Portrait of a Friend

If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that friends come in all shapes and sizes. Here's one I enjoyed yesterday:W had spent a couple of hours here on Saturday afternoon helping me get the protective stain onto my shed panels. I'd been at it since breakfast time, and was flagging when she got here. By the time she went home, we'd finished the first coat on all the panels. Then she offered to come for another couple of hours the next day!

When I woke yesterday morning I was sore and tired. All my muscles from my wrist to my shoulder were complaining about the unaccustomed effort the previous day. If I'd been on my own I probably would've groaned and tried to go back to sleep, but I had the promise of two more hours of W-time. I got up, made coffee and toast and tried to find some enthusiasm for another batch of painting. Just after 7.30 am my phone beeped--it was W saying she'd woken early and was on her way. Yes, this is 7.30 am on a Sunday morning! Together we managed the second coat on just over half the shed panels. As you can see from the pic, W is an experienced painter. This time she came armed with a tiny brush for cutting in the fiddly edges and a mat to sit on, as well as all her protective gear. After a few hours of enthusiastic work she raced off home to clean up, wake her teenage daughter and get on with her own commitments. I have to confess, at that point I did groan and try to go back to sleep. I curled up in the armchair for a couple of hours before I started to feel as though I wanted to do anything more.

Today I'm hoping to finish that second coat. Then I have a trench to dig--I need to get power from the back corner of my unit to the new shed. My electrician is semi-retired. I think he's been semi-retired for the ten years I've known him. He still has all his sparky skills, but his trench digging days are over.

Today?

Is today the day the permit for my shed-studio will finally be issued? Oh, I hope so!
It's been ten weeks or so since I got moving on this project, spurred on by the need to provide a home for a friend's daughter. As it turns out, she's likely to be able to stay with those she knows and loves best; but my longer term plans for foster-parenting are still alive.

As far as permit applications go, I gather mine has been relatively straightforward. Even so, it's been a stop-start process with no certainty about the real timeframe. I must admit, it's been difficult to stay on track with my other projects and routines, with this major change tantalisingly just on the horizon. I've been told to expect the permit today. My plans have been checked and approved; the letters to my neighbours have gone out, with no objections being received in the two-week time-frame allowed . . . it should be just a case of the administrative team doing its thing now.

As luck would have it, next week is one of the worst weeks in the year for getting things finalised in Melbourne. Tuesday is a public holiday--for a horse race, no less! And Monday becomes a de facto holiday in a lot of workplaces. After a four day weekend, the next few days don't tend to be all that productive, with lots of dressing up and partying still on the agenda. So I'll be waiting at least until the following week before I can expect anyone to actually turn up with tools and equipment. Then something like this should appear in the blank spot at the back of my yard: . . . oh drat, today's one of those days when blogger insists on turning my pic on it's side! You're going to have to twist your head to the right to get the idea . . .

To get the full extent of my anticipation, enlarge the picture in your mind until it's nearly as big as my kitchen-living space. 4.8 by 3.8 metres to be precise. Now transpose the two windows onto the side wall and substitute a panelled glass door in the front of the building. You can edit out the wheelbarrow and gumboots too. My one surviving silver princess gum tree will continue to grow just to the right of the glass door. I'm going to stop my imaginings now--adding the shelving and other furniture inside and transposing all my textile equipment is next . . . and that's going to be some task! Before that there will be painting and flooring to deal with. But that's all in the future. Maybe today I'll have a permit to go ahead.

Dreaming-Designing

This past crazy week has involved designing of a different sort for me. As well as textiles, I've been working with graph paper and pencil: I was going to say, "bricks and mortar", but it's actually "timber and plaster". My dream studio in my little back yarn may soon become a reality. Reality and dreams are never quite the same. The sales manager from the Cedar Shed Company came over yesterday morning to measure and quote. I was shocked when I saw how little space would be left behind the house if I get the shed I've been thinking of. I'm now wondering if I need to get rid of the little shed that's already there. Then there's the reality of where everything will actually be stored and used. What seems huge in comparison with the size of my land becomes much more restricted in comparison with the materials, tools and activities I want to make room for . . . On the other hand, there's an awful lot of unwanted plant life and other stuff in that small space out the back. I would need to find a way of dealing with that before a shed could go in, or simply pay more money for some-one to rip it out and throw it away. That's rather confronting.

Today my thoughts will be elsewhere. There's a two day plying weekend on at the Guild--it's the next in the series of monthly workshops I've been doing this year and I've been really looking forward to it. I expect it will fully occupy me for most of the day, which will be great: tiring, but a complete break from other concerns.