View of the Tasman Bridge from the Domain, Hobart.
As we were rapidly running out of storage space for our photos with two of us uploading them every week I decided that now was a good time to purchase a plan that would give us more storage space and a domain name of our own. You can now find us at the following address.
https://two-sisters.blog/
To celebrate here is a photo of The Domain in Hobart.
As dark clouds loomed over Oatlands I decided I was better off spending the day indoors. I had errands to do so I could not avoid going out even for a little while. I needed power for the week end and one or two grocery items I had forgotten to buy. There were a few spots of rain as I walked home but that did not stop me going in The Bargain Centre. The Bargain Centre is an opportunity shop much like the one Vanda works in. Although this one is quite small it does have a good variety of goods including clothing, books, china, DVD’s, pot plants, toys and many other bits and pieces.
I met one or two people that I know from the town so I had a bit of a chat and then carried on with my browsing. The Bargain Centre is only two doors down from my house so not far to go even if it’s raining. It’s looks like it’s going to snow remarked one local. Still it was nice and warm in the shop as they had a good heater warming things up. I wandered over to the plants and then the DVD’s and then to the china and ornaments on the shelves. Usually it’s all fairly modern stuff but today I was lucky enough to find a few vintage items for my retro kitchen collection. I picked up three items for six dollars the lot. I go in there every few weeks or so as you never know what you are going to find.
A chip cutter, steam pudding pot and a metal stand
These three photos were all of objects from my china and bric a brac cabinet and were edited with Adobe Photo Elements 9.
A pair of steel stress balls from China
Two pairs of chopsticks from China
A pair of Asian inspired vases.
Here are a couple of pairs of Barbies, these are older photos edited with the Microsoft software on my desktop computer.
You can imagine how delighted Naomi and I were to have a challenge involving dolls, bears and toys as we collect them but not all my photos today are of my own things. Every year I try to get to the Hobart Model Train Show and every year I take photos so I have quite a lot of photos of model trains. Everyone loves model trains don’t they? These photos are from last year. The gentleman in the uniform is Peter Fielding who lives near Naomi. I met him some years ago when we were often travelling on the same bus. Model trains are one of his hobbies and he always exhibits a railway based on military history, usually World War One. Last year he had “The Desert War”.
I love all the layouts but I am especially fond of the ones using Triang trains as I used to have a Triang train set as a child. I also rather like the scenery of the British and European model railways.
David and I were always very fond of the British TV series Doctor Who. The TARDIS was given to him by Naomi as were the little Dalek and 11th Doctor figure.
The Eleventh Doctor and an old enemy.
Here is a vintage monkey who belongs to me. His name is Roy. The Teddy Bear was made by me and the cute little picnic set was a gift from Naomi. The Cabbage Patch baby was in an odd lot of dolls I bought so I knitted him an outfit but he has now moved on.
Teddy and Roy
Of course I was going to add some dolls, here are just a few of my collection.
What is something that people are obsessed with but you just don’t get the point of?
So many things these days:.
What quirky things do people do where you are from?
I am sure it is not unique to Tasmania but we have a mid winter festival coming up next month. Here is a quote from the website.
If you haven’t sung to an apple tree whilst banging pots and pans by firelight lately, head to the Huon Valley to celebrate the regions apple picking history and join in the ages-old tradition of wassailing – basically scaring nasties out of the orchard’s cider trees to ensure a bumper autumn crop.
And if singing to the trees doesn’t bob your Geeveston fanny, we’ve added a Friday night of feasting, craft ciders and music by the fireside to kick off the festival.
Quirky enough for you?
We used to have a regular Forest Festival which featured events like the Bush Push. My photos from 2010 are of men pushing a stationary vehicle but I can’t remember the rules. There was a chainsaw competition where the participants had to put on their safety gear and carve through a log, fastest time won. Also speed carving using a chainsaw.
What are some things you wish you could unlearn?
I think that most things I’ve learned have some value even if only that of showing me that those things were not for me, so nothing really.
Who is someone who you miss having in your life?
Obviously David, it will be two years in October and although I am OK most of the time I am still angry that we were robbed of all the years together we should have had.
David at Port Huon 2014
Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
Last week was fairly routine for me, no trips, no tradesmen, nothing out of the ordinary. Naomi and I have been planning new blog posts and taking photos. This Friday I’m having dinner with some local friends and may try to make a trip to Hobart or Kingston for a bit of a change of scenery.
Hello all, I thought I would start a new series of blogs for Our Other Blog as an “On The Road” series. I love going for drives in my Ford Falcon affectionately known as Wazza. Wazza is old and weather-beaten but he gets around just fine. Wazza get’s his name from the letters in his original number plate. I’m sure some people would say “Why Wazza?” I do get asked sometimes.
Well Sunday is market day so I decided to head to Evandale as they hold one of Tasmania’s best markets. I finally had a Sunday off from work and it was also a nice day so I got up early and off we went. Evandale is just over a 100km from Oatlands where I live and it takes about an hour and a half to drive there. Evandale to Launceston is only 18km so it’s also possible to visit the South Esk Market in the same day if wanted. South Esk is held every Sunday at the Launceston Show Grounds. It’s a good Market but not as big as Evandale also held each Sunday.
