Castle in the Mud

I really feel as though I have been a bit off the rails as far as this blog goes since before we went on holidays. Now things are starting to settle down and I hope to get back into the swing of posting something each day.

One of my goals for the year was No Spend Sundays (and public holidays). This went by the wayside for a few weeks before the holiday as we needed to get things and there did not seem to be enough hours in the day (or days in the week). This is a long weekend here in Queensland and this morning I managed to achieve all of the shopping that needed doing. I had my hair cut, bought meat, fruit & veg, groceries, G bought 2 pairs of shoes and we also went to Bunnings and a couple of kitchen shops looking at ideas for our kitchen renovation which will be starting a few weeks.

This afternoon I made celery soup and refried beans. I picked a large bag of lemons as well as our very first navel orange from our tree and the first grapefruit. I will be making lemon cordial tomorrow. While I was in the garden I also finished putting a border of rocks around the grapefruit and one of the orange trees and mulching under the trees. I hope to get all of the fruit trees done over the next couple of weeks.

This morning we hung up our hanging canvas chairs under the house. We bought them at the Eumundi markets a couple of years ago and have been patiently waiting until we had the concreting done under the house before we hung them up. They are so comfortable and relaxing - I expect I will make time to curl up with a good book in mine. However, probably not too much use in the next few months as it will be too cold. Once summer comes it will be lovely to escape to the cool space down there.

I have finally organised my photos from our holiday. Here is a selection. I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

The concreting is all done and now the builders are going to do the wardrobes in the two bedrooms. So this weekend has been chaos - Z and I unpacked all of the boxes of gear she left here before going overseas. After reviewing the contents with new eyes we were able to list heaps of things on Freecycle. Almost all has been collected or will be during the coming week. Apart from the cathartic feeling that purging 'stuff' gives you, it was a great feeling to be able to pass on lots of good quality things to people who really wanted them.

I have also emptied all of our clothes and shoes from the existing wardrobes in both rooms so it is now clear for the building work to start. However, the rest of the house looks a bit like a bomb site. The 3rd bedroom is barely able to be entered, the ironing board is in the lounge and the 2 portable hanging racks which G bought from Bunnings this morning are now loaded with all of our clothes and living in the front entry.

I took Z to Brisbane this afternoon, where she is staying while she looks for permanent accommodation and of course, employment. We are keeping our fingers crossed for her.

Today I also installed the software for my new camera (with some help from Z) and downloaded the photos from my camera (including the ones from Japan). I will try to get them into some sort of order and post a link to them in a day or so.

Back again after a fairly long break with a new look for the blog. My tech-savvy younger daughter is back from overseas so I was able to utilise her skill and create an updated look. I had been toying with the idea of some changes but my limited computer skills put paid to taking that any further than the idea stage

So much has been happening recently it is hard to know where to start. We arrived home from Japan almost 2 weeks ago. There had been a huge amount of rain while we were away and with the house all shut up there seemed to be mould on everything. I am gradually getting on top of the cleaning.

Z has been home for nearly a week now and is busy job-hunting and in between has thoughtfully done a heap of ironing for me.

The computer is hovering between life and death so if the posts suddenly stop again it may be because death has finally won out. In fact everything seems to be suffering the same fate - the pump has some serious issues which have been solved for the short-term but it needs some more work and the large circular fluorescent tube in the kitchen has decided to cease working so have to get a new one on Saturday. I keep wondering what is going to be next.

The most exciting news for the week is that the builders have started work on the renovations this week. The first job was concreting under the house and the path along the back. After 3 days of excaavating, levelling and general preparation the concrete was poured today. It looks fantastic - all terraced concrete instead of a dust bowl where the fleas would breed. I am looking forward to being able to hang our hanging canvas chairs that we bought a couple of years ago. I will post a photo once they are up. The next part of the job is removing all of the old cladding and replacing it as well as adding insulation to the walls and all new windows and flyscreens. We are replacing some of the windows with louvres. More news on the renovations later.

The rubbish weigh-in continues: this week was 1305g (1.3kg). I will go back to the older posts and retrieve the previous totals and update this info. It has been several weeks because of being away and off-line. Rubbish in Japan – ahh!! That is another story altogether so may be a blog post all of its own!

My last post about our trip was fairly brief so I will try to fill in a bit more detail this time.

We arrived in Tokyo quite late on Saturday evening, almost 2 weeks ago. We, is G and I as well as C, A and Baby O. Our accommodation has been hostels which have been very clean and the staff welcoming and helpful. We have travelled to Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Kobe as well as day trips to Nara, Miyajima Island and Himeji.

Although I have enjoyed the trip, it has served to remind me of the saying, "There is no place like home". I have found the sheer numbers of people, buildings and 'stuff' quite overwhelming at times. My only other overseas travels have been to New Zealand (South Island) and Canada (west coast) where there are similar wide open spaces and some emphasis on the natural environment as we have in Australia. This appears to be completely missing in Japan and the whole culture revolves around the urban jungle and consumerism.

Any land that is not covered by buildings stacked cheek by jowl is under cultivation or covered with monculture plantation forests and high tension power lines. Apparently, of all of the thousands of streams and rivers in Japan there are only 3 that remain undammed. All of the watercourses which we have seen in towns and cities look more like canals due to the fact that they are all lined with stone walls and have innumerable weirs.

I have really struggled with the amount of stuff in the shops. I know that there are a lot more people in Japan than in Australia but I still fail to understand how so much 'stuff' can be consumed. Most of it is unnecessary - not things that are vital to life. However, I did buy some things while we were here - a new pair of good black shoes to replace the pair I have had for about 10 years, 2 silk scarves for gifts, 3 cotton cardigans, 4 tank tops and 4 pairs of socks for myself (all required) and a pair of trditional pyjamas for Baby O for her next birthday.

It was not all ugliness. The cherry blossom season has been at its peak for the last week in the areas where we have been and that has been a real delight. We have seen some ancient and extavagantly decorated shrines and temples. When we get home I will post some photos of stunning scenery.

Seeing the peace memorials and musuem which related to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima were very poignant indeed. In fact the whole trip was worth it just to spend a day reflecting and trying to understand the actions of that day in 1945.

The blog postings have really gone awry while we have been on holidays. We are currently in Nagasaki with free internet access so will try to give a quick update.

We have had an onsen (hot bath), ridden a cable car over a volcano crater, been to the Hiroshima atomic bomb memorials and museum (gut wrenching), ridden the bullet train, mastered the Tokyo public transport system, visited temples and shrines and seen cherry blossom wherever we go.

Things you will not discover from the tourist brochures:

Shopping is the national pastime
The millions of taxis have really kitsch lace 1/2 seat covers
Restaurants/cafes have plastic food models in the display windows. If they are designed to entice customers inside I am afraid they fail miserably with me.

Also tested the Japanese health system when Baby O became quite ill a couple of days after we arrived. In fact we have all had terrible colds but have managed to get out and about and enjoy ourselves anyway.

If I do not post again before I get home there will be more info in about a week.

The weight of the rubbish for the last 2 weeks is 488g so the total so far is 3.05kg (3057g).