FabriKate

I love being busy, I almost always have a project on the go, whether it is mastering a new cooking skill, learning to weld (really!) decorating, house renovating or re purposing old furniture. I've a couple of things on the go currently that I thought I would share with you.

First a couple of weeks ago the Significant Other and I did a "welding for beginners" course at
the Workshop Chippendale I had expressed an interest in trying this and our lovely son and daughter in law gave us a class for a Christmas present. I got to try stick and mig welding and managed by the end of the class to weld a couple of pieces of steel together. Not sure when I'll next do anything but at least I know what is involved.

I've had a old bedroom slipper chair I got from Vinnies about 12 months ago for the bargain price of $15 and I've decided to have a go and reupholster it myself. You can see in the picture it's a pretty grotty old brown velvet chair and I have plans to cover it is a pink flamingo fabric.

Here is the work in progress, I have taken off all the old fabric and am working out how the place the fabric, I think it will look quite lovely when it's done, I might even offer it as a prize for some lucky reader!

Below is a old piano stool that I recovered recently for my "Paris" room I'm pretty pleased with the result what do you think?

and yesterday I got the mother of all finds, we were visiting one of our daughters in an nearby suburb and they must have been having council cleanup because the streets were full of stuff! I managed to find these chairs which are right up my alley of mid century modern design

planning to make some funky cushion for the chairs

  and then these lampshades which I am planning to cover in the flamingo and Paris fabrics too.

Testing the fabric to see what it could look like

Test driving the flamingos!

so as I get the projects done I'll put them up for you to see.

Do you have any projects on the go?

Do you like a bit of DIY?

how old are you feeling?

I'm getting a bit annoyed at some of the ads on the TV and radio that seem to think that if you are "over 50" you've got one foot in the grave, "no longer working full-time" (I wish)  and spend all your time worrying about your pre-paid funeral!

So I asked myself, how old is old? Then I went to the source of all knowledge,  the Internet and found this study which basically says old age is relative, the older you are the more generous you are in your assessment of what is "old".

OK I get it, I recall being a 20 something ( not that long ago, I'm not that old!)  and thinking people of 40 were ancient and served no useful purpose in the world, and god forbid they should even think of having sex, that was for young people!

Obviously people over 50 are a very attractive market, and I'm not talking about our good looks!

The number of businesses targeting the "grey" consumer is increasing; here is a list of what I found just by doing a quick search.....

Over 50s Insurance | Apia.com.au

Over 50s Resorts 

Scenic Tours Australia With Fun Over Fifty For Seniors 

Fitness for the over 50′s

Dresses For Over 50s 

Join a club for over 50's Aussie Over Fifties Seniors 

Over 50 Retirement Home

Over 50s Retirement Living & Villages | For Sale, Rent ...

plus a plethora of over 50's dating sites, in my search it pulled up   29,800,000 RESULTS ! 

Older singles are getting frisky on ‘Tinder for seniors ...

To me the thing is how you perceive your age , 

• how you feel "mentally"  (about 18 most days!)  

versus 

• how old you actually are (your biological age)

although I subscribe to Christian Dior's model of age

Women are most fascinating between the ages of 35 and 40 after they have won a few races and know how to pace themselves.

Since few women ever pass 40, maximum fascination can continue indefinitely.- Christian Dior

• and then there is how others see you;  How old you look? do you "look your age" or are you "not bad looking for your age"  or "don't look your age"  or have you "not looked after yourself"

Then the issue arises how what is age appropriate behaviour, clothing, attitudes. 

Since our life expectancy has increased over the last century our perception of "old  has changed but I'm not sure some of our attitudes have considering my previous rant above. My grandmother died in her late 50's to me  she was an "old lady", whereas I now do not consider myself  "old ", and realistically we are not as "old.  Our health is better, we have more opportunities to keep participating in life and most of us are now working in careers that allow us to work way past the "retirement age" ( what is that now ?) and hence my indignation at people over 50 being considered "old". 

At the current cost of housing in Sydney I will be 80 before my mortgage is paid off! So I can sit and dream of 0ver 50's not working full time, over 50's resorts and holidays for seniors, for now I'm planning to be one of those most fabulous women who refuse to be defined by age.

Here are some over 50's  poster girls for you 

so how old are you feeling today?

