Sunshine Gardens.

The H V McKay Memorial Gardens (formerly Sunshine Gardens), developed by H V McKay in conjunction with his Sunshine Harvester Works in 1909, maintained as a privately funded garden until 1953, taken over by the City of Sunshine and renamed - are an early and intact example of a privately funded garden attached to an industrial site catering primarily for recreational needs of workers, their families and local residents; The Sunshine Harvester Factory. The importance of the gardens is now heightened by the demolition of most of the factory buildings.
They have been designated by the National Trust so have funding to maintain now.
This is similar to the Fletcher Jones gardens in Warrnambool and the Colt Factory (the gun!) development in Hartford Connecticut.
It is interesting to see that the gardens (as was the factory no doubt) right next to the railway Line visible in the first view.
The weather was threatening rain so I did a quick walk around as I was waiting till Spence had his grooming.
The contrast between the western suburbs and the inner city is evident by the Child Care centre opposite. Graffiti, security and a huge rubbish skip in the drive!

Big West festival

This started on Saturday 21st and while I haven't been to see anything I have actually seen some things.
One event is called the Big Knit by David Cole
http://theknittingmachine.com/Dave_Cole/Portfolio/Pages/The_Knitting_Machine.html#5
This link shows him knitting a US flag on tractors!!
The Big West Festival has brought American Sculptor David Cole to Melbourne to transform the western landscape with a massive knit covering for a historic stock bridge uniting the city of Maribyrnong and North Melbourne. godshighlighter.blogspot.com It will be put up maybe Tues, Wed depending on the weather.
Also part of the event is a sort of Guerrilla knitting campaign, putting the knitti back into gritti. I saw the first of this with some Bike racks knitted up.
Also one of a series of Car covers which playfully indicate the amount of environmental and public space given to cars. This is called Amulets for a car cover and all the tags are made from recycle shopping bags.
Interestingly the car is parked in a space called "Car share only" Never seen it before.
Haven't seen any other covers yet.

Varied reports

I realise I I hadn't put a picture of the verandah.
It is in merbau wood and has the boards screwed on. The edging is nicely done , but I need to paint the new boards on the house (pale ones you can see)
At the end of the deck in the second picture you can see the edge of the gate a large blue stone brick on top of a board that is in the trench that was dug.
We came home on Saturday to be met by Ursula who said she had seen Spencer in Herbert street and told him "you cheeky boy! Go home!!"and she put some boards by the gate which I left there to be fixed up later.
However it was not enough, and Spencer was in the front yard when we got back again. Hence the bluestone block!
The final picture is the start of the dining room set up. Since then I have turned the rug so the edge is on the right where the chair at the computer is, so to protect the floor.

The darker colour of the veranda is rain! 40mm in 24 hours!!!

Polished floors

I came home on Friday to be able to go into the house. The sight of the floors shining and reflecting back the sunlight was amazing.
The previous Blog has the before and I have photos taken from the same spots to compare
You room Celia looks wonderful.
The dining room (old site!) obviously had sunlight or covering affecting the wood but it just makes for interesting patterns.
The exposed Bearer looks OK with the board covering it.
Although a cool change had come through on Friday it was hot and sweaty work moving the furniture back have not been able to finish yet as the sideboards need to be moved before I can get to anything else.
My room photo shows the marks on the wall from Spencer's various resting places. Needs a clean!!
The next tidy up will be the hearth. The edge of that looks good and I think the concrete will just come off and I can put a new hearth stone there.
Jo has come to visit for the weekend and she helped me move some furniture back. We still have one sideboard and one couch to do.
While trying to attached the base to Celia's bed the screw came out of the frame I was holding and the whole base dropped on my foot! I have a VERY sore left bit toe area!

Floored

After a busy few days talking floor sanding and polishing, I am now having the floors done by Mark, of M & M Floor designs. He was very excited by the good quality of the almost undamaged Baltic Pine floorboards exposed when the carpet was removed. They are paint stained and splashed but he said 'no problem' He said if I pulled them up and sold them I would get about $2500. There was one small piece to be inserted where the plumber had drilled into and pulled up about 30cm of board, to put in the gas heater.
I then spent the weekend emptying the rooms as he could start today.
God what a job!! But good opportunity get rid of more clutter (I have only been home 12months!!), clothes to the op shop, books to the bookshop, and paper in the recycle bin. I moved all the small stuff; side tables, coffee table, small chairs, dressers, boxes from Maddy's , emptied the dressers to move more easily and prevent breakage, emptied the bookshelves (worst job! thank heaven I hadn't got those from the bungalow stored there when I went to Japan) and rolled up the rugs and stripped the beds.
Annemarie and Michael came home on Sunday briefly and did some trips of boxes to the bungalow that sped things up. Fortunately she is away for a week on a school camp.
Mark and his off-sider moved the big furniture for me this a.m. So it is in the kitchen, back room and bathroom and bungalow . Getting it back?? I will face that when it comes time!
Spencer and I are staying at Wendy's for 3 days. Hopefully it will be finished on time. The decking and front boards are being finished today as well.
So here are some before pictures.

