of it and the perpetrator of it are beyond the pale.
The situation involves some friends, A goes overseas for a year leaving her partner B alone in their house. C is the next door neighbour and a good mate to B but admitted later that she had never liked A that much because she found her manipulative and generally a bit of a nutcase- in some respects I have to concur with that opinion having been on the receiving end of one of her tirades in the past myself. A & B have had a rocky time for a few years in their relationship and the decision to take off for a year for A was one that always puzzled some of us.

Anyway off A trots telling all and sundry before she left that she and B had an arrangement that sex with someone else while they were apart did not count.
All sweetness and light apparently but in the meantime C and others get various communications that she is not happy about some aspects of her life and is actually looking for 'something better'. Also while saying this was obsessing about B getting in touch with and old girlfriend of his and other women in the area who he 'flirted' with. Now B is no saint but there are few nicer men in the world, he enjoys a light hearted flirt as much as the next guy but he has never overstepped the mark with any female in the wide group of mutual friends and acquaintances we have. A charmer but not a sleaze.

Hint one: B has some friends to stay, two women. His house is set up with three bedrooms, one of is fully self contained for guests and the Master bedroom and a second bedroom that is not in fact used as a bedroom much share the other main bathroom. B decides to make his guests comfortable and move out of the Master bedroom and into the selfcontained one so the two women could have a room each and share a bathroom with each other. A really nice gesture and just that of a considerate host. When one of the guests emails A to let her know about the visit and B's kindness (A visit she was fully aware of- before, during and after the fact) She flips out at B completely and ripped into him about how he had given up the bed of a 'loving couple' and so forth.

Another friend of A & B -let's call her D- stays with B for a couple of weeks to carry out some research work prior to her eventual move to that part of the world.
D is a bit of genius with colour and B wants to paint his pride and joy - a boat- before A gets home so they can take off and go for that trip they had sort of planned for her return. B is also a bit colour blind and asks D to pick the colour of the boat for him after discussing his requirements. D is bit wary of A's insecurity and points out to B that A might not be impressed but he explains he wants to do for the reason described above. So D chooses the colours for him and the result is very striking apparently and much admired his friends etc.

Hint two: A comes home after a year away and immediately launches into a 'spring clean' of the entire house. Even after she know B is not a slob and C had helped him out doing just that before A got home so the place would be all nice and clean for her to just kick back and relax. B tells C and D (and me) afterwards that he realised A had come home on some kind of mission to find 'proof'.
A finds a note from D that had accompanied a present to B to say thank you for his help during her visit and then a letter from D which was part of a writing game she had shown B during her visit. A goes ballistic at B and contacts D and gives her a spray to which D reacts with the full force of her Irish temper. The strange side of this is that D is married to F who is B's best mate! Now it gets even stranger,
B had promised to help F with some work for a couple of weeks which would make it neccesary for him to stay with D & F.
B is the kind of man who wont break a promise and says he is going to fulfill his promise to F and goes to stay with D & F who are shocked at how emotionally drained he is. He tells them that A said she wouldnt be there when he got back.
However A has not even begun to play her games yet. She phones B and is sweetness and light to him the first call, incredibly ignorant to D who answered the phone and would be everytime she called. Then the next call starts haranguing him and saying fairly tasteless things about what he and D were doing etc. Next call all sweetness and light and then hot and cold each time she called.

With B away and out of effective reach A falls back on C the neighbour who has been roped in by A. Then they have a falling out over A's complete disregard for anyone other than herself - basically the woman broke a cardinal rule when it comes to the ownership of an animal and prevented C's dog from going home when C was calling her because A felt 'lonely' The dog is a breed that really needs a pack leader and only one pack leader.

Unable to get at D except for one memorable night when she screamed like a banshee at D because the extension phone in B's room wouldnt work and B said he wasnt getting up to take the call because he was not feeling all that well and it was quite late. A turns her attentions to C and her friendship with B- a completely platonic friendship between two Libra's- ie they dont mess with each other LOL.
First she smears C all over the district. Then is sighted by not just one neighbour but two with her hand in C's letterbox. Apparently on more than one occasion. C notices some strange stuff going on with her telephone over the next couple of months. Ringing once then cutting out and when she dials *10# there is no call recorded. Friends reporting her phone is being directed to other states etc. Finally she gets someone from the phone company to believe her and he finds that her line is indeed diverted.
The phone company brings in the police after they find that someone has impersonated C and organised a remote diversion process on C's phone. Because they have the voices of two women on file and that C's voice was on file previously and the police verify it is indeed her they know someone has stolen her identity with the phone company. Serious crime and one that is frowned upon deeply of late.