Culture Vulture

I feel a bit of a fraud at the moment, because I'm not actually the Glenquarry Goddess at the moment, we are taking a sabbatical in the city of Sydney ( for various social and work reasons, but don't worry we will return to GG central in the future) so in the meantime think of me more like the Sydney Siren!

One of the things we have really taken advantage of being in the thick of things is to take a subscription to the Sydney Theatre Company for 2016. We always used to come up and see plays now and then but for this year at least we are seeing about 75% of the entire season.

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of seeing King Charles III. I remember seeing the posters for this play when I was in London a couple of years ago but never got to see it there. I must say it was very enjoyable and though provoking. The basic premise is that QEII has "passed on" and Charles is now the king, but his first royal duty to sign a bill that is designed to limit the power of the press to invade people's privacy. Charles refuses and a constitutional crises ensues. The playwright has paid homage to Shakespeare in referencing some of his more famous characters such as Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet and large parts of the dialogue are in blank verse.

It also address the issue of celebrity with Kate and William ( you know who!) who are considered "better" for the throne given their popularity.

The whole scenario played out quite realistically  in the and I could imagine that something like this could very well happen in the future.

One thing I have observed is the audience demographic at all of the plays we have been to so far, and I ask.....


"Where are the young people?"

The audiences are predominantly middle aged men and women and the absence of younger people is quite obvious, I asked the Significant Other about this and we pondered why is this so?

Is it the cost?
Are young(er) people not interested in the theatre?
Are the plays not of relevance to them?
Can they not leave their technology for long enough to see a play?

Just a thought.

Boom Baby Boom part deux.

Just to get you in the mood, here's a song from the 80's

Baby Moons, when did they become a thing? 

I just did a google search and there were 
                 About 45,200,000 results 

It's big (literally) business apparently now!

Just check out some of these websites 

Fancy a babymoon at Lizard Island?

Ideas for an Australian Babymoon

For the more international babymooner

This is what I found out about the baby moon. ( thanks to grandparents.com)

Considerable confusion surrounds the term "babymoon," due to its having two meanings. The word is obviously a spinoff from "honeymoon," but what exactly does it mean?

The most common meaning is a trip taken before a baby is born, in order for a couple to enjoy their childless state one last time. This concept has been heavily promoted by the travel industry, with many babymoons including such perks as spa days for the couple.

The second trimester is the most common time for such a getaway, since most couples do not want to be too far away from their doctors during the last trimester.

The second meaning, which was actually the original meaning, is a period of bonding immediately following a baby's birth. It coincides with maternity leave and paternity leave (when available). Many times parents exclude most visitors during this time. 

The second type of babymoon is sometimes traced back to an Asian family tradition of postpartum confinement, or sitting the month, which involves a month of seclusion and pampering for mothers after they give birth. But in the Asian tradition, the maternal grandmothers are the ones who traditionally step in to help out so that the mother can rest.

So if I add up  4 baby moons that I'm owed, a gap year,  a hen's weekend, and one week of high school work experience I reckon I'm good for at least a year off. So who's off with me?

Gray Schoolies, Gap Year, Post Dated Baby Moon take you pick!

Baby Boomer's Lament

This weekend 2 of the junior Glenquarry Goddesses were at Hens' weekends. One in Melbourne, the other in Marbella Spain. This got me to thinking as I do, how did I miss out on all these things, that are now considered rites of passage now?

It started at breakfast this morning, I was looking at Facebook and saw more pictures from the said Hens' weekend and I said to the Signifiant Other, "how come I didn't have a Hen's weekend!"

BTW,  I made a absolutely fabulous breakfast this morning, if I say so myself! A few years ago I did Michelle Bridges 12 week challenge and one of my favourite recipes from this was the breakfast beans, so I made my own version of that with chill and chorizo, and then added our fresh chook eggs and made a spicy Spanish  beans and baked eggs.

and spring was here, so we dined Al Fresco!

Anyway I digress...

Thinking about the Hen's weekends got me thinking of all the things that weren't invented, or part of the circle of life when I was at that stage. And then I started to think, can I claim all of them retrospectively?

Here is the list I made, and if you have any other things I forgotten please feel free to let me know...

so here's what I have missed out on, and maybe it has had big consequences on how my life has panned out!

There was no such thing as work experience when I went to school. If you wanted to experience work, you left school in Fourth Form  (year 10).  If you didn't want to work,  you went onto 6th form and then University,  AS IT USED TO BE FREE THEN!  Some of my friends took more than 10 years to do their degrees,  and some (you know who I'm talking to here!) are still going....

