FALL CLEANSINGS 32

There was still so much stuff in the spare room that I am not yet able to progress with painting. However, I did manage to finally sell a few items and gain a little money towards the next round of paint when organizing for an antique/collector company to come out and view everything in the hope that something might be of value to them.

A few items sold, advice on how to clear the rest will now come into operation and hopefully this ghastly room of cobwebs, dust, dead slaters, and what is to me junk will finally become a pretty pleasant pink-burgundy spare room.

The next indoor task was the phone table. Since returning to live in my father's house and then inheriting it, the modern bright phone sat upon an old dark wooden chest of drawers; not a good match in my eyes. I had plans to use the former TV table instead, which is made of a lighter wood and more 21st than 20th century in appearance. Alas, it was covered in stuff to sell...

One morning, I felt energetic and decided to tackle the task. I was also fed up of the hallway looking so bleak and 'Victorian'. Therefore I braved up and removed all the clutter from the top and insides of the table. Cassettes have been put into a beer carton for sale, plates aside for valuation and sale/dumping, and other stuff crammed upon the old settee. I then had a clutter-free table!

As you can see, once I got the dirt and dust off as well as the stuff, it could be taken into the hallway and given a good polish with lemon oil. Much better, I think we can agree...

GARDEN GLIMPSES 10

The above shot shows how many purple berries we currently have (written in late October) to attract the birds over winter. It also shows a metal spoke I cannot shift. When I took down the tattered plastic fencing that my father erected, I was left with a gate post and a metal stick protruding above the wall.

The weather was fairly warm in late October and early November, so I dug over the main veg plot and replanted what was left of the calendula and mooli and my 'Guru Purple' chili plant. Later on, I dug over the second plot and discovered two potatoes I had missed before - nice big ones!

The third week in November arrived, and I wanted to take a look around at what jobs might need doing over the next month or two. The leaves of the tree outside next door's house have mostly fallen as you can just see above the mass of camelia in this picture. Plenty of buds - ready to burst - on the plant that generally flowered from Christmas thru Easter according to my late father... (The straggly stuff is dying off passionfruit vines.)

The path - which my father grumbled about being uneven - has a nice lumpy bumpy effect in my eyes and shall not be 'fixed' to a smooth finish but left to wear away naturally until cracks go right through the 6 inch block! I shall however trim the flowering weeds and ivy back to the edge of the path on the left.

From today's final picture, you will see that there is still plenty of color before the camelia flowers. The purple-berry tree, exceedingly late flowering fuschias, and cotoneaster berries add reds and purples. The purple berries, red berries, and prickly shrub berries are all tasty treats to our birdlife.

FALL CLEANSINGS 31

My next task indoors was to prepare the radiogram for sale. I had more or less cleared the top, leaving just the basket of garden gloves and tools and bin bags. This was easily moved to the drawers behind and polish was applied to the then bare-topped radiogram.

The next task was to check inside. I found yet another batch of 78's in the record drawer to the side, and inside the top...

...were 3-4 plastic bags of newspaper wrapped somethings. Or at least, so I thought as I removed them. As I began to unwrap the somethings however, I discovered they were just plastic bags of rolled up newspaper with nothing inside the paper. My thought that my parents had managed to stash away more precious junk turned to a thought that they must have read somewhere that this was the best way to keep a radiogram in good condition - even if it no longer functioned.

Bags cleared, I could see the no longer working insides. perhaps repairers can repair such, although only a collector would want a 78-playing dinosaur, surely? I was assuming that the radiogram would only be of interest to someone wanting retro furnishings, perhaps as a shelf or coffee table, but...

This last shot is not the radiogram - but the dresser. I am now taking you into the kitchen to refresh your memory of the fact that this is a home, not a DIY monster with the homely sight of a used item.

FALL CLEANSINGS 30

This is the before and after shots of the bottom coat of Tibetan Gold paint. I might have also attended to the bathroom door, but I ran out of Chux. The result looked a lot better once I had top coated the doors. In fact it made the upper hallway look the way I wanted it to look - bright and clean and shiny and vivid - not dull, dirty, boring and generic.

I soon moved the chux and began working on the bathroom door trim. In the next shot, you can once again see the view looking east. This shows that I am over halfway done with the upper hallway!