C is played the recording and recognises A's not so dulcet tones but plays dumb as to the identity of the fraudster because she thinks B has been through enough and his reputation might suffer in the process- added to which she really doesnt want to have to listen to A badmouth her in court as to her reasons for doing what she has done.

A is a strange woman, on the surface a complete airhead. She chatters all the time about nothing ins some ways to reassure herself I think but in light of what I have been told I think the woman is completely self absorbed. Another friend has talked of an instance where A blithely informed some people of her fertility problems in front of her after she had confided in A and sworn her to secrecy. I have begun to recognise a pattern in her behaviour. A seems to like see herself as the victim all the time and in this latest saga she has been playing for all it is worth apparently.

But committing fraud? That is not just nasty but downright stupid. I must admit I will be watching to see if she can actually see past her self absorption to realise just how much risk she has put herself in legally. Who would want to employ her with a fraud conviction? It will be interesting to watch

And as I said folks STRANGER than FICTION!!

Today's visitor

A Dingy Swallowtail or Citrus Butterfly
A native visitor to the parched garden distracting me from the mundane
I should be polishing and sweeping and stuff but life is far too short and this summer has been spent doing so much work!! lol
and not MY work
Oh well back to the grind- I know it will be worth it but I am just SO bored with it all

Almost, almost there

The photographer from the real estate man came yesterday and took about half an hour to take the shots he needed- telling me he wished I would do all his houses because it was just ready and didnt need dressing

this is what it has been all about folks



front view


the kitchen which will be the main pic on the billboard at the front of the house leading up to the auction

and our newly enormous bedroom - after the removal of M.O.T.H's junk

Two hour art

Probably the worst reason to create art in the eyes of my tutors past and present is to 'match the furniture' but this was done yesterday afternoon to create a focal point for our living room.

The fine tuning has begun now that the majority of the painting is finished- only two doors left for me to paint etc now it is time to dress the house to make it attractive to buyers.
I took down our extensive art collection which consists of a number of paintings we have collected on our travels and are mostly smaller pieces, having them around the house would make it visually busy and the effect I want for the sale is a place of calm and relaxation.
Our living room is quite large now I have removed the half a tonne of books that were in there but the walls were bare and we had nothing really large enough with a splash of the red colour I was using to give the room oomph so I trotted off to the Reject Shop and bought a canvas and let it sit in the corner for a few days while I ruminated on what I was going to produce. Being a water sign anything related to the sea inspires me and I was mucking around with an idea based on a nautilus shell design which I messed around with it and created a medieval type spiral and then using PVA as my first drawing medium on the canvas created the outline of the design and let it dry in a ridge and then mixed up acrylic paints- nothing special just stuff I had laying around the place from various projects and kept spritzing it with a spray bottle until I was happy with the effect and colours. After that dried- quickly because it was warm yesterday- I rubbed the 'ribs' with Treasure Gold.
Voila- Two hour art.
Now for one for our bedroom- another place that is surprising large once all the junk is removed- although M.O.T.H still maintains it is all treasures- yep I'm a bower bird and he is a friggin' squirrel!!! ;-)

In the home straight- we hope

Been very busy of course as you all realise but I am currently working on the final room- the painting thereof that is LOL.
Hope to have it complete over the weekend at the latest then I have promised myself a day off, last week was my birthday and I spent it painting LOL
But the BEST birthday present of all was my niece having her baby on the same day- her first. She lived with me for a while and we had our moments but she is pretty special to us both and this makes it doubly special. What with the running around for the house I didnt even get the time to visit her in hospital but she only had three nights in and plenty of visitors apparently.
SO I thought that maybe early next week I would pack up a picnic and go over for a visit.
Although I love the kid she made me a flipping great auntie- although I am in actual fact a great GREAT auntie already.
Thats what you get when you marry a man a bit older than yourself who is the baby of a large family and he is only a couple of years older than his niece who is now a grandmother.
Oh well
heres hoping I feel I can take an afternoon off because I have to have three rooms dressed and ready for the photographer by the 12th of next.

We have

lift off?


