Apart from being the poison I use on the pernicious weeds, or the act of gathering up a flock of sheep, the title also describes a summary of my week.
Seen parked outside our medical centre today...
...
'Exhausting' about says it all.
In the winter time it was just physical work. Now it involves mental gymnastics as I took on designing a basic potting shed and working out all the stuff I've never before considered in a building - realizing I hadn't allowed for something and having to recalculate.... Roof angles, recesses for rafters, overlapping cladding at the corners....
Building it hasn't been relaxing either when other overlooked items came to light and work around solution had to be invented (or reinvented. Years ago one of my flatmates was a tradesman plumber. He reckoned the only difference between a DIYer and a tradesman was the tradesman had made the mistake before and knew how to avoid, or fix, the problem.)
Add high drain on emotional energy to physical effort and mental gymnastics and the result is flat batteries.
Mr B is going through relocation doubts. We all do it when moving so far from 'home'. He left friends, family, familiarity, routine, work, and social sport. Time will resolve it; finding some touchstones in a strange land. We speak more or less the same language but so many bits of it we understand differently. He can take affront at expressions we see as endearment or even deep respect. It can get a bit 'touchy' (understand 'fraught') at times.
On lighter notes the pottery taster session ended with three pieces coming out of the kiln for me.
The blue glaze was a mystery glaze - a new bit of alchemy by the teacher. It came out quite differently on her porcelain and stoneware testers (although in the low light where I snapped these photos it might not look such a contrast - apart from the clear contrast in pot-making skills)
It's cherry season here.
Personalized number plates are fairly common here and some are very clever. Not so sure about the vet being parked up at the human surgery but I guess even vets need doctors.
That does all sound pretty exhausting. Knowing you, the shed will emerge triumphantly like a Phoenix from the bare earth.
ReplyDeleteI can empathise with Mr B. Moving far from home and the familiar can take some time to adjust. I am sending him a reassuring hug x
Ooo... cherries 😻
ReplyDeleteYes, relocation can be hard...but new things are good for mind and body. It can be overwhelming though. Dear Mr B, relax and roll with it.
Shed design...good to be able to think what will be inside and how to make everything easily accessible. The problem comes when it is finished and things get parked "just for now" in it...
Hari Om
ReplyDeleteAh, so Mr B is now a permanent resident... and enough time has gone by since his return to realise the fullness of the decision. Been there, done that a few times! I do hope still waters arrive sooner than later for him.
I really like your cheese platter and dip bowls. I'm quite sure my first attempts would be far from as functional! Mmmmm cherries... is that a fruit that you could grow in your acreage? YAM xx
I surely get the emotional and physical drain, and understand the total exhaustion from all of it. Glad to see you pop up, since I was beginning to wonder if you are ok... No Scully Pics either.
ReplyDeleteI find that men do not do moving changes as well as women. Hope he will get adjusted sooner rather than later.. We had a really difficult time finding a new home when we moved here in 1989, we looked at dozens of homes and could not agree on one at all... this one, we both loved instantly. the thing is after a few years I was ready to leave it and here we are. he is like a rock, and can not be moved or changed.
my head hurts trying to think about what you are doing for the potting shed
Has the Australian term of endearment beginning with Bast*** caused a few problems?
ReplyDeleteSilly old - right old - real old - poor old -
Buy him a boat and he’ll be right!
Hadn't got that far yet - still working on Bu**ar and Fella. Your example run through fondness, disapproval, annoyance, sympathy...
DeletePerhaps take him to the café on the way to Coromandel one day...the one that starts with B....good food and coffee there....
DeleteWait till he hears someone described as a good c**t....which is praise Indeed...but will be confusing.
Flip flops Thongs and Jandals are just the beginning!!
Looking at her bowls am I right in thinking that the bowl on the left is porcelain and the others stoneware? It seems to have more depth to the glaze colour...which can happen with that type of clay body. It is lovely that you are enjoying working with clay
DeleteI think both bowls were porcelain (they came from her Nelson studio - porcelain there, clay over here) - we could hear the glaze pinging on the bowls as it cooled so not an ideal glaze for porcelain.
Delete'Measure twice, cut once' doesn't quite fit when you're building a structure.
ReplyDeleteRelocation is difficult, especially at Christmas, when everything is so different.
I like the vet's number plate. Are there others, like K92?
I really like the blue colours on the pottery, I think you did well. I know what Mr B means about being in a strange land. I have lived in the South Island now for nearly 4 nears and I'm still not use to it. We are thinking about moving back to the North Island though.
ReplyDeleteIt’s always hard leaving what you know to go to the unknown
ReplyDeleteI’ve seen it many times with people in my extended family and friends
They come out here young for a better life. Marry have children and enjoy the fruits of their labours.
But then they pine for the old country and old ways
They are forever torn between two worlds.
Unfortunately the old country and old ways are not how they left it.
They have progressed and evolved.
Their rose colour classes have remained stagnant