The Art of Sailors.

As part of the weekend involving a Laser Regatta and Open day, we decided to hold an Art exhibition of work from members or their families. The driving force was Rosemary and Phillipa both skilled needle women especially knitting, patchwork, and needlework of all kinds. We ended up with dozens of exhibitors. It was not planned that it was for sale just to show the range of work.We arrived at the Club at 8am on Saturday and had it all set up by 1130. I took down the Kimono stands that were used for the quilts and the sweaters. It was an eclectic set up with ladders , music stands and art easels showing the exhibits, all labeled with the artist's name and relationship to the Club.

So we had painting, photography, patchwork and applique, needlework, knitting, jewelery (2 members are jewellers,) One of the jewelers had a slide show covering making a ring...amazing!
The Wave is made by Steve who does installations,as well as making Motorcycle leathers! The wave is a stiched inflatable thing.
I submitted a photograph and the Scrapbook about the Yacht Club.

The work below was done for the regatta, Miro had not painted in 20 years so did this one called 'Laser homage to Miro" Very witty! It was the Laser Regatta)
Rosemary's Guernsey is made with no seams all in one continuous piece till you do the neck band And in 5 ply!! She even made up the pattern from a base of 20 stitches (No idea how!!) And there is one hanging behind it!!!

Above & Below

Today was the big concrete pour!

I came home on Thursday to find the carpet all pulled up except in Celia's room and under the bookcases, so the floor boards are all exposed. To my untrained eye it looks like Baltic pine, with some paint spatter and a few glue stains but all intact
In the process Mark had moved everything, but not really put all the small stuff back--fair enough! However when I reset the clock and the bedside table, I didn't realise that the radio was on low (silent!) so I didn't get any wake up call: I woke at 740 (I leave at 7.50) So when I did leave at 810 I heard the men arrive and went out to find 5 of them already there doing different tasks.
No wonder it is going so fast!
When I got home on Friday the frame for the verandah was done and I was given the task of selecting wood from the place on Geelong Road, and Mark will get it on Monday.
The concrete stumps were in with a base of concrete set to dry over the weekend. It is 30 today so will dry easily.
As I am typing this a truck is pulling up to dump stuff in my skip!! I called out and it turned out to be the concreter who did the digging up of the verandah and side. The stuff he is dumping is from a job by Mark as well.
So the next job is replacing the boards along the sides. He needs more boards as the house is higher, and I want to stop Spencer's escape. So he will use the old ones on the sides and put the new boards on the front.
My next step is the heater (a weird thing in this sudden heat) but if I have the plumber here to disconnect the old heater so we can plaster, then I should get the other one done at the same time.
I have a recommendation of someone to do the plastering who is good with the old cornice work

aargh!

Lots of progress on the stumps. But holes and dirt and jacks all over! Also BIG cracks appearing in the walls.
The corner of the living room chimney is looking ominous and there is a crack in the opposite wall as well as a gap beside the dining room fireplace to the outside But It was all going to need plastering anyway!
There was always to be a need for contingency planning and this is in the need to put the stumps right along the side to the back he was not going to do the bathroom or the kitchen, but there is almost no support and having a beam there may stop the original crack in the 2 outside walls widening.
Also it is impossible to see how level it is with the carpet being so uneven with the different layers of underlay, paper, lino etc underneath. I was wondering how I would get the carpet up (not too bad ) but would need to cart it away as well. But Mark said he can organise to get that done and then he will be able to be sure it is all level. So rather than pull up the carpet later it will be done now
There is also a peek at the boards underneath that don't look too bad, but hard to know what is in the middle of it all!!

foggy day

Looks like mid winter, but it was after a humid day on Friday followed by rain on Saturday that had a low fog all over the town. Melbourne and Lorne were hot I gather but it was only low 20's here so very pleasant. Managed to get down and pull a lot of the weeds the garden beds leaving the main stuff for the gardener next week.

Had my work interrupted by some blue wrens that enjoyed digging in the area I had turned over. I just sat back until they were finished; Spencer was inside so did not disturb them in the activity
Also hearing the piping of the superb parrot; Looking stunning in his orange and green.

Recognition

Recognize the new rug at Aireys?
It has graced the lounge room at Beaumaris for 20 + years now to continue to be shared by family and friends here.