Monday, May 20, 2013

Karma Chameleon...

Well, the die is cast, the stage is (almost) set, the Rubicon is crossed (anyone got any more cliches?); on Saturday we are having the first open inspection of our house which is now officially for sale. It is about now that I am reviewing my past lives. No, not Shirley Maclaine type past lives but the different places I have lived and how I coped with them. From farm to town to city to university campus, to farmlet, to Research Station, to suburbia and  none of these have prepared me for the big change about to happen. A small two bedroom apartment, albeit with stunning views but with no place for a single op shop trinket.
I have now officially entered the "shedding" phase of my life. After a lifetime of accumulating it is a weird headspace to be in!
The question remains, can I fit into the rarefied atmosphere of what I have in the past gleefully called "the white shoe brigade", those retirees with their nautical themed clothing (navy and white, though they never sail) or will I still be the faded Hippy in the long skirts and the dangly beads and scarves? I leave you to guess.
Which brings me to today's etegami!


Saturday, May 11, 2013

Gues what I am listening to?

I am listening to; "A Feast for Crows" by George R R Martin. Having listened to the earlier books in the "Game of Thrones" series, the horror continues but the narration by Roy Dotrice is so good that the story is spellbinding. My friend described the television adaptation of the books as "a soap opera" but I don't know what kind of daytime television she is watching!
Listening while working on my etegami, there were black crows on my mind.

Or this less threatening version.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Out with the old....

yes, all of those treasures I have been holding onto for so many years, the "useful" things that never quite found their use and almost everything else we own was put out for the public to peruse at my garage sale last Saturday. What a dispiriting enterprise! Just as dispiriting as when the movers assess your belongings as "chipped, stained scratched etc". There was an apt quote by some 18th century pundit about the depression brought on by seeing your belongings in harsh sunlight on the footpath, I now know the feeling!
One thing that troubles me and it may be that some of my more "arty" friends may be able to relate to, is why I am having more trouble letting go of my huge collection of old bird's nests than I am of selling off or giving away my grandmother's good china, is there a lurking sociopath in my persona?
Despite the embarrassment of having to spruik your tawdry stuff to the hordes we did make a bit of money and lightened the load considerably. Unfortunately that was only stage one, stage two will come after the house is actually sold, that was only the decluttering phase, the getting rid of the hugely outsized furniture phase is yet to come.
Photos have been taken of our modest house which makes it appear as if it were a mansion, all prettified and uncluttered and shining clean......we are faced with the tense business of living a disciplined life until someone else can envision themselves living in a carefully staged set and then we can relax.
Consequently, painting has taken a back seat but here is an etegami I did last week.
We have now exchanged contracts on the new apartment, the cooling off period ends tomorrow and so I believe the die is cast. There is an air of unreality, as if we have set in motion a downsizing juggernaut and are about to be thrown under it's wheels! (in a good way).