But I didn't go to Uni until I had to pay, put "L" on my forehead!

So most of friends and I went into our chosen careers without any real idea of what was involved, needless to say most of us are doing something else these days :-)

Schoolies... well, what I can say. That's a week of my life that never happened!  I know some people who came after me at at school,  and Schoolies changed their lives.... literally,  one of the girls I know  of came back from schoolies with a present, that would keep on giving for the next 18 years or so! A baby! 

For all of you who didn't have the Schoolies experience, who's up for a gray haired version some time soon?

Glenquarry Goddess will host a Gray Schoolies,  if the need is there!

Hen's weekends.  This is what I found when I googled it

Hens Party Shop Sydney - MyHensParty.com.au‎

a website just for hens parties!

give me a break and take a look at the number of hits..

About 1,350,000 results (0.39 seconds) 

When I got married back in the dark ages, the only rite of passage for a bride was a kitchen tea. And why? Because we know that women love kitchen gadgets when they are getting married!

 Mine was a tupperware party held on a Saturday afternoon , WITH WINE! 

The Tupperware lady was a bit overwhelmed that we were drinking wine, it was not what she as used to,  but we had a jolly good time! The husbands to be/boyfriends were out the back in the yard having beers and a BBQ. I still have some of that fabulous tupperware from that kitchen tea and glad to say it has now come back into fashion!  

Baby Moons, well I figure I have at least 4 weeks of baby moons owing to me, that I am going to take as soon as I can work out who is going to pay for it!

Baby Bonus! I thought that was the baby you got to take home from the hospital, not the flat screen TV people may have bought!

Paid Maternity Leave, Family Tax Benefits etc etc...I get a bit tired of people bashing the baby boomers, about how selfish we are, how we bought houses when they were cheap etc .. but it's all relative. 

I'm not finished yet, but I'm going to make this a 2 part blog post, so stay tuned for tomorrows list!

Feel free to add to my list you if like!

Opportunity Knocks... vintage shopping

One of my not so secret pleasures is to wander around op and second hand stores for bargains. We are blessed here in the Southern Highlands, in that we have a plethora of these around the area.   A couple of Sundays ago we went into Bowral for afternoon tea and decided to wander around Dirty Jane's Emporium and then take tea in the quaint tea house on site.

Think of your grandmother's best china,  all delicate and dainty and old fashioned silver tea services, and you'll get the picture.  Our chai tea was one of the best I have had in a long time.  And then......

with the tea pot our tea was served in!

so much so that I asked if I could buy that very pot!  Sadly it was not to be had, but then I became obsessed with getting a teapot just like it, I can be like that some times!

I became addicted to getting my ideal teapot!

Not quite the teapot I was looking for

 So I trawled Dirty Jane's after our tea and found this one with a matching sugar bowl as well.

But still my obsession was not satisfied, soon I  was like a drug addict, I couldn't get enough of tea pots!  I found myself hanging out on e-bay and ruby lane looking  to score more tea pots.....

and then I found these two beauties, one came from New Zealand and one is from the United Kingdom.

So now my teapot obsession is satisfied

 I have 3 beautiful pots that I use everyday.

Here are some other little gems I have picked up recently: 

a pair of candlesticks

 and this weekend bounty from our local tip recycling shop a genuine 1970's crock pot, check out that funky font on the dial!

The Doyenne of Australian cooking, Margaret Fultan's autobiography

a 1970's guide to landscaping, perfect for our 1970's courtyard makeover!

and some more info on being organic farmers

I could go on and on on some of the other great second hand shops, but I might leave that for another post. So if you are planing a trip to the Southern Highlands make sure you make some time for some opportunity shopping, as we know Opportunity comes once in a lifetime!

Well Preserved!

2 Saturdays ago I went with Glenquarry Goddess Junior to a pickling and preserving workship. It was held at a place called Cornersmith which is in Marrickville Sydney.

At this workshop I was surprised that there were more men that women!  We were going to learn the principles and basics from which you can start your preserving at home.  We made a fennel pickle, apple chutney as well as having a very yummy lunch at the end featuring artisanal pickles, labnah (yoghurt cheese) and sour dough bread.

Fennel Pickles

Apple Chutney

I bought the two books above so I could extend my knowledge of preserving as I like the idea of using things in season and saving excess to use at other times of the year.

So if you'll excuse me, I'm off in a bit of a pickle!