Nah just a date which puts a deadline on the working on the house
Halle-bloody- lujah! LOL



The preliminary sign went up today and the marketing of the house begins in earnest just after Easter. The date of the auction is April 19. I was working outside for some part of the day and the number of people who slowed down and had a look when they saw the preliminary sign was pretty amazing- bodes well
So I have to have the interior finished and scrubbed and polished by the week before Easter. But at least the fun part begins because I can 'dress' the house
ie actually decorate rather than just shove something where it will fit!
So many people have said I wont want to leave after I get it finished- dont you believe it baby LOL

Our exhibition was postponed from March PHEW lol
that certainly took the pressure off so as soon as we begin marketing I can make a start on my two pieces for that- thankfully one quilt and one other piece that I can pack up when I am not working on them.
Who says I dont like challenges?
catch ya soon

Jazzy in Charge- again

Me exhausted from supervising all the works

Everybody in this house is SO grumpy. I wish the sweet builder man was still here at least he still would find time to give me a pat and a scruff. Daddy is home this week and starting to drive Mummy crazy - she might be hormonal as well as exhausted because she has painted most of the house over the past few weeks and all he has to do is half of one wall and the three gable ends.

Last week Auntie Diney was here and she helped Mummy and they got a heap of painting done together and Daddy would come home and pick faults with it the naughty boy.
I must admit I like the colours Mummy has chosen and it does seem to be coming together but just not fast enough for Mummy because Daddy tends to be a bit scattergun in how he works around the place. Because Mummy has been at this since the end of October she is actually methodical about working around the place which is something a bit new for her hehehe.

The deck area all painted and ready for Auntie Ric's Baby Shower this weekend.

There isnt much a little pussy can do to make things better except follow Mummy around and help by being close even if she will persist in putting things on my 'bed' well my current bed is her flannel workshirt teehee!

Hopefully they wont kill each other before it is all done and will relax a bit this weekend when they have the baby shower for Auntie Ric
I will keep you posted
Loves and purrs
/Jazzy Jazz

Some random Yarraville wildlife

the Huntsman- commonly referred to in my clan as Huntsies- brrrrr lol

One of the "highlights?!" of summer in Oz is the spiders
NOT my favourite critter and I am moving to a part of the world where spiders are legendary in size- along with most other bugs and crawlies sssshiverrrrrrrrr
but this one was one of three of similar size that were in my living room simultaneously last week.
For OS viewers this is a Huntsman spider relatively harmless unless you have a weak heart and turn on the light and one is sitting on the lamp!! But tickly crawly and quite large although this one is about average for in town but I have seen bigger - at closer quarters unfortunately LOL.
We have a lot of trees in the front garden which also provide havens for Orb Spiders too which spin the most glorious webs imaginable but they can be incredibly icky if you walk into them at night especially when you know there is a rather large spider inhabiting that web!!
Their legs can be up to 3 inches long and they actually thud against the house if the web breaks

Garden Orb

and the result is

decided to discharge the black- been doing a lot of that lately but I love the results
fairly pleased with this piece - now to chop it up and use it LOL

Too hot to paint- hooray

So I can do some stuff of my own and the conditions are perfect for flour paste resist dyeing
this is a piece I am starting for the exhibition that begins at the start of March
oh yes I do work better with deadlines!

A little visitor

I was loading rubbish into the skip we hired to clear away all the old building materials yesterday when I found this little bloke.
For the first time ever I find a lizard in my garden after spending my childhood in a place infested by skinks I find a gecko in Melbourne!!
Taking it as a good omen because Geckoes make appearances in my work
the first pic was taken just after I caught him, I kept him overnight to watch and sketch and he gradually changed pigmentation to a paler colour which makes me think he is a Marbled Gecko after doing a little research on the Museum of Vic Website

The fun part- getting some colour!

For the past ten years or so my house has been coloured Portland Stone but now that I am selling it I decided to add some colour to it- splashes only because all the new paintwork inside is nice and neutral to appeal to the maximum amount of prospective buyers.
The outside wall colour is called Dancing Moss and is a nice green with cool blue tones in it which balance the Rivergum guttering but the sparkle comes from the white architraves and door trims. My inspiration was the houses I saw on the Chesapeake years ago- I would have liked to go for a stronger colour but again the tastes of the prospective buyers had to be taken into account- AND my rather wild garden.

Despite rather sceptical comments from the chippy about my abilities to choose colours from paint chips- the cheek of him considering I chose the colours for his boat for him from chips LOL



Then there is the front door- which is somewhat pinker than I thought from the chip even after two coats- I think the guy used the wrong base colour when he mixed the pot for me but I kind of like it - even it M.O.T.H is a bit alarmed by it. When you hold the chip against it it is definitely NOT the same lol

but Miss Jazzy seems to like it!!