 

The above picture shows the opening of my first ever batch of home made wine. I named it the 'Sande's gooseberry & ginger 2014'. It turned out to be describable as a 'sour and fruity dry white with ginger tingle'. It was all right to take a few sips, and had a delicious fruity aroma - but was not exactly my glass of wine. I prefer dry reds to any white. I could not really drink very much of this stuff at a time. Oh well, maybe the banana and butternut will be more to my liking...

It has begun to stop bubbling - though it only bubbled for 2-3 days. Currently, the banana and butternut lumps are sinking and the yeast-puff has begun to vanish.

FALL CLEANSINGS 29

Above is a shot looking east, to show what was left to be done in the upper hallway. There was not so much ceiling left, but quite a lot of trim and door. One thing that has been of mild annoyance to me is something that delighted me in my youth - the name plate on my bedroom door. 

The problem is, that although I like the idea of my room being labeled, I do not go by the name of Sandra any longer. I have been known as Sandy, Sandie, Sand-dee, Sandeye, and finally Sande since my teens - shortly after the nameplate was stuck on.

I left the house aged 21, and it was not until I returned in my mid forties that I re-encountered the now incorrectly named doorplate. Finally, paint pot in one hand and brush in other, I began to correct the error of my youth...

...until it was more or less obliterated. The next step is to decide what color to paint the plate and whether to put my now name or a picture/design on top. Back to the main upper hallway work, though. The upper banister and trim needed my attention and part of the wall had only had one coat of cookie dough.

I then prepared to paint the doors. This was taken up while my son was away on a hiking holiday as both our bedroom doors would need to stay open for 3 days while being painted and drying.

 

FALL CLEANSINGS 28

I continued to paint blocks of upper hall, first undercoat and then top coat. Walls and ceiling got attention as I progressed with around an hour of painting per day post rollering.

OOPS! I killed another paintbrush! I started out with 5 brand new assorted sized paintbrushes when I began to redecorate the entire house. My son did not murder a paintbrush painting his room, but I have sucessfully ended the life of 3 to date. Two, like this one, simply snapped and I assume I simply went a little energetically with my swish-swishing. The other one became a fatal case when I left it in the soaker after use for more than one day - as in a week - as in it began to disintegrate.

 

Never mind, the next day I was back at the painting again after having sucessfully finished that day's work using a piece of paintbrush! I had done my best to sand the polyfilled area at the top of the stairs, but this is not one of my strong points, so it got painted over as a bumpy bit of wall. Looking towards future painting - I have plenty left to occupy me this week.

I polyfilled a crack near my bedroom door and did another round of painting this morning...(as of when writing not when posting)

FALL CLEANSINGS 27

I continued with the rollerwork, bottom and top coats. Just those two uses of the roller were more than enough for me. I do not object to brushwork being far slower, as I like to meditate, daydream, contemplate...

...so I was quite happy when the second roller stint was over and done with. Back to brushwork and enjoying the painting. I began by joining tne rollerwork and brushwork up. This was a bit like filling in gaps. Gradually, I progressed around the stairway top and painted some patches of the upper hall.

The banana and butternut is coming on fine, by the way. The yeast frothed up and the butternut began to rise and fall, with the banana sitting at the top all through.

FALL CLEANSINGS 26

Back to the painting. As October reached mid-way, I began to get stuck in to the stairway and upper hall paintwork. My son was on vacation, so not sleeping daytimes. This allowed me to bump and bang and swish and slosh about without disturbing him. The stairway top and ceiling would be the worst part - and the only part that would get a roller applied to it in my painting! The photo below shows the area I can not reach from the landing or stairs without the use of a roller or some seriously dangerous acrobatic chair-balancing.

Meanwhile, how is my banana and butternut wine going, regular readers may wonder? The first day the yeast acted like a lava lamp, going up and down continually.

 

Back to the painting and the dreaded roller work. Whilst all but a tiny crack was paintable with the roller, I continue to dislike using rollers. They splatter tiny droplets all over everything below. Yes, I did lay a ragged cloth down on the stairs, but - not the stair rail, which is now 'gritty' textured... :(