The market always has a lot of stalls but there were not as many as usual because it’s now winter. The stalls are in a large hall and spread over the lawn areas. People with stalls outside don’t have any shelter and their wares will get wet or blown over in the winds. Sunday was nice but cold. I noticed that most of the items on tables were covered in dew. I went inside the hall first because it gets crowded in there by 11am and you can’t get near anything to look properly. Inside the hall I found a lot of very interesting vintage items and I picked up a couple of old English and Welsh souvenirs. I was pleased to find they were only $5.00 each and there was a whole box full of lovely china ornaments. I’ll show you some pictures of them later. There is also a very good café inside the hall. I had a hearty bowl of minestrone soup, a slice of lemon cheesecake and a pot of English Breakfast tea for under $20.00. They were good sized servings and I enjoyed them very much. The people working in the café were very friendly. The floor must have been a bit rickety because every time the waiters and waitresses walked past to bring food or collect dishes my table rocked and there was a tsunami in my tea cup. I was glad my soup was thick and chunky so it did not make waves. I have to say the soup was some of the best I’ve ever had and so filling.
I walked around outside to look at the stalls on the lawn area again and picked up a lovely coloured glass rabbit dish. I also got some nice baked biscuits for my two boys. They were both most put out about being left at home. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take dogs to the markets. Some of the stalls I saw sold fruit and vegetables, plants, books, scarves, socks and shawls, hats and bags, collectables, cosmetics, tools, pots, toys and homemade cakes.
After leaving the market I headed for the main street hoping to find some antique shops but I struck out there because everything was rather up market and most of the shop’s goods were out of my price range. I did find a shop with some nice home décor items and I picked up a nice poster for the kitchen depicting old fashioned food such as cakes and puddings. There was also a beautiful house made by an artist out of shells which I was allowed to photograph. The Evandale Bakery is another nice place to eat and they also sell a nice range of gifts and souvenirs. I have often eaten there and it’s always nice although usually crowded being so popular. There is also a nice old hotel where they have a nice outdoor area where you can sit and enjoy a nice lunch. I took some photos of some of the buildings in the High Street and then walked to the water tower and through the park back to where I had parked Wazza. After entrusting Wazza with my parcels I headed to the model railway.
On Sundays weather permitting the Evandale Light Railway and Steam Society run real working models of steam and diesel locomotives. You can have a ride for $3.00 or $10.00 for a family. They have about 600 metres of track and there are many vantage points where you can get nice photos of the trains as they pass by. I was just walking around the perimeter of the societies ‘grounds taking my photos when one of the volunteers invited me in so I could get some better ones. I must say I messed up quite a few as I wasn’t very good at timing my shots when the trains were running. It was much harder than I thought to get a good action shot. I even got invited to look at the signal box where they had miniature levers to change the tracks. If you like steam engines or trains in general you would probably enjoy a visit here.
My Market Finds
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evandale%2c_Tasmania
http://www.evandaletasmania.com/attractions-around-evandale.html
http://www.evandaletasmania.com/
http://www.evandale-light-rail.org.au/
Recently I visited the Tip Shop run by the Glenorchy Council. Glenorchy is a suburb of Hobart that I often visit for shopping and errands. The Tip Shop is actually a shop on the premises of the local rubbish dump where you can buy secondhand goods, vintage items, collectables, furniture, bikes, toys, electrical goods etc. The idea is to recycle rather than have all that waste end up as land fill. Tip shops are very popular with everyone. I often find it hard to get a park for Wazza my Ford Falcon. I’ve had some very good finds at good prices although you have to weigh up the prices in your head a bit. Would I be better off buying this item somewhere else? Would I be better off buying this item new? It all depends on what you are buying of course. Quite a lot of people buy things with the plan of fixing them up. There is a big board there with people’s finished projects posted on it. People have made things out of things they have bought or restored something like a piece of furniture. I found Pedigree Penny there. She was very dirty and had lost most of her hair. She was working ok and I got her for only $10.00. Vanda soon had her nice and clean and later we are going to choose a new wig for her. I found a beautiful old typewriter there from the 1950’s that had been marked down to almost half price so I got that for myself. I’ve picked up a few nice little bits and pieces too such as tins, ornaments, pots, vintage toys and books. Here are some of my Tip Shop finds.
One of the things I enjoy about The Tip Shop are all the sculptures made out of scrap metal. Some of you might have seen my “Cee’s Oddball Challenge” photo of the scrap metal man. There are a lot of these sculptures around the grounds and I took a lot of photos of them while I was there last time. I have put them together in a slide show for you to see. If you have something like the Tip Shop in your town keep an eye on it as you never know what you might find there. Remember one man’s trash is another man’s treasure or should I say person’s treasure! What ever you can find some really interesting stuff there.
